oliver is 4 months young

Oliver's 4 month check up puts him at about the 70th percentile on weight and height. He seems to be growing well so far and he is now smiling and laughing all the time. He is such a happy baby and he sleeping better than he ever has at night. We hope you enjoy the pictures!

a grand finale

I love a good grande finale they are loud and dramatic, showy and memorable.  A good grand finale can really stick in your memory.  I have seen and heard a lot of grand finales in my life from my marching band days to fire work shows.  Who doesn't love a good grand finale, they may even leave you with the chilly willies! It seems I am currently in the middle of my own little grand finale.

Ever since we have had a family Jay has traveled for work.  He loves his job and I love that he really enjoys what he does.  It does mean that at times I am at home to hold down the fort on my own.  I remember a certain trip he went on that was ten days long when Charlotte was just a couple of months old.  It was memorable to say the least.  This is one of the major reasons we decided to move back to Cincy.  All of our family lives in Cincy and it will be really nice to be close to them especially when Jay is gone on very long trips.

We move in just a couple of short weeks and Jay saved the longest trip for last.  He is gone for a total of fifteen days, stopping in twice for less than 24 hours each time to wash clothes and then he is off again.  Fifteen days is a long time, but it is easier to know that this will be his last trip before we move.  I had decided that I was going to do a picture a day and do a post about all the ways we kept busy while he was gone.  But after much consideration I decided that this would not be an accurate way we have spent our time.  That is why we have a family blog, to scrapbook and journal the adventures we go through as a family.  I surely can not put up fifteen pictures like these to show how our last few weeks were spent, they are not an accurate depiction.....

It seems that like with any good grand finale this is just the cumulation of all the events that I have experienced as a young mother. We are in day number four of the fifteen day grand finale and we have already experienced so much that pictures will not do justice.  Just in the past twenty four hours I have experienced a baby who refuses to nap, a jealous toddler who is tired of her momma spending so much time with the baby who doesn't sleep.  A little girl whose imagination just took off and is apparently afraid of the dark.  Thus why she stripped off all of her clothes and woke up from her nap extremely early yesterday and also woke up screaming her head off this morning at 4:15.  I have always wanted a child with an active imagination.  Pair that with a jammed swollen toe from running into the side of the couch, a swollen lip from my fearless daughter jumping off her changing table and me catching her with my mouth and stickiness that I keep discovering all over my body from a well intended ice cream run yesterday ending with a passionate toddler squeezing the cone until it exploded all over her whole family, we are really living up our grand finale in a grand fashion.

So although I could post fifteen sweet pictures of our sweet little family, that is not what I should remember.  I need to remember that at times life is simply crazy and you survive.  This will not be the last big trip of Jay's or the last time I could have produced a kids gone wild tape and sold it to make millions of dollars, but this is the grand finale at our current stage of our life.  Although it is a little bitter sweet, I would like to remember it.

-melissa

memorial day weekend

Our family had a great memorial day weekend.  It is our last official holiday in Virginia and we really got to enjoy it just the way we like: with close friends, a festival, a parade, good food and of course a ton of pictures.  If you make it to the end of this post we will send you a prize!  There are a couple of pictures!

We started our Saturday off with one of Charlotte's bestest friends, Connor and his family.  I think it might be tough for Charlotte to find such cute friends in Ohio, these kids just look so stickin' cute together!

These two were quite the strawberry picking team.  Connor's bucket was filled long before Charlotte's, but she got side tracked a little more than he did...

A few little bites never hurt anyone!

One of the highlights of the weekend was Charlotte's horse ride.  She waited fairly patiently in line, let the lady put on her hat and then adjust it to meet her tiny little head and then it was her turn!

She started with that intense look she gets with her lips all pursed and we were a little concerned for the sweet horse...

But once she found out how fun it was, she was thrilled.  She did not even look back to say farewell to her parents.  It was just a girl and her horse (and the two 4h kids).

Of course, when she was finished she wanted to hug and love the horse and wanted another ride, maybe another day.

On Sunday we got the opportunity to shoot a close friends family photos and had a great time with them.  It is always easy shooting pretty people and they are some of our favorites!  We followed their photo shoot up with a trip to Maymont to see the Japanese gardens.  Monday was a nice relaxing day, filled with laundry, cleaning, cooking and some holiday traditions that we have started as a family.  One of our favorite things to do on Memorial Day is to walk down the street and see our local town's parade.

Both kids were in their element.  Oliver was in the baby wrap and slept through the whole thing and Charlotte had a front row seat!

We love small town parades.  It has everything you need from clubs in old cars to fire trucks!

After our walk home we decided to bust out the sprinkler for the first time this year!

Both Jay and Charlotte got into it and C loved the "rain" and the "shower outside"!

Oliver also enjoyed the sites of his sis and daddy playing, I know he can't wait until next year when he gets to join in on the fun!

Any good holiday always includes a great meal.  We always do ribs on Memorial Day, Jay can make them better than any restaurant and we had some great sides this year.

Doesn't everyone shuck corn in their yellow bikini?

We ended up with some tasty sides to go with Jay's ribs: hasselback potatoes (yes that is slabs of butter and parmesan cheese shoved in that potato), vidalia onion pie, corn on the cob and a freshly picked strawberry chocolate pie!

At the end of the day we were all sleepy, stuffed, a bit sun kissed and some happy campers!  Thanks to all the people that have served our country to make this day and so many for our family memorable!

-melissa

big O is three months old

Oliver has already been to Cincinnati 4 times. His most recent time, by airplane. He is a great napper and he loves sleeping in his car seat at night. He eats well and likes to watch the ceiling fan and sometimes a bit of television. It doesn't take much to get him laughing and smiling. He sleeps in the car...Charlotte never would. He likes swinging in his swing and playing in his "gym". He is a happy go lucky kind of boy and he puts up with our loud and always on the go family. Every three months we take a few extra shots other than our standard month by months shots. We hope you enjoy.