St Francis & Clare Festival

My Couch Potatoes

Ty is 2 1/2 Yrs Old

I Love This Kid!
He is so full of life and energy.
It's been so fun to watch him learn & grow.
He knows his colors and can count to 20. He's wearing big boy underware now and using the potty. And he's in the "I do it" and "Why" stage.
Both exhausting & adorable.
His giggle is contageous. And I get such a kick out of watching him wrestle around with his daddy. He's conquered his fear of the bathtub and has even moved up to the shower :) Hooray!! I wish I could remember all the funny things he does & says. Ty is just so much fun.

Rock'n & Roll'n

This week Drew has mastered the art of Rock'n & Roll'n (rocking on all fours & rolling over, that is). His wonderful babysitter, Theresa, captures these moments and texts pictures to me when I can't be there.

This picture of Drew & Emerson (babysitter's dauther) is awesome. What are the chances of getting two very busy kids to stop and smile together like that!?

Up on all fours, ROCK'N!
He's not quite crawling, but he gets around by rocking then lunging forward.

Drew has been rolling over from belly to back since only a few months old. Now he has mastered rolling from back to belly. This is great b/c he is a belly sleeper and would get rolled onto his back @ night and was like a turtle on it's shell. I would have to get up several times to roll him back over. So he's on his own now :)

Going...Going...

Gone!...He did it!

Drew is 6 Months

Drew Thomas Black

6 Months Old

A Picture in My Mind

For those of you who read my blog regularly (when I post regularly;), you know I am picture-happy. But some moments can't be interrupted to run and grab a camera.

This morning I had such a moment with Ty. The boys had gotten up early as usual, so Drew was ready for an early nap. After putting him down, Ty said he wanted to lay on mommy's bed. So I put off the many things I wanted to get done to spend a moment with my precious boy.

We snuggled together under the covers and he played his games on my iphone. The moment was so priceless because as he played his game, I was able to gaze at his beautiful face without him being annoyed I was looking at him ;) I sat there and just took in his adorable features: his pouty lips which I remember being able to see on his ultrasound pictures, his long dark thick eye lashes, his eyes that seem to be changing from hazel to a dark green, a miniature version of his daddy's forehead, his precious little ears that have already been through surgery for tubes, his sweet little nose that used to look like mine but is developing into more of a mature little boy nose and I think will look like his daddy's.

Ahhh...it was just such a great moment. I wanted badly to take a snapshot of his precious face from my point of view from the pillow. But I stayed, soaked it in, and tried to imprint the picture in my mind.

Playtime w/Daddy

On the MOVE

Oh boy...and so it begins.

I love that smile!

Pushing back
And going forward (on carpet, I might add!)
Exhausted and snuggling w/Aunt Dana after all that work :)

GREEN

Guess what color Ty learned this week at Preschool????

They do an amazing job with Ty at Friendship Kids Preschool.
Especially Ty's teacher, Mrs Tori.

And this is exactly why I send him! He has so much fun doing messy things that Mommy wouldn't dare try at home :)

Rocking with Papaw

Drew's Playdate w/Lydia

Drew got to spend some time with his friend Lydia Stewart today! These beautiful babies are just a few weeks apart. I'm excited to watch them grow up together.

These two babies were friends before they even made their first appearance. Here is Drew & Lydia in their mommy's belly at our "Amy & Amiee Shower".

After lunch, we went swimming with the Stewarts. I didn't get the best pictures. It's hard to hold a wet baby who can't sit by themself and a camera at the same time ;) But he was super adorable in his swimtrunks.

Ty's first time swimming was with the Stewarts too. Here's a pic:

Swim Lessons

Ty had his first Swim Lesson today.
This is a 4 week Parent/Child class at the YMCA.
It's for 18 mo to 3 years. So Ty is one of the oldest in the class. But I think this was better b/c he was so proud to show off his "moves".

At the beginning and end of each class they do these cute preschool songs w/motions to get them used to splashing and moving around.
Here Ty is doing the song, "This is the way we splash our hands, splash our hands, splash our hands...This is the way we splash our hands, in the swimming pool." :)

Then the instructor throws out a bunch of ducks into the pool and the kids have to kick to move around and collect them.

Ty likes to get a duck then shoot it in the basket. Look at that perfect form!

The "Itzy Bitzy Spider..."

"...out came the sun & dried up all the rain..."
These songs are cute b/c it gets them used to having the water sprinkled on top of them as they do the motions.

Drew was there looking on.

Afterwards, we went outside to play in the "big pool".