unforgettable moments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHEN … you never don any bathing suit whatsoever … the locals are wearing uggs and toboggans … you visit the community pool and the only thing getting in is the resident frog … you are trying to find a sunny spot and no shade … you are wearing 2 pairs of pants,  4 shirts and hoods … you’re drinking coffee outside … the only thing seen on the beach is your eyes … THEN YOU KNOW you are on vacation at the beach and it is FREEZING!

WHEN … you are on vacation at the beach and it is freezing but you don’t care … THEN YOU KNOW your kids are happy and that is so what matters to you.

aunt B, uncle D and thomas

we just got back from our first just-us vacation – no parents or extra helpers. brooke, david and thomas joined us for part of the time but since they have a 2 year old of their own, can you believe they were not dedicated to our beck and call?! we loved having extended time with them and especially for the cousins to have more time to play together than they ever have. it was truly special. THANK YOU, aunt b and uncle d, for lending us your condo and making this vacation possible! we wish you could have stayed longer!

so i exaggerated a little. it was only really cold for about 4 days of our week there. those days were spent with lots of toys inside as well as finding any and all playgrounds in the area. the boys loved that! the first and last days, we did put on shorts and had some great times at the beach. we will not forget:

> experiencing the most beautiful sunsets with our children the last 3 nights on the beach  > maddox praising the Lord at the top of the hill at alys beach playground (see video)  > thomas and maddox playing with each other and not just around each other  > cora having such happy times with her aunt b  > maddox getting his clock cleaned by a slide that he whapped his head on at the rosemary beach playground. he was flat on his back and did not move for what seemed like an eternity, but was FINE about 1 minute later. whew.  > maddox running, wrestling don and throwing sand on the beach after something clicked for him and he started loving it after … um … NOT loving it back in may. THIS is what i envisioned.  > cora following in her brother’s footsteps and getting her first taste of the beach (see video)  > uncle d reading green eggs and ham  > maddox sporting cora’s pants (think tight knickers) at a playground after wetting through his. what a perk of having a skinny 2 year old who doesn’t care what he’s wearing or that it’s 50 degrees outside.

praise the lord

cora gets her first taste of the beach. [see maddox's first taste here.]

a picture-perfect morning at centennial olympic park

another gorgeous summer day with friends. free and fun!

a jog stroller print ad

perfect picnic

staycation

cora is napping in good hands

we had a fun filled end-of-summer which we’ll highlight in this and following posts. a few weeks ago, we had a great summer family vacation with Pops and GG. we did lots of fun things we don’t normally get to do with them.we stayed at their house,  we went out to eat, played at the great norcross playground by the huge trains, went to their amazing workout facility for 2 hours and managed NOT to workout (but we swam and relaxed! our kind of workout!), got a haircut for maddox, don and don went fishing and we grilled out. thanks for a great staycation, Pops and GG!! you babysit for us every week and you are always willing to deal with any mood or situation we or our kids decide to throw at you. you’ve been through so much with us and have given us incredible encouragement and wise guidance. we love you!

the girls!

playin in amazing pool @ lifetime fitness

strike a pose there's nothing to it. vogue.

two and a half. and a half.

we have a 2 1/2 year old (today) and a half-year old! our days are different from each other depending on moods and naps … but also they the same as each other in many ways.

Maddox at 2 1/2

we’re so loving maddox’s abililty to communicate with us…

middle of the might convo: M screaming “Mommy! Mommy!” etc

Joy: “what do you need?”

M: “Turn sound machine off. Not sleepy.”

J “it’s the middle of the night. it’s not time to get our of bed.”

M: “Milk.”

J: “would you really drink your cup of milk at 2 in the morning?”

M: “yes. milk.”

so he drank it and for the first time since he was a little baby (!) i laid down with him more than 5 minutes. [it's a hard and fast rule i have because i know it's a slippery slope. but now i've broken it. oh no.] we laid awake for an hour or so before he finally went back to sleep. it is great to be able to tell him why something has to be and he sometimes understands. he is more hyper and social now but still has very chill times too. LOVES going outside, playing with friends, watching certain shows nine million times if i’d let him, “being gentle” to cora, throwing balls, lining things up (like figures) and his newest love thanks to big mo: OREOS.

and we are loving cora’s smiles and fun nature.

Cora - 6 months

we have a “spirited” child on our hands here. we can’t believe a little girl has been in our lives since february 12th. since we felt a little like she’d be a boy, we still sometimes say “you’re a girl!” she is so dear to us and loved to death. some of the most interesting things coming forth are the ways she is different than her brother! >> she makes herself known by … crying > and she goes from laughing to screaming crying in .87 seconds >> she doesn’t like being on her tummy like he did but she loves sitting and “standing” with our help > she is not happy in one place for long. can’t leave her for more than 5 mins in jumpy, on floor with toys, etc. > she’s not obsessed with ceiling fans. > she IS obsessed with anything we are eating or holding – she’s grabbier than he was. so far she’s grabbed salad from the salad bowl, countless baggies and cups that we  are holding and found and “eaten” her sticker from waumba land. hope that is the worst that it gets. >> she does not like the bottle >> she’s sitting by herself a little now >> she can wave!! and >> she babbles mamama pretty consistently. so advanced! happy half-sies to our kids.

what a gift

i cannot tell you the last time that both kids slept til 745am. possibly never. and we had to wake them both up at that time! of all mornings, we really needed it this morning. i never thought the most glorious gift would be sleep! thank you LORD.

here is cora getting her words in for the day.

and here is maddox showing off a favorite activity: lining up all the bowls across our counter and taking inventory. this was actually a couple months ago. he’s better at counting just by recitation now but still has a ways to go before getting the concept beyond 3 items! he does know all his letters by sight very well though, ok enough bragging… 

gweh.

“gweh.” that is maddoxese for “i don’t know.” but it’s so much more than just that. he wants to answer you, but doesn’t quite have it in his mind. he wants to say something and appear like he knows. tonight, for instance, don was helping him say nighttime prayers.

[don] “i’ll start and you say who you want to thank God for.”

[M] “ok.”

[don] “dear lord, thank you for this great night. and we thank you for…”

[M] “gweh.”

secondly and not related, cora’s new-found friends are her feet. she has played with them and sucked the toes for a couple weeks now but she loves to clap them now. no hands, see here. it is hilarious. why does she do this? gweh. like the tie-together?

two firsts

i’m sure there have been more firsts than two, but here are two good ones:

MADDOX had his first day with no nap two days ago. he just didn’t sleep. when i went in, he said “good morning. milk?”  i always heard about this from other moms and dreaded it. i do think he is getting less energy out with the boot on for his leg so maybe that was it. he stayed in his room for 2 hours though. then he slept 3 hours yesterday. go figure. he definitely needs daytime sleep. i will not even consider giving it up til at least 3 yrs old!

CORA has been enjoying real food. oatmeal is definitely preferred to green veggies but that is what she has had so far. so far, she is much messier than her bro before her – don’t always know how much gets into her and how much is everywhere else. here is her first try with the oatmeal cereal…

SMILE

cora, we’ve been waiting for this day. you gave each of us SMILES – really AT us and not randomly. God was so sweet to let my camera be right there so i got some pics of the first time!

1 month later, we’re surviving!

here are a couple pics to show a slice of our life today!

can you see the two kids chillin?

maddox is the fuzz patrol. he is quick to find “fuzh” on his passy and he gives it to me to remove the offending fuzz or piece of my hair. now his patrol has expanded to all fuzz on toys or the floor. yikes. if this is the territory, this will be neverending. here he is giving me some fuzz on his book.

cora is beginning to wake up more and more. she is a chunker, weighing 9#5oz at her one month appt. ha. she also had a cold at her one month! maddox’s first cold was at 8 mos and hers is at 1. i am told this is the life of the 2nd child.

it has recently dawned on me that maddox is a slowpoke in the best but truest sense of the word. he is a dawdler at lots of things, not just eating, but at his lunch yesterday was the first time i was laughing uncontrollably at him. it took him about 10 minutes – no joke – to eat one piece of macaroni and about 2 crumbs off a muffin for his lunch. (< yes, i was bribing him to eat by offering him cake at that point.) with a bite, he would lick it, breathe on it, put it in and out of his mouth so many times that it was very creative and very hilarious. he was not unhappy, he was just hanging out, playing with food. i wish i could describe it well enough that you would laugh as much too. but now that i’m typing it, maybe it really wasn’t that funny. maybe lack of sleep had something to do with not being able to stop my laughter. maddox did think it was funny – me laughing that hard. it must have been. that’s our life as of now!

happy wednesday