Just another reason life is good

I know I speak often about how much we love our house. We really do love it, especially the pool, which allows for great entertaining. I have always loved to host parties, dinners, etc; however, Ryan and I have never been great at planning and coordinating this type of stuff on the fly. This summer we adopted the mindset that we will just always be prepared, just in case friends and/or family decide to stop by to swim/visit. We always have food ready to grill and a few veggies that we can throw together in a salad; and this weekend was that type of weekend. Last week I spoke with some of our dearest friends, John and Ginni Moyer, who live in the Dayton area. We had not seen each other in 6+ months so they decided to make the trip down for a day filled with swimming and a night filled with good food, cold drinks, and tremendous laughter. We were also joined with our other dear friends, Kevin, Jon and April...fun, fun, fun!

Not only were we blessed with good company, we were also blessed with an incredible lightening storm. The lightening stayed several miles away so we were able to stay outside under the umbrella. We ended up quite wet from the rain but that ended up being part of the fun. As Jon said last night, it is moments like this that you talk about years down the road.

Below you will see a few pictures of Kate and Johnny (4 yrs old) and Mick (2 years old). Ginni and I still cannot believe how well the 3 of them got along all weekend, even without a nap on Saturday. We are so proud that there were no meltdowns and very little bickering. In stead there was a lot of swimming, laughter, swimming, eating, swimming, hugging, etc. We already have another play date set!!!

Cheers to a good week!

3 generations of friendship

For those of you that know me well you know how near and dear the Bates and the King Family's are to my heart. My mom and Molly have been friends for nearly 40 years, Sarah and I have been friends our entire lives, and now Kate and Anna Cate share a very special bond called friendship. The Bates's have been there for my family through thick and thin and have never waivered in the amount of love and support they have shown to my family.

So needless to say it was my honor to host a get together with the 3 generations of friends. My mom, Molly, Sarah, and her two beautiful daughters Anna Cate and Molly all came in for the night, allowing us a wonderful opportunity to catch up on each others lives and reminisce on all the memories that 30+ years of friendship carries. There are so many that I could not do it justice by trying to name each one. There will always be something about this weekend that will stick out amongst the rest. I am not sure if it was watching our children build (and test) their new found friendship or if it was the sharp similarities of the setting to that of Doc and Corky's pool, where we shared the majority of our childhood memories together, but it was wonderful and will always be cherished. I hope this is an annual tradition, as it was throughout our childhood.

Words cannot truly express the appreciation I have for Sarah as a friend. Despite being so different we have always had a special connection that you only have with someone that knows you from birth. We share so much - running, work/life balance, eating healthy - to just name a few. Most importantly, we now share motherhood, especially this past year where we were both pregnant with our 2nd. We were sick (too sick that we even had to cancel a visit at one point), tired, and at times emotional together; however, this only seemed to bring us closer. On March 2nd she welcomed Mary Margaret "Molly" King and on the 22nd, we welcomed Jake. Could our lives be any more in sync?

Here are a handful of the many pictures we took of the weekend. Once I get the additional pictures from Sarah and Molly, I will post them to the web album. Kate is already asking when we get to see Anna Cate and Molly again so I guess I need to get online and book 2 tickets to DC!

Thank you Molly, Sarah, Anna Cate and Molly Mae for making the trip to Louisville. From my family to yours...we love you!

Here is one of Jake testing the water - making sure it was the right temperature for all the girls.

Jake being Jake

Here are some pictures from this past weekend, with Jake being Jake! He is so silly I can hardly stand it! His smile melts your heart and his laugh can bring you to tears, at least me to tears because I am still really emotional. No one can make him laugh more than Kate! Here are some great pictures from belly time:

And here are some pictures of his new favorite playtime activity - sky diving. Ryan extends him up above his head and blows air in his face. The first few times I am not sure he knew what to think. Now he loves it. Between all that Kate and Ryan do for him...he must think I am really boring. At least I feed him and obviously he likes to eat!

Jake's 2nd swim

Don't worry I am not going to post (or take pictures) every time Jake swims. The 2nd time; however, seemed to go a little better. As long as we kept moving in his little floatie he was great. I am laughing as I type because I can't get over all the rolls. I could just eat him up.

Still enjoying the new toys

Not only did we enjoy her new toys at the birthday party, we have enjoyed them every afternoon since. Here are a few pictures of Kate on her new scooter and her new bike. We are working on building up her endurance for a long bike ride...maybe to Dairy Queen and back. We are not there yet but she is getting more and more steady!

Thank you!

A huge thank you goes out to all the family for the wonderful gifts! Here are a few pictures of Kate enjoying some of her new toys! I would not be surprise if we end up in the ER a few times this next year after receiving these gifts...roller skates, bike, scooter to name just a few! Watch out world, here comes Kate (on skates)!

Happy 4th birthday Sweet Girl

I can't believe that my "Sweet Girl" is 4 years old. I remember time standing still as a child and teenager; now I only dream that time would stand still. Ever since Kate turned 4, her sweet personality has really come to life. As sweet as she has always been, now is even better. All my girlfriends said life got easier at 4 and now I am a believer. Who would have know that the day after the 4th birthday the negotiating decreased this much? Now that is not to say she still doesn't negotiate the number of bites she has to eat, but all in all, she does not fight us when asked to do something. Ahhhh....

It is hard to believe all that we have endured these past 4 years. I spent some time over the 4th of July weekend reflecting on all that has changed since July 5th, 2006. First and foremost, I am thankful now more than ever for all the love that surrounds me. I always knew I was blessed with a wonderful family,loving husband, and dear friends. The amount of love that I feel now though is sometimes overwhelming. Not that all in life is love and bliss, but I do often times have to pinch myself.

Here are a few Kate things that are currently making us laugh:
1) Kate's transition from the ultimate Daddy's girl (1st 3 years) to the ultimate Mommy's girl (since we found out we were expecting Jake) Kate and daddy continue to be "swimming buddies", "eating buddies", and "movie buddies"...and I am pretty much "everything else buddy." But as with everything else, "this too shall pass."
2) Her priceless facial expressions. Ask her a question and you never know what you are going to get...in words and in expression.
3) Looking in the rear view mirror and watching her sing to Jake in attempt to get him to stop crying on the way home from school. Not only does this make me laugh, it also melts my heart.
4) Everyday conversations about her imaginary friends, Sweena, Dada, and Wezel. She had on a pink cover up the other morning and she said, "Dana (an imaginary friend of an imaginary friend) said I looked just like Slahta (one of my best girlfriends) in this cover up." You don't need TV when you have that 24 hours a day!
5) Her competitive nature, and I mean competitive nature. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The competition is funny, a little scary, and quite useful in the mornings. Every morning, Daddy and Kate have a race at who can get dressed the quickest. It always works, unless Daddy wins of course, and then there is a meltdown.

Life is good!

On July 4th, we had a birthday celebration in honor of Kate (7/5) and Cameron (7/12). We decided to just do family this year and it was wonderful. As much as we always love to have everyone over, it is often a little overwhelming on everyone, especially related to gift giving. Kate and Cameron are really close so this was a very special way to celebrate the big 4!

Here are some pictures of the cake. It matched the invitation, which I will try and post a copy of because it turned out even cuter than I imagined.

Here are a few pictures of the great company (yes...Jake has on his swim trunks).

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A huge birthday wish goes out to Cameron too! We love you Cam and wish you a happy 5th year of life! We can't wait to celebrate all the fun things together.

Ryan can't be trusted alone with Jake...

This is what happens...

While Kate and I were running to get her birthday cake, I came home to this on the camera. I am sure no one will believe me but I was not involved in this activity one bit. At first I don't think Jake knew what to think...

But after a few minutes, he actually started liking it. We may be in trouble! His expression in several of these pictures is priceless.

Jake's 1st swim

One of Jake's favorite activities is taking a bath. I have some video that I will post as soon as I figure out how to import it to the blog. He splashes so hard that the bath water constantly spashes in his face, resulting in yet again that big beautiful smile. That being said, the next logical step would be to jump into the pool. If you like a bath than surely you would like a pool!

Several days ago we got Jake in the pool for the 1st time. He cried quite a bit at the beginning (see picture #3) but seemed to adjust as he got use to the temperature! Before you know it he will be a swimming champ like his big sister.

3 months on June 22nd

My baby boy is growing up so fast! On the 22nd of June Jake turned 3 months. I don't have an updated weight but just from the looks and feel of him, I wouldn't be surprised if he is close to 20 pounds at his 4 month check up. We go to the doctor in a few weeks so I will keep you posted.

The past several weeks, he has accomplished a few new milestones:
1) Full control of his head. He loves to sit in your lap and watch the world go by. His other favorite position is on his tummy. He is starting to use his arms to push his upper body off the ground and loves it when you get right in his face! I spotted him the other day on the bed trying to roll over.
2) Laughter. There is no better sound than a child's laugh. Now I get it times 2, often at the same time as Kate's newest hobby is trying to get her brother to laugh. As soon as he spots you, his face lights up and my heart melts.
3) Activity - with full control of his head now, Jake is able to enjoy some play time in the exersaucer. He generally stays in it for 15-20 minutes at a time, even longer when he is out by the pool!

4) Tracking. Once he spots you, he is able to track you from side to side. This often generates one of his beautiful smiles so needless to say, this is what we spend most of our time doing.

Thankfully, nursing is still going really well. I continue to set short term goals and am confident that I will at least make it to 6 months. I would love to make it the 1st full year but am fully aware of the challenge. The human body never ceases to amaze me. I was just talking to Ryan about how Jake's bottles at school have increased to 6 ounces, 3 times a day and somehow, my body just automatically produces more to keep up with the demand. I am so proud of myself for being able to provide this to Jake despite working so much and trying to balance it "all". Every day when I am in my 100+ degree car, struggling to pump without making a mess or exposing myself to everyone around...I always try to remember why I am doing it. There is nothing like breastmilk and I am proud to have been able to provide that to each of my children.