A Bunch of Pics/Videos

How did they know to dress the same?

Our 4th of July cake, which tasted SO good! It's a brand called, "Namaste" that doesn't have any of the major food allergens, etc. Most of these things aren't that good, but this was so tasty. It also helped that we found out he could have Betty Crocker frosting. Yum!

These were our fireworks. We did just about nothing on the 4th, except enjoy our family and our time off. It was great!

Keira's first swimsuit.

She just started playing with toys about a week ago. She can hold on to them, move them around, and get them into her mouth.

Our last trip to D-land before the summer blackout dates. Gabe and Allie brought lollipops for the kids. They were so cute with them.

When your child has food allergies, there is such a limitation to what foods he can eat. Andrew and I ate this several times last week and we both loved it. It's chicken, spinach, bread, blueberries, and banana. Can you get any healthier than that? I always wanted to feed my kids healthy foods. I didn't expect to HAVE to, but it's some good accountability I suppose. And I have to admit that it's quite a bit yummier than most other junk... I guess that's another post for another time, huh?...

Keira working on the computer. (actually watching my aquarium screen saver.)

Cutie.

Andrew and I got tat's.

Keira is "talking" now and I just think she sounds so cute! This other video is while Andrew and Gabe were riding Autopia. I can't watch it and not laugh.

Can you tell at which point during this that I pretended to not be watching?

First of all, Andrew has gotten so good at riding his tricycle lately. Secondly, what you hear him saying is pretty much all he says on his tricycle and just about all he says anywhere.

Proof

In your face, JS!

Cute Andrew Sayings

We've noticed Andrew's vocabulary explode over the past few days. Here's some of the things he said this afternoon and evening:

[Peeking his head in the door while playing out on our patio/balcony area]: "Is everybody in here doing okay?"

[Every time he has to say good-bye to daddy, mommy, or even his grapes at dinner]: "See you 'gin, ______?"

[Andrew has a bad habit of calling me (Gabe) mommy, and calling Cheri daddy. Tonight, he realized his mistake and tried to cover it up as I was tucking him in]: "Night night! See you 'gin, Mommy.............and Daddy!"

[Coming home, seeing his stuffed animal Daisy on the ground where he left her]: "Good job waiting for me, Daisy. Thank you very much!"

[I've been doing a lot of work on our computer the last couple of days. So this afternoon Andrew decided to walk up to the computer]: "I play Monkey game on computer. Uh oh! It's not working. [Turns on speaker] I'll restart it."

[In response to Mommy's question about whether Keira cried a lot at the YMCA Kid's Zone]: "Yeah...1,2,3,4,5."


Speaking of counting, this one was from a few days ago:
[In response to my question about how his nap went, after he spent 3 1/2 hours in his room playing and not going to sleep]: "Um...6,7,8,9,10, 2 minutes."

[Every morning when he wakes up, he shouts this at the top of his lungs]: "Mommy, what are you?"

[Wearing one of Cheri's headbands and a pair of her shoes]: "Just like Daddy!"

Yikes.

Where Does it Hurt?

Between the picture above and the one below, which one hurts more?... The one above. Our dear friends, Cam and Janelle, are driving (as I type) out to Austin and they're not coming back. Although I know and trust that this is where God is leading them, I am going to miss them SO much. They have had such an amazing impact on not only Gabe's and my lives, but also Andrew's.

As for this picture... this is what happens when big kids play with little kids' toys. As Cam and Janelle's party was winding down, my friend, John, and I had some races around the room ... in Andrew's tunnels. It was quite exciting, but also a little painful... I beat him, by the way. :)

Andrew and Justin's version of the race. You can see a great video of it at the bottom.

Andrew loves "blue bunny" candy. We introduced him to it at Easter and he hasn't looked back... Although, this is his last bunny.

Keira is officially out of her swaddle! We were wondering how it would happen. It was on a HOT night and she started crying after about an hour of sleep. I took the swaddle off, placed her back in the crib, and voila!

Leila came to visit and got MAJOR giggles right away from Keira.

She's getting strong!

Doesn't he look sweet?

Our last girls' nite out with Janelle. We went to Cheesecake Factory at about 8:00 and didn't leave until after midnight. By the way, these are the girls in my small group... Me, Amy, Janelle, and Rachelle. I love these girls!

Here's the video of Andrew and Justin's race. Justin is 5, by the way. :)

Doctor Andrew

"That's funny!"

Won't You Sing With Me?

I like both of these pics... for no reason in particular. (Note: For those of you who think Keira's eyes are brown becuz you only see her in pics, click on the pic below and think again!)

Although I've heard Andrew sing his ABC's much more accurately than this, I think this may be one of his cutest renditions.

Laughs

For some reason, I find this absolutely hilarious.

Our little chubsterette.

We got to go to my mom's house this past weekend. We had a short, but fun visit with her and ELM.

Our friend, Sarah, got married on Saturday. It was so good to see her and her family. Gabe and I are very close to them even though we don't see them very often.

What an amazing wedding site, huh? It was gorgeous and perfect weather too.

The father-daughter dance. If you look towards the back, you can see Gabe and Keira.

Keira outgrew her bassinet and is now in the crib. Andrew helped Gabe put it together.

Keira loves it!

Andrew gets a sticker each time he goes potty. Look at this shirt! It's covered in stickers... kinda hard to see, but they're there! He's doing so well.
Andrew loves the Muffin Man song and so we made special blueberry muffins the other day.

He's an excellent baker!

And very proud too.

Keira's first laugh!!! (yesterday) This is one of my favorite firsts. The crazy part is right before this, Gabe and I were talking about when we thought she would laugh for the first time. Within minutes, she started laughing! Luckily, I had the camera close by.

Hours of Peace and Quiet

It's amazing what a difference a thumb can make.

The Old Man Bumped His Head

Believe it or not, we've actually had some rain down here. It's been wonderful... except for my 2 friends who are planning big outdoor parties for tomorrow. Andrew was so excited when he saw the rain. He ran to the sliding door, opened it, and sat there for the entire time I was nursing Keira, singing and just watching the rain. The best part was listening to him sing:

It's pouring.
It's raining.
The man... snoring.
mmmphmmmzzmmmhhrrrmm... morning.

OR (in the video above)...

It's raining.
It's pouring.
The man is katak.

I love the fact that he asks me for the definition of a word that he made up himself.

More Babies!

Last Saturday, Danny and Amy (Noah's parents) had their new baby!!! Abigail was just under 6 pounds and totally cute. The pictures do not do her justice. They are doing well (as you can see above... Doesn't Amy look beautiful?!... she had a baby 9 hours before this picture was taken!)

What a sweet mei-mei (little sister)!
This is Tyler (John and Amy's baby) who was born 8 days before Keira. They had a little playdate yesterday. They're cuties!

Here's Auntie Annie with Keira at our church picnic last Saturday. We have an identical picture from 2 years earlier of her with Andrew at the same picnic.

The New Cousins Meet

Here's my little 2-month-old! She's healthy and happy. Here are her 2-month stats:
length: 22.5 inches (50th percentile)
weight: 12lbs 6oz (90 percentile)
She squeaks and coos and is generally a happy baby. She sleeps well too, which is a huge blessing! Her and Andrew typically both go to bed around 8pm. That has been great for Gabe and I. We've been able to catch up on the last 2 months.
To Flo: For some reason, this picture of Keira reminds me of you. (not the pink flowers, though.)

I love the look on both of their faces here. :)

My sis, Sara, and her fam came to visit this week. It was a ton of fun. This is one of the few times we've set up a kids' table at our house. Andrew loved it and so did we! The 3 big kids had so much fun together. They were fun to watch and listen to.

This was the main reason for the visit. I finally got to meet my nephew, Elijah. He is 2 days older than Keira and so cute! I wish I had gotten a pic of him smiling. His smile covers his entire face! It's adorable! The two cousins seemed to get along well... :)

Speaking of cousins getting along well... Andrew and Annalise played together nonstop.

They're a couple of goofballs if you ask me!

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Happy Mother's Day to all of you moms out there. How did your day go? Good. I'm glad to hear yours went so well. Here's mine: (Warning: If you have a weak stomach, do not continue. Seriously, I'm not joking. Don't read this if you can't handle some pretty gross stuff.)

Gabe had to leave at about 8:00 to get to church. I was ready to have a nice, fun morning with my two little ones. We did the breakfast thing and the getting dressed/teeth brushing thing. Then, I sat down to nurse Keira. I figured that if we left as soon as I finished feeding her, we could get to church with just enough time before the service started for Andrew to say hi to Gabe. Perfect! I looked down at my little girl as she was nursing and thought, "Wow. She looks so beautiful today! Andrew looks good too. I should take a picture of the three of us before anything happens."

Meanwhile, Andrew was starting to have some looks on his face that seemed to indicate that it was time to use the bathroom. Yes, we are potty training. And yes, it has been going fairly well, though not necessarily on this particular morning. Andrew kept on telling me that no, he didn't need to use the bathroom. So finally, I dropped it and decided that even if he did, I could help him when I finished nursing his little sister.

I was still nursing Keira a few minutes later when I heard, "Mommy! uuuuuuuuhhhhh... Mommy!" from Andrew's room. I kept asking him to come to me to tell me what was wrong, but he kept insisting that I go to his room. Once he started crying, I thought that maybe he was stuck somewhere and I needed to help get him out. I half ran/half walked into his room while still nursing Keira to find Andrew stuck in the middle of the room. He wouldn't move because he had poop coming out of his undies (like I said, we're in the midst of potty training), on the carpet, and in my new white shoes (which he was wearing at the time.) Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I put Keira down (now upset because she was still hungry) and began cleaning Andrew. He started to find it funny (which it wasn't), so I cleaned him up first and told him to go play somewhere else. Once I was done dunking underwear in the toilet, scrubbing the carpet, cleaning my shoes, and scrubbing my hands like crazy, I finished nursing Keira.

Quite a start to my Mothers Day, no? But wait, there's more...

At this point, we were going to be late for church, but only by a few minutes. And hey, these things happen when you're potty training a 2 1/2 year old, right? So I finished getting all three of us ready and headed out the door. We got down stairs, Andrew loaded himself into the car, and we had all of our luggage for church piled into the back. That's when I heard Keira make a sound that was all too familiar, the product of which I knew would be not too dissimilar from what I just cleaned up in Andrew's room. For a minute, I thought that maybe I could catch her in time before she made a big mess. Nope. I got Andrew back out of the car and scooted him and carried a poopy Keira up the stairs back into the house. It took another 5-10 minutes to clean her up. At this point I would not only be about 40 minutes late for church, but I would need to nurse Keira again once we got there.

So we went back downstairs, I loaded everyone back into the car, climbed into the drivers seat, and took a deep breath. As I was exhaling, Andrew (for the first time that morning) shouted to me, "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!"

Thank you, son.

The End.

The above picture was taken Sunday evening. As I always tell my kids, "It's a good thing they're cute!"