Maggie's First Day(s) of Kindergarten

Wow. My little 8 pound, 5 ounce pink little bundle of amazing preciousness just came home from the hospital, and here she is going to kindergarten!!!

I say first days of kindergarten because last Wednesday and Friday she had "transition" days for starting kindergarten. Not regular days, but orientation -type days, and her OFFICIAL first day of kindergarten was today, Monday. So since I am thoroughly confused as to what I should be considering her first day, I took two sets of pictures.

Here's last Wednesday:


I was very concerned about her being happy about going to school. She seemed excited at times, but in the weeks leading up to Wednesday there were still times that she acted really conerned about school, too. All tmy fears were put to rest after she got to her class, we put up her lunch and backpack in her cubby, and she sat at the table to start working on her Gingerbread Man necklace. I took the above picture and she says to me "Aren't you going home? I want you to go now." Well! That made it all better for me. She was excited to be there and didn't want me, so out the door I went. No tears from either of us. That afternoon when I picked her up she gushed about all that she did, and friends she had made and the school. Relief!

Here are pictures from today:
Pink and Hello Kitty and light-up shoes. A perfect first day outfit if I do say so myself!
Sometimes having to push a stroller has it benefits (other than the sweet chubby baby inside that stroller): like seeing how much Maggie loves her daddy and how much her daddy loves his little girl.
And my two sweet babies: 5 months and 5 years.
(sappy letter for my baby)
My dear Maggie,
The house is a whole lot quieter with you in school each day now. I miss your smiling face and toothless smile already. I can't wait to see and hear about all that you are learning this year. I am so glad you are becoming more independent and sure of yourself, but remember I'm always here for you, and like I always say you can always talk to me about anything. I love you and I am so proud of you. The Lord has blessed me beyond measure with you.
Love, Mama

Today has been a pacifier day. He's wanted it ALL day when normally it's just a toy for rotation. 

Couldn't Wait - Time for Cereal

I have really tried to wait until James was 6 months to introduce cereal, but the past week he's been waking up 2x a night to nurse and sometimes I can tell he's not full when he's done nursing during the day (which is not surprising since he's such a big boy). He is 5 months, 1 week and 4 days; we gave Maggie her first right at 5 months and 1 day. Not much difference between the two ages.

SO - we took the plunge and gave him some cereal this evening after we ate dinner and before bedtime. First picture: not sure what's about to happen.
Getting that first spoonful in his mouth.
And some more!
That was a messy as he got- a little bit on his lips. Very little of the cereal got spit out and he liked to suck it off the spoon. I'd say his first foray was a big success!
My happy boys after James' first cereal.
I am really looking forward to this new phase in Little Bubby's life. He ate about 2 tablespoons of cereal tonight fairly quickly - Maggie only got through 2 teaspoons and most of that ended up on her face or bib! I must say a big portion of the fun for me is seeing how much Maggie enjoyed his first meal. She really is so sweet to him yet - we'll see if that attitude is the same when he's mobile and sneaking toys out of her room!

Day at the Lake

Last Tuesday we went to the lake with Dixie, Zayli and Zeke. It was overcast and not blazing hot, but the water was PERFECT and the girls had a good time. They played on the railing that goes into the water for quite a while.
Cute little Zekers!
I got this floaty for James at the store- and it happened to be just like the one from Carl's house. I think James preferred to be in it this way instead of his legs in the holes.
We got a nice visit from a mama duck and her nearly-grown brood of ducklings. We fed them some grapes out of our lunch!

Toes!

Because he is so cute with his toes:

First Weekend in August: County Fair

Last weekend we took the kiddos to the Williamson County Fair. It was hot, but had rained earlier in the afternoon so the crowds weren't too bad.
You know I love me some turkeys! And these were a really neat color.
This bin of corn was probably the highlight of Maggie's day. She played in there for at least 1/2 an hour. Poured corn all over herself, covered her legs, made a "corn angel".
Posing with Daddy.
We let her pick two carnival games. She did the duck pond (
Then she picked the dart game. She actually popped one! The man gave her a stuffed elephant. We thought the rides would be a no-go for Maggie. But she LOVED them! She did the tea cups, mini roller coaster, giant slide and two kiddy lift-type rides all by herself. At the tea cups she didn't want Daddy to go with her (those rides make me vomit) and walked right up to a small group of girls and asked if she could ride with them. I was very proud of my outgoing girl right then.
The roller coaster was her least favorite. She didn't like how it jerked right before it went down the little hill. But she at least did it with a smile.
She is the second kid from the left all the way up there. She marched on up the steps all by herself, and even looked out and down to see me and wave. I was really impressed with how brave she was!
When it was her turn she went down right, no hesitating or acting afraid! Maggie was even happy when it was done - which was a lot better reaction than the water slides last month at Lake Chelan.
Daddy rode the carousel with her.
James is too little to enjoy most of the fair, but Maggie always makes an effort to keep him happy. We sat down for dinner and immediately she got him to laugh and giggle!
My favorite boys!
And I remembered to have Tyler take a photo with me and Maggie.
At the end of the afternoon, there was a "wild west" show with wolves. We thought it would be a good idea for Maggie to see them up close since they have been the center of her nightmares lately (poor baby!). She really liked seeing them, but hasn't helped the scary dreams.
Next year we plan on going a little later in the afternoon than we did before. We were hot and tired before the sun went down and missed out the fireworks on seeing all the rides lit up. We had a great time for our first family trip to the fair.

Another Tooth

Lost her top middle-front tooth last night. She yanked it out with dental floss.

Then she had to have me write a letter to the Tooth Fairy/Tooth Mouse. She was no longer convinced that she was visited by a Tooth Mouse since mommy and daddy had been visited by the Tooth Fairy as children. She drew both the Fairy and Mouse, which you will recall she called a mouse but was really a man the size of daddy.

The Tooth Fairy left her a reply letter and a drawing of herself AND A DOLLAR! Maggie was most excited about the letter.

And the sweet girl this morning. Her gapped smile makes my heart flop every time. I can't believe she's old enough to be losing all these teeth and starting kindergarten to boot!

Update: Tyler took this photo Monday night. My beautifully radiant little girl - what a smile!

Swimming

Wednesday Tyler's work closed early so we could go swimming at his bosses house - it has been SO hot here we haven't been outside a whole lot unless water is involved, and I keep James inside most of the time because he is too little for sunscreen yet. Carl's pool is surrounded by trees, so when we got there it was nice and shady - a perfect place to swim all afternoon!

We got Maggie to ditch her tube and "swim" in her life jacket. I feel much safer with her in it, and I think it helped her feel more comfortable in the water.
James had a great time in the water.
Here's the little man giving me kisses! It was so sweet.
Gotta have a picture of Maggie and a beer bottle. It was empty, folks. Chill. And Gramma Amron, as soon as Maggie saw her next-year's swimsuit was a two piece, even though the top is a rash guard, she insisted on wearing it. We have been having the bikini battle for some time now (she wants one, we have said absolutely not) - this quelled the issue with her. Baggy bottoms and all she loves to wear this suit. It will fit better next year.
James finally gave it up and fell asleep in the stroller I got out so we could eat dinner without having to control his grabby hands. I love his little popped up leg there!
Thanks, Carl, for letting us swim in your pool!

James is 5 Months - August 3

Here is my little man! This past month we have started blowing bubbles, rolling on our sides, got a tooth, started playing with toys... really growing fast! And still, so happy! We had a couple days with many tears, he is teething and I think had a small virus, but now we're back to happy and smiley and flirty. James has the best waggling eyebrows I've ever seen! And he will smile and flirt with just about anyone. We are all still so much in love with our little buddy.
July 22 he had his 4-month wellness visit (late because we were on vacation) and he measured 27 inches long and weighed 19 pounds 7 ounces. I'm sure he's a good 20 pounds by now as he gained about an ounce a day between his appointment on July 1 in Seattle and this most recent visit.

Little Man is needing a lot more stimulation than just laying on the floor these days. He loves to roll over and chew on the toys I put out for him, but that lasts only so long. I will say that he is already starting to pull his knees up under himself when he rolls to his tummy - maybe he will crawl sooner than Maggie?

I pulled out the Exer-saucer and he loves it.
And I've started putting him in the Bumbo with some toys, too. This one needs more supervision- his spastic hands clear off the toys pretty quick and an empty tray creates a sad baby pretty quickly. Most days now I spend a good deal of time moving him between a blanket on the floor with toys, the Bumbo, the Exer-saucer and the swing (4th set of batteries, by the way and I think the motor is about to seize up).
We had a new friend come over - Josiah (and big brother Elijah). These two are only 2 1/2 weeks apart. Josiah's mom, Diana, is thinking about cloth diapers so I went over what we do and lent her some to see if she wants to go for it. We are so very thankful for our precious, sweet little man! Every good and perfect gift is from above!

Bubble Gun Fun

Got a bubble gun-thing at the store. It is pretty awesome.