Lost Pines

This we weekend we drove down to Austin to celebrate Matt's dad's 70th birthday! We had a great time and enjoyed getting to see all of Matt's brothers and their families. We stayed at the Lost Pines resort in Bastrop and it was great...Saylor had a blast! Here are some pictures from our trip (although I have no pictures of the main thing we did, which was swimming of course)!

 

Amy and Connor

 

Laughing

 

sweet Hudson

 

Playing soccer with Miles

 

Future goalie?

 

Hudson and Gray in deep conversation

 

The horses: Julius and Caesar

 

Hudson, Garrett and Miles on the carriage ride

 

 

 

 

Getting a group shot this large with kids involved is pretty humorous!

 

Thanks for coming out to say hello, Janet, Bob, and Jo Anne!

 

A family shot...hard to come by these days!

 

Funny faces

 

 

Matt and I spent a fair amount of time doing this. Sweet Gray is back to not so much loving a bottle. :( I am determined not to give in though! I forgot how hard it is to keep to a routine when traveling with babies, but thankfully, sweet Gray still slept like a champ and aside from the bottle didn't put up much fuss about anything. I keep wondering how we lucked out with such an easy little guy!

 

Austin Smiths

 

Portland Smiths (minus Lisa who we missed SO MUCH!)

 

DC Smiths with Say. I can't really put into words how much she loves these two. She often wanted nothing to do with Matt and me...Will and Nicole are soooooooooooo much more fun! :) It makes me so happy to see their special bond with her.

Cousins! Saylor was so excited to see them! All weeks she kept asking me: "NOW is it time to see cousins, mommy?"

Gray posed for a quick pic but didn't last long...think he was pretty hot. :)

I love these two boys!!!

Princess gifts from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Neal...a big hit. :)

The first night Say was too excited to fall asleep. But, after two long days of swimming, no naps and tons of fun she CRASHED on the second night.

Petting one of the horses with Aunt Coley and Uncle Wiggly

Sitting on the Longhorn...Hook 'em!

What a fun weekend and birthday celebration it was!

laugh and cry

I recently came across two new blogs. This one made me cry. This one made me laugh. They are both worth reading.

Saylor Says

The level of two year old sass and drama has recently ramped up around here!

Saylor randomly developed a completely out of the blue fear of our cat, Morty. When I asked her if something happened I couldn't really get a clear story.

"Did Morty bite you, Saylor?"
"Yes!"
"Where?"
thinking for a minute: "On my toe!"

Later (after she screamed when he came near)
"Did Morty really bite you, sweetie?"
"Yes!"
"Where did he bite you?"
"On my bottom!"

Another time (the fear lasted for a couple days)
"When did he bite you, Saylor?"
"In January!"

Hmmmmm. Pretty sure she was making it up. Morty is actually quite harmless unless provoked.

She has also started to use words that she doesn't understand the meaning of. When she is mad at me about something she will run in the room and insist: "Mommy, I am NOT incredible." Another time it was "Mommy, I am NOT nervous." All in her super sassy voice of course. Sigh.

Recently after a little scare in the pool at her friend Caroline's house, she said to Caroline's mom: "I just CAN'T swim cause I'm little and little people just CAN'T swim!" When she came home she said to me: "When I get bigger I'll wear gobbles (goggles) and swim just like Caroline!"

There are lots of "when I get bigger" statements made on a regular basis.
"When I get bigger I'LL....eat gum, drink coffee, drink wine, get married" etc.

When I was carrying a glass of water to the table she reminded me: "TWO hands, mommy, TWO hands!"

When my aunt and uncle were visiting (see previous post) she told them: "I get spankings ALL the time!" (NOT true! Talk about making us look bad!)

When passing a truck on the road: "Mommy, do you like trucks? I don't like trucks; they're just for mans."

But we still have plenty of sweetness around here, too:

When she didn't hear something I said to her: "Hmmm? What did you say, sweetie?"

Last night at dinner: "Well, daddy, how was your day?"

She has started commenting whenever I get dressed up or she sees a picture of me dressed up: "Mommy, you look SO pretty!" Awwww. I like that one! Maybe it's a sign I need to shower more often? :)

Saylor was asking about a wedding Matt and I recently went to. Matt told her one day she would have a wedding of her own but only to marry a man who loves her VERY, VERY much. Her response was: "And I'll DANCE with him, daddy!!!!!!!"

Ahh, sweet girl. I know that moment will be here in what seems like no time. So thankful for you, Say!

(At the Children's Museum)

Visit from Mike and Ann

My Aunt Ann and Uncle Mike recently came through town. It was so fun to see them! They treated Matt and I to a yummy, fancy, kid free dinner and then came over for breakfast the next day to see the kids. We always enjoy getting to see them...thanks for coming Mike and Ann!

Reading with Aunt Ann...first Saylor wanted her own seat

But then she warmed up!

Sweet Gray couldn't stay awake for too much of their visit

They brought Saylor a big sister book with her very own big sister medal

The famous "Uncle Mike swing"

Here it was this same time last year:

First laughs

Gray has started laughing this week! Saylor actually gets the credit for his first legitimate laugh - she was making funny faces at him and talking to him a few days ago and he giggled. It was so fun to watch! I was so excited and now she tries to do it a lot. :) I am loving watching their relationship emerge. Sometimes I catch him turning his head to look at her in the car or craning his neck to find her in the room when he hears her voice with a BIG smile on his face. :) So cute.

Here's a video of me getting him to laugh this morning:


And a few other recent pictures:

She loves going to get him with me in the morning or after a nap.

Sad face :(

Patting his back

Silly girl

I fall a little bit more in love with this face every day!

Looking manly in the pink bumbo

In other news, we've had almost a record breaking heat wave in Dallas this week. It's been hovering around 110 plus every day and it's just miserable! Matt is in Chicago where it is a nice 85 degrees...lucky guy. Thankfully, Saylor has been so sweet and really good the past couple days, which makes the single parent thing a much easier gig. I really, really love being with her all day when she is like that. I keep telling her how proud I am of her for making happy choices and she just laughs and says "it makes you SO happy when I'm sweet, Mommy!" Yes it does! She is saying funny things all the time and it's so fun to watch her become more and more independent.

Unfortunately, Gray is following in his big sister's footsteps and putting up an enormous fight these days when it comes to taking a bottle. It takes tons of time and patience to get him to take a few ounces and we're only successful about half the time. We sure are having deja vu around here! It's interesting to me that Gray is 10 weeks old and this is the worst it's been and that is the exact same age Saylor was when I wrote that post. I'm hoping that means he'll turn the corner pretty quick like she did, too. Or at least by September when I go back to working a day each week!