The quiet times

Not that it has ever been very quiet around here, but we have been laying low the last two weekends. Next weekend starts the birthday bonanza- we have two on Saturday, and then Jace's the next week. And then our fall is quickly disappearing before it is even here. Steve wants to take Jace to two Mississippi State Football games, and then go to a third with some friends in Florida, and then another weekend my parents will be here and we are going up to College Station for an A&M game. Sadly I have not been since I have been married and it will Jace's first. So we plan on doing the whole thing- March In and all.

Kylie has moved from barely walking to almost mastery in the last three weeks. She even tries to run but is not there yet. She loves music. If anyone starts to sing on the TV, no matter where she is, she goes to listen and "dance", which consists of standing on her tippy toes at this point. And after only having two teeth on the bottom, her first ones are starting to make an appearance. It looks like 4 all at once. Considering this she has not been too cranky.

She's is growing up so fast...

My baby girl turned one on Saturday. Time has flown by.

Kylie had a great time at her birthday- definitely not the shy kid that Jace was. I have always loved ladybugs, so in the back of my mind I had her theme picked out a long time ago. It was great to see friends I had not seen in a while- having two small children does not do wonders for a social life. As one of my guests replied when we asked how it was havign two, "one plus one does not equal two". But of course they are all worth it- just look at that smile!

And as if turning one was not a big enough milestone, today Kylie decided she was going to do the walking thing. She had taken a couple steps here and there, and usually had to be coerced, but today she was just excited to do it, and did it all day long. She still teeters at times, but she is well on her way to being a genuine walker. She is not a baby anymore.

On Friday I took Jace to the circus. I was in the hospital with Kylie last year, so it was my first time. He did really well- probably better than me. I like the animals- especially the elephants, so those parts were great. There were just a lot of clowns... That I was not as excited about. But he loved it, so I am sure we will go again next year. Maybe next year the grandparents can come to town (yeah dad if you are reading this take notes), because I will have to take both kids, and I am not sure if I am that brave!

Happy 4th!

We decided to keep this one low key. Kylie has had a cold for two weeks, and Steve and I got the smaller version last week. Then Jace came home with a fever Wednesday and was not rid of it until Sunday morning. So any hopes we had of doing something special for the holiday were overridden with our desire to all get well. No great loss- it was too hot to do much of anything.

We did take Jace to Toy Story 3. It will be a while till we take him back to a movie. He loved the first two, and while I have to say the 3rd was not quite as good as the first two, if this movie did not keep his attention I am not sure what will. We only had to threaten to leave once, but he was restless the whole movie.

So for the 4th, we blew up the small pool in the backyard, turned on a sprinkler and grilled some burgers. Jace enjoyed eating outside, and asked to do it again today, but it was just too darn hot. Because Jace was feeling better, Steve decided to take him to the Pearland fireworks. Kylie and I stayed home, since it was way past her bedtime. Well between her waking up every 30 minutes from our neighbors illegally setting off fireworks (note the annoyance in my voice), to Kayla frantically pacing, it was not the most relaxing night for me. But it sounded like Jace had fun. Maybe next year we all can go, and we will give Kayla a sedative.

I finally got some pics where you can see Kylie's two little bottom teeth. She drooled a lot today and was chewing on everything so maybe she might get some more before her first birthday, which is only two weeks away. She is also starting to get a hang of the walking thing a little more. She is up to about 10 steps before she crashes. She is not walking for lack of trying- she loves to try. I tried to get it on video, but it was a jinx- maybe next week she will be more consistent.

Making it Quick

Ok the guilt got the better of me so I am making a quick post. I should be in bed because I feel like crud. Our family had been healthy for at least a month, but we all had one ailment or the other this weekend.

A couple weeks ago Steve took Jace to the Texas Speedway on the north side of town and Jace loved it- of course.


Last weekend we took the kids to Sea World. I have to say the trip went better than I expected. It was the first time we all stayed in a hotel room together, which with a white noise machine, and two kids who are heavy sleepers, we did ok. Then I did not know how Sea World would go. In June I was afraid of the crowds and heat, both of which were not ideal, but we had a lot of fun. Jace loved it a lot. Kylie was just along for the ride. Jace rode his first roller coaster (kiddie version) and log ride. I am actually looking forward to taking them back, but it will be cooler and when school is still in session next time.

Today I had to catch some video of Kylie playing with Jace. I found out in her new classroom they call her The Wrestler. She supposedly tackles everyone in sight, no matter what their size. I cannot imagine my sweet girl- hah!

Manic May

Well, the rest of the month disappeared, quickly...

Kylie keeps making leaps and bounds towards being a big girl. She is now drinking from a sippy cup though she loves to play with it too. She did finally get her first tooth. It has been a couple weeks, but there is a ridge of a tooth barely above the surface. If it makes its way out a little more I will try to take pics. She is really getting good and walking behind something and her balance has greatly improved. Today she started in the Toddler 1 class and had some challenges. It is only one nap, not until 11, and first bottle not until 9:30. She made it through that alright, but was exhausted tonight, and ended up with a pretty good bump on her cheek from trying to bend over to get something while standing up. I have signed more incident reports for Kylie bumping/bruising something in the last 6 months than we have for Jace in the last three years!

Jace made it through his first two weeks of swim lessons and graduated from being a guppy and is now a goldfish. The second to the last day the fire alarm went off (false alarm) and I was afraid he would never go back because he hates loud noises, and it was piercing. So now we have moved on to twice a week maintenance, and with the neighborhood pool open we practice on the weekends.

For Memorial weekend the whole family made the trip to Mississippi. Luckily the engine on the plane, combined with good timing, had Kylie asleep for the trip. She was not about to sit on my lap patiently for even five minutes. We had a good and relaxing time. Jace tried out playing the drums (video included below) and loved to play in the water. This was Kylie's first bathing suit experience- and she loves to splash. The kids loved playing with their Meme.

Jace's drumming debut...

And last but not least we got the pictures back from our session in April (you may have noticed a new pic in our blog header). I love our photographer! Getting two little ones to take a good picture is a feat, but getting all of us is a miracle! Just a couple of my favorites...

Rocker chick

So all weekend Kylie has had her tongue stuck out. Not just a little- more like she has been watching too many Kiss videos. Coupled with a little crankiness, and lots of drool, this girl might be actually getting a tooth finally. Jace got his first tooth at 7 month old and Kylie is going on 10 months old and has none. Just one more thing, on a very long list, of the differences between my two children. But we don't have a visual of the tooth yet, so who knows.

Jace is doing world's better at swim lessons this time around. I am not sure if it is because this teacher seems more interested in making sure he feels comfortable (the other was all business), or he just had a better idea of what was going to happen. Whatever it is I am glad he is having fun. He walks through the door by himself, with no prodding- yeah!

Crazy Mommy Weekend

Well this weekend it was Mother's day and my birthday all rolled into one. I had Friday off, but spent most of it working on projects for Jace's room. I sewed some curtains and a bed skirt, and made a cornice. I also put some vinyl stickers up- supposed to be the easiest. Well within 20 minutes they had all peeled off. I used them because when he outgrows construction equipment I just wanted to peel them off with no damage to the wall. Well I ended up using scrapbook adhesive, and so far it is holding. Here is the end result.

There is still more to do, but I have to decide what that is exactly.

Mother's day was pretty low key. I did get to sleep in a little so that was nice. I scrapbooked a lot (I had not done any since January). But looking at all those pics reminded me that I had not taken many lately, so I broke out the camera.

Tomorrow we start swimming lessons again. It is a two week class. We started this once before but Jace missed the second week because he had a bad stomach bug. I am hoping it goes better this time- he was pretty scared. He had started to warm up at the end so I am hoping we pick up there. Tonight we practiced in the tub- I am crossing my fingers.