Meli & Colin

I thought it would be cute to compare a video of Colin around the same age that Meli is now. 

Colin:

Meli:

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Married to a Rock Star!!!

(I wrote this a few weekends ago, but forgot to post it)

Another busy summer weekend has come and gone.  The weather was beautiful.  It actually cooled down quite a bit and was only in the high 80's.  A nice break.  We took the kids to the pool again.  Colin is getting somewhat more comfortable with the water.  We were going to take Meli in but we dipped her toes in the pool and she made it very clear  that she did not find the temperature suitable for this little princess.  Hopefully the water will be warmer next time.  The first time we went it was not cold at all.  At least Colin got to enjoy it.  Here are some pictures of the B family enjoying the sun.

Saturday evening, Will's band (The Inconceivables) played at a local county block party.  It was supposedly a big shing dig.  There was face painting, sirque de ....., a beer garden, and of course my rock star husband playing on the drums!  I sadly, did not get to go.  Colin was tired and May May is showing some signs of possible teething.  Poor baby.  I was told that the band did an amazing job!  I am so proud of Will - this was a very cool location to play and was something that was county wide.  I think that is pretty great!  Hopefully next time I will get to go.

My drummer husband:

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

My Little Honey Bunny

Our baby girl is 10 weeks today! I am really enjoying my time home with her and am a little sad that it is coming to an end. I am  so glad that I was able to stay home the whole time with her.

Some of the nicknames she has picked up so far are: Mae Mae, Mae Day, Peanut, Sis and Mae.

Her 2 month appointment went well.  She is 11 lbs 4 oz and around 23 inches long. Loooong baby.

She has been laughing a lot more.  We spend the first few minutes in the morning trying to make her laugh.  She loves when daddy tries to make her smile.

I think our poor baby is starting to teeth already.  A little earlier than Colin, or it may just bother her more.  Colin did really good with teeth coming in.
Pictures this last week:
 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

"Oh Coconuts"

Just thought I would share a some Colin Tidbits...since he makes life so interesting and fun!

Colin loves the Disney show Jake and the Pirates (or something close to that) which is about Captain Hook and some kids in Neverland.  He now loves pirates and recently announced that he is going to be one.  So, is Meli apparently.  Colin thinks Meli should be one for Halloween.  Recently, Colin loves the idea of costumes.  The only time he really ask for toy type things is costumes (unless we are in the store and he sees a whole bunch of toys). He wants all sorts of costumes like Optimus Prime, Iron Man, a pirate and probably anything else you can think of. 

"Oh, coconuts!" is his new phrase.  It is something that one of the boys says in the pirate show. 

Recently, Colin has taken the matter of Will's "discipline" into his own hands.  He tried to make Will go in timeout a couple of times for doing something that Colin would get in trouble for.  He has also made his dad apologize for saying bad words. 

Some recent conversations:

Colin: "Daddy!  You can't say *insert bad word*.  That is bad!  You have to say 'sorry"
Will: "Sorry, Colin"
Colin: "It's OK, but you have to be good or no food for you".

Colin: "Daddy!  You can't hit mama's bottom!"
Will: *blushes* "Sorry, Colin"
Colin: "It's OK.  I am so proud of you for saying sorry"
Will: "thanks Colin"

Colin can be a bother at times but he is such a sweet boy and seems to say the right things when you need it.  Even if you need to hear something sweet because of something he said a few minutes beforehand.

Recent conversations:

(As I come out in my bathing suit)

Colin: "Mama! You cannot wear that!  You are too big!"
Mama: *about to cry* "what?"
Colin: "You're too big...only kids are supposed to play in the pool"
Mama: (to Will) "oh thank god, I thought he was telling me I was fat!"

Will: "Colin, isn't mama cool?"
Colin: "No"
Mama: "I am cool"
Colin: "No, mama's beautiful"
Mama: "Aww *heart melts*... I am cool too!"

According to Colin.  Mama and Meli are beautiful and Colin and Daddy are cool.

Will: "Colin, close your eyes and think about what makes you happy (to help him sleep)
Colin: "OK"
Will: "What makes you the most happy?"
Colin: "Mama"


My little sweetie...

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

"It's Time for Bed, Little Sheep, Little Sheep"

"...the whole wide world is going to sleep".

Meli's Stats:

Weight: guessing...11 lbs

Sleeping: A lot.  Waking up around 3 am or 4 for a feeding

Eating: A lot - starting to have formula twice a day and than breastmilk ever 2 hours or so.

Bedtime story: It's Time for Bed by Mem Fox

Yesterday Meli turned 2 months.  She is getting so big!  Well long...but she is chunking up a little, which I love.  I think that chunky babies are so adorable.  All babies are adorable but there is just something about the chub!  She does not have it like Colin did but she manages to be just as adorable anyway.  Her appointment is this Wednesday - I am excited to see how much she weighs.  I am thinking close to or a little more than 11 lbs.  We will see.

There has been more smiling, cooing and moving around.  She is crazy with flinging her arms all over the place.  A surprise hit to her little face seems to happen quite a bit.  Her look of shock is priceless.  She is trying to grab more things and has gotten a hold of my hair a couple of times.  Ouch! Very tight grip.  Daddy got the biggest smile so far this morning. He was shaving and I guess the shaving cream was very amusing to her.

Meli is starting to enjoy tummy-time more. She also loves to lay on her back and play with all of the hanging toys from her playmat.  I love her noises. Just so darn cute! We are having her join in Colin's storytime and she gets to listen to his two books and then we pick one for Meli. The title is from the book we are reading this week. It was one Colin loved when he was little.  He even memorized it at one point. She has her eye on her big brother - he appears to be very interesting to her.  As long as he keeps his distance.  Colin still wants to be right in her face. 






Relaxation time




All sunshine and happiness!



~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Stars & Stripes & Everything Nice

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July.  We had a nice and relaxing 3 day weekend, well for the most part...

On Saturday, Grandma Liz and Uncle Michael came up for some fajitas and tacos.  Yummy! It was a gorgeous day, not too hot like it has been, so we hung out on the back deck eating chips, salsa and queso dip. Another yum! Colin loves an audience, especially Grandma Liz. He enjoys showing her everything new since her last visit.  Recently, Lil C inherited some hand-me-down toys from his cousins, so he had so much to share. He has been obsessed with these toys and every morning without fail they are right back to being spread out all over the living room and his playroom.  He is an expert at making messes.

Meli is still just along for the ride.  She did have a couple of cute 4th of July outfits to show off this weekend though.  I have to say she looks pretty cute in stars and stripes, plus red and blue.

On Sunday, Will's band was supposed to play a gig at a local block party - they were able to get in 3 songs before the thunder and lightning started.  The rain started as Colin, Meli and I headed that way to watch - of course. It was a downpour, which usually makes me excited but not when you are lugging around two kids. Ones who are not as big of a fan of rain as I am.  Took my joy out of it.  Plus, I knew that Will was really excited to play. The band waited it out to see if they could set up again but it started to get too dark. Poor Will.  Thankfully he has another gig coming up at a county block party.  This one seems pretty cool.  Last year the headliner was Elliot Yamin. 

We spent the earlier part of Sunday finishing up weekly chores.  As you can see below, Colin did a lot of reading.  He has somehow talked us into letting him read during his quiet time rather than trying to take a nap.  He rarely ends up falling asleep anyways - and some days all I care about is some quiet time. Plus, I love his love for books.

On Monday, we were lazy all day until it was time to celebrate this great nations independence! We headed over to Colin's Aunt and Uncle's house for appetizers and fireworks.  Colin is not a fan of loud noises.  Never has been. So, this holiday is not his favorite.  I thought that the fireworks would not scare him this year since we were extra careful to get quiet ones and he is getting older. Not the case.  Apparently, he learned about fire recently and thought that the fireworks were the same as an actual fire.  He thought they were going to hurt him.  Poor bugger.  At least I know he would not approach a fire! His little sister did not seem to mind the fireworks at all.  I am thinking next year we will skip out on buying fireworks and just go to the park to watch the big ones that are far enough away that Colin will enjoy them.  C man did enjoy the pop-its.  He was throwing them from his safe little corner. 

After fireworks everything started going down hill - very quickly.  Meli was losing it because she was hungry and ready for bed.  Colin was losing it because he was up way past his bedtime and was still freaked out by the snake firework.  He is not a fan of snakes and bugs.  The car ride home was horrid.  We had two kids screaming.  It reminded me of one of the spoof movies that has an extended screaming screen - the person is screaming non-stop, then pauses, then picks it right back up again. Chaos. Pure chaos that can sometimes shove its ugly head into the B family's life. 

We thought if we could get Colin to sing that he would calm down.  The trick is to be sneaky though. Not to let him know we want to calm him down.  We asked if he would sing "Meli had a Little Lamb" to calm his little sister down.  Will and I started singing and Colin sobbingly asked if it could be "Colin had a Little Lamb".  So much for big brother duty!  It worked though!  We got everyone ready for bed and needless to say Colin was out within minutes!  He even slept in the next morning!  Bonus!  However, Meli did not.

Colin was so excited to help feed Meli.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Pregnancy Photos Continued

Just a few more pictures...

Thank you, Amy!!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Baby Meli: 8 Weeks

Our precious Meli is 8 weeks today!! So crazy to think about. She changes so fast; her head muscles are getting stronger, she is smiling and laughing more, the cooing is getting more frequent, and during tummy time she is scooting forward.  

I am sad that my time at home with her is coming to an end.  I have 5 or so more weeks.  I have really enjoyed this.  Not sure that it would be for me on a permanent basis but I really have enjoyed it. I love the lady that is going to watch her though.  She watches from 6 weeks to 2 years old. Ms. B has a lot of experience, an extensive early child/development education, and is so sweet.  She has a schedule in place which is nice, but she also keeps it a loose one since she is dealing with infants.  I also love that Ms. B is doing this for fun in her retirement.  That shows that she loves doing it!

Some pictures of Meli this past week: 

Apparently, she feels she can skip the turning over part and just start moving forward. She gets her tooshy in the air and uses her legs to push herself forward and she actually does move. She got herself off her little tummy mat the other day.

 

She was actually trying to touch the little doggie.  She did pretty good.  You could see her thinking about it.

She grabbed the turtle toy and maneuvered it up to her mouth.

Pretty clothes!!

Pretty baby!!!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Pregnancy Photo Shoot

This last April, just a couple of weeks before Meli's arrival, a friend of mine (Amy D.) took me to Old Town Alexandria to take baby bump pictures.  I posted a few a while back as a preview and now I have all of them - no worries I will not post all of them, but will share a few of my favorites. Thank you Amy for taking the time to help me catch such a special time in our life on camera.  And in such a beautiful way.

Need to go get Mister Colin up from his nap.  I will post more later...

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Colin Joins the Party

Now that it is summer time and Colin's pre-school is over for the school year he will be spending time at home with Meli and I.  This week he has been here all week and in July he will go two days a week to a summer camp ran by the same lady that does his pre-school.  The theme for July is camping and August is Super Heroes. 

Colin definitely adds excitement to our day.  It took us the first few days to adjust our schedule to him and get him used to ours. 

We are spending more time outside now that Colin is here, which I am enjoying as long as I can keep Meli from getting too much sun.  So far we have hung out at one of the two big playgrounds in our area.  Castle Park.  Next week we will head to Dinosaur Park.  It was fun, I met a few other mothers.  One of them I had seen last year at the Water Garden (aka the water feature).  She is from England and very nice.  Her oldest is near Colin's age.  I also met another from Germany.

Today, we ventured out to the Water Garden to hang out with my friend, Andrea (aka AA), who I met while working at Barnes and Noble in Portland.  She just could not stand being so far from Will and I, so now she is in Virginia.  Haha, just joking...she is originally from this area.  Having us so close was just an added bonus.  We had a blast playing with AA and her little munchkins!

Colin has been enjoying our morning walks.  For a kid who is so energetic he can walk slow when he wants to.  Like REALLY slow.  Our walks take so long now.  Plus, I have to keep stopping for him to catch up.  He gets sidetracked by things along the way.  Bye bye workout.  Near the end of our walk we get to say hello to the diggers and bulldozers.  Colin is really into construction vehicles right now.  The workers probably think we are weird plopped down on the sidewalk just watching them work!

The other night we decided to make pizza as a family.  We also had sundaes!  Colin is such a good chef!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family