Family Check Up

We have switched doctors recently, so we all had to have check-ups at the new clinic.  Colin went a few weeks ago and the rest of us went today.  Poor Will...I failed to mention that he would be having blood work and a tetanus shot...oops.  I had the same thing done too.  Blah.

 At 10 months, Meli is 28 inches and weighs 18 lbs 13 oz. 

Another reason we had Meli checked out was because of her belly button.  We noticed a while back that her belly button looked a little funny.  It is an outie but it also had a bluish look to it and would get hard when she cried. Then more recently we noticed that it was getting bigger and the area around the belly button was becoming swollen.  So baby girl has a hernia.  Normally, this could go away on its own in time...but since Mae's has gotten worst lately and is relatively big, we are going to a pediatric surgeon to see if she would need it removed now or if it can wait until she is around 4.  We are hoping there is still the possibility that it can go away on its own, but I was not getting that impression from the doctor.  She was talking like there was that chance before looking at it and then that option seemed to slip away.  Still hoping though.  Right now it does not seem to cause her any pain, which is good.  I just hate the idea of our baby girl having surgery.   Poor Meli...

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Video Catch Up

Here are some recent videos of Meli crawling and the two kiddies playing together.  I will eventually get some of the dancing ones up here.

We are very enthusiastic whenever she crawls in hopes that she will do it more often and be less frustrated.  So excuse the high pitched, overly excited mama! 

The storm that is called Mae Mae.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Pretty, pretty little princess

Meli is 10 months in 5 days!  That means our precious little baby girl is almost a year old!!!!! That thought just blows me away.  I cannot believe that almost a year ago baby Meli made her entrance into this crazy, beautiful world of ours.  OK...10 month things...Meli is able to crawl (without doing the army crawl or sliding on the wood floors - which is possibly easier than crawling on your knees).  She will crawl but she does not care to.  She still does it as a last resort.  You can tell that she is just itching to take that first step unassisted.  I think that she has had the ability to crawl a few months ago but for whatever reason it is not something she wants to do.  I really think she is only doing it out of necessity.  Normally, I am all about taking your time.  It does not matter what other kids are doing - just go at your own pace.  Plus, I would prefer if she would slow it down a bit and not rush her getting to the next stage.  BUT in the case of Mae...I want her to walk.  I can tell that she is frustrated that she cannot move around like Colin does and this makes her a bit of a grumpy bottom at times.  She gets frustrated a lot easier than Colin did.  He just went with things but Meli wants to be moving onto the next thing.  She is very purpose driven and very focused once that vision comes into light.  She is already standing up from a sitting position without pulling up on anything, bending down to pick things up, walking with assistance (by us our furniture) and what else...oh she is going through this hitting phase that I am not a fan of.  I guess I remember Colin going through it but it was short-lived.  When we say "no" you can see her thinking and she seems to understand but then she winds up and does it again.  Then she gets mad when you say "no" again.  We have started setting her down on her own whenever she does that.  I know a lot of babies go through this but jeez what a pain.  Little miss is soooo strong-minded.  She is going to be a bossy," I can take care of my self" kind of girl.  I can hear my mom laughing...I know, I know...she gets it from her mama.  At least for the most part I lost the bossy part after childhood!  She is our little cuddly, sweet princess who just has to show the stern, grumpy side when things need to be done.



Precious little princess



~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Wanna get crafty...you know you do!

Pinterest.com is the best site ever.  I know I have mentioned it on my blog a few times but a couple of friends recommended the site to me last summer and it has just changed my life...well the creative side of my life. I am getting back into the crafty things I used to love, finding great new recipes to try, crafts for the kids and on and on and on.  I just love it!! I have used it for gift ideas.  We have done a few gifts as a family that were sent to the grandparents.  Like this Christmas Tree painting and we replaced this apple bag idea with the flower design for a birthday gift. Hopefully this little elephant picture will be hanging in Meli's room soon and I will be figuring out how to make this headband.

This site is great for recipes (I am trying a tofu one this week), finding good books to read (since I am so out of the loop post Barnes & Noble days), unique home decorating/renovation ideas and for planning fun birthday parties. Colin's birthday party had a lot of help from this site.  If you have not looked at it...give it a try.  Warning: Pinterest is addicting!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

A Resemblance???

I can already tell that Colin and Meli are going to be vastly different as far as personality goes. Night and Day.  In looks they are more alike.  Well, besides a few things...like that adorable baby chub that Colin had so much of! Not that Meli's petite size is not as equally adorable! Love my babies!


Colin between 7 & 8 months



Mae 8 months





Colin 4 months



Meli 4 months





Meli first week



Colin first week





           ~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

                     The B Family



The In-between Pictures

The floors are done!  We have a few things remaining that we need to get for Meli's room... but here are some pictures of the new floors!

They turned out amazing!  Meli has discovered that with her new floors she sounds louder and has a little bit of an echo.  The first night she just yelled a lot while we were getting ready for bed.  Fun.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Looks like Spring is on its way

Friday and Saturday we had crazy winds here due to some storms in surrounding areas...so it was cold and poor little Colin thought he was going to blow away...but the sun was out and it was so beautiful.  The sunshine can be misleading.  I really wanted to go to the park but it was just so cold and the wind was just brutal.  However, on Sunday things changed and the wind had calmed down, the sun was out and it was just a beautiful day. Colin had a blast running around at the park and little Mae enjoyed the swings for the first time.  She loved it.  Colin is not a fan.  We bribed him to try it at one point.  So we had Mae swinging looking all chill and like it was no big deal and to the right of her was Colin screaming/laughing (could not really tell) and sitting so awkwardly.  He would not put his butt down so he was straight up and down. Meli was just staring at him like "really?".  Super funny.  Poor Colin. 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Tiny Little Dancers

Meli will be 10 months soon.  Awww...baby girl!  She is such a joy to play with and is definitley one who wants to constantly be entertained - which can be tiring.  Mae has been saying "uh oh" for the last month or so.  It is so cute to see her drop a toy and then say "uh oh".  She is also learning to hand us something when we say, "may I please have it" and she is starting to say "ba ba" for her bottle.  This week was a rough week.  Meli was up most of the week from 12-4.  Not cool little Mae...not cool. Last night was better so hopefully it stays that way. Once you get out of the habit of being sleep deprived it is even harder.  Man this week was rough.

Meli is 18.9 lbs.  She has not really gained too much the last month but she is stretching out a bit.   She enjoys rolling for playtime. Not like rolling over from side to side but she will bend forward then roll over and then roll in a different direction.  She is actually pretty good at it and quick. She loves walking assisted and loves to dance.  Her dancing can interfere with walking.  She is really trying to take that first step without holding onto anything...it would be easier if she would stop bouncing her legs!  We had a little family dance party tonight. Colin was showing Meli his moves.  He is going through a phase of break dancing. So funny to watch. I will have to post a video of our two little dancers.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Ice Cream is cheap - fact

Colin had a doctor visit recently.  Little guy is still in the 25th percentile for weight...he is 36 lbs which he has been for a while now.  I think around his birthday he weighed 35.5, so he has not gained much at all...but he eats a lot, I mean a lot. I think he just has a really good metabolism and is a very active boy. Plus, both Will and I were similar when we were kids.  We changed doctors to go somewhere closer to home and I think I will really like her.  She did voice a little concern about his size and quized me on what and how much he is eating, but I explained that his other doctors have never voiced any concern and that he has maintained the 25th percentile since he was a baby. I really liked how she interacted with Colin.  She was good at including him in the conversation, which Colin likes.

Some recent Colin cuteness:

"Daddy your hugs are too rough.  Mama's are nice.  You break my bones. You need to hug like mama".  Will likes to play tackle Colin...which Colin does not always appreciate.

This kid at TKD was wearing a batman coat (that looked like a cape) - Colin said "I think he is Batman".

Colin and his daycare pal Shannon got married. She tried to get him to dress up in a sequin outfit and Colin tried to run away.  They talked it through and settled on something more appropriate for him to wear and then held hands and got married.  Then they went and played on their own.

At TKD there are now two Colins.  The other one is older than our Colin so they are being called Big and Little Colin.  After a few times, Colin said - "I am big too".  Master JK said "we need to think of something else".

While we are cleaning up after dinner we started playing what Colin calls Mysteries game -It is where you think of something and you give one hint and then everyone else guesses.  Something like "I am thinking of something green".  Well, Colin did not quite understand the hinting.  He says stuff like, "I am thinking of a volcano and it is red" or he will say "I am thinking of something that is not blue".

Uncle Greggie will appreciate this - Colin was trying on his Marine outfit he bought him and we were trying to explain what a Marine is.  Sorry Greg  but it was hard trying to explain without using the word "soldier" to describe...we explained it was like a GI Joe - so then Colin started calling it his "shoulder" outfit.  He has a hard time with "soldier". He kept pointing to his elbow (thinking shoulder) - We told him to just call it his GI Joe outfit, which he pronounces "GJi".

Colin has an amazing memory.  He is able to listen to a song once and will have most of the song down.  He also is really good at pointing out classical songs. So, recently Will has been watching these videos poking a little fun at political figures.  It is called http://www.badlipreading.com/.  It takes video clips of their speaches and just fills in random things.  Some of them are pretty funny actually.  Well, he let Colin watch a couple of the videos and now Colin is quoting them.  Random stuff that makes no sense.  His favorite two are "Ice cream is cheap - fact" and "Hi ho Cherry soda".  It took me a while to figure out where he was getting these phrases from. If you go to the site, my favorite is Ron Paul. 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Why Not...Happy Valentine's Day!

Will and I do not usually celebrate Valentine's day. No major reason why not...I just have never really been a fan of the holiday.  The historical reference seems a little hazy and it brings two things I really detest together...hearts & the combination of pink and red.  Plus, I would rather Will surprise me with flowers for no reason than on a holiday where he feels obligated to.  But...for those who love celebrating it...that is great!  I have no quams about people who enjoy it. I just do not need it.  With that being said, we do have a little guy who enjoys whatever holiday comes his way and we would never dream of depriving him of the chance to celebrate anything.  So, we decided to start making a bigger deal about this day for him. Last year he did not really notice  but this year he was SUPER excited.  He sent Valentines out, Mae wore hearts to celebrate, we made very pink cupcakes (with hearts) and bought a little toy for Colin and Mae. Colin had so much fun, which makes me very happy. I am thinking the holiday will be very enjoyable with two little sweethearts (and a big sweetheart) to celebrate with.  So...Happy Valentine's Day to all of our loved ones.  Hoping you have a wonderful day celebrating that beautiful and crazy thing that comes in so many different forms...LOVE.




Celebrating this weekend at Grandma Liz's




My little helper




What a precious little Valentine!




Meli with her new blocks



~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family