TV time is good for something

Today, at HEB, Hunter pointed to the top of the cheese display case and said, "Look Mom! The Eiffel Tower!" Not knowing that he had any knowledge of this, I asked him how he knew that. He replied, "It's on my Ninja Turtles movie." Quizzing him a little further, I asked if he knew where that tower was. He grinned and replied, "Paris, Mom."

Another example of the value of TV and movies...
"Mom, did you know that snails eat algae?"
"Really, Hunter? Do you know what algae is?"
"Yes Mom. It's green stuff that grows where it's really wet."
This fact he learned from Caillou.

So, don't discount the learning that comes from a little exposure to TV! :)
Below is Hunter at the Waco Children's Museum with his cousin Ryan watching the program about the mammoths that used to live in the area.

My Three

This is so so frustrating. I typed up this entire post last night only to have the internet fail on me and therefore, I lost my entire entry. Aghh!! I am going to attempt to do this again...

Emily is going to be 2 months old on September 2nd. In honor of that milestone, I will chronicle my three at 2 months old.

Hunter
Born at 7 lbs 7 oz and 20 1/2 inches long
Hunter was 12 lbs 12 oz at 2 months old. Wow! He had grown over 5 lbs in the first 2 months. He was a great eater, a very textbook baby- eating every 3 hours or so and up about 2 times a night, he loved to be swaddled, to have a pacifer (pop pop in our house), loved bathtime, enjoyed the bouncy seat and was an easy baby to take around. He was holding his head very steady at that point and loved to put weight on his legs in our laps.
Here is Hunter at 2 months....


Blake
Born my biggest at 8 lbs 13 oz and 22 inches long
Blake was 13 lbs 3 ounces at 2 months. He was a chubby bubby. He too was a great eater, an even better sleeper- waking up once a night since birth, loved to be swaddled and loved his pop pop (still does), enjoyed the bouncy and watching all things Hunter. He was a great baby too. He was also developing strong muscles and loved to stand on our laps and could hold his head very steady.
Here is Blake at 2 months....

Emily
Born my smallest at 7 lbs 2 oz and 19 1/2 inches long
It remains to be seen how big she is at 2 months. We will know in a couple of days. I will venture to guess that she is not nearly as big as her brothers. Emily is a great baby- sleeps through the night as of 7 weeks, loves to take a bath, loves being swaddled and loves her pop pop. She is a fan of the bouncy seat, not a fan of the infant carrier and is not decided about the swing. She can hold her head pretty steady, does well at tummy time and when you work with her, she will put weight on her legs while in your lap. She is starting to smile and coo at you. She LOVES when I sing "Oh Holy Night" to her. I get quite a reaction from that.
Here is Emily at nearly 2 months....

Serendipity

We are spending this weekend at the lake- just the 5 of us. It's been like a mini-vacation. Mind you, meals still have to be cooked, laundry done and we are cleaning up after ourselves, but just being away from home is a treat.

We got here yesterday and Blake and I ventured back into town to shop at HEB. We got back, swam in the lake, the boys kayaked, we had chicken tacos for dinner, icecream for dessert and played. Today, we drove over to Horseshoe Bay and swam in the pool and played at the little beach. Chris and I took turns sitting with Emily in the shade. She was a great sport.

This afternoon, Hunter and I went into town to stick our heads in a couple of shops. He was especially fascinated with an antique store that had junk piled out in the front yard. He was in search of a treasure and found some blue Mardi Gras beads on a rusty iron table. We went hand-in-hand down Main Street (it felt like such a "memory" moment)and looked in several other shops. He was not nearly as interested in the clothing stores as I was. He still had his sights set on the beads as his treasure for the day, so after a stop at the icecream shoppe we drove back to the antique store to "buy" the beads. The lady was precious and allowed Hunter to take his treasure free of charge. :)

We have had fun sitting on the dock, the boys have jumped off of the back of the boat and swam, taken kayak rides, saw a little snake (yuck), and had a wave runner ride. All are tucked in their beds- well, except for Emily.

Chris and I watched Marley and Me last night and boo hooed at the end... again. That movie does it to me everytime. I have been much nicer to my dogs today.

I played around with my camera while the boys were on the kayak and took many pics of my most captive audience. Enjoy!

Talking to God

I have always said prayers with the boys at night. It's our ritual. Hunter has always been a little resistant to the idea of saying his own prayer. He usually insists, "You say it mom."

The other night, Chris was out of town. I was putting the boys down and was about to say the prayer. On this particular night, Hunter decided that HE wanted to do it. However, I had to leave the room and shut the door. So I did.

The next morning, he came in so proudly and announced that he had prayed to God and asked Him to help him be nicer to his brother. Hunter was really pleased with himself and I told him how much I knew that God loved hearing from him.

Fast forward to the next night, Hunter again announced that he wanted to pray but that I needed to leave the room. Well, over the monitor I could hear him as he "talked" to God. I have always tried to encourage him to say his own prayers and told him it's as easy as just talking to God. Well, that was exactly what he did.

Hunter's precious prayer went something like this:
God, Thank you for this day and for watching over us and protecting us. (Something I say every night) Please watch over my dad while he's out of town at a golf tournament. (About this time, Blake stands up in his crib and starts to cry) Please help my brother Blake stop crying. Oh and God, I really, really, really like talking to you, and I'd really like it if you would talk to me too. Oh, and I would really, REALLY, like it if you were down here on the ground with me. (A little more that I could not make out over the monitor.) And God Bless ya God!

Seriously, the sweetest and most precious prayer I have ever heard. I'm so proud of him.

Sleeping like a baby

Emily officially hit the 7 week mark last Friday. It's hard to believe we are nearing 2 months old. Where did that time go?
She doesn't look too pleased to have time flying either!

Blake and Emily before leaving for the trip. I love that he wanted to hold her. I love his smile and dimples and her expression is priceless- like "Get me outta here!"

I can hardly stand that she is growing and changing. Last week, she started sleeping through the night and has done so the past 5 nights. Of course, now that it's in writing, she will revert back! I would never expect a baby to sleep through the night so young anyway, but had heard that girls usually do much sooner than boys. I'll take it!

We have had a great month of August. Emily has been traveling since she was 3 weeks old. We have been to Waco to visit family, the lake to be with family and South Padre with family. She's great in the car on road trips and has started to take a bottle as of 6 weeks old to fill in the gaps when I just can't feed her. She prefers the Gerber Nuk bottles but loves the Soothie pacifiers. Hmm.

Emily loves to be swaddled just like her brothers did. She will take a great daytime nap all swaddled up. Other naps just tend to happen in the carseat, the bouncy, or wherever we may be. I love to hold her and just be close.

As of 7 weeks, we started seeing real genuine smiles. They are few and far between, but you can tell she is really taking you in when you are talking to you and every so often you get a really precious grin. And drumroll please.... she has dimples too! When I was pregnant with Hunter, my OB commented how much she hoped he would get Chris' dimples. You have to admit, dimples just have a sweet charm about them. Well, Hunter did not get them, but Blake has great dimples. Emily has more than I can count- they are in the corners of her mouth and on her cheeks. I've tried so hard to get a picture of the smile, but she just stares at my camera like "What is that huge black thing pointed at my face that shines a bright light at me?"

Here are some recent pictures from our South Padre trip...
Hunter and his FAVORITE food... Shrimp!

Me and my 3 kiddos ready to hit the beach. My one and only picture of myself. :-)

Blake ready for a day in the water.

Hunter and his new shark tooth necklace. Boy is he proud of it!

On our last day, Emily spent time under our tent laying in the shade. Would you believe that she still got a little red? I felt terrible about it. Only her face was exposed since we used the green towel to cover her, but she was completely shaded. We think she must have gotten a touch of windburn. Ughh. I still feel guilty. Anyway, she did look cute in her suit.

Hunter and his boogie board. He insists on wearing goggles at all times in the water.

We all headed over to do putt-putt and go-cart driving. Hunter had a blast racing around the path with his cousins.


I've been working on Emily's room. Pictures to come. I am not happy with the paint color, so back to square one on that. Boo. I have all of my fabric at Angie's getting made. I chose to copy a bed I saw and I hope I love it as much as the picture. It's very simple and classic. The pops will come on the daybed in the fabrics I chose for the pillows.

Blake has moved in with Hunter- that is going fine as of now. They go to sleep without much of a fuss but Blake has been waking up once a night and often ends up in our bed. However, for such a big transition they have both done well.