baking like a toasted cheeser

to quote hamilton porter from the sandlot, "i'm bakin like a toasted cheeser".  it's hot.  the mornings aren't too terrible, but it's still hot.  we went to the park the other morning, and seriously after 10 minutes mae and i were drenched with sweat. but, she had a good time and it wore her out.  so, it was worth the dehydration.
if you don't believe me check out munchkin number one's hair.  homegirl's hair is HUGE!  it's hard to contain it.  so, for the most part i just let it go free.

 

cody has been busy around here!  he surprised me when we got back home with so many things around the house.  he painted, he mounted our tv, organized, and started some much needed yard projects.  he did these pavers around the trees and garden all by himself.  he's awesome

and we finally bought plants for the front.  i feel like such a grown up with all of these projects we're doing.

ringlets are in full effect around these parts.

 and so is the sass.  mae's new favorite phrases "i do it myself", and "you stay here".  and of course the never ending "no, i not do that". 

 potty training is still going strong, so is the need to strangle myself at times.  accidents are few and far between.  but, it's still a maddening process.  now she doesn't want me to help her. hence the "you stay here mom".  the other day she spent about 2 minutes telling me to stay put while she went potty.  well, she spent way too much time telling me not to help, and wet her pants.  then she said "help me clean mom?"  ooh now you want my help?!  love the girl

i've been stressing over trying to make this summer so awesome and special for mae.  i was driving myself (and probably cody) crazy trying to think of things to do.  and of course my ever patient loving husband reminded me that when we were little our summers weren't jam packed full of stuff, and they were pretty magical.  we played outside, ran through the sprinklers, made our own fun.  thinking about my childhood summers, the best memories i have are of simple things.  playing outside until dinner, night games with friends, popsicles outside in bathing suits, sprinklers, the pool.  i don't need to make myself crazy over entertaining my kid.  she needs to learn how to use her imagination and entertain herself!  and, it's been a pretty great few weeks.  we still go out with friends, and have fun outings.  but, we have days or afternoons, where nothing is planned. 

she's had a blast in our backyard.

 and inside by herself with her toys.

i'm still trying to let go of the feeling/anxiety that we're not doing enough.  that i don't take her to do enough fun activities.  to not feel like a bad mom because we haven't gone to do new exciting things all the time.  but, i'm starting to learn that there are always going to be things that i wish i did differently.  always going to be people that i don't measure up to. who knows if mae will even remember any of this stuff one day.  but, i hope that when she does start remembering, she'll feel like she was so loved, and that there were some special moments in her childhood.

oh izzy.  my little munchkin.  she was eating 7 or 8oz at every feeding, and still wasn't full.  so, we started some solids.  she's loving life.  and i am loving it too, she's pretty much sleeping a solid 11-12 hours a night.  at least one of my kids is, right?  this little girl love loves her big sister.  she gets the biggest smile on her face when she sees her.  if she hears her when she's eating, she'll look all over until she spots her.  sometimes i have to make mae go upstairs and play when i'm trying to feed izzy because she distracts her so much!  and when mae is playing in the play room, izzy loves to lay on the floor and watch her.

mae loves izzy just as much.  one of the first things she asks in the morning "izzy lake (wake) up yet?"  she's started calling her iz.  too cute.

my sweet sleeping babe

back to texas

we had such a wonderful time in virginia, it's always sad to leave.  but, i was ready to see my hubby and get my little munchkins back home.  mae and izzy were champs on the drive home.  so was my mom for driving with us, she's an awesome lady.  i hope i can be as amazing to my kids!

lucky for us, gram stayed with us for a few days.  we checked out some parks that i hadn't been to yet around austin.  i'm always more adventurous when someone is with me.  

 this little nugget.  we just had her 4 month check up.  she came in at 14 lbs (60%), and 26 in (95%).  She's our little string bean, not much chub at all on this little lady.  but, look at her dad and her grandpa, i guess i shouldn't be surprised.

we hit up the x games again this year.  (the night before mae was up all night, and when she woke up in the morning there was blood and puss in her ear.  we took her in, ruptured the other ear drum!  poor thing) despite mae not being on her a game, we had a really good time.  mae absolutely loved it. 

 checking out the live music

 we watched the enduro x

this is what the x games experience looks like with a 4 month old and a 2 1/2 year old.

 we also watched the big air.  that was probably my favorite.  it's amazing what they do!

this kid.  we're in the process of potty training.  we had a few rough days, but for the most part, she has done really well...with peeing.  pooping on the other hand has been a real challenge.  i've read a lot of stuff about potty training, and everything said don't do pull ups, but seriously, i am so tired of cleaning poop out of "big girl underwear" that i'm pretty sure i'm going to buy some pull ups.  ask me in a few weeks if i've pulled all of my hair out.

we were able to go down to houston to see will's baptism last weekend.  it was so great.  we love seeing all of our family.  mae has a great time with her cousins, and cody and i have a great time as well.  

mae is still a sweetie to her sister...for the most part.  izzy lights up when she sees mae, and starts looking for her when she hears her voice.  i love it

The VA

it was so wonderful to be back in virginia.  as much as i have grown to love pflugerville, virginia will always be home.  we had so much fun staying with my parents.  i love their screened porch, every morning mae would go play out there.  i loved that the days were more relaxed.  i wasn't anxious trying to be here or there, i didn't feel like i had to make sure we had something fun to do each day for mae.  (i guess it helped that my parents have a pool and a huge yard, so there was plenty for that little girl to do). since i've been back in texas, i've tried (not so successfully) to maintain that relaxed vibe, to just let mae be a little kid and use her imagination and make her own fun...i'll keep you posted on how that goes.

one of the best parts of the trip was being able to skype with reid on mother's day!  it was so awesome to get to chat with him.  he's such an awesome kid, and he has grown so much these past few months.  but, lucky for us, he is still good 'ole reid.

mae had a blast in gram's pool.  

while we were gone she developed this habit of bringing her books into bed with her.  every night i would go in and try to find them all around her.  and usually her head was hanging off the edge of the beds...i guess that's when headboards come in handy.

mae spent lots of time outside with gramps.  whenever he was out working in the yard, she was out there with him.  oma even got her a pair of gardening "glubs" that she could wear when gramps was wearing his.  this kiddo loves to be outside.

 she even got to go for a special ride in gram's convertible.  i wish i had tagged along for the ride.  but, i'm told that she loved it!

we got to spend more time with cousins.  these two together are so much fun to watch.  they always have such a great time together.

just hanging by the pool.  

we met up with more cousins at the splash pad one day.  mae of course had a blast.  (whoever invented these things is one smart cookie. )

opa with his great grand daughter and grand daughter.  

more friends came to visit.  my good friend kelly and her sweet daughter hayden came to see us and to swim.  mae was instantly in love with hayden (can you blame her?), and hayden was so sweet to her.  

this little one.  i feel like i haven't even documented her little life!  she is a smiley, happy baby.  she smiles at everyone, still snorts like crazy when she is hungry, or when she is about to start crying, loves to put her two fingers in her mouth, has seriously the scrawniest little chicken legs ever, is one of the longest babies i've ever seen, always wants to be sitting up, makes the sweetest little sounds, loves her play mat, and has the clutch of death (seriously has pulled out so much of my hair).  she started sleeping through the night (for the most part) while we were staying with my parents, loves when you sing to her, and love loves her big sister.  she's my little on-the-go baby.  i'm working on getting her on more of a structured schedule now that we are home.  but, it's nice when i know that if i have to run errands, she will most likely sleep in the car.  so blessed to have this little munchkin.

life with two is hard!  i'm trying to control my anxiety, and just let go of things that i can't control.  but, i wouldn't change it for a minute.