Vacation

We visited Marco Island again this year for our Dec. vacation. The condos there are very nice with a full sized kitchen and down feather beds. They also have complimentary laundry service so that helped out a lot with the children's clothing. We had them wash all of our clothes before we came home so we came home all we had to do it put away the clothes. It helped out a bunch! We had a two bedroom this year because Mom came with us. She watched the kids one night so Jim and I could go out to dinner. We went to a French restaurant that was delicious.

Here is James and Jim together. James loved the pool. As soon as he was in the water he kept kicking and splashing...non stop!! It made it hard to hold him because he was ALWAYS kicking and then splashing you in the face. It was worth it though...SO CUTE!!

Sophia and Jim made a sand castle together. They also made a sand snowman (Sophia loves snowmen this year) but the snowman didn't turn out so well. I thought the sand castle looked pretty good though!

We will definitely go back again next year, except Dad and/or Mary is going to have to come along to (Mom's request). It is such a relaxing and beautiful place to go to. Down the street is a shopping complex with restaurants, an ice cream parlor, and a movie theatre that serves meals. Since it is a small island, there are not that many streets so it is easy to navigate and the people at the hotel are so accommodating and friendly. We had a nice relaxing time. And I think everyone except Mom and maybe Jim got plenty of rest - Thanks Mom!!

POTTY TRAINED!!!

Well, I think it is official. Sophia is potty trained!! She has gone over 10 days without having one accident and with telling us that she needs to go potty. I rarely have to remind her now to go. It is awesome! I took her shopping to pick out her very own underwear and to my surprise she chose Princess underwear. Now we are in a big Princess stage. She wants everything Princess. Today she chose Princess Ariel (The Little Mermaid), and she danced around the house singing "Princess Ariel". So cute! I still put her in a diaper to go to bed and she got very upset today about that.

James 6 Months Pictures

James gives this look a lot, especially when he is meeting someone new or you want to hold him but he is trying to tell you he is fine where he is at.

Sitting up like a champ!

I love this photo. See his two teeth!

This is a new trick he learned to do with his lips. Adorable!!

In other updates, I don't remember if I mentioned this or not but Sophia's EEG results came back normal!! Yeah! She doesn't need to be put on any medications or anything. We thought that was great news. The children right now are napping so I am trying to catch up on things but as usual, I can't think of anything else that the kids are doing. Oh, Sophia is potty trained during the day. She will run to the potty when she has to go. The funny thing though is that she can't pull down her own pants yet. So yesterday, Jim took care of the kids while I went to dinner with Christina (Thank you!!) and when I came home, Jim told me that Sophia pee-peed on the potty. Except, Jim was busy with James so Sophia went to go do it by herself. When she was done, she showed Jim all of the pee in the potty. Jim looked in there and wondered how she did it all by herself. Until he realized that her pantyhose were soaking we in the middle!! Funny - remind you of anything Carol?!

James 6 Months Check-Up

I know I haven't blogged in a long time but it has been really busy. I promise soon I will post new pictures and catch everyone up. In the mean time, James had his 6 month check-up yesterday. He is 29 inches long (which means he is growing out of his infant car seat and I have to buy a new one), 18 pounds 12 ounces, and I can't remember the head circumference except that it was in the 70%ile. His height is in the 100%ile and his weight is in the 70%ile. If you saw him before his bath, you could tell he is going to be just like Jim, long and skinny. Anyway, he is doing awesome and is sitting up on his own. What a big boy!

Breakfast in Bed

This morning I was pleasantly surprised by breakfast in bed. Jim had gotten up with the children, turned off the monitors so I couldn't hear them, and he let me sleep in until 7:45!! When I woke up, I had a tray of scrambled eggs, vegetarian bacon, two homemade pancakes (one with peanut butter, one without), and a glass of chocolate milk. Yum Yum!! What a sweet and wonderful husband!

Sophia update: it could be a couple of weeks until we get the test results back from her 48 hour EEG. I will post pictures as soon as I take the time to download the pictures.

James update: He is sitting on his own and has two teeth. Big Boy!

This and That

It has been a long time since I have blogged but we have been VERY busy. I will give you the short of everything and fill you in later when I have more time. First of all we put our house up on the market. We are hopefully moving to a bigger house with more bedrooms. I will definitely miss our backyard! We have been busy with showing the house (which involves a lot of cleaning and running the kids out of the house for an hour at a time). We have had 8 showings but no takers yet.

I was gone last week on my girl trip. It was relaxing but the weather was terrible. I was gone a week and we only had one day of sun. The rest of the week was strong winds, rain, and thunderstorms ... constantly! The lesson learned was to never go to the Caribbean in October.

Second of all, Sophia goes into the hospital tomorrow for her 48 hour EEG. She had another seizure today while I was at the doctor. I guess it was a bad one. Apparently this time she grew pale and then was very tired afterward. This is the first time she has gotten tired after having one so I am worried that her petit mals might be turning into grand mals but I am sure I am just being a worried mother. Let's pray the results are nothing serious!

I have a million pictures to post and will as soon as Sophia and I are back from the hospital.

New Tooth

Big News - James got his first tooth!! Very exciting. It is his lower left incisor. I didn't even know he had any ready to pop through because he hasn't been fussy or anything. He was chewing on my hand while I was clipping his fingernails and I felt it. The second exciting news was today was his first day to have cereal. He did well for his first time. Hopefully tomorrow will go just as well and then maybe he will start sleeping all the way through the night.

Sophia news is that today she spelled MOM. Well, okay not exactly spelled but I wrote the word on the side of the bathtub and she pointed to the letters and said "M...O...M...Mama!". I know Jim worked with her on her M's today but I don't know where she learned the O from. She is a little sponge for new information. Smart little cookie!

Neuro Visit

We got our neurology appointment moved up to today. Sophia did awesome. We met with the doctor and she educated us on a lot of information regarding seizures. Then Sophia had her EEG. She sat very still while they put the electrodes on and then she sat on my lap while they did the test. The test took 30 minutes. We read books and she did very well. She only cried at the end when they had to take the electrodes off because the electrodes were pasted to her hair on her head. We got the results back already - normal - YEAH!! However, the doctor expected that. Now we have to go into the hospital for a 2 day video EEG. Ugh. We will get a call tomorrow when that is but the neurologist is trying to schedule it for next week. I am going to stay with Sophia during that time. Jim has to work two days next week so if it is scheduled during that time we might need to call in some reinforcements to help with James. Anyway, I'll keep everyone updated on that report. Hopefully the video EEG will be normal as well.

7 Things

I got this from Paula. So here are 7 random, weird things about me that you may or may not know.

1) I love blueberries. I could eat my weight in them - and since having two kids so close together - that is a lot of weight :-). Every summer I buy 4 pounds at a time and I buy them every week. YUM!

2) I cannot stand to hear people eating. Therefore we eat our meals with either the news or music on. When I hear people eat or when I see them eat with their mouths open, I want to throw up. I have been known to stop eating because I could hear my own self eat and it made me lose my appetite.

3) I love cars. I love how they look, how they drive, all of the features, the colors...everything. If I had millions and millions of dollars I would probably own 10 or more cars.

4) The last thing I do every night before I go to bed is go to the bathroom. It doesn't matter if I just went 5 minutes ago. If Jim starts talking with me or if I go check on one of the kids, I will have to go to the bathroom again before I can fall asleep.

5) I always have the house alarm on - unless Jim is home. Even in the middle of the day, I will turn alarm on. I don't know why, I'm not scared in my own home. It is just something that I do.

6) I secretly watch The Girls Next Door when I am bored. I don't know what it is about the show but I think it is funny. Maybe it is because it is a lifestyle that is soooo different from my own that is interesting. Also, I don't quite understand what it is about Hef that attracts all of these girls.

7) I have an anxiety attack every time I fly. It doesn't stop me from flying but every time the plane takes off and lands, I pray and take deep breaths while my heart pounds and I get very very still with nervousness.

There you go - 7 strange little facts about ME! I don't know 7 people who have blogs (and I don't know how to attach the blog to this posting and I don't really have time right now to figure it out - I'm a busy Mom today) but I will tag people that I know who have blogs as well as some people to respond via email. I tag Beck, Carol, Mom, Paula A., Jim, Suz, Christina.

Sophia

It looks like Sophia is having seizures again. For those of you who don't know, Sophia started having seizures at around 4 weeks old but the EEG was normal and the pediatric neurologist thought she would out grow it. Well, she did, up until about 3-4 weeks ago. We have an appointment Oct. 21 with the neurologist. I am sure she will order tests. Jim saw two of the seizures this week and he is going to call on Monday to see if we can get the tests done sooner so when we come to the appointment, we will already have test results in hand. Let's hope she will just 'grow out of them' and that it is nothing serious. Keep her in your prayers, please.

Skunk!!!!!

Well, we finally caught the animal that has been stinking up our house! The skunk has been living underneath our sunroom for a good portion of the summer and when he sprays - YUK - it really stinks. So we are thankful that we caught him. He was not hurt at all. Critter Control came out and got him for us. It is my understanding that they relocate the skunk away from our house. For all of those animal lovers out there - no skunk was hurt in the catching of said skunk.

He was a pretty big skunk!

I thought he might actually try to figure out how to open that cage!

Sophia was very interested in the animal. She kept saying "catch animal".

The Critter Control man was able to get the skunk without being sprayed.

4 Month Check-Up

James had his 4 month check-up this past Monday. He pasted with flying colors. He is 16 pounds (50%ile), 26 1/4 in long (95%ile), and his head is 17 inches. I believe he is going to be built like Jim. James also got 4 vaccines. Since then he has had a fever of 100.9 and has been tired and fussy. Poor little buster!

Colts

Jim and I went to the Colts game on Sunday for Jim's birthday (his birthday is in Oct. so it was an early birthday present). We had a great time. Our tickets were AMAZING! We were on the 50 yard line on the second level, fourth row in the club seats. We could see everything! The new stadium is so nice. It's too bad that we lost the game but it was close! We were entertained at least. Something exciting that happened was that I saw Billy Bob Thornton! It had to be him because it looked like him, he had the same smile, and when he talked, it sounded just like him! I couldn't believe it. There were only about 10 people in the concession area of the club section so I don't think anyone else knew he was there, unless they were like me and didn't want to be one of those people who bugs them. Beck watched the kids for us so we had a nice relaxing time out. Thanks Beck!

Once Upon A Potty

For those of you who don't remember, Sophia is potty training. She was doing great but then went through a "NO" stage. Now she is back to wanting to sit on the potty but she wants to do it in the kitchen. Apparently the bathroom in the hall was too far away for her. She does sit on it for long periods of time and the downstairs bathroom is pretty dark and small. So, I let her bring it into the kitchen area. At first it turned out great because when I saw her get 'the look' on her face that she was going to poop, I could quickly get her on the potty. We were having lots of success. Well, then we got the movie "Once Upon a Potty". It is very cute but now Sophia wants to watch it while she sits on the potty. As a result, I know the movie and "The Potty Song" by heart. I even caught myself singing it at the grocery store! I thought it was wonderful at first because she was then motivated to sit on the potty. We don't get "NO" anymore when we mention the potty so we were thrilled. However, it has resulted in a lot of movie watching for Sophia, which I do not like. We have also invested in another potty movie with a girl names Hannah. I forget the name of the movie but it too has a potty song. It is also very cute but, good grief, I am tired of them.

On other notes, Jim is telling me that Sophia just identified all of her colors, including brown and she can identify circles and ovals. She can name ovals. She has mastered a 15 piece shape sorter and tonight was just putting together a puzzle that involved putting two pieces together to make the picture, as opposed to just putting one piece in the slot. I realize to some of you out there that this may sound like bragging but I really just proud of her and want to share her accomplishments. I am her MOM after all, isn't that what mom's are supposed to do? Anyway, James is rolling over now and today I found him in his crib, laying on his belly and face, with his left arm and leg stuck through the bars of the crib. He was NOT happy about this. I don't really like that he is doing this because he is not rolling from his belly to back very well. He does do back to belly well though. Monday we have his 4 month appointment. I can't wait to see how much he has grown!!

Taste Tip

Here is a tasty tip - try Country Crocks Cinnamon Butter. Yum-O!! I bought it to go with our pork chop dinner the other night and we all loved it. This morning we tried it on pancakes - Mmmmmm. Try it - I think you'll like it. Warning - it is possible that this item will make you fat!!

Catching Up

It is time to catch everyone up on what has been going on. I forget what I have already blogged on so if I repeat anything I am sorry. Just bear with me. First off, Jim got home from his hiking trip on Saturday and he had a great time. They saw lots of bears and some were in their campsite (scary!). I have yet to see the pictures but all the men made it home safely. While he was gone, the kids and I had a great time. We stayed super busy. The first part of the week we were at Mom and Dad and I did some painting (which I LOVED). When we came home we had the maids here, errands to run, the Schwan man to treat us, my speech therapy child graduated, my sitter cancelled, breakfast with Suz and Maria, a visit to the Honda dealer, pictures to pick up, and a garage sale. Speaking of the garage sale, I thought it was a lot of fun. Beck did it with me and Lisa came over to help. All of us went shopping around the neighborhood too. Beck ended up buying a crib and Adam got a bike. Matthew got some toys (which Adam wanted to trade is bike in for - funny boy). Sophia got some My Little Ponies, a CareBear doll, some small toys from Beck, and lots of books I bought to kids a ladybug tent. There is a picture of it below. Len and Suz brought over a picnic table and more books for the kids too. Sophia LOVES the picnic table. She has colored on it everyday so far.



Sophia was sick this week. Her fever got up to 103.3. We saw Suzanne several times over the weekend for various things so she said it was probably viral. She has seen a LOT of hand-foot-mouth but Sophia never developed the blisters that accompany this. Jim tested her for strep and the results were negative. I guess it was a run-of-the-mill virus. Anyway, after 3 days of illness, she seems to be back to normal. Today she was laughing and running around like normal and her appetite was back as well. James so far hasn't developed any symptoms so that is good. Now we are just trying to plan out the rest of the week. With the illness, we missed Sophia and James' Gymboree class so on Thursday I think we will make up Sophia's class. We will make up James' class on Saturday. Sophia and I are supposed to ride in the Tour de Carmel on Saturday but I can't find a babysitter for James. Anyone want to watch James for me????

James and Daddy after Jim got home from the airport. Everyone was happy to see him.

Sophia and Mommy

Sophia is still doing well with potty training. At first she was doing awesome but then we hit the "NO" stage so we took it easy and didn't pressure her. Now she is back to wanting to sit on the potty again. I think it is because we wash hands afterwards and she thinks it is fun to make bubbles on her hands with the soap. Hey, whatever works right?!

New Pics of James and Sophia

We went to Celebrity Kids and got the kids' pictures taken. Here is James at 3 months and Sophia at 18 Months. I just love the work they do in the studio.

Here is my little Jamesie. He is so happy and smiley all the time. He is also a 'ladies man'. I have noticed he loves being cuddled by women. I think he would have been very happy if I would have just left him at Mom and Dad's this week because Grandma loved holding him.

I love this photo of Sophia. Not very often will she smile into the camera when you tell her to but she sure will act it up in front of the lense.

Here is the photo of the two of them that we choice. Sophia just laid down beside James. So cute.

Happy Little Man!

Sophia was having fun with this prop and they shot the picture while she was jumping out. Very cute. She gives me this look at home when she is up to making trouble!

Mini-Van Update

Just wanted to update on the Mini-Van. It is the Odyssey by Honda and I have not named her yet. I just wanted to say, and I can't believe that I am admitting it, that I LOVE it. Sophia climbs in the car herself. I just have to put her in the seat. She can climb in while I put James in. It is sooo convenient. There is plenty of room in the back for when we visit Mom and Dad and a place for everything! Ahhh, organization and peace. Lovely.

It's Not Lipstick

Sophia got some paints when James was born and she loves them. She also loves to put on Mommy's makeup with Mommy in the morning. Apparently on this day, she got confused on which one she was supposed to play with and which one she was supposed to wear. It started with the red paint and went on to the blue. I don't think blue lipstick is for her but she might have a future in red lipstick!
James turned 3 Months and is just adorable in our eyes. He always turns his head this way and is starting to get a flat, as well as a bald spot, on the back side of his head. Poor little man! I am always trying to get him to look in the other direction. He is starting too but he still prefers to look to his right.

Updates

Let me catch everyone up on the past few days. We got our Odyssey and I LOVE it. If I knew I would have liked it this much we would have bought one a long time ago. It is so convenient! The wood trim on the inside looks awesome and Sophia can climb into the mini herself, which helps. Speaking of Miss Sophia, she is doing well on the potty. Everyday she poops and pees at least once. Of course everyday she also pees on the floor because we tried to pee to soon or too late. Oh well. Thank goodness for the Little Bissell. She is also saying new words galore and I don't know where she learns it all. She says "Oh Man" if she drops something. Pointed out and names purple and yellow for me (she already knows blue) and finished counting to 9 (I said 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 and Sophia yelled 9). Tomorrow she gets her 18 month pictures taken. Hopefully she will be cooperative because we are going through a big NO stage. Yesterday Sophia also thought it would be fun to sit in a puddle of water on our sidewalk and then roll around in it. I was teaching her how to make splashes with her foot and she decided to take it one and then two steps further. I am sure our neighbors were enjoying the entertainment because it was in our front yard. I wish I had my camera because it was pretty funny.

Master James is doing great and the little man just smiles ALL the TIME! He is so cute and cuddly!! I wish I had all day with nothing to do so I could hold all the time. He is starting to get heavy. I don't know how much he weighs but I can tell he is getting much heavier. His eyes are also getting bluer. Tomorrow he is getting his 3 months pictures taken. I bought a baby blue shirt to go with his eyes so hopefully the pictures will turn out well. He slept through the night last night without waking up to eat. That was very nice! He did wake up at 4:30 but easily went back to sleep once I gave him is paci. He slept from 7:30 until 7:30. Let's hope that is a trend. James also rolled over today too! He was mad and wanted his bottle NOW! So he curled himself up, yelled out and rolled on over. I think he was shocked because he stopped crying.

2 Days in a Row!!

Well, Sophia did it again. I am so proud of her! We were at lunch and she said, "Uh oh, Mama...Poop." While she continued to say "Uh Oh" we ran to the bathroom (which happened to be at the mall) and badaboom...poop. Yeah! I am so glad she is telling me when she has to poop! Then before bath we always sit on the potty. Tonight (for the third time this week - what a big girl) she went pee-pee. I am so proud of my 18 months old. I certainly didn't expect this much success for months!!

POOP in the POTTY!!!

Today at lunch Sophia said "Mama Poop, Poop". So I ran her to the bathroom, set her on the toilet and TA-DA...POOP! I was so excited! Sophia got to choose an item from the "Treasure Chest". She was very happy and tried to call Grandma on my cell phone. This was the first time she pooped on the potty and the first time she told me she had to go potty. Yeah!!

Call me "Soccer Mom"

Well, it's official. I am embracing my motherhood. We have bought a minivan. Granted, it has every feature you can possibly get plus some added accessories ( I wanted to stand out) and is just as nice in convenience as the Mercedes, but it was a hard step to take. It feels like we spent the whole day doing this. We started this morning with Jim and James getting the Honda and Sophia and I getting the Toyota. We met in the church parking lot, crawled through them, drove them around and tried it all out. Sophia sat nicely and watched a Little People DVD and James slept. We decided on the Honda because Jim knees hit the dashboard on the Toyota (you can't recline the seats too far back because of the carseats). It is really nice. I chose a black mini with black interior. I really REALLY liked the ivory interior but just didn't think it was a smart idea to get ivory interior with two small children (milk, juice stains - YUK). The black should at least hide that better and crumbs that may show up on the black seats can be vacuumed out. So anyway, it took me forever to decide (big surprise) but it is done. And, all of the colors I really liked either don't come in the Touring edition or had gray interior (I personally HATE grey interior on big vehicles). Plus, I didn't really want a minivan that everyone else has. Thus, we have black on black. We just have to wait for some of the accessories to be added (I got wood grain interior added, door guard, wheel locks, and 3rd row sunshade). I can't wait to see how it will all be. Hopefully we can pick it up on Sat. Anyone want to babysit Sophia?

She Did It Again!!

Sophia went pee-pee in the potty again today! I am so excited! I need to start a reward system with her this week so she can be motivated to go more often.

Ding Dong the Skunk is Dead

Okay so for those of you who know this, we have had a skunk living underneath our sun room now for the past three weeks. Jim kept trying to catch it but was out of luck until 2 nights ago. He caught it!! We had a tarp over the trap the past three weeks so the skunk wouldn't spray us. Well, 2 nights ago we saw the trap was tripped and heard the skunk inside of it. We were so happy. We called Critter Control to come take the skunk away (I was not going to have that skunk put into my car to be halled off). Anyway, we spoke to the Critter Control people today when they returned the trap. It turned out it wasn't a skunk after all - it was a 'POSSUM!! He apparently had gotten sprayed by a skunk because even the Critter Control guy was surprised when he opened the cage. Anyway, I am just glad the animal is gone. The house is starting to smell normal again.

Sleeping Update

Yeah- James slept through the night. We put him down at 7:15 and by 7:30 he was asleep. James then slept until 5 this morning! I went in and fed him (I guess I thought he would starve to death if I didn't) and then he fell back asleep and slept until 7:30! Yeah!!! Lets hope he does this again tonight.

PEE PEE IN THE POTTY!!!!!

Sophia went pee-pee in the potty tonight!! I am so excited. She had shown some interest (like 5 weeks ago) so we bought a little potty that she picked out and thought we would start before bath time. Well tonight she actually went pee-pee!!! I was SO excited! What a big girl!

Holiday World

Last week we went to Holiday World. Mom stayed at Mary's to watch James for us. They had a great time together. I was told he took a good afternoon nap (something I have been having a hard time getting him to do). Sophia had a great time, although she didn't seem to enjoy the rides. She was funny - she kept getting in lines to ride a ride and she kept pointing to the rides and asking "more" but then when she was riding the ride she would start saying "No, No. Down, Down". Funny Girl. Lucy came to meet us and showed us all the places that Sophia would have fun. It was great! It was like having our own personal tour guide. She would then tell us all the work they had done on the rides, etc. Very cool. I think we will make going to Holiday World an annual event - something of a summertime family tradition.

Sophia and Jim riding the Carousal.

Sophia in the little airplanes that went round and round. She didn't really like this too much. When the ride was over she clapped.

All of us on another Carousal.

The day was all a little much fun for Sophia and at the end of the day she feel asleep in the stroller.

The Farm

Last week we visited Paul and Amy on the farm. I wanted Sophia to see pigs and touch them since she has never seen a real one before. It was fun to look at all the places we (Beck, John, Carol, and I) used to play at when we were kids visiting Grandma and Grandpa. Sophia really liked the farm. She saw Jacob throwing hay in to the cows and so she picked some up and threw some in too. It was really cute. Then when we went to see the pigs. Amy took Sophia in one of the pig pens and caught one of the pigs for her to pet. Then Sophia tried to catch one herself. It was very adorable!!

Kennedy held Sophia's hand while we walked from barn to barn - So CUTE!!

After the farm we stopped by to see Grandpa and Grandma. Of course we had to go the one day that Grandpa had a doctors appointment. We got to visit with Grandma though. She didn't know who I was that day but the next day we went back and I think remember me then.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Last week was my Grandpa and Grandma Tempel's 60th Wedding Anniversary. That is quite an accomplishment!!!!

Grandma and Grandpa Tempel

Mini-Van

Well, so I have been suckered in. We are looking for a Minivan. After taking a trip to Southern IN with all 4 of us in the Mercedes, I decided that we would all be happier in a minivan. Not that the Mercedes isn't great but Jim had just gotten finished working the midnight shift so he was trying to sleep on the way down. Well, he practically had to sleep sitting upright because of the car seats. The car seats are so big that you can't recline very far if you are sitting in front of them. Then there was a space issue. When it is just me and the kids, the Mercedes is great but had that extra person and all of a sudden I can't reach anything when I need to hand the kids something. So blah blah blah, we are looking for minivans.

Here is the minivan story. We were test driving a Toyota Sienna - brand new, fully loaded. It is a very nice (an expensive) van. We were only test driving it to see if we liked it and to see if we really needed all of those features. Anyway, while we are in this van (which has less than 20 miles on it), Sophia THROWS UP EVERYWHERE!! Not just a small amount either. It went all down the front of her dress, all over her car seat, and all on the seat and floor of the new minivan. What a place to throw up! The salesman was very nice but I am sure he was wishing he hadn't come up to help us. Needless to say, we are not going to buy that exact one. I think we will choose a different one.

Mom and Dads

Jim worked the midnight shift last week so I took Sophia and James to see Mom and Dad for a few days. It turned out that Matthew and Adam were going to be there the exact same time as we were. It worked out great. Sophia loves spending time with the boys. Every morning Adam would find cartoons for Sophia to watch. Here they are watching the cartoons and cuddling together.

Then the boys would go out to the lake and we would join them. Sophia liked going down to the dock but she didn't like the lifevest. It was a little too big for her and it squished her cheeks up. While we were there, Matthew caught a turtle! It was pretty exciting trying to figure out how to get the hook out of its mouth. The turtle ended up doing it on its own while in a bucket of water. The released to the pond after Dad came home. Matthew wanted to show Grandpa the turtle before setting it loose.
It was a very nice time. Carol, Mark, Faith, and Will came over to visit 2 of the nights. Other than that it was a nice, quiet time. I did learn that having James, Sophia, and I sleep in the same room together was not a good idea. They kept waking each other up and I didn't get much sleep. That's okay though, I did get a GREAT nap one of the days.

2 Month Check-Up

I forgot to let everyone know how James' appointment went! Everything looks great and he is awesome. He is definitely a momma's boy - he smiles and "talks" to me all the time! Anyway, he is 26 inches long (that is 5 inches more than what he was at birth!!!!) and weighs 13 pounds exactly. He is going to be just like his daddy - long and lean. Suz (our doctor) says that he looks perfect. Yeah! Too bad the little man had to get 5 vaccines :(

We are going to Holiday World next week - pictures to come!

2 Month Check-up

Losing My Mind

Here is a tip for any mom of more than one child - Try not to spend the night somewhere with a 2 month old and a 17 month old and sleep in the same room as them. First of all, you won't get any sleep. Second of all, when one wakes up, the other one does. It makes for late nights and early mornings!!! I am exhausted and going to bed. Good Night.

James is 2 Months Old!

Here are pictures of my sweet little cuddle bug on his 2 month birthday. We go to the doctor next week for a check-up. I can't wait to see how big he is !

So serious...
Smile!...
I just love that little face!

Baptism Pics

Here is Jim, Sophia, and James before baptism. Don't they look great!!

Zoo

Today we went to the Indianapolis Zoo. It was a great trip. All of the animals were in the best spots and they were all awake and moving around. Of course though, I forgot my camera. Every single time we go to the zoo I forget it. Today would have been the perfect day to take pictures too. I guess I'll try again next time.

We got to the zoo as it opened so there were very few people. We went straight to the koalas and they were so cute! I loved them! They were awake, which I guess is pretty lucky to see, and they were eating their breakfast. Very cool! The giraffes were right by the fence. A kangaroo was sifting through the rocks right by the walkway. The elephants were drinking the water. One rhino was laying in the mud next to the lookout post and the other rhino was walking around. The lemurs were scaring away the ducks. The seals were mating. The lion was eating a chunk of frozen meat - yuk! The tigers were in a great spot and looking right at us - scary! Well that all I can think of about the cook animals. We went to the dolphin show and Sophia sat through the whole thing. I think she really liked it. She was even a big girl and drank from a milk carton at lunch. She was funny - she ate my lunch and I ate hers.

The whole trip was a huge success - even James enjoyed it (I think - he slept the entire day). It was all a success until we were looking at the sharks. Jim set Sophia down and it was like her mind said to go forward but her feet went backward. Anyway, she fell, hitting her mouth/chin on the rail and busting up the inside of her lip. It was bleeding and turned all black and purple. Her lip was really swollen but she is alright. She is still napping anyway.

Well, gotta go - James is awake and hungry.

Glass and Hammers Don't Play Well

Jim finished the door today...it looks GREAT! (For those of you who don't know, Jim bought a plain Mahogany door, stained it, sealed it, drilled all the holes, hung it, and placed the door knobs/locks on it). Well, while he was working on it, I was nursing James and Jim had Sophia by him. She was playing with some toys and everything was fine. Well, little did I know, that Jim was just laying all of his tools around on the floor. Sophia decided she wanted to play with the hammer. Jim apparently was not actually watching her at that moment. She picked up the hammer and started hammering the glass windows by the door. The sound of hammer on glass is not something you will likely forget.

The lesson the of the day for Sophia....Glass and Hammers Don't Play Well.

The lesson of the day for Jim....buy a tool belt.

My little Model - Well, Not Yet

This past week Jim worked during the day so it was just me and the kids. It was a good week though. I tried to fill it with projects around the house and with walks and playground fun. At the playground in our neighborhood this week, we ran in to Santi - one of Sophia's Gymboree friends. We had not seen them in several months. It turns out that they live in the neighborhood so at some point we are going to have a play date together. Fun Fun!! Sophia also got some new clothes so I took pictures of her in them so I won't forget how cute she is. I asked her to pose so the pictures are of her "posing".

Here is Sophia in the Hanna Andersson outfit Grandma Tempel bought her. Too Cute! There are yellow shorts with blue stripes underneath the dress. They peak out from the bottom. Sophia loves these play dresses.

Here is the Hanna Andersson dress I bought for a great deal on Ebay. I LOVE it.

This is Sophia's Fourth of July dress that Jim picked out for her.

James thinks all this is kind of funny.

This week has also been filled with new achievements made by the kids. James has increased his alertness and is tracking very well and smiling up a storm! It is very cute. He is sleeping better at night - only waking us up at around 2 and then at 5. He is eating quicker at night and then going back to sleep. He is also staying awake during the day for about 2 hours at a time.

Sophia on the other hand has made some new synapse connections (brain developments). She is putting together a 9 piece puzzle all by herself and is doing a 10 piece puzzle sorter all by herself as well. She is saying new words (her newest one is emblem) and is putting together two word phrases ("No Mama" and "I want"). She has also figured out how to put together a buckle (like the one on car seat). Sophia also asked to sit on the potty this week. We were not fast enough and she pooped in her diaper. She also asked the next day and ended up peeing on the carpet as we were running (without a diaper on - lesson learned) to the potty. She is my big girl. As a result of those two incidents we went to Babies-R-Us and bought a potty. We also bought a booster seat and stored away the highchair. She is a big girl now!!

Pics

The Family - Here was all are at the Fourth of July parade. Sophia liked it a lot. James slept through the whole thing.

Here is the face of a child who has eaten too many raspberries. She never got sick though.

Here is Sophia with her ball from the parade. She held onto it all the way back to the car.

Sisterly and Brotherly Love

James looking sooooo cute - oh wait he does all the time!!!