Pre-K Graduate and Awesome Big Sister

Abbi Kate's end of the year program was last week and afterward it was time for refreshments and play time. Once she saw Liam, she grabbed him and introduced him to all of her friends, and was generally pretty awesome with him, helping him keep up as they ran around.

This was AK's first week off of school and we're already going stir-crazy. Our plans for tomorrow include playing outside in the water and walking to our neighborhood tot-lot. My aim is to wear her and Liam out, without completely exhausting myself in the process.

She's signed up for Gymnastics 1x/week, but that doesn't begin until the middle of June. Liam starts speech therapy 2x week, and then summer camps aren't until the end of July. Ahhh!

Vance had his 2 month check up last week, and he's TINY! His official 2 month weight is a whopping 8 lbs. 3 oz. and keeps him at the 5th percentile (I know!), where he was at birth.

I'm exclusively breastfeeding, but Liam was exclusively breastfed at this point and both he and Abbi Kate weighed 11 lbs at their 2 month appointment. Vance has, however, finally grown out of his newborn outfits. So, he's growing... slowly!

No concerns from the doctor yet, so let's keep our fingers crossed he keeps growing. I hope to breastfeed for as long as possible (but at the very least, the first 6 months).

In other news, I ventured back to the gym today. That was painful- any good sports bra recommendations are appreciated. Ha!

bribery.

Liam is FINALLY potty trained- and trust me, it was no small feat. He's been going to the potty off and on since this time LAST YEAR, but we were never consistent with enforcing it and so, he'd cooperate when he felt like it and vice versa. With AK we just went a few days without diapers and had a few stickers handy and BAM, she was trained. We avoided bribery with Liam in the beginning because we knew he knew what he was doing, and could do it and didn't care if he did it or not. Yea, bribery won out. Just a few days of these bad boys and for 3 weeks now we've had a day/night trained little man! Yay, Liam!

Tea Party

A few days ago, Abbi Kate and Liam invited me upstairs to a "birthday party" they threw for me. I tried to explain that mommy doesn't have a birthday until September, and that I was in no need to rush things, but they insisted. They had moved a toy box out and put a blanket over it to make a table, and they'd even invited a few of their "friends"... So much fun!

8 weeks!

Vance is growing, growing, growing. So much so that he's FINALLY getting too big for his newborn clothes. Ha!

It's still early, but at this point he's looking like he'll be another blue eyed child. Shawn has hazel eyes, that at first glance appear to be solid brown, but have an olive green center. So, naturally, I thought I'd have these brown eyed (possibly tan?) kiddos. But nope. Although AK's eyes are a bit hazel in their own way (blue with flecks of yellow making them a different color blue than my own or Liam's), all my kiddos have blue eyes thus far. I know 8 weeks is early, so I'm still holding out for brown or a brown/green hazel. Don't get me wrong, I love my blue eyed babes, but a little brown would be fun too!

Picture Day!

Abbi Kate had picture day for her tap & jazz class she's been taking this year. She looked super cute even though I was nervous about getting her dressed for it. I played sports growing up, and rarely manage make-up on myself, so putting the lipstick and eyeshadow on her, and lathering gel in her short hair so that it would go into a "high ballet bun" was an interesting feat. But I survived, and as usual, she looked absolutely adorable.

Visitors.

Shawn's parents came for a week last week, and Mike (Shawn's first cousin) drove down and stayed for a night. We had a blast talking and catching up. We hadn't seen Mike since the fall and we haven't been to Tupelo since last summer. While his parents were here he and his Dad repaired and/or replaced two doors. I now have a back door I don't have to hit with my hip to close and a nice, new front door. We have hit a problem though- replacing the original moulding. As it turns out, not only is it an antique, but it's art deco and we can't find it anywhere around here (but we're keeping an eye on the local Habitat for Humanity Re-store)... and when we've found it online? $300 to frame a door! Yikes!