Phone Dump!

 I try to send Chris a few pictures when he is at work. It was always something I appreciated when the girls were small. I remember my mom sending me pictures at work with Leah and just looking forward to them all day. 

 Teddy has the same WTF face that Leah and I have. We literally have no poker face at all. 

 We went to Babies R Us going out of business sale. I saw these little foxes and thought they were pretty cute for $4. Teddy LOVED them. He is always holding them, snuggling them, sucking on them. They've had a good return value (unlike the damn john-johns that his thunder thighs didn't even begin to fit into). His chest clip had clearly snuck down in these pictures.

 You can see his cute little herniated belly button in the above picture. This day, we went to the Scholastic Warehouse Sale and someone came up and complimented me on my adorable daughters. Then came right up to Teddy and kept telling me what a pretty girl he was.

 Sometimes we stay in our jammies all day. Now that the girls are home for summer, our days of doing this will be pretty limited. 

 I thought he looked like one of those "reborn" dolls here in the sleeping picture. Kinda creepy. 

 Clearly, I love yawning pictures. 

 I love when his tongue sticks out when he smiles. Silly boy! 

 Happiest boy in the world. 

Teddy Bear--Two Month Update!

My Boy is TWO MONTHS! I don't know how it's possible! It equally feels like: he's been here forever, I was just pregnant for 900 days, I was just pregnant for 9 seconds, he just got here, and "look at this adorable baby! Where did he come from?!" Every *single* day I look at him and just feel so damn thankful. Thankful that he is here, thankful that he is healthy, thankful that I get to spend my days soaking him in. I've always loved babies and loved being a mom, but this overwhelming feeling of just being so thankful that I have the opportunity to have him, and to be his mother is unique to T. Bear. 

Teddy continues to be an absolute beast of a boy. He's grown some great leg and arm rolls. I may have shed a few tears this morning when I tried to put him in a pair of (new, never worn) john-johns to go the the strawberry patch and I couldn't pull them up past his knee. I have no idea how much he drinks, but he can drain a full boob that I can pump and get 6+ ounces out of. We are wearing the last of our size 1 diapers, and the box of size 2 diapers are already en route to our house. He wears mostly size 0-3 with some 3-6 months already in the mix. Like Juliet, Teddy has the herniated belly button which makes it look like 1/2 of his umbilical cord is still attached. Chris and I are taking bets on what his 2 month stats will be. Both girls weighed around 11.5 pounds at their 2 month appointment. We're betting that he's at least 14 pounds. Teddy loves to nurse, and really tries to eat as much as possible in the evenings before bed. He occasionally pukes it all up, but, thankfully, that's relatively uncommon. 

Teddy continues to be such a smiley, happy boy. He loves to "talk" to his mama. He lights up when his sisters and Daddy dote on him. He's beginning to grab and hold on. It's so sweet when he falls asleep on me clutching my hair or a strap on my shirt. We took him out to few events this month, and he rallied hard to stay awake as much as possible at all of them. He likes to feel like he's part of the action. The nice thing was that he came home a slept amazingly well after all of them. It's not uncommon for him to sleep for 4-6 hours straight now. He continues to just grunt when he wakes up at night. He rarely cries at night, and during the day only cries when I put him down for too long. While he has a few cranky spells a week, they are pretty short lived. Most of the time Teddy does well in the car seat and/or car (THANK GOD!). 

 Teddy is coming pretty close to laughing. So far, he only does it in his sleep, or at the walls. He does some great squeals for us, but we're all waiting for him to laugh at us. Fingers crossed it will be soon! 

Teddy's sisters love him dearly. The new thing we do is play music from my phone and dance around. Teddy feels the music deeply and enjoys this activity immensely. His favorite song is Backstreet Boys "I want it that way". His favorite activity is practicing standing as well as being bounced in his Baby Bjorn chair. Teddy enjoys his morning and/or evening walks. 

We love this sweet boy so, so much! 

Matching Jammies

 I think the only way they will ever all 100% match is in jammies. Leah and Juliet were so excited to match their brother. Teddy was, clearly, equally excited. 

 Outake! 

Father/Son

 I dressed Teddy in this "Father and Son" construction outfit just for Chris for Father's Day. It was a gift. 

Chris and I laughed on Father's Day that one year ago we never imagined we would have such a strapping, handsome son. We also laughed that we never in 1,000 years would have imagined that we would have spent that weekend shuttling Juliet to and from travel soccer try-outs. 

Juliet really enjoyed her recreation soccer team. But, they told us that it's going to be run very differently next year, and there won't even be teams. Instead they will just group the kids as they come with high school kids as coaches. That seemed silly, and Juliet's friends were trying out for travel, so we thought it would be a good idea for Juliet to do the 2 free practices they offered to see whether it was something Juliet may consider one day in the future. But, according to Chris (I stayed with Teddy), she really grew and improved as a player with "real" coaches as opposed to high school students. So we decided it probably made more sense for her to do the travel route. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't interfere with dance because then we would have a tough decision to make--Juliet insists she wants to do dance if it comes to having to make a choice. But, she really enjoys soccer.  

Last Day of School

First coordinating outfits!

One of the FB groups I'm in was selling these tees. I saw the perfect opportunity for some "matchy matchy-ness"! 

 Both girls had a great year! Both girls really developed a core posse of friends. It was fun to hear them talk about their friends, make plans and play with them, and also helping them navigate through the early elementary drama. Both girls had amazing teachers and learned so much. Seeing their piles of work come home at the end of the year was bittersweet. 

 Since I've been on maternity leave, they've taken the bus almost every day to and from school. They both protested bitterly about this before I had Teddy. But, after I had him, they both seemed to enjoy the bus. It helps that we have the best bus driver on the planet! 

 Both kids had mixed feelings about summer. They couldn't decide if they were excited for summer, or sad that they would miss their teachers and friends each day. I'm glad they love school. 

Shark Attack!

 My hobby for a long time was dressing the girls in adorable coordinating or matching outfits. It's a little sad that the boutique world has a much smaller presence for Baby boys. It's probably saving me a lot of money, though.

 I'm super picky about what he wears and he definitely has about 1/4 the clothes that Leah and Juliet had at the same age. It seems to be working out, though, because he grows so fast. 

 This little shark number from Target was too cute to pass up, though. 

 Teddy thinks it's pretty great, too! 

 Happiest boy ever!

Dance Recital!

This year Juliet did Ballet and Hip Hop. She loved both! Next year she either wants to do 3 classes or only 1 (depending on what day you ask her on). 

  

This year Leah did advanced Ballet, Tap, and Lyrical. She LOVES to dance, and got many compliments from friends and acquaintances in the audience. 

Dance remains the only activity that no one has ever complained about going to on occasion. Both girls love to dance and had a great year! 

Leah's teacher asked her to try out for the competition team several times, and then gave me the hard sell at the recital. We talked it over A LOT as a family, and as of this moment, decided to wait 1 more year. Leah isn't sure she's ready for the huge time commitment or to make all the personal sacrifices she would need to make (she would dance most Saturdays October-June along with 3 other days during the week). We continue to talk about it, though, because sometimes she still seems unsure. She loves the big production number they do every year, and really wants to be a part of that one day soon. As of now, she plans on continuing with the Christmas Program and trying out next year. 

Teddy came along to the recital, too, because I didn't think my boobs could go 6 hours without him. He was a perfect gentleman and had fun sleeping on Aunt Renee. Aunt Renee and I got yelled at by an old lady, but Teddy got no such reprimand. 

Juliet's Kindergarten Celebration

Look at this red boy! This was the morning of the show. He is so much less orange now. I love these jammies. I bought them in 3 sizes for my T. Bear. 

 Juliet was so excited to graduate for Kindergarten. She wasn't pleased that she had to wear her class shirt for the performance, but we layered it over a dress and I think it looked adorable.

 An advantage of being short is that you are always in the first row! All the kids were supposed to bring sunglasses. I forgot to send them in the AM, so I had to run down to her class before the performance and offer her my new pair. She already had an extra, but insisted that she wear mine. 

 A co-worker/friend saved us seats in the front row. Nice! Juliet was right in front of us!

 Juliet was so excited about her "drum solo". She had to try out and was so worried that she wouldn't get picked. She told us all about how she was going to practice (though she never did). She was very proud on stage! She's a natural, thanks to her Daddy.

 They sang about 6 songs and we watched a slide show of the year. Juliet BEGGED us to buy the slideshow, but we thought it was a waste of money for something we would probably watch once. So she used her own money to buy it. She was so proud of herself. After we watched it, I asked her if it was worth it, and she was adamant that it was.

 Then we went back to her classroom and she showed us her Memory Book. Cousin Hannah was there, too, as part of her internship, and Juliet thought that was the coolest thing ever. Poor Chris couldn't navigate the stroller into the room with all the people, so he had to wait in the hall.

 We are so, so proud of Miss Juliet. She had an awesome year! She learned a ton, had a great teacher, and made some very good friends. We hope next year is just as amazing as this year was for her!