Talli hit her two month mark on Friday. It's amazing how quickly the time goes by once they are here. She is getting big so fast. At two months she is...

smiling

holding her head up so good

finding her hands and trying to suck on them

sleeping through the night for eight or nine hours like a

champ

taking three to four hour morning naps everyday

loves to suck on a pacifier

cooing and talking a lot

sitting up in her bumbo for about 3-5 minute stretches

becoming a Mommy's girl

surviving Maylee and Dutch

She is quite the perfect little baby, at least to me. She weighed 11.5 pounds, 50 percentile, she is 23 1/2 inches long, 90th percentile and her head is still average at 39 1/2 centimeters, yay Talli. Last Tuesday Dutch got his very first face plant that end up in scabs. He was running around the splash pad and he slipped and fell but lucky for him his face was there to break his fall. He scrapped up his nose and forehead pretty good. It actually looks worse in person. Friday we made a quick over night camping trip to Mount Charleston with some friends. The trip started off pretty bad trying to get out of the house. Both Maylee and Talli had to get shots and when they woke up from their naps they were pretty hysterical but after taking some medicine we were finally able to head up the mountain. We had a great time. The kids of course loved exploring and throwing pine cones in the fire, roasting marshmellows, looking for bugs, and playing with their friends, Luke and Brooke. The only down fall was the weather. It was freezing cold. We have a small tent so we aired up our queen mattress and Dutch, Maylee, David and I all slept on that with seven blankets and two sleeping bags and we were still cold. Well Dutch and Maylee were fine they were in the middle but David and I kept falling out and getting cold by the edges. It dropped down do 30 degrees in the middle of the night. Talli still slept great but woke up early at 4:30 because her hands had escaped her blankets and they were freezing. So then we had five of us on the mattress. Talk about miserable. We definitely need a bigger tent. But we survived the night. Notice all the snow on the mountain in the background.

Summer has officially begun for our family. It started early for the kids and I when we headed over to California to hang out with some friends. David was in his last week of block and it was a highly stressful one, so it was the perfect opportunity for the kids and I to leave him behind and not feel guilty.

We headed over to California where Jenny and her family are living right now and played all weekend long. When Dutch and Savvy saw each other it was like they didn't even notice that they hadn't played since November, they just picked up right where they left off. They are such good buds, I love it. Vanessa and Maylee did pretty good but you can definitely tell that they are still two and see the age difference between them and Dutch and Savvy's playing.

Saturday we headed to the beach. It was freezing cold and super windy so we didn't stay very long. But it didn't stop Dutch from loving it. I don't think he even realized that he was suppose to be cold. He just dug in the sand and ran around and had a great time. Maylee wanted to stay wrapped up in a towel and be warm, she must get that from me.

Jenny made some pretty adorable capes for the kids to wear. Dutch of course decided to be ornery and would not wear his the entire time but five minutes after we got home he put it on and now he loves it and wears it all the time. Maylee loved hers right away and she had so much fun running down the side walk with Vanessa letting the capes fly out behind them.

Jenny's parents live in a gorgeous neighborhood. One that I dream of living in one day. The front yards are all full of grass, there are sidewalks, green trees everywhere. People care about what there yards look like. I couldn't get over how much I loved the neighborhood. It was so much fun to be able to sit out front and let the kids play. One night while sitting outside Jenny let the kids water the flowers in the front yard. Maylee and Vanessa were being so silly and laughing over every little thing. It was hilarious. Dutch and Savvy enjoyed watering the flowers too. It was a great visit. We had a lot of fun. And it was the perfect escape for me. I really needed to get away and do something fun besides sit around and watch David study. Jenny and I were able to craft although not nearly as much as we would have liked but we did what we could with five crazy kids. We stayed up every night til almost one chatting, the drive home was pretty rough because of it. I finally called David about 2 hours into it and told him to talk to me and keep me wake. Poor guy had to talk to me and entertain me for about two hours but I managed to stay awake. It was a great trip and a great way to start the summer. The kids wrestling with Eric... and eating pop-tarts... Oh yeah and Talli was there too... Now David is done with his first year of Medical School and is off until August. I'm so excited. We've already starting playing. And it is SO nice to be able to have a helping hand with the kids all day long. He is probably going to be begging to go back to school by the time summer is over but for now I plan on letting him get a really good experience of what a stay at home parent job is all about. The first two days his patience with the kids was so perfect it almost made me want to vomit a little, but now after five days of being with them all day every day he is starting to go a little crazy. Oh how I love to sit back and watch him with the kids and laugh.

On Wednesday after we got home we really needed some food. So we got the kids ready to go to the grocery store and then Maylee added a few more accessories to the dress that I put on her. And yes we let her go to the store looking like this. It made her day. Those are my socks and the shoes are at least a size to small. Her feet must have been killing her. But she is a true girl and won't let a little pain get in the way of fashion. And that is her swimsuit over her dress. She loves that swimsuit.

Daddy, Dutch and Talli crashed after shopping. Maylee and Dutch are still in awe of Talli and they love to lay by her. They fight all the time about who gets to be the closest to her. She is one loved little girl. Lets just hope she can survive all the smothering.

Talli slept for 8 hours straight last night. She is the best baby ever. I never thought I would get a baby that slept through the night at six weeks. Dutch slept through the night for the first time at ten months and Maylee at nine months. So I am loving this. Lets just see if it lasts. She usually does a six hour stretch but I'll be more than happy if it changes to eight.

Nap Time

The last few days Maylee has been waking up at about 5:30. It's extremely exhausting not only on David and I but also on Maylee. This morning when she woke up David took her downstairs and turned cartoons on for her. Then at 12:30 when it was time for her nap she was crying and emotional and did not want to lay down in her crib. Which is VERY uncommon for Maylee. She loves nap time. Sometimes she cries and asks if she can take a nap. So I knew the only reason she was fighting it was because she was too tired. So David took her upstairs to lay her down and she was hysterical, so he laid with her on our bed. But she was still fighting it, so he just put her in her crib to let her cry. Well I have never let Maylee cry it out it doesn't work for her. So I went and got her and laid with her on my bed. She fell asleep so I carried her in her room and soon as I walked into her room she woke up and starting crying, "no Mommy." Well I didn't want to let her take a nap in our bed, not a habit I want to start. So I did the only other thing I could think of, I got in her crib with her. And guess what, she was fine and fell asleep instantly. But I decided to give her just a minute before I climbed out so I wouldn't wake her up. Meanwhile David came to see how it was going and found me laying in her crib. First thing he says is, "that's not designed for your weight." I'll try not to take that as a fat joke. Next thing he did was grab the camera.

Talli had her one month well check the other day. She seems like she is getting so big so fast. She is already wearing 0-3 months clothes, which I know is normal but Maylee didn't wear them until she was at least two months. Talli's stats are...

weight 10.2 50-75 %

height 22 inches 50-75%

Maylee weighed 10.1 at her two month well check, so I'm thinking Talli might not be super petite like Maylee was. But then again Maylee was born 2 1/2 weeks earlier than Talli. Regardless Talli is so beautiful, I can't get enough of her. I just love her to pieces. It's funny how before she came I hoped I would love another little girl as much as I do Maylee and I definitely do. I feel that same overwhelmingness (I know that isn't really a word) of love for her.

I took the kids to the splash pad for the first time this season on Wednesday. Dutch loved it. We met up with some friends there and Dutch just ran off with his buddies and never looked back. He had a blast playing in the water. Maylee on the other hand would not leave my side. She has been in this really shy stage for a long time now. Not at home. At home she wants nothing to do with me but as soon as we leave the house and are around other people she is stuck to my side like glue and won't go off and play. So I would take her over to the water and try and get her to play but she did not want to get wet. Silly girl. Although I really couldn't blame her, because even though it was 90 degrees outside it was pretty windy which made you really cold once you got wet. It didn't slow Dutch down, but after about an hour of it he was finally cold enough that he wanted to just run in the grass.

All of us at the splash pad... When we got home from the splash pad Dutch and Talli passed out, they were exhausted from being in the sun and having so much fun. Maylee of course missed her nap window and would not go to sleep. She held strong until bed time and then went out like a light once she was in her crib. And of course I fried while hanging out outside, and not only did I fry myself but Dutch and Maylee's arms looked just like mine. I borrowed sunscreen from a friend because of course I forgot to buy some and put it on their faces but I didn't think to do are arms. And man did it hurt. I started doing P90X again. I started two weeks ago. So I have two weeks down and only eleven more to go (not that I'm counting or anything). The kids have been really cute when I work out. They love to work out with me. They try and do all the stretches, they lift weights and do wall squats. It's pretty adorable. One day I was doing chair dips and when I stood up Maylee used the chair and did some herself. It was so cute. Dutch is still in love with Talli and loves to talk to her and hold her. He is such a good big brother. If only he was as nice to Maylee as he is to Talli. And Maylee is still just as cute and ornery as ever. Her Grandma bought her this skirt and Maylee loves to wear it. She would wear it every day if I let her. Sometimes I have to hide it just so I can wash it. And she loves to dance while wearing her favorite skirt. Cute girl! For Christmas Grandma bought Dutch a Leap Pad game but he was still a little to young for it and it would frustrate him, so in order to save the thing from being thrown we put it away until he was older and could use it correctly. David got it out the other day for him and he LOVES it. I'm thinking we are going to have to make some video game rules around here because all he wants to do is play his game. But he is really good about letting Maylee watch him play and they look pretty cute sitting close together playing. And last but not least we moved almost all of the kids toys upstairs to their room because we were sick and tired of the mess downstairs. So now the downstairs stays a whole lot cleaner and we aren't constantly stepping on toys down there anyways, now they have taken over are entire upstairs and the stair case. We just can't win. Why is it that the toys have taken over our lives?