Jelly Belly Factory

7 months!

Our man is 7 months old!

It is seriously going fast with him; I feel like he just joined our family.

He now has two teeth and is working on a third.

He started waving about a week ago in response to people's waves. So smart!

He prefers to be sitting all the time so we have to do mandatory tummy time with him.

Papa saw him go up on all 4s but I haven't yet!

He is trying to clap his hands together but they look more like chest exercises at the moment!

He is eating all Stage 2 food and rice cereal as well as a few puffs; he doesn't love them yet.

He has slept through the night 3 times in the past week! The other nights he cried; we are sleep trianing him and he's been sleeping upstairs. Both Josie and him are sleeping better. This may become a permanent move :(

4th of July Park & Fireworks

At the park before the fireworks Josie and my nieces got their faces painted, rode the ponies and camels, and played on some inflatables. Collin hung out sporting his mohawk and looking as handsome as ever.

A little pre-show sparklers

In her pajamas ready for the real ones...not sure how it was going to go!

This was Collin during the fireworks; he laid on my lap watching the entire show. During the loud bright bams, I covered his ears and eyes though. Not sure if it helped but he didn't flinch.

Here is Josie during the fireworks. After about 4 or 5 into them she started yelling hide, hide, hide and ran and hid behind my back. Then, she ended up with Jodi underneath her blanket.

After a while though she peaked out and watched. I think she liked them okay. Didn't love them but started to enjoy them. She liked talking about all the colors though as we walked back to the car.

4th of July Parade

One of my family's traditions is watching the Wauwatosa 4th of July parade. We always sit in the same spot and we always sit by my friend Jennie's family (usually that's her mom and Grandma Mae and kiddos) as well as with a variety of my aunts, uncles, and cousins. This year there was about 25 of us; a fun way to start Independence Day.

My soon to be sister n' law watching the parade with Collin.

He feel asleep soon after.

Josie waving her flag with Jodi. She really enjoyed watching the parade. Her favorite part...running in the street to get candy! After the motorcycles, mini cars, and horses came by she said "I wanna try; my try!" She's an adventurer that one.

Big love between Curt and my dad.

An attempt at a family photo. It was wayyyy sunny so we are all squinty but we're documented in all of our red, white, and blue glory :)

Collin Has Two Teeth!

Just wanted to document it...we noticed his first tooth last week, June 29th, and today I see there is another that has broken skin and needs to start growing! He is on pace with Josie for when they started teething.

Happy Baby!

Tonight Collin was in a C-R-A-Z-Y hyper mood.

My niece Karley was making faces at him and just got him going.

There were several times that he had coughing fits because he lost his breath.

A summer for swimming...

This week we have been swimming 3 times!

Look at how much Nick loves Josie; so sweet.

Door County

I am proud to say that Curt and I went on our first adults only vacation; yep, no kids.

Curt has done this several times with fishing and hunting trips but I'd yet to try it.

For Father's Day I suprised Curt with a two night stay in Door County; we had gotten engaged their and I thought that would be a nice place to go back to. Curt's been talking about the two of us going alone for over a year now. I'm so glad we did!

On the way up we stopped at the Outlet Mall in Oshkosh, then we went to dinner at the Shoreline restaraunt (gift certificate for booking), then went to a play in the woods, after that we stopped at Not Yet Licked custard stand. The next day we went through the shops, found a quilting shop for me to buy and run with my mother teaching the classes (to dream), then had a couples massage, then went to lunch, took bitty naps, went hiking, went to dinner and walked through more shops and came back to watch cable TV since we don't have it; it was a luxury. On Sunday we went to breakfast at L.Johson's but the goats weren't on the roof, then packed up, stopped at the Outlet Mall to look for shoes for the both of us (no luck), and came home to our smiling kids who never knew we were gone but were happy to see us. My parents gave them a 10 so that makes me a bit more comfortable to try again...maybe in February for our anniversary?

Here we are before a Penninsula's Player Theatre show.

Great picture of us!

Cute little sandwhich that I had for lunch. We loved the restaraunt so much that we went back for dinner! We are totally creatures of habit!

This is outside of the wetlands preservation area where we went hiking for a little bit one afternoon.

At L.Johnson's for breakfast; that's Curt with his new friend.

When we came back the second night; the innkeeper had but a little Door County wine outside our hotel room. That was a nice little surprise. However, Curt and I don't drink wine; anyone interested in it???

Coliln's swim lessons

Collin has started infant swim lessons like Josie did.

He however did not lov it. He didn't cry or mind it but I could hardly get a smile out the little man and that is not typical at all. Hopefully our next class he feels more comfortable.

Josie is now in the toddler class which meets right after Collin's. She's doing very well; her love of water continues to be strong as well as trying new skills. She can blow bubbles, go under without swallowing, kick her legs on the back and tummy, as well as hang on the side of the pool and kick without me holding on. She's doing really well; this class is actually a bit easy for her because of her taking the infant class two times but it's a good reinforcer to learn about how to move in the water.

After their two swim classes, I drop them off at home with Curt and go on to my own water aerobics class with my sister. It's a busy night but we all get our exercise in!

Stats Update

Our neighborhood had a Patriotic Parade the other evening so the kiddos got dressed up in some of their red, white, and blue! Yes, Josie's shirt is from last year but I'm happy to report that tonight I packed away all of her 18 month summer clothing from last year; they are way too short on her however they fit her size well. So now she's wearing her 18-24months from last year and a few new 24 month items.

Last week the babes had their check-ups.

Josie had her two year appointment. She weighed in at 23 lbs 14 oz (10%) and measures at 35 in (60-70%). He's keeping her on whole milk because she doesn't love meat so to keep her getting enough fat in her diet. Otherwise, she is doing a great job on her milestones and had a healthy checkup. The doctor said her speech is similar to 2 and a half year old because of the number of words she has; no clue how many, I stopped at 100 which was back in winter. She speaks in sentences 5-7 words long and frequently asks What is that and why. She still babbles and doesn't speak on "command" like when I ask her say "doggy" she won't. She knows doggy and will say it on her own accord but not for show. So I was suprised but I know she's a smart cookie so not really!

Collin had his six month appointment. He weighed in at 19lbs 10 oz (60%) and was 28 in (95%). I was suprised he didn't weigh more! He also had a very healthy checkup and is doing very well in his milestones. He still doesn't roll a lot but we are increasing time on his tummy as much as he will tolerate it so that he can work on some crawling muscles. He is an excellent sitter and that's what he prefers to do. He was a champion shot taker; as soon as I picked him up he stopped crying. Interestingly enough, Josie who got no shots cried more than Collin who got two.

Croquet

Josie actually did pretty well for her first time.

She seems to be really interested in physical activities.

Blue Harbor Resort, Sheboygan

The first weekend school was out we headed up to Blue Harbor in Sheboygan for one night. It was my mom, Curt, myself and our two kiddos as well as my nieces. We were supposed to go in February for Valentine's Day/Anniversary but Josie got sick. We rescheduled for April around Spring Break but Josie got majorly sick again. So this was our third attempt at going and we went and Josie WASN'T sick.

Collin in front of the aquarium in the room.
Josie and my nieces peeking through the aquarium.

Collin ini the water. Looks like he likes it more than he actually did. He's not thrilled about water that is not warm and relaxing. Anything cool and he is grumpy about it. Quite the opposite of Josie who loved the lazy river, the leap frogs, the BIG tube ride that she went on with my niece.

Family Photos

A wonderful person, friend, and budding photographer did these shots for us last week when Collin turned 6 months. We got a bunch of great ones of him; that guy loves a camera! I also asked if she could get a nice shot of my little family of four since we've yet to get a decent one. I think she did! And bonus...Groupon had a CanvasOnDeman sale so we ordered two 16x20 canvases for the house for like 60% off! Can't wait to see them on the walls!

6 Months Old!

Baby 2, Mr. Handsome, Big Guy, Collin, Baby, Mr. Blue Eye whatever he's being called for that moment is 6 months old!

Our man...

1. sits on his own very, very well. And prefers that to laying down.

2. puts himself to bed at about 7:45 every night.

3. loves his feet and has discovered his hands which are totally awe-inspiring to him.

4. loves his baby food and is starting on stage 2 now so he'll have some yummy combos.

5. is a roller from back to tummy more regularly now but would rather be sitting, standing, or bouncing

6. loves to watch his sister and laugh at her; he often laughs in the middle of one her meltdowns

Greek Fest

On Saturday we ventured over to the smaller Greek festival; there's music but not much else but we LOVE their food so we tend to go every year!

Josie with her first cotton candy! As big as her!

She however, did not care for it. She's not into sticky food.

Collin showing off his stylish fall hat; yes in June. But it was only in the 60s.

That little man has got style for being a little dude!

Josie in a bounce house maze. No fear that little one.

She did cry once when she got run over by some big boys but otherwise loved it!

Wait to you see what Grandma and Papa got you for Christmas Josie!

(yes, I'm already Christmas shopping)

Toddler Bed Update

I don't think I need to say anything to let you know how it's going.

Guess we need to take all the toys out of their room while we are in transition!

Toddler Bed

So for Josie's 26 month birthday we moved her into her toddler bed!

She has been able to climb out of her crib since around 18 months.

At 18 months we put one of those tents on top of her crib so she wouldn't be able to escape.

We did this for two reasons; my girl shows little fear and walks around the house in the dark without any trepidation and Collin was about to be born; they were going to be sharing a room

and I didn't want her climbing in his crib as well.

So this is her third night in her toddler bed. She likes it. The first night she was out like 4 or 5 times throughout the whole night. Last night was once at 2:30 a.m. or so. Tonight she got her door open which was closed and came out and told me no go bye bye nigh nigh. Well she's back in there and not moving so we'll see how it goes. No anxiety about transitioning; she's proud of her big girl bed. I would have kept her in longer but reports are coming out saying the crib tents are getting bad safety reports now so we stopped using it but I LOVED that thing to help her transition with Collin being in the room with her.

Bendy Baby

So I know all babies are bendy but Collin is totally into pulling his feet to his mouth the past couple of weeks. He can't get them into his mouth but he loves to be in this position way more than Josie ever did so I find it quite funny.

Two things...look at that model face he's got going on in the picture with his eyes! And second, this quilt is mine from when I was a child! My mom made one for my sister and I when we shared a room back in the day. I'm liking the pattern and thinking Collin and Josie need matching quilts since they share a room....there's my idea for a summer project!

Memorial Day Swim

These pictures did not turn out that well. Look nicely colored on my viewing software on the computer but on here they look blurry...oh well. you get the idea.

Josie still loves her baby very much. She gives him lots of attention and sometimes forgets about personal space and he gets overstimulated.

This one below I told her to go sit BY Collin.

She must have heard sit ON Collin.
Funny girl.

My happy baby boy is still an easier smiler and will charm just about everyone.

He's started his happy feet kicking when he gets excited.

The pic below shows how much he got the water splashing with all of his kicking.

Memorial Day was finally warm enough to have the pool out in the shade.

All the grandkids enjoyed it while we bbq-ed and planted the family garden.