Brotherly Love

We brought out the Exersaucer for the first time for Ashley. I think the other kids were more excited than she was at first. Here's a clip showing Colby in his element.

At times he can be quite sweet. He likes to lay down next to Ashley and hold her hand. I just have to make sure he doesn't squeeze or twist too hard. More often he likes to lay on top of her, or hit her, just for the reaction. After he makes her cry he insists on kissing her to make it better, which usually leaves a big slober mark on her hair, often accompanied with food depending on how recent his last meal was.

Photo Shoot - Take 2

In April we took the kids to Sears for birthday photos. It was only half successful, since Colby was sick (see previous post). So we recently went again, this time for Ashley's 3 month shot and to try again for a 2 year birthday picture for Colby. He was much more cooperative this time. But we still weren't able to capture a true Colby smile. Such a smile is irresistibly cute, that looks either angelic or mischievous, depending on his mood and mine. Such as...Instead we got mostly forced "cheese" smiles. Can't you just hear him saying "cheese" in this picture?
Ashley can give us some pretty good smiles now, but she was also stingy with them during the photo shoot. Still cute though.

View all the pictures here.

May Newsletter

Pictures from May
Pictures from Orlando Vacation

Tennessee Tidbits
May 2008

May had a few major events that seemed to make the month go really fast. Our first adventure was a trip down to Athens, GA to visit Craig and Kim and family. They are our closest relatives, hence the cousins that Sienna and Colby know best. Sienna is constantly talking about Laila and Jeff and Adam, and what they did when they were at our house, or their house, or what she wants to do with them when they next get together, or making crafts for them, etc. Earlier this week she spent all morning telling us about her dream that involved them. We will be very sad when they move away to Wyoming.

Anyway, we had a fun time visiting a local park with a river running through it (don’t remember the name). Dads and kids waded in the river. Moms and babies watched from the shore, as each child successively slipped and fell, got muddy, cried, and got up for more. We watched Laila “play” in her last soccer game (Go Laila!), went to a fun indoor pool with lots of playthings, and visited Stone Mountain in Atlanta. It was a great trip.

Our next highlight was a trip to Orlando with all of Kristen’s family. This was a vacation three years in the planning. Including babies and two fiancées there were a total of 19 people, staying in four time share units. We spent a day each at Sea World, Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom. We also took a drive over to Cocoa Beach for the “Beach” experience. It was a pretty windy day, and Colby cried about the sand blasting his back, but after a while he got courageous and had fun jumping over the tiny waves “crashing” on the shore. Sienna enjoyed the water some, but really had fun building a sandcastle with future Uncle Spencer. The amusement parks were a lot of fun, although very exhausting with three small children. It was nice to have other relatives around to help out and exchange babysitting during rides. Colby and Sienna probably had just as much fun, if not more, just hanging out at the time share with their cousins, chasing birds and turtles, watching movies, and playing with cars. It was a great vacation.

Meanwhile, we had decided to get our floors redone in our house. We’ve been saving for a while, and shortly before we left decided to have it done while we were gone. We had carpet and vinyl tore out in the kitchen, dining, and living rooms and walkways, and replaced with hardwood. We also had our bathroom re-tiled, replacing the 1970s mustard colored tile. It was all supposed to be done when we returned, but it wasn’t, so we spent another 3 days at friends’ homes, living out of our suitcases. We even took a day trip down to Huntsville, Alabama and visited the Space Center there. We’re still finishing up a few things here and there, but we’re really happy with the way it looks, and you should all come visit sometime so you can see for yourselves.

The last highlight is that Sienna was officially diagnosed with a mild case of asthma. She’s had a few episodes over the last year or so where she has a lot of trouble breathing. Her first episode took us to the ER. She had another minor episode last week, so after a trip to the pediatrician we now own a “nebulizer”. It is a device that vaporizes albuterol to help her breath better when she has an episode. If she continues to have episodes more frequently we may switch to a more preventative, daily treatment.