March 30 - Almost Crawling

Okay dimpled munchkin fans-huge news. Luke is almost crawling. He can get up on all fours and rock and he can also get into the pushup position. He's been doing this for the last few days. Any time we put him on the floor, he is immediately up on all fours trying to crawl. Well, either that or he is flinging his legs around spinning in a circle. We think he'll be officially crawling within a few weeks. I knew this day was coming but I didn't think it would be so soon. I looked back at my posts when Julia was a baby and she was doing this at 7.5 months old. It's exciting but kind of scary at the same time..my little snuggler will be a moving, getting into trouble baby before I know it!

In other fantastic news, we've

had a sleeping breakthrough with Luke. Our trip to Florida was very rough

. I didn't want to disturb Hannah and Mark while we were at their house so every time he made a noise I picked him up. I think he caught on to what I was doing because by the last night I was pretty much holding him the entire night. I'm sure he loved it..me, on the other hand, averaged about 3H a night while we were there. Our first night back in Texas, I was so exhausted that I put him to bed at 8:30pm. He woke up at 1am and I was so tired I couldn't get out of bed. He fell back asleep on his own and didn't get up until 6am. Woo hoo! So for the last week, he's done GREAT. He usually wakes up crying one or two times but he can generally fall back asleep without eating. I feel like I have a new lease on life!

In other news, there was an International Festival at Julia's school this past weekend. Her class did a dance and it was so adorable. She did great. She was actually the only kid that was on the little stage without a parent-all of her classmates either didn't want to participate or required a parent to stand next to them. But our little dancing diva was front and center doing her moves. We were so proud!

On Sunday, the Hargrave family came over for a bbq. They are moving to Milwaukee soon so it was great spending time with them. We blew up a baby pool for the kids but you can see that Amelia ended up taking refuge in it. Oh-and see that the cone is back? While I was in Florida she reopened the wound so now she must wear the cone for 4-6...weeks!

The Push-Up Position, it's hard to see in this outfit but his body is completely off the ground

Julia, Emma and Shane - BFF's

Julia and Brilee

Wait? This isn't a dog pool?

She knows how to unlock J.D.'s i-phone & pull up photos and videos..I can't imagine what she'll do by the time she's 3

March 27 - Super Mom, Nanny B & The 5 Star Resort

Last week I traveled to Florida by myself with the kids. Yes, just call me 'Super Mom' from here on out. Rambunctious 2.5 yr old? Check. 5 month old baby? Check. Carseat/Stroller? Check. Carry on bags? Check. 15 frozen ounces of breastmilk? Check. Exhausted Mommy due to infant who doesn't sleep? Check. Okay...it honestly wasn't too bad. I checked in online but still had to check a bag (which was over 50lb and they charged me $50..oh well) and had to prove Luke was under age 2 by showing his birth certificate (no joke, Southwest actually checks this even though it is obvious he is under age 2). J.D. went into the airport with me and helped with the kids until I had to get in the security line. It did take awhile for our crew to get through security (luckily the airport wasn't busy) but we didn't have any major issues. Our flight was 100% full and we were lucky to have a girl who used to nanny sit in our row. Once we were airborne, Julia watched a Strawberry Shortcake DVD quietly and I snuggled with Luke. It was pretty uneventful. While we were landing, Julia became VERY excited about seeing Grammie and let out a high pitch squeal (ear piercing) but luckily she only did it once. Grammie and Uncle Chad met us at the airport and it was fab seeing them. After picking up the rental car, I had a quick lunch at the Yamo's and then headed to Gainesville with Luke.

It was great being in the office again surrounded by people. While I undoubtedly get more work done at home (I pretty much sit in meetings all day when I'm in the office), these quarterly trips always invigorate me. However, this trip was bittersweet because this was my first time away from Luke. My girlfriend Suzanne watched him on Wednesday and Thursday, while another friend, Karen, watched him Friday and my old neighbor Hannah (who we stayed with while we were in town) watched him Saturday.

On the first day (Wednesday) I called Suzanne mid-afternoon to see how he was doing and she said he was

refusing the bottle. I freaked out..but it tuns out right after we spoke, he passed out for 20min and woke up with a new tooth!

Then, he drank his bottle with no issues. All the ladies loved him to pieces (Suzanne said he's the best baby she's ever seen) and he had a great time. He also made a new furry friend, Bailey. Bailey is Amelia's old buddy, the pooch next door (Hannah and Mark's furry baby). Bailey (or Nanny B as Hannah nicknamed her) LOVED Luke. Check out Hannah's blog (Bailey & Co link on the right) for her take of our time there and some adorable pictures. I also go to spend some time with Jill and meet her new baby (Arthur, 7 months) for the first time. He is a mini-Jill and absolutely adorable. He is a super happy, smiley baby and wouldn't you know-neither Jill nor I had a camera to get a picture of our little men together. Darn.

Okay...now to my little Julia Bean. She had an absolutely amazing time at Grammie's. I'm now officially calling Grammie's house

"The 5 Star Resort" because she has such a great time every time she is there. They did so many fun things! They went to the beach (she loved the shells, walking with Grammie and Uncle Chad and building sand castles), the zoo (she told everyone she swings like the monkey's at gymnastics; she also wanted to feed the giraffes with Uncle Greg but was too scared when they came up to her, so he fed them), the aquarium (she really loved a mermaid statue!), the park and shopping (she is just like Grammie and loves shoes!). Uncle Chad also set up a baby pool for Julia on the back patio which she loved.

She had so much fun playing with Grammie, Uncle Chad, Uncle Greg, Aunt Nicole and of course, K.C. the cat (she carried him around everywhere...and even tried to put him in his litter pan a few times). Grammie also sewed her some adorable outfits!

Oh-this is fun. So we flew back last Monday on the 6:55am flight out of Tampa. It was an early morning to say the least. The first flight out on Monday is usually very busy and if I didn't have the kids, I would have missed the flight (I was able to bypass the ridiculously long security line because I had the kids). As we were boarding the plane I walked pass a girl in the airport that I knew-my old friend Teri. Teri was a diver at NYU when I dived at Emory and we met at a meet many moons ago. We used to be very close friends (even though we've only seen each other a handful of times in our lives) but we haven't talked much the last few years. She ended up being on the same flight and sat next to us. It was fabulous catching up and talking to her. She also works in the medical device industry so we were able to catch up on personal matters and "talk shop." Small world!

Special thanks to everyone who helped last week with the kids-Grammie, Uncle Chad, Uncle Greg, Aunt Nicole, Hannah, Mark, Nanny B, Suzanne, Karen, Teri (she helped on the plane with Luke).

Here some more adorable pictures of the bean. Enjoy!

Water Fun

Watering the Plants

Pool Fun

Julia Loves K.C.

She takes him everywhere!

No Joke-she even carries him outside!

This is one chill cat..who allows a 2.5 yr old to carry them around like that!

Another great photo of Julia & Grammie at the beach

I'll be posting again in a few days-we had another fun filled weekend here so there are a lot more photos to share. Hope you all had a great weekend!

March 22 - Best Weekend Ever

Happy Tuesday! A few weeks ago we had the B-E-S-T weekend ever. Seriously-the best ever. Our weekend fun-fest began Saturday morning with gymnastics (fun as usual). After Julia's nap, we went to her first ever soccer practice. She was so adorable in her little shin guards running around the indoor field. The session is 8 weeks and the coach is great. She worked with Julia to show her some introductory skills and Julia had a good time with the other kids. But the most fabulous part of soccer are the bouncy houses. Yes, you read that correctly, the bouncy houses. At the end of the practice 2 bouncy houses were filled with air and Julia asked me when she could bounce. I told her they were probably for a birthday party but another mother told me they were actually for the kids after practice. So, Julia's Saturday activities are now composed of:

*gymnastics - 1H

*soccer - 1H

*bouncing - about 1H

With all this activity I hoped she would sleep in Sunday..no such luck.

Okay-back to the B-E-S-T weekend ever. So Saturday, she had her first soccer practice and Sunday we went to the Houston Rodeo with the Root's.

It was amazing! There was a petting zoo, pony rides (she LOVED the pony ride and went on 3 times), bunny's, cows, carnival rides (which she is now tall enough to ride) and much more. All the kids had an amazing time and we really lucked out with perfect weather. Sunny and mid-70s. We'll be back next year!

After the rodeo, Julia went to a tea party at her friend Iris' house. They both got dressed up and drank "tea" (apple juice) out of little tea cups and had little desserts. It was so cute! After they polished off the "tea" they played outside. It was hilarious watching Julia run around the cul-de-sac in her fancy dress. Adorable! 2.5 is such a fun age!!

Welcome to the Houston Rodeo - J.D. and I were impressed with how friendly the entire staff was - Customer Service is definitely a priority for them!

Julia's Favorite - the pony ride!

Mommy's Favorite - the carnival rides!

Luke - he decided he wanted out of the stroller

Julia & Daddy with the Howdy "H" (she was adamant about seeing it and then was a tad afraid of it)

Julia's First Tea Party

March 5 - Purple Robots

Good morning. It's a grey, dreary, rainy Saturday morning here in Houston and perfect blog posting weather. Let's get started...I had a poll last week about what is the most challenging: meal planning, cleaning, lack of sleep or yard work. Without a doubt, meal planning is the hardest for me (I fully admit J.D. does all the yard work though, so it is possible that could take the cake if I actually had to mow). I survived primarily on pizza throughout college (who doesn't love a Totinos Party Pizza?) and when I lived alone in Austin, I had a rotating dinner menu comprised of grilled cheese, oatmeal, cereal or eggs. Obviously, that menu doesn't cut it for my hubby and tot so over the last year I made a valiant effort to create well balanced meals..but I failed miserably! I would always sit down to make the dinner menu and after writing down 'spaghetti' I went blank. A few months ago I stumbled upon this website (www.makedinnereasy.com) and it has been AMAZING. There are 5 meals posted weekly and best of all-an organized shopping list (broken out by dairy, produce, food in the aisle, etc). They have all been GREAT. A lot of them are things I never would have thought of (lasagna with cottage cheese..sounds gross but it was fab, braised short ribs, linguine in clam sauce, Italian soup) and they are all delicious. So, if any of you need some help in the kitchen, I highly recommend www.makedinnereasy.com.

In other news, Luke cut a tooth this morning! I "hope" he'll sleep better now it's out but I'm doubtful. Julia has been doing great. We've had a lot of play dates recently with our neighbor Iris and her best friend from school, Emma (and her sister Sarah). We also had her friend Jordan over last night and the girls had a great time. She moved up into a new class at school this week and now has show and tell. How fun is that? Every Friday they have a specific letter and need to bring in something that starts with that letter (that isn't a toy). Yesterday it was the letter "E" so she brought in her Elmo blanket. I'm not sure she totally understands the concept of show and tell but I'm pretty psyched about it! Her imagination continues to grow every day. Last night she told J.D. she was making him a purple robot. So cute! During bath time, she also feeds us imaginary food and makes up songs. Every day is an adventure with her!

Here are some more adorable pics of my dimpled munchkins!

Julia reading to Luke

Julia playing with her sand water table

Another cute one of Baby Luke

Have a great weekend everyone!