Beau waves "hi"

Oh Gwenie...

Gwen and I were playing "baby" this morning....I bet you can't guess who the "baby" was. Ha...she cracks me up!

A Week of Pictures

I can tell already I'm going to have a hard time keeping up on the blog this summer. I have a feeling there will be a lot of posts like these. The "I have all these pictures and have not made a post in a week" type of deals. Then I will just post all of them and give the summary. Anyway, summer is here (for us anyway)...we have been getting used to the no schedule routine and so far the kids haven't gotten sick of each other yet. Of course, it's only been a little over a week.  We are staying up a little later and sleeping in a little later...(well, Jackie is sleeping in later anyway).

 

The only benefit of getting in a car accident...new car seats!    Perfect timing too, as Beau is getting too big for the infant carrier..... so we were going to have to purchase a new one anyway.  The girls thought they made a great place to have a snack!

We made a trip to the zoo with some friends of ours.  The kiddos had a great time exploring together.

Jackie was such the "big girl" and walked along with Gwen and friend, Connor.

Beau playing with Gwen's baby doll. 

One day while I was getting Gwen down for a nap..I came downstairs to find Jackie out by the garden, pulling weeds, and singing to the plants.  She is my little gardener!

Beau "helping" me with the dishes!

9 Months Old

Happy 9 Months to Beau today! I feel like the months are just flying by now. A few pictures of our handsome lil' guy. I realize both of the pictures are blurry...because for the life of me I could not get him to sit still. This is the story of our lives right now. Beau is on the move and DOES.NOT.STOP! He was continually trying to crawl off the rocking chair while taking these pictures and diaper changes have now become a world wrestling match that usually involves me sweating and out of breath by the end.

Here's the latest rundown on Beau:

Height: 29" (91st percentile)
Weight: 19.29lbs (90th percentile)

Eating: Just about anything now. I haven't even made baby food for over about a week now, because he is more interested in table foods. He hasn't turned anything down yet...although, doesn't seem a fan of plain applesauce. He doesn't mind it if it's mixed with something though. He's still nursing about 3-4 times a day. We have been practicing with his sippy cup, but he mostly just plays with it still.

Sleep: Dare I say this has gotten much better in the past couple of weeks?!?!? After implementing a "cry it out" method about three weeks ago, things have started to turn a corner. He has actually slept through the night more in the last week than not. He is also dropping his third (late afternoon) nap and taking two longer naps during the day. He goes to bed about 730pm and is up anywhere from 600-730am.   He also sleeps with a "blankie" now and that seems to help him get back to sleep in the middle of the night if he does wake up.

On the Move:  He is everywhere!  He crawls, pulls up, starting to cruise furniture and can crawl up the stairs if we let him.  And, he's fast!  I'm finding it harder and harder to keep track of him.

Loves: music, outdoors, swinging, putting everything in his mouth, playing with his big sisters, my keys, the remotes to the TV

Words:  He definitely says "Da da" and "blah, blah"  Also a few times he's made the "Mmmm, mama, mama"...but only in the car when he was tired.  He also learned to click his tongue and thinks he's pretty cool doing that.

We are getting ready to switch him to a new car seat (once we get our van back from the collision center!)  He also enjoyed riding in the grocery cart today with the little car steering wheel.  He totally thought he was big stuff!

Field Day

Jackie's last "Hoorah" for preschool was Field Day! They invited the families of all the students to come and watch the kids participate in field activities and ended with a picnic lunch. It was fun to see Jackie with her classmates.

Yep, she's the tallest one in her class!

Jumping over "the river"

Parachute time

Jackie and Mrs. Higginson.  They had folders with pictures at the beginning of the school year and the end.  Also there were self-portraits and how they wrote their name.  Such a drastic change in how her name looked from the beginning of the school year to the end.

Gwen and Beau were sports while the festivities went on.  Here Gwen is playing peek a boo with Beau in the stroller.

Storm Watchers

The weather channel is really talking up the storms for this afternoon.  We'll see what happens.  Good thing we have three storm watchers to keep an eye on things for us....

Last Day of Preschool

Yesterday was Jackie's last day of preschool! She is now officially ready for Kindergarten....but first we are going to enjoy our summer. It will be different this year, as our summer will be a little bit shorter than what we've been used to. They start school on August 19th. So here's to lots of pool time, vacations, family, friends and just down right being lazy!

Looking so grown up..sniff, sniff..

Oh yea, and this one had to get her picture taken too.  We wouldn't want to leave anyone out.  Plus, she will be my new preschooler in the Fall.  Watch out world!

Backyard Adventures

After all the excitement last Friday, we decided to complete our adventures with a little backyard camping.   Jackie has been begging to do this for about a month, and the weather was as good as ever...so we went ahead and got everything set up for John and his girls to have a backyard camp out.  I stayed inside with Beau.  We decided it was best not to keep the whole neighborhood awake with his middle of the night "partying."   We roasted marshmallows and sat by the campfire until it was dark.  Then it was bedtime for John and the girls.  We were so proud of the girls, as they made it through the whole night in the tent.  And it even got a little chilly out...it was only 50 degrees when we woke up the next morning. 

Firetrucks, Police, and Tow Trucks..oh My!

Last Friday morning, Gwen, Beau and I went with our church mom's group to tour a local fire station.  It was cute seeing all the wide-eyed littles watch the fireman and climb into the big fire truck.  Gwen was pretty reserved during the whole tour, however when we got into the car...she talked and talked about it!  So she must have enjoyed herself a little.

 

What we didn't know is that after the fire station tour, we were going to get a close up look at some other emergency vehicles.  After the fire station, we headed over to pick up Jackie from preschool.  Upon leaving we just happened to get into a car accident at the intersection just outside her school.  A car turned in front of me at a green light and I crashed into their passenger side, while banging up my front passenger side of the van.  Not a fun experience with all three kiddos in the car.  Scary to say the least.  Lucky that nobody was hurt.  I was so fortunate that a mom I knew from preschool and my church stopped to help us and walk me through the whole "accident process," while entertaining my kids.  She was a lifesaver.  Both cars were un-driveable and towed.  We are now sporting a rental for the next two weeks while our van gets fixed.  Hopefully, we will never have to experience that situation again.

Happy Momma's Day!

To two very special Mothers I know! And Happy Mother's Day to all the other special mommies in my life! You know who you are...

Soccer Dad

This picture is from a couple weeks ago.  John and Jackie have been soccer buddies this season, as the weather and timing has only allowed me to make it to half the games.  Which is OK too.  I think Jackie enjoys her "daddy time."  Jackie has really enjoyed soccer this season.  She even scored two goals the first game!  She has gotten to know some of the girls on her team better, and she will go to Kindergarten with them in the Fall.

April Showers, Bring....

May SNOW!  We were not spared from the onslaught of snowflakes that landed across the Midwest.  Our measly 2 inches, was nothing compared to some areas...none the less, it was quite a sight to see.  In the words of my 5 years old, "It's magical, mom!"

 Won't be needing these flip flops for a couple of days....

 The girls were excited to get out and play.  Notice our lilac bushes blooming in the background.

Trying to catch snow on her tongue!

Firepit Season

We were excited to be able to kick off the firepit season this past Sunday evening. The girls enjoyed sitting around the fire telling "campfire stories," while roasting marshmallows. Let me tell you...there were some interesting stories from a 5 and 2 1/2 yr old! A few pictures to celebrate the event...