The Last Few Weeks

Here are a few pictures from the last few weeks. So much other stuff has been going on that I haven't had time to post these.

Little T Man loves to chomp his toes, especially in the bath. Anytime he can he gets those little feet up there.

We feel fortunate that both of our kids love bathtime. Although Audrey mainly loves playing in the water and not the bath part so much.

I can't believe how grown up she is starting to look.

Audrey LOVES the park. We are so happy that we have a little park just down the street now. Whenever the weather is nice we try and spend as much time down there as possible.

Audrey is getting much better at riding her tricycle which makes things a lot easier for us. Last summer it was kind of miserable whenever she wanted to ride her bike. We had to push her and steer. Now she can pedal pretty well and kind of steer.

Some of the older kids in the neighborhood taught her to do this. They also showed her how to twist the swing and then spin around on it. I used to do those things when I was a kid and it's funny to see Audrey do them now.

Truman likes the park too even though he spends most of his time in the stroller. When it finally warms up a little more and dries the ground some then he'll get to spend some more time in the grass.

This is Audrey's new favorite thing to do. She needs someone to help put her on the bar but she loves hanging upside-down, I promise, even though she looks terrified in this picture.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Our backyard is on its way to actually becoming a usable backyard! On Thursday the landscapers came and worked their magic. If all goes well then in a few weeks we should start to see some grass appear.

This is the left side of the house. They put down topsoil and hydroseed. We had them put gravel from our fence line and running next to the planter to the back of our property. Since the area doesn't get a ton of sun and it rains constantly here we thought this would be the best thing to do. Hopefully it will eliminate some of the sogginess and we won't have to worry about our grass turning to moss.

They extended this rock wall by a few feet to accomodate the addition of our sidewalk and keep the dirt and grass off of it.

They filled in the area between the sidewalk and house with gravel they had left over. We plan on filling in the areas around the sidewalk with river rock.

Here is another shot of the gravel pathway. Also, they had some leftover topsoil so they filled up our planter box for us! One less thing for us to do!

In the backyard they raised the level with sandy loam and topsoil and then sprayed the hydroseed. In three weeks we should have some grass! In about a month we'll be having our fence installed. All we'll need then is a grill and some patio furniture and we'll be all set! For this summer at least.

We took advantage of our planter box being filled for us and today we finally planted a garden. I've been dying to plant a garden but I was starting to think that it wouldn't happen. We spent the day shopping at Home Depot and Lowes and got everything we needed.

Audrey got her Dora gloves and gardening tools. This picture cracks me up. I think she looks cute with her curls sticking out of her hood.

Planting marigolds in the rain!

Our finished garden. This year we have three tomato plants, an orange bell pepper, a jalepeno, one basil plant, and marigolds. We'll see how everything does this year and make adjustments next year. This is probably all the gardening we'll do this year. Next year we'll work on the rest of the yard. I have a list of plants I want in my yard but we have too many other things to do before we start on that. Next year, if we can find places to put them, I'll get my hydrangea, lilac, azalea, red geraniums, snowball bush, more vegetables, marigolds, and whatever else looks pretty at the nursery. For now though, I'm pleased with our little garden and the progress we've made on our yard and house.

The Grown Up Table

On Saturday Matt and I got a brand new grown up table. When we got married we bought this little gem from Ikea.

It was a perfect table for us. It's solid wood, sturdily built, inexpensive, small enough for a one bedroom apartment, and big enough for a newly married couple and a couple of friends. But sadly it has become too small. Price was an issue when we bought it so we mainly chose it for the above reasons and not because we were in love with the color and style. It's fine, but I think both of us would have preferred something a little different. Now that we are in our new house and have two children we need something bigger. I don't feel like we can have guests over because there is nowhere to put them. And I want something I love more. Our little Ikea table has been great and is still in quite good condition, but it is time to say goodbye.

Friday night we packed up our table. At some point we'll try to sell it (and the matching buffet and desk) but for now it's in our garage. This was breakfast on Saturday morning.

Audrey enjoyed her pancakes plain and in a reclining position. I think she really had fun eating on the floor.

A few hours later our new dining set arrived! We ordered it from Penney's and got an amazing deal on it. We expected it to be darker--the color was listed as ebony and is described as, "ebony with a reddish undertone," and in the picture it is much darker. We thought they sent us the wrong color but we talked to someone at the Penney's store and she said the lighter color was a lot lighter than what we got. She thought it must have been a lighter variation of the ebony version. I'm still not sure, but we really like the one we got and don't want to go through the pain of returning it and possibly getting one that looks exactly the same.

This picture makes it look quite orange but I assure you it is not.

This picture is a little closer to the actual color but is still a little light. We are so happy to have a new dining set. It comforably seats four, six if you squish a little. And there is a leaf that expands the table to a square that seats eight. We purchased eight chairs to go with it and will store the extra ones until we need them. The entire table is so much bigger than the one we had. On our old table if you put four placemats on it they all touch. On this one we have room for food! Plus it is very sturdy and a little taller. The is the first big furniture purchase we've made for our new house and we are so pleased!

Sunday night we had a movie night. Audrey LOVES movie nights and we enjoy them too. We eat popcorn, candy, and watch a movie all snuggled up together on the couch. For this particular movie night we watched The Princess and the Frog, which I had never seen.

When the credits started playing Audrey got up and started dancing and asked her Pops to dance with her. Mostly she wanted to be spun around.

But it was very cute to watch them dance together. I even got a turn spinning her around. Audrey is funny and very cute about dancing. She decides when she wants to do it. One Sunday we got to church a little late and sat on the back row near the door. There is a larger than normal space between the back row and the one in front of it. During the songs she would stand up, put her hands abover her head like a ballerina, and spin in circles. When we whispered that she needed to sit down she announced, "I'm dancing!" (She also doesn't know how to whisper.) Needless to say we have never sat, nor do we plan to sit, on the back row again. But we do love this girl!

Truman at Six Months!

Truman is six months old! He is rolling over, grabbing things, and eating solid (somewhat) food. He had his check-up and here are the stats.

Weight: 18 pounds 11 ounces (75th percentile)
Height: 26.5 inches (50th percentile)
Head: 44.6 centimeters (75th percentile)

Our boy is getting bigger and cuter by the day. At six months Truman:

• Wears size 3-6 month clothes
• Can still wear size 1 shoes (but probably not for much longer)
• Wears size 2-3 diapers
• Still has no teeth, which is fine with me.
• Is still pretty bald, but is starting to get some noticeable growth. It is still the same blondish brown as Audrey's.
• Rolls over, both ways but mostly from his back to his tummy. A lot of the time he gets mad and yells and cries with his face in the ground until you roll him back over. But he's getting a lot better at rolling from his tummy to his back.
• Smiles at everyone when he's happy and is generally happy
• Scowls and furrows his brow when he's sleepy or upset
• Laughs so hard when you tickle his tummy and talk to him
• Yells and talks really loudly just to hear his voice
• Is starting to grab things and put them in his mouth
• Likes to play with his feet and munch on his toes (see the picture below)
• Loves rice cereal and sweet potatoes
• Eats solid food once a day at dinnertime around 6:00 P.M.
• Gets impatient when he's eating his baby food. If you aren't quick enough he'll fuss between every spoonful.
• Is still nursing five times a day--6:00 A.M., 9:30 A.M., 1:00 P.M., 4:00 P.M., and 7:00 P.M.
• Goes to bed as soon as he finishes his last feeding
• Will be happy and smiling and pleasant until I put him on the bed so I can get situated to feed him. He immediately starts yelling and fussing and can't be calmed until he starts eating.
• Is a bit less finicky about taking a bottle and eating formula, which pretty much only happens at church on Sunday.
• Sleeps all night, generally from 7:30 P.M. until about 6:00 A.M. When he wakes up he eats and then goes back to bed until about 8:00 A.M. or so.
• Sadly, does not have a very regular nap schedule. On the very, very best day ever he might nap from 10-11:00 A.M., again from 1:00 to 3:00 P.M., and then from 4:30 to 5:30 P.M. Of course, I think this might have happened once. I can sometimes get him to take one decent nap a day (usually in the morning) and very rarely a second 30 minute nap later in the afternoon. If he doesn't take a morning nap then he'll sometimes take a pretty good nap after lunch. But I can almost never get him to take a late nap even though he needs one. I guess this is why he is so ready for bed by 6:00 P.M.
• Is very happy when he is around a lot of people. He seems to like company.
• Sleeps on his side with his legs sticking straight out in front of him forming an L-shape (see the picture below). He covers his face with his arms.
• Is a very snuggly baby. He'll let you hold and cuddle with him.
• Is very patient with Audrey yelling in his face, patting him, touching him, poking him, etc. Although he is starting to get his revenge now that he's grabbing things. We've already had a few tears over Truman pulling Audrey's hair.
• Has super sharp little fingernails. One morning I asked Audrey to give Truman his pacifier while he was sitting in his bouncer. She started screaming and holding her arm. I was thinking that there was no way he hit her hard enough to warrant that kind of screaming. She finally calmed down enough to tell me that, "He got sharp claws." And he does.
• Is happy in his carseat.
• Can take his pacifier out of his mouth AND put it back in! He can also find it if you put it in front of him and put it in his mouth!
• Still spits and spits and spits. Ughhhhh! Will it ever end!
• Is no longer on a regular dosing schedule of his acid reflux medicine. He seems to be doing okay and isn't irritable all the time so it's either getting better or he's handling it better. I still give him a dose every once in awhile when he seems to be having a problem with it.
• Is the cutest little guy. We all love him so much!

Such delicious toes.

Sleepy T.

Sippy Cup

Trumey's first adventure with a sippy cup...and water.

How did you say this thing worked Mom?

Like this?

Oh!

Yech. I don't know about this water stuff!

Do you think these two kids are related? If nothing else Truman at least seems interested in his cup. Audrey just gnawed on hers. Although in her defense the first cup we got her was harder for a baby to use. I found these one day and got her a couple and she did great with them. I really love starting babies with these Nuk ones. They are great cups for the littlest ones. There are no valves, the top is soft like a bottle nipple, and they can suck on it in a way similar to a bottle. It's a great transition cup.

Today I looked at Truman and saw this.

It looks a little grusome, but Audrey hung her pig on the swing so Truman could see it. Then she put his cup up there. I'm not sure why she did that. She does try to help!

Little T's First Food!

I know I say this all the time, but I absolutely cannot believe how quickly my babies are growing. About a week and a half ago I realized that Truman's six month check-up was quickly approaching. I knew his pediatrician would ask how he was doing with baby food so I begrudgingly started to feed my baby rice cereal. I know this entry is about Truman but I included a picture of Audrey at her first cereal feeding. Those two babies are so similar and yet so different.

Our little cutie Munch eating her first rice cereal on December 3, 2007, exactly two weeks before she turned six months old. Audrey was very interested in the spoon and would grab it and make a terrible mess. She seemed to like the cereal okay at first, but after a couple of days she started refusing to eat it. We had to pinch her cheeks together to get her mouth open and then stick the spoon in. Finally I gave up and started mixing sweet potatoes with it and then she loved it!

Little Man got his first taste of cereal on Saturday, May 1, 2010, exactly one week before he turned six months old. He loved it from the start.

So far T has no interest in the spoon. He does expect you to shovel it in pretty quickly though and gets irate if you are too slow.

He tends to stay a lot cleaner when he eats and even now, only a week and a half later, has improved his eating technique and doesn't spit out as much.

Look at that smile. He gets really excited when it's time to eat.

There's no turning back now. My baby will be a little boy before I know it. Since this first feeding he has now had sweet potatoes and green beans and loves them both! He also got his first sippy cup of water yesterday and did fairly well with it. I sure do love this cutie man!

One Week--Home Improvement

During the week Matt had off we did some work on the house along with our playing. We were lucky enough to have Matt's dad around for a couple of days to help with some of the more difficult jobs. Thanks again!

Here is a picture of our backyard before much was done to it. Matt's dad was digging a trench for a retaining wall/planter box, but other than that it was untouched. Our yard ends where the grass begins.

Here is a current picture of the yard. We expanded our patio and Matt and his dad finshed the planter. You may also notice that we have some curtains up in front of the sliding glass door--FINALLY!

This is a picture of the right side of the house taken from the front.

And here it is now. We put in the sidewalk which has already proven to be a great addition. We plan on filling in the area on either side with river rock.

This is the left side of the house. We haven't done anything to this yet but are planning on planting grass. Of course, we also plan to fence the entire backyard.

The Friday before the full week off the guys worked on the planter wall.

It's kind of hard to tell from this picture, but the wall is leaning pretty far back.

So on Saturday they took it down and did some engineering calculations and rebuilt it. Now it is perfectly level.

Here is is mostly finished.

And here it is even more finished. We still have to finish filling it with dirt so we can plant some flowers and vegetables. We also have to put the capstones on the top.

The guys also spent some time installing ceiling fans in the bedrooms. They had already put one in the living room and the master bedroom. They decided to take the fan in the master bedroom down and brace it better. Then they installed fans in the kids' rooms. Here is Truman's.

And Audrey's.

Matt and I (but really mostly Matt) put up the curtain rods in the living and dining rooms. We also put up the sheers so we have at least the suggestion of privacy in our living room. We'll get some drapes once we buy new living room furniture and know what colors and style it will be.

I really love these double brackets and the decorative curtain rods. I went to four stores about five times each before I finally figured out how to get exactly what I wanted and spend the least amount possible.

It may not look like much but we're pretty pleased with the amount of work we were able to get finished and still have time to spend with the kids. Our house is coming along slowly. Sometimes it's very frustrating because I'd like everything to be finished NOW. But as long as we're making progress I feel okay with it for the most part. Our next big thing is a dining room set. Ours is tiny and I am so excited because we ordered a new one! It's going to be delivered on Saturday so more on that later.