A Video for Daddy

Every now and then Michelle will ask to make a video on my phone to send to Bryan. She will usually say things like "I miss you Daddy." or "I really love you." They are always super sweet, and Bryan loves them! A few days ago Michelle asked to make one such video and wanted Tina to be in the video with her. What a good sister, huh?! Here's how it went:

I'm not sure how many more video's Tina will be invited to make with Michelle! Lol!

First Words

Michelle was six months old when she said her first words. Her first word was "Nigh-nigh", and was followed, after a few days by "Da-da". So, now that Tina is almost seven months we have been getting very anxious for her to start even trying to talk! I'm not sure why I have to keep learning this lesson, but, over and over again, Tina is proving to me how different my girls are. For example, Michelle rocked back and forth for a while, slowly leaned from one side to the other, and after a bunch of good tries finaly learned to roll over! Tina however, showed absolutely no interest in rolling over at all. Then, one day out of the blue, she just flipped right over! Boom! Just like that Tina was a champion roller!

The same thing happened with talking. Michelle had all her sounds worked out first. She "Goo"ed and "Gaa"ed, she "ma-ma-ma-ma"ed, and "da-da-da-da"ed, but it was pretty obvious that they were just sounds, not real words. Then, after a bunch of prompting and begging, and saying the same words over and over again, she worked her little mouth out and said, "nigh-nigh"! Then, a few days later, again after a bunch of prompting, she reached out for Bryan and said, "Da-da". Tina has shown no interest in actual words- none at all! She is a pro screech-er though! I'm pretty sure she would have fit right in with some of the dinosaurs. Well, Bryan and I have tried to get her to make those babbling sounds and she usually just stares at us like we're nuts. Until last night. I was talking to Bryan on the phone when Tina reached her little arms out and, clear as day, says "Da-da"! So, I put the phone on speaker and get Bryan's voice mail recording, and as soon as she hears Bryan's voice she screeches super loud and then says, "Da-da!"

I just about died! For the most part I was SUPER proud of her and completely amazed that she just up and decided to start talking. But, if we're being honest, there was a little part of me that wanted to pick her up and give her a stern "EXCUSE ME?!" I mean, first, Bryan wasn't even there!! He was on the phone! I was standing right in front of her!! And, on top of that, I think I deserve a little recognition here. I mean come on! I carried her for nine months, I birthed her, I feed her, I change her dirty diapers, -ME!! Bryan is a good daddy. He plays with her and makes her giggle, sure, but... really?! ....Da-da?! That's fine. I see where I rate. (lol) It's a good thing I love this little girl so much, or my feelings might really be hurt!

Family Pictures

I have had engagement pictures taken. I have had baby pictures taken. I have NEVER had family pictures taken!  So this year, after seeing so many other people's adorable family pictures, I finally broke Bryan down and got him to agree to let us pay to have pictures taken! Terah, a girl I used to work with and a wonderful photographer, took our pictures! I think they came out pretty darn good...

...don't you think?

Tidbits about Tina

Tina is certainly growing up fast! She is 6 (almost 7) months old now, and has really changed a lot since the last time I posted about her. 

Tina Marie Grant

15 lbs. 6 oz

26 1/2" tall

(That puts her in the 50th percent for her weight, and between 75 and  90th for her height!)

She can roll over from her tummy to her back (First time was on April 8th). She has two little teeth poking through. Her bottom left was the first to come through on the 26th, and then her bottom right started poking through on the 27th. She can stand up like a champ, but doesn't really have the balance to even think about walking yet. She can also sit up on her own. Mommy is a little paranoid though and still surrounds her with pillows! She no longer gets a rash when she eats baby bananas. In fact, some of her favorite baby foods are Garden Vegetables (what a weirdo huh?!), and Banana-Plumb-Grape!! She is still a little confused about what the heck she is supposed to do with a bottle or sippy-cup; for now they make excellent teethers!

She has decided that taking baths is probably one of the most fun things in the world!

If you remember, last time I posted about Tina she HATED her car seat. She still isn't thrilled about car rides, but she sucks it up. And as long as she has a good toy, she's pretty content for most of our trips. She's still pretty bad if you're getting in and out a few times (running errands is not an option for her!), but one trip to the store and back is definitely manageable now.

There are a few things, however, that haven't changed one bit. For example, Tina has very obvious favorites within our family. She's no secret keeper when it comes to who she likes best and who can go eat dirt! Lol! Just in case you're wondering, Bryan and I have never been first on her list. Tina's absolute favorite, from day one, has always been her big sister, Michelle!

Easter

I know this is SUPER late, but I thought I should probably get it up here anyway.

I couldn't get the video of the actual Easter egg hunt to upload for some reason, but when Bryan gets home I'll have him try to help me. If we can get it figured out then I'll update this post with that video. Hope everyone had a great Easter!

Bluebonnet Pictures

As many of you native Texans know, we are in the middle of bluebonnet season! And all these beautiful wildflowers can mean only one thing- Picture Time!!

Last weekend Jessica and I got together and snapped a few pictures of the kiddos in a field of bluebonnets. And, by “a few” I mean a little over 200! Jessica is a crazy fast picture taker. Which is pretty awesome when you’re dealing with little kids. We were only out there for about 15 minutes and she filled her memory card! (Which gives me a good idea for her Christmas gift this year!) So, thanks to her we got a bunch of really cute pictures of the girls, one pretty good one of all the cousins, and a few funny ones that I probably won’t share. I also have to give her a gold star for being SUPER brave and tromping out into the field to check for snakes before we unloaded the kids from the car. The grass was pretty tall so if there was a snake you wouldn’t be able to see it until you were right on top of it. Thanks for saving our lives!

I haven’t gotten back to her about which pictures I want her to edit so these are all raw shots. They’re still pretty much awesome though! Here are a few of my FAVORITE shots:

Looking at these you may think "Of course Jess got good pictures, look how happy those kids are!" But, let be real for a minute. Jess got good pictures because she's amazing! Most of the time the kids all looked like this:


So when she saw a glimmer of a smile she started snapping away, and ended up getting some amazing shots, like these:

Thanks again for taking these beautiful pictures Jess! You pretty much rock out!

Play Date

Have I ever mentioned how much I love play-dates? A few days ago my brother-in-law had to have surgery on his knee. So while Jessica was up at the hospital with Ben, Michelle got to have Clayton over for a "Super Play-date"! Clayton is a really good kid so it made for a really fun day!

They started the day bright and early (around 7:30) with some good old make-believe in the playroom. In this pic Michelle was "sick" so Clayton was being a doctor and measuring her.

After a little bit the playroom got boring so we moved on to coloring in the living room.

That didn't last very long, and it was a B-E-A-utiful day outside, so we went to the driveway to chalk for a while.

After a bit of outside fun we came back in to have a pic-nick in the living room for lunch. Yes, that's my lovely daughter using her spoon like a cave man. But, hey! At least she's using a spoon!

After lunch everyone was pretty tired, so they all went down for a nap...

aren't they so sweet?

This is always my favorite part of the day.

A few hours later everyone was back up and ready for more fun!

I'm not sure about you, but I love me some chocolate strawberries! And I figured, with the kids helping, we could dip all my strawberries in no time!

Little did I know that they were able to eat just as many as they dipped, and just as quickly too!

So while they were munching on Strawberries, and Tina was munching on her Bumbo (LOL!)...

I was thinking to myself- I LOVE play-dates! Oh, yeah, and that I hoped Ben was doing well... yeah, it wasn't selfish thoughts at all!