Tuesday, April 30, 2013

On the farm

Kyle left me for a week to present at a symposium down in Houston, Texas earlier this month.

 087

Sure that sounds dramatic (He left me! My life is so hard! Blah, blah, blah) but honestly, it was kind of dramatic! Just a month ago we had never even spent a night apart, so this was L-O-N-G for us.

088

There were only two things that made this bearable.

First, I fled up to Michigan to spend the week with my family. Apparently, I am just not grown up enough to take care of my kids (or myself) on my own yet. Plus, if I can't spend time with Kyle, that time better be spent with my family.

053
 My heart melts everytime I see this picture!

And second, the new lambs at the Wilson's Farm just made life all the better!

038

058

I spent many a day on this farm growing up with one of my best friends, Erika Wilson (well, her name now is Erika Saxey...y'know...that whole change your name when you get married thing...)

064

Avery spent about 1.5 seconds looking at the lambs.

044

Then she was off! That girl had cousins to play with! I mean, really, who can pass up time with Andrew?

039

And you have to cherish every moment you get with Kimber.

048

And Scott? It should go without saying that a person would drop anything (and everything) to get some time with that kiddo.

049

You can see the Gilbert family resemblance in how they bite lips... :)

065

Add a swing to the equation and you might understand why the little lambies got slim attention from Avery.

068

But I enjoyed some quality sheep time nonetheless.

079

And you better believe I enjoyed some quality Kyle time when we finally saw each other again!

Monday, April 22, 2013

It's raining, It's pouring!

Last week we got DUMPED on with rain.


And the White River (next to IUPUI campus and the zoo) is extremely full from it.

216

I don't have anything clever to say about this. I just have photos to document the crazy Spring we have had thus far.

212

Friday, April 12, 2013

Merry-Go-Round

After many months of sickness, many months of sleepless nights, and many months of winter, we finally made it back to the zoo.

s 021

And in all truthfulness, I have never been so excited to go.

s 048

Maybe it's because I haven't stuck my head in a Flamingo mask for awhile.

s 008

Or maybe it had something to do with Avery finally being tall enough to try on to parrot head.

s 015

And give that parrot head a hug.

s 013

It could be that Sawyer can face forward in the baby carrier now,

s 053

and can actually observe and study the animals.

s 074

Possibly it's because Kyle has missed carrying Avery on his shoulders,

s 030

or on his hip,

s 067

or just holding her hand.

s 035
Seriously, I'm a sucker for hand holding pictures.

Regardless of the reason, it was great to be back!

s 075

We spent a long while watching that merry-go-round go round and round and round...

s 037

And truly must have looked something pathetic. Avery gazing at the carousel and me snapping pictures of her forlorn look with a baby strapped to my chest...

s 042

But our pathetic-ness payed off because some nice grandparents came up to us and offered us their tickets! They probably felt bad that Sawyer had been reduced down to entertaining himself by pinching his tongue.

s 072

And having no shame, we blessed their names and ran as fast as we could to get on the very next ride!

Kyle and Avery had to pet the gorilla to make sure he was a "nice" one.

s 080

Decided he wasn't, and swapped for the ostrich.

s 109

s 100

Then it was my turn with Avery and we braved the lion.

s 141

s 137

Overall, Kyle and I may have enjoyed the actual ride more than Avery.

s 089


But whether that is true or not is unimportant. This is the story of Avery's first time on a merry-go-round.

s 024

And how I love this zoo for that, and for the many other wonderful experiences we have had there! Hopefully we return sooner (next weekend, perhaps?) than last time!

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Phases

Honestly, one of the best parts of being a parent is seeing your kiddo do new things.

I love Avery's "I can eat a banana without needing you to cut it up into bite size pieces" stage.

r 017

Which, of course, is promptly followed by the "I can't stop smiling because my cheeks are so full of banana that my lips won't shut" stage.

r 019

Sawyer is in full swing of the "I'll smile and coo at you picture perfectly. That is, until you grab the camera. Then I'm just confused as to where you went" phase.

r 028

And more often than not, Sawyer is doing knuckle push-ups when he's on his belly these days. It's a "beefing up" phase, if you will.

r 031

And this phase...well...can't claim that it's a favorite, but I have WAY too many "let me grab the camera" to not count it as a stage.

r 023

Oh children...always growing...always changing.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Friends at Last

It's starting to happen.

s148

Avery and Sawyer are becoming buddies.

s147

Well, I guess it's more accurate to say that Avery is starting to reciprocate Sawyer's attention. The little dude has been watching her intently for months with slim to no response from his sister.

r 015

But that's changing! Avery's favorite activity with Sawyer is to rock his swing with all her might.

r 013

And he LOVES it! You better believe the rocking of a 21 month old far surpasses the settings offered by the swing.

r 001

Moments like this is what I envisioned when we found out we were going to have two kids 15 months apart.

r 005

And it's nice that they are beginning to become our reality. Keep it up you two!

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Golden Birthday

r 042

That's right! Kyle went and turned 26 on the 26th of March. And since it was his Golden Birthday (Kyle claims that there is no such thing as "Golden Birthdays." I beg to differ. I have been waiting to turn 28 on the 28th of January since the 4th grade when I learned about them. I am very much a believer in them!) I came up with 26 reasons why I love the fellow.

r 045

And I posted them all over the shower. Cards can get lost, but writing in the bathtub? Can't miss it! It was a bit tricky finding a time to write it up. We bath the kids at 5:30 at night, and then spend the evening together.

r 054

But since my darling son still wakes up twice a night to eat, I figured I would write it up after one of those feedings. And just so you know, 1:30 AM is the PERFECT time to write in the shower.

r 055

That is, if you don't mind having slanty writing and a few smudges along the way. :) I never have been (and probably never will be) a perfectionist.

Which is also shown by these birthday candles. Notice anything funny about them? A "burn the candle from both ends" kind of look, perhaps? That, my friends, is what happens when you stick candles into a pan of brownies fresh out of the oven. The wax melts right off and becomes one with your dessert.

r 038

And you better believe the Golden Birthday boy devoured those brownies anyways. :)

s 042

Happiest of birthdays to this wonderful guy!