Tummy time

She doesn't get as much tummy time as I would like. We try as often as we can, but another little somebody appears from out of nowhere every single time I put Julia down on her play mat. Nothing new. Every parent has experienced it. We sneak a few minutes here and there before she gets noticed.

Busted! She only got a few minutes of peace before somebody had to come check out what she was up to...


Another teaching opportunity for Claxton. Might as well teach her a few things if she's going to be down on his level. First lesson in transportation. Yes, he showed her every piece and told her what it was...and she listened intently!

Fifteen weeks old

She's laughing and starting to "talk" to us often. For weeks now she's been smiling on a regular basis. Thankfully her reflux problems seem to be going away. It's been almost a week now since we've had to give her any medicine. She's happy as long as the reflux is not bothering her so hopefully she has about outgrown that issue. I took this picture this morning. Her dad wore this outfit when he was a wee one.

Blue icing

We went to Jordan's birthday party yesterday (Claxton's cousin). All the kids had tons of fun exerting their energy over at Pump it Up, one of the inflatable bounce places. When the bouncing ended the food was served right along with a very cool Pirates of the Caribbean birthday cake. Claxton was fortunate enough to get a piece with lots of blue icing, which by the way, showed up a second time earlier today...

Activities of the week

There are advantages to Brian working from home these days. It gives us the opportunity to go out in the middle of the week and do some fun things as a family rather than on the weekends when ten billion other people are out too. So this week we made several trips to the pool. Claxton is doing very well and not afraid of the water at all. If anything he and his dad make me a little too nervous. It's really not good for my health, but I try very hard to refrain from saying anything. I'm learning that boys will be boys at all ages and stages of life! We didn't take the camera so I'll have to post pool pictures sometime later.
We also had a family fun day this week over at American Adventures. All of the rides are specifically for younger children, but adults can ride too. We spent about two hours there and Claxton was able to ride everything he wanted two or three times. This was his first time on a real roller coaster. He's so much braver than his mom. I was 21 or so when I finally had the courage to get on one. And I had white knuckles too. Like father, like son fearless, hands in the air and the whole bit. The trip was a success, we'll definitely be going back.

Working on getting his pilot's license

Flying Dragon

Julia had a good time just being outside and checking everything out.

I thought he was a little too young to ride this one especially since he had to ride by himself. I made sure the operator would stop it if he started crying. See the smile, I was wrong. When it stopped, we heard "again, again!"

...and here they are.

(click on picture for larger view)

She looks so peaceful

I don't know how she does it. Yet she can sleep for hours on end in what appears to be some of the most uncomfortable positions. Sometimes I think I should move her in an attempt to make her more comfortable, but you know, you should never wake a sleeping baby.

Oh Happy Father's Day, Daddy

Someone's not really interested in taking pictures these days. Can you guess who that would be? This person was very interested in wishing Brian a happy Father's Day over and over.

Sandbox fun

I watch him play and still can't believe he's two already. He is curious about everything. Often times it is about things that are not in his best interest to be bothering, I mean exploring. Today we were on the deck and I was sitting at the picnic table with plans to get some long overdue paperwork done. I had expected that being outside and playing in the sandbox would keep the little man busy for quite a while. Silly me. He was far more concerned about what I had going on at the table. It was not fun stuff mind you. I was sorting some mail, writing some notes, paying bills, etc. Before it was over he successfully managed to get sand all all over my things. Just slightly irritating. I kept telling him to go play in the sandbox, but he was certain that what I had going on was more interesting. I finally made him go back over to the box and play. And he did. But it was only a minute or so before I looked up and saw him standing in the sand table twirling the umbrella. I fully expected to see an eyeball rolling around on the deck. I really just didn't think of the umbrella being more fun than the sand and trucks. Go figure. At least I know he's a normal kid.

Enjoying these precious moments

These are sweet times for me. I would like to think they will always be this kind and gentle with each other...I'll take it while I can get it.

Silly faces

He received a "Magnetic Silly Animals" book for his birthday so we've been pulling it out some this week. "Silly faces, Mommy, let's do silly faces again!". There are colorful mouths, eyes, and noses to choose from to create all kinds of silly faces. One of his favorite pieces has been a tongue that sticks out. And he enjoys demonstrating as well.

Daddy's Little Girl (nothing more to say)

Fun with Grammy and Grandpa

They were here this past week to help celebrate Claxton's birthday and just hang out with us for a few days. Claxton loves it when we have extra people around - especially Grammy and Grandpa. Most of our time was spent playing at home and a couple of trips up to the pool. And Claxton got to make a couple of trips to The Home Depot with Dad and Grandpa too! We usually have no problem getting him in the bed for rest time and night time, however, since he's a little older now and understands that other people are in the house, he had a really hard time settling down every day they were here. Thankfully he's back into his regular routine with naps and bedtime now. I think Grammy and Grandpa wore him out on their trip!!

Can you guess what they are watching?

Grandpa giving a push on the roller coaster

Grammy helps give animals a turn

Grammy and Julia having fun watching Claxton

Facelift

Thanks to Brad, My Monkey Tales just had a bit of a facelift. It's always good to have a professional in the family.

His big day

A couple of weeks ago we were trying to decide on the cake design for Claxton's birthday. It really didn't take us long, well actually, it didn't take Brian very long to come up with the idea that this year nothing would be more appropriate than Bob and Larry. If you are not familiar with these characters just spend a few minutes at our house and you will probably know more than you really want to know. Just ask Grammy and Grandpa!

The cake was a huge hit!

Here he's trying out the roller coaster. He was riding it backwards before sundown. I fully expect him to be riding it standing very soon. Not sure if this was such a good idea after all.

He's 2!

Our little man turned 2 this past Saturday. It's amazing, two years ago I was wondering how I was going to survive and now I don't know how I could survive without this little guy. He has brought so much love and joy into our lives. He's full of energy and laughter and brightens up a room wherever he goes. In just two years he has developed a passion for many things, but here are just a few of his favorite things:

• Airplanes - ummm, wonder where he got that from?!
• Fire engines
• Veggie Tales
  
• Being outside
• Police cars
  
• Elmo
  
• Guy time with Daddy
  
• Bananas
• Books / reading
• Veggie Tales
  
• Monkey Joe's
• Racing Mommy up the stairs and saying "Beat'cha Mommy (giggling all the while)"
• Balls - baseball, football, soccer, basketball - any kind is fine with him
• The Home Depot - no kidding, we cannot hardly pass one without him wanting to go in (of course it has nothing to do with the race car carts they have!)
  
• Veggie Tales
  
• Tools
• And can't forget Veggie Tales !

I'll post some photos of the birthday bash soon.

Julia and Ellie meet

She arrived while we were out of town even though her mommy was informed to not go into labor until we returned. Oh well, even though she came a little early, she's here and very healthy which we are very thankful for. Ellie Ryan was born on May 29.

Ellie - 3 days old
Julia - 11 1/2 weeks old

Looks like an early morning fog

But unfortunately this is the smoke from the fires. This is what we had to drive through coming home yesterday.

This was taken about 5 miles from Mom's house

The next two photos are along the interstate approximately 80 miles away from where fires are burning.

Pics from Grandma's

Last week we experienced smoke in the metro area from the fires that have been burning in south Georgia since the middle of April. We are not used to this so it never occurred to us that we would most likely experience it on our trip this past week either. But we did. And it was quite heavy while we were there so most of our time was spent indoors. We did manage to get out just a little everyday so that everyone could keep their sanity!

Here's Claxton following Grandpa Charles around

Julia and Grandpa Charles having a giggle together

Of course, Grandma could not miss her opportunity for a giggle with Julia, so here they are hanging out together.

On a mission. I did not understand the urgency to get to the swing until they sat down and got settled, then I could see what they were up to.

Then they had some good laughs together.

I'm wondering if we have a gymnast in the making:

Julia got to swing for just a few minutes.