Jubilant 4th of July

We actually had a pretty low-key 4th of July, which was wonderful.  It was just the four of us, with nowhere to be and nobody to host all day long.  We decided to go to the famous Lake Bluff parade for the first time ever.  It was Luke's first parade ever, too!  What a gorgeous day we had, and the parade didn't disappoint.  Then we went home and had a little pool time before we walked to the Lake Forest festival later that evening.  We decided not to stay until 9:45 for the fireworks, but we still had fun spending a couple hours at the event and listening to the live music.  We put the kids to bed, then Matt and I watched the fireworks from our backyard.  Since they are so close to our house it was just as good!  

I had to work on Friday, then Saturday and Sunday we headed up to Wisconsin to spend time not only with Mom & Dad, but also with Shelley, Rob & Alyssa who were in town from New Jersey and Kristin, Cory & PJ again.  It was such a fun couple of days!

Playing with her toes

In kid news, Claire has found her feet, which is totally adorable.  She is delighted with her discovery every time she grabs one of them.  She kind of rocks back and forth and laughs.  She also has learned how to stick out her tongue, and I think she likes the sensation because she does it a lot.  Claire's sleeping hasn't been too great, she wakes up usually 1-2 times a night, but on July 8th she slept through the night for the first time and it was amazing.  Hasn't happened since, but it was amazing nonetheless.  Luke has been waking up in the middle of the night fairly often because he gets cold and wants to be covered up with his blanket again.  His bed happens to be under the air conditioning vent, and at about 2am he gets pretty chilly.  Speaking of sleeping, while Kristin & PJ were here Luke slept in the same bed as Matt and I for the first time, and it was totally no big deal.  We all slept great!  Recently he's been so cute by looking up at me coyly and saying "You love me."  He says it kind of drawn out, and states it like a fact, not a question.  I love this confidence in our love:)  Then once when he said that to me, I said back "Yes, I do!  And do you love me?" and he said "Yes, I love you to the moon and back!".  The other cute thing he's been doing lately is calling Matt and I "my Dad" and "my Mom".  So if I was with him in the family room he'd look up and say to me "What is my Dad doing in the basement?".  This possessiveness is really quite sweet.  

Here are all the pictures from the week, and a couple videos too.  

Lake Bluff parade, the girls in their red, white & blue 

Luke liked the marching bands

Sucking her thumb

Swimming on the 4th

Kids in the pirate ship!

Luke was fearless going down the bouncy slide at the festival

Picnic dinner

Stripe buddies

Playdate at the park on Saturday.  Andrea, me, Shelley and Jen with all the kiddos!

Rob & Alyssa

Alyssa, Josie and Isabelle.  The girls were so cute together playing.

Alyssa hugging her cousins Chase and Elise

The long walk up the hill was a big attraction at the park.

Saturday we hit the local beach with Mom & Dad.  Luke had an awesome time playing with all the old sand toys that Grandpa brought.

Both Grandma and Grandpa made sand castles with Luke and went swimming, too.  Nice umbrellas were brought for shade for Claire.

Grandpa and Claire

Who are you sticking your tongue out at?

I love Dad's expression as he pretends to eat her toes, and Claire's too, especially since she's sticking her tongue out at him.

Grandma Della and Aunt Susan came over for dinner Saturday night and we enjoyed a nice evening in the backyard.

Bonfire!  Luke roasting marshmallows.

Aunt Susan had the magic touch getting over-tired and kind of cranky Claire to fall asleep on her chest.

On Sunday K&C&PJ were over, and we had a playdate with Kristin's friend Sarah and one of her sons, Ethan

Claire was all for another playdate

Brunch

Swimming in the neighbors' pool.  It was so hot we couldn't go a day without getting in some sort of body of water.

zonked out

Love her expression.  Look at what a pro she is at tummy time now!

Monday night Mom & Dad brought Kristin & PJ back to our house so they could fly out the next morning.  Cory had already flown out Sunday night.  We got one more fun visit in, complete with swimming, dinner and a trip to downtown Lake Forest for ice cream.

This is the "dink dink" song that PJ & Luke were singing.  Claire was laughing and laughing at this song, it was really cute - here's a video.

PJ & Luke singing "Ring around the Rosie"

"...we all fall down!"

Putting their feet in the fountain in downtown LF after ice cream.

Grandma putting the kids to bed and reading stories.  She got suckered into reading the longest Richard Scarry book ever.

Finally, I'll leave you with this video of Claire rolling over so you can see how good she is at it:)

Kristin & PJ's visit, June Birthdays, plus Luke's first trip to the dentist!

We couldn't believe it was already the end of June and Kristin & PJ were here visiting!  We love it when they're here, its almost like they never left:)  We always have such a great time doing all of our activities or even just hanging around the house.  The kids play so cutely together. We celebrated June Birthdays again at our house this year, and Mom and Dad came down a day early to have more family time together.  June Birthdays should really be more appropriately named June AND July birthdays, because now we celebrate Ian and PJ's birthdays as well as Aunt Susan's, Uncle Dan's and Aunt Allyson's.  PJ is the birthday of honor, of course, and it was really fun getting to celebrate with her.  Can't believe she is already 5 years old!

This week was also a big one for us because before K & PJ's visit Luke had his first ever dentist appointment.  He did terrific!  No problems at all with having the hygienist all up in his business:)  So proud of him.  We hope this is just the first of many successful professional encounters in his long life of dental health.  I also had a milestone of going on my first business trip since Claire was born.  I was away from the family for 2 nights on a trip to Dallas.  It also went pretty well.  I was so busy with work the time just flew by, and Matt did awesome as a single Dad.  I had some interesting locations for pumping (airport restroom and Mexican restaurant just to name a couple), and I also learned how to get through security with 20 bags of milk.  (It turns out that is no problem, but a thawed ice pack IS a problem.)  Glad that I have no other business trips on the horizon.  I don't know how some of my working mom friends who travel a lot do it!

Claire turned 4 months old this week, too.  Here are her stats, she's still an adorable little butterball!

Weight: 16 lbs, 3.5 ounces (90-95%)
Length: 24.5 inches (50%)
Head Circumference:  16.75 inches (75-90%)



Our doctor actually was concerned about Claire's left hip during her examination.  Matt said she kept doing these leg circles holding her hips to make sure she had the right range of motion, etc. and for some reason Claire was fighting her on the left side.  So our doctor prescribed an ultrasound on her hip to make sure everything was ok.  It was the first time that either of our kids had anything potentially wrong with them, so it was kind of scary!  Matt and I took Claire to the radiology department at the hospital (we thought of Paul, Katie!) and it was so weird/sad to see this little baby laying in a big hospital bed to get the ultrasound done.  We ended up getting the results later that day and everything was normal, so thank goodness for that.  Apparently she just doesn't like doing forced hip circles!  I am just so grateful that our kids are healthy, it obviously would be so awful to actually have a seriously ill child.  I really feel for Donna & Emil who had to withstand their baby Matt having open heart surgery at just two years old!

Claire has had a big week now that she's a 4 month old.  We got a little chastised by the doctor that Claire wasn't rolling over yet, an indicator that we're not doing enough tummy time. So we started doing more of that and about 3 days later, on June 30th, Claire rolled over for the first time!  Brilliant child:)  She also has started sucking her thumb, which is kind of cute.  It actually is quite handy because we don't always have to be searching around for her pacifier, she just self-soothes with her own hand.  Now let's hope the thumb sucking doesn't stick around an inappropriately long period of time.  I seem to remember that I was a thumb sucker, I'll have to ask my parents when/how I finally stopped.  Not a good sign if I actually remember doing it!

Luke continues to say the darn'est things, it is so funny.  Like the other day Matt and I were discussing something and Luke says very matter of factly, "Exsnooze me, Exnooze me, I am doing this puzzle now so you need to stop talking."  The guy needs silence to concentrate I guess!  We got him a new puzzle, a map of the USA, and he already knows all of the states in the US and the symbol on the puzzle piece.  "Momma, is this Pennsylvania and is that the Liberty Bell?"  Yes, Luke, it is - and you are a sponge!

Finally, this week we had our little basement ceiling project finished.  For the almost 5 years that we have lived in this house we have been wanting to replace the ceiling tiles in our dropped ceiling basement.  They were super old and discolored and gross, but it just isn't something that was a priority.  We also had these really old fluorescent lights all in the basement.  We ended up having the lights replaced with really awesome can lights, and all the ceiling tiles replaced with bright white new ones.  It makes all the difference down there, I love it!  Now, Matt just wants to re-paint the whole basement and it will be transformed.  I'll post pictures once the painting is done.

Matt sent me this picture while I was in Dallas of the kids "playing" together.  

Luke at the dentist!

Making himself comfortable.  May I just point out how long his legs are?!

Getting a toy for a job well done:)

Spumoni Monster

I got home from Dallas just a couple hours before Kristin & PJ flew in on Friday night. 

Saturday morning we took Kristin & PJ to see Donna & Emil's new house.  Running in the yard and over the bridge was a favorite activity.

We met Mom and Dad at nearby Lamb's Farm for lunch and a couple hours of animal viewing.

Running around grassy areas is as fun as anything else you could plan for these guys.

Love this picture.

On the little train

Feeding the cows

Luke trying to talk to the goat.

Claire might be crushing her:)  Doesn't Claire look huge?  PJ is so cute with the baby.

I like this picture even though Claire has a funny expression bc you can see Mom peeking out from behind her.

Luke tried to get PJ as into his puzzling, but it is just not a passion for PJ.  Kristin and I realized that she doesn't like puzzles and I love puzzles, so apparently this may be genetic!

Bonfire!  It was kind of chilly this evening so was a perfect night for a fire.

Claire took this opportunity to wear the hand knit cap and sweater that Mom's friend Jeannine made for her.

That smile - seriously, what a butterball.

Celebrating Father's Day a little late.

Little monkey

Grandpa and his girls (the next generation)

Monkey climbing on Matt - I can't believe I got this shot of him literally falling on his head.  He was ok, don't worry.

All dressed up for June birthdays

Nice sunny day (we switched last minute from Saturday to Sunday for the pool party to get better weather)

Snuggling with Grandma Della

PJ and Ian - July birthdays!

PJ opening her presents - lots of princess paraphernalia!

Mermaid pool toys from us:)

Pretty almost- 5 year old!

Melissa and Jessica soaking up the rays

My blooming hydrangea is almost as pretty as this girl!

My garden is growing gangbusters!

What we've dubbed "The graveyard".  We've lost a few things this year...a deck chair, a pool float, two umbrellas, a pool filter and an electric grill.  Ouchie on the pocketbook!

Claire's first time in the exersaucer!  She loved it, I'm not sure why we waited this long to get it out.  I like her feet in this picture, look at her kind of trying to stand up but not quite sure.

Luke showing her how to use all the different features on her exersaucer.

Cory flew into town the night before they all headed to Michigan for the 4th of July.  This was his first time meeting Claire!  They really hit it off.

Claire sticking her tongue out and Kristin & PJ mimicking her.  PJ used to do the same thing when she was a baby.

Batgirl!

Uncle Cory reading stories.  That reminds me, when PJ'sa around Luke starts calling Matt "Uncle Matt" instead of Daddy.  Ha!