Kids Concert

We used to go out at night and see rock bands at local bars. Now we go out on a Sunday afternoon and see a kid's band called Justin Roberts and the Not Ready 4 Naptime Players. The flyer we got was quoted as calling him "the Paul McCartney of kids music." Now while I wouldn't go that far, they were pretty darn good.

Madeline loved them and danced up a storm!

Fia wasn't too into it.

So Madeline tried to show her how to dance. It was too funny.

Raspberries

For the record, she was doing it first.

7 months today!

So I got my 7-month baby email from Similac and it's titled, "Your baby is on the move!" Umm, not this baby. She still has yet to roll over unassisted. She is seriously the most laid back baby ever. Her daycare teachers brag that they have the easiest baby in the whole center. She is incredibly patient and hardly cries about anything.

That's not to say she doesn't have a few new developments to mention though.....

- she has 2 new teeth! Her smile is adorable.

- she likes to sit up and look around all the time now. She can't actually sit up on her own yet so we put her in her highchair alot with toys to play with.

- she has found her feet and likes to grab them. She can't quite get them in her mouth though. hehe That can't possibly be due to her chunky thighs.

- she likes chewing on blankets just like her big sister. She sleeps in a sleep sack and gets the top of the sack in her mouth to fall asleep with.

She's getting cuter and cuter every month. You can't miss the rolls, but look at those eyelashes!

Potty Training

The time has come to start potty training. I've been dreading this battle but Madeline has really started showing an interest so it is time. She likes to sit on the potty and will even go sometimes. We bought her some Minnie Mouse underwear this weekend and she loved them! She had to try on every one in the package and go show Daddy. She was so proud. This weekend we plan on doing Potty Training Boot Camp as I call it....basically staying home and going diaper-free all weekend until she gets the hang of it. We got all our supplies ready to go:


- potty chair....check!

- cute underwear....check!

- reward stickers....check!

- lots of patience and papertowels....check!

Sophia's 6 month checkup

Sophia had her 6 month checkup on Monday (yes, 3 weeks late) and she is doing well. She weighs 19 pounds 12 oz (97th percentile) and is 26.5 inches long (75th percentile). Sophia is exactly the same height as Madeline at this age and just a bit heavier. I had to move her up another size of diapers AGAIN! Her clogged tear duct is still there unfortunately. If it doesn’t clear up by 9 months, she’ll have to get a procedure done to fix it. She is behind the curve on gross motor skills which we already knew (sitting up, rolling over), but it still isn’t a big deal yet. She is a happy, healthy baby and doing great! She LOVES her big sister and Madeline is just about the only one that can get her to laugh. I can get a small half-chuckle every now and then, but Madeline can get some good laughs from her. It is so cute to watch. She is loving her cereal and I give her new tastes to try all the time. I still haven’t tried pears again. Maybe in another month.

VACATION!!

We just got back from a fabulous, relaxing, week-long vacation in Top Sail, North Carolina. We went with Andy's parents and stayed in a house right on the beach. The stairs to the deck literally walked you over the dune and straight onto the beach. Can't get better than that!

The first day we took Madeline out by the water and she got wet from the tide rolling over her. That DID NOT go over well and she was scared of the water for several days, despite much coaxing. We told her we could see Nemo and Dori so she kept looking for them. hahaha In the end, she ended up liking the water as long as someone was holding her, but she never ended up actually playing in it. She loved playing in the sand though. And loved knocking down any effort anyone made to make a sand castle.

Sophia wasn't a fan of the beach. I think it was too hot and windy for her. She did like the softer breeze up on the deck though. Sometimes it would put her right to sleep. We saw lots of sunrises together since she gets up so early. I think those mornings were my favorite part of the trip. Drinking a cup of coffee on the deck with the ocean breeze, watching the sun rise while sitting with my sweet baby girl. Nothing better.

Andy and I went out and played 9-holes of golf one day. We went at 2pm so there wouldn't be many other players around because we play really slow (mostly me). Come to find out later, the city was under a heat advisory that day and broke a temperature record. It was definitely hot but we had a great time!

Another night we had a date and went to local restaurant. They had alligator tail on the menu and we were feeling adventurous, so we ordered it. Tastes like chicken. Doesn't everything?

Other than that, we spent most of the time relaxing at the beach with everyone and taking turns staying inside with little Fia. We grilled out a few times and we each drank our fair share of wine. All in all, it was a great vacation and we have many good memories.

I took way too many pictures to put on here so I made a slideshow out of them all.

Sophia Painting with Yarn

She's not too young for an art project.

No More Pears

Sophia is doing really well with her cereal, but is not too fond of pears.

Alexis and Sophia

I had a playdate this past weekend with some friends and Jackie and Alexis drove up to play too! It was alot of fun but I didn't take any pictures while people were here because I was pretty busy. I did take a few afterwards when Madeline finally got in the pool after everyone left.

And I caught Alexis giving Fia some hugs and kisses. Aww.

Madeline at daycare

"During our Circle Time today, the children could use the color paddles to experience how our eyes see different colors. They can actually see how from three primary colors, many other colors are created. As you can see, Madeline enjoyed the experience." - Mrs. Jane

6 months!

Sophia is half a year old! Wow, how the time flies. New this month....

- she can sleep without her swaddle now

- she rolls onto her side with no problem, but then she stops short of going all the way. This doesn't surprise me though because she HATES being on her stomach.

- she is eating cereal and had carrots for the first time today.

Deep Water Story Time

Apparently Madeline needed her goggles on for story time.

Wacky Wednesday

Madeline loves to read books...... by herself, with us, at school. She just loves books. I've tried getting her on video before but she gets all camera shy. So this time I planted the camera so she thought she was alone. She obviously can't read the text so she makes up the words based on the pictures. It is adorable!


She is reading her new favorite book, Wacky Wednesday. On the first couple pages, there are shoes on the walls of the house and you'll hear her say that. Most of it is unintelligible, but there are some words you'll recognize.

Sophia finding her voice

Pay no attention to the other child screaming in the background. haha

My Sweet Baby Dolls

Bath Time with Sophia

Fourth of July Weekend!

We had such a great holiday weekend! I wish all weekends were like this. We started out taking the kids to a local parade.

Madeline wasn't too into it. The whole time she was looking around wondering what the heck this all was. Then the school marching band came through and it was too much for her.

Fia did okay except when the firetrucks came through.

These clydedales where goregous!

Then we headed to Nana and Papaw's house for some fun.

Andy and Dave introducing Madeline to the fun of fireworks. Are snakes really any fun? They just make a big mess.

My family got together at my Aunt Pat's house. Madeline LOVED this car. Seriously. She would cry whenever another kid got in it. And she was in it all day.

The kids did some fishing at the lake.

No, Madeline didn't catch anything. She was done after 2 seconds.

Alexis was playing peek-a-boo with me.

We got a great family picture taken in spite of Madeline's frowny face! It's because of my cousin, Tom. She does not like him at all and he was taking the picture.

Madeline Funny

Madeline has been falling down a lot lately and scraping up her knee. It is constantly torn up and she loves to tell people about her boo-boo. It is very important to her.

So anyway, I’m giving her a bath last night and we are naming off body parts…..head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, arm, hand, fingers, belly, legs, knee, foot, toes. I’m running out of body parts so I pause for a second. She doesn’t miss a beat and says, “boo-boo.” Hahaha. Who knew a boo-boo was body part?

Street Party

Our community has a street party once-a-month and for one reason or another, we've always missed it. Well we finally made it and had a blast! The catholic church was also having it's yearly festival, so there was all kinds of fun to be had.

Madeline and Andy took a ride on the Ferris wheel. Andy said it didn't only go up and down, it went sideways too. Eek!



Sophia wasn't too enthused.


Madeline had a great time the first couple of revolutions, but then she decided she was done and started screaming to get off. I didn't get a picture of that. But here she is having a great time.

She loved the balloon animal she got. It didn't last an hour before she popped it.

Here is random crazy guy we saw. I had to take a picture. I have no idea why he was painted as a dalmatian.

They have several bands all over the place. We found a good one and started dancing. Madeline needed some convincing, but once I got her going she was a dancing machine.

Alexis' First Birthday

Things are getting crazy around here and I'm behind on my updates. My niece turned one about two weeks ago and she had a great party!

She made a great mess eating her cake.