Cherry Picking

Jodie and Sophia get after it!

I absolutely LOVE this picture of Isabelle.

Sophia showing off her bounty

the walk back home, happily splashing in the puddles

While working in the garden the other day, a neighbor came by and asked if we liked cherries. When we responded that in fact we did, he told us to come and pick off his tree because he and his wife couldn't move faster than the birds! They had already picked quite a few and we were welcome to all we could get. The girls were thrilled to say the least. I got us out some bags and we went to town! The cherries are such a beautiful red color and although they're a bit sour, I plan on whipping up a dessert that will make it all okay! It just got us even more in the mood for blueberry picking, which I think we're scheduled for next week! Yay!

Green Acres

Look at that garden growing!!!

zucchini plants

tomato plants

So apparently I have a green thumb after all! Okay, well maybe it has something to do with the fact that all it's done is rain, rain, and more rain the past 2 months, but, hey at least it's something! Our garden is growing quite well and we are most definitely pleased with ourselves. The zucchini and tomato plants were grown from seed and I just can't believe how big they are! We also have some pepper plants, onions and some herbs that we got as starter plants, but they are also thriving so far. I hope that we continue to have success as I can only assume the rain is about to slow down. We still hope to have at least one tomato or zucchini to eat and we'll consider ourselves gardeners!

A Visit With The B

Since Leo's been born, I hate to admit, but my visiting schedule for Grandma B has taken a hit. Doing anything with two of them is more a scheduling conflict than anything else...trying to plan around two eating and napping schedules makes outings tricky. We used to go about 2 times/month and lately it's been about 1 time/2 months! Ugh. I'm trying to change that for the summer, though. Grandma loves to see the kids and quite honestly, Sophia still has a ball each time we go. Grandma has her pile of toys and books that Sophia still loves to play with time and time again. Leo had a fine time crawling around her apartment and getting himself entangled in her oxygen tubes (as pictured above). Sophia loved that activity at his age too and as much as I try and put a stop to it, he still goes back for more and more! The texture of the tubing does lend itself to be chewed, but still! ;) It has become our routine to bring McDonald's, which Sophia affectionately refers to as the French Fry Store (she knows the name and if you say McDonald's she will respond excitedly, but when referring to it herself, it goes by the french fry store!) and I think all of us enjoy the treat! Just like Sophia, I'm sure Grandma B will be the one to introduce Leo to his first Happy Meal when the time comes! ;) We always have a nice visit, and I hope to once again make these visits part of our routine.

Busy Babies!

tub time!

go fish!

cooking up something good!

My children are just growing up so much! It's hard to believe that we're closing in on 3 and 1...GASP!!!

Leo continues to be happy and smiley all day and to everyone! Most people comment on what a happy baby he is and that makes me happy too! He is crawling around very well and of course, doing what all babies do...trying to do headers off the bed and down the stairs! Luckily we're all very watchful and he has not suffered any injuries as of yet! I tried teaching him the backwards down the stair method the other day and he wasn't interested. I think in a couple more weeks, he'll probably be more receptive...I hope. Sophia was about 9 months when she started traversing the stairs on her own, so I'm ready for that. He is moving at his own pace, though. I know that I shouldn't compare the two of them, but really it's hard not to. At this point Sophia only ate finger foods, drank regularly from a sippy and regular cup and was gearing up for doing the stairs. Leo is just simply not interested. He is much better at picking up the finger foods than he was a week ago, but it is only limited to puffs, cheerios, crackers and peas. He sort of can do blueberries, but it gets ugly. He's happy to eat it, but just not that "into" it. He is still happily eating his purees, which is fine I guess, it's just that I'm ready to be done making them! He is also disinterested in the sippy cup which stresses me out! I know it's silly, and he probably just needs to get used to it, but even after we put formula in it the other day, he only drank about 2 ounces. After about 30 minutes of sort of, kind of, not really drinking it, I poured the rest into the bottle and he sucked it down. Ugh. He's still young, I get it, but I just get nervous that he won't do these things. In other areas, he loves to hear Sophia and me sing, he loves to be played with and he LOVES balls! He likes to roll them and play "catch" with us and he also loves to swing. Oh, and yes, he also is in love with Walter. Poor Walt. Leo will crawl across the room to pet him, slobber on him, pull his fur, etc. Walter is pretty good about it, but I get nervous. I try and limit their contact, especially when Leo is in a pulling mood! Today Leo also creeped down the couch to get to the remote. What is it about that remote that kids love so much?! I don't get it, but it worked. He did it very carefully but did scooch those little feet to get his prize. After that he dropped a toy and couldn't figure out how to bend down to get it and wiped out. There were tears and he was done walking. :(

Sophia is still our very silly girl! She loves her family and is becoming so much more aware of everything all the time! It is becoming more difficult on her when Charlie leaves for work in the mornings or if he's out late. She misses her daddy and wants to see him so badly! She LOVES to go to work with him, but due to the nature of his job, it just can't be a reality most of the time. Sometimes when his people have to work overtime on Saturdays, he will take her with him to bring donuts and bagels to the crew (which I still don't think is allowed, but it makes her so happy!) and she loves it! Charlie even made her her very own security badge and it is adorable. Some days she'll play going to work and she'll put it on, make me pack her a snack and off she'll go. She usually says things like "I have a lot to do today!" and my favorite..."I have to go and make some money!" LOL! She is really into pretend play in general right now and I find it hilarious. I don't know where she gets most of the stuff she says! Yesterday she held a dance class for me in the bedroom and after she taught me each move I had to repeat it and she would clap for me. Too cute. At the end I told her she was a very good teacher and she responded with, "Mom, I'm the coach." Oh. In the swimming pool she is becoming increasingly more brave! She now tries to swim underwater. Mostly it's a disaster, but she does hold her breath and attempt to propel her body, but that hasn't happened just yet. At the park, her new favorite activity is to slide down the fire pole. She has the hang of it for the most part and after another few days of practice she'll be doing it on her own I'm sure! Recently I have been teaching her how to play cards. So far we've done Crazy 8s and Go fish. She's at about the level I expected, but she enjoys playing a game and I think in a few months she'll really have the hang of it. Her favorite TV show is still Barney by far but she also really enjoys Kai Lan and Max and Ruby. She is a great big sister, and although there are surges of jealousy sometimes (they mostly appear when she's tired and wants to be cuddled), she is thrilled with the addition to the family.

Our summer is already busy and each day new things get added to the calendar. I thought that I'd take a minute to update our kiddos before I ran out of time! ;) Look for more pictures to be posted on our exciting adventures! I'm a little slower at blogging than before, but I'm still getting it done!

In this video Leo really shows off his crawling skills! He was a bit fussy because he was crawling towards me and I kept walking away in order to get better footage! He then quickly realizes that there is something more alluring than Mommy...

Yikes!

So, I still haven't heard back from the doctor's office regarding my throat culture, but I decided, why wait? I mean even if it isn't strep, it is at the very least tonsillitis and that really isn't much different. So, I called the surgeon and I'm scheduled to go under the knife! Yikes!


I've had surgery before, and I've been under general anaesthesia a number of times, but it doesn't really help. I'm still majorly freaked and really not all that excited about this surgery. Additionally, the surgeon and his nurses made sure to really let me know that this may be the worst pain I've ever felt in the 7 days following surgery. Awesome. Part of me thinks that maybe they're just trying to scare me and give me worst-case-scenarios b/c surely there are people that have all the symptoms but maybe it won't be that bad, but I'm not sure I'm convinced. He also said that the first 7 days post surgery I won't really be able to do much of anything--his exact words being "whatever it is that you "do" you won't be doing it for 7 days" and that within the following 7 days I may feel better but will still have a sore throat.



Most recently, I had to have surgery to have Leo, but let's be real...I got a baby out of that deal, this is no comparison. My tonsils are coming out June 29, so I will not be having a very festive 4th, but I will be dining on plenty of ice cream and popsicles I'm sure!

Pool Days

It might be cold...but I LOVE IT!

Maggie, taste testing Leo's toy, and Sophia play pool games

Leo testing out the new hippo flotation device!

Wow...I've really got some big feet. When did that happen?!

Snuggle time!

On Memorial Day weekend we headed out to Charlie's friends Patrick and Erin's to take a dip in their pool and have a bbq! This was after the Jiggle Jam, so it proved to be a very full day indeed, but fun nonetheless! Maggie just turned 2 so she and Sophia were fast friends. Maggie is also a big sister now to James, who isn't pictured. He's only 5 weeks old and although cute as a button, didn't suit up for the pool! :)

Sunday, we hit our neighborhood pool for the first time this summer and boy was it fun! We've been quite a few times since then and look forward to our many pool days this summer!

Jiggle-Jammin'

mesmerized by the music
Sophia and her Styrofoam peanut sculpture

Leo enjoying his new book

all aboard the barrel train!

the blue car beauty and her blue balloon!

We hit the Jiggle Jam festival held at Crown Center this past weekend and we were pretty happy with it. It is a new festival and you can tell they're still growing, but Sophia had a ton of fun! The first picture was of an actual car that was decked out with all kinds of noise making recyclables and the kids could take drumsticks and play away. It was pretty cool. They had various musical stages as well and Sophia's favorite was, by far, the kids singing show tunes. LOL! She's her mamma's baby all right! The craft tent had some fun stuff...did you know that you can get Styrofoam peanuts to stick to paper and each other by dabbing them on a sponge first--no glue needed?? I had no idea. I will be saving any future peanuts that come my way for this very activity! We ended our time with a ride on the train and a cupcake treat. The cupcakes were super delicious but it was way too hot out there for that buttercream! I couldn't get a picture b/c it was such a mess, there was just no way! At least they were enjoyed!