Sorry...

I know it has been forever since I updated this blog but it has been a crazy two months! Since Thanksgiving my head has been spinning and I have not sat down. Between Thanksgiving programs, Christmas shopping, teacher gifts, class parties, Holiday Parties, baking goodies to have on hand for those who bake goodies for us, and going out of town I have been too tired at night to even turn the computer on. I am writing this from the beach where I can finally relax and think through all the fun things that have happened over the last two months. Here at the beach we are celebrating Lynley's 4th birthday today! And Kate turned 7 months yesterday. It's hard to believe I both of those numbers. It seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital having Kate. And I can't believe I'm old enough to have a 4-year-old!!

Kate has changed so much in the last few months. She started sitting up a few days before 6 months (I know I'm in trouble again!) and she's finally chunked up a little. She is such a pleasant baby and will sit for an hour on a quilt and just play by herself. I often forget she's there. On Christmas Eve, she sat and played with red tissue paper for at leat 45 minutes. She was much more enthralled with that than the toys. She's very verbal and to Josh's pleasure her favorite word to babble is "dada".

Lynley fully enjoyed the holiday season this year and seemed to really understand it. She would come home from school and tell me all about Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus and how Christmas is celebrating Jesus' birthday. She also thoroughly enjoyed going to the mall and sitting on Santa's lap. We did it once to get her picture taken and then 2 more times just so she could tell him what she wanted. However, the day after Christmas she asked Josh if Santa was real or pretend (her words exactly). Josh said "what do you think?" She looked at me with a doubtful look, shook her head and said "I think he's pretend" We didn't say anything and she dropped it. Santa may not last long at our house! She never ceases to amaze me with the things she comes up with. On the way to the mall one day (one of the many days it rained and we had to get out of the house) she said "Mommy, I want to eat at the food court again". I told her ok and she says "Again, what does again mean?" I answer with "it means to do something over, or a 2nd time, again. She says, "I didn't ask what redundant meant, I asked what again meant". I have no idea where she got that word because I don't think I've ever used that word around her! She cracks me up all the time.

Now we're at the beach having a relaxing family vacation and it is wonderful down here. Pretty warm and very sunny. I've posted pictures from the last few months, including Lynley's thanksgiving program, Christmas, etc. Enjoy, and I'll try to be better in the future.

Happy Fall

This is pretty good!!

We had our first full week of rice cereal and Kate seemed to really like it. I find this unusual because it sure does not smell good and I don't think I've ever hear any mom say their child loved rice cereal. She smiles the whole time I'm feeding it to her. If there was one word to describe this child it would be EASY! I'm in no saying that having two children is easy because it's not. Especially not between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. But as far as eating, sleeping and just hanging out, she is pleasant and laid back. She's probably saving it all up for the toddler years. That seems to be what Lynley did. She is definitley a pleasure to be around every day. I look forward every day to looking over into her crib in the morning and seeing that big smile.

A Day at the Farm

Today Lynley's class, along with all the other 3-year classes, took a field trip to Old Baker Farm where they had all kinds of farm animals, a pumpkin patch and a hayride. They were able to see and pet (yuck!!) all kinds of animals- donkeys, pigs, baby ducks and horses. The highlight of the trip was probably the hayride out to the pumpkin patch. All the children were able to pick out a pumpkin and bring it home. My least favorite part of the trip- probably when all the children, including mine, were touching all the animals and then preceded to put their hands in their mouths before the moms could get over to them with hand sanitizer! Oh well, I guess we'll survive. Lynley thought the white rabbits looked just like Mr. Rabbit!

Kate

Several of you have mentioned that you haven't seen any pics of Kate in a while. Poor second child!! It's so hard to find time to take pictures now. But I have been better in the last few weeks. She has changed so much. She smiles all the time, especially at Lynley. She is a happy, happy baby. Enjoy!!

Auburn Football Weekend

Lynley experienced her first Auburn football weekend and I think she's officially a true Auburn fan now! Or her grandparents might say she's officially brainwashed! She had the full Auburn experience- tailgating, tiger walk and a great rivalry game. She handled it like a champ, even without a nap and staying up from 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. She met Aubie at tiger walk and had her picture taken with him. You can see how excited she is by the smile on her face. She looked like that all day. We had so much fun staying with our good friends, Allyn, Ashley, Ella and Gray. Lynley cried when we had to leave and didn't understand why we couldn't just live there. My pledge class also had a reunion this weekend and it was so good to see so many friends I haven't seen in so long. Thanks Leslie for hosting us all! Needless to say we are tired from a long, exciting weekend but it was well worth it.

First Day of 3-year Preschool

Lynley went for her first day of 3-year preschool today. She had new teachers and some new children in her class that she had never met before. As usual she walked in and never looked back to see if I was still there. I'm so glad that she is so confident and comfortable at school but it still would be nice to feel missed!

Nothing Sweeter

I really think I could watch her sleep all day if I didn't have a million other things to do. She is such a sweet baby- I wish I could freeze this stage and just soak it all in.

Little Mommy

Lynley is definitely paying close attention to everything I do. She came in the kitchen the other day and asked me to help her put on the Baby Bjorn. The next thing I know she's walking around with "Mr. Rabbit" in it. Such a good little mommy in the making.

Summer pics

3 1/2 Year Birthday Party

We celebrated Lynley being 3 1/2 last week with a pool party and I think she had a blast. Her real birthday is Dec. 30th but for several reasons we decided to celebrate it in the summer. Her cake turned out so cute- it was a big frog with hot pink flippers on her feet and a pink bow on her head. I've attached several pics of the kids having a great time and the cute cake.

Beach Trip

Last week our new family of four took a trip to the beach and had a very relaxing time. I was prepared for it to be somewhat difficult with a 3 1/2 year-old who wants to swim all the time and a newborn who has to eat every 3 hours. But it really wasn't. It was very breezy by the pool so we just parked Kate in the shade and she slept while Josh and I played with Lynley. We had dinner with Michael and Claire and their boys. Lynley and Luke hit it off- they have equal amounts of energy so we decided it would be best if we just ordered pizza and stayed in the condo. After the night was over, I was very glad we were not at someone's house. It was a miracle nothing was broken! Also, Lynley met a friend at the pool that was the exact same age as her and they had a blast swimming together. Everyday she wanted to go down to the pool and play with Conner. I attached a picture of the two of them lounging on a raft. Overall, it was a great family trip and we're already ready to go back!

Our Little Fish

Because we go to the pool so much and Lynley has no fear of the water, I decided it was time she take swimming lessons. I really didn't think she would be able to swim after one week of swim lessons, I just wanted her to learn some water safety and be able to get herself over to the wall and out of the pool in case she were to fall in. However, by the last day she was swimming like a pro. She swims underwater with her eyes open and a big smile on her face. Since learning to swim, she wants no part of the baby pool. We have to go straight to the big pool so she can jump off the wall and swim to us. The only drawback to her learning to swim is that she wants mom and dad in the pool too!

Bath Time

One of Lynley's favorite things to do is give Kate a bath. She begins asking everyday around 4:00 p.m. if it's time to bathe her yet. I probably wouldn't normally bathe her every day because she doesn't get that dirty. But Lynley gets so excited about it that I can't resist. She takes bath time very seriously!

The Exciting Month of May

Now that I know how to upload pictures onto the blog I want to highlight some of the events that happened most recently. Our family had a BIG May. Lynley had her first dance recital which she was so excited about. She wasn't too sure about her costume at first. She's not really into really frilly things and this costume had a tutu on it. There were a few tears the first time she tried it on but after she realized everyone else in her class would be wearing it she was ok with it. By recital time she was very excited about it, as you can see in the picture.



Also, on May 29th, Kate was born. I have attached a few pictures right after she was born. She looks totally different now. Her little nose is not flattened down anymore and she's much more wide-eyed now. God has blessed us with such a good baby! She's pretty happy unless we are trying to change her daiper, change her clothes, or lay her down and try to get something done around the house!

9 to 5

We slept through the night! Even though Kate has been a great sleeper since coming home from the hospital, she went from 9:00 p.m. until 5:00 a.m. without making a peep. We have been so blessed with two great sleepers. I'm not sure what I would do if they didn't since I require quite a bit of sleep too. They obviously took after me in this area!

I took Kate to the doctor last Thursday for her 1 month appointment and she weighed 8lbs., 1 oz. and 22 inches long. Kate weighed more and was shorter than Lynley at birth but now weighs less and is longer than Lynley was at her 1 month appointment. Also, I may not have mentioned to some of you that Kate has dark blue eyes while Lynley's have always been dark brown. I can't wait to see if they end up looking similar or totally different.

We saw Kate smile for the first time on July 1st. It is the sweetest thing to look down at her and see those bright eyes and big smile. She's definitely getting a personality and starting to notice everything going on around her. You can see her smiling in the picture I attached but everytime the camera flashed she closed her eyes.

Entering the World of Blogging

Ok, I've decided to start a blog ( I guess that's the correct terminology). I've become so addicted to reading other people's that I'm now going to create one of my own. I think it will be a great way to let family and friends keep up with what's going on in our lives. I'm still in the beginning stages of setting it up so it may take a while for me to get the hang of it. As of now, my computer skills consist of being able to type a letter and surfing the internet. We'll see how it goes.