Toys and toes

Elizabeth is getting so big!  On Tuesday she turned 4 months and she is developing quite a personality.  She loves to be talked to and to stand on people's laps.  She hates tummy time, but since she hasn't rolled over yet I keep making her tolerate it for a little bit each day.  She loves to grab her toes and has started to be interested in her toys.  I just got her the much famed Sophie the Giraffe and we will see if it lives up to its hype.  Elizabeth loves to chat to anyone who will listen and it is becoming a possibility that she will teach her brother to talk.  We can't wait to see what she does next!

Looking pretty for Grandpa's birthday

fell asleep while playing with my toes

playing with the flowers big brother picked

Hanging out with Daddy

In the Wilderness

We recently returned from a 3 week camping trip.  While it seemed like a good idea I think in the end it was just too long and too far away.  Next time I think we will go for less time and not travel as far from home.  We did have some great times along the way and saw some beautiful sights.  Here are some of the highlights.  First we traveled up to Fairfield, Texas to look at homes we might want to buy and get to see around the town.  We did find a couple of possibilities that gave us something to think about the rest of our trip.  Our next stop was up to see the Culp Family and camp at the Devil's Tower.  John and Katie have a daughter a little younger than Jason and a son who was born less than a week after Elizabeth.  We had a great time at the park, having dinner and catching up with them, but I was silly and completely forgot to get our camera out of the car.

After driving across Wyoming we met up with the Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Michelle and Uncle Michael at Teton National Park near Yellowstone.  We got in trouble there with the bear police, and I got pretty fired up about it, but Jeff kept a cool head as usual.  Then we spent a day in Glacier National park before traveling up to Canada.  We camped at Banff National Park for a week before starting our 3 day ride home.

Jason playing in the flowers

Elizabeth stopping for lunch

Jason inspecting the waterfall

Both of the kiddos fell asleep on this hike

Mommy and Daddy with our dinasours in front of the glacier

Riding the gondola to the top of the mountail

Everyone (except Grandpa)

Elizabeth's Baptisim

I'm so sorry it has been a month since I last wrote.  I have so much to say just not enough time to say it in.  Well with that in mind I will keep this brief.  Elizabeth turned 3 months old on June 26th and was also baptized the same day. Both sets of grandparents got to be there and Uncle Kevin, Aunt Rachel and Aunt Karen flew out to be in San Antonio with us.  On Saturday we all went downtown to the Alamo and the River Walk.  On Sunday after the Baptism we all headed over to the house and had a great brunch together before the Comers had to head back to Virginia.  I think everyone had a great time!


















Coming soon is a recap of our big camping trip!

Big boy Jason!

We have started using time out a lot more with Jason when he throws his toys or doesn't listen to Jeff or I or just generally misbehaves.  I'm not sure it is sinking in, but it stops the bad behavior for the moment.  The funniest part is that Jason will put himself into time out.  We will be talking nearby and hear him throw a toy and then watch him pitter patter into the corner.  It is so hard not to laugh in moments like these!

I am so ready for a day when he is done with diapers, but as of right now he hasn't given any indication that he is ready to start potty training.  So we will wait, besides with our current living situation in a little bit of limbo I figure we don't want to change too much on him at one time.  He is growing up so fast though, when we tell him he needs a diaper change he will lay down on the floor so that we can change him, which is so much better than having to chase him around the living room!

We always say that our little boy never grows, but again he is proving us wrong.  The other day I felt like Jason's shoes were getting tight on him and thought he needed to move up a size.  We went to the store to get his feet measured and he was weighing in at a 7.5 the shoes he was wearing were ...5.5, opps!  I guess we are going shoe shopping today

We have been seeing Jason grow up right before our eyes!  I wonder if he wouldn't seem so grown up if we didn't have Elizabeth right there to compare him to.  Now if only we can get him to talk!

Pretty Baby

Our sweet girl is getting so big! Elizabeth had her two month check up last Thursday and is at 50% in both length and weight. She is such a sweetheart too! She has started to learn to use her hands and loves to suck on them. I worry a little about her becoming a thumb sucker, but realize that she is just exploring her world and part of that is checking out how her body works. Beth loves to watch the mobile in her crib, but we have to watch Jason very carefully because it is a Winnie the Pooh mobile and Jason often wants to climb in and love on his friends.

Speaking of our little climber the other day I was busy doing something upstairs and Jason wandered down to the kitchen. The house is mostly baby proof so I am not too worried that he can get into much. When his Aunt Michelle came in she found him sitting nicely on the bar stool drawing on the envelopes with a pencil. I had no clue he could climb up there! I guess he is getting bigger all the time!

In other family news it looks like we are moving again! Jeff accepted a verbal offer of a job with a coal mine in Fairfield, Texas. It is about 4 hours Northeast of San Antonio so I know the grandparents will love us being this close. Jeff is trying to get me all hyped up about houses again, but I am trying to wait until we can take a trip there to get excited. We are figuring out a good time to visit the area in the next month and will keep everyone updated as we know more.

Our life recently

Lately Jason has been falling asleep on the way home from church on Sundays.  That's okay with me because it seems like when he falls asleep earlier for naps he sleeps better at night.  The only difficult part is taking my sleeping boy from his car seat to his bed when we get home.  I pride myself on rarely waking him up for this even as I take off his shoes and cuddle his sweet limp body on my shoulder.  When I have to take Jason, Elizabeth and all our stuff in by myself it requires a few trips out to the car and back.  This Sunday Jeff was with us and he brought in Elizabeth and my diaper bag.  As I was coming down the stairs he told me we needed to have a conversation.  Apparently I was getting my anniversary present from him today, he was taking me to dinner and a concert in Austin (about an hour away.)  YAY!  but my head was spinning with questions: Who? Celtic Woman. When? leaving at 3pm. What are we doing with the kids? ditching them with Grandma!  I got a date night out!

So even though the traffic was awful in Austin (seriously, who does construction on every major highway at the same time?) we had a wonderful time.  Our first stop was Cabela's, a sporting goods store, to get a reclining camping chair to replace the one I got Jeff for Christmas that was broken.  Next it was time to battle the traffic to get some dinner, we decided on Outback, and off to the show.  I was a little nervous as we waited for the show to begin that since I didn't know much about the group or any of their music I wouldn't enjoy the show.  That was not the case at all.  I did know some of the songs and I enjoyed listening to the new ones.  After the concert was over we hurried home before exhaustion set in. 

We came home to a report that both of our kiddos ate that night.  Jason decided to try a little bit of everyone's dinner and Elizabeth ate 16oz in the 6 hours she was awake!  Grandma has decided that our little girl is going to eat us out of house and home, we will see.  Both of them went to bed without a problem.  All in all it was a pretty good night!



 Some other things that are going on with us:
Jason got his first professional haircut and is looking so much like a big boy!

Jeff has a few job nibbles, but nothing is signed yet.  We will keep you updated with that.

Jeff and my 6 year wedding anniversary is coming up on Sunday May 29th.



Elizabeth has her 2 month appointment on Thursday and we are all going camping this weekend.  But right now the little girl needs me so I'll have to sign off.

Who will they grow up to be?

When a baby is born everyone asks who you think she looks like and before I had kids I honestly thought all newborns looked the same.  I mean they do look a little bit all squished up and wrinkly, but their parents always find distinctive features.  Before Elizabeth was born I envisioned another Jason, just wearing pink.  She has way more hair then he did, but I had a hard time figuring out any features that were distinctly mine or Jeff's.  When we brought her home Grandma Salomon said she looks just like her Mommy and the older she gets the more I realize she is right.

Of course there are ways that our children are like us other than in physical attributes.  They both love to be outside and although that isn't very surprising of a two year old boy, Jason, like his sister, has always been happier when he is outside.  We just take Elizabeth on a walk around the yard to calm her down, it's amazing!  They of course got that from their father, whose first word wasn't Mama or Dada, but outside!  Elizabeth hates change, she doesn't like to be passed from one person to another and if she is happy she wants to stay where she is.  We are so blessed that she is sleeping very well at night only waking about once a night after sleeping 5 or 6 hours at a time!  Jason is currently our sleep fighter, but he always has trouble when we are in a new place so maybe he isn't a big fan of change either.  Mommy is the one that I am sure they have gotten that from.

And why is it that Jason loves trains?  Is it because his family's love of them was breed into him or is that just something he picked up? No matter if it is nature or nurture it will be interesting to see these little ones grow up.