More of My Obsession With Summer

Is there anything more delightful than dressing a chubby baby for the summer months?  Harper would like to offer about a dozen fat rolls and three chins to prove my point.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:  Sidebar--would you believe me when I say we had to literally cut her out of this swimsuit after this photo?  True story.  I would never lie to you.

Exhibit C:

Point proven.  At Harper's 4 month checkup yesterday, the doctor was quite smitten with her impressive size, and couldn't resist a little game of Sumo baby.
Height: 24.5 inches (60th%)
Weight: 15 lbs 10 oz (88th%)
That's my girl!

Also, let the record show that watching a little boy's love affair with baseball unfold right before your eyes is a pretty wonderful sight as well.

Best Of: Two June Weekends

So, we are all in agreement that June is the best month there is, right?   

Here's why mine has been so great.

Weekend 1.  I got to cross off #27 (spontaneous overnighter) on my 30 by 30 list, in the form of a surprise (to me) night away in the faraway land of downtown Salt Lake City.  Sure, I could go farther away, but I had no kids (thanks mom and dad!), two malls and a Cheesecake Factory in my own backyard, so what else could I possibly need?  

Pictured:  Reo's gratuitous meal of Fried Macaroni and Cheese, with cheese sauce, on a hamburger...Well done, Cheesecake Factory, well done.   Exploring the new City Creek mall, where I showed unprecedented restraint at the 77 Kids AND Disney store. 

Not pictured:  Getting cheesecake to go, going back to the hotel and making the impossible choice of whether to watch Dateline or 20/20.  And debating crashing the Neon Trees concert.

Weekend 2:  Opening weekend at the Wing pool/celebrating dad-hood.

Pictured:  Holden's James Bond swim trunks, Holden and Harper's cool dad, eating "mores", and cousin introductions.

Oh, and here's more..  Reo's faves in the form of Pioneer Woman Mac and Cheese and Strawberry Golden Oreo milkshakes, Holden devouring a "Small" snowcone, and homemade Father's Day gifts.

Not pictured....Nothing of note, this one was weekend that was documented well if I do say so myself.

See why I'm loving June?  And I still have two weekends to go!  Life is good.

My Finest Hour(s)

Why is it that the more my three year old acts like a three year old, the more like a three year old I seem to turn into?

 Seriously, you guys.  The temper tantrums have been epic today.  And I wish I was just talking about his.

The discovery of his latest self portraits on my iphone may have saved his life today.  I'm just sayin...

Kid Vs. Kid -- 3 Months

Pretty much for my own amusement...Here is a comparison picture of my kids at three months old.  

Holden looks much balder then I remembered when you put him right next to his sister like that...But then again, Harper looks quite a bit chubbier..Let's call it even and say they are both pretty much the cutest kids to walk the planet and call it a day.  

May Days

Hello again.  It's been awhile.  I blame the fact that we were sadly, hopelessly without the internet for way too long.  Oh, also?  We were busy moving here (one of my favorite 30 by 30s so far).  Also, it does not have a bad paint job--I just blurred the address to avoid internet creepers.  You know who you are.  

Luckily, May has still been happening all around us, and I actually have taken a few pictures to document it before it slips away more than it already has.    Here's what we've been up to.

Completing at least one "art project" a day.

"Graduating" swim lessons.

Finally blessing Harper at our church.  

Having a super awesome Mother's Day involving hosting my very first dinner at our new house and sleeping in until 8:15 (I am pretty sure I scared my little sister off of motherhood for a good long time when I called that sleeping in).   Also, don't my kids look super thrilled to have me as their mom?

Playing with some of our new Besties.   Some of my favorite people have had/are having babies this year = built in BFF's for Harper.  I think I will cry when Natalie's maternity leave ends and she can't play with me all the time anymore.

And this one has been working on growing some pretty impressive fat rolls.  If you think these arm rolls are something, you should see her thighs.  They are magnificent.

Two and Three (.5)

So, not only do I have two kids now, I have two kids that kinda do stuff.  In Harper's case it is things like grow, sleep, etc.  but in my mind this kid is too cute to not be documenting.  As always, if these kinds of posts aren't your thing, feel free to skip this one.  And also, please just pretend that the things I am writing and the pictures have anything to do with each other.

Harper at 2 months--

The Stats:
Height-22.5 inches (50th percentile)
Weight-12 lbs 11 oz (80th percentile) (and back to being the kind of giant baby the Manning house has become accustomed to)
Head: 15.5 inches (20th percentile)  (not at all a size the Manning house is accustomed to)
Who would have thought such a random assortment of percentiles would make such a freakin' cute baby?  But it sooo does...

Likes :  Bathtime, Baby Talk, Being Wrapped up super tight just so that she can bust her little arms out.
Dislikes:  Getting dressed, being hungry
Indifferent About:  Everything else, including all sorts of nearly violent acts her older brother tries to throw her way.

Skills:  Smiling, cooing, waving (not really, but the picture below kind of begs to differ), sleeping a 5 or 6 hour stretch at night .

Mom's favorite thing about her:  The girl is one NOISY sleeper.  Grunting, wheezing, heavy stalker breathing, the occasional snore...she does it all.  Which works out well for me.  I only have to put my hand on her chest a couple of times a night to make sure she is breathing instead of a couple times an hour like I did with Holden.  (Other people do that, right?  That is normal, totally unparanoid behavior??)

Holden at 3.5 years--

Stats:

Height--Pretty Tall

Weight--Super Heavy (especially when he wants to be carried while I also trying to lug around a giant baby and her massive carseat)

Head--Big as ever

Likes:  Swim Lessons,  "Partying" with the Archibalds (my parent's neighbors), having "slumbovers" with his Aunt Emily or in my mom and dad's room.

Dislikes:  Going to bed, dressing himself.

Indifferent About:  Using the potty.  Still.  I don't really want to talk about it.  

Skills:  Taking millions of self portraits on my phone without my knowledge, spelling his name for strangers.

Mom's favorite thing about him:  Like usual, it's the crazy things that this boy says...Some recent gems:

"Umm, that didn't really go so well."  (After an attempt to go to the bathroom alone.  You don't want more details, I promise).

"I got so excited I slipped and hurt my teeny tiniest toe."

"Is this new water or is it soggy?"

While Harper was crying.. "Harper, I told you, I don't like it when you bother me!"

Wow, these kind of posts are lots longer with two kids...If you made it this far, congratulations, and you are probably related to me. 

Easter Moments

I seem to have lost any ability to accurately document events in our life.  Easter is the latest casualty.  Basically, if it happened after we went to church on Easter Sunday or you aren't my kid, there are no pictures.  Please make do with the following.

Pictured:  Egg dying.  Possibly the messiest kid activity ever.  Whose idea was this anyways?  Let's take an incredibly fragile item and dump it in DYE, and just see what happens.  I'll tell you what happens.  Two annoyed parents try to bite their tongues to avoid sucking all the fun out of this family activity.



Pictured:  The Loot.  Holden was very pleased with his baseball glove, and less than impressed with the clothes Harper got.  I was excited to add another basket to the mix this year and also that the Easter Bunny came through big time with the adorable cake stand I've been eyeing.

Pictured:  Holden taking his sweet time finding eggs during the egg hunt, in which he is still the only participant.    The kid is in for a rude awakening in a year or two when all his moseying around results in his little sister getting all the eggs.

Pictured:  Easter outfits.  Best outfits of the year, hands down.  Too bad this was the best picture I got.  How do I tell Holden that less is more when it comes to showing me his gums?

Not pictured:
All the food!  I don't even know me anymore.
Family and friends.  They were there, I promise.
Teaching Holden how to make lipstick out of Robin Eggs.  The fact that such an important coming of age ritual wasn't documented is a tragedy.