Sunday Pics

Sunday in Sonoma

I love living 20 minutes from wine county!! ...although it's a little different with two little ones in tow! Still fun, though! And less hangover :-)

Definitely Daddy's girl:


Daddy's girl:
Ben & Jerry's "Chocolate Therapy" flavor = bad idea


My 'lil tree hugger!

I've decided it is impossible to get both kids smiling and looking at the camera at the same time:

First Day of Preschool

Sigh--another milestone come and gone. My baby is officially in preschool. The first day went off without a hitch. We have been talking about preschool for months and I think she was really ready. There were no tears...and Brookey didn't cry, either!!! :-) It made me feel so great to see how truly HAPPY she was.

She's already had some really hilarious quotes. The first one happened when we were driving home the first day. I had had the absolutely SUCKIEST (word?) day in the history of days on Thursday and as we're driving, Brookey hits me with, "You know what, Mama? God makes the whole world beautiful." OMG!! I about drove off the road. Gotta love Catholic School! She definitely made me realize that even the worst days can be made better by your kids :-)

Hand-Me-Downs Suck

First they drag me outside into the sun and then they strap me in this pink stroller. Life sucks.

Last Days of Summer

It's hard to believe summer is on it's way out already!! School is back in session, Brookey's going to preschool next week and she is already starting to ask when we're going to the pumpkin patch or can she please be Belle/Cinderella/Barbie/Little Mermaid/Jasmine for Halloween :-)

We went to an "end of summer" party this weekend. We left 'lil Buddy home with Grandma Shanks since he's not really one to soak up the sun....AND Brookey finally got a BIG GIRL bike!! It even came with a place for Barbie to ride along with her....and you KNOW you are living in the 21st century when it included a helmet and knee pads...FOR BARBIE!! God help us!

Finally, they're giving me some REAL food!

We weren't planning on starting Will on solids until 6 months. At 4 months we tried and he could care less. Then I thought since he started daycare at 5 months, I didn't want to throw too many new things at him, so I thought waiting until 6 months would be fine. Until this past week when his daycare teacher mentioned, "Uh...have you thought about starting solids??" Apparently, he's been DRAINING his bottles and is just hungry a lot during the day. So we decided to give it another shot.

He's still getting used to it, but so far he's taking to sweet potatoes mixed with rice cereal. Yummy, yummy! We're going to try peas next. I made his food from scratch for the first time and it was so easy!!! I am just freezing them in those little Glad freezer/microwave containers. Two sweet potatoes makes about 12 "jars" of food! For less than $2! What a deal :) It's not very time consuming, either!!! I can't wait to see the messes he makes!!!!

Big Sis and Little Bro

My big girl and my 'lil chunker!!!!

Brookey

She loves to pose!

Classic Will

Pictures of Will doing his classic, "WTF??!" look. He's been doing this since birth--he just has less crinkles now!!!

5 Months Old!

Will turned five months old this week! It was a BIG week for him--his first day of "school" was Tuesday! I was a little nervous because I took him to his school to meet everyone on Monday and he gave me his classic "concerned/wrinkled/I need Botox" look and then he stuck out his lip--what he does when he's about to cry. I made Scott drop him off Tuesday and I of course expected schedules and everything would be off and he might cry as he adjusted to his new surroundings. To be expected. But Scott said he was just fine when he dropped him off.

I called around 1pm and the teacher was just raving saying what a GOOD baby he was (NO CRYING) and that he was napping and eating right on schedule. She said he went down for naps with no crying or anything...just fell right asleep and woke when it was time to eat. For those of you who read other blog, you know what a big feeling of pride this gives me!!! :-)

Most important, he's been coming home HAPPY, well rested and is going to bed at his normal time--just like always. So things are going really well for him so far. He's definitely become more active this month--LOVES LOVES the Jumperoo! We already had to raise it to the second level! And he's trying really hard to crawl--poor kid--i think his belly is too big to lift off the ground! He's beefy and eating well but I don't think he was near as big as Brooke at this age. He's still my baby--thank goodness!

Still no solids yet. We tried at 4 months and it didn't really fly. And now at 5 months he's making the transition to daycare, so I don't want to throw one more thing at him. He seems totally content right now and he's sleeping well, so we're going to start at 6 months. I'm in no really hurry this time around.

Overall, it's been a good month for Little Old Buddy!

Will's First Photo Shoot

When I took Brookey to her first photo session I remember it being absolute hell. She was just CRAZY. Little Will...well, he didn't let out a peep the entire time. Camera was flashing, we were all acting so stupid to try to get him to smile, changing his clothes, taking his clothes off...he didn't care! Although he was a rascal because he was laughing and smiling before AND after the pictures but was stunned with the camera in his face! So maybe he is getting some of Brooke's stubbornness! Oh, well--i think these still turned out OK. I can't believe our little man is almost FIVE months!