Let's Read

Now that Joaquin is out of the newborn phase, he doesn't sleep all the time. Rather, he is excited to be included in some activity! This has been fun for Elijah too because he can "play with bubba", for the most part.

This morning, after I finished making the bed and changing Joaquin, Elijah decided he wanted to read his bubba a book. It was so precious! Elijah crawled up on the bed and plopped down next to Joaquin with his "Jorge el Curioso" book and started to babble (read) aloud. At first Joaquin didn't really know what to do, he just stared at Elijah cautiously--I think he is a bit frightened when Elijah gets too close to him because he often gets poked in the eye with a pacifier or something of the like. However, after a minute he actually smiled and seemed into the story. This kind of morning makes me excited that the boys are only 13 months apart and will undoubtedly be sharing and doing things together for most of their lives!

Joaquin after mom changed him into his new outfit for the day.

Joaquin was a bit distracted by the camera at this point.

After Elijah finished, Joaquin tried to "steamroller" him (this is his new flip-over trick)

This was when Elijah first squatted down next to Joaquin to read.

Joaquin's middle name, Sol, truly fits him. He is so full of sunshine, always ready with a happy smile! :)

Fraggle Rock

Ian and I were out grocery shopping with the kids last weekend and we happened past a Halloween costume area of the store. Since Elijah was way too young to remember what Halloween was last year (he was dressed as a chili pepper), we were trying to show him all the neat costumes. They were only 10 bucks so we decided we would let Elijah pick one out. This is what he chose...

I think he looks like a fraggle from the Fraggle Rock TV show that I used to see as a kid.

But it is actually a Lion on his head.

He LOVES it. And, although Halloween is a month away, he has refused to let it sit in the closet. First thing he does for the day is point to the costume hanging up and say "uhhh." So, he usually gets to wear it around the house in the morning before we get dressed for the day.

We actually ended up buying him 2 costumes that day because Mommy liked the elephant better. It has a billowy belly and leggings that go with it. :) So, come Halloween night, hopefully he will be interested in wearing the "new" elephant costume since he will have worn out the lion by then.

In Joaquin news, I was surprised after a 5 minute crying session on his play mat (he has learned to flip himself over onto his belly but can't quite figure out how to get back over onto his back), he suddenly stopped the screaming. I was in the kitchen unloading the dishwasher and it actually kinda worried me so I walked over to see what had happened. And, what do you know...he found his thumb! Praise the Lord, no more having to run over and put the passy back in his mouth when it falls out and he gets hysterical that he can't get it back in himself. He now officially has his own "self-soother"! Hip-hip-hooray! This may sound strange to some people (especially those without kids) to be happy that your kid is sucking his thumb, but it was such a blessing when Elijah finally found out he could put himself to sleep by sucking on his two fingers. Mommy and Daddy were released from their duty to try and get the little one relaxed and asleep because he could do it himself!

2nd Day of School

OK, so am I a horrible mother if I forgot to take a picture of the first day of school for my first born child? I hope not, because it completely slipped my mind! I was so busy trying to make sure he ate a good breakfast, packing his lunch, getting an extra pair of clothes ready, labeling all his diapers, folding up his nap mat properly (it was like folding up a 5 foot long map... I mean come on, can they not make those things any easier?!), and getting both boys in the car on time that I hardly had time to think of the camera.

Of course, as soon as we got to the check in station for Hutto Baptist's Mother's Day Out I realized I was THAT mom. The one who failed to record her child's notable first day. Everyone was posing by their classroom door or with their smiling teachers, who undoubtedly knew the drill. I however, hurriedly pushed my stroller into Elijah's room and tried to be as inconspicuous as I could (which is nearly impossible with a stroller made for two that resembles a Texas-sized double wide trailer) as I put his bag and nap mat down and said goodbye.

THIS PHOTO was taken on oh so important day number two! We were heading out the door when I saw the camera I had left beside my keys as a reminder to record my sons belated milestone. None the less it is now on film and I feel I can rest easy.

ah goo

Joaquin is quite the talker...

Don't you wonder what it is babies try so hard to communicate in their baby language?

Texas Rain

One of my favorite things about Texas is the warm summer rain storms. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of playing in the rain, racing sticks in the runoff water, and splashing my brothers in puddles.

I was excited to share that with Elijah and today was his first time to play in the warm Texas summer rain! He LOVED it! When it was time to go back inside he actually ran away from me into the back yard. Here is a little glimpse of his rainy day.

Labor Day with the Darby's

Ian and I packed up the boys and all our stuff and headed to the Darby's for Labor Day weekend. We had soooooooooo much fun being all together and watching the kiddos play. Elijah was in hog-heaven in their playroom, complete with its' own indoor slide. (He thought that was super cool.)

Alex is such a great big sister and she was so gracious to show Elijah all her cool toys. He especially loved her guitars and musical instruments. Carson was helping Joaquin get the hang of the play mat; I'm sure he was reminiscing of all the time he had spent on it himself. :)

We also took pics for the Darby's while we were there. Carson had a special 1 year old "big boy" shoot, Alex had her own diva day, and N8 and Mel joined in for the family pics at the end. Poor Nathan was completely sick on the day we planned to do family pictures but you wouldn't even know it by looking at the photos! He was such a trooper! N8 and Mel are such amazing parents! We always learn so much from them when we watch them in action!

I have to say that the Darby's are photo pros! Usually I have to give my little spiel to the families with little ones before we start shooting. I talk about how the parents just need to hold the pose and smile and I will try to get the kids attention and be snapping a ton so that we can get some good pics. (A lot of parents are trying to get the kids to smile but they themselves are busy looking at their kid or tickling them or what not and so they end up being the difficult ones to get to look at the camera.) But, none of that happened with the Darby's. They were AWESOME little models and Ian and I had a blast capturing their memories!

We ended up with over 200 proofs, so I won't show them all, but these are a few favorites. :) I hope it is ok with Mel that I am showing these. :)

little man, Carson

I love shadow pics. He looks like such a little tough guy with that fohawk!

So, hilarious, this beautiful princess stepped in dog crap! I thought it was worthy of a photo op!

The boys better watch out!

Of course the kids are beautiful when their parents look like this!

I love you guys!

Fun memories of the boys together!

He's A Flipper!

Regression

So I thought he was over the "smearing food all over my face and throwing my plate and cup on the floor" phase, but for some reason he thought he would bring back out the old habits today! You can tell by the smug smile on his face that he thought it was quite fun!

He did get sternly told "no, bad choice" for this regression, but I secretly smiled inside and snapped a quick photo. Does being a parent automatically turn you into a hypocrite? :) I think that is one argument Jimmy can Crack Corn over because I don't care; he was cute and it was funny!

The Hardware

Sunday afternoon Ian and Elijah ran into town to grab me some eggs for the muffins I had gotten half way through making before I realized we were out of eggs. The clock ticked on by and after an hour and a half I started to worry about my boys and those eggs!

As soon as they arrived home, however, I noticed a surprise bag from Home Depot. Ah ha! They had been hardware shopping! I think every man is pretty much a hardware junkie when they get into those "manly" stores like Home Depot and Lowes. Ian can just browse the isles remembering all the projects he needs to do around the house and dreaming up ones he wants to start.

Anyhow, when Ian told me that he and Elijah shopped together, I was interested. I poked my head into the baggie and saw of all sorts of locks, bolts, little wheels, chains, and the like. As soon as Ian saw the puzzled look on my face he began to explain a "boy's type of toy board" that he had in mind to build Elijah.

That night as Elijah slept Ian drilled and hammered in the garage to make this "toy board", and when Elijah woke up in the morning and Daddy had gone to work it was like Santa Clause had left him a fantastic toy!

He LOVES his new gizmo board...made especially for him by his wonderfully thoughtful daddy! Here is a little video I took of him this morning flipping a few latches.