2 months and tall for four

What an amazing 2 months it has been! This little girl has come into our lives and completely turned it upside down for the better. She is absolutely precious and perfect. I am so utterly and completely in love with her!

At her Dr. appt today we got the new digits -- 11.3oz (75th%) and 23 inches (75th%). No longer such a pip squeak! She was so funny at the appt as she smiled at the doctor and cooed at him.

Here's the update on what she's up to:

• Still likes her paci, but LOVES to suck on her fingers or fist. Occasionally the thumb when she can find it.


• She's already showing signs of being a little social butterfly. She coos all the time. Even to her toys and pacis… but, especially to her brother.


• Lost a lot of hair, but has 10 or so random strands that are 3-5 inches long. If they keep growing we can do a great 'comb-over'.


• Daddy loves to see her in purple. He claims that purple is her color. (does anyone else find it funny that he has an opinion about this at all?)


• Generally such a laid back baby. Cries when diaper is dirty, hunger, or trying to go to sleep.


• Holds her head up very well for long periods of time.


• She has been sleeping fabulously (6-8 hour stretches!) - except for when we went away for 2 weeks and took her out of the familiar. One thing that is such a blessing is that she will feed and immediately go back to sleep. With Jackson it took work and lots of time to get him back to sleep.


• Still loves her bath… gets very excited when she knows she’s about to get in.


• Has the hiccups all the time. Seriously at least 8-10 times a day.


• Huge smiles with twinkling eyes.


• Guaranteed smile when her big brother is around!


• Twice when I have changed her diaper she has looked at me and raised one eyebrow with an expression that was purely MIKES. It was eery.

Some updates on our 4 1/2 year old:

His new obsession is the movie Toy Story. He doesn’t have any character toys from the movie, but he has designated some of his toys (a fireman toy = woody; one of daddy’s old toys= Buzz Lightyear, etc) . He wants us to play Toy Story with him (or reinact the movie) all the time!

He dotes on his sister and is really a great helper. I couldn't be more pleased with how well he has done with our new addition.

When asked how old he is, he now says "tall for four" because so often he hears "oh, you are so tall for four years old". So funny!

He announced to me the other day that his favorite dancing is break dancing. I have no idea where he got this from. He keeps asking me to show him the moves... why does he think I [mommy] know them?? Mike showed him the 'Wave' the other day.

Ocean Isle trip

We were home from CWR for a day and a half before we reloaded up and headed to Ocean Isle with Daddy's side of the family. There were 14 of us all together. The weather was beautiful and we enjoyed some wonderful time together in the sand, surf, and loafing around the house.

Jackson's love for the waves did not waiver since last summer. This year he really got into the boogie board and was able to ride the waves all the way onto the beach. He also endured many "wipeouts" - for the most part they did not even phase him. A new thing this year was to bury his beach toys in the sand and put an 'X' in the sand for people to come and find the buried treasure. Jackson also loved all the time with family, especially running around with cousins Ethan, and Elijah.

Hannah spent some time on the shore under the umbrella. She was just the right size to lay sideways in a beach chair and snoze away. We tipped her toes in the water a little - she really didn't seem to even notice it. Her favorite part was the bath after coming back to the house.

"Hi from the beach, y'all!"

Don't they look like they are in a line up??

We're too pooped to write too much, but here are a few more shots from the end of our week at camp:

Jackson and Courtney in the middle of their "giant swing" ride.

In this cropped image, you can really see Jackson's smile while on the Giant Swing with mom!

Hannah in her swimsuit looking cute!

A classic sunset at camp.


Hannan in her baby Bjorn.

One of the boys at camp shared his rocket with Jackson.

Hannah takes a dip!

Courtney and Jackson Ride the "Giant Swing"

So, Jackson continued to beg to climb the Climbing Wall and climb the High Ropes Course. He finally conceded and settled for going on the "Giant Swing" with his mom. His fearlessness was finally overcome when they plunged toward the earth on the giant swing. But his mother was right there with him and he enjoyed the rest of the ride.

I can't get the "embed" feature of the video to work, so you can click the video link for youtube if it doesn't work for you either!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPbPnxMOZE0

Camp Life

Jackson is absolutely having the time of his life. As he has for the last 3 years, Jackson walks up to the engine here and says "Hi, Thomas!".

This year he is obsessed with the High Ropes and wants so badly to go down the zip line... child after my own heart! We explained that he'll have to wait until he's 12 to do it. He told the High Ropes director today that he "grew up and was 12 now". She was on to his game. ;) Yesterday when Daddy took him to the High Ropes Course, Jackson wanted to put on a helmet. After he put it on, he went and stood in line behind the children waiting to start the course! The director put a harness on him and allowed him to "swing" on the Free Fall rope. He did it again today. He could not have been more excited!

Jackson has been allowed to do all sorts of new things, besides swinging around the High Ropes. He actually climbed the Climbing Wall on the most difficult climb, shot arrows in archery (with daddy's assistance), and tomorrow he might get to do the Giant Swing with daddy. He has not shown even an ounce of fear with any of it!

Other activities for today included swimming, canoeing, eating chocolate fudgecicles at canteen, pin-dodgeball (a willow run fav), and singing and dancing to some silly songs. Quite a busy day and we are all exhausted!

Jackson constantly wants to know what fun activity is next. When we tell him, he likes to announce it to all the campers - like he's in charge. In the middle of the flag lowering last night he yelled out, "It's music time".

After swimming yesterday Mike took the goggles off of Jackson only to find out that they had been on entirely too tight. His eyes were puffy and had huge marks around them for hours. We were just certain he'd have black eyes today, buy they were back to normal.

Hannah has done really well with all the loud music, heat, and noisy dining hall. However, she was up 4 times last night. Wowzers. Not sure if she hit a growth spurt, or if it was just sleeping in the pack and play that made her so restless. She slept for 8 hours straight (10pm-6am) the night before in her crib. I'm hoping for better results tonight for both of our sakes. Her days of fully enjoying camp are yet to come.

a little love to daddy

A taste of what you are missing around here, daddy - gigantic smiles and spit up. See you soon!!!

Hannah has discovered her voice and is cooing like crazy. In fact, she would like nothing better than for someone to sit and talk with her all day. Girls are absolutely social by nature! Jackson especially loves to get her going with various "oh", "ah-goo", "ah" and the like. She is smiling all the time now - but it's been hard to catch on camera so far.

Jack continues to be such a big help. Especially in the car, when he wipes spit up, gives her the paci, and talks to her to soothe her. So adorable. We tease him all the time that it is his turn to change a messy diaper. He freaks out and says he's scared of her poo poos. ha! Hannah will throw her head around with excitement to find him when she hears his voice. They are both so crazy about each other.

More Hannah

Another 2 Minutes of Hannah - with smiles!

Looks like the 5 minute video I posted before, but this time I got two great smiles!

Five Minutes of Hannah

Hannah took a power nap on Daddy's chest and woke up happy and alert. It's not the most entertaining 5 minutes, but it is video which is better than a picture I suppose!?!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0LooUsibJKU