"GOODNIGHT GOON"

For the past week and a half, "Goodnight Goon" has been James' book of choice for bedtime. We noticed by the end of last week that he was getting to the punchline before us, so we had him "read" the book to his Grambot over Skype on Sunday. Then we figured it would be fun to video him and Cora reading it with daddy last night. They got a little more rambunctious than usual (normally he does pages by himself and doesn't need quite so much coaxing to chill out - the camera was distracting him)...

He's honestly memorizing books with alarming speed lately. He found a bunny book ("A Home For Bunny", from Easter) in the bookshelf a few days ago, and by the third night, we caught him sitting on the floor and reading it to Cora before bedtime, without any assistance from us. And he remembered a LOT of the words for each and every page. We most definitely have a "pre-reader" in the house!

(In related news, he finally counts from 1-10 without skipping 5, and can count objects correctly - rather than just naming the sequence of numbers. How fun is that? Next up: identifying letters better outside of the alphabet song!)

WEIRDOS

Driving his horse down the hallway. In his undies. Which are on backwards. While using his fishing pole like a horse crop to motivate his little sister to keep pushing. Should we be concerned about this?...

SILOUETTE SHIRTS

While Jay was out of town at that conference, I finally forced myself to clean my desk (it had been a few months...) and discovered shirts I had purchased for a Silouette project. So I scanned my Designs Wishlist during naptime today and purchased 3 that I thought the kids would enjoy. When Cora woke up from nap and I showed her the birds and owl, she wanted to wear them immediately. At the same time. James was less excited. But then, he's a boy. And it's clothes. And he tends not to wake from naps as happy and perky as Cora does. Hopefully he'll like his "Chugga chugga choo-choo, whistle blowing WOO-WOO!" when he wears it next weekend (new clothes never go to daycare, because daycare ruins clothes - 'nuf said).

BBQ PLAYDATE

We invited Michelle and Lucas and their boys over for a BBQ this afternoon. Of course, you can't have a BBQ without a kiddie pool appetizer...

(These three are quite wild together. By the end of the night they were chasing each other in circles in a hug-o-war and fit of giggles!)

...and popsicles!

(They all wanted blue! Thanks for the giant box of pops Aunt Sandy, the kids were in heaven!)

Baby brother Isaac is 5-weeks-old and still full of newborn squishiness! I had ample opportunity to hug and squeeze him, try to convince him to take a paci, and remind myself why being past the infant stage is actually not so bad! Just kidding, he's a sweet little guy, and a good sleeper. Jay snuck in some cuddles too.

RAINY DAY ADVENTURE

Thunderstorms spoiled our pool plans yesterday afternoon, so Sophie and I took the kids on a military park adventure instead. First goal was to wait-out the downpour in our cars. Second goal was to stash some water bottles for our long run this morning.

Post-storm, the Illinois Memorial was looking particularly regal. Especially now that they've cleared the forest here (reverting to how the area looked during the war). As I parked on the bridge to take this picture, James yelled "Hey! I see a mama deer! It's running away from us!" Of course, it took me forever to find it and at first I didn't believe him. Silly mommy, rear-facing kids see things out the BACK window...

On the way into the park, James had said something that impressed me (the kid really has an amazing memory) and I praised him, saying "James, you are SO funny and smart!" And he told me "No I'm not, I'm cute!" Glad he has his priorities straight... Anyway, once we pulled up to the memorial and parked (so the kids could play on the stairs and practice their echos), James told me "I'm not cute anymore. I'm a superhero." When I asked him which superhero he was, he told me "I'm Batman and you're Robin." (I'm ALWAYS Robin, and I'm not sure he knows the names of any other superheros.) Cool. So I asked him what superhero Robin gets to do (you know, since he doesn't have a sweet BatMobile and his costume leaves something to be desired), and he said "Robin gets to stash the water bottles!" Awesome.

Sophie and her handsome little guys

Yup, once again the boys went to school in coordinating shirts

Manu and Cora posing with the last of the storm clouds in the background

Adventures require hikes. Or at least "hikes". There's a semi-circle of steps around the memorial, so at James' request we went around. As soon as we climbed up to the start of the semi-circle, he told me "We're gonna see the bat houses." I had no idea what he was talking about, but sure enough, around the corner there they were. He was last there over 1.5-months-ago (during Cora's 2-year photo shoot), but he remembered seeing those houses when he "hiked" around with his daddy. Pretty sure his memory is better than mine at this point...

And honestly, what better way to end a rainy day adventure than with a treat? Vicksburg is now the proud host of an OrangeLeaf frozen yogurt bar. Betcha we visit there often. The kids were dang happy with their personalized 3-flavor cups and M&Ms and Sour Patch Kids and strawberries. Personally though, I thought my "cake cup" (Red Velvet cake, cheesecake, and wedding cake) topped with Reese's and Ande's was WAY better!

A SHOWER FOR SEAMUS

There were some awesome planned games...

(I only knew THREE of the 12 Superheroes listed here. How many can you guess correctly? I did much better with the critters, but I didn't win.)

(Likewise, my airplane flew a curveball and my car was beaten by the horse-drawn carriage.)

...and a couple funny not-so-planned games (not by the hostess, anyway!)

The mama-to-be was so happy and gorgeous and vibrant, and everyone had a great time celebrating and eating and talking about babies!

Congratulations again Amy - we can't meet to wait your little guy in about a month!

"I'M DRIVING A MOTORCYCLE!"

POST-PEBBLES-STYLE PONYTAIL

Kinda reminds me of James, 2 years ago - one of my favorite photos of him as a toddler.

THIS GIRL...

She did this to herself (getting undressed for a shower), and she KNOWS she's hilarious!

SPLASH PARTIES IN THE RAIN

The kiddos had another double birthday party weekend! And being summer still, both parties were again splash parties, so the kids were especially happy to be outdoors all day. And eating cake. James ate FOUR pieces (and quite a few bites of mine...) and was pretty proud of himself. No wonder he got more mosquito bites than anyone else - his blood must have been half sugar by the end of the day!

It rained through part of Azure's 3rd birthday party this morning, but the carport served as a great cover. Not that the kids minded the rain.  They drove Azure's pink car, fished with nets in the pool, ran in and out of her homemade play house (SO COOL Amy and Jason - great job!), and played on her swing set. They avoided the sprinklers at all cost though. If we'd have let them skip naptime, they would have gladly stayed to play until Amy and Jason kicked them out, they had such a good time!

Carport swimming

Fishing with the birthday girl!

He was pretty brave climbing up there. He did it a few times (but only after he saw another kid do it safely first!)

LOVE that little smirk of his...

Cutest birthday cupcakes ever! Swimming pools with a Teddy Graham bear in a Sour Peaches life saver!

 Grady's 1st birthday party this afternoon was rain-free and power-free (silly Entergy and their bad timing). Nobody minded though, since the kids obviously wanted to be outside splashing and swinging and playing with Grady's little house and water table. Us adults enjoyed some yummy treats, including homebrew provided by Sandy. We tend to offer bottled beer as a beverage option at all parties we throw (including our kids' birthdays), but this was my first children's party with a keg in the shed. AWESOME. It was a watermelon flavored brew, and we highly approved! Again, the kids would have happily stayed all night if their parents weren't anxious to get them home for dinner and bedtime. When we were getting ready to leave, our cue being the start of rain that drove everyone inside, Jay and James were nowhere to be seen. I assumed they were upstairs. After 10 minutes or so, I started to wonder when they'd coming back down so we could go. Outside it was only raining harder - obviously nobody was out there. Just as I decided to head upstairs with Cora to collect my boys myself, Jay came walking in from outside. Naturally, I panicked and asked him where James was. He thought he'd been with me... We checked the basement, peeked outside again, then Jay ran upstairs, calling on his way up "James, where are you?" James replied happily with "Up in here!" with his arms appropriately pumping the ceiling. Needless to say, we sang random rap lyrics to him throughout the rest of the weekend...

The birthday boy getting ready for his crab cake...

...DEMOLISHED! Gotta hand it to a Baby Led Solids kid ;-)

Enjoying their own slices of cake (James ate THREE pieces at Grady's party...)

Little Leo - handsome as ever

They party horns would have worked better if she'd have quit sticking them in the water...

Trying deperately to keep her hair out of her eyes

Sliding into the "swamp" (the kids DESTROYED the kiddie pools with their muddy feet)

Blowing "horny's" with Sophie

BREAKING 5

Our long run Saturdays have been set around the 4-5 mile mark for a while now (since May, when I started doing regular Saturday morning runs), but today we pushed a little further. Thunder and lightening to the north threatened to cancel our run, but by 6am we were in the clear. I had some time to warm up while I waited on Sophie (Mr. Leo demanded a last minute nursing session as she was trying to head out the door), so I did a little 0.6 mile loop to loosen up. Then we headed out for our planned 5 mile out-and-back route at the flats (not flat by any means, but the hills are smaller there than they are in the loops from the front gate). I felt good for the first half and we were really excited when we reached the Fort Hill overlook of the Yazoo and Mississippi Rivers (see the dark storm clouds in the background?), but I definitely struggled on the way back and had to walk a short stretch. I'd taken the whole week off running in the hopes that my shin splints would heal, so I'm guessing I was a little out of practice (even though I did cross-training this week in place of the running). It didn't work. My shins still hurt. I had borrowed Jay's Garmin for the morning, so I knew my mileage came in at 5.9, which made me really happy (I hadn't run over 5 miles since the Run Through History back in March)! Sophie confirmed when she got home and mapped our route at 5.3 - go mamas go!

P.S. Don't mind my extreme sweat. Even though it was a "cool" morning with a nice breeze, it was still warm and super humid (re: nearby thunderstorms). I was twice that sweaty by the end of the run. Seriously. I even sweat from my knees. I like to imagine my sweat as calories dripping off my body... 15 pounds down! Almost halfway to my first weight loss goal!

DADDY'S WEEK IN PHOTOS

The kids were super excited whenever Daddy would send us a picture. I was often jealous. Don't worry, he only rubbed it in a little...

Conference banquet dinner

Banquet entertainment - that's Paul of Peter, Paul, and Mary. Jay said the whole room broke into song for Puff the Magic Dragon - Best. Conference. Ever.

Paul signed the back of Jay's conference name tag, for the kiddos!

The view from his hotel room

Along his running route

Coastal views you don't get here in Mississippi

Precipice Trail at Acadia National Park

Climbing up the precipice... good thing he has had Half Dome training!

The view from the top

And the view from our end. We Skyped most nights that he was away (this night he was entertaining the kids while I made dinner - and yes, they're eating their desert first - they earned cupcakes for good behavior). But that didn't stop the kids from asking me constantly (multiple times EACH day) "Where's daddy? Where's daddy go?" and upon being reminded that he was out of town for work and would be home in a few days, "Ohhhhh, but I love daddy and I want to snuggle him! I want daddy!" Yup, he was greatly missed by all of us!

 Safe travels this morning sweetie, we can't wait to snuggle you!
(He was suppose to be home last night, but missing planes and delayed flights stranded him in Detroit after a missed connection. He had rough travel going AND coming on this trip - boo!)

THE PICTURE OF HEALTH (AND NOT)

Cora finally went in for her 2-year wellness check yesterday afternoon (at 25-months-old). According to Dr. Smith, she is "the picture of health". Always good news (and something we rarely hear, even for wellness visits). In fact, the good doc surprisingly exclaimed that Cora hadn't been in to see her since January (SIX WHOLE MONTHS of a well Cora!) - woo hoo! Of course, we'd been in plenty with James...

There were very few "milestone" questions (far less than we were asked at James' 2-year visit), which makes me wonder if for second children, doctors just assume you would voice concerns and thus don't worry about nit-picky questions? She asked whether Cora uses 2 and 3 word sentences. I told her that Cora ONLY speaks in sentences these days, often 5-7 words, and that she knows the words to a few songs and is memorizing her favorite books. She seemed impressed by that. She asked about milk. When I responded that Cora only drinks 2-2.5 cups per day, the rest of the day water (and sometimes a cup of juice), she said fine. OK, good. Then came Dr. Smith's favorite question: Is she sleeping through the night? Boy, it sure felt good to finally answer that one in the affirmative! She also said "I see she's wearing big girl undies? Are you potty training?" and when I told her that we potty trained her about a month and a half ago, that she rarely has accidents these days, and is dry overnight most nights of the week, she smiled. Always nice when doctors are pleased with your kids. And other than checking her over from head-to-toe, that was the extent of the visit.

I printed a few pages from the Play at Home Mom Circle Sheets before the appointment so that the kids would have something new to do in the waiting room, and hopefully do less running around, but unlike usual, we were only there 5 minutes before getting called back to the exam room. The sheets and stickers were a hit though. James did 3 pages (using 4 sheets of stickers) before getting bored of it, and Cora played sporadically with the pages in the book I made her, then had a blast licking the stickers and putting them on her belly and legs...

2-Year Stats:

Weight 26.2 lbs (though our home scale shows 25.0 when she's naked, so we're going with that as her official weight for the chart, since all her other weights on the chart are nudie-booty weights), up from 19.5 lbs at her 1-year wellness check (a gain of 5.5 lbs this year - for comparison, James gained 8 lbs in his 2nd year)

Height 36" (though I doubt the nurse got an accurate read, since Cora was less than cooperative - we'd recently measured her at only 33" at home, so I'll double check it tonight - maybe she's had a growth spurt? UPDATE: She measured 34.5" against her growth chart, so we're going with that as her official height), up from 29.25" at 1-year (a gain of 5.25" this year, whereas James gained 6" in his 2nd year)

Head Circumference 46.5 cm (a gain of 2.5 cm this year - the same as James gained in his 2nd year)

That puts her into the 50th (following her growth curve), 75th (a jump from the 50th where she was at 15-months), and 25th (same as always) percentiles, respectively, on the growth charts:

 In other news, James was feeling just fine yesterday...

...but had a rough night (thunderstorm, plus he felt a bit feverish, and Cora woke him up once when she cried out about a loud crash the cats made), and woke up with a 100.5 fever and complaining that his ears hurt. So, of course, as soon as the pediatrician's office opened, I called to ask if we could come right back in (long time no see?...) They got us a 9:45am appt. In the meantime, we dropped Cora at school, and James enjoyed a free donut from a coworker (I let him have it, since he'd refused breakfast AND juice, and had barely eaten anything for dinner last night):

Turns out his left ear is "almost" infected again. It's thick with fluid. And his sinuses are blocked. He's getting a round of antibiotics (of course), and is currently hanging out in my office again, watching Toy Story 3 (Dr. Smith said he couldn't go to school since he'd had fever this morning). He refused to eat lunch, but has at least had some milk and juice. I'm ready to go grab Cora and head home. After I dose him again with ibuprofen. Poor buddy.

PUDDLE JUMPERS

They came in the mail yesterday and the kids put them on immediately. When I told them I'd take them to the "big, far away pool" so they could test them out, they literally jumped up and down they were so excited. Luckily, the Puddle Jumpers didn't disappoint. The kids were able to move freely and they both stayed afloat the entire afternoon. Though Cora learned quickly that if she jumped up and threw herself down into the water, she could still make herself go under. She loves to dunk her head. And float on her back with her eyes closed. And jump off the edge even if Mama's not quite ready yet... The Puddle Jumper made James brave enough to "jump" off the side of the pool too (sitting down), a first for him since his swim lessons back in April. And he was completely comfortable just floating around in the big pool, kicking every now and then to keep himself near me while I continually chased Cora around (for a child who doesn't understand how to kick her legs and paddle her arms, she sure moves fast somehow). He didn't want me to hang onto him though - he's too big for that now that he has floaties, apparently. Anyway, it was a good energy-burning 2 hours at the Y this afternoon. Lots of fun for them and me. Lots of snuggles (James tackled me twice saying "I just wanna love on you!" How can I resist THAT?!), piggy-back rides, and pretending to be alligators and sharks. These two sure have been awesome for me so far this week (3 days down, 2 to go - we miss you Daddy!) and I REALLY appreciate it. It sure feels good to go to sleep tonight after the constant reminders they've given me this week of how very blessed I am to be their mama.

(So Gramma can see that her bubble swimsuit fits - isn't it cute?!)