Summer Fun -- Part III -- Blackberries!

We found a nice surprise growing through our fence in the backyard this past week....a blackberry bush! Once David goes down for his morning nap each day, Noah and I head out to the backyard to play. Noah is very predictable when he steps outside and he starts, sadly, by pacing the yard, looking for dog poop for me to scoop up and throw over the back fence line. Apparently, we have been fertilizing tons and tons of blackberry bushes. Noah was sidetracked from his daily search for dog poop and stumbled across the blackberry bush hanging over (and through) the fence and asked me, "what's that"? I actually didn't know they were blackberries at first and was hesitant to pick any until I could confirm they were not anything poisonous. With time, we realized they were blackberries and we have now added blackberry picking to our morning ritual in the backyard. Scooping poop has taken a back seat for awhile :)



We manage to pick between 1-2 cups every morning off the one bush growing through the fence....but there are tons more growing behind the fence.



Every morning, Noah says we need to pick blackberries for Daddy, but he always manages to eat every last one of them :)



I can't keep his hands out of the bowl!



All gone!

Summer Time Part II -- Slip n Slide

Apparently, Slip n Slides have made some advancements from when we were growing up. Noah's buddy, or do I dare say, girlfriend, came knocking on the door last night during dinner and asked if Noah could come over and play on her Slip n Slide. Here is what we found!

Notice that Slip n Slides now have water fountains shooting out of them...



Noah with his buddy, Bethany, and her friend, Cecily, sitting in a pool that now sits at the end of the Escalade version of the Slip n Slide.



The instructions on the back of the Slip n Slide now say to add dish soap for a faster sliding experience.



Do you think he is having fun? How could we say no to the invitation to play, even if it meant a super late bedtime???



Just a few more sips of water before calling it quits for the night. Thanks, Bethany, for a great time!

Sitting up....REALLY!

David is no longer just barely sitting up....he is chilling out, checking things out, and enjoying the scenery from a new position. He is becoming more steady and stays sitting up for several minutes at a time now!





Playing in Noah's room --- one of Noah's favorite new things to do in the mornings together!

Big Boy!

We are so proud of our big boy, David! As I mentioned previously, David has been taking his time reaching some of his developmental milestones, but click on the video below to see him showing off how well he can roll over now! Now that he has figured out how to roll, he rolls as quickly as possible to get off of his tummy, so we still don't manage to get too much tummy time in these days. Instead, we just roll :) We are still scheduled to have an early intervention evaluation, but he is making strides everyday. We couldn't be more proud! (I also included a few pictures of him just to show off how cute the little guy is --- I know, I am biased --- but I am allowed to be because I am his mama!)

My little food snatcher!

We recently joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)and look forward to our bag of fresh veggies we pick up each Thursday. It is always a surprise as to what we may receive, so we always get excited when it is time to go pick up our goodies. Joining the CSA has encouraged us to eat more veggies and learn how to prepare foods I never would have considered buying at the grocery. And the nice thing is that they are always picked within 24-36 hours from when we receive them. What is even better is that Noah is starting to expand his palette of foods he will eat! Yesterday, I left the kitchen to change David's diaper and returned to find Noah standing on a stool he had pulled up to the counter, taking a bite out of every snap pea on the cutting board, raw and all! The funny part is that he proceeded to take bites out of them, put them back on the cutting board, and reach for a new one. He had to taste every last one of them. That is my little vegetarian in the making!

Almost sitting up!!!

David is now able to sit up, propped on his hands, for a few seconds at a time now!



Although I did not capture any pictures of him showing off his new skill, I love all of these photos because they capture so many tender moments about his personality, Noah's desire to be close to him, and the way Daniel looks at him.





He is becoming such a big boy! We are so proud of him!

Summer Time!

One of Noah's favorite things to do this summer is to play in the swimming pool at Lexee's house, our next door neighbor. He likes to slide into the pool (both feet AND head first), make water fountains with buckets, pour water on his head, and bounce on the side of the pool. Noah loves swimming so much that he now waits longingly at the dining room window, waiting for it to be time to go swimming. He even waited by the side of the empty pool this morning at 830 am, but Lexee never came out of her house to play :(