BITTY DOLL SLINGS

I found something adorable a little while back and couldn't resist ordering a couple of customs for my kids. Doll slings, made by Bitty Bear Baby Boutique! Amanda is a wonderful seamstress and she has some really creative ideas (she also made Cora's water sling and my Mama Clutch). I knew I wanted to get doll slings from her some day, and when she posted ROBOT fabric, I decided to just go ahead and get one for James (my little WALL-E obsessed kiddo). While I was at it, I figured I'd get one for Cora too, so I sent Amanda on the hunt to find some girly owl or bird fabric. And she found both! The cute little slings arrived today, and I had to try them out on the kids right away, of course. Both kids preferred their babies in a back carry. Cora looked like a little mini-me (except I don't walk around in my undies... usually), what with my phone in her hand and my shoes on her feet and a baby attached to her back...

James was very impressed with his robots.

And I was impressed with his multitasking ability. Just like his daddy, he can babywear and cook dinner at the same time. Good man!

If you're interested in slings for your own kiddo (or anything else BBBB has to offer), check out her products and fabrics, and keep an order in mind for November (since Amanda is now on strict bedrest until her baby arrives, which will hopefully not be until October)!

MUAH!

Happy Friday!

PRETTY GIRLY

This dress was a huge hit at daycare today - thanks Gamma!

Cora loves these shoes. She is ecstatic to have herself another pair of shoes to play with. They won't fit long (they were another pair I found tucked away in a drawer, size 6-12 months), but at least they are slim enough for her narrow feet. Oh, and how do you like the giant bow, placed on the "wrong" side of her head to cover her healing head wound? Nice touch, eh? And don't worry, we won't let her wear mini-skirts when she's older. Of course, I could always add a band of fabric to the hem to make it longer and extend it's wear into winter...

POOR CHOICE

This was a very poor choice of outfit for James for daycare on Monday. We thought that since it had been so hot, and he seems to be going through a bit of a growth spurt, we should get as much use out of his "nice" clothes as possible. It was way too much white for him though. Way too tempting, I suppose. He came home dirtier than we've ever seen him. Covered from head-to-toe in dirt. I should have taken an "after" photo, but we didn't think to do it as we were rushing him to the bathtub...

CUTE CHRIS

Christopher is over 2-weeks-old already, which means he's now twice as cute as he was 2 weeks ago. I know, hard to believe, but somehow babies are able to magnify their cuteness by the day. Can you handle it?

JAMES-ISMS

I used to keep a running list of the cute and funny things James has said in the sidebar of the blog. Then the list got so long that I moved it to it's own page. If you haven't noticed the change, the link is there at the top, just under the title. It gets updated pretty regularly, without mention on the main blog page. We are seriously loving this age and stage of his development, and we honestly laugh and smile at the random and adorable things he says all day long, every single day. It's getting to the point that I can hardly keep up with his James-isms, and find myself forgetting to jot them down for the blog. Thank goodness for our archived Facebook statuses! Here are some gems just from the past 24 hours...

Driving home from daycare yesterday, a time of day that lately has the sun at the LEAST perfect angle for our kiddos in the backseat, James started to pitifully yell/whine "My eyes! My eyes!" Honestly, it was Oscar-worthy. We were cracking up (but still managed to hand him his sunglasses and help him get them "On top of the ears. On top of the nose." as he instructed.

Also on the way home from daycare yesterday (after a stop to refuel the Jetta - with an awesome savings of $0.20 off per gallon!), we were trying to teach Cora some of the animal sounds. And James was helping. He took over at one point and was just quickly answering all our questions before Cora even had a chance to think about them (not that she has answered us correctly for any of them yet, but we're working on it). Then, as we paused to come up with the next animal (because we'd already gone through all our usuals), James chimed in with "Mommy, what does the duck say?" That's right, now HE is quizzing US! And when I didn't answer right away (because I was looking at Jay with a shocked smile that he would turn the game around on us), he said "Come on Mommy! What does the duck say?" Ha!

This one he's been doing for a while, but it still makes us smile. More often than not, if James is in another room playing, then he comes back in to where we are at, he will announce himself with "Here comes the James!" All we can do is smile and tell him "Thanks for the warning buddy".

This morning, Jay served each kid half a banana and half a bagel with cream cheese for breakfast (we've started getting them up earlier and feeding them breakfast at home on weekdays, since the daycare "breakfast" seems to have turned into more of a "breakfast snack" lately). Neither wanted the bagel. After James finished his banana, he asked for more, so I gave him half of mine. After he polished that off, he asked Jay for his banana. Jay told him he'd already had an entire banana and that he should eat his bagel. Well, James didn't like that idea, so he told Jay to "Share Daddy! SHARE!" And thus Jay only got to eat half a banana this morning as well.

And this is not necessarily a James-ism/quote, but the boy had us practically rolling on the floor with laughter when we called him for dinner the other night and couldn't find him, and he popped up out of the toy box-turned-shoe storage box in the living room. It started with an innocent "Hi", then became a game of trying to scare us and Sissy once he realized he was so hilarious. I tell ya, this kid is just TOO much sometimes...

WATER BEADS AND KITTY KISSES

This was another idea from the Play At Home Mom site. We started "growing" them last night...

...and woke up to this:

James took a ridiculously short nap today (an hour and 10 minutes). So as not to disturb Cora (have I mentioned they nap on the same schedule finally - thank you K1 class!), we brought him upstairs to hang out with us. We broke out the water beads and played quietly in the sunshine. James' initial reaction was "impressed and excited":

But he quickly became very focused. We encouraged him to explore the texture with his hands and feet (but not to squish them). We talked about the colors ("boo", "puh-ple", and "geen" - or is that teal?...). We counted them (not ALL of them, obviously). We bounced them and spun them in circles in their bowls. We talked about not feeding them to the cats.

Sissy woke up before long and joined us. We kept the paci in her mouth to reduce the number of times we had to say "Cora, no eating the beads"...

They were even fun to roll on the floor...

And just to prove that we still love our cats, and our cats really do love our kids, here are Cora and Jude exchanging kisses after the water beads were put away for the day:

Usually, Jude prefers James (which make sense, since she was a little "mama cat" when he was a newborn, protecting him fiercely from Mouton and alerting us anytime he cried out by circling our feet) and Mouton prefers Cora. Of course, Mouton has less tolerance (and more stubbornness) than Jude. That doesn't stop Cora from chasing him and tackling him for hugs and "head love" and shrieking with joy whenever he walks into a room. She's just as stubborn as he is. And she has a bit of a cat-like personality to boot...

LITTLE FOOT

Cora has little feet, but they're growing. Lengthwise, anyway. They are SO narrow (just like her Mama's). Her size 3 shoes (6-9 months) suddenly have no room left for her toes (even though there's a good half inch of width or more unused, which makes her foot slide around). Luckily, I had two pairs of size 4 shoes stowed away just for this occasion. She tried them on, at the same time (and wouldn't take them off)...Unfortunately, these are the same brand (Smaller, by See Kai Run - our FAVORITE for James) and thus the width problem is only magnified with the larger size. So I'm on the hunt for narrow toddler shoes. Let me know if you have any suggestions!In the meantime, hopefully she can get away with wearing these with socks.Muah!

2ND CHILD + FEARLESS & INDEPENDENT PERSONALITY = OUCH

GOOD MORNING SPLASH

The weather is tolerable today. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say it's NICE. If only the Mississippi summers had more days like this! We took advantage and let the kids enjoy some time at the splash park this morning (while we enjoyed some adult conversation with our buddies). They waited patiently for their friends to arrive before we set them loose.Will Will was the first on the scene.Followed closely by Manu.We were only missing Desi. And David. And Azure. And Coltin. And Gabriel. And Marion and Mason and Grady, but they're too little to splash. LOVE that our kids' group of playmates is growing! So happy that we are able to set up so many play dates for them on the weekends these days! And just can't believe how adorable all these kiddos are!!Perhaps today will be Manu's last day as an only child? Sophie is 40 weeks TODAY, so we're all ready to meet the newest little man on the block! Probably not as ready as she is though. 40-weeks in August can't be easy, though she sure makes it look that way. Sophie, you look as amazing as ever. We're so excited for you and Alex and Manu. Come on out little man!

ROCK ON

PRECIOUS

There is nothing more precious than a sleeping baby...

...well, other than a sleeping baby that is napping on a schedule (hooray for the rigidity of the K1 class). And without a paci, like a big girl (we're super impressed that this transition has gone so well). Oh, and through the night too - we've been hesitant to blog about it, but Cora is FINALLY sleeping through the night again (more nights than not, anyway)! It's been a LONG 8 months without sleep, so we are beyond thankful for this recent change. And it's SO nice having a baby who wakes up happy and rested in the morning. See Sissy? Sleeping is good for you too. Mama and Daddy weren't being selfish all those nights when we begged you to sleep for 8-10 hours straight!

POSSESSION

I forget exactly when it started, since he's been doing it for a while now, but it's become so common lately that I thought it was worthy of recording: James is VERY into labeling things by who they "belong" to these days...

For example, on the way home from daycare, as we turn onto Nailor Road (2 turns from home), he'll say "Almost to James' house". He knows that the Jetta is "Daddy's car" and the Odyssey is "Mama's car". Likewise, he knows that the blue travel mug holds "Daddy's coffee" and the red is "Mama's coffee". And the black iPhone is "Daddy's phone", while the blue one is "Mama's phone". This is very convenient when I've forgotten my coffee in another room or my phone rings out in the kitchen - James is more than happy to go retrieve them for me!

He is very protective of his shoes. Probably because Cora is so obsessed with EVERYONE's shoes. Not just her own. He'll tell her "No Cora. Those James' shoes. Not Cora's shoes."

He labels all his toys: "That's James' airplane.", "MY monkey!", "My build it. Those James' blocks.", etc.

If you ask him to share his food or drink with you, he will refuse, saying "My some. My eat it." or "No JAMES' bite!"

If he sees one of his friends arriving or leaving daycare, he'll point to their parent's car and say "Coltin's car" or "Kade car". He also likes to show me other kids' sippy cups or shoes.

And this morning he didn't want to wake up, so Jay was trying to snuggle him awake. Hugging and tickling and pretending to eat his ears. James turned to him and said "No Daddy. MY ears. No eating the James."

FULL CIRCLE

Cora had her last bottle last night. When we got home from work yesterday and I was repacking daycare bags and sippy cups, I noticed that we had just one bottle liner left. Since we were planning to bottle wean her soon anyway, I figured yesterday was as good a time as any. And I thought it would be fitting to have Jay give her her last bottle at bedtime, just as he was the one to give her her first bottle almost 13 months ago, when she was only 5-weeks-old. Baby Doll sure has grown and changed a lot in the past year, and I could tell it was bittersweet for Jay to feed her last night, especially since he probably only bottle fed her about 10 times throughout the year (because he supported me in my decision to pump less and nurse more this time around, so there have been very few opportunities for him to give a bedtime bottle, and even fewer opportunities where he was alone with her during the day during feeding time).

There is something so sweet about seeing a daddy feed his baby the milk that mama made... I am thankful for these photos, and for the constant support and encouragement that Jay has provided. Last week was World Breastfeeding Week, and I couldn't have been more proud to be celebrating for my 3rd year in a row, something I never could have done without him.

K1 FOR CORA

While James headed to the doctor with Mama this morning, Cora started her first day in the K1 class. Our Baby Doll is a big girl, hanging with the 1-year-olds. So far, she is the only baby that moved up (Bella Kate isn't walking yet and Madison is still taking lots of bottles), so with James, Gabriel, Kade (Bella Kate's big bro - they're Irish Twins), and Zach moving up, there are still a lot of empty seats at the table... (When I sent these photos to Cora's grandmas earlier today, "Gamma" told me that she knew Cora was special, but had no idea she could replace FOUR kids! Ha!)That's Camille, John Thomas, and Will enjoying lunch with Cora. Poor Sissy, EVERYONE has more hair than she does. Even the boys.

We sent Cora with her one bottle today, just to help her adjust. We'll be giving her yogurt with dinner now, since she won't be getting spoon-fed for breakfast at daycare anymore. I hear she ate a great breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and she was finishing her 2nd sippy of coconut milk when I picked her up at 5:00.

Her teacher texted me after lunch to let me know that Cora slept very well during her first 12:00-2:00pm nap on a cot. Hooray for Sissy adjusting so well the first day! Who would have thought? Perhaps the fact that she woke up at 4:30am aided in her naptime compliance though...

HALF A DOZEN

This makes the 6th time James has had croup.

Saturday evening, he seemed a bit off his game (staring into space, not eating as well as usual), but had no signs of sickness. Then he woke up with the tell-tale cough on Sunday morning. And a slight fever. Throughout the day, his cough got worse, his fever spiked 102.5, he didn't want to eat (not even a milkshake!), his eyes were constantly watering, his nose was constantly running, and his throat was swollen (he willingly let us take a look, then started to inform us that it "huht" every time he coughed - poor kid). Yup, it was a doctor visit kinda day today. Luckily, we were in and out within 30 minutes this morning (that's a record, I'm pretty sure!) and sent home with an Rx and a shot in the leg. James was SO good for 3 hours at work with me (he watched WALL-E by request, for the 4th time since Saturday... it's hard to deny a sick kid), then we packed it in to get him home in time for nap. He barely lasted 2 minutes in the car before he was out cold...

"JUMP CORA!"

Remember how I said that Cora is growing by leaps and bounds these days? Well today she surprised us again. This evening, as we were playing after dinner, James started jumping down the hall. And monkey see, monkey do - Cora had to try it too. She's been bouncing in her crib for about 2 months now. Whenever she is ready to get up, she grabs the rail and bounces and whines and screams until we come to her rescue. Seeing her attempt to bounce (I mean, jump) without the crib rail had us cracking up. Her too.

Oh, and don't mind James and his crazy-eyed, dizzy spinning. I didn't even notice it until I uploaded the video tonight. That boy is something else...

MR. GRADY

On Friday we had the pleasure of meeting adorable little Grady and spending some time with his awesome mamas (when we weren't chasing our 2 munchkins around their house... Cora became comfortable over there surprisingly quick, and she was into EVERYTHING)! Even the kiddos thought he was cool:

It's so hard to believe Cora was once that small (Grady was born 2 weeks ago, and had almost the same stats as Cora, weighing in at 6 lbs 3 oz and 18.5 inches). It was so fun to hold such a precious little newborn again. Of course, when it was my turn, all he wanted was his mama (both times)!It's OK buddy, I totally understand. Mamas have the good stuff, after all. Congratulations Lauchlin and Olivia, we are so happy for you both!

FITTING

When I saw these jammies, I knew Cora just HAD to have them:

So fitting, right?

And speaking of fitting, while Cora is likely to fit in her 12-month and 18-month clothes and jammies for a LONG while still, we have had to bump James up to 3T for jammies. He can still easily fit into 2T shorts (or even 24-month, for that matter, since his little booty doesn't hold his bottoms up as well without the cloth diapers!) and 2T shirts (though he can definitely wear some 3T shirts without looking like he's playing dress-up in daddy's clothing, depending on the brand), but jammies must run smaller. ALL brands. That's OK. He wears his jammies out quickly anyway (since we tend to hang out in them all day long on the weekends...)

JUST WHAT WE WERE HOPING FOR

When I was newly pregnant with Cora, finding out we were going to be having 2 babies so close together, the thing that we hoped for the most was that James and his little sibling would become good friends and playmates at an early age. Siblings are wonderful gift. And while there can be jealousy and anger at times, it's really surprising us how quickly our little ones are becoming pals these days.

I actually snapped this photo 1.5 minutes after putting James in time-out for smacking Cora on the head. They had played SO WELL together all day long, but were getting a bit punchy as the dinner hour rolled around. James climbed up into the jumperoo (don't ask me how - he's a little monkey) and Cora thought it was awesome. Of course, as soon as she came over to investigate, he told her "No Sissy! My jump! Go away Cora!", then smacked her on the head. We don't give a 1, 2, 3 warning when hitting is involved. In our house, hitting (or biting, or kicking, or sassy backtalk for that matter) results in immediate time-out. James sat in place on the bottom step for all of 30 seconds before he stuck his head around the corner into the kitchen saying "Be nice to Sissy?", basically asking me if he could get up if he 'promised' to be nice. I told him no, of course. Time-out is time-out. He's 2-years-old, he gets 2 minutes. Cora had other plans though. She doesn't hold a grudge (with James anyway - with us she can stay furious for upwards of 20 minutes if she's so inclined). She walked right over and sat down next to him. So what's a mama to do? I told him to tell her sorry and give her a hug. Then they sat there smiling at each other and being adorable. So I had to grab the camera.