Birthday Party

Perhaps the coolest thing in the whole world is seeing my children learn and grow.  My latest favorite part of Davis' development is his imaginative play.  The other afternoon, he invited me to sit down and join his "birthday party".  He had several toys placed on the floor and was making sure each one had a "cupcake".  He had all of his "friends" blow out the candles on their cupcakes and he had me sing "Happy Birthday" to each one.  Talk about precious!  I suggested we give each participant a present, and Davis went and found a gift for everyone and pretended that the party guests were opening them.  I'm going to post a picture of this sweet event because I want to remember it.  I'm going to open myself up for judgement as well, since my floor clearly has dog hair on it (It has since been vacuumed.) and my child clearly has food all over his face.  Oh well...

The scene...Isn't it clear as mud that this is a birthday party?

Reece enjoyed his view from the Mamaroo.

This kid loves to sing "Happy Birthday".

Mr. Penguin and his cupcake.  Looks like he already had a few too many.

2 > 1

When Derek and I decided to have another baby, we knew it would be challenging in the beginning (and in the middle, and in the end).  Having one child isn't easy, and having two children even less so, especially when they arrive less than two years apart.  But, we knew we wanted Davis to have a sibling and specifically one close in age to grow up and hopefully be great friends with.

John Reece has been such a precious addition to our family, and now I barely remember what it was like only having one child.  A few days ago he started to really make eye contact and is now smiling and cooing all the time.  Something has surely clicked recently and I feel like our family is getting into a groove and really feels complete.

I took Reece to his two-month checkup this morning, and the doctor said he looks wonderful.  He weighs over thirteen pounds (90th percentile); his length is in the 75th percentile, and his head size is in the 95th percentile.  He's doing great, sleeping well, and bringing lots of joy to our little family.

What a great smile!

Davis is a sweeter big brother than I could have ever imagined.
But of course, Reece can't play with his toys yet...

My boys...

are not in these pictures, but they sure are pretty anyway!  I snapped a couple photos of the flowers in our yard this afternoon as there aren't many left.  Apparently 105 degrees is too much for some plants...

Rain, Rain

It's only Wednesday but it feels like we've done a lot this week already...Who am I kidding?  I've usually done a lot before 7am!

Monday we did our usual catch-up day, where I use up all of Garner's water doing laundry, running the dishwasher, etc. but we did manage to sneak in a little painting time in the afternoon.

Yesterday and today we have had some nice rain in our area.  It has been quite a welcome relief from the high temperatures we've had lately.  This week is supposed to be pretty cold, with the highs only in the 80s, as opposed to the 100s like last week.

Yesterday we went to see our friends Christy and Cooper.  We finally broke in our new double stroller and went on a nice long walk around their neighborhood, with Davis and Cooper riding and Reece strapped to me.  After we came home and ate dinner, Davis played in his pool for a while and then we played some naked t-ball.  Only Davis was naked.

Davis played in his new rice bin this morning and really enjoyed himself.  Even I like running my hands through it.  I hope to make several more of these "sensory bins" soon using uncooked pasta, beans, and who knows what else.  It's a cheap and easy way to keep a busy toddler entertained, and you can teach tons of early math and language concepts which I won't bore you with.

Reece had a nice little snooze on the back porch listening to the rain this morning.  I have to admit, I was pretty jealous.  I can't imagine a better place to take a nap!

"Hey, Beach!"

Davis, Reece, and I went to the beach with my mom (A.K.A. "G-Ma") for a couple days over the 4th of July.  It was Reece's first beach trip, and boy was he impressed...he spent most of his actual beach time in a carrier, strapped to me, with a towel over his head.  I really like Ocean Isle Beach, which is where G-Ma has a place now.  It's beautiful and very family-friendly and clean.

Davis had a wonderful time playing in the sand and building sand castles.  He also liked walking down the beach and picking up shells.  My cautious little boy is afraid of the ocean for now, and I'm A-okay with that!  We will let him go at his own pace on that one, as well as the swimming pool.  At the moment he is perfectly content hanging out on the steps and occasionally "floating" with me.  Every couple of minutes I'd try to get him to come into the deeper water, but he was adamant that that was unnecessary.

We did get to see some fireworks, thankfully.  I wasn't too crazy about taking the babies all the way to Southport at 9:00pm to see them and they weren't doing any (officially) at OIB, but we were able to walk out on the balcony and see some from a distance.  It was actually perfect, as Davis could see them clearly but the noise was faint enough that it wasn't scary at all.  

On the way out of town on Thursday, we stopped and met Morgan and Kelly for lunch.  Davis was so excited to see "Moo-Moo" that he was barely able to eat his lunch.  He mostly bounced up and down in the booth and showed off all of his tricks for us.

All in all, we had a really nice time and are hoping to schedule another beach trip real soon!

"That's a biiiigggg ocean."

"All that beach combing has worn me out!"

"Me, too!"

We tried to get a few decent shots of me and the boys...

I love this one.  Davis saw an airplane as I was trying to snap his picture.

My handsome boy

This is the view when we walk out onto the beach.

Thanks for the awesome onesie, Great Aunt Ella!

The one child who actually likes wearing water wings

"More water, G-Ma."