It's official - He's crawling

Blake finally figured it out! He is mobile now, God help us all! And, just in time for our camping trip! Yay!!! A baby, crawling all over the beach.... in the sand.... near water. Yup, it's gonna be a relaxing weekend.... :o)

Spoiled Girl

Avery had quite the day yesterday! Some friends of ours are moving to Nashville and have been in total purge mode. We have been the lucky recipients of their purging! We now have a trampoline in the back yard and Avery LOVES to jump! The picture is blurry, but really, how can you get a good one if she is bouncing all over the place!

Before Daddy set up the new trampoline, he took her for a ride on the new bike we got - again courtesy of the Swope family! She enjoyed it so much that when I heard screaming a little while later I assumed she had fallen off. No, she was mad that they had to stop riding and come in!

It is so great to have things for her to do outside. Our back yard is beautiful, but not very kid friendly, so outdoor activities are hard to come by... Now she has a pool (thank you grammie!) a swing (that is really meant for Blake) and a trampoline! Fun, Fun!

Blake is still trying very hard to crawl. He just can't quite figure out how to get past the rocking motion. He has given up on babyfood. He will just shake his head at you if you try to offer him anything that comes on a spoon. If it's on a fork, it's OK. If he can pick it up and feed himself, even better!

We have decided that Dada is his first word. He says it when he looks at Jeff, and didn't say it much when Jeff was gone. So, it's Daddy 2, Mommy 0 when it comes to first words. Maybe we will have to have more children afterall, just so one of them can say Momma first!

Summer Fun

We have been spending quite a bit of time at the pool lately. Avery had swimming lessons a few weeks ago, and has been enjoying the water much more! She stays in a "floatie" (aka; an innertube) but will swim all over the pool chasing her beloved rubber duckie family that her swim teacher gave her as a reward for blowing bubbles in the water. Avery has informed me that she will swim with her floatie until she is 4. When you are 4, you are old enough to swim without one. Ahhh the logic of a 3 year old - 4 seems so far away! She tried to swim without it on Monday, and sunk straight to the bottom. She didn't think that was very fun!

Blake LOVES the pool. He tries to swim, always wants to be horizontal in the water, and has no problem going under. He gets bored in his floatie and wants to be on his own so badly! He is a little dangerous!

This picture is today, right after both kids woke up from their naps. It is so hot, we have been letting them sleep in very little clothing!

Busy, Busy!

Things have been pretty nuts lately. It seems we are catching ourselves coming and going, and I fall into bed exhausted each night. More than once, I have fallen asleep with a book in my hand and my light on, never even realizing when Jeff comes to bed and takes my book away and turns off my light! This week was a challenge as I was parenting solo. Jeff was in Wisconsin for his annual fishing trip with the guys, so it was just me and the kiddos, hangin out! I must say, I have so much respect for single parents. It is a TON of work to do it all - get up, get the kids out the door and off to school, work all day, go to after school activities (this week was swimming lessons!), come home, do dinner, baths and bed. And I thought I was tired before!!!!! I have decided that I am taking a vacation to see my sister, and I will leave the kids behind with Jeff! I need a break! (of course I will only be gone 3 days, and it won't be until after Blake's first birthday... but still!)

The kids have been great. Blake got his first tooth (bottom left) at 7 months and his second one came in just a few weeks later. He had been biting everything, but took a break for a week or so, and now he is back at it. Don't hold him wearing a tank-top, or he will bite your shoulder! I don't think it will be long before the top 2 are in as well. He doesn't care for baby food anymore. He would prefer anything that he can feed himself, and if it must come from a spoon, then it needs to be something that has texture and needs to be chewed. He can tell you no. It is so cute! When he no longer wants the thing he is being fed, he will shake his head side to side and grin at you. When he smiles, he smiles with his whole face. I LOVE IT! I expect that he will be crawling at any moment. He gets up on all 4's and rocks back and forth. He is so close!

Avery is in a very fun phase. For the most part, she really wants to please you. When you praise her for good behavior, she will run up and hug you so tight. But, every few days, she has a horrible day!!! But I love the days when she just wants to please and is happy all day long! She has her first "best friend" at school, Ava. Fortunately, Ava's parents went to school at OU, and her dad was on the gymnastics team. So we are thrilled! Actually, Steve and Whitney are great people and we are very happy that the girls have found one another. It is fun to watch them together and see how kind they are to eachother. They always hug hello and goodbye, and I always get a hug and a kiss from Ava when I pick Avery up from school. Whitney and I were brave enough to take the girls out to dinner one night after gymnastics class, and, as you can see by the blurriness of the picture, there was not a lot of sitting still! But, it was fun!

For the most part, we have just been busy with the usual stuff. Here are a few pictures from our weekends:

Honkin' Bird

Avery tonight in the bathtub singing:

"Hush little baby don't say a word. Momma's gonna buy you a honkin' bird. If that honkin' bird don't..... Momma's gonna buy you a hilly goat."

Gotta love the songs of a 3 year old!

Grammy and Pa Pa

We just had a wonderful visit with Jeff's parents (A month ago!) and I have been working on this post forever! They were able to spend 3 weeks with us and we are so grateful for that time. It's hard to believe that it had been over a year since we last saw them. We need to make sure we don't go that long between visits again!

The first 2 weeks they stayed at the fairgrounds in their RV and would come spend time with us each day. Grammy had the kids and I over for dinner a couple of time and one night and she fixed orange jello with manderines in it. Avery thought that was sooooo cool!

PaPa was able to babysit Blake a couple of times while Jeff and his mom went fishing. Thankfully he is an easy baby, so he had no problems! Blake, of course, loved the visits with Grammy and PaPa. Anyone that showers him with attention is alright in his book! He is such a happy baby lately! He has not hit the shy phase yet at all.

Avery, always slow to warm up, enjoyed her time with her grandparents. She embarassed me a couple of times in the way that all 3 year olds do. The tantrums are something I could live without. Once she gets her mind on something, that is all she focuses on. Jan and I went to Kmart one day and I let Avery come along since I needed to get her some new shoes for school. What a mistake. What was supposed to be a leisurley trip was soon filled with the whines of a 3 year old that HAD to have a new baby. (because she doesn't have enough already...) So, for the last half of our visit, all you could hear was Avery crying, "I want a new baby" over and over and OVER again. I tried to ignore it and continue browsing, but she wouldn't give up. Jan tried to distract her, but it didn't work at all. Not so fun! (The Dora shoes we bought that day did not get to be worn until the next afternoon because her behavior was so bad...)

The last week together we all went to Yosemite and stayed in a cabin about 100 yards from Grammy and PaPa's RV. Each day we went into the Yosemite Valley and did different hikes. Avery's spontaneous "Wow!" 's were my favorite part of the trip. She really liked the waterfalls! She thought the tunnels were pretty neat too, and would ask each day if we were going to drive through them. She would ride in Grammy's yellow bug car most days, and she is convinced that we need to get a yellow bug car for ourselves.

The first full day there (Sunday) it rained most of the day, and we went to Hetch Hetchy Dam. We walked over the Dam and found some Salimanders on the trail. There were at least 6 or 7 that we found, and they were so cute! Even with the weather, it was a beautiful place. I can only imagine how pretty it is on a sunny day!

Monday we went to the Yosemite Visitors Center, walked through the Ansel Adams Gallery, watched a great film on the history of Yosemite, and "hiked" to the Lower Yosemite Fall. A word to the wise - take a rain coat in the spring. You can't get within a 100 yards of any of the falls without getting wet! The force of the water is amazing! Avery was a trooper walking on the trails with us! She enjoyed all of the birds, but not the water so much!

Tuesday we went to see Bridal Veil Fall, the Awahnee Hotel and hiked to Mirror Lake. It was another beautiful hike. I wonder how many times I will say the word beautiful??? It just was! You look at the Valley, and all of the rock formations and just wonder what God was thinking when he put this all together. To have this many amazing rock formations all in one place is overwhelming. Anyhow - Mirror lake isn't what it used to be. Every year it gets smaller due to the sediment being carried down by the run off into the lake. But the view of Half Dome was spectacular (or was it beautiful??? :o) and we enjoyed sitting by the lake for a while. Another tourist was kind enough to take this photo for us:

Wednesday we hiked to Vernal Falls. It was a pretty good hill up to the falls and Avery decided that she didn't care to walk. Blake was in the Jogger sleeping and I carried Avery on my back. It was a bit of a workout! Half way up, Avery decided that she needed to go potty, so she and I turned around and headed back down the hill in search of one. I knew it was about a 1/2 mile away, so I hoped she would make it! We sang the "Wheels on the Bus" song to help distract her, but half way there she said, "Mommy I can't hold it any more!" So, I waited until there were no people walking by and I helped her water the ground. I felt a little bad about doing that in a National Park, but depserate times call for desperate measures... She felt much better after that and we waited at the bottom of the trail for everyone to come back down.

Thursday found us at the Mariposa Grove looking at the giant sequoias. It was amazing. The tram wasn't running yet, and we weren't up for the 2.5 mile hike to the visitor center, but we did part of the trail and got to see quite a few nice trees. My favorite is the Bachelor and the 3 Graces. There are few other giant sequoias behind the 3 Graces and I decided that one of them was the mother-in-law keeping a distant watch over her son (The Bachelor) and the other was the father-in-law keeping watch over the mother-in-law. Thankfully MY mother-in-law thought that was funny! I have a wonderful in-law family!

Friday we drove out to Glacier Point to see this spectacular view:

I think the picture speaks for itself.

We were in the Valley for 5 days, but it still wasn't enough time to see it all. We can't wait to go back! We are so grateful for the time we had with Jeff's parent's. Such wonderful memories were made and I love listening to Avery talk about the trip at random time throughout the day. We may not get much time with that side of the family, but this was definately QUALITY time.

My Goodness!

What a month it has been! So, we spent Easter weekend with my sister and her family. My brother drove with us and did a lot of the driving (thank you Brendon!) and we had a great time. The kids had fun hunting for Easter eggs in the back yard. We hid eggs, and little Elmo, Disney Princess and Batman containers all over the yard. Avery was a crack up about it. If she spotted a Batman container, she would purposely bypass it even though it had the same candy in it as the other ones! Such a girl! She was the same way at the "egg hunt" we went to on Saturday. It was a huge field that was broken into different sections for different age groups. At exactly 10am all of the kids ran into the appropriate area and picked up as many goodies as they could fit into their baskets. Each section had treats laying all over the ground in plain sight. I was worried that Avery wouldn't participate - she can be so shy, she wouldn't even sit on the Easter Bunny's lap that day, even though she was the one who asked if she could go see him! Tristan and Allie loved all over him! So when the time came for them to all go "hunting" I worried that she would freak out with the 100+ other kids around her since we couldn't go in and help her. Nope! She had a ball searching for all of the goodies. The girl was on a mission and would bypass 10 things to get to one specific thing. It was so funny.

At one point she was about 50 yards away and looked up to show us what she had found. I thought, "Here we go, she's gonna freak out". But no, she just smiled and waved what she had and kept on going! The whole hunt lasted about 5 minutes. Once all of the goodies had been snatched up, that was it! But it was so fun! And of course, as soon as it was over, they wanted a treat out of their baskets!

Once we got home from our visit with Auntie Sis and Uncle Mark, Jeff's parents came in to town. We had a wonderful time with them during the 3 weeks we had together, and Avery is still talking about them. A lot of good memories were made.

So much to say, so little time!

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. We have had a lot going on! We spent last weekend at my sisters and had a great time. Avery hoarded the baby dolls, and Auntie Sis was nice enough to buy her a new one for her birthday. That doll hasn't left her side since we got home. She is so cute with it! She talks to her, and tells her, "I am the mommy and the sister, that's why." Cracks me up! She does love her babies! She loved playing with Tristan and Allie and was sad when we had to go.

Blake is really rolling now! If you put him on his back, he quickly flips over, but then gets mad when he gets stuck on his stomach! He can roll all the way over, he just isn't quite consistant with it yet! He started on food recently (Grammie was able to feed him his first real food - strained peaches) He LOVES food! Not surprising given his girth! Last night he was really hungery when Jeff fed him dinner. With every bite he made a "ummmmm" sound. It was so funny. He was so hungery that he didn't even notice that he was eating green beans and not fruit. Feeding him food was pretty uneventful. No silly faces were made. I think he was more like, "It's about time mom! I'm hungery!"

Avery turned 3 last month. So hard to believe. She is at a really fun age (when are they not?) and she says the funniest things. She can say the Pledge of Alligiance and count to 14 consistantly. She is working on her letters - so far her A's look like H's, but it's a start! Her favorite phrases right now are, "Are you kidding me?" and, "Does that sound good for me?" She likes to tell you all of the words that we don't say, and is quick to point out when you say one of them. Most often it is the word "stupid". Oops!

I know I have so much more to write, but I am drawing a blank. The house is quiet and my mind keeps wandering to all of the things I "should" be doing.... Perhaps I will have more time later! For now, here's a few pictures!

He rolled over!

Yay for Blake!

I was at my parent's house today picking up Avery (My mom was nice enough to pick her up from school today so I could do a little uninterrupted shopping!) and I commented on the fact that Blake had yet to roll over. Ever the comparing mother (I try not to, but it's hard!), I mentioned that Avery rolled over at 15 weeks and Blake will be 5 months on Thursday! So, my mom put him on his tummy so we could "practice" and lo and behold the little booger rolled right over! But only once. After that we had to help him, and he just got mad. :o) But, he did do it, and I am so proud!

Next thing you know he will be getting teeth ( Avery didn't get her first tooth until she was 9 months - oh there I go again, comparing!) He chews on EVERYTHING and bites really hard on anything he can find. I fear for myself!

Fishin

Jeff took Avery out in the back yard last week and was teaching her how to use her fishing pole that Santa brought her. He was working on a new casting style, and Avery jumped right in with her own. She loved it! Now they can't wait to try it out on the water!

Finally!

Normally when I get the camera out, you get a picture like this:


But this morning, I was finally able to catch a picture of his adorable smile! Now, there were a few tricks to getting this done. I had to turn off the flash - that is too distracting - and I had to play with him for a long time before he forgot that the camera was there and gave me a grin. Such a cute boy!

Like Father like Daughter

Jeff snapped this picture of Avery perusing the Cabela's catalog the other night. She was finding all of the pink fishing lures!

Blake's 4 month Check up

Blake had his 4 month check up last week and he weighed in at a whopping 15lb 10 oz. He is 25 inches long and in the 75th percentile for height and weight. He certainly doesn't take after his mommy who was always in the 10th percent or lower! He is such a happy baby, babbling more and more each day. He loves to suck on things and will resort to his sleeve if nothing else is available. Ironically, he is not fond of the pacifier, and he will not hold still long enough to keep his fingers or thumb in his mouth. He does like to suck on a little lamb "woobie" that Avery gave him when he was born. I guess he likes the taste of fuzz!

How do you mess up a haircut???

I'll tell you how. Take a 2 - almost 3 year old with you.

So I made an appointment for both Avery and I to get our haircut on Tuesday afternoon. We have done this before, so I thought nothing of it. Well, never again! She was such a bear, that she barely got a trim, but thankfully she held still long enough to get her bangs cut. Then, when it was my turn, she whined and made such a fuss that my hairdresser and I were so distracted by trying to distract her, that she failed to cut the left half of my head! She pulled the cape off of me and was going to dry my hair, but I told her not to worry - it was raining anyway and we were just going home - and I had had it with the whining. So, I got home and went to dry my hair and realized that the left side was almost an inch longer than the right! And, since my hair is just above my shoulders, it was a little noticable!

I had to wait until Friday to get it fixed and as I was leaving Avery asked, "Can I go with you mommy?" Ummm, no.

Lesson learned. No more double appointments!

And all things PINK!

My daughter, the lover of pink, took things a little too far and got pink eye. When we picked her up from Nana and Papa's on Sunday she was starting to get the goopiness in her left eye. By the middle of the night, both of her eyes were glued shut. Everytime she would wake up, she would cry because she couldn't see. Finally, after wiping her eyes with a wet washcloth numerous times, I crawled in bed with her for the remainder of the night for comfort. (I am sooooo glad we gave her a queen size bed!) She visited the Dr the next day and was put on drops - 4x's a day for 5 days. After the 1st full day of being on the drops her eyes are completely clear and she can't figure out why we still have to do the drops!

All clothing must be pink is some fashion or another. We got her a pink Bass Pro Shops sweatshirt and a pink Tinkerbell hat with matching gloves when we were in Vegas. She likes to wear the hat gangsta style - pulled down over her eyes so that she has to tilt her head up to look at you. It doesn't help that the hat is meant for someone my size! I am hoping that is the real reason she is sporting the hat gangsta style, and not that I have a future thug on my hands!

Blake, on the other hand, is all blue and brown. He looks so good in brown! Who'd of thought??? He has learned to scoot on his back and was able to turn himself 180 degrees today. No rolling yet, but I have a feeling it won't be long. He can get up on his side, so he is half way there!

Viva Las Vegas

Wow! It's been a while! Things have been really busy since I went back to work 3 weeks ago. All is well, and I am enjoying the 20 hours a week I am putting in. I am very blessed to have a boss as accomodating as mine. Blake has spent a few hours at work with me (thankfully sleeping like a log thru all of it!) and everyone in the office seems to truly enjoy having him there.

We are officially past the first 3 months (the hardest time, if you ask me) and Blake is so fun. He babbles and smiles and interacts with you when we play. He loves anything that gets his body moving, and seems to already be a bit of a daredevil. He LOVES it when Jeff tosses him in the air! But the little stinker turns serious EVERY time I get out the camera. He will be grinning away, and the minute the camera comes out, he sobers up and stares at me. He's definately a thinker like his daddy.

Last weekend we headed to Vegas for a gymnastics meet. Avery stayed home with Nana and Papa and didn't miss us for a second. Blake took his first plane ride and did great. Thankfully he didn't poop on me like his sister did during her first flight! We went to 3 gymnastics meets including the Winter Cup Finals where the US national team was selected. We were able to see Jonathan Horton, Raj Balthzar, Justin Spring, Joe Hagarty, and David Durante from the 2008 Men's Olympic Team, as well as Mark Williams, Jeff's coach from OU. It was a great time of visiting and eating and not a penny spent on gambling! Jeff took 12 boys from our gym there to compete at the Junior Olympic Meet and our Level 5 Boys took 2nd place Team. Our Level 6's were 10th which was a huge accomplishment.

Blake was a trooper - eating and sleeping in all different places. He is a much lighter sleeper than his sister, but can still manage to sleep thru the cheering and clapping of a gymnastics meet.

He has gotten better at reaching for toys. He is still very uncoordinated, but tonight at dinner he was sitting on my lap and grabbed a fist full of green beans. He didn't know what to do with them after that, but he enjoyed touching them! His newest thing is sucking on his hands. Any part of them will do, he just LOVES to mouth them all the time. He is constantly covered in drool! I have a feeling he will not be like Avery - who never put anything in her mouth that didn't belong there. We will definately have to put up the marbles and small toys when he gets to be mobile!

Avery has gotten to have a very vivid imagination. She loves to play dress up, and most days her friend Evi is here helping her get into mischief. Keep in mind that Evi is a real girl at her school, but the imaginary "Evi" comes over to play everyday. I have even had to push "Evi" on the swing at the park. Avery was quite upset when another boy sat in the swing that "Evi" had been in and squished her. The real Evi's mom laughs when I tell her all that "Evi" does at our house each day. It's fun to see Avery play with others - real or imagined - and listen to the games they play. She is at a very fun age.

I'm having a bot of a mental block at the moment and can't think of any fun stories - doesn't help that Blake is crying in the living room with Jeff. So, I guess I will go for now and hopefully not wait 3 weeks before posting again!

My, What a BIG Boy!

We took Blake to the Dr today for a check up. He has a cold again and we wanted to be sure that it wasn't anything more serious... Anyhow, the boy weighs 15lbs 5oz! That's 3 lbs more than LAST MONTH. I know he never misses a meal, but seriously!

He reached for a toy for the first time yesterday, and has started to babble quite a bit. He will stare at you with his big blue eyes and give you the sweetest grin. I love this phase... Really, I love all of the phases (except the first 2 months.... those are hard) each one seems to be just a little better than the last.

Speaking of which, Avery is in a very assertive phase. I had to laugh this weekend when I was trying to get her ready so that we could go to the park. She kept dinging around and wouldn't do as I asked her to do. I was trying to get her hair done, and in frustration I said to her, "Would you please get your butt over here?" To which she sweetly pointed to her doll house across the room and said, "How about I put my butt over there?" It was hard not to burst out laughing. Of course I had to apologize for saying "butt" and explain that I hadn't chosen my words very well. But she didn't mind!

This morning I woke up to the sound of her throwing her pull-up away in the garbage in my bathroom. I lifted my head up to see her walking out of my room waving sweetly at me. A few minutes later I could hear her in the front bathroom, so I got up to see what she was doing. There she was completely dressed - shoes, socks, pants, undies and a shirt - and ready for school. Such an independent girl sometimes. And to think - Just a few short weeks ago, she wouldn't even get out of bed without me coming in to get her!

Go Sooners!

Just a quick post - yesterday after Avery's nap she was asking for a snack. She said, "I would like some apple slices in a baggie, some grapes in a baggie, and a cup of milk. Go Sooners." The "Go Sooners" was almost like the "amen" at the end of a prayer. Jeff and I died laughing! At least she is rooting for the right team!

Christmas

I have tried to post this now 3 times... So, let's hope that the third time's a charm!

Christmas this year was so fun! We woke up to snow falling heavily and the first white Christmas I can remember in over 20 years! Avery took her sweet time getting up. (I was awake at 7:15 just waiting!) She finally rolled out of bed at 8:45, came out into the hallway dragging her new camara she had gotten the day before from Papa Tim and Grandma Sheila, her slippers, and her blanket, and simply asked, "Is Santa here?".

Avery had made Christmas easy this year. When she sat on Santa's lap she simply asked for a book and a ball (Jeff and I were thrilled! We could handle a book and a ball!) Of course as the day drew nearer the request became more specific - a pink pok-a-dot ball and a pink book, plus a babydoll. So, of course we were able to accomodate the request, and add in a few of our own!

The dollhouse she received was the highlight of her day, and she spent most of the time playing with it and the family that came with it. Unfortunately, the dollhouse overtook everything else that was there, including the lovely letter that Santa left for her thanking her for the cookies that she had left for him. She didn't even notice the pink book and ball until much later! This is what you would have seen if you walked into our living room for most of Christmas day:

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner at my mom and dad's house that both kids slept through and enjoyed having a very quiet day.

On Christmas Eve we read a great book that tells the story of the Jesus' birth. It was a nice way to remember the true meaning of the season, and we plan to make it a family tradition to read that book every year. After Jeff was done reading Avery pointed to Blake and asked if he was Jesus. Silly girl!

The Lip

I had to share this picture of Blake. He has this wonderful knack of jutting out his bottom lip just before he screams. This has been the case ever since the minute he was born. When he was only half way out the Dr suctioned his mouth and nose and we waited for his first cry. The cord had been wrapped around his neck and I remember it seemed an eternity before we heard it. I kept saying, "Cry, baby. Cry!". And then, he jutted out his bottom lip as far as he could and let out a scream. We laughed so hard - my mom and Tammie could hear us through the wall! And so, everytime I see the lip come out, I have to laugh and remember how quickly you can go from feeling the worst pain ever, to absolute elation at the sound of a newborn child. I hope he never out grows this habit.

OK - maybe he should out grow it at some point, or he may never marry!