I had a lot of fun going through all of these pictures and videos for this month's blog! We had a great month with so many wonderful things happening. I am excited to share it all with you! I also did a MUCH better job of remembering to write down some of my favorite little moments. Enjoy!
Lilly always likes to tell me something in my ear when I put her to bed. It's a little thing that we do because the first time she did it she tickled my ear when she was whispering and she thought it was hilarious. So now we do it every night. She thought it was funny that what I would always say in her ear was I love you. At first she told me she wanted me to say something else that was funny, but then she started to really like me saying I love you in her ear each night. Last night the first thing she whispered in my ear was I love you and I thought that was super sweet so I whispered I love you, too. Then she grabbed my head one more time and whispered I love you 3rd. This has now become part of our nightly routine and it makes me melt every time!
This little snuggle monkey is just so handsome! I cannot even stand it. I know I've said it before, but the urge to take a big bite out of him (which has been proven by science to be completely NORMAL, by the way!) is so strong that my cheeks hurt from smiling when I just look at his pictures!
Lilly really loves Jack. It has been such a joy to watch her interact with him and to see how much she loves him. She is so good with him and I am so grateful. She always tells me how cute he is and often tells me he is as cute as...
A cuddly bunny
A raindrop on a flower
A sunny day
Marshmallows
A cuddly bunny
A raindrop on a flower
A sunny day
Marshmallows
A bug
(the list goes on)
(the list goes on)
I posted this one Facebook already, but this is a video of Jack "talking" and smiling. He is such a smiley baby! I know Lilly smiled a lot, too, but Jack seems to smile all the time! He is definitely a charmer ;-)
Lilly was so tiny, so I LOVE having my chunky monkey baby boy to squeeze! Look at that belly!
The kids enjoyed playing outside together during our garage sale at Chad and Michelle's house. It was REALLY hot out, so they ended up inside most of the morning, but they had a great time!
Lilly and Darren love to play blocks together. I am so impressed at how great she has become with her spacial reasoning skills! She built this by herself!
One evening, Lilly and I were playing outside and we could tell it was going to rain. At first, we hid in the garage as it started to sprinkle, but then I asked her if she wants to go out in the rain with me and she was SO excited!!! We ran in and out of the garage at first twirling in the rain and catching it on our arms. Then it started to rain a LOT harder! We ran down the driveway and started jumping in the puddles and having the best time! We were completely soaked after, but it was totally worth it :-)
I am loving watching Lilly grow and develop as a learner! She loves to draw and create, and recently she has started to enjoy writing. She writes her name and is working on all of her other letters. She made a card for her friend Emma for her birthday, and insisted on writing Emma's name herself. Then she was so excited, she wanted to practice writing my name as well :-)
This sweet little smile makes late night feedings and early mornings SO much brighter. I actually look forward to our late night nursing sessions sometimes because I genuinely miss Jack when he is sleeping.
Lilly had a great time at Emma's fourth birthday party! The kids had a "picnic" lunch in the driveway.
Lily and I were talking about planting a garden in our yard. I asked her what she wanted to plant and she said flowers so we talked about which type of flowers we would plant and what flowers need to grow. Then I asked her if she would like to also plan some vegetables. She said yes she would like to plant lettuce and carrots and cucumbers and steak. I asked her where does steak come from and she said a stake tree. When I tried to explain that it actually comes from a cow she was pretty perplexed and insisted that it actually comes from a steak tree. I guess we'll cross that one later.
I am not normally a selfie person, but today I wanted to remember this. Jack was having a tough day and he just could not find rest anywhere except in my arms. As you know, I am a pretty diligent, on-the-go, efficient, hard-working person, so I don't have a very easy time just sitting quietly and relaxing. But today I did. I didn't think about the laundry or the cleaning that needed to be done, I didn't worry about what was for dinner, and I certainly didn't worry about that fact that I hadn't even showered that day or put on any make up. I just wanted to hold my baby. I stared at him, listened to his breathing, memorized every little part of him that I could. I just held my baby boy.
I am trying to take more pictures of Lilly's art because it's amazing me to see how much it is developing. I am not saying she is DaVinci or some prodigal four year old, but it's awesome to see her drawings develop over time! She is now drawing figures and telling stories with her art. It's awesome!
Jack is becoming a lot more expressive now. He loves to show off his personality and smiles when I talk to him. It's so much fun to see him grow and develop!
The night before Lilly's 4th birthday, I told her it was her last day being a three-year-old. I had a big smile on my face and clearly looked a little emotional about this. Lilly turned to me and said, "Mommy, when I turn four tomorrow are you going to cry?" (I didn't!)
Today was Lilly's fourth birthday. She was extremely excited because we had great plans for her birthday! She was going to get Chick-fil-A for dinner and then go to an outdoor movie (Inside Out) with her friends! She also got to open family presents and was SUPER excited with all of the fun things she got including Stomp Rockets from Uncle Dan, Roller Skates from Grandma and Grandpa, a new coloring book from Grandma and Grandpa and new CD books and the DVD of Inside Out from Aunt Mare!
At the outdoor movie, Jack and I hung out on the blanket while the kids got their faces painted and played on the playground before the movie. They were playing music and Jack was "singing" and "dancing" right along! It was awesome!
I had contacted the organizer of the event the week before and asked him if they could possibly sing Happy Birthday to Lilly at the event. Well, they did even better! They called her up (I was nursing Jack, so Darren went up with her and Kari grabbed my phone to take pictures and video) and then the entire place sang to her!!! It was so special!
We recently connected with Lilly's friend Ellie from school and have been doing play dates with her and her mom. Ellie was able to come to the movie and Lilly was SO excited!
The next day was Lilly's birthday party! We had it in the morning so it wouldn't be too hot...well...it was! It was at least 90 degrees at 9:30 a.m.! Luckily the kids didn't care, but the adults were melting! I told people to escape into the house as much as they wanted (Jack spent the morning in there with various people), but not a SINGLE person complained about the heat! Everyone just said how much fun the kids were having and made the best of it. I love our friends!
Clearly the heat didn't bother these kids! They had a blast playing in the sprinkler and the make shift slip and slide that Darren created.
Here are some of the munchkins having their snack and saying "cheers!"
All of Lilly's friends were so sweet and brought her amazing gifts! She opened them after everyone left (that is because Mommy can't handle chaos!) and LOVED them so much!
Jack had a fun day too!
Here's Lilly playing with her new stomp rockets! She loves these!
I don't really have a lot of stories to go with Jack's pictures yet. Right now, his pictures are mostly just capturing how stinkin' cute he is! ;-)
We finally got some more decorations up in Jack's room. Our friend Erika was AMAZING and painted curtains for us (yes, you read that right...she's awesome!), and I created his name and the animals silhouettes. I have some ideas of things I'd like to change, but for now, we are happy with it :-)
Jack and Lilly went to the doctor today. I had talked to Lilly about it before we went and told her she would be getting some shots and so would Jack. I asked her if she would go first and let Jack see that getting shots is no big deal because he would be scared. She said she would do it because she didn't want Jack to get scared. She had THREE shots that day. She sat on my lap and the two nurses did it quickly and Lilly didn't even flinch! I couldn't believe it! I was so proud. Jack...well, he was not happy, but that's to be expected I think. The doctor suggested that Lilly earned herself a trip to Sunny Sky's for being so brave and I agreed. It would have been nice if Sunny Sky's was actually open at 10 a.m....so we settled for Baskin Robbins instead! Lilly didn't seem to mind!
We went to Oak Island to take a mini vacation and to visit with the Smiths and Quealys. Before we left, Lilly asked to make a card for Bubbe and Grandpa to thank them for having us (how cute is that??) So I told her she could and that I had a card for them, too. I showed her the card I bought and she looked it over, then took it out of my hands. I asked her what she was doing, and she said, "I am making a card!" and she took about 30 minutes to color every square inch of the card with pictures of Bubbe and Grandpa, grass, clouds and the ocean. There was no longer anywhere for me to write a thank you message, but I think Bubbe and Grandpa probably appreciated Lilly's art more than my words ;-)
It was adorable how much the other kids wanted to hold and play with Jack. It was not so adorable that Lilly was a bit possessive of him! I had to keep reminding her that Jack was not a toy that she owned and that it was ok for the other kids to play with him, hold him and be around him. She would get upset sometimes when they got close. I would like to say it was cute that she was being protective, but it just seemed rude! lol
Luckily Kristin, Ryan (and later Allie) got to hold Jack and they didn't let this deter them from having a great time together!
Jack loves when people sing to him. Kristin was so interested in Jack and wanted to play with him, so we suggested that she sing to him. Jack loved it! He also wanted to sing along :-)
Our little crafters having fun with glitter glue!
I was incredibly impressed by how well the kids were getting along after spending so much time together. One afternoon while they were sitting and eating at the table, I heard Lilly say, "Ryan kissed me!" Michelle and I turned and looked at them and they both had huge grins on their faces and were laughing. We joked about how it's cute now, but in 8 or 9 years, how will we feel?? Then I said to Michelle, "You know what, I would love that!" Ryan is the sweetest little boy, and obviously he has amazing parents, so I would be lucky if Lilly was kissing a boy like him!
The kids worked on filling out surveys about their Daddys that we gave the guys for father's day. I wrote Lilly's answers for her, but then she wanted to decorate it herself. The filled in survey is below.
One evening we were winding the kids down before the guys arrived. Michelle went to shower, so I was watching the kids (her parents were out to dinner). They were being wonderful, but I wanted to get things cleaned up since we were going out to dinner that night and I didn't want to have to worry about cleaning up after they went to bed. Kristin and Lilly had dumped out some puzzles in the sunroom and I was holding Jack, so I knew we would need some backup to get things put away correctly. I asked Allie and Ryan to help clean up. I said, "You guys will earn major brownie points for helping!" and they jumped up to help. I was so proud of them for helping clean a mess they didn't make. When we were almost done, I heard Ryan say to the girls, "We're almost finished and then Aunt Toni is going to get us brownies!" That is when I realized my mistake...they took "brownie points" to mean actual brownies! I tried to explain and Allie and Ryan seemed to get it. Then when we went back into the kitchen, Lilly asked when they were having brownies...oops! ;-)
It was a beautiful night on Oak Island! Even better...we were going OUT! WHOOOOO-HOOOOO! Darren and I had not been out by ourselves since Jack was born. Thank you Marcy and John!!!!
Morning dance party!
Lilly and Kristin built a tent in Michelle and Chad's bedroom and were having so much fun hiding. We could hear them giggling together all the way down the hall.
We could not ask for more amazing friends in our lives! The love we have for each other's kids and each other is like family and it's such an incredible blessing to us. Just look at how content Jack is in Aunt Michelle's arms!
Jack was getting ready to go to the beach! Clearly he was excited...and maybe a little skeptical ;-)
The sound of these kids laughing, screaming and playing together amidst the calming ocean waves was like heaven. A beach trip is no longer about relaxing with a drink and a good book (which was definitely fun, don't get me wrong); it's about being a part of the sheer joy and excitement our children experience as the ocean waves "chase them" up the sand. Do I miss a quiet beach day with a book sometimes? Sure I do! But I wouldn't trade these days for the world.
Our last day started with all the kids cuddled up together with Bubbe reading them books in the sunroom while the other adults enjoyed some coffee and took turns holding Jack. It was father's day morning, so we also prepared brunch for everyone to enjoy.
Allie had been sick the first two days we were there, so she didn't get to hold Jack. That morning I realized she hadn't held him yet (and she is too polite to ask), so I made sure she got a turn. She was (not surprisingly) very comfortable with him in her arms.
After brunch, we gave all of the Dads their gifts. John was so sweet to let Lilly help him with some of his presents and cards :-)
I was really excited to give Darren his father's day gifts. I had worked hard to try to find him just the right gifts that were a perfect mix of sweet and sentimental and funny.
Note to self: it's REALLY hard to get an infant's foot print! As soon as you touch their foot, they curl up their toes, even if they are sleeping! So the green blob on the left is Jack's foot...sort of ;-)
Clearly Lilly had a blast at the beach because she fell asleep on the way home in about 10 minutes :-)
I love this little boy so much. He just makes the cutest faces, "talks" so much and is genuinely super happy...most of the time ;-)
Lilly had a blast playing her new Finding Dory game that she got for her birthday! It comes with small scuba diving masks that she was trying to put on her face ;-)
Lilly went to VBS this year at the church. I am so thankful for the amazing programs we have at our church and I was so excited for Lilly to get to experience VBS this year! They had a theme each day where the kids could dress up if they wanted. One of the days was "wacky hair" day and Lilly let me put four pony tails all around her head. It was so cute!
While Lilly was at VBS, we decided to go to one of our favorite restaurants, Edna's Cafe in Fuquay. Jack had a great time, too!
Lilly loves to take Jack for rides in his bouncy seat. It looks like she is going really fast here, but she just walks around the house and pulls him behind her. He is strapped in and the seat is very study, don't worry. He LOVES it!
Lilly LOVES anything with arts and crafts, especially painting. We bought a "treasure chest" at Walmart and I let her paint it one day. I was very impressed with her finished product! She painted a perfect rainbow on the side with no help!
Jack LOVES the bath! He gets so excited to be in the tub and splash in the water! It's such a fun experience for all of us. Darren captured a few great shots of Jack after bath one day and you can just see the contentment on his face.
Two words: baby toes! How can you not love baby toes!?!? Jack was asleep in his rock and play and his teeny little feet were sticking out! It was SOOOO cute!
Lauren came over to play one morning and the girls had a great time together! I think one of their favorite parts was when I put on their VBS music and they performed for me!
I took the girls (and Jack) to story time at the library and we ran into Grace and Kathryn. It was so nice for the girls to all be there together!
There are few places as comfortable as Daddy's arms...clearly.
I snuck away one evening to go to a painting class with the girls! It was so fun! What was NOT fun was waking up the next morning and thinking I had the flu :-( No, I was not hung over...I had mastitis! It's basically an infection in your milk duct and causes pain and swelling in the breast and flu like symptoms. I was in tears most of the morning. Luckily, I called my doctor and they called in a prescription for me without even seeing me. Clearly they understand that mastitis is nothing to mess around with! The antibiotic kicked in within a day (THANK YOU MODERN MEDICINE!) and I was back to my old self.
Lilly likes to help me change Jack's diaper. She is a little rock star: handing me wipes or diapers and she even likes to wrap up the dirty diaper and put it in the diaper genie. (Have I mentioned how grateful I am for the age difference between Jack and Lilly???) Anyway, Lilly has been asking questions about Jack's private parts because she clearly can see that they are different than hers. I believe in using the real names for body parts, so I explained to Lilly that Jack has different parts because he is a boy. He has a penis and testicles. She seemed to understand. A few days later, she was watching me again and she pointed to Jack's penis and said, "That's his penis." I told her she was right and continued to change him. She then pointed to his testicles and said, "And those are his wrinkles." I started to laugh and she looked at me and smiled. I corrected her but she has said it a few more times and I keep correcting her, but I laugh every time so I am wondering if she likes saying it now to make me laugh ;-)
More baby toes because...just look at them! So cute!
Lilly and the other kids from VBS performed at church on Sunday morning. The place was PACKED, so we were sitting in the front on the side. It wasn't the best view, but we managed to catch some cute photos and video of Lilly. She was so excited to get to sing these songs! She hasn't STOPPED singing them since ;-)
Sibling love <3
Lilly truly is my daughter. When we were setting up the memory game, she insisted that all of the cards needed to face the same way ;-)
THANK YOU to our friend Lynn who gave Lilly a CD player! Lilly loves "reading" books and looks at many books each day. She recently got some new books on CD for her birthday (to go with some she had) and she always wanted to listen to them. We didn't have a CD player, so we were using the laptop, but we really didn't want her using that by herself. Now she has her own CD player and will sit on her own and read her books.
You might be able to find a happier baby...but I think it would be difficult.
These two have my heart. I just love them so much!
Jack is apparently a morning person!
Lilly wanted to hold Jack more upright, so I figured we would give it a shot. I LOVE this picture! I think they look a lot alike here. I also think Jack looks a lot like me when I was baby in this picture. What do my relatives think??
I don't know how much longer he'll want to sleep on me like this, so I am soaking it in!
Our baby boy is 3 month old (sniff sniff!) I look at pictures of when Jack was born and I cannot believe how big he has gotten so quickly! Our little man has brought so much joy to our lives in these 3 months!
Cuteness overload!
