My brother-in-law, David and his new bride Tarah got married in Colorado in August and the whole family got to be there. Colorado is where Tarah grew up and where David went to college AND the place where they met so it was very special to make it the place where they became husband and wife.

We had so much fun celebrating their marriage, playing in the hotel room, exploring the park and enjoying the beautiful CO summer.  Joseph enjoyed his first airplane experience and now Madeleine thinks all planes are flying to Colorado.  Madeleine was a great flower girl with her cousins and successfully distributed ALL her flowers at the start of the aisle while yelling “WEEEE!” Way to go girl!

Trip highlights include: checking 40 bags of luggage, tequila shots with the bachelorette, Joseph’s first plane ride, ring around the rosy, and the hotel breakfast.  Since we have been home M pretends to dress up like a “beautiful bride” and we dance just like we did at the wedding.  Here are some pictures from our trip and welcome to the family Tarah! #itspawelektime

Madeleine is two years old now and full of personality.  She definitely has a mind of her own and shows her independence most when it’s time to pick out her clothes in the morning when she says “let’s get ready for the day!” She is VERY into dresses and loves to wear her white patent leather shoes with everything.  Her favorite activities are coloring (chalk, markers, colored pencils, crayons), going on walks (she says, “bye see ya later”), play doh (we make pretend cookies), dress up (she pretends to be a beautiful bride), and dancing (we have the BEST dance parties to “the shake song” and M’s dance moves are A-mazing). She is my best buddy. The sweetest times are at night when we read stories and cuddle with prayers and then in the morning when we have coffee and milk in bed, she always request Peekaboo Barn.  This girl likes to go go go and often asks to go to the park, to Chick fil A, or “Karget.” She told me the other day she needed to go to HEB and I asked what she needed and she said, “groceries”, I asked what kind of groceries and she replied,”turkey and cheese.” Madeleine also likes to play with Joseph, and this means play while Joseph watches her.  She still has a hard time letting Joseph have toys but she loves to make him laugh by getting close to his face and making silly sounds and faces. Sometimes she asks to hold his hand and just sits beside him for a bit. Since J came along, M likes to pretend with her babies too and sometimes I see her on the monitor shushing and bouncing her “butterfly blanket” like a little baby when she is supposed to be napping.

I could go on and on with stories but the bottom line is we love this little girl and everything about her two year old self.  My sister-in-law had the great idea of interviewing our kids on each birthday and asking them about their likes and such.  Below are Madeleine’s answers and then a little input from me as well…

What is your favorite meal? “pasta” “quesadilla” (her fave is rice and beans)

What is your favorite color? “orange”

What is your favorite toy? “the frog ribbit ribbit” (This is Joseph’s favorite toy)

What is your favorite song? “The shake song” (Taylor Swift-Shake it Off)

Who is your best friend? “Joe Joe”

Who do you love? “Mama…. and Daddy”

Who is your favorite princess? “Eby” (her cousin Evelyn)

What is your favorite snack? “Teddy Grahams” (Its actually fruit snacks and colored goldfish)

What is your favorite book? “Go Dog Go”

What do you want to be when you grow up? “Two”

What is your favorite breakfast? “I like bagel”

What is your favorite sport? “run”

What’s your favorite drink? “Sonic”

….and a little throw back to Madeleine when she turned one.  Can you believe how much they change so fast??

Joseph you are five months old now!  How is this possible and how is the year almost over??  Time is flying but one thing is for sure, we are having lots of fun!  You have gotten very comfortable with your hands and we play with your toys now.  Your favorite is the crinkly book that makes lots of noise. You cry immediately when you drop it but stop as soon as its in your hands again!  You are exploring everything we give you by holding it and then tasting it:)

You also got your first taste of rice cereal this month.  I was so excited to start feeding you and you got the hang of it real quick, helping me with the spoon and making a mess are your new talents. Next up, oatmeal and pears…. Hopefully this will help your tummy and spit up situation which is still full force and quite embarrassing when we are in public. We all smell lovely these days:) You also like to eat our fingers and your toes, maybe some teeth are on their way soon?

You have really fallen in love with your sister and you are so content watching her play.  She loves to make you laugh so she will make silly faces and sounds to you and you quickly smile and coo back which makes her laugh and this game goes on and on.  Sometimes I feel left out with you two, hello Mom is still here haha! We all love to tickle you because you are just too easy.  You are ticklish everywhere it seems but the best spots are your back and  legs.

You are such a rolly polly this month.  You roll onto your tummy or side almost as soon as we lay you down and you prefer to sleep on your belly with you little tush in the air. adorable. During awake times we can usually find you propped up on your arms watching us or playing with your toys.

Some fun events happened this month!  You took your first airplane ride to Colorado for Dave and Tarah’s wedding and we went to Schlitterbahn!

You had a check up this month and everything looks great and healthy.  You weigh 13lb 4oz and are 24 inches long.  You still wear size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes and size 1 shoes.  The doctor wants us to see a neurologist just to double check your head shape isn’t interfering with your development so we have an appointment set up for next month. You had another round of shots but you were so brave and cried just a little before you were back to flirting with the nurse. Happy five months sweet boy!

We celebrated Madeleine’s second birthday the last weekend in August with a party at the park.  The “green park” as she calls it, is one of her favorite places. We walk there every week with our friends and play on the playground afterwards and on every other day of the week she asks to go to there so it was the perfect place for her  celebration!

We added in another one of her favorite things, sno cones!  The ice cream truck that comes down our street (#cityperks) gladly came to the party and made snocones for everyone!  Thanks Mr. Pete!

It was a great day with great weather and one happy little girl.  She had been talking about her birthday for weeks saying enthusiastically  (almost yelling) “I’m gonna be TWO YEARS OLD. My birthday is AUGUST 31st! Sno cones are gonna be there! I’m gonna have TWO PINK CANDLES for my SECOND BIRTHDAY!”

And she did. And now she is two.

This month was so fun! We took you on two beach trips and you were a major beach bum. It took you a while to get used to the wind but you really loved the sound of the waves and slept peacefully in our arms or on a towel in the sand. You looked absolutely adorable in your swimsuits and matching hats. We celebrated the 4th of July this month and while your sister was afraid of the fireworks, you layed there on the picnic blanket just watching in wonder at all the beautiful colors.

You are such a mover and learned to roll over both ways; first, back to tummy and then tummy to back. You also found your feet and you love to grab them every time we change your diaper. We tried out your Bumbo chair for the first time this month and you LOVE it! You look so proud sitting up like a big boy and we really enjoy having you at the table with us at meal times, although we could do without so much spit up. Your head control has really improved and you love to be held up so you can look around at everything. You are very aware and can tell when we leave the room. You usually fuss until we come back and talk to you some more.

You are really talking a lot these days and just coo and coo at us. Madeleine loves to talk to you and she is pretty good at speaking your language. I love listening to your conversations. Your smile is still the sweetest and you laugh when we tickle you with our chins or when we laugh at you. I think you are already working on some teeth because you love to chomp on your hands and our fingers and oh my, the drool is constant!

Sleep is digressing a little, probably because you break out of your swaddle every night! You are learning to sleep when we put you down during the day but you definitely prefer to be held and snuggled during your naps. You finally take a pacifier, which is surprising because you always sucked on your hands I thought for sure you would find your thumb. I am glad that we have a way to soothe your little cries now!

      
Your eyes are turning blue and they are so BIG and beautiful. I am in trouble for sure! You are wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothing. Your hair is starting to come in too and it is so fluffy right after your bath. Happy 4 months Joe Joe!

Madeleine girl is almost two and she is a ton of fun these days!  She talks non stop and commentates our life out loud in her sweet voice. She loves to be outside playing cotch (chalk), pushing her babies for walks, watering the plants, and driving our cars.  Inside she likes to play with play dough, color, and dress up.  She is still such a helper with dishes, sweeping, laundry, mowing, etc. and is my shadow with activities throughout the day. Madeleine requests the park and chick fil a on a daily basis and loves to push carts and color on the list when we shop.  We are also really into dance parties and the ‘shake song” by Taylor Swift.

M has a great memory and still tells stories to us.  The latest story is about fireworks and how they “pop, pop, pop” and are “all the colors.” She loves to sing songs with us and can fill in the blanks as we go.  Her fave songs are God bless America, If all the Rain Drops, and the Yellow Air plane song (which Joe made up).  We say prayers every night and before meals and she has learned to fill in the blanks with these too.  We love the way she says “Father Son and Holy Birit’ and she blesses herself by tapping her finger to her heart.

Madeleine has adjusted well to life as a big sister and has embraced the fact that Joseph is here to stay. She is great at including him in our fun and you can hear her say “come on Joe Joe” or “Joe Joe say that,” when she wants him to talk to her.  Whenever we give her a hug and kiss she always makes sure Joseph gets one too.  When she wakes up in the morning and from naps she always asks to see Joseph…along with fruit snacks or milk. She will only hold him for a few seconds and prefers to “look at him” instead. Watching them together is one of the greatest things.

It’s hard to put into words just how much joy this little girl brings into our life, but by remembering her in this moment, at this age, I hope I will remember the way she makes my heart full.

Happy three months Joe Joe boy!! This month I kept saying how SWEET you are; sweet smiles, sweet disposition, sweet stretches, sweet cuddles, and even sweet cries. Literally I could eat you up like I eat Oreos. You have this way of looking at me that melts my heart and I’m in heaven because you look at me this way often.

We took you for a follow up appointment this past month and you weighed 12lb 2oz! You are growing so much and now wear 3-6 months clothes and are about to move up to size 2 diapers. Your hair is growing in light and your eyes are big and blue.

You still have not found your thumb but you constantly suck on your hand and fingers. The pacifier is a no go so I think it’s just a matter of time before you are officially a thumb sucker. We shall see.

You are really rocking the sleep schedule and have slept through the night several times this past month, consecutively the last week or so. THANK YOU! Knocking on wood… You are our alarm clock theses days and we love the time we have with you propped up on pillows in bed for morning conversation and coffee.

You are a happy and social baby just cooing away at whomever is listening. You smile all the time (especially at mama) and you even laughed for the first time. You like when we bluh bluh bluh with our tongue, say “ooooh,” and when we kick kick kick your legs.

You went to the zoo for the first time and celebrated your first Father’s Day with Dad. You are great at being flexible and happily go where we go in your car seat, stroller, and wrap.

Happy third month Joseph!

Joseph you have done a lot of growing this month!  You weighed 10lb 15oz at your 8 week check up and measured 23 inches long!  You are wearing 0-3 month clothing and size one diapers.  All that growing makes you sleepy and hungry which is pretty much your routine through the days; eat, play, sleep, repeat.  You started sleeping in the nursery this month and you stretch out your night time feedings to about 3-5 hours which I appreciate, but I am most thankful that you put yourself to sleep during the night.  All I have to do is swaddle you up and kiss you goodnight.

You started smiling this month which is adorable and we are just tickled every time you flash one.  You usually smile when you see me, dad, or Madeleine, and smile throughout our conversations.  You even coo back, making the best high pitched squeals and gurgles.  You also like when we tickle your feet or move your legs (this also soothes your tummy aches).

You are very observant this month and like to look all around the room.  You tend to stare at the ceiling fans and like to watch Madeleine play.  Your best time is at night around 7-8 o’clock.  You are so wide awake, alert, and ready to party.  You spend a lot of time on the floor because you love to stretch out but we have to make you look to your left because your head is flattening on the right side.

You went to the doctor this month for your 8 week check up and we got some medicine for your severe spit up and a little rash you have.  The ointment for the rash made you breakout even worse and you were in pain when I touched it so we had to try a new medicine.  You were such a trooper and got through it with minimal fussing which was great since dad was out of town.

Some big events from your second month: HEB trip by myself with you and Madeleine (BIG DEAL), first trip to Panna Maria, first baseball game, and our first Mother’s Day together.  Happy 2 months sweet boy!