Little Miss Independent

Thanks to all of mommy's hype, Izzy has really bought into the whole being a big girl thing. Any time a new baby enters a family dynamic, one would expect the older sibling to regress a little. Thankfully, all our efforts have prevented this from happenincg and Izzy's been becoming more and more independent. She now takes baths by herself. We of course watch her down the hallway and help out with complicated tasks but we don't hover over her anymore and instead let her enjoy her free play time in the tub. She even drains the water out when she's ready to get out. An added bonus is her bath time has been reduced...I guess it's not as much fun if there's no audience.

Izzy is also sitting in a regular chair now for her meals and is using regular utensils...she's quite proud of that. She's still learning her big girl manners but making great progress. Sean and I have to constantly remind ourselves, she only 3. We're holding on to the hope that at four, they get easier, right?

Since Izzy no longer needs her booster chair, Luke has moved right on in and now hangs out with the family during dinner. He made it a few minutes before we lost our appeal for him and he dozed off. Izzy can't wait for him to start solids so that she can feed him. Another lesson in patience for all of us.

Weekend update

We had a busy weekend, but unfortunately, neglected to take our camera to capture the fun stuff. On Saturday, we went to a baby shower and got to see some old and very dear friends. Izzy and I, of course enjoyed all the deserts most as we both indulged for the special occasion. Thankfully, there aren't any pictures of that! Below is just one of probably many more pictures to come of Izzy holding Luke. I haven't yet figured out if she truly loves to hold him this much or just loves the opportunity to have her picture taken again..."Take my picture, Mommy."

Luke's been getting stronger and stronger. He can lift himself up and even rolled over twice last week. I think he just got lucky, though, because despite his efforts, he hasn't been able to repeat this accomplishment. He's has reached the stage where he wants to be sitting upright at all times to see everything that's going on. While I appreciate his curiosity, my arms do not...he's one heavy baby! I can't quite recall who gave me the boppy when I was pregnant with Izzy, but thank you whomever you are. Nursing would be quite the workout without it!

A rare photo of Mommy and her babes...I'm finding that with all my mom friends, we are very rarely in pictures anymore. Partly due to being self-conscious about our post baby bodies and partly because most dads seems to forget to capture these precious moments. Dads, forgive my gross generalization...I said most, not all. I'm trying to not fight the camera anymore no matter how terrible I look for fear that when my kids are older, they won't have to wonder where mommy was during their childhoods.

Finally...video!

Snow White's work is never done

Like most little girls, Izzy loves dressing up like the Disney princesses. Her absolute favorite costume is the Snow White costume Sean bought for her for a quarter at a yard sale. Yesterday she got the cleaning bug and decided to clean up a bit for mommy. I'm training her well although she still leaves her socks and shoes around the house like her daddy.

Izzy and I were playing around with the camera and I told her to give me a big smile. Ofted when I tell to her to smile, she gives a very fake looking smile so to solve that issue, I told her to give me a hot fudge sundae look...it was perfect!

A visit from Aunt Carol

Sean's Aunt Carol stopped by on Memorial Day for a visit. We were so happy to show off our Luke to her. We all always enjoy her visits and wish she still lived close by so that we could see more of her. She has an uncanny knack for filling the room with happiness and aughter.

Growing up too fast.

I'm continually amazed at how quickly my little Izzy is growing up. I was attempting to download video of her from last summer and could not believe how much older she seems now (and no, I still can't figure out our camcorder..so frustrating! I have not given up though!).

Last Saturday Izzy was in a particularly indepedent mood and spent a lot of time playing by herself. To our surprise, she decided to spend about an hour working in one of her activity books. She loves doing the mazes and looking for the hidden pictures. I was shocked at how focused she remained on this activity. She's normally a ball of energy and floats from one activity to the next but on this day, she actually remained still enough for some great pictures.

Playing in the rain.

Luke, LaPooh and I like to take an early morning walk before the heat gets too stifling. Last week on one of our walks, we got caught in a torrential rainstorm. We were about halfway through our one mile walk when it started to pour. I thought for sure he was going to cry the whole way home but he seemed to like the feeling of the rain on his feet. He was quiet and enjoyed the sound of the rain hitting his stroller canopy. I snapped a few quick pictures when we got home. If you look closely, you can see the rain drops resting on his chubby cheeks.