G and M playing

Pool days are here!!

I might be biased, but I'm pretty sure Gemma is one of the coolest kids I know. This summer is going to be so much fun.   As always, she loves the water.  The pool has been open for two days, and we have gone both days.  I expected her to need a day or two to adjust and get comfortable in the water...yeah right, what was I thinking? She's already a pro at jumping off the side (with David catching her obviously), has no problem playing in the deeper end of the kitty pool, and jumps at any opportunity to go into the big pool. Sometime this week we are going to make a special trip to buy pool toys (we are seriously lacking in that department) as well as a pair of "gobbles" (goggles)...not sure why, but she has specifically requested "green gobbles".

Makael on the other hand is not so keen of the water.  The first day we were there he wanted nothing to do with it, and clutched onto my arm as hard as he could the second we got close.  It was a little sad actually. I think part of it is due to the fact that he's teething...I know I've been saying that for three months now but I'm serious this time hahahaha, his bottom two will be in any day now. Due to that, he's been a little more clingy than usual. Thankfully, day two went much better.  He actually let me put him down and braved crawling around for a bit.  It might take a few tries, but I'm confident he'll love it too.

His new tricks include clapping, dancing, saying nananana, climbing, and get this...standing on his own!! He's only done it a hand full of times, but he'll stand himself up on something, let go, stand there (unsteadily) for a bit and then fall to his bum. He thinks he's hot stuff every time...probably because I cheer for him as if he's just done the coolest thing on the planet.  What are moms for after all? 

Climbing like a pro!

My big girl wearing a pony tail :)

Graham crackers are cure all for M

Just one big bundle of energy this one!

She's the cutest!

 

This is what happens after playing outside in the sun.

 First time at the pool..."That's right mom, I'll just sit here and watch everyone have fun".

 Braving the waters on day two.

Precious!

Mother's Day

Take 1

Take 2

Third time is not always a charm

Love you both so so much! Maybe one day we'll get a decent picture together :)

Growing up

Makael is 8 months old tomorrow.  I keep thinking there's no way he can get cuter, but he keeps on proving me wrong. Gosh he's cute!!

As you can see in the video, he has started saying "dadada". You know what that means..."mamama" is just around the corner :) He's clearly not the talking type, but the boy is definitely working HARD at walking.  There's nothing he doesn't try to pull up on.  I can't even begin to count the amount of times he falls and bangs his head on a daily basis.  You would think it would deter him some, but no, he just keeps on trying.  His current favorite thing is to pull up and then let go.  Sorry kiddo, you need to acquire a little more balance before you can let go. 

He's not much of a baby food fan these days, he clearly prefers finger food. You won't hear me complaining, I'm not much of a fan of the baby food phase either. His all time favorite food, and by favorite I mean he impatiently bangs on his high chair tray while I get it ready, is mango.  He loves mango!!

Saying "dadada"

 

It's getting harder and harder to write about Gemma.  She's reached all the major milestones that are so easy to document.  Don't get me wrong,  she does all sorts of cute things. Listening to what she has to say and watching her play are definitely highlights of my day.  The girl is a riot!  Unfortunately those things don't translate well into typed words.  You have to hear and watch her for yourself to really appreciate the cuteness I see all day long. I will however give you a list of some of my favorite words/phrases...you'll just have to imagine her cute little voice while you read them.

• Chaco milk (chocolate milk)
• A benture (an adventure)
• The friger (refrigerator)
• "What are we waiting for?" (when she's excited to go somewhere)
• "Just one more time" (wanting me to lay down with her at bedtime)

 She loves to sing! She's not always on key but she doesn't let that stop her :)

 

Crib Time

The moment he started crawling, he also figured out he could pull up on his crib...time to lower the mattress again ;)

Gemma wanting to join him

I think he likes it!

Wrestling

Tickles

Kisses!

Trying to keep him from getting her Tod.

He got it!

These pictures don't even come close to capturing the cuteness. This was the first time they really "played" together.  It was priceless!

Our month of April

You have no idea how glad I am that spring is here! Not that we had a very bad winter or anything, but I was so ready to get outside. And I'm even more excited for summer. Not only will this be our first summer with a pool membership (we'll be there everyday!) but David and I also have a trip to Mexico planned. We planned on taking a trip for our 5th year anniversary, but since I was pregnant last summer, we're going this year. Lots to look forward to!

Unfortunately the sickness continues...we get about a two week break before it's starts all over. This time I've been thrown into the mix too. The only thing worse than having two sick kiddos, is being sick and having two sick kiddos. We're suviving though :)

With Spring also comes bubbles. Gemma's favorite!

Twirling in the bubbles!!

Ester 2012 was a lots of fun. We spent the first part of the day with the Yarbrough side of the family, and the later part with the Boyd side. Needless to say, there were multiple egg hunts, lots of candy, and lots of pictures.

Gemma during her 2nd egg hunt.

Mr. Smiles!

The fam

You can see more pictures from Easter here:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.396512813705855.97621.100000414194522&type=3

Little man is a crawler!! And just as I predicted, he's much more content and able to entertain himself for longer periods of time. I LOVE the crawling phase! I'm not sure how long we'll be here before we hit the walking stage since he's been pulling up on things, but I hope it's a few months anyway. It seems they lose a lot of "babyness" as soon as they start walking.

This was taken two days ago (the night he officially started crawling).

Inchworm

I don't even know where to begin. The last month has been a whirlwind of good, bad, and everything in between. Life in general has been somewhat overwhelming for me so I have found no motivation to sit down and blog. Today however, it hit me just how much has happened in the last three weeks, so I decided I would make myself sit down and put some of it down in words instead of just posting pictures.

From the moment I found out I was pregnant with Makael, I started trying really hard to appreciate Gemma's littleness. One of my fears of having #2 so soon was that I would force her to "grow up" too quickly or miss something. I thought I was doing a pretty good job of focusing until the other night when I was tucking her into bed, I realized I can no longer see any baby...or even any toddler in her. She's all little girl now. During our last outing to the park, I never worried she might get trampled over by one of the "big kids", instead I found myself telling her to be careful around the "little kids". As hard as I've tried to take it all in, I still feel like I missed something. Where did her littleness go?

I can't keep up with Makael either. Every time I think "I need to get a video of that" he's on to the next thing...seriously! Two days ago, he started getting up on his hands and knees, yesterday he started moving forward by doing an "inchworm" type motion, and today when I walked into his room, I found him pulled up (still on his knees) on his little brown chair. Please tell me he's not going to skip the crawling phase all together! He's not even 7 months old yet!

The biggest change I've noticed, is the way G and M are interacting. They are officially siblings. Yep, the fighting has begun. Makael has figured out he can get mad when Gemma takes a toy away, and if he gets REALLY loud, he can typically get it back. I already can't count the times I've had to say, "Gemma give that back to him". Thankfully, along with the fighting also comes playing together. It has to be one of my favorite things to watch. I'll leave Makael on Gemma's bedroom floor to get something done, and she'll do anything and everything to get him to laugh, and she succeeds 100% of the time. Yesterday I walked in to find them playing "tea party". Gemma had set out her whole tea set and was pretending to feed him using her little plastic spoon. Makael LOVES solids these days, so of course he was gladly opening his mouth everytime the spoon came near his face. I guess it could be considered a little mean that I let her keep "feeding" him since there was nothing on the spoon, but they were both giggling non stop, so I just watched and listened. It was pretty adorable.

Little or big, they're definitely the best part of my day.

I figured I better post a video of Makael trying to crawl before he actually figures it out...who knows, that might just be tomorrow.