Jennifer Kemp Photography

Once again, my good friend Jennifer took some great pictures of the kids. I'm so lucky to have such a talented and generous friend :)
ENJOY...

LOVE these babies!!!

Bree is 8 months!

Bree is 8 months and still the happiest baby on the block. I can't say enough how much I love this stage. She giggles and flaps her arms at anything going on in the house. All Cali has to do is walk by her and she laughs.

When daddy comes home she's a giggly flirty mess. I think she just might be a daddy's girl after all! She even started saying "da-da-da" on Beau's birthday. What a birthday present! "da-da" seems to be her happy babbling word, while "ma-ma" is definitely more of a whiney I need you to pick me up word. She now has 2 teeth poking through her gummy smile. I think the top ones are coming soon but not yet. We've tried small bits of banane to see if she can chew them. Sometimes she does fine, sometimes she gags. So we'll continue to take it slow on the real food..."Seeeee? I have 2 teeth!"Still no "real" crawling yet. She'll bounce and rock like she's going to take off, but not quite. I have left her in a room and come back to find her on the other side a few minutes later. She wiggles and scoots sitting up, so maybe she doesn't see any need in actually crawling?? We've tried to take advantage of the few warm and sunny days we've had this early spring. She loves watching Wade and our neighborhood kids run, play, and ride bikes. But is happy and content to chilll with me on a blanket. She did find a leaf and managed shove it in her mouth when I wasn't looking though.

Practicing her yoga moves...

My cousin Ashley made this adorabe poofy hat for Bree. I've convinced her (and her mother-in-law Linda) to start taking orders. I've literally had people stop me in public (MULTIPLE TIMES) to take a picture of Bree in the hat. It's a hit! Thanks Ashley!

So it's been a fun stay-at-home kind of month. With one of the kids being sick, or recently recovered, we haven't ventured out and about too much. Bree's still nursing about 4 times a day. She can get distracted with all the fun in the house, but it works. She's sleeping through the night, till 6:30. I can't say I'm happy to start our day that early in the morning, but I know it's just the progress to get to a full night of sleep with a (hopefully) later wake-up time eventually.

I'm thankful for my days with my baby (and her big brother). Love you to pieces sweet Bree!!!

Valentines at School

I love being able to go into Wade's classroom and spend time in "his" environment. I get to see how different he is, how he interacts with the different children, and what he learns from someone besides me is.

Wade's Valentines party was full of sugar, red and pink, and lots of love... He was a little stand-off-ish when Gracie tried to hug him (I think because Avery was watching!)

But then went into a full fledged bear hug with Avery...

WAVERY & BRUNTER Valentine's Date

The Valentine's tradition continued this year at Tijuana Joe's. Remember last year's Valentine's dinner ?

WAVERY cuddled in the same booth. Things got a little out of hand (they broke the bench seat) so we had to separate them for awhile, but otherwise they behaved themselves...

and the newest couple, BRUNTER, courted each other over pureed sweet potatoes and Mum Mum crackers. It was so romantic. I think they're really hitting it off. It's going to make the whole dealing with the "in-laws" thing much easier in the long run...

We finished the evening with ice cream and cupcakes. Here are the silly kids (chocolate faces and all) with balloons on their head.

Train Show

Our future engineer was in for a real treat this weekend. We took him on a local "train adventure" to the Train Show here in Atlanta. He was awestuck and probably could've stayed all day looking at all the model trains, hearing train whistles throughout the show floor, and riding Thomas (with Annie and Clarabel)

We weren't sure what to expect, and the mix of people was indeed interesting. You had your typical young families chasing train fanatic toddlers around....and then you had the "train" folk. And that's all I'm gonna say about that (in print anyway).

And just to prove she was there....here's Bree! She was an absolute ANGEL the entire time. She was content in her stroller with a few toys, some Mum Mums and the carnival-like excitement all around! There's another train show in March (Wade's birthday weekend actually!), so we'll be headed back for more fun next month :)

iphone photos

I sometimes forget that I've taken pictures on my phone. Here are a few from the last month or so!!!

Wade at Jack Springthorpe's GYMBOREE birthday party. They've been in the same class 2 years in a row and great friends...
Charlie, another friend from school, at Jack's party

Wade at Robert's bowling party. Both boys preferred the arcade to bowling....Wade and Lauren in color coordinating outfits. People always ask if they're twins. Don't they look like it???

Bree and Celie enjoying a stroll at the river...

Brunch with Hunter Calvert and John Henry Starr

Caleb turned 8 on January 29th! HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!

and COLT turned 2 on January 23! Our youngest nephew is such a big boy!

After swimming indoors at the Greenbrier over Christmas, Wade begged to start swim lessons. He's doing great and should be flotation free by summer! He's such a fish!

And our own little Handy Manny...

{S}NOT much happening here

I'm throwing myself a pity party and you're invited! Wanna come? Just read this post...

I realized that I've only taken handful of pictures in the last few weeks. And then I remembered why. The kids have been mildly sick and snotty for almost two weeks now. Bree has escaped with only a runny nose, but I forgot how bad a runny nose is for a baby. She won't sleep, eat, and don't even think about wiping her nose. Wade ended up with a fever and ear infection earlier in the week and we've just tried to lay low. As all my mom friends know, sick kids are inevitable, but it really stinks when your babies can't eat, sleep or play like they're used to. That means you can't eat, sleep, or play like you're used to either! And for some unknown medical reason, Tylenol or any other fever reducing medicine seems to make my kids stay awake for hours on end....in the middle of the night. Can someone please explain why??? I'm about to to lose my mind from sleep deprivation and I've developed a permanent eye twitch.


Wade has been bored out of his mind this week since we've missed school, swimming (have I mentioned he's started swim lessons again?), and music. I've tried to keep him busy with puzzles and art projects, but obviously I'm failing. After we did some finger painting one day, I asked him to go wash his hands in the bathroom. He said he wanted to do it, "by mys self". I agreed and got busy with cleaning up and messing with Bree. A few minutes went by and didn't hear much happening in that direction so I finally went to go check on him. That's when I found my son standing in puddles of wet toilet paper. He had unrolled an entire roll into the toilet. Then he took wads and threw them throughout the bathroom, up the walls, down the hall, and on the door. What possesed my sweet almost 3 year old to do such a thing? Boredom. Sheer and utter boredom.

My 3 favorite things this week (that have saved my sanity) are...
(besides Beau and our amazing babysitter Mandy)


1. Meltaway Tylenol Tabs - if you have a wimpy medicine taker like I do, you NEED these. Wade will literally gag and vomits when you make him drink liquid medicine, so finding the chewable meltaways have saved us from lots of pukage.


2. Baby Mum Mums - these teething crackers have been a staple for awhile now with Bree (and Wade loved them too), but I realized how much I depend on them to keep her happy and occupied. She loves them and starts flapping her arms when you open a package. Then she'll just sit quietly and gnaw on them. Not to mention that they dissolve when chewed, so the choking risk is minimal. LOVE ME SOME MUM MUMS.

3. Autoseal Coffee Mug - I call it my "Mommy Mug". You have to press a button to drink out of it, so it otherwise it won't spill (when your baby grabs it out of your hand or when you throw it in the diaper bag to get out the door). AND it keeps your coffee warm for about 4 hours! No more constantly reheating when you get distracting and come back to find the coffee you so desperately wanted to drink in peace is now freezing cold.

Okay, I think it's time for my whining to come to an end. Please forgive me! I know there are so many more serious things happening in the world and even with our friends and family that put our sickly week in perspective. So we're moving on and ready to rejoin the rest of the world! Ready or not, here we come!