Oops...

I realized I did not put Meli's 6 months stats.  She was 16 lbs and 10 oz at her last appointment and 26.5 inches.  She is in the 50 percentile for both and then the 75th for her head.  The doctor remarked that her head was big (which is good) but to me it looks smaller.  I think the only reason is because Colin had a BIG head.  His was always in the 95th percentile.  She is talking up a storm and if I did not mention it her first tooth popped through last week. 

I looked at Colin's status for 6 months and he was about 2.5 lbs heavier and about 1.5 inches shorter.  My little chunky monkey! 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Party like a Superhero

We had Colin's birthday party today.  Super fun!  Will and I were a little hesitant having more than just the 4 nephews and adults this time....We had a full-blown par-tay!!  It actually went pretty well.  It was Superhero themed.  So, a lot of Batman, Spider-man, and Ironman decorations.  Will and I came up with some pretty fun games.  There was Pin the Spider on Spider-man (that was mine, thank you!), Clothes Pins in the Mason Jar, Hackey sack Toss, Bowling, and Guess How Many Superhero-colored Candies in a jar.  There were some lessons learned but overall it went pretty smoothly.  Prizes were won, fun was had and smiles were all around.



Colin really enjoyed himself.  He did think at first, since he was the Birthday Boy, all of the prizes were for him.  But once I explained the wrapped gifts were for him and the prizes were for his friends he understood.  For the most part.  There may have been a relapse or two.  Maybe.  Colin made off like a bandit.  He got some really cool gifts.  We try to take a picture of all of his gifts each year so he can look back at them when he is older.  I remember doing that once I got a camera for Christmas.  It is a lot of fun to come across those now that the toys have all come and gone. 

Pin the Spider on Spider-Man

Birthday Boy

May hanging out with Grandma Liz

A Happy Boy

We are making him wait until his actual birthday (Monday) to open our gifts for him.  We want to make sure he understands that it is his real birthday.  I cannot believe our baby boy will be 4!!!

Storytime (our walls are definitely not purple, I blame the camera on Will's phone)

Most of the ideas for this party came from inspiration from pinterst.com.  A site that I just love!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

6 Months!!!

Meli turned 6 months on the 10th of this month. She is already doing so much.  She is a master of sitting and definitely wanting to move all over the place.  It is so sweet to see her really starting to play with Colin.  He makes sure that she has toys to entertain her (still learning to share when it is one he wants to play with - baby steps).  Meli also has her first tooth popping through!  Luckily, it has only caused her to be a little cranky. 

Sibling Playtime

Party outfit

Meli loves her toys

...and her daddy!

An outfit sent by one of my Canadian friends that I met while pregnant with Meli.

Colin has a new book that he can trace letters and numbers.  He loves it!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

It is just a number...right?

This is my last birthday in my 20's...so sad but life is so good that you cannot complain about something as simple as a number.  Will is so good at making birthdays special - which helps.  He spoiled me with fun activities and little treats all week.  This year, Colin picked out his gift for me ALL by himself.   They were at a store looking for something else and Colin came across a wooden box that he told Will would be perfect for mama's birthday.  He also picked out a cute little bracelet to keep safe in the treasure chest.  He painted the box and everything!  Like most 3 year olds, he is not so good at keeping secrets...so I got my gift as soon as I got home after work on Friday. 

On Saturday, Will got me my special coffee and made me cinnamon rolls (yum) and let me just relax.  He also took care of dinner all week (nice break - Such a sweetie).  I decided I wanted a family day for my birthday.  So, we went and played minature golf and then hit the batting cages.  I really liked the place we went and may start going there once it starts warming up again.  Then we had Pinkberry (frozen yogurt) and I got to pick out an outfit at Charming Charlie (my fave store).  I usually take advantage of birthdays and make Will watch a movie with me (we do not watch a lot of movies) - I picked Bridesmaid this year.  I have seen it a few times but just LOVE it.  Not so sure about Will though.  For dinner tonight, I felt like Mexican.  We got a babysitter (thank you Uncle E - sorry Meli is teething) and had a date night.  I got to wear my new dress (which Colin said I looked so pretty in my birthday dress...sweetheart!).

I had an amazing birthday!  I loved the activtivies, food and gifts.  Thank you to all of my family and friends for the birthday wishes.  Love you all!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Blue-eyed Girl



One of my favorite dresses



I forgot to mention that our little buttercup is sitting all on her own!  It happened all of the sudden.  The night before we were having her try and she would only last a few seconds (and yes, giggling when she would fall over - on a cushioned surface of course) and then the next night we tried again and she was doing it!  She is very excited about it. I think she is very impressed with herself and glad to not have to lay down all of the time.  I am hoping that she holds off on any other major milestones.  She is growing too fast!

She has also tried some more food.  She likes pears, bananas...anything a little sweet. I gave up on some of the veggies.  Now that she is better at eating and gets the idea I will go back to some of those that failed. She is a very independent little thing.  She wants to already feed herself.



Getting ready for a baby shower




dressed for another baby shower




My lil rasta baby




No need for bumbo anymore!



I am home today with Colin.  Poor guy was not feeling well.  We have watched several movies.  I rented the new Winnie-the-Pooh - I loved it!  It reminded me of the older show that was on where they showed the stuffed animals in the beginning and then the book was apart of the cartoon also.  Colin also let me watch Beauty and the Beast.  I was getting tired of Chuggington.  I have been able to do my mid-term so that is one less thing for school work to do this weekend.  Yay!

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Trick or Treat!

We had a super fun Halloween.  Colin loved his knight costume and Meli was adorable as a little kitty.  We started the evening at a Halloween party thrown by the place where Colin takes his Tae Kwon Doe classes.  Colin was so cute walking down the runway showing off his costume.  He was a bit shy at first so Master Kim walked with him.  Later on he was up dancing around!  He won a prize for his costume!

After the party we went around our neighborhood trick or treating.  Colin was super cute.  He got so excited when he recognized what someone was dressed as.  He was stocking Captain America...Just a tad.  I was so proud of Colin.  When asked what one treat he wanted to eat before bed time he chose, out of all his candy - raisins!  Love my boy!  I did convince him to save those and try a candy though. 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Preparing for Halloween

We had a fun weekend preparing for today.  We carved both Colin's and Meli's pumpkins and decorated our house for Halloween.

All smiles and bed head!

Enjoying some cocoa. 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Air & Scare

This weekend we went to the Air and Space museum for the annual Air & Scare. This was our first time going and despite the long line to get in, it was fun seeing all of the characters. Colin loved the Star War characters especially.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

The Naming Game

While I was in Germany I was looking over some of my old blog entries and realized I never explained the reasoning for baby girl's name.  So...almost 6 months later here you go!  Colin's name favors Will's side of the family.  We knew we wanted an Irish/Scottish name, which we both are but Will is more.  I am 1/4 Irish from my mom's side and Scottish from my dad's (probably about the same).  We both loved the name Colin. It did not take long to decide on that.  He shares a middle name (Gallagly) with Will, which happens to be his grandmother's maiden name.  For Meli, we wanted to represent my side a bit more.  Naming a baby is hard and I feel a girl is even harder.  I did know I wanted to focus on both of my grandmothers.  My maternal grandmother had a very long name, Lillian Hattie Beatrice... (so many names to choose from) but we could not agree on one.  So, I decided that I would just like to have a Cherokee name to represent my mother's side.  My mother is 1/2.  I worked with a tribe organization to find a perfect name for our baby.  The meaning of the name was not that important for either of us.  Some names are so old that the meanings do not make that much sense now.  Plus, meaning would make more sense to care about if you first got to know your baby and then gave a name, which some Native American tribes do.  They would name a baby after a few years so that their name would represent who they are.  So, we went more for how much we liked the name itself.  I came across Meli (May-lee) which I just fell in love with.  This is the Cherokee's version of Mary.  The spelling is a little different, but I love the name and now that I have met her - it just fits.  She is a Meli.  When she is older she could even choose to go by Mae if she would like, which is what Will calls her most of the time.  We went with Anne for her middle name, which is for my paternal grandmother, Anna. 

We had originally decided to name her Adelae Jane, but I was not as fond of the nickname Addie, which is what most people would probably call her. So, with a few months left we changed it. 

Her personality is really starting to show through.  She does this super cute little shy smile when someone looks at her.  She smile and then hides her head in the neck of whomever is holding her.  She loves to roll and is getting better at sitting.  She has trouble when she gets too far to one side.

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family

Where is that Pumpkin Princess???

This past weekend we finally made it to the pumpkin patch.  My trip to Germany was somewhat short notice, so we had to change our plans.  It worked out fine.  At least our pumpkins will still be fresh for Halloween.  Colin had a blast!  It is fun seeing how much he changes each year we go.  He was big enough to do most of the activities this time and loved all the things to play on.  The whole time we were there Colin kept asking where the Pumpkin Princess was.  He sees her every year and seems to have a little thing for her.  It was funny to here him ask because when he says "pumpkin" it sounds like a not so nice word.  So, it sounded like he was say "where is the f'ing princess?"  We were laughing but at the same time trying to get him to stop. 

Meli seemed to enjoy herself as well.  She enjoyed looking at the animals and trees.  Meli loves the trees!  If we need to calm her down all we need is some tree branches and a little wind!

Colin introduced himself to all of the animals.  Randomly at dinner the other day, Colin told us that his favorite animal is a cow.  This was news to us, but he does seem infatuated with them recently.  A Chick-Fil-A opened up near us and we drive by the person in a cow suit every day.  Colin calls him his friend, the Cow. 

I fell in love with this little black pig.  He was so cute and trying to escape.  Meli thought his snorting was funny.

Every year we have taken a picture of Colin next to this sign.  I cannot believe how big he is!

This is Colin after going down the big slide. He had so much fun!

Colin after Will pushed him around the track a few times.

Colin victorious after climbing the tire pile.

Cute little siblings!

 

~ Love, Hugs & Kisses ~

The B Family