Grace's Last Days as a Tender Turtle :-(

Grace's last days of 2-yr-old preschool were last week. It was kind of a tough realization for me. She started the year as a baby...in a crib, wearing diapers, saying sentences with 2-3 words. She ends the year as a little girl...completely potty trained, in a big girl bed, and can speak in clear and complete sentences on just about any topic. She still amazes me every day. I look at her sometimes and cannot believed how blessed I am. She is every mother's dream of a little girl. She is sweet and kind, spunky and spicy, smart and beautiful- there is just something about my firstborn- we have kindred spirits.

The first 4 pictures are of the end of the year program with the 2,3, and 4 year olds.
Daddy and Gracie
Grace with her hands in her mouth...(as least she stopped crying, though.)
Grace pulling up her shirt. The two-yr olds are always the best part of the program.
Grace and her best friend Hayden.
The entire preschool had a picnic a couple of days after the program. Here is Grace with some of her best friends and her three teachers. I couldn't have picked better teachers for her. They were all three absolutely wonderful. They all have Bach. degrees in education...and they teach preschool and stay home with their kids! And though it is wonderful to have such qualified teachers, what is even more wonderful is that they have a true love for children.

Busy May

I think that May is busier than that month between Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's fun though and we wouldn't have it any other way.

I have this great book called Contented Little Baby Book and it is just been wonderful. It has suggestions on sleeping and eating schedules as your baby gets older. One of them is to try a sippy cup around 5-6 mos. Well, I tried it and Isaac loves it. It's just amazing what you do with your second child as compared to your first!
Grace had a huge motor skills growth week. She started pumping her legs on the swing...yeah! she can swing all by herself now! And she also got the hang of peddling her bike. She is now considered a 'big' kid.
Well, almost a 'big' kid. The big kids don't nap anymore. Apparently the swinging and biking were so exhausting that she didn't make it to her bed.
Memorial Day weekend is here and so is the pool! This is Grace slowing moving into 65 degree water. BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Noodles are fun- even if one is shivering.

"I'll skip the water and boy is this sunscreen good!"
Look at the rolls on those legs. Makes a Mama proud.
Such a Mama's boy-
Daddy was brave enough to get in the water and play with Grace.
Maybe Isaac will test the temp with those little toes.

Isaac is 6 months old!

Monday was Isaac's 6 month birthday. The past 6 months have gone by so quickly. I try to drink in as much baby as I possibly can. With Grace being almost three I know my days are limited where they just want their mommy. I am so thankful and blessed to be able to spend so much time with them in these precious early years. Isaac is getting huge. He weighs in at almost 20 lbs and 28 inches long. Grace was this big when she was 9 months old and she was considered huge too! His motor skills are pretty advanced too. He can completely sit-up now and is doing the inch-worm crawl. It may take him a while, but he can get where he wants to go. He also got some of his shots on Monday. We only did half of the vaccinations which amounted to two of the three shots. He still had a moderate reaction to the DTaP, but I felt much better than if he had gotten everything. We needed to give his immune system a break. We also started him on a daily nebulizer treatment of AstraZeneca to help with his coughing and wheezing. You would never know that he is having breathing problems as he is so happy and so big. Nothing slows him down. He has an appointment with a pediatric pulmonologist next month- a baby lung doctor. Hopefully he can help us strengthen his lungs and avoid asthma. Well, that's all with Zeic- more to come on his big sister next week...her last week as a 2 yr old pre-schooler. I know that I will have a tough time with this.

Happy Mother's Day!

What a wonderful day! I can say without a shadow of a doubt, after Easter and Christmas, Mother's Day is the most important holiday of the year...especially for stay-home-moms. It's 24-7 for some of us and we wouldn't have it any other way. I had a great day, though we had a torrential downpour. Grace and Isaac both slept in until 8:30. We went to church, I opened my gifts and that evening we headed to Moe's for dinner. Not a glamorous dinner, but when you have two small children you are lucky to go out at all.
Isaac and Grace started out the morning playing with the balls. I am opening up my gifts from the kids.
Grace getting some lovin'.
Isaac getting some lovin'.

Flowers from Grandpa, Uncle Ben, and Grace.

Me and my little guy. He loves that placemat.
The day before, Isaac helped me pick up some trash.
He was sleeping in his carseat and had just awoken- So sweet.Grace's Daddy Daughter Dance dress for next year. So fun!

Twins!

We have some new twins in the neighborhood. Aren't they precious? We have been spending lots of time feeding them this week. Their parents are warming up to us as well. We have named them Huey and Luey.

Strawberry Pickin'

Yesterday we headed out to a Strawberry farm to do some pickin'. We met up with our good friends from church RyRy and Kennedy...of course dressed in smocked strawberry dresses. So adorable. Anyway, the girls had an absolute blast. Grace ate just as many as went into her bucket and between the three of them, there is no telling how many strawberries were destroyed by being stepped on or picked and then not kept. Isaac just loved being outside and the focus of three little girls' attention. This could be a sign of thing to come. Kennedy is holding Isaac and RyRy and Grace are ready to go!
What a cute family!
Strawberry face. People tell me all of the time how much Grace resembles me. I know that she must b/c she doesn't look like Sid, but I have never seen it until this picture. Weird.