2nd tooth

After a couple rough mornings, Maddie's 2nd tooth has erupted! It's the front bottom right one. Hopefully we will get a break and catch up on some sleep before she grows any more.

Dueling Raspberries

Enjoying the spring!

Save for one crazy week when it snowed in May, we've finally been able to get outside and enjoy the nice spring weather! Since Madeline was so young in the fall, the last few weeks have really been her introduction to playing outside. She's still not sure what to make of the grass, but is happy to be playing with Joseph.

Joseph loves mowing the back yard with dad, and with all of the rain we've had, the grass has been growing like crazy.

These are just a few shots of Madeline enjoying a meal. She absolutely loves to eat, and even though she's just cut her first tooth in the last week, she manages to gnaw through amazing amounts of solid foods. We still give her baby food by spoon, but she much prefers to eat chunks of banana, pear, avocado, peaches, peas, green beans, carrots, corn, cereal, string cheese, bread, eggs, etc. And she's a huge fan of ice cream! There have already been a few meals where Madeline puts away more than Joseph, so I'm sure things will really get interesting when she finishes her dinner and then goes after his!

Joseph has really taken to liking ice cream this spring, too. We love going to a little place "Dips & Sips" in Mission for a scoop of ice cream. Previously, he'd eat a few bites out of a cup and decide he was done. Lately, though, he'll get a scoop on a cone and eat almost the entire thing!

Amusing as it is, he'll frequently ask for ice cream after he eats his whole dinner. Or he'll ask to go pick up dog poop in the back yard. Those two things rank pretty high with him. For some reason, it's high on his list of things to make sure daddy does. I'm glad it's a daddy task!

Madeline's 7 month pictures

Around mid March we started seriously thinking about selling our house and moving to a larger house. A home down the street from us sold in a day for well above what homes in our area had previously sold for, so between the hot market and crazy low mortgage rates, we figured it might be a good time to see if this was a good thing. The initial home values a few realtors provided were lower than we wanted, so seeing this house sell for such a top dollar made the prospect of selling ours more realistic. Thus, for the last few months, we've been shopping the listings online and seeing a few homes in person to confirm that we could afford a new, bigger place. When we decided this was all feasible, we started getting our place ready to hit the market. Since then, all of our efforts have gone toward getting the house on the market while things are still moving quickly. Thus, Maddie's 7 and 8 month pictures are a few weeks late (ok, I still need to take her 8 month pictures, hopefully tonight!)

Anyway, I managed to find a bit of time in mid April to snap these. Our sweet girl is growing so quickly!

Convincing her to stay on the rocking chair is now getting more difficult, as she's so antsy to be on the move.

Molly wanted to take part in the photo session. Maddie really loves watching her, and enjoys crawling over to her. She's also starting to drop more and more food for Molly, so they're getting to be good friends :)

At 7 months, Madeline would get up on all fours and rock back and forth, and had started army crawling to get where she wanted to be. She could make forward progress, but more often than not would scoot backwards and end up quite upset when she'd back under pieces of furniture!

Upgraded baths

 Around mid April, we finally ditched the baby bath for good and Madeline officially joined her brother for big kid baths! Joe realized the bumbo seat was a great way to keep Maddie upright and safe, as she wasn't too stable yet in the tub. It gives her the freedom to grab for toys and not worry about falling over in the water, as long as the water isn't too high (the bumbo will float when she tips the edge over!).

Joseph has been so excited to share bathtime with his best friend. I'm sure some of it results from a longer bathtime, but he's so good natured, I'm not surprised by it at all!

So the baby bath is packed back up in the basement, waiting for another sweet little baby to start bathing down the road!

Magnolia trees

Winter hung on so long this year that the magnolia trees out front bloomed a few weeks later than normal. They are one of the first things to signal the start of spring, so they are always a welcome sight. Knowing that this year is our last enjoying these gorgeous trees, Joe wanted to make sure we documented their pretty blooms. I'll definitely miss them when we sell the house!

Three kids for a week

After Easter, we had a week of free time before babysitting Mason for a week while Ashley and Mikael went to Mexico. While life was a bit crazier, it was also fun to watch all three kids interacting. Of course, someone was always asleep, except for first thing in the morning and right before bed.

Maddie still wasn't crawling yet when Mason was staying with us, but she watched him like crazy, trying to figure him out.

Meanwhile, Mason had a lot of fun with all of the new toys around to play with.

 I think a big train table is definitely in his future!

Easter 2013

Ok, so I know I have fallen behind in updating, but wow! Easter seems like ages ago! We ended up going to St. Louis for Easter weekend, and spent a lot of fun time with my family. Although the weather was cool, we hunted eggs outside at a church near Ashley and Mikael's house. They had set up a bounce house, arts and crafts and had a small petting "zoo." Joseph had a lot of fun spraying the chicken and duck with a water bottle and wanted to keep hunting eggs. He also loved the bounce house, but wanted no part of the pony rides. Madeline slept through a good portion of the egg hunt festivities. I think she'll be all over it next year!

We also spent a good amount of time visiting with Great Nana and Great Papa. They had a nice Easter dessert buffet, along with Easter crafts and the Easter bunny. The kids had a lot of fun trying all of the treats. Maddie did a great job showing off her tongue curling skills, and her love for sucking on her top lip! :)

 As far as Easter Bunnies go, this one was a little creepy. Luckily, no one really seemed to care (or notice!)

 Madeline had lots of fun showing off for everyone, and thoroughly enjoyed being allowed to sit on the tables with the "big kids."

A few comparison pictures of Madeline and Mason. Mason was 9 months old, and Maddie was 6 1/2 months old. She has a huge head compared to him and has been catching up weight as well, so the differences in their size is really starting to shrink.

 I don't know how many cupcakes Joseph ate, but he definitely enjoyed all of the sugary treats! The babies were getting a bit too much attention though, so he started acting up and throwing tantrums by the time we were ready to head out for dinner.

Easter morning Joseph had a blast discovering all of the eggs and treats that the Easter bunny left for him and Madeline at Mimi and Papa's house. He did great finding most of the eggs without too much help, and was really excited to gather them up and drop them off for Maddie to play with, too.

The Easter Bunny must have thought he and Maddie were good, because he brought a giant crane truck for Joseph, and a singing hen that lays eggs for Maddie! They were both a hit!

We all went to Ascension for Easter Mass, where Joseph promptly made friends with another little boy in the back of the church. Maddie was quite ready for her nap when we had to leave for church, so she ended up falling asleep on Mimi through most of the service. Afterward, we headed over to Ashley and Mikael's for brunch (and more candy!)

I should edit the family picture to get the color balanced better, but at least I'm finally getting these posted!

Trying to get the kids all to sit still and look at the camera is quite a feat. At least Maddie's starting to enjoy posing for pictures!

 I have never seen a little kid who's better with his younger sibling than Joseph. This kid absolutely adores his sister, and she lights up whenever she sees him. He thinks his cousins are pretty sweet, too!

Playing with Aunt Toots - her legs made a great slide!

Mikael's sister Christie and her husband Jevon, were also in town for Easter. It was great hanging out with everyone, and it was so nice that the weather started to cooperate finally!