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.