5 Months

Olivia turned 5 months while we were at the beach. She is getting to be such a happy little thing. The verdict was still out for a while....because she was kind of a hand full. But she has settled into a rhythm nicely and it is a lot easier to enjoy our blessed little life now. She is so close to sitting up. And she started saying "Mama" while we were at the beach. It was on June 1. Bryan was putting her bathing suit on her to go down to the beach, and he said he was having a tough time. He kept getting the strap stuck in different places. So he was wrestling with the bathing suit, and said she turned around like she was looking around and said "mamamama". Yes baby I will come rescue you. And I promise to put your bathing suit on you from now on :). She also says something that sounds like Bubba. Which we think is cute but Martin just says "I'm not bubba, I'm Martin Benton!"

She is still loving her exersaucer. She usually eats between 10- 10:30 and wakes up about 6 to eat. Then goes back to sleep until 8 or so. We went up to size 2 diapers a few weeks ago. And she is in 6-9 month clothing. If its two piece she can wear 6, but some of the 6 month stuff is pushing it because of her length. She has a fascination with tags just like her brother did! Guess this is a baby thing. She is very tactile!! She loves to be talked to. And really enjoys reading books. It's a good thing because at least once a day Martin reads to her. And then usually after his nap we all 3 have to read a stack of books together too. Love my sweet babies and I am so thankful I can stay home with them!

I feel like all my updates are about Olivia. So here are a few facts about Martin at 2 1/2. (PS--is my baby boy really getting close to 3?). He LOVES animals. We talk about animals all day. He enjoys reading books. Bedtime is usually 6-12 books. Yes I don't know how to say no. One day he will be too big for me to lay in the bed and read with him--or he will think I'm not cool anymore. So I'll just enjoy it while I can! His favorites are "Where the Wild Things Are", "Oh my oh my oh dinosaurs", "Barnyard Dance", and "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie". He can remember about 3/4 of "Where the Wild Things Are", and my favorite line that he says is "Oh please don't go. We'll eat you up. We love you so!" So stinking cute!!! He loves music and dancing! Still loves dinosaurs, cars, and Legos. Very picky eater--but loves drinking milk! Still not potty trained. We haven't forced the issue-but it's getting close!! He knows his ABC's and can count to 20. He knows all of his colors and shapes (including Rhombus). He can name almost any animal or dinosaur. He still loves Toy Story and Yo Gabba Gabba! And STILL hates a bath. Enjoys playing until it's hair washing time. Then, he acts like we are water boarding him! And his favorite place is outside. He loves to play on our neighborhood playground, enjoys swinging in the backyard and playing with his sand table and slide. He loves to water our flowers and pick them for me too :). He is a great helper with Olivia. He loves her so much more than I could have ever dreamed.

Beach vacation

We had such a nice week that I am still pretending I am at the beach. The weather was nice. It was really windy and the red flag was out each day, but other than that it was nice. The wind made it cool enough that you didn't get hot. Olivia spent most of the mornings asleep with someone on the beach. Martin was covered in sand the whole time we were there. He had a minor meltdown about getting in his pool at one point because he wanted to be naked. But I guess that is my fault since we usually swim at home sans clothes. Oops! He finally agreed to put his clothes on and we were fine. We ate great food all week. We got to see our friends Allison and Shaun while we were down and had a great time with Bryan's family! Martin enjoyed all the extra attention and Olivia and I both enjoyed the extra hands to help! And of course we got to have Krispy Kreme doughnuts while we there (hot now)--because vacation wouldn't be complete without hot now doughnuts! We picked a good week to go, because it was a quiet time at the beach. Each night for dinner we didn't have a wait. We had 10 people and when we got to The Back Porch they were ready to seat us (that never happens)! We did have a wait at Dewey Destin, but not at Crab Trap or Louisiana Lagniappe either. Pretty good deal with kids! It's always hard to entertain before and then during the meal too. We had a great week, and we were all sad to say goodbye to the beach!