4 months and 32 months

Avery is 4 months old now.  Where has the time gone?  She is constantly smiling and thinks her big brother is the funniest thing ever! She went through a growth spurt last week and decided she needed to eat every three hours...even at night.  We have since gone back to sleeping a good 7 to 8 hours at night.  She takes several naps during the day...one longer one in the middle of the afternoon...right about the time brother takes a nap too (if I can tire him out enough).  This is nice, because it gives me time to do the dishes and fold the clothes, I know lucky me, right?

Avery:

• 13.75 pounds and 24 inches long 
• loves to play with her hands and put them in her mouth
• started to grab things and pull them towards her (my hair and necklace are next..I know)
• loves playing on her back...actually rolled from her back to stomach on Saturday
• loves Maggie and Maggie loves her
• is super strong, and you can pull her from a laying, to sitting, to a standing position.
• loves to "stand"...it soothes her just like it did Ethan
• has the best giggle ever! She always makes me smile. 

Ethan....he is almost 3, but I swear is going on 25 sometimes. He has finally made it to the full strength allergy shots for his fire ant allergy.  We are still going weekly, but he is so good at it.  I started giving him the $1.80 per shot, so that he feels important.  Well, since I started doing that he won't let me go in with him to get the shot or pay.  He can't even see above the counter to check out.  But I have to say it is pretty cute and the ladies at the allergist love him.

Ethan...

• loves the water and is a pretty good swimmer, would spend everyday at the pool. I might have to do swim lessons during the fall, just for fun
• never tires...I have to keep him busy or he will find something to get messy with...
• loves to open and close doors 
• is a HUGE helper...loves to cook with mommy and daddy
• loves Dinosaur Train, Curious George, and really is enjoying the new Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood
• he makes "friends" everywhere we go...from kids his age to kids older than him and even a 78 year old man at the allergist the other day.  
• is the best big brother ever! 

First Day at St. Catherine's

 Helping finish his lunch this morning--he then proceeded to carry the lunch kit around with him for the next half hour.

 Such a good brother he is...

 His backpack was kind of too heavy for him, he kept tripping, but he wouldn't let me carry it. SO SWEET!

 I love this one, because it looks like he trying to read the sign...he isn't he is putting his lunch kit down to come look at my camera. However, I am sure ten years from now I will just remember that it is super cute! 

He was done with me taking pictures.  The idea will be that eventually he will hold the sign each year on the first day of school, and Avery will hold her sign...however--it is too big for him and he was having trouble holding it up.  My little boy....

I just picked him a little bit ago, and his first words to me when we go in the car were, "Mommy, a good time, me"...so precious.  We are looking forward to day two...

Dinos and Butterflies

 On Sunday we went to Houston Museum of Natural Science to check out the new hall of Paleontology.  The dinosaurs and fossils were really cool.  He enjoyed it so much. We then went and checked out the butterflies--or "utterflies" like E-man says.   

beach time

On Saturday we went Galveston.  We planned to have lunch and play on the new Pleasure Pier in Galveston. We did not realize that it was 10 dollars just to get on the pier and then when we were on there we were going to have to play 8 dollars for one of us and Ethan to ride the carousel.  Since that was really the only ride that we were going to get to enjoy, we opted to skip that part and play on the beach.  We ate lunch at Bubba Gump Seafood...which was really good. As soon as lunch was over, the sun went behind the clouds and we never saw it again.  Which made it nice, not too hot.  Ethan had a blast playing in the waves--I think he would have stayed all afternoon if we would have let him.  Avery took a nap in the chair and then joined in the fun. She also enjoyed the waves hitting her legs.  The first time it happened she looked so surprised and let out a huge squeal. It was super fun.  We had a wonderful time and a great Saturday. It was a great way to bring an end to an amazing summer.

San Antonio 2012

Last week we traveled to San Antonio to enjoy some time away from home. We had a wonderful time with Grandma and Grandpa Lehmann.  There are a lot of pictures in the post--but I did cut it down from 350. :)

Our first stop after lunch on Wednesday was the Alamo.  It was super hot, but Ethan and Avery did great.  Ethan and really didn't understand why we were there and what it was all about, but years from now he can say that he visited the Alamo when he was 2 and half.  He kept asking to see the Alamo (when we were inside) I am unsure what he thought the Alamo was exactly. :)

"Remember the Alamo" 

 
Somewhere in the boxes of pictures my mom has, there is a picture of my brother Michael and I sitting on this very cannon.  He did a great job holding Avery--who is 3 months old today--where has the time gone?

Enjoying time with Grandma Lehmann--the same trip that Michael and I were sitting on the cannon, we have pictures with our grandma also.  It was so nice to recreate the same pictures 25 years later. :)

Ethan enjoying some ice cream on the river walk after learning about the Alamo. 

Such a pretty girl in yellow

 On Thursday we went to Sea World.  It is the perfect place to take a young kid--so many things to do. The first thing we did was feed the dolphins.  Ethan was a little nervous, but Grandpa, Daddy and I did.  It was great.  Then we went to the Sesame Street Bay of Play.  We saw Elmo, Cookie Monster, and the other SS friends sing.  Then he played on the biggest jungle gym--which was perfect.  We went to see the Shamu One World show. It was awesome.  As you can see from below Avery slept through the show (both times), but big brother Ethan had a blast! He thought it was so funny when the whales splashed the audience--even when we got wet.

 As you can see he was soooo tired. This is him watching the Elmo Rocks show.  I have to say he did great with no nap and lots of sun.  No meltdowns--I have such a good boy!

He fell asleep on Grandpa's shoulders on the way to the car. Grandpa--way to not wake him up when you took him off your shoulders--you must be a pro.  He slept until we got the hotel and then was ready to go again.  

 On Friday we enjoyed sometime at the San Antonio Zoo.  Ethan and Avery "rode" an elephant.  Ethan had a great time looking at all the animals.  The Hippos were all of our favorites-- since The Houston Zoo doesn't have hippos.  We rode the train before having a BBQ lunch and then drove home.  It was a wonderful three days!

Sleeping beauty--enjoying the cool breeze of the fan.