The 16 minute time-out

Here is a picture of our princess sleeping.Here is a picture of AJ playing with his bubble maker my parents bought him last year. I don't know who gets more enjoyment out of it - him or Maggie! She loves to run and bite the bubbles, which makes AJ laugh hysterically!

Nana Giles made this hat and blanket set. The lighting wasn't the best, but they are just beautfiul, and I love the little wrinkles on her back!

I bought a "Moby" carrier recently, and have been carrying Abby in it when we are outside. It hugs her super close and spreads her weight out so my back doesn't hurt at all when I hold her for a while.

I have tried to have our days "scheduled" now that we are going to be home another four months. We have arts and crafts time as well as a music time every day. AJ loves to get out his guitar and "jam" on it like daddy does sometimes.

Here is Abby "enjoying" tummy time. She does very well actually, and here is looking at her mat that we were given for AJ.

Here is a close up :)

And another...

This is Abby's "concentrating" look :)

Another close-up...

Here is AJ and daddy catching fish in his pool :)

AJ learned how to drink water from the hose. I prefer this over drinking pool water since both dogs lay in the water after running in the mud to cool off - uck!

Poor little Abby - I NEVER would have used a pink blanket to swaddle him up in!!! This is Abby's lounge chair for when we are having our outside time :)

This was so sweet. Adam wanted to make sure to teach AJ how he could play in his sandbox. He just loves to play in the sand! (both of them do actually!)

Here is a picture I thought was sweet from last week of my mom holding Abby. I wasn't sure if she would leave Abby here when she went back or try to sneak her in her luggage!

Okay, so I didn't really put AJ in a sixteen minute time-out, but it did take sixteen minutes to complete a full two-minute time out. Poor little guy is showing some extra rebellion with sharing my attention, and as a result, we have been visiting the time-out chair more regularly. Once he serves his time, AJ gives me a hug and almost always says "sorry mama" and then doesn't do the same crime a second time (at least in the near future). It has been a bit difficult in the middle of the night if he wakes up crying because I am still nursing Abby so often, chances are I am in the middle of nursing her, so a few times I have brought her into his room still nursing to comfort him - which ends up not being the best thing as I think he is waking up because he wants comfort, which I can't exclusively give under the circumstances. I am learning though, and have found it to be best to finish nursing her and then to go and rock and cuddle him. Sometimes he falls asleep first anyway, which is probably best, I just hate to hear my little one cry!

We have had lots of fun outside this week, and surprisingly it hasn't been as difficult as I thought with having both kids. We have gone for a morning "stroller ride" in our double stroller to give me some workout time (pushing the massive thing is a workout in and of itself). I can't go very fast with my hip still being sore (I ended up finding out I have "hip displacia", which will take some time to get better), but it feels good to walk, and AJ and I have great conversation while Abby gets some good nap time in.

Adam graciously let us buy a nice sandbox, which AJ LOVES! What little boy wouldn't love playing in dirt/sand? We brought out some of his toy trucks and water toys, and he can easily play in there for an hour at a shot. He does get a little sad when I am too busy to play with him, which is about half the time as Abby continues to want to nurse every 1-2 hours, closer to the one hour mark. I also bought him a sprayer for the hose, which he loves, and I love since he uses it to water my plants and garden :) He is still so sweet with Abby, and takes great pride in the fact that he makes Abby happy ("AJ make Abby happy" is what he will tell you if you ask him if he is a good big brother). He truly does though. She smiles the most with him, and anytime she cries he runs over to comfort her. He loves to hold her and just lights up when she looks at him. I do see improvements with his jealousy, and am sure that in no time at all they will be the best of friends and he will forgive me for not dropping everything to be right by his side :)

Abby continues to be super mellow and in general an incredibly happy/ easy baby. She is smiling now fairly regularly when she is completely alert and not hungry. She can lift her head for a few seconds to 45 degrees when she is laying on her tummy for tummy time. She looks and tracks different sounds an objects. She loves to snuggle and loves being held!

Not to brag, but my husband is blessed with an incredible memory. He remembers little and big details on just about everything - if you ever play trivial pursuit with him, make sure you are on his team! AJ has completely amazed me with his memory as well - he definitely got Adam's genes with this! He heard thunder with my mom one day last week, so I taught him a thunder song from a book I have. The next day he not only remembered that we sang the song, but he remembered almost every word and sang the song in perfect tune and rhythm (he is a musical savant as well!) :) AJ got upset the other day when I had my hair down. He told me "mommy, hair up". He got upset when I tried to talk him into me wearing it down, and after some conversation of trying to figure out why my hair down bothered him, he told me that I was sick with my hair down. He then said purple shirt, sick, all better now. I remembered from some pictures that I wore a purple shirt on the day he visited me at the hospital, and my hair was wet and down that time too. I think he made that association that my hair was down that day and that I was "sick" as he calls that time. He still asks to play with Gabrielle, our friend who visited over our spring break, and knows all the names of the dozens of trains my mom bought him from Thomas at a garage sale after asking only a few times what all their names are. He knows most of the letters in the alphabet and most of their sounds. He can count to fourteen in English, but once you say 19, he can keep going to 29. He can count to five in spanish and knows several words in spanish thanks to Dora :) My little smarty pants! I am so jealous!!!