Our Mini-Vacation...Part I

Last week we took a mini-vacation to the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati, the Fort Wayne Zoo, and Fisherman's Cove. We had a great 4 days.  On Saturday we drove to Cincinnati to the aquarium.  We all really enjoyed it.  In the underwater tunnels Scott and I just pretended we were on a dive vacation!  Alli even enjoyed all of the activity and as you can see by the time we left, she was pooped!

We left Cincinnati and drove straight to North Webster.  The kids did GREAT  in the car!  We made the entire 4 hour drive with only one stop for dinner.  Alli was exhausted so she slept most of the way, and Ethan was entertained by his DVD player.  We bought the DVD player last year and I have to say, it was woth every penny!  It is wonderful for keeping Ethan happy in the car.  As you can see, he also insists on holding all of his books, trains, juice cup, cookie, etc at once in the car.  And yes, he held all of that for the entire 4 hours!  And yes, he did frequently drop things and insist I pick them up!

While in Webster we went out on the boat and Ethan took his first dip in the lake.  Scott put on a lift jacket and float cushion and jumped in first....  Once in the water, Ethan was not too thrilled with the experience. He loves the pool, but likes to be able to touch bottom. Hopefully in a year or two he will enjoy the lake a little more.

The experience did not traumatize him...once was out of the lake he was very happy to watch Daddy and Aunt Kristy in the water!

Baby Faces

Alli was helping me today in the kitchen when I decided to start snapping away.  She proved to be quite the expressive model!

Scott will probably say this is a preview of what we have to come with raising a girl!

Big Boy Bed...Not Big Enough!

Ever since he was about six months old, Ethan has been a good sleeper. (Before 6 months is a different story!) He is a good napper and a good night sleeper. Back in January when we were getting ready for Allison we bought Ethan a big boy bed. Over the next several months he thought it was great to play on, but wanted absolutely NOTHING to do with sleeping in it. We tried everything we could think of...books about big boy beds, bribery, tough love and many other things. Everytime we tried to put him in it he would scream bloody murder and he got to the point when we would get him ready for bed he would point to his crib and say, "Night night! Night night! Night night!" until he was sure that is were we were going to put him. So, finally in June we decided to resort to drastic measures. I took Ethan out for a couple of hours and Scott disassembled the crib and put it in our shed. We told him he could take a few of his toys to bed with him and the first time we put him in his big boy bed he still cried for 15-20 minutes and the second time for just a few minutes. After that, he decided that getting to take stuff to bed with him is pretty great and his number of bedtime must-haves continues to grow (despite our best efforts to minimize it). He is now up to two pillows, two blankets, two stuffed animals, more trains and cars than will fit in his Elmo basket (the Elmo basket is how we carry all of the trains and cars to bed), and about 4 books. Needless to say, some nights he will stay up until 10 or 11 o'clock playing in his bed and every now and then we will hear him playing in the middle of the night. But how can you blame him when he doesn't hardly have enough room to sleep?!?

This is what I found when I went to get him up this morning. He wasn't happy that mom was starting the day by snapping pictures!

Five Months Old!

Wow! It seems like I just did a 4 month post. (Maybe because I was late getting it done?) Allison turned 5 months old on Sunday. We commerated the occasion with an ear infection and her first antibiotic. The one bright spot is that when I took her to the doctor on Friday we got to find out how much she weighs...13lbs 2oz. Believe it or not, Ethan was 14lbs 4oz at 5 months! That is difficult to comprehend since he was (and still is) such a little guy. We made a second trip to the doctor and got a stronger antibiotic on Tuesday since the first didn't seem to be doing its job, hopefully this one will take care of things.


Alli has yet to roll from back to stomach, but she has been rolling stomach to back for quite some time. She is also really trying to sit up. She can almost pull herself into a sitting position when she is lying on an incline...she just can't balance there for long! When she is on her back she pushes with her feet and can scoot herself across the floor. She has gotten mad several times when she has scooted out from under her activity mat. She LOVES to watch big brother play so I am sure it won't be long until she is chasing after him!

More Fun in the Sun

So, of course, Ethan loves loves LOVES the pool! (And what kid wouldn't?) He had a weird, shy day our first weekend at the Cove, but he was over it by the 4th. He went swimming everyday and it was like pulling teeth to get him out of the water. He is VERY lucky to have wonderful grandparents who have a wonderful pool! (Not to mention the lake, playground within walking distance, basketball court, ducks and fish to feed, etc.) Definetly a little kids dream come true.

Allison also had her first swim over July 4th weekend. She liked the pool, which didn't surprise me. She loves to splash in the bath. Besides, it is hard not to like the pool when you look so adorable in your swimsuit and hat!

Last week when we were at the mall I let Ethan throw a penny in the fountain for the first time. He was very excited about it. A few days later we stopped at the mall again to quickly run into one store and as soon as we were in the parking lot he looked at me and said, "I need to throw penny!"

Fun in the Sun...Part I

Instead of continuing to procrastinate blogging until I have time to post everything we have been doing lately I decided its probably better if I do this a little at a time...or else it would never get done and you would be sitting on pins and needles just waiting to hear what is going on in our lives! (Because we know that is what you do, sit around a wait to read more about us. HA!)

As we always do, we spent the July 4th weekend at the lake. It was the first time we crammed all 6 adults and 3 children into Chuck and Peg's house and we all came out alive! The sleeping arrangements were a bit tricky but overall it went very well and I think everyone had a great time. The biggest problem Scott and I had was getting Ethan to stay asleep the first night. Ever since he moved into his big boy bed he gets to take a few toys to bed with him. Right now he is into anything with wheels...but most especially Thomas the Train. After we put him to bed he typically stays up for an hour (sometimes longer!) playing by himself in his bed. Well, the first night at the lake he woke up at 2:30am and started playing! (The whole party of 4 was sleeping in one room.) He continued to play with is trains and cars for 2.5 hours!!! He wasn't loud about it and (thankfully) it didn't wake Alli up, but Scott and I could hear him. Talking to him only made it worse. When I tried to tell him to close his eyes and go to sleep he said, "I found car! I found car!" I guess sometimes even the littlest of us wake up and have trouble going back to sleep!

Here's more of our fun filled weekend....

At the park....

Loving on Josh

Brothers have to compare everything don't they? This time it was the foot size of Josh and Alli!

Ethan loves the slides!

Cheese!

4 Months (and 12 days) Old

So, I started writing this post two weeks ago. My how time flies! Obviously, I don't get around to blogging as often as everyone would like, but it is probably because I have my hands full these days!

Allison is more than 4 months old! It is amazing how quickly they grow up. It is hard to believe how much she has grown and changed in such a short period of time. I think Scott and I have a better appreciation for every baby stage this time around than we did with Ethan. When you are exhausted from not sleeping it seems like it will be FOREVER until they sleep through the night, however when you look back on it it seems like a pretty short period of time. Despite how much I could not wait to sleep (and anyone who really knows me can tell you, I LOVE my sleep) I appreciated the little, cuddly baby stage much more this time around.

Alli is growing by leaps and bounds these days. She very alert and loves to watch everyone, especially big brother. She can roll from her belly to back an we expect her to roll back to belly any day now. She loves to hold and bat at toys and thankfully, sleeps through the night most nights! (As I said, I LOVE my sleep!) She also talks, giggles, and smiles a lot! We had her 4 month appointment today and she weighed in at 12lbs 4 oz and is 23 inches long. That puts her in the 10-25th percentile for both weight an height.

I have posted a bunch of pictures from May and June under the photos link. This is my favorite picture from the last month....

Did you know?

Did you know Honey Nut Cheerios come with a whole grain guarantee? Allison seemed particularly interested in that fact....I think she was drooling over the thought of her first Cheerio!

It won't be long, baby girl!

"I made a big mess!"

Those are five little words which only spell trouble when uttered by a two-year-old. They can strike fear in the heart of any mother.....

Ethan got ahold of the powder at Grandma's house last week. While he looks upset, it wasn't because he made a mess or because he was in trouble...it was becuase his feet were messy!

Wedded Bliss

This post is a little belated, but better late than never! One of my best friends, Rachel, got married here in Indy over Memorial Day weekend. Rachel and I have been friends for 23 years and I was honored to be a bridesmaid. It was a beautiful event and a lot of fun.

The Newlyweds...Rachel was a beautiful bride!

The Girls

Alli was pretty in pink

Ethan sported a blue mouth thanks to his blue raspberry ring pop...which he LOVED!

Alli was all tuckered out after a busy day!

Take Time to Stop and Smell the Roses

And maybe taste them, too!

Walking on Sunshine

I can't believe how much it feels like summer already! We have been spending a lot of time enjoying the warm weather. We made another trip to the zoo with Kristy and Josh last week and have spent a lot of time playing outside. When we purchased this house more than five years ago this is what we had envisioned our backyard to be...a great place for kids to play! Although, I am not sure that Scott had any idea how many toys that would mean!

Ethan really enjoyed playing in and drinking from the sprinkler!

By the look on his face, Mommy is really funny!

Trying to touch the lens as I took our picture...

Coming out of his new hiding place.


Ethan enjoys giving baby sister kisses, but not if she is drooley! If she has started to drool he is point at her mouth and say, "Drip!"

We have been as busy as ever around here. Scott had his defense last Friday so he is officially "Dr. Lawrance!" While it has been a beautiful Memorial Day weekend we were unable to make it to the lake because one of my best friends got married yesterday. (Proof that we love you, Rachel and Jeremy!) I will post pictures soon so stay tuned....

Three months old!

Alli will be three months old tomorrow! It is hard to believe how quickly time flies and how big she is getting. For the past couple of weeks she has been sleeping GREAT! She typically sleeps from 10:30 or 11pm until 5 or 6am. (Although, after writing this she will probably not do so well tonight! Ha!) Ethan did not do that until he was about 20 weeks old. She is smiling and talking a lot more and is on the verge of laughing. Scott has been trying so hard to make her laugh! She is also holding her head up really well, so tonight for the first time we gave the Bumbo seat a try. She liked it so much she decided to take a nap!

May Days

So far May is shaping up to be another busy month and is flying by! I can't believe Mother's Day has already come and gone. Whats more....I can't believe this was my thrid Mother's Day!!! It is amazing how much life has changed in the last two and a half years. Everyone always tells you how quickly children grow up, but you don't really understand what they mean until its your kids. One minute they are snuggly little babies and then you blink and they walking, talking, telling you "No!" and giving you attitude!522222222222222222222222222 (That was Ethan's contribution to this post!) Ethan has developed a bad habit of putting his hands in his mouth all of the time. He knows he is not supposed to do it and on Saturday when I told him not to he pulled his hand out of his mouth and then proceeded to stick his tongue out, wiggle it back and forth, and touch it with one finger. The little stinker was taunting me! And it is only just the beginning!

Last week we once again went to the zoo with Aunt Kristy and Josh. The weather was perfect and we had a great time!

Once we were finished at the zoo we walked over to the White River State Park and had a picnic lunch. All five of us enjoyed being outside.

Both Allison and Josh are growing by leaps and bounds. They are very nearly the same weight now. Josh is just a bit longer and Alli is a bit plumper! What cute babies!

On Saturday we had a Mother's Day lunch at the Welchers farm. It was a little bit chilly so we didn't spend time outside like we planned, but we had a good time.

Granddad was stylin' with his backward ball cap!


Ethan enjoyed trying to take his own picture!

He also enjoyed loving on Josh!

Too cute!

Happy Mother's Day!