First Day of School!

Today was Shook's first day of school.  He is in room 103 with Tanisha and Charday.  They said he did so good today and smiled and giggled at them.  Here we are going in to school.

Jules went from infant room 101 with Leawana and Belinda to 106 with Kristine and Monika.  Here is Jules and her friends at their end of the year party in 101.

Here she is with her morning staple - mom's keys.

During the day, I got this picture texted to me from Mrs. Kristine.

You can tell she is having a blast!  No first day jitters here! 

I called Tanisha to check on Shook and his reflux.  She said he was doing okay and Mrs. Marie had taken him to visit his sister.  She said that Jules just kissed and petted him for awhile.  They are too sweet!

Happy First Day to Us!

Field Trip!

We headed over to Atlanta Saturday for a short field trip to the Acquarium.  Jules was out of school Friday as the teachers geared up for the new year so she was going stir crazy.  Plus, next weekend is fun-filled potty training time so we needed a break from this house.  The ride over to Atlanta went well...can't say the same for the ride back.  I sat in the back on the "hump" most of the way and I bet I sang 2,000 songs but that is another story...

Here's Jules and Shook in the car before the ride back!

Let me just say that the rest of these pictures are not great but the Acquarium was packed (or at least to me and Michael since we don't do well with crowds).  Also, I had to crop my ugly self out of a lot of these - that's why some of them are odd shaped.  But, we got to see lots of cool fish.

This is how Jules looked everytime we went to a different exhibit:

Here she is trying to pet the stingray (and me trying to take a picture around 100 other people):

You might also notice that she did a lot of pointing:

Here are some of the cool fish we saw:

Here's me trying to get Jules to stay still and pose (always an effort):

And here is what happened to both of them after barely 2 hours and before we could get out of the Acquarium good:

You know I should have said earlier that I think Shook liked the fish as much as Jules did.  Several people commented about he was just looking around and he stayed awake as long as Jules did.  He's a handsome little man!

Look at these dimples:

They Love Each Other...

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Shook's First Visit to the Zoo

Today we decided to get a zoo membership so we took the kiddos and headed out.  Here we are:

At the new Trails of Africa exhibit

I think the hen/rooster thought Jules was his cousin given her hair bow :)

Little Miss Priss Turns 19 Months Old!

Jules turns 19 Months old tomorrow!!  She is learning new things at an amazing pace right now.  Here is a list of the things she is doing:

• Just this month she has given up her paci.  She was only using it at night and early mornings but she was pretty attached to it.  I thought it was going to be really difficult but there was really only one bad morning and night - thank goodness. 
• Sleeps on a cot mat at school and in her toddler bed at home

This is Jules sleeping on her cot mat at school on the first day - Monday August 15, 2011 

• Repeats any word you say but says the following all the time: Elmo, "I Know", Mommy (sometimes MiMi like my niece and nephew call me), Daddy, Baby, DeeDee, Mar and Honey, Granny, PawPaw, Eli and Amelia from her class, Tay for Taylor, no-no, yeah, night night, Peak a Boo (I am pretty sure this was her first word, by the way), bye, hello, hey, bites along with the sign, pee pee, sky, airplane, tree, mooo for cow (and every other animal), "mo" for more along with the sign, sign language for please, sticks her tongue out and huffs for dog, eh eh eh and points for EVERYTHING she wants and goes to the refrigerator when she wants food.   She also apparently tells her friend McKenzie that she loves her but I've only heard her say it to her daddy once.  Everyone, including her teachers, comment on her language skills.  She is a talker, that's for sure.  She will talk, talk, talk to you even though you have no clue what she is saying. 
• She pretty much goes to the potty when you sit her on it but we have A LOT of work to do

This is Jules using her Elmo toilet seat.  She's so big!

• Runs and Jumps (she can get some air under one foot)
• Decent at going up and down stairs by herself 
• Sings "EIEI" during Old McDonald, "ABC" during the ABC Song, "LALALALA---ELMO" to the Elmo song and twirls round and round while you sing "Ring Around the Rosy" and "The Hokey Pokey"
• Says "Two, Three" after you say "One" or "Count" and can show you her two fingers
• She is finally giving closed mouth kisses (although Mommy loved the open mouth kisses too) and she gives the best bear hugs
• She hates washing her face, washing her hair, brushing her hair, putting her hair in ponies, brushing her teeth, washing her hands....you get the picture---anything to do with personal hygiene...I swear she gets that from her daddy and not me...
• Eats pretty well with a spoon and a fork
• Can drink out of an open mouth cup and a water bottle without making too much of a mess at all
• She will eat anything and everything but her favorites are fruit (bananas and watermelon take the cake), noodles, chicken, black olives and broccoli

At her 18 month appointment, she was a little over 28 pounds (90% percentile) and 34 inches long (95+ percentile). 

Pic of Jules at 19 months doing what she does:

Here is Jules giving her brother a kiss...She's so sweet!

 and sour!

HAHA...in all fairness we were super hot at the zoo and she was cutting her eye teeth.  Note that we HAD to have paci here and it wasn't even working!

And We Made It 3 Months...

3 Months ago today, little man was born.  We were apprehensive (at least I was) about the transition from 1 to 2 kids and everyone had told us that the second would be a much worse baby than the first.  Turns out that Shook is such a good baby - yes, even better than Jules was.  He is so laid back and barely ever cries.  I remember the second week home he was already sleeping 5 and 6 hours at least one time at night (usually 9 pm - 3 am) and he still pretty much has this same schedule. 


Unfortunately, we had to make our first trip to the doctor for an illness yesterday but as it turns out he just has reflux.  I say "just" but apparently reflux is now what they have identified as the cause of the dreadful colic.  He has been congested since day 1 but just recently started coughing.  He will only cry with a really bad coughing spell.  Our doctor said that we are lucky he is so laid back and that it didn't produce colic...I say AMEN to that!  For right now, we are just adjusting his feeding to 4 ounces instead of 6 with 2 tablespoons of rice cereal to thicken it up.  In addition, we have to burp him more and hold him upright for 30 minutes after he eats.  I pray it helps!

Also, yesterday, he weighed in at a whooping 15.15 pounds.  Our doctor thought this was pretty funny so he plotted him and he is still right on the 95% percentile.  At his 8 week appointment, he was about 14 pounds (95th percentile) and a little over 24 inches long (90th percentile).  Seeing as how he was born at almost 9 pounds and 21 inches, I don't really think this is over doing it.  What can I say --- we just like our babies with some rolls!

Is he not the cutest thing you have ever seen?

Shook has rolled from his stomach to his back twice and he rolls from his back to his side.  He is holding his head up really well but he does not like the Bumbo seat as much as his sister did.  However, they do both love the swing and they both hate the bouncy seat!  He is goooing all the time.  Two weeks ago my almost 92 year old grandmother kept him for the week (he starts school August 29th) and since she didn't have much else to do, she talked to him all week long.  It was funny to watch them, it was like they were having a conversation.  He would just talk right back to her - I got some of it on video because it was so funny.  He also smiles constantly and he is already giggling!  It's so much fun!  Jules did not giggle until way later...  Not much else to pass along except that he is in 6 - 9 month old clothes and I'm sure we won't be in those long!

Here's some pictures with Shook and Great Granny:

Here's some more pictures of Shook since birth just because he is so beautiful:

June 14th

June 27th

July 3rd

July 6th

July 10th

July 19th

July 27th

July 30th

July 31st