Another attempt to be artsy

This butterfly was ever so kind to pose for me. It was just opening up and closing its wings. I took a few pictures with my cell phone and then calmly walked into the house to get the camera and came back and it was still there. It didn't fly away when the kids got close to it, either.







While I was in the backyard I figured that I should take a couple of pictures of the kids, it's been a while. I caught Josh at the perfect moment showing off his moves.





Here is what Colin was doing while the rest of it us were outside. I have been having him take a nap in the crib when we are at home in the mornings. Sorry this picture is so dark I took one with the flash and it was too washed out.



He only takes up a small corner of the crib. There are actually blankets and stuffed animals in the other end of the it. I was using the baby monitor to hear him while I was outside and I left it plugged in the kids' room. After Gavin took a nap, however, the monitor disappeared and only the plug remained. I still don't know where he put it. I guess I should look for it more thoroughly.

Buddha Belly!

I was giving Colin a bath the other night and I couldn't resist taking pictures of his huge belly! He is getting to be so big! You know this boy doesn't miss a meal; he is so much chubbier than Gavin ever was!

Sandwich, yum!

Thought that this was fun. I started making a sandwich and hamburger with Gavin and he made this super sandwich/hamburger. Look at all of that stuff!!!!

Cheese!

Just taking some more pictures of the little one. He is now three months old now. He smiles and looks at his toys.



Love that smile!!!!

What "I don't want to go to sleep" does to Gavin...

...he plays and makes, uh, unusual hand puppets? I thought it was hilarious that I found him sleeping this way.

Yee-Haw!!!

One of Gavin's favorite games to play with Philip.

Rainy Day Fun

What to do when it's raining? You have to try to get creative. Thanks, Staci, for helping me with ideas! These are a few things that we did while the big storms where here.

Gavin and I danced to music. His dancing mostly includes jumping up and down, but here is another one of his dance moves:



I wanted to get more pictures of his moves, but the camera battery died. Here is what Colin was doing while we were dancing. I was trying to entertain him with the dancing.



Gavin wanted Colin to come "cook" with him in his kitchen. He won't wear the apron, but he wanted Colin to. He put it on Colin, then went to his play kitchen and said, "Come on baby. Come cook." So cute. He thinks that Colin can do everything he can.



I tried to get Gavin to do a pillow fight with me, but he didn't get it. He told me not to hit Gavin.



He had fun laying down on the pillows, though.



He also played with some of his cousins. They were having fun with Mr. Potato Head here.







Then they had a block fight with Colin's soft blocks. He understood what was going on here, and he loved it! I suspect it had a little to do with the fact that other kids were doing it. They always seem to learn better from kids rather than adults.







Preschool was canceled due to some flooding one day during the storms and so I needed to find entertainment for him during that time. I had Gavin's cousin, Josh, come over for a play date so they could have fun together when they couldn't go outside and his mom could get some stuff done for school as well. They did Play Doh, painting with water, played in the little kitchen, and just played with Gavin's toys. I think they had a good time together!

Rain...

...and a lot of it!

It's been raining off and on all week. A couple of times it has rained really hard as well.

Jessica set a tank up to collect rain water and it was coming down so hard that it was pouring off of the top of it.



You can see if you look closely that the water was pooling a little bit at the bottom of the ramp. It's nothing compared to what Lee and Staci had at their house, however. Philip showed me pictures that Lee had posted on facebook of their street flooded and he was sitting in an inflatable boat on the street.





These pictures were from yesterday and the wet weather continued today. Philip even sent me a text to make sure I knew that there were tornado warnings. Interesting weather for southern California. Not what I have come to expect in living here all of my 28 years. It's more of something I'd expect to hear about where my sister lives in Tennessee. We did have tornado warnings the last time I visited her there.

Mr. Suit Man

Doesn't he look so cute in this suit that a friend gave to us? His face is red because he'd been crying. At least he's not completely wailing in the pictures.





It's kind of hard to see, but he's wearing a tiny tie under his vest. His massive cheeks and chin kind of hide his neck and make it hard to see, hee, hee, hee. My baby loves his food!!

Hallelujah!!! #2

I was browsing the Fisher Price website for the instructions for a toy we were given as a hand me down and happened upon this rocker/sleeper. I thought that it looked really cool! It lets the baby sleep in a more upright position (like a car seat). It's a pretty new item and I found it for sale on several websites with all positive reviews. The best part is that Colin has slept in it for THREE NIGHTS IN A ROW for about SEVEN OR MORE HOURS IN A ROW!!!! Colin is obviously loving this seat and so am I!!!

Cheese!

I was trying to get Colin to smile for more pictures, he has started to smile more and more!

In these pictures I was trying to get him to look at me and smile, so I wasn't paying as much attention to the camera as usual.

I did get a bit of a smile here.



This was what he was doing in most of his shots.



I just thought that the bubbles he'd blown were cute.

Sandal Boy

Gavin occasionally will still put on my shoes. In this case, it was a pair of tie dyed looking flip flops. Goofy kid!

Brothers

Gavin continues to love his brother, sometimes even too much. During this particular incident Colin was crying on the couch. Gavin went to get the blanket for him and laid down on the couch with him. So cute! I hope that they love each other this much when they are older.





I washed the baby gym for Colin so that I can use it for tummy time. In these pictures Colin had fallen asleep and Gavin decided to join his brother on the floor. He thinks that all the toys I get out for Colin are for him, of course!!!

Hallelujah!!!

Colin gone for seven hours and seven and a half hours between feedings at night! Once last week and once this week and he didn't wake up at all on his own during that time. I even managed to get about five or six hours of sleep in a row those nights!!! A couple of weeks ago he also slept for three nights six hours whole hours in a row, too! He's not there 100% (like last night his longest stretch was only four hours in a row, although that may have been in part because he was snuffling from having snot in his nose), but it's wonderful when he does do it. I hope it becomes a trend soon!!!!!

Colin is staying quiet a lot more of the time when he is not eating or sleeping (he still cries a lot if I am taking care of things, just ask Jessica, but he is also contented for 10, 15, or 20 minutes by himself usually in the bouncy seat when he is full and satisfied). He's also starting to to make noises that aren't crying as well. His favorite word right now is "goo." I don't remember Gavin saying any of the classic, "goo, goo, ga, ga," but Colin is his own person.

Onigiri, yum!

I tried making onigiri, or Japanese style rice balls for lunch. We didn't have any seaweed, so we went without. I had bought a few rice ball forms at the Japanese dollar store, so I wanted to try those out. I put tuna inside them.

Even though I didn't catch it, Gavin ate a whole one for lunch.



Here are few of the bear shaped ones that I made.



Here are a couple of the other forms that I bought. They are a boy and a girl. I think that they were tasty fresh. When I refrigerated them they became crunchy, though, and Gavin refused to eat one the next day that had been stored. Philip said that I would need to make sushi rice for that not to happen.