Much Better

This little boy is on the mend! The tubes are in and working and

sweet Coleman has already been to a playdate at the park!

Thank you for praying for him!

Wildlife and a Tea Party

This guy was hanging out in our backyard neighbors' trees at dusk on Friday night. He wasn't bothering anyone, but he was probably gearing up for a big night of trashcan-tipping. We loved watching him climb the tree and survey the neighborhood. Susannah is still deciding on a name for him.

And.... drumroll please....... here is Susannah with her first fish! She absolutely loved fishing in Uncle Bill's pond! Matt is thrilled that his girl is an outdoors-woman. I'm just glad she was looking so stylish in the process :)

Speaking of style, on Saturday morning, Susannah and I went to our first tea party for Susannah's sweet gal-pal, Berkeley.

Cinderella showed up, painted everyone's nails, danced and sang for the little girls and granted wishes. Suz is never really sure about people in costumes, but Cinderella is a pretty big deal to her so she was willing to make an exception. As soon as Cinderella entered the room, Susannah stood back and checked her out with true skepticism. She squeezed my hand and whispered some "ooohs" and "aahs," before asking me what she really wanted to know. "Mommy," she whispered, "when is the prince going to be here?"

I like the way she thinks.

Of course, that Prince could be a little ornery... like this guy.

Say a little prayer for Coleman. He has a raging ear infection and will be getting tubes tomorrow morning at 7:30. Hopefully they will provide some much needed relief (for all of us!)

If we had 2 boys...

They might look like this!

Of course, you know that is our beautiful Susannah in the shark towel. She just likes to "borrow" it from Coleman on a nightly basis. It is perfect for twirling and she doesn't mind at all that it's a deviation from her signature color, pink.

She loves to dote on her baby brother. Holding him isn't quite the same anymore though. He is such a quick little mover.

Here is our new little neighbor! Jenny Wren is working hard on her nest these days. We are so excited about the possibility of baby birdies.

In other news, Susannah caught her first fish this weekend. More pics to come!

Survivors

We fought the 2012 Norvirus over the course of about 3 weeks and- I have to admit it- the Norvirus won. Thankfully, we survived. That thing was B-R-U-T-A-L. Daddy got it first, then Mommy succumbed. Poor Susannah waited as long as she could and then it took her out. Saddest thing I have ever seen. And, very scary. Matt traveled to Austin for a work conference and Suz got sick that evening. My fantastic, awesome, selfless neighbors came to help me out and care for Coleman/ coach me through "stomach virus 2012". Susannah actually really liked sleeping in the bathroom and continues to recount her perilous encounter with the "gut bug." She still tells everyone about it and asks people if they have thrown up lately. In fact, she told Mia, "Oh! You haven't been sick yet? Well, you will!"

Little Coleman is one resilient fella! He had the bug for the longest period of time, but for some reason, it wasn't as violent for him. Thank you, Lord! His appetite disappeared and he was not himself for about 10 days. I spent a lot of time worrying about his weight and offering him various foods, but he was simply not interested. That has all changed now. I think he consumed an entire sleeve of Ritz crackers at the park yesterday. He absolutely loves chomping with his new teeth (two bottom and one top) and when he wrinkles his nose, he looks kind of like someone from The Goonies. See what I mean?

My girl is feeling much better too.

She has been busy wearing beautiful dresses and sunglasses.

And spending time in her room with books.

And snuggling in her big girl bed!

In other news, we have a little "jenny wren" building a nest in our birdhouse outside. She is so fascinating and can't wait to see her little birdies! Oh, and birthday party planning is in full swing around here.

Silly and Sweet

This sweet, silly, funny, strong-willed, imaginative and all-around awesome little girl is growing up before my very eyes. It makes me sad. Happy-sad, I like to say. She has not had the easiest transition to life back in G-ville (sans 24-hour audience). We have had some rough days lately, but on the whole, this girl is pretty fabulous.

She comes up with some hilarious stories and songs, too. Sometimes her songs include insights into her rationale for disobeying. (I always love these.) Susannah is great at taking care of Coleman. If he accidentally (insert a bit of sarcasm here) picks up one of her toys, she gently replaces it with something she thinks he will enjoy more. Most of the time, she really is pretty sweet about it and she helps watch out for things that are too small for him. She is such a helper, and boy, can she make her brother laugh!

Here are just a few faces she uses to get him a-gigglin'.

My baby is turning into a little girl! She is growing so quickly! In fact, her long body is almost as long as her crib, so this weekend she is getting a big girl bed. The bedding arrived this week and she was thrilled with it. "Oh good! There is a lot of pink and I love those flowers!" she said. See, doesn't that just sound like a big girl? I imagine there will be some tears when we tuck her into her big girl bed for the first time. But, knowing Susannah, there won't be time for too many tears before she launches into her list of bedtime demands- singing Adelweiss, swaying, one more drink of water, one more chance to potty, putting Baby Hal's clothes back on, etc.

Creeper

This Crawler...

is creeping up on you! Peek-a-boo!!!

He's fast too! And, he thinks it's hilarious!

Watch out, sis!

Did we miss a month?

Hi! We are back!

How in the world did an entire month just fly by? We just returned from our big trip to Oklahoma and I am sure preparing for our journey kept me from updating the old blog! Traveling alone with 2 kiddos is, ummmm, interesting. The amount of items packed is simply ridiculous, and nothing can prepare you for what actually might happen (like having your 2 your old throw up 4 times on the first leg of your trip)!!! However, we survived and Susannah was an awesome little flower girl in sweet Kristin's wedding. While we were busy planning, packing and puking, little Coleman got his first 2 teeth and started crawling! We also have had ear infections galore and are trying to avoid the dreaded G-ville stomach virus (pray for us! ).

Here is the big boy in full-crawling mode!

Meanwhile, girlfriend is still big on books.

She takes them very seriously.