What we've been up to lately

Note to the readers: None of the following behaviors were taught by the parents of these children. They were the result of the child's own preferences and decisions.

Thumb-sucking






Dressing Ourselves Can you tell stripes are his personal favorites?


Eating bananas for every meal. He ate 7 bananas in 3 days last week.


Taking off our diaper when it is dirty. Really, we have been working on just telling mommy and daddy when your diaper is dirty, not taking it off yourself!

Bowling

On Saturday our Sunday School class went bowling. I was excited that it was an event we could bring the kids to. I hadn't been bowling in years! Literally I think the last time I went bowling was when Jay and I first started dating, which was about 8 years ago. I thought I was a really bad bowler, but I actually did good. I was looking forward to watching Trey and seeing his reaction to bowling, but was dreading actually having to bowl myself. It ended up being a lot of fun and we will definitely go back again soon! Trey had a blast!

Trey's good friend Madison was there. She is going to be a big sister in June so Charlotte was available for her to practice on!





Charlotte enjoyed people watching from her position in the stroller. We are very lucky she is such an easy going baby!


Trey's favorite part of the bowling alley was the ball return. Such a magical place! The bowling balls just pop out of nowhere!


Please Daddy, can I get the big ball you use?


Ok, I will get my kid-size ball.


They have a special ramp for the kids to use.




After pushing the ball down the ramp Trey would intently watch it SLOWLY roll down the lane.


Yay! Good Job! Trey clapped for himself after each turn. I don't think modesty is in his vocabulary!


Trey and Madison had a great time playing together. It is so nice to have mommy friends whose kids are the same age. All day long we kept telling Trey we would be going to see Madison after his nap and he would get so excited.




A couple from our class that doesn't have kids was there. Charlotte was able to entertain them and give them practice keeping a baby happy at a busy, noisy place :)

House Update

I posted a few weeks ago that we were finally starting the building of our new house. Well, of course, we have a major drought throughout January and February and then monsoon rains it seems like during the beginning of March. They were able to do some moving of the dirt before all the rain hit the Roanoke area. Last week the dirt finally dried up and they started the digging of the foundation and leveling the driveway so it is not so steep.

Looking down into the foundation. You can see how the land slopes for the walkout basement.



This is a little boys dream- mounds of dirt and big machines!



The view from the front yard.



This the driveway. It is much less steep now, although it will be a slight workout to get the mail and paper each morning.



Here is a photo from the same place as the day 1 photo we took.



This week they continued working on the moving the dirt. Can you believe you actually have to have a land disturbance permit in order to move around dirt on your land? They started laying the footers in the foundation. At least that is what I think Jay said last night when we went to walk around the house site. Yesterday evening was a beautiful spring evening and it was so nice to hear the birds chirp and the creek babble as our family walked outside. I can't wait for next spring when we can rock on the front porch and watch the sunset while the kids play!

Inside the foundation





Here is the garage marked off with chalk.


Front porch markoff


Just checking, my belly button is still here!


Walking around in the dirt is hard work!


I love being outside!


Look, a bird over there.


Daddy, do you hear the birds?

Tummy Time

Infants are supposed to have tummy time everyday to help them strengthen their neck muscles and work on their rolling over abilities. I was horrible about tummy time with Trey, mainly because he hated it, so it wasn't until he was 3 months old I really started giving him tummy time on a regular basis. Charlotte has loved tummy time from day one. When she was born and the doctor put her on my chest she turned her head to look from side to side as if to see what was going on! The doctors couldn't believe how strong her neck was at birth! Now, 2 months later, she is still super strong and really needs no neck support when you carry her.

Signs of Spring

Even though today is technically the first day of spring, yesterday sure felt more spring-like. Everyone enjoyed a day outside in the warm sun and temperatures. Here are some signs that show spring has arrived here.

Playing outside



Hanging out in the stroller



Trey pushing Charlotte in the stroller. Well, attempting to push because the brake was on, which caused lots of frustration on his part!


Getting the garden ready



Did you want the soil to stay inside the box?



Wearing short sleeves



We also had delicious steaks on the grill for dinner. The cook was supposed to take a picture of them grilling, but we had a dirty diaper explosion during the cooking process, so all thoughts of a camera flew away! We devoured them too quickly and had only bones left on our plate when we remembered about the picture. And who really wants to see a picture of steak bones? Maybe the dog.

I know I am cute!

A few weekends ago Jay winked at Trey. Trey thought it was hilarious and decided to wink back. Since then, Trey winks at everyone. He winks at his friends at church, at family members, at grocery store clerks, and his personal favorite- the older men and women at church. They get such a kick out of his winking and he loves their response so much that now he will just start winking at people when they smile or wave at him out in public. Trust me, when you are a toddler who enjoys staring at people you get a lot of waves and smiles in return.

Yeah, this smile and wink means I know I am cute!

15 Minutes

This morning I woke up refreshed and ready for the day. Why, you may ask? Especially considering last night at 11:00 pm I thought I would never get any sleep and I was beyond my usual evening crankiness and ready to never have children again. Charlotte slept through the night last night from 11:00 pm-6:10 am. Yes it was exactly 6:10 on the clock when I squinted my eyes and got close enough to my clock to read it. I was ecstatic! It totally made the 2 hours I spent last night trying to get her to fall asleep and ending in total frustration as she would *I think* finally be asleep only to wake up fussing 5 minutes later erased from my mind. Well, mostly erased.

She went back to sleep after she ate at 6:10 so I got up around 7 by myself. Friends, let me tell you that is a rarity! After complaining last night to my wonderful husband that I never have any time to myself and I didn't see it happening anytime in the near future, I got 15 whole minutes to myself. I made my coffee, emptied the dishwasher and prayed for my children before they woke up. This may not sound very fun to you, but for someone who has a toddler trying to help empty the dishwasher and has lost many sippy cup lids through this process the ability to empty the clean dishes, put them where the belong and not loose any pieces was lovely.

I have decided to make today about the kids. I got my 15 minutes to start my morning and so today I will not try to clean the house, fold laundry, or run up and down the stairs to the dismay of my toddler because when he finally makes it upstairs and I am running back down to do another chore. I will sit on the floor and play with them. I will take them outside for a walk and to play. The dust bunnies will sit until tomorrow, we have clothes to wear in our closets, and the dishes are already put away :)

On being 2 months old

Last Tuesday (yes, I know I am a little behind!) Miss Charlotte Rose turned 2 months old! She was a champ at the doctor's office where she weighed in at 11 lbs 15 ozs and was 23 inches inches long. She made the 75% for both weight and height. Her head is only in the 25%! That's okay, we like her petite head and that no hat stays above her eyes!

At her appointment we learned she had excema ( I have tried to spell it 4 different ways and it doesn't look right, so just read it phonetically :) That explains why she was so fussy in the evenings and her skin was all red and irritated. This poor mama thought she was just allergic to the body wash or lotion I was using so I just kept trying different lotions to see if it would get better. She now has to be bathed twice daily with a special cleanser, lathered up in a special moisturizer and then we put a prescription cream on top of that. She has been a trooper and doesn't mind all the baths and it is such a relief to have a happy, sleeping baby again!

We had always given her baths after Trey went to bed so Trey had a hard time understanding why she couldn't go in the bathtub with his bubble machine for a bath. He kept trying to pull me into the bathroom when I said we were giving Charlotte a bath one morning! And, of course, he now wants to take a bath every morning too!

Charlotte loves to play on the floor under the baby gym. She also enjoys tummy time and lifting her head up to watch her brother. She is a not a big fan of the bouncy seat, but does love her swing. She likes to bat at toys and stare at any moving mobiles about her. She is so smiley and expressive. This past week we put Charlotte in her crib and now she sleeps in the crib at night and for most of her naps. Her routine is starting to fall into place and she can usually put herself to sleep when we lay her in the crib. She has even been known to sleep for a 6 1/2 hour stretch at night!

Here are some shots of Charlotte on the day she was 2 months old. As you can see, she is out of her 0-3 month clothes and into 3-6 months clothes now. On this day I was trying to get one more wear out of an outfit before we had to pack it away!