Oh BOY!

We've definitely entered a new stage... I wouldn't say it's "terrible two's" (which our pediatrician says can start as early as 15 months), but more the "trying two's". It's more that we need energy boosters to keep up with him! Most of the time, Brian and I can walk into a room or yard or wherever and can quickly scan and see where the potential danger or problem lies and remove it.

Well, I hadn't thought of taking the kitchen table and chairs out of the house! Yep, that's right... Naylor, Lalon and I were in the kitchen the other day, I literally turn to the cabinet to get a diaper for Lalon, turn back to grab her and low and behold, there's Naylor just kickin' it on top of the table. I'm not as impressed that he climbed up on the chair and then table, but how QUICKLY he did it! Climbing is his new favorite as well as walking down the stairs like a big boy (he only does this when holding my hand, for now at least).

He's something else and a lot of fun; I see a lot more situations like this in our near future!

Back tracking... dr visit

Naylor and Lalon had their 18 and 5 month checks about two weeks ago and both kids got a clean bill of health. Then, just three days later Naylor got an ear infection - Dr Artman was stumped how it could have gotten so bad in just those few days. A quick trip to Target pharmacy for some meds and by the next morning he was feeling much better!

Naylor's stats @ 18 months:

• 23 lbs, 12 oz - 25th percentile
• 32" - 50th percentile
• head circ. 48.5 cm - 75th percentile

Lalon's stats @ 5 months:

• 13 lbs, 5.5 oz - 25th percentile
• 23.75" - 10th percentile
• head circ. 41 cm - 25th percentile

Roly Poly Lalon

It's official, Lalon can now roll both ways! She rolled from her back to belly on Friday for the very first time and when I came around the corner was holding her head up high. She had started trying Thursday during her nap and was getting SO frustrated because her arm kept getting stuck underneath her... needless to say our nap was missing a key element - sleep! :)

She's continued to do it ever since and each night when I lay her down, she pretty quickly will roll to her side and start sucking her thumb. She continues to be my little sweet girl and is just full of smiles.

Egg Hunt!

Meghan and Hayden; Rikki and Noah; me, Lalon and Naylor; Stacy and Luke

Naylor, Hayden, Noah and Luke

Lalon joined in on the fun too!

So the play group moms and I thought it would be fun to do a mini egg hunt for just our little guys... needless to say, I think the egg hunt I imagined in my head was more ideal than what happened! I had envisioned sweet boys running and giggling as they hunted for eggs when the reality was more like hot kids running into the neighbors' yards completely passing the eggs as they go. By the end, they were starting to get the hang of it though and we all did have fun. The boys LOVED eating the fresh fruit - you'd think they hadn't been eating the way they wolfed it down. After the egg hunt, we headed up the street for a cookout and so we had the boys contained in the play gate while we hung out.

It was a fun day and while it wasn't what I had dreamed up in my head, it was lots of fun and just perfect; what a beautiful day to play outside too! And, a real treat for the moms and the boys was that all the dads were able to take off of work early to join in on the fun.

Happy Easter!

Sweet Lalon

It seems each day Lalon is doing new things and so quickly growing up and not my tiny baby anymore. I didn't quite realize how quickly it was going until last week we met some neighbors - one with a 2 month and the other with a 3 month - and then our Lalon who is now 5 months. It made me see how much she's doing already!

Her new tricks now include:

• holding her bottle if she's in a reclined position
• now trying to roll back to front (if she could just kick that leg over, she'd have it)
• blowing raspberries
• laughing
• smiling non-stop!
• holding on to her toys / rattles
• She's a thumb-sucker - will soothe herself back to sleep most of the time doing this
• sitting up with assistance / support
• hanging out in the exersaucer

We've tried rice cereal about two weeks ago, but she wasn't in love with it... I guess it's time to give it another try.

She's so much fun and LOVES to watch her big brother - Naylor actually gets more smiles out of her than anyone and generally a laugh.

Easter Pictures

The proofs are up and will be online for about a week - they turned out great, as usual. Michelle is awesome at capturing little ones at just the right moment!

www.MichelleStudios.com

password is robin (case sensitive)

Catching up...

Got his hair cut yesterday and something about this face here reminds me of

Robert Ashley at this same age.

This is just funny... a death grip in the right hand and shoveling it in with the left!

He was having a GREAT time - look at that face!

This water part at Marbles is his favorite
(next to the trains and the window that overlooks the street; he stood there for 20 minutes).

Aunt Joyce gave him this captain shirt for Christmas, so we played dress up this week.

We had the hat from a shower present and he looked pretty cute!

Naylor hanging out with his Pa!

Naylor with Blaine and Carson... I'm not sure what he's thinking, but I see TROUBLE on his face!

Lalon's baptism day.

Sweet Lalon after her baptism - she looks like a doll!

So the past couple of weeks have been happily busy and I'm going to try to re-cap everything... I don't promise that any of this will be in order!

Sweet Lalon was baptized at Hopewell UMC on February 28th by Rev Jim Bailey and it was a beautiful service. She did so great and seemed to really be paying attention to what Jim was saying. Things for Naylor were just a bit more challenging as he was interested in exploring everything! Luckily Uncle Robert was to the rescue and scooped him up and took him to the side room where they were able to watch, but not be disruptive. We had a nice lunch afterwards and all in all, it was a great weekend.

We've had lots of fun play dates with our street buddies with "field trips" to McDonald's (they do these mornings of music events), story time at the Holly Springs library, Marbles Kid's Museum and taking turns at each other's houses. THANKFULLY (!!!) the weather had been getting nice (it's rained today) and we were able to get the boys out to run and play hard a couple of days. I think that was the best medicine for everyone.

This past weekend, we were back in Clinton for a baby shower for my cousin Meredith (Lincoln is due March 25 / 26th-ish) and that was fun to see all the family. LOTS of new babies around these days with 2 on the way (Lincoln and my cousin Janet is expecting a little girl this summer). Last year alone we had 4 additions to the family: Ava James, Reece and Reagan (twin girls born just a day before Ava James) and Lalon.

Lalon is really coming along and rolling over front to back and almost rolling back to front, she just needs to kick it over. She loves to smile and is talking up a storm; she may even actually talk before Naylor! She's at the age where we could start some rice cereal, but I'm holding off... it means my baby is growing up and I'm not quite ready for that! We go to the doctor in a week and a half and I know Dr Artman will want us to start, so updates to come from there.

We're having lots of fun and really looking forward to more warm weather for more playing outside.