My, How They Grow!

Yes, yes... I know. It has been WAY too long since I posted here.

The problem is that I've been posting on my facebook because it's so much easier to upload photos there.

But, I'll try to be better about posting here more often.

Harper turned one a few weeks ago (although she's still in 3-6 months clothes). I found the most precious tutu and fairy wings online and had the sweet lady do custom colors to match a fabric for me. They turned out beautifully! I made little tutus for all the girls who came to the party (the older girls got "punk" tutus) and we had such a good time. I started out with a theme (a pretty fabric I have), but the theme was quickly dropped and it just sort of became a mish-mash of a lot of different things. I think it was better that way. We had Disney princess balloons, Tinkerbell crowns, tutus, boxes to decorate, a fishing game, a castle pinata and party favors ranging from little finger skateboards and motorcycles to High School Musical pencils and Hannah Montana slap bracelets and, of course, more princess stuff. We got cupcakes from Vanilla's and they were SO good!

In the meantime, Colin has started school. He's doing preschool at First Baptist Junior Academy and we just love it so far! For the first few days, I didn't even have a hard time getting him up and dressed. All I had to do was tell him it was time for school and he was excited to get there. Unfortunately, that quickly passed and now it's a bit harder to get him up in the morning. He asked me the other day, "When will we be done with school?" Sigh... you have a LONG way to go, kid. But, he's doing some extra-curricular activities too. He takes martial arts (Vovinam) on Tuesdays and dance and tumbling on Wednesdays.

I know what you're thinking. Yes, my son is taking dance. Yes, he even has ballet shoes. But he LOVES it! And he has tap shoes too. Can you imagine how excited this kid is going to be next week when he has his first chance to wear his tap shoes on that floor and make noise with his feet?? This is RIGHT up his alley! Plus, I figure if he gets the coordination and balance that comes with dance, it will help him with his true passion: football. But, what he REALLY wants to learn is how to spin on his head. Yep, just like they do in It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown. So, we'll see about that. In the meantime, though, we're staying busy and he's getting plenty of opportunities to use up all that energy he has. They should really bottle "four year old boy energy".

Harper is not walking... yet. She is cruising around with ease and standing and walking with help, but she hasn't taken those first steps on her own. Colin didn't walk until 13 months, so I'm not too worried. She's so little that I think it might just take her a bit longer.

I'll finish today's blog with some pictures of the kids.

























Colin wanted me to take pictures of him pushing Harper's doll pram. I think he just really wanted to be able to push something around the yard really quickly.



He's going to be SUCH a good dad!



Hmmmm.... maybe not.



If he'd just learn to slow down a bit.



Now, I think he's got the hang of it.



Oops.



Oh well.



And, after a long photo shoot, Harper was rewarded with her favorite cookie: a Milano. But, as you can see in the video below, she was too tired to enjoy it!

Baby Animals Everywhere!!

We just got back from Tennessee with my in-laws and it was definitely the summer of the baby animal!

We saw hens and their peeps, horses and foals, deer and fawns, bears and cubs... and lots more animals!

The bear cubs were the cutest. The first time I saw cubs, it was the best scene I've ever witnessed with cubs. The mama bear came out of the woods into a big open field and three bear cubs followed her bouncing all around behind her. They were absolutely adorable. Later during our trip, I saw a mama bear and three cubs with two of them climbing trees. I'm guessing they were the same bears I'd seen before.

We had a wonderful time in Tennessee and really enjoyed ourselves. Colin learned the alphabet (finally!) while we were there. He also learned how to sing Linus and Lucy (aka the Charlie Brown song).

Harper is really growing up. She's almost eleven months!! I can't believe how much she has accomplished. I don't think it will be long before she walks. She has stood by herself and pulled herself up but she doesn't do either of those on a regular basis, so I'm hoping she starts doing them again soon.

Right now, the biggest "sibling battle" is over toys. Colin just loves to play with Harper's toys and Harper loves playing with Colin's toys. It's hard to have them both on the floor playing at the same time. Harper always wants to play with Colin's cars and monster trucks. So, Colin is frequently getting frustrated. He keeps saying, "Just hold her!" The other day, I put her down to play and he immediately got upset with me. I told him that maybe he should sit down on the couch for a while. He didn't like that idea. So, I pointed out that she likes to play too. He quickly responded, "She doesn't play. She just puts things in her mouth!"

It's so true.

Harper's analysis of everything involves placing the object in her mouth. Colin was never that way as a baby, so it doesn't surprise me that he finds this difficult to understand.

So, I suggested that he find a toy for Harper to play with. He said, "Okay". Then, he found a car, walked over to Harper and stuck it in her mouth.

I guess he just skipped a couple of steps.

But I'm definitely having fun as a mom. Life is an adventure!

Here are a few pics from our trip:

Wordless Wednesday

Wait, what? It's not Wednesday anymore? You mean, I missed Wednesday??

See, that's what happens when you have small kids.

Tuesday turns into Wednesday. Wednesday becomes Thursday. Thursday becomes their sixteenth birthday.

Well, that's okay. Who needs "Wordless Wednesday" anyway? It's so hard to post a picture with no words.

But I'll still post the picture!

I call it "Harper's First Pigtails"!!

Harper's Priorities

Harper just said her second "intentional" word. Was it Mama? Of course not. It was Bubba.

I'm the one who feeds her, changes her, holds her, calms her, cuddles her, etc. What does Colin do? He jumps off couches.

I see her priorities.

Maybe if I start jumping off couches, she'll say Mama next.

Who am I kidding?

Her next words will be Tom Cruise.

Gleeful Giggles

My son, the daredevil, is my firstborn.

My mom always told me that the second child is usually the active one. I assured her that I had my second child first and I was certain that my daughter would be the peaceful one.

Not so. Not so.

Harper is anything but mellow.

And she already has a hero... her big brother.

How do you spell that again? Oh yes, T-R-O-U-B-L-E!!


I have tried and tried to make Harper laugh. And there was one occasion where I actually got her to giggle!

But Colin does it with ease. There's just something about him.

So, I got it on camera. He's doing something he's USUALLY not allowed to do (but for the sake of video memories...) and you can see her response. Watch, also, for Colin being a "director". He cracks me up. It's not uncommon for him to say things like, "No, that's blue. Can you say blue? Bluuuuuue."

Here it is in two parts. Enjoy them!

Colin and Harper Part One

Colin and Harper Part Two

Survivor, Anyone?

I admit it.

I. Love. Survivor.

And not just Survivor... several reality shows!

I'm also a faithful follower of The Amazing Race (go Tammy and Victor), American Idol (stupid Allison, why'd ya have to talk back?), Project Runway (new channel, new style?) and So You Think You Can Dance (start already!!).

I've also recently become hooked on the Real Housewives (particularly Orange County and New York).

Colin loves most of these shows as well. He watches The Amazing Race, American Idol, Project Runway, SYTYCD and Survivor with me.

Tonight, we were watching Survivor. They were doing an auction and one of the "contestants" won a video message from her family (my FAVORITE survivor contestant). She was watching the video and Colin got so excited and said, "It's her family! It's a message from her family!!!" I smiled, thinking how sweet it was that he cared so much.

That's when he started crying.

He looked at me and said, "I miss my daddy."

Wow.

I'm strong pretty much all the time lately. But when I see HIM cry, it almost always puts tears in my eyes as well.

But he's such a strong and brave kid. He's been SO helpful around the house.

We just sat on the couch for a few minutes hugging each other.

And then we got back to life.

Our life.

The Army life.

He Called!!

I got to hear from Jamey last night. It was 2:45am his time. He had to wait in line for the phone even at that hour and there were people waiting when he was done!

It was so nice to hear his voice.

He's doing well. He said they're not doing much and it's pretty boring.

They had a brief stop in Amsterdam and were under armed guard. He did mention how nice it was to see green for a few moments. He's heading from tan to tan. We both miss the green of home!

They'll be heading from Kuwait to Iraq in several days and then, I imagine, things will get a bit more busy.

He's having trouble adjusting to the new time zone. But, he said they're getting fed well, so that's good. They're offered four hot meals a day and he said he's been getting about two of them for the most part. One is before bed and he said that with the time difference, that one is his favorite.

Anyway, I thought you'd be interested in the update.