I'm Sweet like Sugar!

Jude Starts School/Corinne Goes to the Doc

It's official!  As of yesterday, Jude is a pre-schooler.  Ryan and I both took him to Columbia Baptist yesterday where he will be going to school this year two mornings per week.  We were all geared up and ready for the big event, camera in hand.  It turned out to be somewhat anticlimactic.  A group of 2 year olds and parents gathered outside the classroom awaiting the clock to hit 9, and then that was it.  The door opened, Jude walked into the classroom, having never met the teachers before, we said good-bye and that was that.  No tears, no anxious glances.  He was ready to begin!  When I picked him up yesterday he was a little sweatball from having just played on the playground.  The teacher said he had a great time (I still have no idea what they actually did for 3 hours!) and was well-behaved.  Her only comment was that at snack time after being given apples, he asked for graham crackers and continued to ask for them until class was over.  Hilarious!  To explain, the only "classroom type setting" Jude has ever been in is nursery at church and Parent's Morning Out last year--in both settings the snack is always graham crackers.  :)  Clearly, the apples threw him off a bit!  Have I mentioned before that Jude is a boy who really likes his routine?!  No curve balls, please.

While Jude was at pre-school, C and I stepped over to the doctor's office for her 9-month check up.  9 months!  Seriously, time flies.  She's doing just great.  Not much to report besides the fact that the doctor didn't even ask me about milestones--she could tell that she was way ahead of the game through watching her crawl around the exam room, pull up on chairs and cruise along the walls, babbling all the way.  She said we didn't even really need to have a conversation about it!  The biggest news (literally) is that Corinney has gained 5 pounds since her last check-up at 6 months, putting her in the 97th percentile for weight (and 94th for height).  That just means we have more of her to love!!

Swimming

 Alas, I am a bad blogger.  I prefer to think of myself as a busy person rather than a bad blogger, but call me what you will.  The funny thing is that when I sit down to make a post, it's so enjoyable that I think, "why don't I do this more often?"  And then the laundry, dishes, work assignments, and of course general busyness of chasing around two littles chime in response, and I have my answer.

It could also just be that as summer has set in we have ended up spending a lot of time in the pool in order stay cool during our ridiculously (as predicted) hot summer.  Tonight we went to the pool with Uncle Kevin, Tia Dri and Cousin Lucas.  Quick sidenote to say that this post can be partially made possible to Adriana's kindness in giving me a jumpstart by sending me these photos.  Here are the cousins in a couple of shots.  It's virtually impossible to take one with all three smiling, which is why I had to throw in an extra of Corinney with her twin cousin Lucas.  We had a lot of fun!!  We're looking forward to more cousin fun at Lake Anna in a couple of weeks.  If you're lucky, I'll actually write a post about it!  :)

TEXAS!

We've had a great time in Texas!  Sad to go back to Virginia tomorrow.  We have lots of cute photos, so I'll make some posts over the next few days to share.  Hoping for a smooth, uneventful flight with the kiddos tomorrow morning!

Catching up to speed

 Having a little blog binge this evening since I just downloaded photos to my computer from the last two months!  Here are some of my photo favs from April and May.  

 Jude in his "Curious George" T-shirt.  Not much Jude loves more than George right now, which can be great because if you need to entertain him for 20 minutes to be able to attend to something else turning on George never fails.  It unfortunately has become a bad and a bit annoying habit because George is an everyday, multiple times a day request per Jude, and when it's not time to watch, there is a 50% chance of total meltdown.

 Uncle Landon was here for two weeks in April.  It was so fun to have him over to play with the kiddos.  They really enjoyed him.  Corinne has a ton of drool running down her face in the above photo, but we're confident that Landon is used to it and probably more often from less cute patients.

 Jude with his new George T, a present from Uncle "Yandon".

 Hello, little miss Hokie bird!

 Corinney at age 5 months (4/29/11)

 Love this little Winnie the Pooh frock that I picked up in New York when I went with girlfriends while still pregnant with C.

Looking extra boutique-y in her little outfit from Netta.  You'll notice many more of my photos are of Corinne the past couple of months.  It's not because I think she is cuter.  I try to take just as many photos of Jude, but many of them end up being the back of his head because he starts running away from me the moment I turn the camera toward him.  Oh well!  Maybe there will be more photos of Jude in the next batch a couple of months down the road!  :)

First Tastes

 On Friday, we went to our follow up appointment with the pediatric GI specialist who gave us the green light to start solids.  So today, we gave Corinne her first spoonfuls of baby oatmeal (which was recommended over the rice because it will hopefully not have as much of an impact on C's already very slow BM pattern).  Jude enjoyed helping Daddy feed her some spoonfuls.

 Initially, C wasn't too sure what she thought about the oatmeal, so we got some faces like this one.

But...by the end of the bowl, those spoonfuls could not come fast enough!  She loved it!

Daddy's Home!!

Every night the kids (well, and me included) wait anxiously with anticipation for the moment Ryan walks through the door.  Jude wants to wrestle, Corinne wants to join in, and I just want a little break!  :)