national arboretum

The Campbells joined the Joneses, Motscos, and Nikolovs for an early Mother's Day celebration at the National Arboretum. The kids loved exploring the vast spaces all beautifully manicured and viewing the koi only inches from their toes. One was nearly the size of Jenna! We even got my mom up through the mountainous azalea garden. We coasted back down on a nearby paved trail racing the borrowed wheelchair versus stroller. I really would have won with my mom in the wheelchair if it didn't keep veering left (she forgives me for the near miss with the holly bush). It was so good to really hear her laugh out loud again.

We brought food for a big picnic feast in the shade and still had the energy for some wiffleball and frisbee. I might want to rethink which spring sport I put Tyler in (lacrosse is by far my first choice) because he was an ace at bat. He hit over half the balls that came his way.

At dinner, Tyler (unprompted) told me how much he enjoyed the arboretum (yes, he uses that word) and how much fun he had playing baseball. I think we all had fun!

oma sleepover

I was scheduled to join my high school friends for a rare Girls Night Out. Unfortunately, Alex was also scheduled to travel that day and wouldn't return until the wee hours. With my night out in question, we sought help from Oma. And she came to the rescue!

She played with the kids and put them to bed. Tyler was thrilled even further that Oma would be staying over all night! It worked out nicely since Oma and we were planning to meet friends and family in DC the following day.

peanut butter

Tyler has a peanut butter game. You take turns naming the funniest places to find peanut butter. Peanut butter in your belly button. Peanut butter on the ceiling. Peanut butter on a plane. Eventually Tyler will find one so hilarious that he throws his head back and releases the most fun devilish laugh.

Then a few nights ago I was putting Tyler to bed and he said, "peanut butter." I told him that he was supposed to say, "I love you." His reply: "I love you, peanut butter."

molars

Poor Jenna. Her molars are coming in and she's been drooling and suffering nonstop. :(

so vain

color time

 

 

 

Tyler and Jenna LOVE to color. They really can't get enough of it. In fact, Jenna will often cry when it is time to move on to another activity because she just doesn't want to give up her twistable crayons! (By the way, the huge wet spot on her shirt is from teething/drooling. Slightly counter to the old saying, "girls rule and boys drool," girls actually do both!)

blowing kisses

In addition to her sweet wave goodnight, Jenna has now figured out how to blow kisses. She had been putting her hand to daddy's mouth as he demonstrated but now she gets that her hand is supposed to come from her mouth. So cute!!

window onto the world

reader

Tyler looks through Mommy's magazine.

home sick

Since Tyler couldn't return to daycare because of the fever he had yesterday, we spent the day hanging out. Tyler was feeling all better so we took a walk to the local bakery and stopped at the pond on our way to watch a goose. Good thing he was feeling so much better, because I started to get REALLY ill that evening. Ugh.

far away sick

Tyler had to come home from daycare today because he had a fever and had complained of an upset stomach. Luckily, I was already home sick so we watched Team UmiZoomi together until Tyler napped.

When he woke up he told me that he was feeling better. He followed it with, "My sick is far, far away...in the ocean...rolling down a waterfall."

ker plunk

Jenna knows how to pop that binky out in a heartbeat. Especially when she wants food. I asked her to take it out today and she did! It was cool that she understood my question.

kriskos in town

The Kriskos were in town for an event in DC to honor Hugh's dad. Then after a jaunt to the Bahamas, they stayed with us for an evening that was much too short. Good dinner, good times, good family.

 

 

 

buddy holly

buried alive

Tyler started piling up toys onto his kid sister. He kept going and going. Only she didn't seem to mind and kept playing with each added toy. And with such realism; she put the phone up to her ear!

 

loving our kitchen

 

strawberry fiend

 

 

big wave

Alex was putting Jenna to bed tonight and he asked her to wave goodnight to Mommy. Right on cue she did it.

playroom fun

 

wiper

Don't want your food anymore? Just brush it off your tray like a windshield wiper!

daycare deb

Jenna LOVES going to daycare at Miss Deb's!

barf city

After the shower on Saturday, the Linns didn't make it home until after our kids were already in bed. Tyler woke up from the commotion of their return and began to sing, "I want to move it, move it. I want to move it, move it!" Then drifted back to sleep.

Hunter awoke in the next room and was crying. Tyler came into our room (which never happens) and said he was scared. We reassured him all was ok and he went back to bed.

Then at 2am we heard him coughing and crying. Alex went to check on him which seemed to take forever. When I poked my head out, they were in the bathroom. Later a peeked out again and saw Tyler only in his diaper. With Tyler still whimpering I decided I'd butt in and help. Turns out Tyler vomited (a lot) on his bed. I read him a story while Alex pulled the sheets and replaced them with clean ones. Tyler went bed with a bowl nearby just in case.

After all trying to go back to sleep, Alex and I bound out of bed when we heard the same awful noises again. Tyler tried the bucket but didn't make it. Sheet change #2. This time we got smart and put towels over the clean sheets. All was well until the morning. One more mini-toss of the cookies when he stood up. He fumbled through the day in a fog, but was able to eat just fine. He was back to normal after a 4.5 hour nap. Thank goodness! Whatever the bug was, it left as quickly as it came.

first stand

The Linns were in town and staying with us for the weekend. Jenna joined me and Katie at a shower to celebrate Katie's baby, Owen, who is due to arrive in June.

Jenna loves to pull up and stand while holding something for support. She's even accidentally stood without support for a split second. But while playing with Mommy at the shower, Jenna stood for a good 10 seconds. It was so exciting to see! And it must have been exhausting for her; she crashed within a few minutes of leaving.

In the last image below you can see how sad Tyler was when the Linns had to leave.

 

 

 

 

 

one-legged crawl

Jenna wants to walk so badly that she's developed this half crawl, half walk technique. She takes her right leg, bends it with her foot flat on the floor as if she was going to take a step up. Then she scoots her left leg as if she was doing a normal crawl on her knees. It is funny to watch!

namer

Tonight Jenna looked directly into my eyes and said, "Maahhh muh." Then I pointed to her Daddy and said his name. She looked at him and said, "D Da." Doubting that she would be able to pronounce Tyler, I still gave it a shot while really enunciating the T sound. She blew me away when she said, "TuhTuhTuhTuhTuh!" Amazing!!

11 months

Jenna is 11 months old today! She is very mobile and on the verge of walking. And she is fast - whether it be crawling or stealing your sunglasses (or trying to take her photo)! I am still in shock that she will be one in a month. Where does the time go??

 

 

catch me if you can

Tyler thinks it is so funny when Jenna wears this outfit; "Jenna has a fishy on her butt!" Giggle, giggle. But it won't be long before we can't catch her; she is trying to walk!

circus

Tyler loved the circus! Well, at least he eventually did. Before the show we got to go down to the ring and see the pre-show attractions which seemed to unnerve Tyler. But he warmed up once the real show began. He thought the elephants and tigers were pretty cool, but his favorite part was when a clown pretended to fall of his tricycle when another revved the engine of the custom motorcycle.

 

 

pyramid

day in annapolis

 

 

 

 

Mommy was obligated to attend an executive retreat at work the previous day, but she couldn't let Daddy have all of the fun during the kids' time off from daycare. So on this day we had a lot of fun in Annapolis. We walked around the city dock (Tyler thought the police boat was too cool!) and played at the nearby park. And we finished up our adventure with lunch with Oma and Uncle Dylan.

daddy daycare

Our daycare was closed today so the kids were lucky enough to spend the entire day with Daddy!

 

carseat shift

It was time to move Jenna to a full carseat rather than her baby carrier. We decided to get Tyler a booster seat and let Jenna use his carseat, which could have worked for him for several more years. The good news is that Tyler really likes his new seat (it has cup holders!) and Jenna loves being higher up so that she can see out of the window.