Sunday, May 15, 2011

Happenings

Time to update the blog! I'm not entirely certain too many people view this ol' blog so I don't keep up with it as regularly as I should. Never a dull moment around our house these days, with a VERY active almost-2-year-old and a little 7-month-old "pistol pants" (as her nanny calls her). The kids amaze me every day. Clara is sitting up on her own now, is developing several different language sounds, and laughs at her brother every day. Fin is now carrying out multiple step directions, can speak his mind (me: "Do you want a banana?" Fin: "NO! Blueberries!"), is just starting to form 2 and 3-word sentences ("baby crying" "oh no! ball down" "happy day!"), and just today started making up his own songs, ("happy day, happy happy day day, happy daaaaay"). Clara is pigging out on all kinds of solid foods now and is finally catching up on the growth curve - she's up to around the 25%.

Here's our little grinner on her 1st St. Patrick's Day.

She's found her feet and is forever sticking them (and everything else!) in her mouth


I can't get over how beautiful she is - and how much she looks like her brother!

She's very content to be lounging around on the floor, especially if Fin is nearby

Her one-armed touchdown pose

This is her having her first bites of solid foods - sweet potatoes! At first, she was a little trepidatious, as seen here

Then she got braver, but she watched my face the entire time to make sure I wasn't tricking her!

Taking a bite....

She liked it!!!!

Full, satisfied customer! :)

Sitting up in style - check out how she lounges with her feet crossed - sooo cute!


My happy, pretty baby girl...growing up


Her airplane pose....

She loves to cross those feet!

Hilarious! - she fell asleep with her fingers in her mouth

She even liked green beans (*gasp*!)

Tired out and cuddled up. Love this picture.

With her new cousin, Leila! Can't believe how much bigger she looks than Leila.

Billy Goat Clara - she even eats her own socks!

Smilin' with mom at Uncle Heath's birthday party



She can also drink from a sippy cup and can hold it herself

She can hold her bottle by herself, too, although she usually lets us do it

Hanging out in the carrier with Daddy while Mommy and brother garden

Fin is our little chow hound. He had pancakes for the first time awhile back and LOVED them - he ate 3 1/2! And that was after having a full breakfast!

This was his gut sticking out afterward...heehee!

We also took him to an indoor play gym called Jabbers. He had a blast!!!



He had to eat a cookie after the gym to replenish all the calories he burned!

He also loves cups and straws. If he has a chance, he'll carry two around with him.

Finny also does a funny thing to self-soothe and has done it since he was about 6 months old. He finds the corner of his blanket (and it HAS to be the corner) then rubs his nose with it. I hadn't gotten a picture of it until now.



His new favorite thing is riding on your back for a "horsie ride." Anytime one of us happens to be down on the ground (usually playing with Clara), Fin climbs on our backs and demands, "neigh, neigh!" Here, Poppy's the lucky horse.

Finny also attended his first branding this March at my folk's place. Here, he's excitedly pointing at the cows and shrieking, "moo!"


My little cowboy

He of course LOVED rides on the 4-wheeler, too. Instead of asking for a ride, he'd simply look up at his Poppy and excitedly say, "Vroom!" Poppy was happy to comply.


Our little wild man also took his 1st trip to the ER. He fell off the couch and banged his face on the side of the coffee table (which, by the way, is entirely padded minus a 3-inch gap - this is of course where his cheek happened to land). He got two stitches and did a great job.

He needed a little TLC afterward, so he got to read 3 bedtime stories with Mommy.


He's also into making all kinds of faces and funny sounds (thanks to his Daddy!) Little clown.

He is definately our outside boy and would rather be outside than just about anywhere.

I LOVE this picture - blowing bubbles with Poppy.

Can you tell who the kid magnet is in our family?!?

He tries on a multitude of different "hats". Here it's a rather large basket.

He's also figured out how to push the water dispenser on the refrigerator. I heard it running the other day while I was in the den and rushed out - he had taken a canning jar off the shelf in the pantry and was filling it up. Stinker!


He's my little helper - he likes to come out and "week" with me - he puts our much-too-large gloves on and digs around in the dirt with his own little trowel, occasionally picking up rocks and throwing them at the plants (I have no idea why).

Coloring and color crayons are his new favorite indoor activity. He likes to eat and break the crayons, too, but truly enjoys coloring. He even gets the colors blue and purple right (most of the time).


What a ham. He stuck his finger through a hole in his sandwhich bread and was twirling it around.

I think he looks like a bull dogger (rodeo clown) in this picture. Handsome boy!

These two love each other. They like PJ time to hang out and giggle.


Meal time is their other favorite and they're constantly looking at each other, squealing, and lauging.



Fin will sit down, hold up his arms, and demand "baby!" We'll sit her on his lap and he'll hug and cuddle her and kiss her head. Oh, my heart melts.

He likes to try to feed her, too. Clara does not care for this too much.



One of my favorite all-time pictures. The kids love it when Daddy gets home from work - he's often right down on the ground with them.

Finally, a few videos for your enjoyment. This is Fin pushing Clara in the swing; you can hear them both laughing. Cute!
At the indoor gym, Fin was very quickly brave and would climb all the way up and slide down this huge slide - all by himself! It was rather remarkable.
Here, Fin got the oven mitts out of the drawer (by himself), then proceeded to wear them for about an hour, all the while performing "normal" things like trying to play with his large bouncy ball. He kills me.
Don't know how this picture got down here, but I'll end with the sweetest smile from the most darling little girl in the world. :)