44 sundays, AND 10 months old

"Aubrey, do you see who's home...do you see him, it's daddy!

Can you even believe it!?!"

It's true, we were blessed to have our very special guest be daddy! The mini's loved up on him immediately and of course miss aubrey is attached to him...I no longer exist to her. (It's okay, mister truman is a total mama's boy so everyone in this household is happy!) We picked him up on Wednesday evening and get to have our family together for 15 days. We plan to enjoy the days in our normal routine, with some day trips, projects and new adventures for the mini's. No matter what we do we will be all smiles. Thus far mister Mikey hasn't gotten to experience a "cry fest" or early morning. Seems either they are more exhausted from all the excitement of they just know how precious time with daddy is so they want to be on their best behavior. Either way I'll take it! In short, there are not enough words to describe the atmosphere here, just know it's never been better. Enjoy the photos from this Sunday and Happy 10 Months our little mini's.

44 sundays and 10 months old

miss aubrey

mister truman

mister Mikey

A day at the park...the mini's still do not like grass, as the photos below will spell out!

"you guys are so embarrassing"

our thinker

tata for now ~

the mc's

43 sundays

Here we are, home with the mini's for 43 sundays now. Miss aubrey was very happy today, but mister truman was pretty somber. Below are some photos while we wait for a special guest to come sometime this week...we are hoping! We've already incorporated many new things to prepare the mini's for the arrival. We have our books that he recorded and they listen to every day and before bed, we also have our photo review session after lunch every day (the photos of him get the biggest smiles), and within the last two weeks we brought out the "blanket" which is simply a blanket with his cologne so they get used to his smell. (miss aubrey laid on that blanket for over an hour the first day we brought it out, melted my heart) Can anyone guess who our special guest is!?! If all goes well our next blog post will reveal the surprise!

43 sundays home

mister truman

(he was much more charismatic later that night...)

miss aubrey

double trouble!

playing together?

"I Did It"

This video is poor quality (it starts out really rough, but does get better), it was capturing Aubrey's first official crawling all day moment on May 5th. Mikey is convinced that at 51 seconds she says "I did it!" You be the judge!

(hint: double click on "video" and it will take you to youtube to see the video)

42 sundays

let the sharing begin,

...or maybe not!

miss a showed her stubborn side, she didn't move!

42nd sunday home

just 10 more to complete the year!

miss aubrey

mister truman

loves his mum mums, he's a serious eater

crossing her legs like a proper lady

mister truman has some "plumber butt" here!

she found her trouble while I was getting her brother from his nap,

I envision a photo in the future like this only with toilet paper

It's still hard to imagine that in a short 10 sundays it will be a year from the day they came home. Crazy. Some new things they've recently mastered include climbing up on things, on anything; standing up against furniture; mister truman has 6 teeth now (aubrey is still at one tooth) and wrestling for toys which includes pulling hair when necessary (even pulling their own hair and screaming, they haven't figured out yet that they have the power to stop that, but we will get there - this having hair thing is new for them!). They definitely are sponges, absorbing as much as they can every day.

tata for now everyone, until next sunday.

annie & mini's

41 sundays = mother's day

Moms do more than change diapers, fill tummies, mend scrapes, clean, comfort, heal broken spirits, teach skills, language and character; they constantly live with mom's guilt. (i wish someone would have warned me of this...)

Mom guilt comes from the littlest of things. We always want to make sure we are doing the best for our children no matter their age. From birth a mom is already feeling guilty thinking every movement/decision that she makes will harm their child in some way. Whether its being afraid they aren't developing at the right pace which will for sure put them behind in school and they won't grow up to be what they want to be. A simple decision to watch baby einstein for a mental mom break can do just that. I know, to all you dad's out there you are probably rolling your eyes and wondering why women throw things out of proportion. It just is what it is. Once you get rid of mom guilt for one thing, you end with a new "version" the next day.

I still haven't grown to live with mom guilt and probably never will. But in an odd way I am comforted to know I'm not alone. And to all you mom-to-bes out there, this guilt is worth watching your baby learn to clap, get an "A" in their worst class, find the perfect dress for prom, get accepted into their preferred college, figure out what they want to be when they "grow up," and watch them get married and start the cycle of parenthood. Seeing the sparkle of amazement in their smile because they know they just did something all on their own MAKES it worth it. I promise one day they will appreciate all you did and know that you never meant to "ruin their life."

So, Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope each of you had the best behaved children and were shown the love you deserve. My mini's were dolls all day long, they couldn't make me a gift, or buy something that screamed "mom" to them, but they must have known it was a special day - they preformed to excellence! (and yes, my husband spoiled me with roses and a card...and my mini's even figured out how to write a card to me, aren't they smart! ha)

I shall step off my soap box now and get to the "good stuff" - the photos. Happy 41st sunday minis! Way to rock being perfect children for today!!!

mister truman

miss aubrey

team huddle on escaping from mom and that camera, "break"

tata for now, happy mother's day!

(disclaimer: I honestly think mom guilt comes mainly from two things...being worried what others think of your parenting based on your kids behavior/development or the multiple studies that just KNOW how you could be the perfect mom!)

annie & mini's

40 sundays

mister truman and miss aubrey are now 9 months old. They seem to be hitting all the milestones, but definitely at their own pace.

Aubrey:

• has one tooth
• has darker hair
• can sit up from laying down (still crazy for me to walk into the room where she was once laying and is sitting up, catches me off guard all the time...especially in her crib!)
• loves dancing, she gets her whole body into it including her "head jam sessions"
• enjoys following her brother around the house, but if she gets in front of him he isn't happy and screams until she stops and he can pass.

Truman:

• has four teeth
• has very blonde hair
• hides under the table & waits for his sister to "find" him (he GIGGLES when she gets close)
• screams loudly waiting for a response from his sister or me, even does this in public (fun!)
• loves books, especially the ones with daddy's voice - BOTH kids can go from 10 degrees of mad to their biggest smiles as soon as they hear his voice. Life saver for me and precious all at the same time.

Some other changes we've made include new car seats which means no more snapping their buckets into the stroller. It's all about taking them out of their seats and putting them into the stroller which proves to be a bit more difficult overall. First they fall asleep in the car within 5 minutes and I cannot get to a store quick enough to avoid this which means "cat naps" on errand day. Second, I used to be able to let them lounge in their bucket seats when going into a store, event or anything but now they don't tend to want to just sit in their stroller. So I've resorted to treats to entertain them when necessary, and I travel with a lot more toys and gear to "restrain" them when necessary (ie pack-n-play, bumbos, etc). But, we do love our Bob duallie stroller, the kids are traveling in total style - they have shocks to absorb the "rough terrain" and I even had to align the stroller. (there isn't a mechanic who aligns strollers, trust me!) Our house is now decorated with baby gates and no breakables on the ground/baby level. It is official, this home is now all theirs, we just pay the mortgage for them. In addition to their traveling changes now mister truman and miss aubrey have bath time together, they don't seem to ever care that they have to share the space. Doesn't phase them at all, they just do their own thing in the tub. I am sure I am forgetting some new changes, but this is all I can think about now. I'll be sure to add more to other posts as they come to my cluttered mind. Enjoy the pics from this sunday, their personalities really do show up in the pics!

mister truman

"gettin' his flirt on"

miss aubrey

miss aubrey checking the summer fashion trends, she's ALL girl!

...until next sunday,

annie & the mini's