Daddy & Marlee

I caught Daddy and Marlee having a little conversation. Clint and I watched it over and over tonight, we hope you think it's half as funny as we do.

Ballpark Peanuts!

Tonight was dollar hotdog night at the ballpark, which only means one thing. Lane gets to buy a bag of peanuts to go with his hotdog. He was so excited!
Marlee was happy too. She watched Lane eat his peanuts and jibber-jabbered most of the game.

And much to Lane's delight Spike walked by. Lane got to take a quick picture with his favorite guy at the ballpark, well after Dad of course.

Lane in action, it's not too exciting. But, I love how he gets the peanut started and you can kind of hear Clint in the background.

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter weekend with our family and friends. We are so blessed! Saturday Lane's buddy, JJ, invited him to an Easter egg hunt that was put on by his Karate school.
They had relays for the kids to do. I think Lane was a little freaked out, all the kids were at least two years older and had done relays before. He had a death grip on JJ while they waited in line for their turns. The instructor was good to let Lane go with JJ. They were hilarious together!


JJ, Bella, Marlee and Lane after the egg hunt.Marlee was so happy that someone shared an empty egg with her.
This morning we went to early church so Clint could get to the ballpark by 1o. The Easter bunny doesn't get up that early around here so he waited to visit after Clint got home from the game. On a side note, I was talking to Lane today about the meaning of Easter and Jesus (in kid language). We talked about how he died for our sins and on Easter his grave was empty because he came back to life and Lane said "oh Wow!". It was so sweet. Ready for the egg hunt. This video is long, but Lane was just sooo cute. I loved that he shared eggs with Marlee.


I love this picture of Marlee. She was one happy girl today.
Brother with his eggs.My sweet precious babies. Tonight we had our second annual baseball friends Easter meal. We had had a house full and so much fun. Some people even brought their dogs to play - too bad Murph was a bad hostess and and to spend part of the evening in her cubby. Lane loved having buddy's eat as his table with him.

On Our Way

He DID IT! Lane made it all day, in big boy underwear, without a single accident! He was a champ. We were away from the house for about 2 1/2 hours, he took his nap, and played outside with Daddy, he could have easily forgotten and had an accident but he didn't. During the course of the day he told me three times that he needed to potty and once that he had to poop. He delivered every time!

We celebrated Lane's successful day by having Popsicles out on the deck. So proud of my big boy!!!

**Sorry, I know this isn't ideal reading material, but I want to remember every bit of this process! I'll try to keep these posts to a minimum!

Check Him Out

This big boy is NOT wearing a diaper! He wore his big boy pants to church today and did great! He did have an accident but I was told it was when the teachers changed shifts and they forgot to take him to the bathroom on time. Friday morning Lane got to put on his new Thomas underwear and didn't have an accident the whole time he wore them.

Saturday morning Lane got a new baseball mit and ball for pooping in the potty for the first time!

We are so proud of our big boy. We waited to let Lane decide when he was ready and the past few weeks he's been showing more interest in his little pottys around the house. We are to the point that he is sitting on the potty every 30 minutes, and doing great! He gets a reward of a couple gummy bears or little candies that Grammy and Grampy sent him, which has proven to be very motivating. For now we let him sleep in his diaper, again his decision, hopefully he will feel confident enough to sleep in his underwear very soon!

Movin & Shakin It

Marlee Grace is up and crawling! Marlee has been getting up on her hands and knees and lunging or rolling to go after what she wants since late February, early March. A week ago I saw her crawl. Only problem is, I can't remember if I really saw her do it or if I dreamt it. Sad but true. Then, Thursday night as I was getting Marlee ready for bed I know I saw her crawl and she's been chasing after her little telephone with the red cord ever since ( you can see her grabbing for the red cord in both of the videos).

I got this video of her first thing Friday morning. I love how purposefully she puts her hands down.

And this is the side view. Gotta love those chunky thighs!

Takin Care of Business

Lane has decided to start using the potty, sometimes... I found him in my bathroom like this yesterday morning. He cracks me up!

She's Doing It!

Marlee has been sleeping in the little baby hammock we got for her soon after she was born. I tried several times to transition her to her baby bed and she cried for hours. I mean hours! When we were at her well check last week I asked the Doctor what he thought. He encouraged me to transition her this weekend and let her cry it out. As in, don't go into the room at all. So... it was tough, I cried right along with her, but we did it!

Friday afternoon I put her in her baby bed for nap. She cried for about two hours. She would cry, sleep for a few minutes, wake up and start the cycle over. When I finally went in and got her, her little eyes were swollen and her sweet voice was horse. I felt so bad for her.

I hated to put her back in her bed to cry all night, but I hoped that she would sleep better since she never really took a nap. I put her down and she didn't move! She laid there, didn't cry and went right to sleep and didn't wake up until 9:30 Saturday morning.

This is what Lane and I found when we went in to get her up! One happy girl!!!

Lane imitating sister.

Since Saturday she has napped and slept like a champ. It was funny the first few days she would sit up and fold herself over and sleep with her head on her legs. Thankfully, she has since realized that it is much more comfortable to sleep stretched out than folded over.

Bluebonnets

Saturday we stopped on our way to lunch to take a couple of pictures of Lane and Marlee in the bluebonnets. We haven't had much if any rain lately so the bluebonnets were pretty sparse. We had a few patches near our house that I had been eyeing hoping they would fill out. Saturday we stopped with the intention of me taking the kids back within the next day or two to try again. By Monday the bluebonnets were pretty much gone so we missed out this year. Although the pictures aren't great, I love any picture of these two.

We sat Lane down and put Marlee on his lap. I loved that he held onto her so tight. He is so good at taking care of his sister.

Marlee's 9 Month Stats

Thursday I got Miss Marlee all dolled up and took her to the Doctor for her 9 month well check. The Doctor said she is looking good!Here are her stats:

Her head measures 46.5 95%

She weighs 23.2 lbs 95%

She is 29 inches long 90%

I double checked with the Doctor to make sure I wasn't over feeding her and he assured me that she has always been in the upper percentiles so she is growing as she should be.

I felt good about our visit and decided to look to see if I posted Lane's 9 month stats for comparison. He weighed 21 lbs 15 oz and was 30 1/2 inches long. Clint and I grow them big!

Three Amigos

Lane and Marlee wore their matching Boston Terrier shirts today! Lane was so excited to wear his boots with his new shirt.

Three best friends.

Marlee's 9 Months

Marlee Grace is 9 months old! I can't believe how quickly time has gone. The other day I realized that she is 9 months and Lane will be 3 next month! I hate to say it, but I cried. It's so ridiculous but I just know that tomorrow I'll wake up and they'll both be in college. So, I'm trying to soak in every moment - every sweet kiss, silly giggle, and embarrassing tantrum.

Marlee is becoming less of a baby everyday. She is eating table food, fresh peas are her favorite. She loves to sit on the floor and play with Lane. She isn't crawling, but she can get around. She rolls and scoots all over the place. Marlee loves to babble - she's saying Ma Ma, Da Da, and Ba Ba plus a few other little babbles. I'm not counting any of these as her first word - I'm waiting until I know she knows what she is saying. Marlee has been signing Milk for a couple of months and I'm pretty sure she signed that she was done after lunch today. Marlee is crazy about her Dad and Brother, anytime they are around she lights up. She doesn't like to be left alone and if she feels she isn't getting enough attention she will tell you about it. We experienced her first bout of separation anxiety at church yesterday when I dropped her off in the nursery. Marlee has the most beautiful blue eyes, we get lots of complements, we are hoping they aren't going to change. Marlee is a little ray of sunshine. We love her so much and have so much fun with her. Marlee and her dolly. I can't wait to see what this next month brings for my sweet girl!