MC Loves Stuffies!

When I was pregnant with MC and since she's been born, we've wondered what the noticeable differences would be between her and Rutherford. What different things they would like, their cute little personality differences and quirks, that sort of thing. Something I've noticed is that MC REALLY likes stuffed animals. R was sort of interested in them when he was a baby, but he always liked stuff that made noise much more - his favorite baby toy was his maracas I think, he loved those things!

Anyways, he's some MC + stuffie cuteness. And shhhh don't tell R I let her hug his Mickey! :)

And some of MC with the sock monkey from Grammit:

 

Happy Six Months, Mary-Charlotte!

Our little babby girl is six months old! She is such a happy, wonderful little girl and our family is so blessed to have her. She's such a good little buddy and I love to watch her relationship with Rutherford grow. Soon we'll be starting her on some table foods and I can tell she really wants to go go go and crawl around. Happy half-birthday to our lovely little one!

MC LOOOOVES her jumperoo. I mean really loves it.

 Her first taste of watermelon - frozen in the mesh feeder. She's pretty into it.

 BoSox fan for life y'all!

 This is her first Christmas ornament, handmade by some awesome lady on etsy. I love it!

 She's growing so fast, her little six-month pants are highwaters on her now!

 Hanging out, just the girls.

Halloween!

Dude, Halloween was RAD! This year Rutherford totally understand the concept and was really into it. It was hilarious going trick-or-treating with him! He loved ringing the doorbells and he looked freaking adorable. We headed down the hill by Hearst Elementary and the neighborhood was way better for trick-or-treating than our hilly streets. It was like an old school Halloween, I was so excited for him.

We wore him out and when he came home he dumped all his candy out to view his booty. He's been good about it and we've only allowed him a piece or two. Maybe he'll forget about it and I can have it all! :)

 

 Drilling pumpkins with Papa the day before Halloween.

 

Rutherford used puffy paint to paint this one. I thought the googly eyes were a nice touch.

  

Our cowboy all dressed up and ready to go! Also - this was my first successful Ergo excursion with MC. It was great, I can't wait to use it again!

 

 

The anticipation was adorbs.

 

 

 Lots of good decorations in the neighborhood!

 

MC was a trooper and loved looking at everyone running around, especially the kiddos :)

 

 

 The haul!

The next day we kept celebrating by making some yummy sugar cookies. We delivered them to a few neighbors, too!

Put the Kibosh On It

R is hilarious and picks up phrases and words so fast. He's started singing songs a lot, too, which is awesome - especially when he makes silly voices, too.

Last night he had us cracking up. As we were getting him ready for bed I told him to "put the kibosh on it," referring to something silly, I can't remember. R immediately picked up on the word but kept pronouncing it back to us as "put the kibosh-your-teeth on it!"

Love love love.

MC Getting Mobile

Getting close anyways! She is able to raise herself up with her arms pretty well and now she can spin herself around on her belly too. She might be an early crawler like R, we'll see. She definitely gets frustrated now when things are out of her reach. So cute when she's mad. She's also more vocal, she likes yelling at her toys I've noticed. Her favorite one to yell at is her bathtub fishie. She actually cried when I tried to take it from her yesterday when we were all done!

Halloween Party!

Our Halloween party was last weekend and it was so much fun! This year since the kids were a bit older we did some games. Pumpkin bowling, bean bag toss, bobbing for apples (with a net!) and more. I even did it up Pinterest style and made my own Punch a Bunch inspired by the Price is Right. I was so proud of it haha! The kids got to punch out tissue paper cups to find prizes inside. Super cute. The best though was the mummy walk - Casey and Rutherford got wrapped up in toilet paper and had to walk across the backyard like mummies. Hilarious.

I think the kids had the most fun in the bounce house though! Great time this year, R was super excited to host the party and I think all the kiddos had fun.

 

Olive, Casey, Max and Rutherford. The only way we got them to pose was promising the bounce house if they stayed still for one minute ;)

 

Mummy walk!

 The Punch a Bunch! I am so totally doing this again. It didn't take too long and what a cool effin thing to do when you're a kid!

 R "bobbing" for apples pre-party

 The bounce house reigned supreme. One of our best purchases ever.

All the fun wore MC out.

R's Sunday Breakfast

Toy catalog, ovaltine, pumpkin Mickey waffle and fruit. It's good to be three.

Mary-Charlotte: Rolling Over

Our little girl is five months old already! I cannot believe how fast everything is going by with her. It breaks my heart a little as I know a big part of it is just how busy we are with the two kids. When it was just R I had a lot of long, quiet times with him. It was just him and I most of the day, almost every day. I was able to linger over his moments much more than I'm able with Mary-Charlotte. Now my day is more like wakeupnursebabychangerutherfordmakebreakfastfeeddogsdrinkcoffeenursebabycleanupdishesdogsoutbrushrutherfordsteethbabynap. And that's before 9am.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. It just hurts a little that it's going by so fast. I absolutely wish I could freeze her in this moment just for a few extra months.

Baby girl is rolling over so well! So proud of her :) She looks very pleased with herself when she does it and I love watching her little fat legs work at it. She is a wonderful little marvelous thing and my heart swells with love and gratitude for our little baby girl. She is a perfect addition to our family and we all love her very much.

 

She's getting the hang of her exersaucer. R likes that he can spin her around in it. He spins her away from the piano keys and towards the little mirror so that he can play music. Sneaky ;)

 

  

New jamies! She is the most smiley little baby I have ever seen. Such a happy bug.

 Her first foray into the backyard grass. Sunday was gorgeous and we played outside in the morning. It was pretty heavenly after so many months of hot weather. I LOVE her sun hat!

 Her faces when she's talking are hilarious. Hilarious.

 Trying on R's old hat. She looks a lot like him in this pic to me.

 Our beautiful sleeping angel.

 Post-rolling-over pride.

The kiddos.

Preschool Pics

R is getting more comfortable every week at school. His teachers are so cool and they have a site where they post pics every week, I love seeing R and his classmates in action. Here's some of him having fun at school:

The Week in Pictures

 We've been taking R to the semi-ghetto indoor mall because it's got A/C, a Hello Kitty store, Sees candies AND quarter rides. It's like three-year-old heaven. 

 R has been helping me bathe MC. We all end up wet and it's great fun.

 Splashpad at Santee Lake is a hit.

 My pressie from N!!! We found it at the semi-ghetto mall! Totally unbelievable!

 Found her footies.

 Ha this kinda looks like R is sniffing her diaper BUT I promise he was kissing her footies.

 Hanging out on the big stump left by the 70' pine tree my parents had chopped down at the Ranch.

 Naked baby in a beret. 

Our burrito.

Rutherford and MC

MC is in the throes of some big changes. She's laughing a bit now, discovered her feet and tongue, can hold stuff in her hands - and she even held her bottle pretty successfully last night! The smart baby people say this time represents a big developmental progression for her and I can totally see it happening.

She is definitely more aware of what's happening around her and I can see her become more and more interested in R every day. She turns her head to watch him talk and play and run around and she's very curious about him when he's around. I've also read that babies recognize other babies/kids and are more interested in them than adults. So cute!

R is starting to find some things she does funny. When I change her clothes I often leave her shirt on her head like a little hat and it cracks him up. I make a little voice for her and ask him questions as MC, like "Oh big brother, what did you do at the Ranch today?" And he'll answer her like, "Well Mary-Charlotte, I went on my swingset." I love it and it's the most adorable thing ever.

R and I played hide n seek this weekend and had a blast. I love how he always looks first in the last place he found me. I love that I can be crouched behind a chair and he'll totally miss me. I love that when he hides, he can't contain himself and just comes running out, yelling "Here I am!!!!" I am such a lucky mama.

Rutherford's First Day of School

Today was Rutherford's first day of preschool! I am very excited for him to be going to school - making new friends, different learning and play activities, fun field trips (we get to go to the pumpkin patch next month!) but I know it will be a little hard for him to adjust.

He did pretty good today. He seemed curious about everything in the classroom (and he had met the teachers a few days before so he gave Miss Aly a big hug when he saw her) but a little intimidated by some of the other kids. I feel like that's a big reason I want him in school - to build up his confidence around his peers.

He cried a little when we left but we stayed at the school in the office while the director, Kathie, did a few checks on him. She said he was a little upset but was playing well and doing art with the other kiddos. Miss Aly said Rutherford would play a little bit and then find her, give her a little hug and then run back to play some more. He's just such a little sensitive soul. I love that about him but I also know it's important for him to do this to come out of his shell a little with other kids.

We love his little school so much and they have so much for him to explore. I hope he blossoms over the next few months and gets excited about all the fun he's going to have!