March 2012, Is it Spring yet?

Even though it's mid march we continue to wake up to traces of snow on the ground.  I like snow and all, but it's getting old, especially when it's just enough to make it sloppy outside, not really even any good for playing in.   I know all our midwest relatives will scoff at us for this, but I've had it with the snow.  With a energetic 3 year old in the house, Jamie and I are both hopefully we'll be hitting prime "playing outside" weather any day now.

A few weeks go we managed to round up the crew and get to the Bellevue aquatic center for a little pool time.  Matt's getting much more comfortable in the water (note the lack of water wings), and Lily had a good first pool session.

 So tall he can stand on the bottom.

In the bee suit, loving the water!

After a quick dunk.

Matt asked to do bubble bath one night, and after looking at the rather anemic performance of the "all Natural" bubble bath I broke out the electric drill and a paint mixer.   THAT is the way to make a bubble bath.

Bubble boy.

Matt has been making good use of his light table and doing lots of crafts with Mommy.

Not sure what that is, but good job buddy!

Lily, working on Tummy Time

We managed to get to the cabin for a last weekend before the snow melts.  Matt had a great time playing with his truck in the snow, a little sledding and some snowmobile riding.

Construction in the snow.

Getting ready for a ride.

 Lily is finally really big enough for sitting in high chairs, and jumpers. She also doesn't scream quite as much when we put her in the car.

Jumper time!

The Wednesday after we got back from the cabin poor Matt got a flu bug.  We hung out most of night watching some Bob the Builder until he passed out on the couch at about 7:00am.  Poor kid. Luckily everybody else escaped with more cold like symptoms.

Sick Monkey.

Didn't take too long for him to be feeling better though.

GranDan, Uncle Ryan and I took Matt with us down to Grapeview to check out the condition of the property since we hadn't been there since 4th of July last year.  The blackberries were taller, and some more weeds had grown, but not much else had changed.  Matt had a good time playing on the beach for a while before it started to hail on us.

Digging square holes with Uncle

He did pretty well considering we trapped a 3 year old in the car for 4 hours.

Jamie gt the kids each a bag for going overnights.  Lily fits all the way in hers.

Hey, don't leave me in here!

Matt still thinks it's fun, Lily, not so much....

Matt now says Grace every night before dinner.  Sometimes serious, sometimes not so much.  Finally caught one on video though.

Lily's getting much better at holding herself up.  Note the knee tucked in.  Crawling's not far away....

Getting more interested in toys.

We have discovered that a second child adds a level of chaos that was unimaginable when we had only 1.  To combat the forces of baby chaos, Jamie has turned to her favorite weapon, organization.

Yes, there are labels on all those little bins. 

 

Even the towels get bins. (and labels)

She even had me build a new cabinet to store kid stuff in an organized way.  

Note the dual layers.  I'm actually quite proud of that one.

 

She's even got Matt helping to cleanup!

 Lily is getting old enough to be fun for older brother.  He brings her toys, gives her hugs, and then, they wrestle.

Lily's not so sure about this move.

Watch out Matt!  She's a biter!

 

Who needs baby bottles?

Cheese sandwich 3 year old style.  Two slices of cheese with crackers in the middle.  Delicious!

 

Currently my favorite picture of Lily.  This one just sums up her personality so well.

At night after Matt the Motor Mouth has gone to bed Lily has Mommy and Daddy all to herself, and she usually takes full advantage.  Since Lily was a few hours old, I've been working on her routinely to say "dada" as her first word.  I think it paid off.  The video is a little dark, but the audio is the important thing.



Lily is almost 6 months old now, so it's time to start solid foods.  We've promised Matt that he can help feed her, so we should have some good pictures from that coming soon....

Jake