Summer Fun

Well, after many rainy days, which J totally enjoyed because she got to wear her nifty yellow raincoat,

we had a glorious sunny weekend that was in the high 70s and low 80s. Felt like summer again, but definitely heading to a close. F took some good naps...

and J had some great playdates. Yes, the potty can be quite interesting to these little girls when there is hand-washing involved.
And J and cousin W are having a grand time together these days. Some days there is this adjustment period when they get together, but always they get to a point where they crack each other up (and of course provide entertainment for us adults) This weekend was our neighborhood block party. We block the street, bring out chairs, tables, grills (and even a couch this year) and celebrate summer together in the middle of the block. It is such a blast and it reminds us every year what a great neighborhood we live in. Of course J and W found the one puddle that remained after the rains and jumped right in. They were hilarious. What you can't see here is J has her cute white mary janes on. That's my girl!!
And here are the boys chillin'.
I head back to work tomorrow after 12 weeks off and am feeling the same mixed emotions I had after J was born (looking forward to some adult intellectual time yet I know I'll miss watching the beautiful kiddie smiles during the day). I feel fortunate though to have had the summer mostly off. On to the next adventure!

Swimmin'

G took a break from basement work and we took the kids swimming for the first time this summer. They (well,we all) had a blast! F mostly hung out...
But J LOVED the water. Here she is kicking with her pal G:I wasn't sure if J was going to like the pool because last summer she was definitely wary of it. But she ran in and wanted to jump, splash and swim. She swam until she started shivering and still wanted more. I remember those days from my childhood, swimming at the Amblers club. Ahhh, yes, summer!

Siblings

So, here's the little bald man. I love this pic because of the chubby cheeks and blue eyes. I really can't believe how fast he's growing. About 12 pounds now!But onto siblings. I'm so glad that J adores F so much, but the poor guy isn't getting much time to himself. We keep telling J that we don't get in her face when she eats or sleeps. But I guess it comes with the territory of being a second sibling. Wait until he starts grabbing for things and finds one of her curls in his hand.

J sometimes gets this devilish look on her face and I caught it yesterday on camera. She can be such an imp:
F has this look that says, "I'm not sure I'm going to like this..."
"OK, now I really don't like this."
"Oh, that's how you do push-ups. Thanks, Sis."

"Wait, it's not working now."The joys of siblings.

2 months

F is now 2 months and he's reached 11 lbs! It's great to see the little chubs appearing. Check the little man out:
stretch!!!
Starting to 'talk':A lot of people have been commenting on how much he looks like J so I thought I'd pull out some of her 2 month photos and compare.
Here's J:Here's F:

You can tell they are siblings, but there are definitely differences. And F still has blue eyes, so we'll see if he keeps those.

J adores her little brother. She wants to help with everything, even checking out the poopy diapers. She loves giving F a bath. She threw a tantrum the other night because he was asleep when she got in her bath and she wanted him to wake up and get in the bath with her. And just today she sat next to him on the couch, but her arm around him and said "best friends". If only that would last... Anyway, here's the bean and the boo together.
And I couldn't resist this pic of J. She often wants to look at the 'ballerina book' which is actually a book of instructional pictures on ballet positions, turns, etc. She says "mommy sing", which really means read, so at least she's learning some french!That's all for now. Gotta get some sleep when there's opportunity.

Welcome

Wow. I never thought I'd be 'blogging' but I've enjoyed so many other folks' blogs and now I can share news the easy way without clogging email boxes. I feel so with it. Maybe I'll learn to text message next...

Here's the first family pic we've taken since F was born. We took a visit to see Gma J and Gpa M and a lot of the family. Michigan is so beautiful at this time of year.

I promise to post more pics soon.