We're making progress

Oliver has proven over the past month or so that he's a good night time sleeper...he was going to bed around 10 and sleeping till 5 +/- . I've been trying for the earlier bedtime lately and have started feeding him around 7 and putting him down shortly there after. It takes him till 9pm sometimes to fully unwind and fall asleep but, like last night, he slept till 6:30! Good Lord, please let this continue!!!! Please.

Cute pics...

These are the little eyes that stare up at me as I'm nursing him. I am so sad this photo didn't come out clearer...I want to remember this look for the rest of my life. I took this photo as I was holding Oliver just after I finished nursing him. Those eyes melt my heart each time. I am so lucky.

My little super-star! Tyler just finished giving her a bath and she ran out of the bathroom and just started dancing. She loves to make people laugh!!!

Enjoying the sprinkler in our backyard. This child can have fun doing just about anything! I am the luckiest mother in the world to have these 2 amazing babes!

More family time...

Nanny (Tyler's grandmother) gets to hold Oliver for the first time. We all met over at Bonita's (Tyler's mom) pool for a swim and some dinner.

This is my Tusa (Aunt) Virg with Oliver. She is my grandma's youngest sister. After being at the lake for 4 days we decided to stop in Warren to see some family that hadn't met Oliver yet.

Uncle George with Oliver...he actually did really well with Oliver, unfortunately this was the only photo I got. Uncle George sang him songs and danced with him. It was so sweet.

When we're in Warren we love to stop over Tusa Jenny and Uncle Pete's house to visit. Unfortunately, Uncle Pete had to work this morning so we didn't get to see him.

I was craving hot dogs from the Hot Dog Shoppe, so on our way out of Warren we stopped. If you've never had a dog from the Hot Dog Shoppe then you are missing out!!!! This was Amelia's first trip to the Shoppe and she refused to eat a hot dog! Thankfully Gram packed some rice for Amelia — so Amelia's lunch consisted of french fries and rice! I have no idea what they were doing with the forks, just something Amelia started.

A little family trip...

Sadly, my maternity leave is almost over. I realized I would never get another opportunity to take a leisurely trip in the middle of the week for no apparent reason so I packed up the kids and headed to Chautauqua Lake in New York where my aunt and uncle have a house. My grandparents and Aunt Tami and Uncle Jamie were up there with us on and off throughout the week.

I had been promising Amelia that she could fish with Uncle Jamie sometime this summer and even though she didn't get to fish with him she got to spend some time with him at the lake. Amelia is in love with Uncle Jamie. She must've asked me 46 times when Uncle Jamie would get there and then she'd follow up her comment with, "You should call him, mom." It was hysterical. Needless to say, once Uncle Jamie got there Amelia didn't let him out of her sight!

Amelia was in her glory!

Torrey, Uncle Jamie's English Setter.

On Thursday it was just my Grandpa, Amelia, Oliver and I left at the lake. Beeps took us to this little, old amusement park that afternoon. Amelia got to ride her first rides! The first ride she went on by herself went a little to fast and she asked for the ride to stop, thankfully, this happens all the time so the lady didn't mind. The helicopter ride was her favorite. It didn't go too fast and she had control of going up and down if she wanted to. Once the ride was done she asked to go again — she was the only one on it, too!

Beeps looked so cute pushing Oliver around in the stroller I had to take a photo of it.

Father's Day

I took the kids to my sister's house for Father's Day. As part of Tyler's father's day present I gave Tyler the weekend to himself; my brother-in-law was out of town too so it worked out perfectly. My dad and stepmom Karen came down for the weekend — we spent some quality family time together. The kids had a great time playing in the backyard in the sprinkler.

Ian LOVES his goggles. He looks like a little fish.

I have NO idea what either of them were looking at so intently but it sure made for a fantastic photo!

Dacia let Ian pick out his peeing spot in the backyard — I couldn't pass up this photo opp either!

Grandma Karen and 3 of her grandkids enjoying popsicles.

After their bath, Amelia and Ian brushed their teeth and got ready for bed. They even managed to sleep in the same room together.

On Sunday Dacia took us to the butterfly exhibit. It was a beautiful exhibit — just crazy hot inside! This was the best picture we could get of all of us. At least we got something, right?

My handsome little boy.

My daddy and Oliver.

Ian's 3rd birthday party

My nephew Ian turned 3 on June 15th. He had a huge crowd of 1-5 year-olds at his party. They even had a spiderman bounce-house...the kids LOVED it!

Ian couldn't wait to blow out his candles and Amelia just looked on in admiration.

These two have so much fun together. Even though they don't get to see each other very often they play together like best friends.

Juice, baby!

Isabella Miskell and Amelia

Each month we get together with our cousins (Chris and Beth Miskell) — the girls can play and we get some adult time! It's perfect. Isabella is a year younger than Amelia but they still play together rather well.

week 6

My boys.

Last weekend Tyler and I took the kids to a Clippers (AAA Indians affiliate) baseball game. This photo was taken way before the game started — they were actually sold out that night. It was a good game, or so I hear...I didn't actually get to watch one minute of the game! Thankfully we only paid $6 for lawn seats so it really didn't matter to me.


Our super-baby! Fly baby, fly!

Amelia spent most of the evening playing in the water fountain. At this point the fountain was just water spraying up from the sides, the boy in the photo was standing in the middle when the rest of the water came rushing up. It was pretty funny. Amelia had fun watching the older kids run through the water. If I had known there was a fountain to play in I would've brought her other clothes to change into (like other parents did).

Such a cutie in her new Clippers hat that daddy bought for her.

Just chillin'.

She was SO excited to have her picture taken with Krash, one of the mascots. The other mascot, Lou Seal signed her hat earlier in the game. She LOVED it!

Our attempt at a family photo. Ha ha!

Oliver sleeping. 6 weeks old.

Weeks 4 & 5

Papaw took us to the zoo his last weekend here in town. Amelia had so much fun with all the animals and she especially loved the merry-go-round...which daddy had to take her on because even that sissy of a ride makes mommy dizzy!!!

Amelia and the gorilla. She looks like such a big girl in this photo I just can't get over it!

Grandpa and Grandma came down for another afternoon visit. We took the kids to Sharon Woods for a picnic — Grandpa and Amelia had fun playing ball.

Our little Elton John look-a-like.

Brother and sister laying on the floor just before bath time.

Bath time with both kids...this actually works out rather well. Amelia does a great job with him — even in the water. We are VERY lucky she is such a wonderful big sister to Oliver.

Amelia LOVES to hold Oliver now. The main photo on the blog is from this same moment on our bed...I love that photo...look really close at Amelia's eyes — she looks like she's got some ulterior motives!

This is Amelia's version of fishing — for now. She can NOT wait till she can go fishing with Uncle Jamie this summer at their lake house. Later that night she came up to me and asked with puppy-dog eyes, "Mommy, I can go fishing with Uncle Jammie this weekend?" (She calls him Uncle Jam-E for some reason. She knows better but thinks it's funny this way!)

After fishing she took a great nap so I let her play with her paints in the backyard. In school they had just made their foot prints so she wanted to do the same thing at home. It escalated from there.....

.... to her hands and legs.....

.... to her entire body. She kinda looks like a Jackson Pollock painting. She was SO goofy this afternoon. After her naked painting session she ran all over the yard laughing hysterically and kept telling me that the bear was chasing her...but he was a nice bear and he was just playing. Such an imagination on this child!!

The kids. Oliver says Hi!