ROAD TRIP

I think I've finally recovered from our busy Memorial Day weekend!  Over the course of four days, JP and AA managed to visit with ALL of their aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, and grandpas (minus the Virginia clan ... hope that will come soon!).  Since we hadn't been up north since Christmas, we tried to pack in all of the stops.  

Within minutes of arriving at Grandma K's and Grandpa A's, the kids were enjoying cookies and milk!  We fed the ducks, went to the park, ate pizza on the lake, and played with all of the fun toys JP has dreamed about!  JP slept in a big boy bed and AA danced to Grandma's singing.  Despite freezing weather, the kids managed to have a great time with Aunt K and Uncle J too.  

On Sunday, we headed to Grandpa J's 60th birthday party.  Luckily, the sun was shining and the motorized cars were plentiful!  Cousin E is such a hero to JP.  It's so fun to see the two of them interact ... their 3 year age difference seems to become less and less.  We also enjoyed seeing Cousin A, Aunt J, and Uncle L.

 Grandma S's house was filled with many things to do ... inside and out.  While JP rode on the tractor

 and had his very first ride ever on the 4 wheeler (I cannot believe how relaxed I've become!), 

 Lil' Miss AA strutted her stuff on a tractor just her size.  

We went to the Memorial Day parade, where AA waved and shouted "HI!" to all of the horses, drummers, and fancy cars ...

 and the boy cousins shouted for more candy to be thrown!

 And, finally ... on our way back through the cities on Monday, we stopped at Grandpa T's house.  Aunt J and Uncle M were swimming away in the pool ... so we all had our first outside swim of the season!  Grandpa T had the kids giggling over and over again.

And best of all, Grandpa T had cookies for the kids ... so we could end our weekend exactly how it began!

VRROOM, VRRRROOOOMMMM

MEMORIAL DAY

Thank you, Daddy, for your service to our country!  

Someday I'll understand what that truly means.

MORNING CONVERSATION

AA:  "Oh, Jackson, come and get me!"

 "Yep, that's right, just lift your leg over.  Mom isn't looking.  C'mon, it'll be fun."

 "Nice work!  Let's jump up and down and shout really loud!"

 "You really want me to jump out first???"

HOT

 We spent our first 90+ degree day of 2012

 splashing around in baby Brayden's cool pool.

 Actually, the kids thought it was more cool

 outside of the pool than inside!

 AA flirted with her daycare playmate,

 and we all had a good laugh!

HANDS

Before I know it, 

 these little hands 

are going to be big.

MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND

We drove north on Saturday to spend Mother's Day with Grandma K, Grandma S and many great Aunts and cousins!  

 We were all entertained by Teddy the dog, JP, and AA ... not sure how they all had so much energy!  

 On Sunday, we were back at home for a very relaxing day.   My kids let me sleep in until 6:30 AM!  I didn't need to do any kitchen cleanup (!!!) ... we had donuts outside for breakfast; we biked to a park for a picnic lunch, and we went out to eat for dinner.  The sun shined brilliantly all day and we lived outside.

All week JP had been telling me, "Mamma:  Daddy and I bought a new necklace for you.  It's hiding under my bed!" ... so, FINALLY I was able to open it ... and act completely surprised!

I still don't feel old enough (although I totally am!) or smart enough ... or worthy enough to be a mom of my two darling babes!  It's weekends like these that I actually take the time to truly appreciate my blessings!

HAPPY

So much to be thankful for on this BEAUTIFUL Mother's Day!

JP UPDATE

My eyes swell with tears when I think that NEXT month my baby boy will turn 3!  This little guy is quite the BIG boy!  At 34 pounds, JP is still blonde haired and blue eyed.  His dimples bulge when he smiles and all of his baby teeth have arrived.  He sleeps 11 hours at night and naps for 2 or so hours during the day.  JP thrives on routine ... each night we must read three books, sing two songs, fill his Nalgene with ice, turn on his rainbow nightlight, hand him the white blanket, old teddy, new teddy, froggy and a handful of cars; butterfly kiss him on the cheeks and then start our prayers.  If I deviate, he corrects me.  (The truth is, I love it!  Order and routine ... must be a firstborn thing!)

JP is ALL boy. He literally knows the make and model of every car that passes us by.  He is obsessed with trains and planes too.  JP loves to read books and dance to music.  He zooms on his bike and loves the sandbox and the parks.  JP knows all of his letters, though he isn't very proficient at writing any of them.  He can rattle off numbers and colors in English and Spanish.  JP is inquisitive.  He is detail driven.  My little guy is both sensitive and full of energy.  His memory seems to be photographic- he can pull the most specific memories from months and months ago out of nowhere.  A and I have exchanged many looks over the last few weeks!

On most days, JP is a sweet big brother to his little sister.  He continues to work on sharing all of his toys.  He does his share of whining, but (thankfully) he never really went through the full blown tantrum stage (I'm sure this is coming!).   His superheros seem to be all males ... Daddy, Grandpa A, Grandpa J, Grandpa T, Uncle M, Uncle J, and his best friend, Colton.

We just had our first round of conferences at daycare!  We learned that JP has developed a social skill that typically comes a little later ... while most of his classmates "parallel play", he and his buddy Colton have paired in becoming the best of friends.  We're told that they play and talk all day long!  Thankfully, the teachers will allow them both to transition to the 3 year old classroom at the same time this summer.

I'd give anything to have JP sleep in on the weekends; or eat all of his vegetables without being bribed ... but all in all, JP is a pretty easy going kid.  I pray that he stays this sweet for many more years to come!

DYNAMIC DUO

 Full 

 of

 ENERGY

 and 

full of LOVE!

AA UPDATE

It's amazing how much can change in just one week.  Last week at this time, AA only had 3 teeth; she was unable to mutter any recognizable word; and she HATED the bathtub.  But if there's anything that I've learned about my daughter thus far, it's that she is going to do things on her own accord.  She was this way in my belly, and I'm certain I'll be saying the same thing when she's a grown woman in charge of a multibillion dollar business.  AA knows what she wants and she knows how to get it.  And there is nothing that will get in her way ... (well, unless it's JP).  In spite of this, she is also tender and sweet.

AA weighs about 23 pounds.  She eats more than JP and I combined, yet she still fits into some of her 6-12 month clothes!  She sleeps 12 hours at night and still naps for 2 hours midday.  In addition to her bottom two teeth, she has her top two molars, eye teeth, and is just getting one of her front teeth!  Her mouth looks ridiculous!  AA literally runs up and down stairs, and she's always bending her body in some sort of gymnastic pose.  She always seems to be sporting some kind of bruise or scab from a recent wipeout (as seen in today's photos!). She LOVES playing with her dolls, reading books on my lap, and swiping JP's cars and trains when he isn't looking.  AA is thrilled with any kind of ball, marker, or bracelet.  She's obsessed with picking out her own shoes for the day, and she loves to fetch me mine (and most of the time, they match!).

About a month ago, AA decided she hated taking baths.  I could not get her to sit down in the tub despite my best efforts ... new toys, bubbles, songs, swimming lessons ... she S-C-R-E-A-M-E-D every time I tried to wash her.  It was horrible.  I'm nearly certain that nothing was really wrong ... she just had it in her mind that she wasn't going to cooperate.  Our nighttime routine was unbearable.  And then Grandma K gave AA a bathtub dolly ... and slowly AA has warmed up to getting in the tub and washing her baby.  Tonight she hopped right in and cried when I made her get out after thirty minutes!

One of my biggest concerns over AA's development has been her speech.  She's always made lots of sounds, but until one week ago, she really wasn't saying anything other than "Daddy" and "uh-oh".  I've expressed concern to her pediatrician time and time again, and I've been told to not worry.  It's hard not to compare her language to JP's ... he was speaking sentences at this age!  I've always known AA could comprehend much more than she could speak.  Suddenly, her little neurons have all connected (or, she's just decided to stop pretending like she doesn't know anything) ... she's rambling words like ball, balloon, flower, strawberry, eyes, ears, shoes, cheese, baby, teddy, car, book, cow, dog, fish, kitty, more, up, please, bye bye ... and my absolute favorite ... MOMMY!  Finally. 

I just love this ball of fire.