Adventures of Big B & Little Miss

18 months

2011-09-11T15:03:00.003-05:00

Miss Corinne is 18 months old! Yeah, I took pictures for 17 months, but they were so horrible I'm not going to even bother posting them. The 17 month pics were all of her either taking her hair down or handing me a hair elastic or of her looking generally disagreeable. She's really not liking this whole picture taking deal much anymore! She's fine if I take pictures while she's playing, but if I try to make her sit in a certain place or fix her hair at all...NO THANKS! Anyway, here's the best from her 18 month collection:

Laughing, probably at Momma:

Trying to take her hair down, as usual:

Climbed down from the chair:

Trying to escape!

Pretty girl!

16 months

2011-07-18T11:57:00.005-05:00

Corinne turned 16 months on the 10th...but I sort of forgot to take pictures. So, I took pictures this morning, but I'm also posting some other random pics from July.

Corinne has recently started playing with dolls and she seems to have chosen this one as her favorite. She loves pushing the little stroller around.

The kids wore their new swimsuits to a splash party. Corinne had a blast at the party, but is mad here because she didn't want to hold Barrett's hand. Barrett didn't have much fun at the party and stayed completely dry the entire time we were there, but he did like eating cake!

My 16 month old!

Barrett was trying to get her to smile for pictures and thought she might grin more if he was with her. Plus, he just likes having his picture taken.

Barrett took this picture and it turned out to be one of my favorites of the day!

The kids have enjoyed making "houses" and playing in them lately.

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T08:46:00.004-05:00

We aren't doing anything too eventful for the 4th this year, but we are spending time together and having a fun weekend! We had a friend over and grilled out on Saturday, just spent time together at home on Sunday and are still trying to make some plans for today. The kids are too little to stay up late enough to see our town's fireworks, but our neighbors usually have enough to entertain Barrett for a little while (and to scare our dogs for days). Happy 4th, everyone!

Here's Corinne looking cute in her festive shirt:

Barrett posing with Stuart in his little USA hat:

Cutie Corinne again:

Barrett and Corinne together:

Both smiling! Hard to capture!

Corinne finished this whole ear of corn!

A bath was necessary after Barrett ate his first rib:

Handsome boy!

Corinne-15 months

2011-06-13T14:28:00.003-05:00

Corinne is walking all the time now--never crawls at all anymore! She is starting to run and loves to be chased by anyone, especially if the chaser says, "I'm gonna get you"! She is talking a little and has a vocabulary of 10-15 words, although anyone other than her family might have trouble understanding her. She still thinks Barrett is hilarious and loves our dogs. She's still eating very well, also. I can't think of a single food that we've put in front of her that she's rejected. Of course, she likes some food more than others--she absolutely loves berries of any kind and cheese is also a favorite.

Trying to climb off the chair:

Loves books!

My favorite of the day:

So proud to stand up! I'm afraid the "chair pictures" aren't going to go on much longer!

Water day!

2011-06-13T14:16:00.004-05:00

It's been super hot here, which makes this Momma tired and not very motivated to take the kids anywhere. One weekend afternoon when they seemed particularly bored, Max and I decided to set up some water toys for them to play with in the backyard. We set up a baby pool, our water table and a sprinkler. We also made some popsicles and let the kids have them while they were playing in the water...a built in bath for sticky hands!

Here's Miss Corinne with her popsicle. Our grass is long! Don't judge...it's been really hot!

Happy Barrett with his popsicle:

Riding his bike. He rode it through the sprinkler after this and said it was a car wash!

Corinne having fun in the little pool:

Both kids in the pool:

Hanging out at the water table:

Barrett's swimming lessons

2011-06-13T14:08:00.003-05:00

Barrett took swim lessons at the end of May and learned to swim! He can swim underwater for a few feet. I have to hold his head down in the water, but that's what the instructor did also, so he's used to that. He can also retrieve rings from the bottom of the pool in 4 feet of water! He loves doing this and asks to do this at our neighborhood pool every time we are there. He learned to swim and loves swimming at our pool, but he didn't really like the lessons, unfortunately. He cried during all 8 lessons, but did everything the teacher asked him to do anyway. I'm not sure why he didn't like them, because he loves to swim!

Here he is waiting his turn in line to swim to the teacher:

Doing the limbo...underwater!

Got the ring off the bottom of the pool!

All the kids are lined up, waiting their turn. Barrett is in the water with the teacher.

Barrett's First T-Ball Game!

2011-05-14T19:03:00.003-05:00

After 2 practices, Barrett had his very first t-ball game today! He enjoyed batting and running the bases much more than he liked playing the field. He gets a little upset when he doesn't get the ball. He had fun today, but I think he'll enjoy it even more when he gets a better understanding of the game.

Here he is on first base with Coach Wes:

Running to 3rd base. Momma happened to be on 3rd base, so that might explain some of his enthusiasm. :)

Waiting to catch the ball:

Getting some help from Dad:

Hitting the ball (with some help from another parent):

Barrett's End of Year Preschool Party

2011-05-14T17:41:00.004-05:00

Barrett had his end of the year preschool party on Friday and he had lots of fun! Only one more day of preschool left and that is it for the summer! This momma is kind of sad about that. Barrett and I have enjoyed our short breaks from each other. We have lots of fun things planned this summer though: vacation bible school, swimming lessons, t-ball games and lots of relaxing!

Playing under the parachute with the teachers, parents and his classmates (B's in the brown striped shirt):

Helping to lift the parachute:

Whoops...not a picture of the party. Corinne and Barrett played in our storage ottoman one day and had a fun time.

Corinne wanted to get in the jump house with the big kids:

Barrett enjoyed playing with the trucks on the preschool playground:

Corinne sat in the grass and practiced looking very adorable:

Barrett drove this pretend bus quite a bit. Anytime another kid got in, Barrett pretended to be the driver and asked where they'd like to go.

Looking cool in the jump house:

Corinne-14 months!

2011-05-10T08:57:00.005-05:00

Well, we have a walking little girl! She started walking, little by little, this past month and now she is walking all the time. She gets mad when she falls or loses her balance, which is happening less and less. She's really becoming a little girl and less of a baby right now. She knows exactly what she wants and tries her hardest to let us know about it. She can let me know if Barrett is doing something she doesn't like, by squealing loudly. She knows I'll come running for certain squeals and cries! She is very particular about her hair (basically she wants nothing in it and wants me to leave her alone), so I was surprised when she let me put pigtails in this morning. She's just dressed in play clothes, but I decided to take her 14 month pictures while her hair looked cute.

My cutie-girl:

I gave her a snack to keep her hands out of her hair, so she is eating in many of these pics.

The snack didn't keep her distracted for long. If you know Corinne, this pic captured her perfectly!

She looks a little demented here, but I didn't get many smiles today.

Playing in the chair after she messed up her hair.

Barrett kept handing her toys and she laughed then (for him, of course!).

Being silly and trying to get the camera.

Barrett's May Day USA Program

2011-05-10T08:35:00.003-05:00

Barrett was in his first school program on Friday, May 6! He'd been singing Grand Old Flag and God Bless America to us for a few weeks, so I figured that's what his class was singing, but there were actually several other songs that they sang as well. He was very ready and excited to sing at school! Here he is the morning of the program...can you tell he's excited?

Here he is walking to the stage with one of his teachers. He spotted us and tried to sit with us shortly after this pic, but Mrs. Mandy convinced him to go with her to the front.

The 2.5 yr old class was in the very front row, since they are the shortest. We were happy to learn this, until we realized the music teacher would pretty much block our view of Barrett the entire program! We moved around a lot (thanks, Corinne!) though, and we got a fairly good view of him after all. He's in the very front here, at the bottom of the photo...with his hands clapping.

He participated very well (well, for a 3 yr old!) and was super excited after the program was over. He keeps singing the songs that his sang and I have no idea what they all are. Thank goodness for youtube! I can look up lyrics that he sings and find just about everything he asks me to sing with him. We're so happy that he loves music!

13 months!

2011-04-19T08:52:00.004-05:00

Corinne turned 13 months on the 10th, but we've all been sick with a cold, so I decided to wait until she and I felt better to mess with taking pictures. She's getting so big and likes to make her own decisions, so it's getting increasingly difficult to get her to sit still for any length of time. She's a very happy girl most of the time, and lets us know that she's not getting what she needs/wants by squealing really loudly. She loves being outside, so we spend every evening after dinner in the back yard. She loves to swing and climb on various toys we have. She has a great time just crawling around the yard. She is almost walking, even taking 4-5 steps before falling. She can stand on her own very well and seems to prefer cruising along furniture and walls rather than crawling, so I think the full-out walking is coming soon. She says a few words: "dada", "mama", "no no", and we think she might be saying "gentle" when she pets the dogs. She is a very active girl, always moving around and causing mischief, even when she's not feeling well! I took about 30 pictures of her this morning and most of them are of the top of her head or her back. She just wouldn't sit still!

She also refuses hair bows at this point, so that's why her hair is in her eyes a little. It grows so fast though, so we are letting it grow out so we can tuck it behind her ear until she'll wear barrettes again.

A rare still moment:

I love the pics in the chair, but it is much easier to take pics while she is playing on the floor!

Playing with her cookie puzzle with Barrett:

Standing! She took a couple steps after this!

Happy to see that Barrett woke up and came into her room:

Corinne's 1st birthday party

2011-03-10T14:09:00.005-06:00

Corinne is 1 today! We had a small party for her with our playgroup this morning.

Her party was bird themed. These are some jelly bean nests that the kids took home with them.

These were the bird cake pops the kids enjoyed at the party.

Barrett enjoyed playing with baby Caroline before everyone else got here.

Corinne looked so cute in her cupcake pants!

Here we are lighting Corinne's candle. Barrett helped blow it out since Corinne doesn't really understand that concept yet.

She started off by digging right in.

The kids all enjoyed her birdie cakes.

She didn't eat much of it, but she enjoyed flinging her cake around!

She was a huge mess by the time it was all over!

Grandma gave her a bath and then we opened presents.

She loves her new book!

And her new cup!

Late February pics

2011-03-04T14:36:00.005-06:00

We have been having fun this month, despite the fact that one of the kids has been sick since November! It's mostly Corinne that's sick, but Barrett throws some illnesses in there just for good measure, I guess. He's home sick from preschool today due to a minor virus of some sort that involves lots of coughing and a fever. Corinne currently is pretty healthy, but she does have an ear infection. Ugh. Anyhow, here are some pictures from this past month or so:

We have a very similar picture of Barrett in this same cabinet.

Corinne thought she was such a big girl when we turned her walker into a ride-on toy!

Corinne also thought she was a big girl when we put her in Barrett's cozy coupe. Now that's all she wants to do when we go outside.

Barrett and Corinne love having breakfast together.

I was trying to take a picture of Barrett playing happily in his new bed, but instead I got a picture of EVIL BARRETT! I hope everyone believes me when I tell crazy stories about him now!

Here's the pic I was trying to get--Barrett playing on the top of the bed and Corinne playing underneath.

Barrett and Buddy (the dog) have been spending lots of time outside together lately.

They love spending time together!

Barrett was running to bring me a flower. He can be sweet sometimes!

This is why Momma should not trust Barrett alone with (washable) paint.

11 Months!

2011-02-12T08:12:00.002-06:00

Corinne turned 11 months old on the 10th. She is just starting to cruise along the furniture and we think she'll be walking soon!! She still loves Barrett more than anything and lights up when he comes into the room. Actually, all the pictures from today were taken with him dancing around in the background--you can tell she's looking at something that makes her happy. She's totally off baby food and eats whatever we're eating most of the time (torn into smaller pieces, of course). She loves music and dances whenever she hears it, even when I'm trying to sing her a lullaby! We know it's not spring yet, but we were ready to get out one of her pretty dresses! Here are a few favorites from the day:

February pictures

2011-02-11T19:16:00.004-06:00

Corinne making a weird face:

Watching tv, right after she attempted to eat something she found in the fireplace:

Barrett wanted to build a snowman so badly. Sorry buddy, we live in MS. There just aren't that many opportunities!

He did enjoy tasting the snow, however.

I love this picture of them watching tv together in their jammies!

Corinne in pigtails!

How cute is this??!!

Barrett was so happy to find this green car! We'd been looking for it for a couple of weeks!

Barrett to the doctor and pics

2011-02-01T14:27:00.003-06:00

Barrett went to the doctor today for his 3 year check up. He's progressing very normally and the doctor didn't have much to say, except that Barrett's doing well! Barrett was sad to learn that they had to prick his finger for blood work and even sadder to learn that one of the vaccines that he got as a baby has been updated, meaning he had to get another shot. He howled for a long time over both of these things, but it was to be expected. Anyone who knows Barrett knows that the poor boy doesn't handle pain very well. His weight was 35.5 lbs, which is in the 80th percentile and is 38.75 inches tall, which is in the 85th percentile.

No post feels complete without pictures, so here they are...

Corinne got up early one morning this past weekend and had the playroom to herself. This made her very happy!

She like to hide behind Barrett's door and thinks it's hilarious to open and shut it about 1, 418 times each day.

This picture is why there aren't many pictures posted of Barrett recently. This is the face he makes every time we take his picture. He thinks he's smiling, but I think he looks like a psychopath, so I don't post that many. :) Hopefully he'll grow out of it soon??!!

Corinne's bracelet finally stays on, Grandma J! She wore it when we went out to lunch today.

Random pics of Miss Corinne

2011-01-25T09:57:00.002-06:00

One of her favorite things to do is get all the baking pans out of the drawer underneath the oven. I wish I could teach her to put them back when she's done!

She recently discovered that she loves riding her horsie!

Waving "hi" to Momma and Barrett while riding her horse:

She's not so sure she'd like her picture taken.

THREE!

2011-01-25T09:37:00.003-06:00

Barrett had a little party with our playgroup a week or so ago and his actual birthday was overshadowed by sickness (for him and Corinne!), so we took it easy on his special day. Max tried to take him out for a little bit, just to get out of the house, but poor Barrett fell asleep about 10 minutes into the car ride. Max just drove him around for a bit and then brought him on home. We let him open gifts throughout the day and he played all day long! He was finally feeling well enough to return to preschool on Monday and he was so excited to take his cookie cake to share with his classmates (I forgot to take a pic of it).

Here he is ready to eat his special birthday treat that he picked out--pizza and ice cream! Yep, he's wearing his jammies.
\

When will I learn? The number candle needs to be turned around if I want a good picture!

Mmmm...birthday ice cream!

I was trying to take some more pictures of the boy this morning and he kept making this face. He thought it was hilarious when I showed him the picture!

Caught him off guard and it turned out to be a good picture!

10 months!! (3 days late)

2011-01-13T19:07:00.003-06:00

My beautiful Corinne is 10 months old! She's been sick for a good part of the past month or so...she had RSV and croup and 2 colds. I think we are finally over all of that and she is feeling good. She was sleeping so great (11-12 hours at night and a 2 hour nap during the day), but had some trouble sleeping while she was sick. I was scared that she might be turning into a not-so-good sleeper, but she seems to have gone back to sleeping well again. She now has 8 teeth and if she's like Barrett, she'll get a break from teething now for a month or so. She has learned to throw and is really good at it! She gets a ball, throws it out a few feet and crawls after it and then throws it again. She amuses herself for quite a while with that! Speaking of amusing herself, she is also very good at that. Of course, there are entire days where she follows me around hanging on my pant leg, but there are times that she entertains herself in the playroom for up to an hour at a time. I've noticed this really wears her out and she takes a great nap afterward! She just loves her brother and will laugh at everything he does, which is just what he wants! She will even instigate the silliness sometimes. We'll be eating dinner and she'll just look at him and start laughing, trying to get his attention. I get annoyed sometimes when they laugh and don't eat dinner, but it's pretty cute most of the time. She's crawling around like crazy and getting faster. She pulls up into standing and even took a few steps while holding onto something the other day! I just ordered her 1st birthday outfit and cannot believe I'll be posting about her turning one soon!

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from today:

My beautiful baby:

Silly!

Love this side shot!

The innocent look:

Playing shy:

Pretty smile:

Barrett's Playgroup Birthday Party

2011-01-13T16:46:00.004-06:00

Barrett's birthday isn't technically until the 22nd, but we celebrated this morning with our playgroup. We'll celebrate again as a family on his actual birthday by doing something fun (museum, zoo, etc.) and I'll make (or buy!) one of his favorite dinners. He'll also get to celebrate at preschool by taking a special treat in the week after his birthday. That's a lot of celebrating! Here are pictures from this morning's playgroup:

Excited about his firetruck cupcakes!

Fun pin-the-hat-on-the-firedog game:

Barrett and David are ready for cupcakes!

Natalie and Davin helped blow out the candle!

Barrett requested a spoon to eat his cupcake.

Opening his gifts:

The kids all gathered around in case Barrett needed help opening anything!

What's in this cool bag?

Obligatory picture with Momma:

Picture mishmash

2011-01-09T16:57:00.004-06:00

I just wanted to share some of the pictures we've taken in January. The only thing of note that has happened is Corinne's 9 month doctor's appointment. Her stats: weight is 21.5 lb (75%), height is 28.5 in (60%) and head circumference is 45.5 cm (80%). So, she's doing great and is right where she needs to be. She will be 10 months tomorrow, so I'll be posting pictures and what she's doing sometime soon.

In the meantime, here are the pics:

Corinne dumped ALL the books in the playroom onto the floor the other day:

It wasn't that bad of a deal though. She and Barrett spent quite a while reading quietly together!

Corinne is such a happy girl at bath time!

Grandma Holt and G got her some new bath toys for Christmas and she loves playing with them!

Barrett has discovered a love for hot cocoa and asks for some almost every day during Corinne's nap.

Barrett and Daddy worked on some phonics worksheets this weekend.

Happy girl in pigtails!

MAD girl in pigtails!! Ha ha!

Ready to read!

2011-01-01T10:29:00.002-06:00

For the longest time, Barrett has slept with his favorite toy of the moment. For a good while, he had a favorite stuffed bear that never left his side at night. Then he moved on and started snoozing with his favorite firetruck and school bus. Now, though, he's changed again and has been spending nights with some of his books. We've always read to him before bedtime, but lately he's wanted more and more stories before sleeping. We have to tell him "no more books" or we'd be in his room all night! We let him read by himself until he falls asleep and this has been working fine, but this morning I looked in on him and this is what I found:

There is barely any room on his pillow for him! I guess he doesn't mind, though...he slept just fine!

Christmas

2011-01-01T10:14:00.004-06:00

As you can see, we received PLENTY of gifts for Christmas! It was really fun this year for Barrett. It was the first year that he had any real understanding of the gifts and Santa. His preschool tried to emphasize that Christmas wasn't just about gifts and focused on the religious part of the holiday. That's perfectly fine with me, but Barrett got a little confused--he kept calling Corinne "Baby Jesus". Oh well, he'll get that part eventually.

Our stockings:

Barrett was pretty excited to find a parking garage from the grandparents Johnson waiting for him when he woke up on Christmas morning!

He played with his new tractor from Grandma Holt (he opened it on Christmas Eve) while we waited for Corinne to wake up.

Corinne didn't really want to wake up.

Okay, she changed her mind when I told her there were presents (and a bottle) involved.

We tried to get a pic of them in their matching Christmas jammies, but it was pretty much impossible.

See? Hard to get both of them looking.

Sorry to the Poziwilko grandparents--when the gift opening started there was too much chaos and we didn't get any good pics! They really love everything that everyone gave to them, though and spent quite a while playing on Christmas Day.

Swinging and sick

2011-01-01T10:07:00.002-06:00

We've been staying home a lot more this month than we usually do, because Corinne's been sick. She got sick at the beginning of December and hasn't been able to get well! She had RSV and croup when she first got sick and now she has a yucky cold. The best way for her to get well and stay well is for us to stay away from others, unfortunately. We've had some fun at home, though! When it's been warm, we've spent lots of time outside and Corinne discovered that swinging is pretty fun:

Barrett has finally given up the baby swing, just in time for Corinne to use it:

Here's poor Corinne getting her breathing treatment. She doesn't mind it so much, but she tries to pull it off her face every time.

9 months!

2010-12-10T17:53:00.004-06:00

Corinne is 9 months old!! She is doing great! She's crawling all over the place and getting faster by the day. The dogs aren't so happy about her learning to crawl so quickly! She has learned to clap and wave in the past month! She has 6 teeth and more are coming in. She's starting to pull up on toys and furniture, but isn't quite there yet. She loves to play with the fruits and vegetables from the play kitchen and is enjoying playing with the Christmas tree this month. She's interested in anything that Barrett is holding and I have to use him to help me get her to smile for her pictures! She loves eating almost everything and is starting to eat more "real" food like canned fruit and vegetables.

She's been sick with bronchiolitis and croup this last week or so and she's having to do breathing treatments multiple times a day. She's been a real little trooper about the whole thing! She gets annoyed with the face mask that she has to wear for 10 or 15 minutes, but is relatively calm about it. Actually, she's so calm that she usually falls asleep during the last treatment of the day!

We were supposed to go to a Christmas party today, but our pediatrician told us we shouldn't be in public passing around Corinne's germs until next week. Anyhow, there was no need to waste a Christmas outfit!

Here she is after I let her get out of the chair and pull out her bow. (These pictures are in jumbled order for some reason.)

Showing her teeth and trying to get the camera.

Trying to get down...look at those legs!! I love 'em!

Happy because Barrett came into her room:

Watching Barrett dance around the room:

Being silly and trying to get down:

Barrett took her seat after she got down. She was over the pictures and just wanted to play!

Here she is playing in the living room one evening:

This is her favorite position lately. Downward dog!

We tried pigtails. Her hair is quite a bit longer on one side than on the other, so they look a little lopsided. I refuse to cut it, though, so I guess we won't be donning piggies in public yet!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-02T19:45:00.003-06:00

We had a really nice Thanksgiving. My dad and his wife came to visit from Missouri and my brother, Nick and Max's brother, Seth rode here together from Nashville. It was nice to have so many people around and they all kept Barrett and Corinne very busy!

This was a few days before Thanksgiving, but I wanted to include it because Corinne looks so crazy! She had baby oil in her hair (she still has a little cradle cap) and she stole Barrett's waffle when I sat her on the kitchen table to comb her hair.

Grandpa and Grammy Poz brought Barrett his very own Mater guitar!

Barrett and Corinne enjoyed playing with Grandpa's nose.

Corinne might have enjoyed it a little too much.

Grandpa and Uncle Nick let Barrett "jam" with them while Grammy looked on.

Barrett really felt like he was one of the guys!

He's probably wondering why his uncool mom is interrupting the jam session.

Thanksgiving dinner was good!

Corinne enjoyed it, too.

8 months!!

2010-11-14T09:56:00.004-06:00

My baby girl is 8 months old! She's such a big girl. She's gotten some teeth in the past couple of months--she has the two bottom front teeth and one top front tooth. It's obvious that she will be getting the other top front tooth and another bottom one soon. She's still not crawling, but she's pretty good at getting around. She rolls and slides until she gets to her desired location. She gets into the crawl position (on hands and knees) pretty often, so I'm expecting her to crawl any day now. She's recently gotten VERY good at getting from lying down to a sitting position. She's babbling a lot, too. Lots of "dadadadadadadada"!

Here are her 8 month pictures, only a few days late this time (She's been snotty and I didn't think that would make cute pictures).

All her teeth are visible in this one:

Happy baby!

Teeth again:

My favorite of the day:

More happy girl!

October photos

2010-11-14T09:44:00.005-06:00

I took quite a few pictures of the kids throughout October and wanted to share some.

Here's Miss Corinne playing in her room.

Almost crawling!

I check on her every night, but I was sure glad I remembered to this night! This is how she fell asleep...all tangled in her blanket with her legs hanging out of the crib. She must have been really tired! I can't imagine that this was very comfortable.

Julia, Kayli and Matthew came over one afternoon for movie watching, muffin making and cocoa drinking.

Baby Unabomber:

My turkey:

I absolutely LOVE this pic of Corinne!

Halloween

2010-11-14T09:19:00.006-06:00

I kind of forgot to post all our pumpkin patch/Halloween adventures, so here is one HUGE picture post that covers it all!

Barrett and Corinne are ready to go to the pumpkin patch with MOMS Club!

Corinne ate a pumpkin stem.

To my surprise, Barrett really hated the hay maze. He got out by knocking hay bales over until there was an exit.

I didn't get a photo, but this cow gave Barrett a serious lick/kiss right after this!

Barrett liked running in the pumpkin patch at this 2nd patch, where we went as a family.

It's so hard to get them both to look at the camera at the same time!

A rare shot of Momma and Corinne:

Barrett played in this corn box for a while.

But playing in these tunnels was probably his favorite part.

Cowgirl Corinne's all dressed and ready to go to Barrett's school Harvest Party.

Corinne's vest:

Barrett did a great job in his school costume parade!

Eating a snack with his friends:

This is right before we went trick or treating:

Our friends came over to trick or treat with us.

Corinne and Matthew are ready to go!

Good Mood

2010-10-19T17:25:00.002-05:00

Okay, Corinne rarely smiles this big for the camera anymore, so I took advantage of it! She must have been really proud that she just downed 2 full jars of baby food.

One day...

2010-10-12T15:57:00.002-05:00

...while Corinne was doing this,

Barrett and I went out to the garage to do this (0ur driveway is a hill, so we can't really ride bikes out there)

and this. Barrett kept running into stuff in the garage...he doesn't quite get the whole steering thing yet. Guess he needs more practice!

7 months!

2010-10-12T15:46:00.003-05:00

My baby girl is growing up fast! She's sitting up great and gets on her knees and elbows and rocks back and forth. She DOES NOT like being left with anyone else and is not afraid to let you know about it. She's still sleeping great (11-12 hrs per night) and almost never wakes during the night. She usually takes 3 naps during the day--2 are 30 minutes or less and 1 is 2-3 hours.

She wasn't very happy while I was dressing her today, but she perked up!

Sometimes, she still topples over when she sits for too long.

She's a generally happy little girl, but she does have a temper! (I won't post those pics!)

She's a great little girl.

And we are lucky to have her!

Pictures!

2010-10-03T20:14:00.004-05:00

Here is a mishmash of pictures that I've been meaning to share. They involve cute hair, bath time and general goofing around.

Corinne's cute hair:

Brother and Sister taking a bath together!

Corinne wants Barrett's toy:

She found her own!

Bath girl!

Fire boy!

Sitting pretty!

Happy to be independent!

Random pics and 6 month stats

2010-09-25T06:27:00.004-05:00

Corinne recently went to the doctor for her 6 month check-up. She's doing great and is perfectly on track for her age, as we suspected. She still has reflux, but it is slowly improving as she eats more baby food and less formula. Apparently, formula just doesn't agree with her. Here are her stats from her appointment: weight 17 lb, 12.5 oz (85th percentile), height 26.5 in (75th %) and head circumference 43.5 cm (80th %). Her doctor was slightly worried about her lack of weight gain last month,but he has nothing to be concerned about at this point!! She's gaining weight just fine! And boy, does she have a ROUND head! She's just beautiful, of course. Here are some pics taken over the past month:

Corinne loves to sit in her highchair:

Barrett loves imitating her (he's even wearing a bib):

Again with the imitating:

Smiley Corinne!

Doesn't it look like she karate chopped him here?

I have no idea. My son is crazy.

6 months!

2010-09-11T20:42:00.004-05:00

My Corinne is half a year old already! The time is just flying by and she is getting cuter and cuter, if I do say so myself. She's rolling all over the place and sitting up with no support now. She's eating lots of solid food and loves just about everything, with the exception of green beans. Still no teeth, but my gosh, we are expecting them to show up any day now. She's still a good girl and is fairly relaxed unless hungry or bored, and then she likes to have everyone's attention. She is sleeping so well--11 hours at night and 3 naps during the day. She adores Barrett and smiles whenever he's around. She goes for her 6 month check up next week and I will post her stats then, but I expect the doctor to say that she's doing very well.

Here are some pics we took of her recently:

Raising her eyebrows at Momma:

These panties were a gift before she was even born and they finally fit! Yay!

Daddy took some pics of her while Momma and Barrett went to visit a friend that just had a baby:

Rolling around with Daddy!

She finally has enough hair for a bow!! Okay, so it's only around a few strands of hair, but it looks cute!

I think she looks like a little stinker here!

Love her!!

Preschool!!

2010-08-30T14:13:00.004-05:00

Today was Barrett's first day of preschool! He was so excited about his teacher, his school bag and his name tag! He did really well at drop-off and only looked back at Momma for a second before heading inside to his classroom. I didn't hear otherwise, so I assume he had a good day. He says he did, anyway! When he got in the car he showed me his art project for the day: a little lamb (his class is called the Little Lambs) made of cotton and construction paper on a paper plate. When I asked if he made it, he told me yes, but don't eat it! I wonder how many times his teacher told the class not to eat the project?! I thought school would wear him out, but maybe he was wired or something, because it took him an hour to fall asleep for his nap. Oh well, he's asleep for now and we can't wait to do it all over again on Wednesday!

Oh Momma, not green beans again!!!

2010-08-30T13:39:00.003-05:00

I think I'm in TROUBLE!

2010-08-15T16:17:00.002-05:00

Okay, so she's being supported somewhat by the Boppy pillow, but my baby girl is SITTING UP!

I wasn't expecting this at all, because she's only 5 months old! Barrett was around 7 months before he started sitting up.

Of course, Barrett wanted to "help" her. And of course, we let him!

5 months!

2010-08-10T15:19:00.003-05:00

Corinne is 5 months old today! She's such a great baby. She sleeps well, eats well and is generally happy almost all the time. Her only issue is acid reflux and we can't seem to fix that. :(
She's really good at rolling over (from back to front) and is definitely teething right now. Her lower gums are so swollen, they look as if they will burst soon! She's trying to sit up, but can't quite do it just yet. She is still loving Barrett and smiles for him more than she does for anyone else. She has just recently gotten into watching Barrett's old Baby Einstein DVDs and she loves them! She'll laugh at certain parts, which strangely, are the same parts that Barrett laughed at as a baby. There must be a baby joke that I just don't get!

I think she looks like a princess here:

Happy girl!

Another good pic:

She was done sitting still at this point:

Corinne tries squash

2010-08-10T15:08:00.002-05:00

Our pediatrician said that we could go ahead and try some baby food with Corinne to see if it helped her reflux issues at all. I can't tell yet if it is helping her not spit up quite so often, but she seemed to like it regardless!

My goofy girl:

We made a pie!

2010-08-10T14:59:00.003-05:00

I hosted a meeting of my book club last week. We always have yummy desserts at the meetings, so I decided to make a raspberry cream pie. Barrett really wanted to help, so I let him. Sort of.

He was really good at taste testing.

Corinne held the Oreos that we used for the crust.

Finished product was very good, if I do say so myself!

4 months!!

2010-07-11T08:35:00.003-05:00

We attempted to take pictures of Miss Corinne on her actual 4 month birthday, which was yesterday. She was mostly interested in chewing on her hands and making silly faces.

We planned to try again this morning anyway, but when she greeted me from her bed like this, I knew it would be a good time to take pictures. (Actually, she wakes up this happy EVERY DAY! It's awesome!)

Here are the attempts at the actual photo on day 2. I think they turned out a little better, don't you?

Look at her beautiful mouth!

Happy girl.

Barrett really, really wanted to help.

So I let him.

I LOVE how they are looking at each other here! It actually makes me cry a little!

How cute are they? Corinne's practically upside down trying to look at him!

Played too hard...

2010-07-06T18:25:00.002-05:00

I thought she was getting tired but she wasn't falling asleep, so we decided to play for a bit. I had walked away from her for a minute when I realized that it seemed strangely quiet in the room. I turned around to see what was going on and this is what I found:

Poor girl must have been really tired!

July 4th

2010-07-05T06:25:00.003-05:00

I tried to get a good picture of Barrett and Corinne for the 4th, but this is the best I could do! Barrett wasn't very cooperative (imagine that!) and I was afraid Corinne was going to spit up any minute.

We got these little hats the first year we had Sadie (our dog) and every year since then, we've taken a picture with someone wearing one of the hats. This year we got several pictures.

Corinne's not so sure she likes wearing it!

She might feel a little better now that Stuart is in the picture also.

Barrett saw us taking pictures and wanted to help, so we gave him a hat, too.

We had fun later when our friends came over to eat dinner with us! Barrett got to share his picnic table with Kayli, Julia and Matthew. Notice how the boys won't look at the camera.

Her latest feat...

2010-07-02T06:12:00.003-05:00

Corinne hated tummy time when we started it, but has recently gotten much better at it. Normally, Barrett would have been lying right next to her, but he was napping this time.

This was taken just a few days ago and she's holding her head up even higher now!

She was pretty intent on looking at this toy.

Even though she doesn't mind tummy time so much anymore, she'd still rather be on her back. And she's pretty happy that she recently realized that she has toes!

We also think she's teething now. She's had her hands in her mouth like this over the past few days and she's having some trouble going to sleep at night.

Bath time!

2010-06-26T21:56:00.003-05:00

Corinne is definitely a happy girl at bath time! I think she may end up loving the water just as much, if not more, than Barrett does! We've also taken her swimming a few times so far and she's just as happy in big bodies of water. I see lots of swimming lessons/practices in our future!

Seriously, she was crying just moments before I put her in the water.

I had to hold her hands down because she was so excited and couldn't stop waving them in front of her face.

Action shot! She was kicking her legs and waving her arms around to make the water splash.

All done!

Barrett and Corinne playing together

2010-06-26T21:49:00.003-05:00

Max and I have both noticed that Corinne looks at Barrett completely differently than she looks at us. She looks at him as if she is wondering what he will do next and she'll get the biggest grin on her face sometimes! I love when they play together and usually try not to interrupt, but they were especially cute this day, so I broke out the camera.

Here, Corinne's checking out what Barrett's doing to her toys:

She looks mad here, but I think I caught her mid-yawn.

She's alone in this one, but I thought she looked particularly cute!

And this is a different toy and a different day, but I really like this pic. She looks as if she is thinking about which toy to play with next.

Thinks she owns the place

2010-06-26T21:43:00.002-05:00

For the past week or so, Corinne has been waking up at 6am to have a bottle and then proceeds to pass out for about 2 more hours. It's easier to let her sleep for those last couple of hours next to me, but Barrett usually wakes up around 7, so I end up leaving her to sleep with Daddy. Daddy has to get up to get ready for work shortly after 7, so Corinne winds up with an entire king size bed to herself for a little bit! I took some pictures one morning, because I thought it was so funny that she is so little in this huge bed!

Tippy

2010-06-26T21:26:00.003-05:00

I was about to turn out of the post office parking lot when I saw a lady in a car making a horrified face. I strained to see what she was seeing that was causing such a face and there it was: a kitten trying to make it across a busy road. Well, I just couldn't stand it! I put my car in park and picked up the poor little thing from the sidewalk that he somehow made it to and headed toward home. On the way home, I turned him over to see what gender he might be and saw a ton of fleas crawling on him!! Instead of going home, I stopped at a vet's office and got him taken care of and checked out. Grandma Holt and G had been thinking of getting a cat for almost a year, so they agreed to take him. Corinne and I drove him to Nashville to meet his new family (and also to hang with Grandma for a few days) last weekend. Corinne was a very good little traveler and it is reported that Barrett was very good for Daddy while we were gone. Poor Barrett--he absolutely loved "Tippy", which is what the vet called the kitten. We played with him lots for the 2 days that he stayed with us. Grandma has renamed him Buster and he is turning out to be a fun little guy.

Barrett was so happy when Tippy chased this feather we had lying around from when our cat was younger!

He loved holding him!

I could not get them both to look at the camera at the same time. I guess that's what happens when you get 2 rowdy boys together!

We'll miss you, Tippy!

New things

2010-06-11T07:09:00.003-05:00

Corinne turned 3 months old on the 10th and has tried some new things this month. She really likes the Exersaucer. Yeah, she's naked except for a diaper here, but she spit up and it was almost time for jammies, so we just let her play for a bit!

She kept looking around to see the other toys on it.

She really likes sitting in the Bumbo seat, too. She's apparently REALLY happy to see Grandma here!

We tried rice cereal for the first time yesterday.

She wasn't that big of a fan, but sure looks cute!

3 months!!

2010-06-11T07:05:00.003-05:00

She looks less than excited about getting her picture taken, but she sure looks pretty in her 4th of July dress (Thank you, Aunt Andrea!)!!

Boxing them up for next year

2010-06-04T11:53:00.003-05:00

And...the fun ended when Corinne spit up all over the inside of the storage box and all over Barrett.

Loves her brother

2010-05-23T07:32:00.003-05:00

You can't really tell in either of these pictures, but Corinne is really starting to notice Barrett. She smiles almost every time he is nearby and I think it is adorable! Barrett speaks to her in a high-pitched voice, which I guess he got from us...even though our high-pitches aren't quite as high as his. Barrett gets a kick out of her response to him, which is equally as adorable. He gets a huge grin on his face when she smiles and "talks" to him. He was talking to her while I was changing her clothes in this pic:

Here, we were getting ready to go for a walk and I tried (rather unsuccessfully) to capture a moment between the two:

Barrett counting!

2010-05-22T08:20:00.002-05:00

I didn't start recording until he was at "2", but you get the idea.

Zoooooooooooom!

2010-05-22T07:46:00.002-05:00

Barrett recently discovered how to work the glider on his swingset. He used to want us to push it for him and one day, he climbed up and figured out how to push with his feet. He loves it and yells "ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!" the whole time he's riding it!

Yeah, he's totally wearing his Thomas the Tank Engine jammies and his rain boots on the wrong feet.

But he's having fun, so who cares, right?

Momma bird

2010-05-16T10:34:00.002-05:00

There were a couple of birds in our backyard that didn't leave, even when the dogs chased them off. Sure, they would leave for a few seconds, but they would fly right back into our yard after the dogs lost interest.

I looked them up and the birds are killdeer. Apparently they live in fields and dirt-covered areas, which perfectly describes parts of our yard. When I walked outside, the bird acted like it had a broken wing, so I thought that maybe our cat had injured it...but that didn't explain why it kept coming back into the yard.

So I looked a little closer, and this silly bird has decided to build her nest in our yard! Apparently it's normal for killdeer to build their nests right on the ground, but man, did this bird pick a bad yard! We have clumsy kids and a cat!

There are 2 eggs on the ground as of right now, but the internet tells me that they usually lay 4 eggs over the course of a week. The momma and daddy birds will take turns sitting on the nest for 28 days and then the babies will hatch. Here's the part that really worries me: the babies hang out in the "nest" until they can fly, which is about a month later! I'm afraid they won't survive for very long with a bloodthirsty cat on the prowl. In the past month alone, I've found a few dead animals in the backyard-- a mouse, a bluebird and a baby rabbit. I don't want these baby birds to be next, but I don't know what to do. Everything I've looked up about the birds says that the momma bird won't find the eggs if I move them, even if she watches me move them.

Sleepy girl

2010-05-16T10:25:00.002-05:00

Corinne prefers to sleep near us, and even when Barrett is being super loud during the day, it doesn't seem to phase her. If we put her somewhere quiet, she usually wakes up within a few minutes and needs to be rocked back to sleep. I took these pictures on a Sunday, so we were all home. Her bouncy seat is right next to the back door in these pictures and in the few hours that she was sleeping, Barrett went outside/inside a few times, the dogs barked a couple times, the cat meowed a lot and Max and I talked in not-so-quiet voices to each other and to Barrett. She slept through it all! I guess she's the perfect little sister--she takes all the noise in stride!

2 months!

2010-05-10T15:19:00.002-05:00

Corinne is 2 months old today! And Momma managed to take her picture on the right day this time! I guess I'm getting more used to being a mother of two. :)

At her 8 week check up, Corinne weighed 11 lbs and 6 oz (70th percentile) and was 23 in. long (75th %). So she's not as big as Barrett was, but still larger than average. She did a good job at the appointment, but she was quite unhappy about a few parts: the ear check, neck muscle check and of course, the vaccinations. She absolutely could not be consoled after her shots! I tried a bottle and a pacifier and she still cried all the way out to the car. She also ran about a 100 degree fever for the next 2 days! We gave her Tylenol, which seemed to make her feel better. That never happened with Barrett, so I was not expecting it at all, even though the nurse told me it was a possibility.

Her she is in the "picture chair":

Close up!

Almost a smile! Isn't it weird how different she looks when she's lying down (as opposed to when I prop her up in the chair)?!

Outside!

2010-05-10T07:55:00.003-05:00

We had some beautiful weather this weekend and we took full advantage of it: yardwork, plenty of playing outside, walks, grilling, windows open...you get the picture. Daddy bought Barrett a t-ball set to practice with and Barrett loves it! He can't hit the ball very far and for some reason, he yells SANDWICH! every time he hits the ball, but he still has fun with it.

Too distracted by Momma to hit the ball:

Just a great pic of a happy Barrett:

Daddy brought Corinne outside to hang out with us:

Big Brother

2010-05-10T07:47:00.003-05:00

So Barrett is finally getting this whole big brother role down. He doesn't hit Corinne anymore (well, hardly ever :)) and actually wants to play with her and not just steal the toys from her. I showed him how to play with toys with her, and although he shakes them a little too close to her face, he's getting the idea. When she cries, he tells her It's okay! in a really high pitched voice. If I put a blanket on the floor for Corinne, he's sure to lie down with her, which is what's pictured below.

Beautiful babies

2010-05-05T14:02:00.005-05:00

Just a few pictures I've taken over the past couple of weeks:

Corinne smiles all the time now, but I can't seem to catch it on camera. This half smile is the best I've been able to do. Please pardon the baby acne and the formula crust around her mouth!

Being held by Grandma Holt on the back porch:

Super cute outfit...have you ever seen tinier shorts?

"Sitting" on the couch:

"Smile, Barrett!"

"No honey, close your mouth...that looks weird."

Best smile I could get out of the boy.

Surgeon visit

2010-04-24T07:19:00.002-05:00

Corinne had an appointment with the surgeon that fixed her laceration from the c-section this past Wednesday. It was at the local children's hospital, which I hope is a place I don't have to visit again anytime soon. There were so many kids there! There were little bitty babies like Corinne that didn't have anything obviously wrong with them, but there were also older kids being wheeled around in wagons with IV poles attached. All of it broke my heart. I'm sure you become desensitized after a while, but I don't want the opportunity to find out...I just want to stay away! Corinne did just fine at her appointment. She had to get weighed and measured first, and she screamed the entire time. She weighs 10 lb and 13 oz now and is 21.5 inches long!! When the surgeon came in, he just made sure that her stitches dissolved the way they were supposed to and that she healed well. I laughed at her, because she cried so much while she got her height and weight checked, yet when the surgeon was checking her out, she was completely silent and just looked around. The cut was in her diaper area, too, so he had to get her completely undressed to look at it. I guess she didn't mind that for some reason! Anyway, the stitches are gone and she healed perfectly, so we won't have to see him again!

One month

2010-04-13T16:09:00.003-05:00

Corinne turned 1 month old on the 10th and in typical Amanda fashion, I took her one month photos on the 11th. :) I know everyone says this, but I absolutely cannot believe how fast the time has gone! I couldn't resist this cute dress when I saw it at Target, so I thought we'd use it for her first photo shoot.

She did pretty well, considering this was one of her grouchy days over the weekend. We think we have the "grouchies" under control with gripe water (for now, anyway!).

This is my favorite of the day:

Getting tired!

DONE!!!

She's already eaten and had her bath. Try to get her in bed by 8:30, and we'll be back by 11.

2010-04-13T15:54:00.001-05:00

Time flies...

2010-04-12T16:01:00.003-05:00

So, I realize that I haven't posted much since Corinne was born. I just haven't found the time to do everything I'd like to do. I'm sure as both kids get older and more independent, it'll get easier. I'm going to try to do quick updates on both kids...we'll see how it goes and if I can actually finish a post!

Barrett update:
B's been growing like a weed lately. I've had to buy him a new summer wardrobe in the past few weeks. We used to get hand-me-downs from a neighbor, but that kid's growth has slowed while Barrett's has gone into turbo speed, so we aren't getting too much from them anymore. That's okay...I like shopping for him.

He's been having a little trouble adjusting to Corinne's presence. He was mostly ignoring her for the first couple of weeks, but he has been very jealous of her lately and has lashed out at her quite a few times. I've had to keep my eye on him big time, for fear that he'll hurt her. So far, he's just lightly hit her, but she still cries. I hate it and send him to his room (which he hates) every time. He's slowly coming to understand that he just can't hit her. He has some good days where he's really sweet to her and some bad where he's not sweet to anyone! He also has been demanding attention from me. He'll try to get into my lap while I'm feeding her and will reject Max's help with some things and will yell "NO!! MOMMA!" if Max tries to do something Barrett wants me to do. He's never had to be patient before and he's never had to accept that Momma is busy and can't do exactly what he wants, so it's understandable. He's meaner to other kids lately, too, but we can't decide if that's just because he's 2 or if it's because he's a new big brother.

All that being said, he's still a really great kid. He's so funny sometimes! We've witnessed him doing baby stuff with his dolls and stuffed animals, like feeding them bottles, wrapping them up in blankets, kissing them and putting them to bed. He's talking more here lately and although he's not yet speaking in full sentences, he's making a lot more sense to us. He's using adjectives, especially colors, to describe things, so we are able to satisfy him quicker. For example, he can tell us that he would like the blue cup, so we don't waste time going thru 3 or 4 cups trying to figure out what he'd like.

Corinne update:
C's doing pretty well, too. We took her to her 2 week appointment, where we found that she weighs 9 pounds, 8 oz and is 21 inches long (at that time, anyway). That makes her in the 75th percentile for both weight and height. She's had a few rough days over the past weekend, and we were afraid that she might be suffering from colic. Max went out and got her some gripe water last night, which seemed like it helped. She's just been really fussy and spitting up quite a bit. Last night, though, after we gave her the gripe water, she slept for 5 hours straight, woke up to eat and then slept for 4.5 more hours. I really can't complain about that! She seems like she feels a lot better today, so maybe we're on the right track. She's a much more relaxed baby than Barrett was. She's content being awake and looking around from her bed for a bit, whereas Barrett typically cried for us to come get him as soon as he woke up. He still does that, actually! Corinne has an appointment with the surgeon that did her stitches after she got cut during the c section (see my previous post if you don't know about it) next week and hopefully he'll tell us that she's all healed and that will be the end of that. She's also due to go back to the pediatrician at 8 weeks, so I'll report back after that. She's smiling more and more...here's hoping she's a happy girl!

Well, I actually got to finish the post, with only one break to go out into the backyard to retrieve Barrett's milk cup. Yay! Maybe I'll get time to post some pictures later. I'm not getting my hopes up, though!

Corinne Lindsay is here!

2010-03-18T09:22:00.004-05:00

Corinne Lindsay was born on March 10 at 10:33am. She weighed 8 lb 6oz and was 20.5 inches long!

Okay, so she's been here for a week now, but as you can probably guess, posting pictures on a blog isn't exactly my highest priority right now. I'm more interested in, oh, I don't know...taking care of my kids. Anyhow, here's some pics we've gotten so far:

Here we are the night before the birth--our last day as a family of 3!

Here she is!

She got cut during the c-section (sounds horrible, but apparently it's not all that uncommon), so she had to have some surgery to repair it. She got 5-6 stitches and is back to being perfect, but here's a picture of her in the NICU. The worst part? She had to stay at a different hospital than Momma, who only got to hold her for about 20 minutes before they took her away from me to transport her. Here's a picture Daddy took at the NICU so Momma wouldn't whine so much about not being able to see her for almost 2 whole days. I won't be sharing the pics with the breathing tube in. The IV pics are sad enough, don't you think?

On the way home, finally! She was pooped!

Daddy with his 2 babies!

First sponge bath:

She wasn't really a fan.

Momma with her 2 babies!

Family of four!

She's been a really good baby so far! She's mostly done lots of sleeping and eating, as most newborns do. She sleeps better than her brother did at this point, only waking at night to eat and then goes right back to bed. She had one bad night that we attributed to digestive problems, but we think we have that under control for now. Barrett is doing great with her. He likes to help with feeding and diaper changing, but honestly, he ignores her for the most part. He loves her and asks for her first thing every morning, but seems to understand that he can't touch her all that much. Whenever he leaves with Daddy (or anyone who is visiting us) he says "Bye, baby!!" and kisses her. It's very cute.

B!!

2010-01-28T07:45:00.004-06:00

Background to Barrett's latest feat:
For the past few months, he's been recognizing more and more numbers and letters. Right now, he recognizes numbers 1-10 and a little over half of the alphabet. He can name them when they're written by someone, on his foam letters/numbers in the tub, in books, on signs, etc. You get the picture...he's always pointing them out! I've been quite proud of him, if I do say so myself! I keep thinking that he's going to be an early reader like both his Momma and Daddy are reported to have been.

So last night, Barrett and Daddy were in the playroom while I cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. They were reading books together and one of his books has a magnetic drawing board attached to the top. The night before this, I was in there with them and I wrote some numbers and letters on the board and asked him to name them, which he did. Well, last night he decided to take it a step further and wrote a letter himself!

I heard him saying, "B!" a few times and then Daddy asked, "Have you ever seen him do that before?" I sure hadn't! I was so proud, I even called my mom to tell her! Sometimes I can't believe how fast his little mind works.

Barrett's 2nd Birthday!!

2010-01-28T07:37:00.004-06:00

Since Barrett had a little party with his playgroup a couple of weeks ago, we decided that we wouldn't make too big of a deal of his actual birthday. Just us, a little bit of cake and a little bit of present opening! It all made Barrett very happy, though.

This is the cake he wanted to get Daddy back in December, but I didn't think Daddy would appreciate it too much, so we went back and got it for Barrett. He loved it!

He wanted more candles, even after we cut the cake! Why not, right?

Mmmmm...blue cake!

Present time!

Playing with his new laptop with Daddy:

Happy 2nd Birthday, Big Boy! Momma and Daddy love you very much!

Barrett's 2nd Birthday Playgroup

2010-01-14T15:45:00.006-06:00

Barrett's birthday is actually not until the 22nd, but we celebrated a little early with our playgroup.

Kaitlyn and Barrett snacked before the party.

Lighting Barrett's "2" candle.

He really wanted to blow it out.

He tried really hard!

But he just couldn't quite do it.

In retrospect, I probably should have turned his cupcake around for pictures.

Still trying to blow out the candle!

Might need some help...

He started to worry about the fire being "HOT"!

It took Momma, Emily, Kaitlyn and Barrett to finally blow out that darn candle!

Happy Boy!

I think he likes his cupcake.

Frosting face:

Mmmmm...

Kaitlyn's ready to eat her cupcake, too!

Our playgroup:

Barrett made a big mess with the frosting!

Silly Kaitlyn!

Frosting was even in his nostrils!

Being silly with Mr. Potato Head's (one of his gifts) glasses:

Christmas Eve/Morning

2009-12-25T15:25:00.004-06:00

Barrett's had a great Christmas!

Here he is getting ready for bed on Christmas Eve:

Another shot:

Opening his Christmas Eve gift:

Watching a dvd and enjoying his book about planes:

First thing he did Christmas morning:

Loves his Elmo book:

Unwrapping gifts!

New dishes:

Snow in Mississippi!!

2009-12-05T07:41:00.004-06:00

It started snowing last night right before we went to bed and look what we saw when we woke up!

Barrett wandered around, checking everything out.

Pointing the moon out to Momma.

MOON!!

Hmmm...who put this stuff all over my bike?

And what's up with my swing?

This was taken right before he slipped on the ice that collected on his roller coaster track.

This was taken post-slip and he wanted that darn hat off!

Here he is throwing a fit on the living room floor, because Momma told him that he had to wear a hat outside.

My baby? Or my puppy?

2009-11-20T07:17:00.002-06:00

We are having a real problem (well, I don't know that it's an actual problem...it's just weird) with Barrett lately: he keeps pretending he's a dog. I have no problem with him running around on all fours with our dogs, but he's taken it even further. Because our dogs tend to beg (and Barrett tends to give in) while we're eating, we put them outside during meals. When the meal is over, we let the dogs back in and they charge for the table, hoping that Barrett dropped something and he usually has. Well, Barrett has started getting down on all fours and pretending to scavenge with them. Sometimes he even eats the stuff he's thrown on the floor. Yuck! I've also caught him attempting to eat dog food out of the dog bowls several times this week. Twice he's come up to me with a sort of disgusted look on his face and I've held my hand in front of his mouth to catch the dog kibble that he wants to spit out. Ewww! He's sneaky about the dog water, too. He'll lie on the floor and take big swigs of it before I can even think about catching him. Ugh! I usually hear water splashing and then tell him that boys drink out of cups and not out of bowls on the floor. The other funny thing he does to pretend he's a dog is that he barks whenever Max comes home. Our dogs run to the door and bark whenever he gets home from work and Barrett just joins in. He gets on all fours and yipes at the door just like a dog. Max has learned to open the door very slowly. I'm sure this is all normal toddler behavior and I'm totally fine with it, but I could do without the gross parts! I'll have to try to get some pictures of him being a dog.

HAT, HAT!

2009-11-03T17:04:00.003-06:00

After throwing what seemed like a never-ending screaming fit, Barrett calmed down and decided to read some books that we keep in the bathroom (to combat potty-training boredom). A few minutes later, he came out of the bathroom like this, exclaiming, "HAT, HAT!" and I just cracked up! I think all toddlers have probably been accused of being bipolar at times--making you crazy because they are so irrational and then making you laugh so hard you lose your breath a few minutes later. This has definitely been one of those days and makes me remember that Barrett is awesome, even if he attempts to drive me nuts sometimes!

Baby Girl, Halfway Cooked (20 weeks)

2009-10-31T07:11:00.001-05:00

Sorry I'm wearing kind of ugly clothing, but you know what? That's what's comfortable when I'm pregnant!!

Happy Halloween, Pardner!

2009-10-31T07:00:00.005-05:00

Here's Barrett all ready for our neighborhood's Halloween party last week:

Barrett was happy to see that one of our neighbors had borrowed a tractor to give the kids hayrides.

Loved the tractor!

Running to Daddy (with Momma walking after)

"Here Daddy, I don't like this part of my costume."

Moseying down the sidewalk

Pumpkin Patch pictures...almost too late!

2009-10-31T06:55:00.003-05:00

Momma and Barrett on the hayride

Sit down, Barrett!

Barrett in the tractor wheel

He loved the tractor the best!

Looking at he animals

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-06T12:55:00.002-05:00

I am completely exhausted from this day already, but I wanted to go ahead and post the goings-on of the boy today so I could remember them. We went to a local pumpkin patch with the MOMS Club today and we had a lot of fun. I organized the trip, which consisted of about 15 moms and their kids, so I was a little tired before we even got to the farm!

Barrett's done some funny stuff today and I want to remember it all! The day started with me taking a shower. As usual, Barrett was in the bathroom with me, emptying all the bathroom drawers. Well, today, he somehow got some liquid soap open and spilled it all over himself and the bathroom while I was showering. When I realized what he'd done, I put him in the bathtub and rinsed him off, but he kept slipping and falling on the soap that was on the floor. It's a huge mess and I've yet to clean it up, but hopefully I'll remember to put the soap in the locked cabinets from now on!

On to the pumpkin patch--We got there early so that we could have time to meet and take a look at the farm animals that are near the entrance to the farm. Barrett and I always kiss through the bars of playground equipment or of his crib, so when he saw a fence, he apparently thought he should kiss through that as well. Unfortunately, the only thing on the other side of the fence was a pony, so Barrett kissed him! Gross! He also stuck his finger up the nose of any animal that got close enough to be touched. I swear that boy's going to be a veterinarian! He certainly isn't scared of any animal.

After what seemed like forever, we got on the wagon being pulled by a tractor and headed out to pick our pumpkin. There were several farm animals that the guide stopped and fed on the way to the patch, so I didn't think it was a very big deal that Barrett was walking around the wagon when we were stopped. What I didn't realize was that he was walking around to get a closer look at some donkeys in the field we were stopped in. He was holding a plastic snack cup with pretzels in it and just as I hollered to another mom to please grab it from him, he flung it to the donkeys. They, of course, picked it up and started eating the cup and the pretzels. All the other moms were laughing and taking pictures of the donkeys eating the cup, but I was a little embarrassed! We got the cup back and after I run it through the sanitize setting on the dishwasher, it'll be good as new.

I didn't get too many good pictures, but I'll post what I got a little later.

My poor baby!

2009-10-02T14:41:00.003-05:00

Disclaimer: This post contains kind of yucky images, so if you're not into that, look no further than the first 2 pics!!

Doesn't Barrett look happy here?

Here he is relaxing on his firetruck chair. Again, he looks pretty happy, right?

Until you get a closer look, you'd never know he was attacked by fire ants a few days ago!

This looks so painful to me, but he's handling it pretty well! He even wore shoes for a couple hours today. When we got home and he took them off, though, he breathed, "Ahhhhhhhhhh"!

Both feet have bites all over them, even between the toes. What purpose do fire ants serve? I'd never even heard of them until we lived in TX. They seem to be worse here in MS, but that could just be because we have a yard here. It wasn't even our yard where he was attacked, though! We were visiting a friend that had a HUGE mound of ants in her yard. I know this...when we are playing anywhere unfamiliar, this momma will be taking a closer look before letting Barrett wander!!

LOL

2009-09-17T11:01:00.003-05:00

We've had a rough few days here, mostly due to teething (I think) so I decided to make a list of things Barrett has done that have made me laugh out loud in the past few weeks/months:

*I tried to teach him that there was a baby in Momma's belly and when I asked him where the baby was, he pointed to his own tummy.

*He's invented a game that he plays with Daddy where Barrett touches something and says "HOT!" and then Daddy says "NOT HOT!". It cracks Barrett up every time.

*He pretended the cat's tail was a telephone. He held it right up to his ear and said "Hello!".

*He tried to dress himself and managed to put his foot through the armhole of his pajama shirt.

*In an attempt to take a picture of him, I said (kind of sternly), "SIT DOWN, PLEASE!" and he said "NO SIT!!". This was the first time I'd heard him put two words together.

*He fed string cheese to his toy fire truck.

*We took him to Barnes and Noble to play at the train table and he picked up a train and proceeded to run around the store, shaking his head and saying "BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ". He has since started doing this almost everywhere we go.

*He insisted on wearing his bright green rain boots when we went out to run errands, even though it wasn't raining.

Lake Michigan

2009-09-02T08:14:00.004-05:00

On our last day of vacation in Michigan, we went to a beach on Lake Michigan with Grandpa, Grammy and Great Aunt Gina. There was a nice playground where Barrett enjoyed swinging and climbing about. We took our shoes off and headed down to the water, where Barrett had an even better time!

Here he is exploring the sand:

Pointing at Momma and Daddy, who were standing in the water:

He loved wandering all over the huge beach:

He also loved putting his feet in the lake:

It's too bad you can't hear him, because he's squealing with delight here:

Cold water!!

How cute are these footprints?

Walking around with Great Aunt Gina:

Walking off on his own:

Looking back to make sure we are still there:

Playing with Daddy in Lake Michigan:

Uh oh, Daddy, Barrett's shorts got all wet with that last wave!

Digging in the sand:

At the lake

2009-08-29T11:34:00.005-05:00

As soon as we arrived at the lake to visit with my mom's family, Barrett headed straight for the water.

So even though it was only about 70 degrees outside, we decided to give in and put a swim diaper on him.

Daddy had to follow him pretty closely.

He sure had fun in that cold water!

We decided he should have a life jacket, just in case.

Exploring the lake:

After he got out of the lake, Barrett decided to push my cousin Melissa on a little car.

They went pretty far!

Feeding the fish with Grandpa (and the dogs):

Taking a walk with Grammy:

We wanted a picture of my Grandma with all 3 of her great-grandkids, but that turned out to be a difficult task. Rowan (in the green shirt), Audrianna (in the red dress) and Barrett (with me, of course) weren't too agreeable. Also, Maya (the little girl with the long blonde hair) wanted to be in the picture even though Grandma is technically her great aunt.

Another try:

Family Reunion

2009-08-29T08:17:00.003-05:00

We got to my grandmother's house very, very early Saturday morning (3am!) and we all went to bed. We laid low on Saturday until that evening, when we had dinner at my aunt's house. I didn't get any pictures that night, but I sure did the next day! We had a family reunion for my dad's side of the family and a family picnic for my mom's side of the family on Sunday. Here are some pics of the family reunion. I actually didn't get pictures of Barrett's favorite activity at the reunion--riding my aunt's golf cart! I was holding on to the cart and to him, so I didn't have any free hands!

Grandpa and Grammy with Barrett:

Barrett spent lots of time "riding" my aunt's lawn tractor:

Grandpa is supervising the ride:

Barrett and Great Aunt Gina:

Barrett with my cousin Hannah. He really liked playing in the coolers (that he's staring at) as well.

Barrett and Hannah and Great Grandma Poz:

He was ready to go, but Great Aunt Debbie and Great Aunt Lori wanted to give him one last kiss:

St. Louis Zoo

2009-08-28T08:04:00.004-05:00

On our LONG drive to Michigan last Friday, we stopped in St. Louis for a few hours to wear Barrett out. We went to the zoo and we ate dinner, after which we put him in his pajamas and took off again. We thought about spending the night in a hotel and finishing the trip on Saturday morning, but Barrett fell soundly asleep, so we decided to go the whole way!

Barrett was so excited about riding the "choo-choo"!

Momma and B on the train:

Another nice picture on the train:

Daddy and B on the carousel:

B liked this penguin:

This was at a playground in the children's zoo area:

No more pictures!

The zoo was great and we could have spent all day there! There was so much we didn't see, because we wanted to get back on the road. Maybe we can go back someday and have even more fun!

Swimming video

2009-07-25T08:38:00.003-05:00

This is a video that Kaitlyn's mommy took of Kaitlyn and Barrett swimming at a recent playgroup. It mostly focuses on Kaityn, but since I can never get a good video of Barrett while we're swimming (since I'm in the water!), this is the best I can do for now. It gives you a good idea of how confident Barrett is at the pool and you can see that he goes under water with no fear! I can't wait until next year when we do swim lessons!!

18 months!

2009-07-22T18:17:00.002-05:00

I have a one and a half year old today!

Reading some books that were Max's when he was little:

Funny book!

Finally paying attention to Momma:

Close up:

Typical Barrett, climbing:

Swingin'

2009-07-21T15:23:00.003-05:00

Guess what Max spent this weekend building for Barrett??!! A swing set! It's not completely finished yet, but it's completed enough for Barrett to play on it. My job while Max was outside building was to keep Barrett from doing things like the picture below. I'll admit I didn't do such a good job. Do you know how hard it is to keep a little boy from helping his daddy with tools? Pretty dang hard, apparently!

Here's the set. There are monkey bars that will be added to the right side and a slide will be added to the front. Also, there will be a tarp-like roof that goes over the little fort on top. Another swing and a glider are almost ready to hang, too. Check out Barrett sticking his head out the side of the clubhouse!

He was so happy when he discovered the clubhouse!

The planks on the back can be a desk or benches to sit on.

This is definitely Barrett's favorite part:

We've already logged HOURS on that swing.

Today, Barrett discovered that he can climb the ladder all by himself. Here ends Momma being able to let Barrett roam the backyard alone for a few minutes. Sob, sob!

Hi Momma! I love my new swing set!!

My Big Boy

2009-07-17T12:23:00.004-05:00

Barrett is turning into a kid right before my eyes! We just ate lunch out together and he sat in a booster seat all by himself and ate his bagel. It felt so weird to have him sitting across from me instead of next to me in a highchair. It was weird, but nice, too. In the past few weeks, he's switched from a highchair to a booster seat at home and he seems to love it. He hasn't even looked at the highchair in at least a week. We also bought him a toddler bed, which he is napping in as I type. This is the first time he's slept in it, so I guess we'll try it again tonight and see how it goes. He almost always ends up adjusting more quickly than I expect him to and hopefully this will be the same way.

Here he is playing around in the new big boy bed (before we put a mattress in it):

I just included this pic so the whole bed can be seen:

I think he likes it!

Happy to be at the table!

Eating breakfast in his new booster seat:

Picking out lunch:

Helping give the dogs biscuits before we go out for the day:

Uh oh, well, Barrett just woke up and wanted in his crib. We'll just have to wait a few days and try again! I really didn't expect to fully move him over to the new bed until he is two (in January), so I was surprised he was in it today. Oh well.

Science Museum

2009-07-11T18:16:00.004-05:00

Max and I decided kind of last minute today to take Bear to the Natural Science Museum. We ended up having a lot of fun and Bear was nonstop exploring, walking around and playing! He really like the aquarium part of the museum and laughed so hard when one of the fish that sucks the algae off the side (I have no idea what they're called, sorry) swam up to him and started cleaning off the glass very close to his hand. He also really enjoyed a wooden boat that was set up for kids to play on.

Here he is "driving" the boat:

He was too excited to take a nice picture with Momma!

Being serious on the boat:

In the "Bone Yard", which is supposed to look like an archaeological site.

Fish!!

Playing on the big frog:

Being silly:

New Picnic Table

2009-07-11T18:08:00.002-05:00

A few days ago, Barrett and I went to the park and when we got back, a new picnic table from Grandma and Granddad J. was waiting on the front porch for us! Bear really loves it and has been sitting at it to eat his daily popsicle.

17 months

2009-06-27T08:29:00.004-05:00

Bear turned 17 months old on June 22 and it is getting increasingly difficult to keep him engaged while taking pictures of him. I'd really like to do this until he is at least 2, though, so we'll keep trying!

Here's the 1st picture we took. He's still being pretty agreeable.

The agreeable part is over. We had to get out a book to keep his attention. Here, he is showing me the "shooooooooooes" in the book.

I had to start asking him questions to get him to look at the camera. Barrett, what does a fish say? "Swish, swish!"

Where's your mouth?

Show me your feet!

What about your tummy?

Uh oh! Bless you, Barrett!

I made him giggle about something, finally!

Zoo!

2009-05-30T07:51:00.004-05:00

Bear and I went to the zoo yesterday with the MOMS club and we had quite a bit of fun! I didn't get too many pictures--it's kind of difficult juggling a toddler, a stroller, a purse filled with snacks and diapers, and a camera!

Here he is all ready to go! (The sunglasses are new and we hadn't taken the UV sticker off yet!)

We kept trying to get a good picture of us looking at the penguins. Here's a good one of the penguins, but not so much of us:

And here's a good one of us, but not the penguins! I love that you can see Kaitlyn climbing into Bear's stroller in the reflection!

Here's Bear going in to see the mice. I was kind of glad the mouse viewing was kid-sized and I didn't have to look at them. I don't really consider mice to be zoo animals and well, I kind of hate them.

Here's Bear taking a look at some flamingos. Man, he wanted to climb over that wall!

He liked this little cave on the zoo's playground.

Hey, what are these girls doing in my cave??

This is his new "surprise" face. He usually does this when we're going to visit Kaitlyn and he first sees her. I'm not sure why he was doing it just then!

Kaitlyn and Bear are ready to leave!!

16 months!

2009-05-22T16:44:00.004-05:00

My boy is 16 months today and I thought I'd share some pictures I took of him before heading out to the gym this morning. He's really starting to show his true self in pictures! He used to be all smiles, but now, it's only when he feels like it!

We started out with smiles:

Still smiling:

Sees something of interest on the floor:

Wants a stuffed animal off the shelf:

REALLY wants a stuffed animal off the shelf:

Did not get a stuffed animal and is telling us how he feels about that:

Now he's really mad that he didn't get that toy!

Oh, never mind, found a scab to play with instead:

Absolutely bored with picture taking and would not look at the camera for anything!

Sneaky boy!

2009-05-17T13:21:00.003-05:00

Bear walked up to the baby gate (to keep the dogs out, but so they can still see us) we keep in front of the playroom today and acted like he wanted me to put him in there. So, I did and he just started playing...all by himself! He's done that before, but this time, I thought I'd test him and see just how long he was really happy all alone. I popped in a dvd and just let him play. I didn't hear anything for a few minutes, so I went in to check on him, thinking the whole time Oh, he's probably just really into his dvd and being quiet...no problem! Well, when I looked in, here's what I saw:

Notice that his index finger is pushing the power button on the tv. The toy in front of the tv stand was placed there specifically so he would NOT be able to reach the tv buttons!

This is when it got scary for me! That toy has been moved FAR away from the tv stand!

I'm sure he'll just find something else to climb now, but I have stopped his efforts for the time being. He certainly keeps us on our toes!

15 months=big boy!

2009-05-09T08:32:00.002-05:00

Bear is about 15 and a half months at this point, and there have been some amazing achievements on his part this month! Several of my mom friends told me that 15 months was a big turning point as far as development for lots of kids, but it's hard to imagine what your own kid will do. Bear has been doing really great this month with sleeping, eating and all kinds of other things, but the things that stick out the most as far as his development goes are: walking, talking and climbing (yikes!)!!

Walking:
He started walking almost as soon as he turned 15 months. Maybe he was waiting for that magic month?? I don't know, but boy, am I glad! Him walking is such a help to me! Parking lots are more pleasant, playing in our backyard is less stressful and parks are so much more fun now! He started by timidly walking across our living room one day and then he just took off! He improves every day and is already able to walk noticeably faster than he was just a couple of days ago. He still falls quite a bit on uneven terrain (i.e. our backyard), but he's getting good at picking himself up. I was just talking to a friend on Monday about him not being able to get up once he fell and here we are just a few days later and he's doing great now. I'm wondering how long it will be before he discovers running. Not long, I'm thinking!

Talking:
At his 15 month checkup, the doctor asked what he was saying (or trying to say, at least) so far. All I could tell him at that point was "momma", "dada" and "yes". It's only been about 2 weeks since then and he's saying so much more! Max and I decided to keep a list of the words he says, thinking it would be interesting to go back and look at later. Here's the list, which may get longer by the end of the day:

momma
dada
yes
Sadie (one of our dogs, but Bear calls all dogs Sadie!)
bath
cheese
show (when he wants to watch tv)
hey/hi
meow (not sure if animal sounds count as words or not, but he's using it in reference to all cats)

Climbing:
Bear has managed to perform several daring feats in the past couple of weeks. He has also managed to scare his momma quite a bit! A couple examples:

1) I was babysitting an 11.5 month old the other day and she wanted to be held quite a bit for the first hour or so that she was here. Bear took complete advantage of the fact that I was busy with her and stood on top of a little truck in his playroom. Well, the truck happened to be sitting in front of a toy that is about Bear's waist height, so he went ahead and climbed up on top of that. That toy happened to be sitting on top of an old desk that has a tv sitting on top of it...you know what's coming next! He climbed up on top of the desk and started playing with the tv! I'm glad I was in there, because I don't think he has any idea how to get down from somewhere that high.

2) Last night, between bath and bed time, Bear was playing in the kitchen. We have a couple dog crates in the corner of the kitchen and he likes to scoot them all over the floor. We've thought nothing of that for months, but last night, he pushed one up to the kitchen table and proceeded to climb up on top of it so that he could reach the table. He was so proud of himself and he said "HAHAHAHA!!" (imagine Cookie Monster's voice) when he got up there. We think he got up there to get the cat, who was lounging on the table. Anyhow, she ran off as soon as she realized that he could reach her. That poor cat...she's always looking to hide, whether it's from Bear or our dogs. Now that the table is no longer safe, she'll have to find a new hiding place!

I can't wait to see what else this month has in store! We're only about halfway through it and Max and I have just been amazed by our boy. Hopefully, it'll be mostly fun stuff and not so much dangerous climbing. I have a feeling that this is only the beginning, though!

Look out world!!

2009-05-01T12:30:00.002-05:00

15 months

2009-04-25T08:26:00.004-05:00

Bear turned 15 months on the 22nd and we had his checkup yesterday. He was really a good boy at the doctor's office! He got into things while we were waiting, of course, but overall was very well behaved. The doctor remarked that most 15 and 18 month checkups are ones filled with screaming and crying, but Bear just wanted to crawl all over the floor. While we were waiting for the doctor to come into our room, Bear had some fun opening and closing the cabinets. He's very into object permanence right now, in that he'll take an object, put it in a drawer or cabinet and then close the drawer or cabinet. He then opens the drawer and takes out whatever object he's put inside. He kept himself busy doing this with saltines and the doctor's cabinet yesterday and it was pretty funny to watch. By the time the doctor made it into the room, Bear himself was inside the cabinet! He only cried when he got shots (MMR and the last of 3 meningitis vaccines) and even then, he didn't cry for long. According to the measurements they took, Bear weighs 25.3 pounds (60th percentile) and he is 32.25 inches long (80th %). Max and I both think the length isn't very accurate, because that would mean that he only grew a quarter of an inch in 3 months. Maybe we'll attempt to get our own measurement this weekend.

Bear and I decided to celebrate the extra long nap he took after his doctor's visit by going swimming in our neighborhood pool. Bear is a definite natural in the water!! He was kicking his feet and paddling his arms at no instruction from me! I couldn't believe it and I have every intention of working with him lots this summer to get him to actually swim. He put his face in the water on his own and I turned him over on his back and let him float for a few seconds. I didn't get any pictures, sadly, but I just can't figure out how to take pics once I'm in the pool. I guess I'll have to get a friend to take some of us next time. I have a feeling we'll be at the pool quite a lot this summer. It's a nice way to count down the hours between Bear waking up from his nap until his Daddy comes home!

I did, however, get some 15 month pictures of him. He's getting less cooperative the older he gets, but I think some of those pictures are cute, too!

These were taken in the morning, before his doctor's appointment.
Please ignore the odd assortment of junk on our kitchen counter.

Loves his hat and these beads!

After the doctor and a nap:

Would rather look out the window.

Wants to get up!

We often find him standing in chairs these days.

Still loves books!! (Especially ones that include cement mixers.)

His favorite things

2009-04-19T21:47:00.005-05:00

I took a few pictures of Bear taking part in his most recent favorite activities:

Riding a car/truck through the house while watching The Wiggles and while drinking water/lemonade out of his straw cup:

Look at Momma!

Walking around his slide:

Climbing up his slide:

Walking all over the back yard (He only needs to hold onto one of Momma's fingers at this point!)

Looking back at Daddy:

He loves to climb up his roller coaster track. I'm not sure what happened to his other shoe.

Whoops! Fell off!

Got back on:

And climbed over:

Sitting in his chair and eating a snack:

Loves this blanket all of the sudden!

He loves to sit on Daddy's lap...and he wanted to wear this hat today!

Finally...

2009-04-14T20:36:00.002-05:00

I have been attempting to capture Bear's little booty-shakin' dance countless times, but every time he hears the camera turn on, he stops what he's doing and comes crawling toward me. This dance happens numerous times throughout each day and I had all but stopped trying to get it on camera when I finally caught him.

Baby steps

2009-04-03T08:35:00.002-05:00

Literally...Bear finally took a few steps! Three, to be exact! We were standing in a friend's driveway yesterday and I wanted to show my friend how long Bear could stand up without falling. He'd been getting better and better at it and I was a proud momma. Every time I went to stand him up, though, he'd make me look like a liar. He would fall into the driveway, acting as if he'd never stood up in his life, so I finally gave up. We kept standing there talking and Bear started whining like he wanted something. I handed him his water cup and he pulled up on my leg to get it from me. I unclenched his fist from my pants and he stood up and drank his water! I got my friend's attention to show her, and just as she was turning to look, Bear dropped his cup and walked toward a toy shopping cart!! Everyone in the driveway (us and 3 or 4 other moms) started cheering for Bear! He just started walking along with the cart like he'd done nothing unusual. Later in the day, we were playing outside and he was standing at his sand and water table, playing with boats. His bike was a few steps away, so when he turned around, he walked right over to his bike and started pushing it. If I had to guess, I'd say that he's very close to walking at this point. However, Max and I have been thinking that for several months, so I can't be too sure. The other clue that's leading me to think he's about ready is that he refuses to hold both of my hands when I'm helping him walk. He'll push one hand away so that he's only holding one of my hands while he walks along. I've heard from several other moms that this is a big step. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

If he is indeed walking soon, I'm sure Bear will get more independent than he already is. I can tell he's frustrated lately at needing help for all kinds of stuff. I think it's just typical toddler behavior. It seems as if he's thinking, I don't want your help. Don't help me. And then when I don't help him, he seems to be thinking, Why won't you help me? I need help, dummy! He'll do things like yank the spoon out of my hand when I try to feed him and then cry when he can't pick up certain foods with it by himself. When I try to guide his hand to the food with the spoon, he'll get all frustrated and start waving his hands around, sometimes throwing food around the kitchen. When he realizes he needs my assistance or he won't get any corn (or whatever it is that he wants), he gives in and lets me help. This is an almost everyday occurrence at this point, though. I wonder if he'll eventually let me help him without a fight or if he'll just learn to feed himself? He has similar reactions when he wants an object that is stuck in a drawer/cabinet/box or when he runs one of his walker-type toys into a wall. He'll get angry when I try to help, so I let him try by himself for a bit. Sometimes he'll figure it out by himself, but more often than not, he'll get REALLY frustrated, so I'll go help him. I suppose it's just something to be worked through and a test of my patience!

He has two current loves right now: steering wheels and toys with little buttons that make noise when they are pushed. The steering wheels that he loves are at the parks that we frequent. He'll climb up the playground equipment to get to one and he'll just steer it and smile for a long while. I make it a point to show him whenever I see a steering wheel, since he seems to love them so much! I set him on my lap in the car (when it's off, of course) and let him practice "driving", which he also seems to enjoy quite a bit. He loves ride-on toys that have steering wheels, too. He'll sit on them and pretend to drive for longer than he actually moves the toy around! Grandma and Grandad J. just sent him a steering wheel that we're going to attach to a fencepost in the backyard, but he's been happy just holding it in his lap up until this point! As far as toys with buttons go, he's just recently gotten very good at using his index finger to push buttons. He helps to open the garage door by pressing the button and we play Fisher Price computer games that require no more than just the push of a button for a fun Peek-a-Boo game. Sadly, he also loves things like remote controls and cell phones with all their little buttons. I've lost count of the number of meltdowns that have happened because I took away something that I don't want him to play with. We got him a toy cell phone and that seemed to help a little. I can deal with the annoying songs it plays if it keeps him from ruining our things!

All of this independence from Bear reminds me of something that I think of nearly every day--he's really becoming a little boy! I thought I'd be sadder about this, but I'm not actually very sad at all. I want him to experience so much and there are things that a baby just cannot do. Before I had a kid, whenever I envisioned myself with a child, I imagined fun things like trips to the zoo or children's museums. Those things just aren't that fun for Bear yet, but I think once he can walk, they will be more enjoyable. There's a zoo here that we visited a few months ago, but it had no more impact on Bear than a walk through the neighborhood would have. He rode in his stroller while I looked at the animals. I enjoyed it, but I want him to enjoy it, too! There is no children's museum here yet, but there's one near Grandma H.'s house that I'd love to take him to once he's an advanced walker. I'm probably a little better with little kids than I am with babies, anyhow. I think I was good momma when he was tiny, too, but I think I'll be better the older he gets. Whenever Bear reaches a new phase of his short little life, I feel a surge of love for him that I didn't feel before. This has been happening ever since he was born and I find myself wondering if this will happen all throughout his life or if the love will stop growing at some point. I imagine it will have to taper off at some time, otherwise I'll explode! Or Bear will from me hugging him so much!

The Best Craigslist Find (so far)

2009-03-27T12:25:00.003-05:00

Ever since he spent nearly an entire playgroup hour sitting in his friend Kaitlyn's monogrammed pink one, I've been thinking that Bear needed a chair of his own. All the ones that I've found in stores and online, however, cost way more than I'm willing to spend on a piece of furniture that is probably going to end up stained by who-knows-what. And the ones I can afford are laden with character logos and pictures, which is something I just don't like. I was looking on Craigslist the other day and found the best little chair for Bear for only $20!! I was so excited and I contacted the seller and offered to buy it the next day. Max went and picked it up last night and Bear took right to it.

I think he might like it. What do you think?