3rd Generation Friends

When my brother and I were little, our mom became friends with someone that became a 2nd mother to us. Her family lived about a mile away and it was common for my brother and I to ride our bikes over to their house and play with their kids all summer long.

This past September, my mom's friend became a grandmother twice in one month as both of her kids had children of their own. And, to add to that, I also had my little boy. Now, her son's family lives in Connecticut, but we were blessed to be able to all spend some time together during a home visit during our pregnancies.

Today, we were blessed again as all three of the 10-month old babies were able to meet each other in person and we were able to snag a few pictures:
The one on the left was born first, then my little guy on the right and the little lady was born just slightly later. There is about 3 weeks between all of three of them.

I love the smile on the face of the little girl here as the boys are messing with her binkie.

My son is never shy about going for someone else's binkie....of course, give him his own binkie and he'll act completely uninterested.

It was fun to see all three of the kids and see who's crawling, nearly walking and talking up a storm. I wish we all lived closer so they could grow up as close friends, but it's still fun catching up as time allows!

And, the older kids had fun together, too!

Happy Belated 4th of July

It took me a couple of weeks to change the batteries in my camera....thus, the delay in posting any pictures from one of our favorite holidays. My daughter reminded me today, however, when she told me that she "likes having people over to our house, especially 78,000 people!"

Fortunately, the final count of guests on the 4th was only 78 people and not the number she thought she heard!

Too Hot For Words....Other than "Ma-Ma"

Today, it was about 95 degrees outside....and with a 2-story house, our bedrooms get quite hot as the sun goes down. At about 7:00 p.m. tonight, the inside of our house registered over 100 degrees as the outside temperature slowly started to decrease to about 92.

Unfortunately, as the kids got tired and ready for bed, their rooms were ovens. With windows open, fans on, and the kids wearing as little clothing as possible, it was just a downright miserable evening.

The moaning and the sad, little 'Mama' cries eventually wound down (and as of 10 p.m., they are both sleeping away in their rooms). Mommy is very glad that tomorrow's temperatures should be in the 80s....and wishing an air-conditioning fairy would quietly visit our house for the kids' sake!

Special Time with My Baby Boy

In the past 9 months, I've had two really special periods with my baby boy. The first was during his first few days of life in the hospital.

I didn't really appreciate the hospital time with my daughter because I was pretty stressed out about what motherhood really meant. Because I also had a pretty rough delivery, I was on a lot of morphine first time around and wasn't able to really enjoy the first few days and weeks without a pretty fair amount of stress.

The second time around, with my boy, I really did enjoy our hospital time. At night, with Daddy sleeping on the couch, I was able to enjoy a lot of special time just holding my cuddly little man. He melted my heart right away.

And this weekend, I was spoiled again. Nine months later, he crawls endlessly, plays with his toys, giggle and laughs, and holds his little arms in the air to be cuddled and held by his Mommy. With his sister enjoying time at the beach with their grandparents, our little guy enjoyed sleeping in, pulling the kitty's tail and begging to try just about every type of food we ate this weekend. He sat patiently through a 2-hour Shakespeare play in the park and endured a day of garage sales over the weekend.


His smile and bouncy legs continue to melt my heart every day. Tomorrow, the volume will increase in our house as we again enjoy the daily craziness that is raising 2 children.....but tonight, I quietly enjoy my baby in the few days we have left before they're both working on training for a future debate team.

We truly are amazed that these little kids belong to us.

Prayers for Next Year

My daughter is ready to head to the beach with her grandparents tomorrow for 4 days. She had a really good time last year and has been pretty excited about going this year, too. Tonight, however, when I told her that we were going to get her all packed up and ready to go, she got a little weepy and huggy (which is horrible for me as I always get emotional at the thought of missing her, too!)

I took her out shopping tonight for a travel book that she can do in the car tomorrow on their trip south and she seemed to get more excited about being gone tomorrow.

Just before she went to bed tonight, she said the following prayer:

"Dear Lord. thank you for a really fun day today. Thank you for letting me skip my nap and God, maybe next year, can you let Mommy and Daddy come with me on vacation? And if Daddy and Hunter can't go, maybe just Mommy could come? In Jesus' Name, Amen."

We are so blessed.

Happy Feet

My son has been making me laugh regularly this past week. When he gets excited about something, he has taken to rotating his feet in little circles to illustrate his anticipation for the good stuff. Several situation that cause his "happy feet" this week have included:

• Fireworks on the 4th of July (he is his Daddy's son!)
• Getting a bottle
• Seeing his sister
• Seeing Mommy come home from work

It has earned him a new nickname in my book of "Mr. Happy Feet" and makes me smile!

Escape to the Beach

This week has seen some pretty warm temperatures around our home. And after a hard week at work, we decided to escape to the beach both to refresh and find some cooler air. It definitely worked. The temperatures at the beach were about 80 degrees and in the evening, even required long sleeves as it was downright chilly. The sunsets were amazing and the family time was even better.

We spent a lot of time on the beach, playing in the sand and flying kites. Our daughter loved digging herself a huge hole and playing "house" in her little sandpit apartment. She also enjoyed chasing the waves (or rather allowing the waves to chase her).

Beyond the beach, we played in the "critter-cade" (her new name for the arcade) and made smores over a fire pit in the evenings. It was a lovely few days to get away from the pressures and heat experienced elsewhere this week. Here are a few pictures and videos of the experience:

Enjoying the sand at the beginning of the afternoon...

Making sand angels...I never taught her how to do this, but she jumps at any opportunity in snow and sand to do this!

Here she is, shoulder-deep, in her little sand-pit apartment. It was quite the hole to play in.

All the fun just wore her little brother out and he enjoyed sleeping in the sun.