Can I take a bath with you Addie?

I was folding towels right outside the door and Hayes was standing at the side of the tub with his hands in the water. All of a sudden I hear Addie say "uh oh"....and SPLASH! Hayes fell in. Head first. With all of his clothes on.

He acted as if that was right where he was suppose to be. And Addie loved every minute of it!

These are a couple pictures snapped just before school. She is really enjoying going to her school and learning new things. Like I said, she is a sponge. Her memory and imagination blow me away. We have a smart little girl on our hands.

Tell me...

Is this not the cutest picture of him you have yet to see?

The Bottle Battle

Well, my pediatrician says that it is time to give up the bottle. I guess she doesn't know how long it took for me to give up the swing, even though he hadn't actually sat in the thing for atleast 6 months before I finally packed it away into the attic. I still can't actually bring myself to get rid of it. So...the bottle...that is going to be a hard one for us...ahem...him. He LOVES his bottle. Just like my breastfeeding friends who can't stop pulling out their parts even though their children are old enough to literally ask them for it USING WORDS....Hayes loves the bottle. He is one year old and still drinks atleast 6 bottles a day. This has lately become a problem, since he is also eating more solids. Do you know what happens when a little boy fills his belly beyond its limits? Yes folks....my least favorite part about being a mommy, besides the morning preschool drop-off that is.....yack. He eats until he barfs. GROSS! So, Addie and I made our way to walmart last night to find a sippy cup that will still feel like a bottle. We failed. He hates it. This morning I even took the top to a sippy cup and screwed it on his bottle. It looked almost just like his bottle. He still hated it. He even threw it across the room and looked at me like I had two heads. What in the world am I going to do? As we speak, he is laying on a Dora pillow in the floor watching Little Bill clutching an empty bottle that he has long ago devoured. I'm such a sucker.

A few more pictures...

We're watching a lot of football these days and playing with our toys. Addie is headed to school today for the third time. She is doing great, and I am just so proud of her. Hayes and I drop her off and head back home so that he can take his morning nap, and I can take a nice relaxing shower. Hopefully, when his morning nap has been dropped, we can enjoy some story time at the library or a music class just he and I. He loves his alone time with mommy. I am enjoying every minute at home with my babies. I am literally living my dream.

Just playin'

They really do love each other. There is very little jealousy and animosity between these two, atleast so far. We all prepared for Addie to have a hard time with Hayes' arrival. She surprised us though, and acted as if he had always been here, playing momma hen and being as helpful as she can. She is a great big sister.

He just thinks she hung the moon. When he gets attention from her, he lights up and giggles out loud. She is the coolest to him. I hope it is always this way.

And this is what a diaper looks like that has held one too many pees....

We like to get our money's worth around here.

We discussed throwing all the toys away and just disinfecting the toilet instead. If we put Hayes and a comode in the same room together without any distractions, he would be content for hours. Yuck!

Autumn is in the air...

And that means bonfires and smores and sweatpants...a few of my favorite fall things. Last Saturday Tim and I headed to the Hewitts. They live way out in the "woods" with lots of beautiful land and privacy I could only imagine. Pop Pop got to work on a big 'ole fire, and we had a great time roasting marshmellows and eating hotdogs. Addie especially enjoyed playing with her cousins. They all play really well together.

As you can see, a good time was had by all. These are the moments I live for.

Have you seen my little girl lately?

She went to school this morning. Not just a little mom's morning out school, but a real preschool with lessons and bookbags and a little routine where they learn the weather and the days of the week each morning. She was so excited!

We have worked very hard to get to this point. Addie had to be potty-trained first before she could attend, and that has been a challenge, but we have done it! She even sleeps in big-girl underwear now, and she is very proud of herself too! After a year of practice at a mom's morning out program, she had to be "ready" to be dropped off and away from mommy for a while. I think we did a pretty good job with that too. And lastly, she had to be respectful and able to get along and share with a room full of other three-year-old girls and boys. That I know we can do!

She grabbed my leg as I bent over the stroller in search of the camera and quietly whispered "bye mama". That's when the tears started to form. I hugged her little body and pushed her towards the door, trying very hard to not let her see me get emotional. She was being such a big girl. I snapped the following pictures as I hid behind some other mothers while she took her bookbag off and started to find her seat.

The picture below is a bit fuzzy, but its easy to see how nervous she was, yet she was trying so hard to be brave.

I'm pretty positive I wasn't the only mother getting teary-eyed and emotional as I made my way back to my car. I wasn't sad that I had to drop her off, or upset because she was upset. I was just plain proud. She was such a brave little girl, and I was so proud to send her into that classroom so that those two teachers and those other little boys and girls could get to know her. They will learn soon enough just how very sweet she is. They too will be amazed at her enthusiam for learning and how she soaks everything in like a sponge. I am sure that they will all fall in love with her and her fun little personality, because even though she can be challenging and way too stubborn on a regular basis, that little girl has a heart of gold. I am a proud, proud mama this morning. And I really am a very lucky person!

Have you seen my little boy lately?

I snapped these as I had my morning coffee today. He is ready to roll at 6:15 every morning, my little ball of energy. And boy is he getting big! I wish I could slow things down, just a little.

Birthday Boy

The bakery where I order my cake always thinks its funny how I get this large cake that the birthday boy/girl cannot eat. She makes her cake with eggs of course, so Hayes and Addie are not allowed to enjoy these delicious treats. Tim and I love them and splurge twice a year despite the eggs. I have discovered a yummy recipe for special cupcakes for the kids though, and they don't seem to notice that they can't have the pretty cake.

Hayes loved his cupcake so much that he wouldn't bring it down from his mouth. He sat here for the longest time with that cupcake up to his mouth and up his nose, as if he was scared I would take it away should he bring it down. It was pretty funny!

I love this kid!

He seemed to love the attention and allowed me to snap away with my camera. Unfortunately, I lost some pictures from the big day which has definitely left me feeling sad and dissappointed. I'm just thankful that I still have the cake pictures, which are by far my favorite of the birthday shots.

Since Hayes can't have icecream like Addie, Tim bought him some messy, rasberry sorbet. He loved it! What a mess!

The birthday boy was spoiled by friends and family. We all ate really well, and the little ones had a great time playing with each other. Addie hadn't been around little kids in quite a while since she has been sick, so she was still going strong with one of her little friends at 11:00 that night. Hayes, however, was knocked out cold by 8:00, and the party went on without him. Thanks to everyone who made this day so special for me....ahem...for Hayes!

Kindness

Some people just have kind hearts. They know how to make a little girl smile. Thank you. I love you guys.

A Wedding

I love weddings, one of those sweet, celebratory moments in life, where just for a few hours, noone is stressed, noone is sad, and everyone is embracing love. Meet the beautiful bride, Jarah.
There is no doubt in my mind that this upcoming November wedding will be blissful and fun, because that is how she rolls. She always knows how to have a good time, and she's quite the planner and decorator, so it will be one for the books, I'm sure. This past weekend was Jarah's bachelorette party in Richmond. Yes, I managed to escape the Hewitt zoo and spend some fun times with my girls. I miss them terribly.

We had dinner and drinks at a nice irish pub, after a relaxing spa pedicure and before our "wild" night out with the bride-to-be. We had a good time, although times have definitely changed. We found ourselves wondering how to behave on a crowded, smokey dance floor in the middle of a very young bar. We pushed on through though and showed the bride a good time, with many laughs a long the way. We were all back at the hotel by 1:00, which for this crowd, is very early. The following morning, this sophisticated, sweet bride insisted on a very interesting brunch, one like no other I have ever attended.

Are you curious?

Reservations and all, the 12 of us made our way to a small little bar/tavern not too far from our hotel, where we celebrated with drinks (not me, I had water....I had to drive afterwards) and brunch as we watched the show. Now, I have always considered myself to be rather liberal when it comes to things like this, but I am thinking this may have just been too much. I don't even know how to describe it without blushing. As we ate our meals and chit-chatted with the bride, these men, ahem.....women....ahem...men...oh whatever....sang and danced around us, collecting dollar bills and stroking the guests with their feather boas!!!! YIKES! Let's just say, I am glad the bride and a few other unnamed girls enjoyed themselves, but I think I will stay far, far away from that place in the future! Whew!

Did I mention that the wildest of our bunch on the dance floor was Whitney, the mother-to-be? You should have seen the looks she got around that bar that night. She is such a good sport, and beautiful at that.

I love celebrating with these ladies. We have known each other 10-12 years now and have celebrated graduation, jobs, engagements, weddings, and babies together....some of life's most precious moments. I am very blessed to have them in my life. Thanks ladies for a wonderful weekend, and thanks for not making me have brunch ever again!

Hayes

Happy 1st Birthday sweet little man of mine. I cannot thank God enough for bringing you to our little family. We love you so very much and can't wait to watch you grow into a handsome, kind, gentleman.

Hayes Timothy Hewitt 9-4-09