September 21 - Fall!

Autumn is officially here! I've been burning my fall scented candles since mid-August in anticipation of my favorite season (J.D. and Sarah both said "Really Christine? Pumpkin spice-you realize it's over a 100 degrees outside?) and started decorating the house with a few ceramic pumpkins (the pumpkins just came out this past weekend). Some Halloween stuff is also out too. Yeah! I love fall! Even if it is still in the mid-90s here, I know cooler weather is on the way. I can also take kids to the park almost daily soon. We can do picnics again, woo hoo!

I also wanted to share a cute story from last night with everyone. As most of you know, Julia loves bathtime. She has always been a water baby. Luke? Not so much. He pretty much tolerated his bath in relative silence until a few weeks ago when he decided he does not want to get wet. That means he literally screamed at the top of his lungs and tried to climb out of the tub every night. It was a lovely experience, let me tell you. Well, last night, after he screamed for 5min..he decided to sit down and enjoy himself. He actually put his face completely in the water (about 20x), splashed around and had a fabulous time. I was so shocked that I let them play until the water became cold (not sure, seemed like an hour but it was probably closer to 30min). Hopefully we'll have another great bath experience tonight!

Have a great day everyone!

September 20 - Hakuna Matata

Happy Tuesday everyone. I hope you all had a fab weekend. J.D. has been working insane hours for a big work project (over 16 hour days including over the weekend..yikes) so I was solo with the kids. Saturday was a jam packed day of gymnastics, the park (with friends from gymnastics), playing with chalk on the driveway (I think Julia and I each did hopscotch about 30 times), then back to the park for another few hours. Needless to say, all of us (including Amelia, she came to the afternoon park trip) were exhausted by the end of the day. Oh-Luke also went on the swings for the first time and down the slide by himself for the first time. He really enjoyed both!

Sunday marked a special occasion for Julia. She went to her first movie at the theater and loved it! J.D. was able to take a 2h work break and he took her to see 'The Lion King.' I even got her to dress in jeans for the 'cold' movie theater and she looked beyond adorable! Her favorite character was Simba and she sat on daddy's lap the whole time. This morning she told me she wants to go see it again. Adorable! We also had a playdate with the Root family and the girls had a fabulous time. Luke had fun trying to keep up with them too. 

Speaking of our little man, he loves the outdoors and wants to be outside at all times. He will walk to the backdoor and pound on it to try to get out there. He loves the sand/water table (mostly he loves throwing sand) and his buggy. He really enjoys walks around our cul-de-sac in the buggy. 

Enjoy these pictures!

Before we went to the park on Saturday afternoon, Julia put some pants over her leotard to help her slide. She insisted on wearing these ones...quite the fashion diva! She also had to 'call her friends' Emma and Jewel to chat before we left. Too cute!

Julia is a huge fan of 'Olivia' (both the books and show). We've recently been reading 'Olivia and the School Carnival' where the kids put on a carnival for their parents with games. We recreated one of the games this weekend: tunnel bowling!

Here she is reading her Olivia book. I love my little reader!

They LOVE this buggy-LOVE it!

September 13 - Here Comes Trouble

Luke has been 100% walking for a few weeks now and he is on the verge of running. In fact, if he can see Amelia's water bowl, he speed walks/kind of jogs towards it. I am constantly shocked at how quick he is. He also figured out how to climb onto the couch and can climb out of the tub. I am not exaggerating when I say we have to watch him like a hawk. He is trying very hard to climb out of his crib, he'll be in a toddler bed before we know it!


In other Luke news, he had his first serious illness last week and ended up in the ER. He was sent home from school on Tuesday with a 102.2 fever and seemed fine most of Wednesday. Unfortunately, when he woke up from his afternoon nap on Wednesday his fever was 104.4. His fever barely went down after a dose of Motrin and cold compresses so I took him to the ER. Luckily, his ears, lungs and urine were clear. After a higher dose of Motrin (apparently the recommended dose from my pediatrician is half what you can really give an infant) he was discharged. I kept him home with me the rest of the week and he is 100% healthy again. Poor little guy!


My girlfriend Anna came in town this past weekend and we had a great time. The last time we saw each other I was one week from giving birth to Julia so this time around, we had a much more active visit. We saw 'Contagion' Friday night (I think it was the first time a movie ended and the theater was entirely silent..and no one wanted to touch anything nor each other..freaky) and had an active weekend with the kids (gymnastics, sidewalk chalk, lots of hopscotch, reading, bath time fun, walks with dog and a birthday party). 


Julia enjoying her new favorite breakfast: oatmeal AND cheerios, milk AND water. Our girl has quite the appetite these days. 

Julia playing 'chicken' with the sprinkler - my brothers and I used to do this as kids.