Bath Time

Bath time now that Drew is sitting up, is so much fun. The boys have a blast and entertain each other so much. And I am killing two birds with one stone, so that's always a bonus!

Funny Faces

Drew is very expressive lately. He is such a busy boy with tons of silly faces. To say I love this stage he is in, is an understatement. He is positively a joy to be around!

Happy Father's Day

Where's My Armor?

Ok, I apologize in advance for my ranting and raving. It's been another one of those weeks. Most of the time I can handle just about anything that Evan throws my way. I have thick skin, if you will. A figurative suit of armor. This week however, I just feel defeated. I must spend hours a day just thinking about ways to get Evan to eat. Why am I so darn obsessed with this you ask? Because I have been dealing it with it for almost two years, in which time he has probably only gained a pound or two and has stayed consistently in the 10th percentile or less for weight. The logical side of my brain says that he looks healthy, it's a phase, he will grow out of it, he will be just fine. But the other half of my brain says, I don't want to deal with this 3 times a day for another second! Not only will he not eat what I put in front of him, he will often times go a day or two without eating more then a bite or two. He hasn't had a fruit or a vegetable in about 2 months. He has a temper tantrum at the sheer mention of food. This kid is about as sweet and charming as they come, and aside from eating and freaking out at swim lessons, he is just about perfect. I need to thank my lucky stars he is healthy. But at the same time....AH!!! I am losing my mind!!! This week I came up (and by came up, I mean I stole the idea from a Mommy friend of mine that is an AMAZING Mom with an amazing little boy who eats about anything) with an idea of doing a chart, where he gets a stamp for each fruit or veggie he eats. When he gets 10 or so stamps, he gets a toy. I didn't think he was grasping the concept, so we actually went out and bought the toy to put up high. I explained if he earned the stamps, we would open the toy. Still not grasping it, or atleast not eating anything... so I added Drew to the chart who always eats his food. Drew got two stamps yesterday. When Paul walked in the door from work yesterday, Evan ran to the door and said "Yay for Drew, he ate all his food and now he gets a toy!". He is so not competetive. Any advice is welcome and completely solicited.

More Father's Day Pictures

Last week I had another playdate and did some more Father's Day pictures of my friend's children. It was a little chaotic, but ALOT of fun. Chaos is bound to ensue when you have like 6 adults and 13 kiddos running around in one modest sized house. But we had fun swimming in the pool and pulling out every single toy we own, all the while snapping these adorable pictures of the kids for the Daddies!! My friends have some CUTE kids!!

Evan and his Antics

The other day, Evan told me that Corky was an "H". Not sure what that meant, I started to brush it off. Sometimes that's easier then asking him a half dozen times what he means only to frustrate him and myself. But this time, I was too curious. I asked him why Corky is an "H". He pointed to Corky who was panting heavily after coming in from outdoors, and he said "look, she's saying Heh Heh Heh, just like an H does". What a smart little boy!

Yesterday Evan came home from his swimming lessons that Daddy took him to, and he ran up to me beaming with pride. Daddy told Evan to tell me how good he did at swimming, as I was starting to get discouraged with the lack of progress that has occurred lately. Evan looked at me with a sassy expression on his face he said "I did good Mommy", then walked off, but not before he looked back at me over his shoulder and said "Are you happy now Mommy", still in a sassy tone!!! Cute now, but darn if that's not foreshadowing of a snarky teenager. I have it coming, I was pretty snarky myself.

Buds Through Thick and Thin

Here is Drew and his buddy Kevin again at a playdate. Notice that the entire top half of Drew's romper is covered in drool. But Kevin doesn't seem to mind.

we ate LOTS of cake, we had LOTS of fun, and we learned ALOT to boot!

I Blinked and a Year Went By

Just 9 1/2 short months ago, I was balling my eyes out in my car after dropping off my baby at his first day of school. Although he wore the same size as he does now and probably wasn't a pound lighter, he was still my baby. Here is my baby in his new school digs, Sept. 2009.

But look at him now. There is very little baby left in him. Dropping him off at school has become second nature to me. And for him as well. We both adore his teachers, his school, and his classmates. Here is my big boy, on his last day of school.

We are both sad that it has come to an end and we look forward to what next year's school year will bring.

It's Official

Drew has entered into my FAVORITE stage when it comes to photographing children. He can sit up (YAY)!! He can laugh and smile with the greatest of ease (I can pretty much whistle or snap my fingers and he thinks it's hilarious)!! He can't really go anywhere quite yet (awesome for more reasons than one)!!! Plus he's getting cuter by the minute and even, dare I say a bit chubby? With Evan, this stage only lasted about a month, and then he was crawling all over the place. But I am thinking, since Drew was premature, maybe this stage will last a little longer? A girl can hope.

Red Sandhill Cranes

This morning we fed a family of four, Red Sandhill Cranes, who were by no means afraid of us. This is how close they came to Evan, Drew and I. I used my 50mm lens here, there was no zooming involved.

Beggers Can't Be Choosers

I would have preferred that Paul got a shot of Drew and me where I looked all hot and stuff. Maybe less emphasis on my less than perfect smile, perhaps where my skin looked a little less blotchy. But I suppose beggers can't be choosers... and any picture of me with my boys is a picture to be valued (at least by me)!

Jumperoo

This is sadly, Drew's home away from home. He spends more time in this Jumperoo then I would like to admit. But he loves it, so thank goodness for that. The unfortunate thing about it, other than the fact that I don't get to hold him as much as I would like to, is that I get the song that it plays stuck in my head for hours upon hours!

Buddies

Here is Drew and his bud, Baby Kevin. Baby Kevin looks so serious here, but believe me, he is a very sweet, cuddly and happy baby. They have been buddies since birth. Baby Kevin has about 5 lbs on Drew, but is 6 weeks his junior. They are so cute together!!!

Just Because

A picture of Evan for you to enjoy.....just because he's cute.

MIA

Sorry I have been MIA lately. A whole week without a post!!! Meema must be going nuts!!! Our time has been pretty much taken up with swimming! I spoke too soon a couple of weeks ago when I said that Evan liked swimming. We hit a major wall last week and he pretty much refused to enter the water with a major tantrum for the last 6 or 7 lessons. Miss Berit, his teacher, is so patient and loving. She has been taking it very slow, so as not to enhance his fear of the water even more by pressuring him to swim. And I think her tactic is working. Since she is taking it at a snails pace (AKA Evan's pace), he is starting to get more confident and starting to get back into the water. Today he swam without a single tear shed. And Drew is loving it too, now that he can sit up at the side of the pool and watch Evan swim. Just look at his smile? These pics are taken with my point and shoot, so I apologize for the quality. But I really need to start taking more candids and less posed shots, so here goes!

By the way, I failed miserably at the 5 day embrace the camera challenge. I was suppose to take a picture of myself with the kids once a day for 5 days, I made it to 3. I guess that's better than nothing. I just hope I can keep it up, maybe once a week or something!

Girl's Night Out

I am so lucky to have such great friends here in Orlando!!! We try to stay sane by doing a girls night out atleast once a month. This week, I get to have two Girls Night Outs! Of course we always end up talking about our kids. But it's still nice to get away and have some time with adults!!

Father's Day Picture Playdate

There is nothing more fun to me, then taking pictures of little ones!! So I will use any excuse to do it! With father's day coming up I thought it would be fun to have a playdate where I take pics of the kids to give to their daddies. And because some of my friends have different school schedules (some are Tuesday and Thursday, instead of our Monday, Wednesday, Friday) I am having another playdate next week with more friends!!! Now I suppose I need to get started on Evan's picture. I took a test shot here, but I need to get one where he isn't so sweaty!!

I thought these turned out cute! I wanted to have everyone holding their arms out so I could write "guess how much I love you" underneath, but some of the kids were too little to follow directions. How cute is the one of Reagan picking her nose? Of course I got other shots that she can use, but I think this one is hilarious!