Summer is here, and so are we...Really...

Ah summer, how I've missed, dreaded, and prayed for it.  Let's start with the dread.  I love warm weather and warm weather activities.  Hot weather, on the other hand.....mmm, no.  Thankfully, a lovely air condition showed up this year and magically made it's way into our hearts.  An ode to follow later this summer, I'm sure.  Uh hem....moving on.  Picture overload coming since there's 2-1/2 month of cuteness to catch up on.  

In all reality, I am loving summer, or at least the mornings and evenings when I'm not melting.  It's been so fun to have a yard in this year and not get incredibly dirty every time I need to water the garden.  Cameron though, still prefers the dirt to grass.  Oh well.  

Three months

Cameron has what we like to call Tractor Radar.  He can spot a tractor a mile away.  Literally, he will look out our windows until he spots one in the fields somewhere.   Our conversation as we drive from the north end of Cache Valley to the south is as follows: "Mom, can I see a tractor?  There's a tractor!!!  Mom, can I see a tractor?  There's a tractor!!!  Mom.  Mommy, can I see a tractor?  Mom?  Mommy?  Hey, Ang!  There's a tractor!!!"  So sophisticated, I know.  My end is as equally advanced.  "Yes, you can see one soon.  There's one coming up.  Right there.  Yes, you can.  Soon.  Uh huh.  There's one."  He's gotten me so trained I do this even when he's not in the car.  He's so proud of his mama.  


When we tell him we're going to someone's house, he asks, "Do they have tractors?"  He knows the difference between a backhoe, bulldozer, skid steer, front loader, plowing tractor, and crane.  When Mark asked what he saw out his bedroom window, he responded.  Um, Travis' (our neighbor) skid steer."  "Do you see anything else?  How about some fields?  A tree?  Some mountains?  A school?"  To all of these he answered, "No, just Travis' skid steer."  Yep, Tractor Radar.  He will dig in the dirt with or without tractors for hours.  We love watching him learn to pretend! 

Thoroughly spoiled by and enamored with these gorgeous ladies.  Orange power!

He talks constantly and says the funniest things.  I got out a pillow for him to sleep on a couple of days ago and let him put on a pillow case that I had made when I was a kid and he says, "What?  A pillow for me?  Thanks Mom for making this pillow case for me!"  

He sings everything, including his own rendition of 'Darn It" (Never heard of it?  Try stepping on a giant lego piece.  You'll hear your own rendition), 'Jesus Came to John the Baptist' (with the word chocolate thrown in random spots like, Jesus came to John the chocolate), and 'I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home' (with lip substituted randomly: I'm so glad when Daddy come home, glad as I can lip....Pat his cheeks and give him lip, a great big lip).  So fun to see his little sense of humor come out and for him to start grasping the concept of jokes, even if he doesn't grasp the concept that they're really only funny the first couple times.  


Jacqueline thinks he's funny all the time, maybe that's why he persists in telling the same jokes.  Why change what works, right?

Last month we had an outbreak of Hand, Foot, and Mouth disease in our nursery and Cam was lucky enough to have a trial run of it.  Hopefully he'll never get it again because it is one nasty little beast.  He mostly got the blisters on his hands and feet, so we were lucky he didn't get it really bad in his mouth.  He didn't think he was so lucky.  The poor kid could barely walk for a week.  Here we are over a month later, and his finger and toenails are all falling off.  Lovely.  


Baby J is now almost 4 months old!  Last week she decided to surprise us by rolling over from her tummy to back.  I should've seen it coming, but it kind of hit me in the face since I still think she's a newborn.  When you hold her, all she wants to do is stand up and see what's going on in the room.  She bestows smiles upon all who pay attention to her...and those who don't.  She's such a sweet, special spirit and we feel so blessed to have her in our home.  Of course, I think most parents will think this about any child who sleeps through the night.  

It's been fun to see the difference between Cam and J as babies.  Both are/were great babies, and I think a lot of the difference is actually ME and how I have been able to respond.  Jacqueline has made it really easy to transition to two kids, and I think I've been more easygoing and less stressed than when I had Cameron.  Although I am different, these two little kiddos are definitely different, too.  Cam always wanted to be moving, have a binky, eat, and would get frustrated pretty easily.  J also likes to move, but she will lay and play and be so content.  She doesn't like her binky very much and is pretty happy to go to sleep without it.  She's such a fast eater-anything is better than Cam's hour long feedings-and will eat in 20 mins or less.  Um, wow?!  

Grandparent love!

Zoo, June 2012

Two months

Zoo trip

We're loving life right now.  Not because it's perfect, but because we're living it and learning so much!  This June we celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary!  We have a lot of learning to go!