Date with Maggie

A few weeks ago Maggie and I were able to have a little Maggie/Mama date. We went to one of my favorite coffee shops in town and she got a hot chocolate, I got a latte, and we shared a little treat. It was so much fun to get to be with just her and get to talk about whatever she wanted to talk about (BFFs, gymnastics, her future career in art and midwifery, and Vanderbilt Children's Hospital). I took some photos of her as we were hanging out.
There is also a really fun mural painted outside of the building so we took a few shots out there, too.
She wanted to dance in front of the mural and make a pretend music video. I recorded her "video" for her and it is hysterical. She is just running around and singing like she's on speed. Maybe it was the hot chocolate and zucchini bread at work?
I love this little girl.

The Tunnel

We love to go to Dragon Park here in Nashville. If you live in Nashville you know Dragon Park but if you don't, it is a wonderful park with large, mosaic-covered dragons rising up out of the ground. You can climb on the dragons, play on one of several playgrounds, have a picnic in the grass, climb the hills and roll down, or play in the tunnel.
We played there just a few weeks ago and I had fun taking photos of the children playing in the tunnel.
I love this close up of Finn. His skin is just so luminous and he looks beautiful but also so boyish with his hat, shorts, and shoes.Here's a silhouette of him at the end of the tunnel.
Here are both children frolicking. I love when my children frolic. It just feels right.

Exercising wears Maggie out.

Here's the most recent photo of catching Maggie napping during rest time.

Cicadas FREAK. ME. OUT.

Did you know that Nashville and much of the south has been hit by a plague of Biblical proportions? No? Well, there are these CRAZY bugs, cicadas, that come every 13 years and there are hundreds of thousands of them. They are called Brood XIX cicadas. You should google them. Seriously. Go google them and then come back. Here's a photo of one that I took on my front porch.
They're about as big as my thumb, from the front of the front legs to the tip of the wing. They don't sting, bite, or do anything else bad except, you guys, they're everywhere. And THEY LAND ON YOU. And their legs are sticky so they can't just be brushed off. They make an insanely loud song (their mating call). It's almost deafening. Actually, we have some musician friends who are working on a new record and they said that they can't record right now because the sound is too loud. They last about 6 weeks and then die, leaving their eggs underground for 13 more years. They came when I was five, they came when I was 18, and here they are again. The next time I come I'll be 44! Math idiots like me, I'll save you the subtraction - I'm 31. I actually think they're kind of interesting. They aerate the soil, they feed wildlife like birds and fish. It's interesting that they grow underground for 13 years. And yet. I experience a crazy revulsion when I think about them. I have such anxiety about them that I couldn't sleep for several nights in the weeks leading up to their arrival. We don't have a garage and I was just trying to picture how I would load up my three kids in the car, fighting them off, everyone (myself included) screaming.
So I did what any sensible person would do: I fled town. Grant and I rented a car and drove through the night to get here. Now, they were around for over a week before we left, but they come out gradually at first so the numbers weren't too bad. The day after we left though, they started coming out in droves. I took a photo of the kids in the car because it was so funny to me - we crammed all three car seats in the back seat of a standard car (a Ford, can't remember the model, but it was the size of a Honda Accord). Carolina's carseat is rear-facing so you can't see her.
They did great. If Finn or Maggie did happen to wake up during the drive (8:30pm to 8am) they would just kind of giggle and go back to sleep.
Carolina woke up twice to eat on the way here and this is what she looked like (taken just before nursing in the front seat, around 1am):
Could she be any cuter?
Grant stayed one day and left the next day in the morning. Poor guy. At the first sign of bugs I just up and take his family away from him. I have to brag on my parents-in-law. I called to ask them if I could come stay for almost 3 weeks (originally I said a month) and right away they said yes! That's right, they were willing to take me and my three wonderful, loud children in for a month. They've been wonderful and my father-in-law even told me today that they aren't tired of us yet :)

We really miss Grant but he is working hard at home and he'll come out in about a week and stay with us for the last week before we return home and he starts a new job! Hooray, Grant!

School Days

Hello from Texas! I'm on my mother-in-law's Dell and I can't figure out how to move this photo as it has been five years since I used a PC. Please bear with me and I apologize for the wonky photos.

Maggie goes to a great little school in Franklin (about 30 minutes from our house). We love it, although I am sick to death of driving that far, even though we carpool so I do it only half of the time. Her teacher, Miss Heather, is blind but knows more about what's going on around her than any seeing person I know. She's old-school and is very strict about manners and respect, in addition to excellent academics (I know that sounds ridiculous when talking about preschool but seriously, she had Maggie reading at age four!)

Since I can't figure out this darn computer I'll just tell you what the photos are here:

The top two are Maggie and her BFF, Riley. They are two peas in a pod. I told them to do their best poses and that's what I got.

Next is Finn being pushed on the swing by Riley and Maggie. I think Riley wishes she had a younger sibling - she's very good with Finn and loves to mother him. Maggie mostly thinks he's a pest. Ah, siblings...

Carolina eating solids

Now that Carolina is six months old we're giving her solid foods in earnest (we tried rice cereal a couple of times starting at five months). So far she loves her rice cereal, applesauce, and bananas. I'm starting sweet potatoes tonight. It's funny how different we were with Maggie starting solids, since she was our first. I practically had a spreadsheet for what we were going to start with first, and then a plan for introducing a new food every 3 days in case she has an allergic reaction. I seriously spent way too much time thinking about wanting to introduce veggies first so she wouldn't develop a taste for sweets. This time it's just on-the-fly, looking in the pantry and seeing what we have! I make her baby food, as I did for Maggie and Finn, and in some ways I love it but I think I'll still be glad when she's eating table food. The homesteader in me loves the idea of making big batches of baby food and freezing it. It sort-of thrills me to have 40 little cubes of pureed sweet potatoes in the freezer right now. Yes, I realize how nerdy that sounds, and I'm okay with it!
Here is the sweet girl with rice cereal. I'm so glad the spoon is in focus but not her face (ha).
It's messy but fun!

Buddies

It's fun to watch one's children develop their own friendships. Last week we went to the zoo with my good friend, Jenna, and her two charming boys, Liam and Callum. I've mentioned them before because Finn receives their hand-me-downs and looks up to them, especially Liam (whom he calls "Mima").
I was watching Callum for a second while Jenna and Liam had a restroom break and I looked over to see this adorable sight:

Hold You, Cay-Cay

Lately Finn has picked up on Maggie asking to hold Carolina, and he's decided he needs to be in on that action. He says, "Hold you, Cay-Cay." At first I said no and tried to redirect him but then I thought, "Why not?!"
It's pretty funny though, because he doesn't know exactly what's required of him to hold her. I'll put her in his lap and then he'll tuck his hands in between himself and her back, as he does when he wants to cuddle. She basically can sit by herself but isn't perfect at it, so after about 30 seconds she topples over.
I've taken the liberty of photographing the process for you:
Step 1:
Put Carolina in Finn's lap on a soft landing spot, like my bed. Tell him, "Hold her with your arms like you're giving her a hug."
Step 2. He starts to loosen his grip on her.
Step 3. Falling time. Notice the placement of his hands.
Want to see it again? (PS - Isn't her smile below hysterical?! Love it.)
Step 1.
Step 2.
Step 3.
You may have noticed that the photos are a bit blurry and I think it's because I couldn't really stand completely still and be ready to catch her as she fell (although she cracked up every time she toppled over!).
He's also started doing this thing where the second she touches him he says, "Ow, Cay-Cay!" Even if she's barely touching him! He's crazy. I think they're going to have a special relationship.

Finn's Second Birthday, Part II

My mother- and father-in-law sent more birthday photos after reading that I didn't have many, and I'm so thankful they did!
We'll start with Carol and Carolina enjoying the back deck.
And here are Rusty and Maggie
Here are Finn's Uncle Blake and Aunt Jenny.
Here are two proud grandfathers, showing off their green. Nice one, guys.
Some of the girls
Blowing out his candles
I think he liked his cake!
The sun went down but it was still pleasant enough to sit outside for a little while.

Opening gifts

Free Cone Day

As you know, I love anything that's free, especially FREE ICE CREAM! How can you beat that?! We never miss Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's and this year was no exception. We ended up meeting up with a bunch of friends there, which was fun, and my friend Tiffany even came with me and didn't eat any ice cream. Is she crazy, or what?
Here's Finn wearing his pomegranate sorbet.

Miami

As I mentioned about two months ago, my baby sister, Lindsay, had her first baby, beautiful Charlie. Charlie is named after our grandfather and was due on our grandfather's birthday (although he ended up coming a bit earlier than that).
I was lucky enough to get to visit Lindsay, her husband Jim, and Charlie, over a long weekend mid-April. They live in Miami where Lindsay is about to start her fellowship and Jim is at the end of his first year of residency. Not being a beach person I'm probably not the best visitor to Miami, but luckily all I wanted to see was Charlie.
Here's that gorgeous little guy:
I took Carolina with me and left Maggie and Finn with Grant for a Thursday afternoon through Monday afternoon. Grant wishes I had come back a day earlier but I could have stayed a few more days. Ha!
I was nervous to fly with an infant as they're probably the least popular passenger on an airplane. I needn't have worried - of course Carolina did great. She smiled and made friends while we were waiting to depart and then the minute the plane lifted off she put her head on my shoulder and fell asleep. She did that for the return trip, too. I even got to read large chunks of my enormous book club book.
Lindsay has always been such a fun aunt to my kids and our other sister Erin's kids. I always knew she would be a great mom and it was so much fun to watch her and Jim parent Charlie. They're so fantastic.
While we were in Miami we had lots of fun putting the babies next to each other for comparison.
Guess what? Carolina is bigger. But she does have a good four months on him. I got to hold him, lots, which was awesome. And Lindsay even held Carolina a bit, too.
One day we talked with our parents via Skype. I had to use the restroom so poor Lindsay (lucky Lindsay?) got to hold both babies.
Charlie loves baths so he had several while we were there. One day I even stuck Carolina in his bath (for the record, I think she's clean enough, but I'm in no danger of drying out her skin by bathing her all the time! I wish I could blame this on being the third child but I did that with all of my babies.).

I think she had a good time.
The last day we put both of them in Charlie's crib and took about a million photos because they were so cute in there. Carolina even held his hand at one point! Here's Charlie looking very wary of this big baby in his bed.
And here she is from the other angle:
It kills me that they're so far away (and they hate it, too). Hopefully when they're done with their training they can move closer so we can get all the little cousins together. We just had the best time! Thanks, Lindsay and Jim, for letting me come and play!
PS-Read her account of our trip here.

Fireman

It's funny how children fall into gender stereotypes. Obviously they don't always - Maggie loves girly things like tea parties and dresses, but she also loves to run and be active. Having lots of friends with little boys I would watch their boys become obsessed with trains, balls, cars, tractors, trucks, and fire trucks/fire fighters/ambulances/police cars. Now Finn is into all of those things. It makes car trips much more eventful. We see trains ALL the time where we live and I love to point them out to Finn. He points and gleefully shouts, "Fire! (or whatever we saw) "See! Cool!"
Grant's uncles, Uncle Steve and Uncle James, always send the best presents and they recently sent Finn a fireman rain coat. He LOVES it because a)fire fighter b)it has a hood c)it has buckles he can snap and unsnap.
Here's a close up:
And here's a wide view:
Yes, it's possible he's naked under there. He spends a good part of each day naked. I'm planning a whole post on it so get ready!