The house and the park...

Around the house we've been:

 

Sleeping...

 

Peeking through the crib...

 

Going to the doctor (colds... both of them... and Addison has reflux.  Boo!)

 

Waking up with Daddy and watching firetucks (about 30 minutes of straight firetrucks with sirens...)

 

Hanging out on the couch...

 

We've also been taking advantage of the weather and going to parks.  We have to get energy out!

He looks so big here!

 

We loved this one!

 

Colin got this high up on the rock wall, then wanted down.  Ha!

 

And he got to drive a boat!

 

Addison was with us at the parks, but she was hanging in the shade while Colin ran and ran =)

Bikes and Colin-isms...

(I have started keeping these all together on a page at the top of this blog. It makes it easier for me to click back and see what Colin was up to. These are mainly so I don't forget any of these precious moments...)

These pictures were from today... we went downtown to a bike race!  There were bikes and bike vendors everywhere!  We got to see kids do a bike race, get free stuff (woohoo! new water bottles, peanuts, stickers, and cereal...), go to the "kid zone", meet Ronald McDonald, we had a great time!)

Of course, we saw a fire truck and HAD to go touch it!

We were driving in the car and Colin randomly said, "I am going to go to school allll byyy myself!"  And I said, "Oh really?  Okay."  Then he said, "No!  I need someone to drive me."  He is starting preschool in September but I had no idea that he actually understood that!

Garet has trained taught Colin to tell me I'm beautiful.  It is really is sweet.  Out of nowhere Colin will just say, "You're beautiful!" and it melts me.  Sometimes Garet will whisper to him to tell me that.  The other day Garet did this and Colin took a step back and said, "I'm not beautiful!" 

Playing in a raft from the US Whitewater center.

He was eating some chicken that had a little spice to it and he said, "I felt something funny in my belly." 

When G and I had a date night one night, Colin said to Grandma Kay, "I think I have water in my eyes... am I sad?"  I guess his eye was watering!

A big dog from United Healthcare... Colin loves to give high fives (wonder where he gets that from????   Huh, Garet???)

The boy has gas.  Lots of it.  What can I say.  So he likes to call them "toots"... and we hear a lot of, "I tooted!  Excuse me!"  Trust me, we hear it a lot.  So the other day we were watching something on t.v. and they were talking about a math tutor.  Colin busted out laughing, "Math Tooter?!?!?"  HA!  What am I going to do with this boy?!

We were in Garet's office here at the house and there were some papers on the printer.  Colin pointed at them and said, "Look!  Daddy has email!" 

Climbing up the bouncy thing.

I have told Colin since before Addison was born that she is just a baby and can't even talk yet... now that she is cooing and making noises I talk back to her.  Like I will say, "tell me about it..." or "what do you have to say..." or something along those lines.  When Colin hears me he will say, "Addison can't talk.  I can talk!  Hello!  Hello!"  ha!

Speaking of... I love the way he talks!  So high pitched and precious!  And the way he says certain words is just adorable.  Like he says: Ah-son (Addison)

Guess who is at the top holding up the line? =) 

Garet was leaving for work one morning... he had already told Colin bye, then he said bye to Addison, then me.  When he was walking to the door, Colin yelled, "Don't forget me!!" and he puckered up for another kiss =)  It was precious.

Colin knows that he is two and will hold up 2 fingers to prove it.  The other day I taught him that those 2 fingers also mean "peace"... he had fun running up to Garet and yelling "Peace!" with his 2 fingers.

And a belly slide on the way down!

I was driving home and Colin was chatting in the backseat.  We drove by a big truck and I said, "Oh look Colin, a car transporter!"  He said, "Yeah, it's a car transporter.  You are right."  Ha!  thanks bud.

In Garet's car Colin likes to look at a map or the yellow pages.  I asked him what the map was for and he said, "A map tells you where to go to the park."

Playing basketball with Daddy... Colin got to get a little closer - and he made it almost every time!

Garet cleaned our patio, like with the power washer, so it was spotless!  The next day, there must have been a little bit of dirt on it and Colin ran over to it and said, "what is this mess?!" 

Colin and I were playing in the backyard... he came up with a new game: throwing the basketball over the railing on the deck.  He would say he made a basket every time it went over the rail.  Then he started yelling, "I'M A PLAYA!"

Bubbles!  And Ronald McDonald!

 

Colin is soooo much fun!  I love to hear the things that he comes up with!  He cracks me up! 



Round here...

It's been busy 'round here... seems like even when we have no plans, we somehow stay busy...

Colin LOVES his cars and has started bringing me in on "lining them up".  He hands me a car and I put them in line.  And this is fun.  For at least an hour we can do this. 

So, I sometimes incorporate Addison... I make the cars go in a line around her...

 

And Colin really loves that!  He jumped at the chance to get a picture with Addison and his cars.  And he will randomly say, "I have LOTS of cars!"  Guess I say that often =)

 

We also said "good bye" to this sweet cradle that was made by Pop when Colin was born.  Garet kept asking me if I would be sad for him to take it apart.  I wasn't.  But since he kept asking I figured, hey, maybe I should be sad... so I told him to take one last picture before he took it down so I could process it later.  (for the record, still not sad.  But it is bittersweet to be putting away baby things.)

 

When Garet went to see his favorite band, OAR, in Charlotte for the night, Colin and I sent him a "good night" picture:

 

He might have been carefree and childless for a night, but he missed the craziness =)

Addison had her 2 month appointment and is 11 pounds (36%) and 22.5 inches tall (41%) not to mention her head... 95%!  Just like her big bro!  Colin came to the appointment but I was nervous that the shots with her crying would be too much for him, so he got to walk around the and get a sticker... when he came back he was able to see her band-aids and give her a kiss.  Addison did great.  She cried screamed when they gave her the shots, but as soon as I picked her up, she stopped.  She slept a lot once we got home.  I tried to get a picture of her first boo boo... you can barely see the band aid on her leg in the picture though =)

 

It has been HOT!!!!!!! lately!  Even under our patio fan outside I feel like I am about to start sweating!  We have taken advantage of having a boat and pool (ha!)  Here is Colin filling it up watering the grass...

 

He said he was making a "fire"
I just stood in the boat with him.  It is amazing how much better it felt just having my feet in the water!  I put the sprinkler on also to water the rest of the grass/plants and we had a fun time running through that! 
Poor Suzi just wants to play outside with us too... but she gets so hot!  And she doesn't like to get wet.  So she goes and digs a place next to the bushes...

 

Garet was able to join in on the pool fun after work... here was my view from the patio:

 

Colin wanted Garet to pour the water over him while he slid down the slide =)

 

Life is so busy and fun!  And it seems our calendar just keeps filling up!  So many fun things to look forward to! 

2 months...

The many faces of Addison =)

 

I can't believe our baby girl is 2 months old!
She is such a joy and her personality is starting to come out!  She smiles a LOT now... especially at us - and Colin really loves when he gets smiles!

 

As you saw in the last post, she had her first trip and first trip to the beach last week!  She did amazing!  The car ride was good... she did get upset at one point and just needed me in the back to keep her company (which Colin also liked!)  She doesn't seem to really like her carseat.  She normally falls asleep in it, but she definitely would rather be held - like at the grocery store, I wear her versus leave her in the carseat.

She is still sleeping well at night (now in her crib).  She sleeps about 6.5 hours straight at night.  Although when she wakes up to eat around 4 am it sometimes takes awhile to get her back to sleep...  that's fun for mommy...

 

I really don't have her on any sort of schedule.  It seems to work better that way =)  (which is a surprise to me since I am soooo scheduled!)  She takes cat naps during the day but usually gets a long 3 hour nap in somewhere around lunchtime.

She has discovered the ceiling fan and will smile and laugh at it.  It is awesome because I can sit her under it and it keeps her attention for a long time!

 

She does NOT like the pacifier and probably a month ago stopped trying to give it to her.  She also isn't so sure about the bottle.  She will take it, but she would rather have me... speaking of, she nurses about every 2 hours during the day.  A few times she will go 3 hours, and then at night she does well. 

The bath is a work in progress.  She doesn't cry but she seems very nervous about it.  It could be the 2.5 year old that "helps" by putting water on her head. 

 

She is a very laid back baby.  When she gets hungry she grunts a lot before she starts crying.  She really doesn't cry that much.  She goes with the flow, which is nice since I have an active toddler running around!

At night she is a little more fussy.  She insists (ha) on being held and walked around... facing outward.  She's particular.   If you sit down she gets grumpy =)

 

She just fits right in and we love our little lady so much! 
You can see her two month picture here... and here is Colin at two months!

Our fourth...

This is another long, full of pictures, post =)  I just can't narrow down the pictures!

We headed to Blue Skies (Garet's mom's beach house!) in Morehead City!  The drive there was good - uneventful - Addison's first trip!  When we got there we didn't waste any time jumping in a canoe!

 

Colin did awesome... although once we started heading back he started complaining that it was "too sunny!"  Here we are coming back:

 

We had a low key night... Grandma Kay got lots of hugs from Colin =)  He did really well sleeping in a new place, in a bed.  We haven't traveled overnight much since he has been in a big boy bed.  He's such a great kid!

 

The next day, July 4th, we headed to Atlantic Beach!

 

We got there early so we beat the crowd.  Colin was really excited about it.  Here we are first getting in the water:

 

He liked to jump the waves.  He thought it was really funny that my feet kept disappearing (the waves would cover them with sand).  It was so much fun!

 

Addison was really awesome too!  When we got there she was asleep, so I just laid her on a towel in the shade and she slept for about an hour until she was hungry again.  Here she is with Grandma Kay and Papa Rod =)

 

We had a snack break...

 

... and Addison rolled over like this...

 

Then Colin enjoyed digging in the sand.  Garet would make sand castles and Colin would smash them =)

 

When we got back to the house we all piled on the couch to watch Clifford before nap time (which Colin didn't take!)

 

While he was [supposed to be] napping, Garet and I kayaked in the marina.   It was so much fun!  And I love seeing all the big boats!  It is a little intimidating being in a tiny kayak next to these huge boats though!  When we got back, we filled up a little pool for Colin and we hung out on the deck.  Here I am hard at work fixing the pool while Garet sat back watching...

 

Suzi loving being outside with us:

 

Colin eating my Cheez-its...

 

Addison hanging out in her seat:

 

We were able to get a family shot at the end of the pier =)

 

Since Colin didn't nap, he was exhaused by the time it was his bedtime (7:30/8) so we just put him to bed without watching fireworks.  I figured if they woke him up he could get up to watch them, but my sweet boy didn't make a peep all night!  There were fireworks all around us!  We sat at the end of the pier and watched them all across the ocean.  It was really neat.  And I didn't even attempt to take pictures of them.

 

The next morning we got ready to head to the beach again.  When Colin and Garet took Suzi out before we left, Colin picked me some flowers =)

 

At the beach, Addison did the exact same thing as the day before.  Slept.  =)

Colin dug a really big hole that he kept getting in.  He also kept putting sand back in it. 

 

For nap that day Garet and his mom set out in the kayaks to go all the way across the intercoastal waterway to the other side!  Here they are before:

 

(yes, Garet took one of Colin's water bottles...)
There they are out on the water.  The tide was out so they had to drag the kayaks out a bit before they could jump in and paddle.  But look how far across that is!!

 

 And they did it!  I think it took about 3 hours or so... Here they are after:

 

They look great! 
That night Garet and I got to go on a date!  ... well we took Addison.  She is still not so sure about when she wants to eat, so it's easier to just bring her along.  And it seems like we are still on a date because she just chills in her seat =)  

 

We went to one of our favorite restaurants in Beaufort... it's right on the water. 

Colin had a blast with Grandma Kay and Papa Rod! 
We left the next day and had quite the trip home... it is supposed to be 4 hours, it took 5, but it seemed much longer!  When we were about 1.5 hours into the trip, we stopped for lunch.  I fed Addison, the rest of us ate, then got back on the road.  Not long after that, Addison started crying.  I jumped in the back seat... between the carseats... yes it was super tight!  And I got her calmed down and told Colin we were all taking a "rest time".  That lasted about an hour, then it started raining.  We had a cloth roof rack.  So Garet pulled over, got all our luggage off the top and into the front seat.  I fed Addison again.  Then we crammed back in.  Garet and a FULL seat of luggage in the front.  Addison, Colin and me in the back with me covered with stuff (books, food, luggage...)  Suzi and more luggage in the very back.  We were a full load.  Oh and it stopped raining. 

Once we were finally home we were tired!  But the trip was sooo worth it!  We had a blast!

 

Can't wait to go back!  (in a month!  yay!)