Our visit to Springfield, MO

A couple weeks ago, Pearce and I along with Ashley, Nathan, and Charlotte, drove to Springfield, MO to visit my dad's side of the family.  The last time we went was when Pearce was 8 weeks old, so he has changed quite a bit since then!  We followed mom and dad and actually made pretty good time!  We got there Friday late afternoon and boy, did everyone have a great time!  It seemed like all we did was eat and play....what's better than that?!

The whole crew!  We missed having Jen, Alexandra, and Robert, but it was so great to see my other two sisters, their kids, my cousins and my Aunt Mona and Uncle Gordon.  

Uncle Gordon trying to take it easy with all the craziness going on!

One of my sweet sisters, Missy with my niece Haleigh and nephew Jake.  Aside from Charlotte and Nathan, all of my nieces and my nephew are WAY taller than me!  It's hard for me to feel like their aunt when I stand next to them!

My gorgeous niece, Taylor with her boyfriend, Christian.  

Nathan thought Jake was the coolest guy ever!  Jake was so sweet to Nathan!

This picture cracks me up.  I will bet a million dollars that Pearce heard a loud sound outside and yelled "A-pane!"  

This was such a fun dice game we played...it was called Left, Right, Center.  Everyone would start off with $3.  There were 3 dice with either an L, R, C, or dots.  If you rolled an L, you had to give the person to your Left a dollar, R give the person to your Right a dollar, C-center, dots mean you don't have to give any money away.  Anyway, by the end of the game, two people are battling for the money in the middle.  It got very crazy by the end.  I never won, but it was sooooo fun!

Aunt Mona and Uncle Gordon have a huge backyard that the kids loved to run around in!

Sweet Nathan :)

Me and my boy :)

How cute is this picture of Charlotte?!

Charlotte played until she dropped.  Mama makes the best pillow!

Sisters...minus Jen...we missed you Jen!!!

Aunt Mona and Uncle Gordon have this cool theater room that all the kids loved!  

Mom and Dad's high school friends came for dinner one night.  It was so cute to see them together!

We stayed at Chuck and Abba's (my cousin) house and they have so many cool vintage things, like this pinball machine...

 And this little jukebox.  Nathan and Charlotte loved everything Chuck showed them!

While we were in Springfield, we went to Andy's to get ice cream.  This was Pearce's first ice cream cone that he got all to himself....he ate every single bite...and then he stole Mama's and ate that too!

We also went to Phelps Grove Park which is the park mom went to as a little girl and then when we would visit as little girls, we went.  I love that park!  It is so open and pretty and just tons of space to run around and play!

Aunt Missy brought the little ones these big suckers!

We all had so much fun visiting with our family.  Mom and dad left from Springfield to go to Wisconsin for yet another one of their little getaways :)  Ash and I didn't make quite as good time coming back without Mama and Papa helping to wrangle the kids....we sure had fun stopping to get snacks though!  Pearce had yet another ice cream cone when we stopped at McDonald's for lunch :)  Thank you Springfield family for such a wonderful time...we really are so lucky to have such a loving extended family!!

Visiting "Memaw"

A couple weeks ago, Pearce and I went to Dallas as a pit stop before making the drive to Springfield, MO to visit my dad's side of the family.  As I was looking through my pics, I decided "Memaw" had to have her own post :)  "Memaw" is actually Grandma to everyone BUT Pearce.  Whenever I say, "Do you want to go see Grandma?"  He will nod his head yes and say "Memaw!"  Even when he sees her picture, he says "Memaw!"  It is so funny.  Grandma thinks it's funny too and said she doesn't mind :)  When you see the following pictures of our last visit, you will see that Grandma doesn't mind a lot of things!

We got some great group pictures while the kids cooperated and then they were off tending to business as usual at Grandma's...

They start digging in Grandma's drawers and find all kinds of goodies....bracelets, hair brush, snacks, etc...  

Here Charlotte has found Grandma's box of bracelets and Pearce found her brush.  Usually there are Hershey Kisses in there, but I think they already ate them all!

So, now Nathan decides Grandma's freshly done hair needs more brushing :)  Grandma has the sweetest roommate who I'm sure we give her lots to laugh about....hopefully! 

We always have a nice time visiting Memaw, I mean Grandma :)  We love you!!!!

Austin Children's Museum

Last week, Christie and I took the boys to the Austin Children's Museum.  It was our last big summer adventure before Christie had to go back to school.  It was adventurous because we decided to take the Metro rail downtown...something we had never done....with babies!  Going there was really easy and it was just a short walk to the museum from the Metro station.  Coming back was a different story, of course!  We were going to eat lunch downtown and then decided that we would go ahead and go back to Cedar Park to meet one of our other friends for lunch.  I knew there was an 11:15 train, so we just took that one.  Well, what we didn't know was that it stopped one stop before the one we needed and another train would not come for another hour and a half!  So we were stuck with two starting-to-get-cranky babies on a hot day at a train station with no way to get back to our cars.  So, we had to call our friend Bessie who was going to meet us for lunch, to come get us...in her two door sports car!  We managed to squeeze the strollers in the trunk and I held the two babies in the back.  Adventurous for sure!  We really had a great time, though.  As soon as we got there, Pearce was off and running and exploring!  Ridley was happy to stay in a little toddler area, but Pearce was all over the place!  He found his three favorite things:  balls, buttons, and "tairs!"  I can't wait to take Pearce back! 

South Carolina Aquarium

When we were in S. Carolina, we visited the aquarium one morning.  I was so excited to take Pearce because the day before we got to see 3 sea turtles being released back to the ocean after being cared for at the aquarium.  The aquarium is well known for their sea turtle hospital and they regularly care for and then release sea turtles when they are healthy enough.  When we were on the beach, I just happened to notice a ton of people by the pier.  I scooped Pearce up and walked to the pier and saw two huge rows of people lined up waiting for something.  When I asked what was going on, I was told they were about to release 3 sea turtles.  A group of onlookers were very nice to let Pearce and I up to the front so we had a great view of the turtles.  People were cheering and clapping as the turtles made their way from the beach into the water.  I couldn't help but tear up watching them :)  It was really a neat thing to see.  Pearce loved this aquarium.  It was very interactive for the kids.  At first we had Pearce in his stroller, but then took him out and he had the time of his life walking all around and looking at everything!

 

18 month well-check, and a few other things...

Pearce, you turned 18 months old on July 25th!  We went to the doctor for your well-check on Monday. 

18 month stats:

Weight:  24 lbs, 12 oz (60th percentile)

Height:  33 in (75th percentile)

Head Circum:  47.5 cm (55th percentile)

  I LOVE taking you to the doctor for these visits.  You kept saying "dahter" on the way there.  You walked right with me down the hall to the exam room.  You said "HI!" to everyone you saw...so sweet!  Our regular doctor was out on this day, so we saw Dr. Lam.  You were so still as she looked in your eyes, nose, mouth and ears.  You were never afraid.  Dr. Lam talked very sweetly to you and you babbled away to her at that point.  She asked if you could say more than 3 words....YES!  I honestly have lost count as to how many words you can say.  She asked me if you had started putting two words together.  I was very proud to be able to say yes!  These are your two-word phrases:

Oh chew:  Hold you

He doe:  Here you go

Ah done:  All done

Tay to Mommy:  Thank you mommy (3 words!!)

Dr. Lam also went through a checklist that would give red flags to having Autism.  Thank God, you passed that.  Things like that make me soooooooo thankful that you are so happy and healthy.  She asked if you could jump and if your feet go off the ground.  If I ask you to jump, you squat down and come up fast, but your feet don't come off the ground yet.  She asked if you jumped off of furniture or a curb....well, maybe if I let you, but I still hold your hand a lot.  I figure you will learn how to jump on your own time...no need to push that!  

You repeat or try to repeat anything we ask you to.  The other day you were pointing to the refrigerator and said "oden."  At first I didn't know what you were saying and then realized you were saying "open!"  I opened the fridge and you pointed to the watermelon :)  You have a funny way of saying watermelon...I don't think I would even know to type it, but that is something you love now!  You had to get one shot, and man, that was so sad :(  I had to lay you down and hold your arms while you got your Hepatitis shot in your thigh.  You cried really hard, but I picked you right up and loved on you and then gave you "Bebe" as you like to call your blankie.  You layed your head down on my shoulder and loved on Bebe and then you were just fine!  You got to choose a toy out of the treasure chest and you chose a squeaky fish.

Because you are now 18 months old, I want to start getting you used to sitting on the big potty and sitting on a little potty chair.  We are not starting to train yet, just getting used to it.  You loved this little potty seat I got.  You also loved yanking the toilet paper off the roll!

Mommy got you one more thing for your 18 month birthday....a learning tower!  One of my friend's husbands built this for you and I painted it.  I can adjust the ledge to go lower as you get taller.  Today you ate your lunch from the counter.  I think it will be so fun for you to "help" Daddy and I cook or just let you play with the water in the sink.

Pearce, how did we get so lucky with you?  I love you so much, sometimes I just can't believe it.  Happy 18 months little guy!!