Summer!

Where has the time gone? I knew it had been a while since my last post, but I didn’t realize that it had been a month already! (I actually started writing this on June 28 and it obviously took me a week to finish it.) I thought May was busy, but June has been a whirlwind! Landen’s birthday, our anniversary (which are on the same day), father’s day, and Elliot’s birthday make for a lot of things to pack into one month. Not only that, but we still go to my parents’ house on Sunday nights (that is if they are home) and we just try to do things to take advantage of nice days. I also had to take the kids to the doctor at the beginning of June for well child check ups. I take the kids for a walk to get the mail and run errands almost every day. They like riding in the stroller and I get some exercise. We also go to the pool a few times a week.

Here is rundown on what is new with the kids.

Adellyn:
- started crawling on her tummy about June 15. She looked like she was swimming because she would lean over and put one shoulder on the floor, then reach forward with the other arm and stick her butt in the air and push forward with her feet. Then she would lean to the other side and repeat the whole process. As she has been practicing, she has started doing more of an army crawl and even pushing up on her knees and rocking herself. It won’t be long before she takes off crawling!
- recently has started trying to pull herself up. She pulled herself to standing using the laundry basket of toys in the living room on Elliot’s birthday (the 29th)
- has gotten five more teeth in the last month. She now has 4 teeth on top and four on bottom (the last two just broke through this weekend).
- went on her first overnight camping trip on Friday the 26th. My parents were camping in Cambridge and Adellyn and I went up and spent the night and Elliot and Landen came up at noon on Saturday.
- stayed in a hotel for the first time the weekend of the 12th and 13th when we went to Lincoln for a wedding.
- loves to go to the pool (she is more of a water baby than Landen was).
- developing the pincher grasp very well…she pinches whatever skin she can feel while she nurses (and has left marks). She can also pick up Gerber puffs and put then in her mouth. It’s funny to watch her try to pick pieces of bananas because they are slippery and just shoot out of her fingers.
- will sometimes raise her arms for “so big”
- is quite the little chatter box! She always seems to be babbling and has just figured out how to click her tongue.

Landen:
- turned 2 on June 11. We celebrated that night and left for Lincoln/Omaha the next day. We had planned to go to the Henry Doorly zoo on Friday (as part of birthday gift to Landen and because we were so close), but the rain made us change our plans and we went Saturday morning instead. Unfortunately, we forgot about the College World Series when we made our plans and it ended up taking an hour to get parked, but it was worth it to see Landen get so excited to see some of the animals.
- wanted to have his birthday candles relit several times so that he could blow them out
- got a tricycle, Little Tykes basketball hoop, Little Tykes T-ball, clothes, quiet book (that my Grandma made), squirt gun and a patio set just his size!
- went to swimming lessons the week after his birthday. He did really well the first 3 days, but I think he got tired of it and Thursday and Friday he didn’t even want to get in the water. We have gone swimming a few times since then, but I have troubles keeping him in the water because he just wants to run around and explore. I’m hoping that I can get there when there are other kids to play with him so he won’t try to run off as often (and I have other moms to either help run him down or watch Adellyn while I run him down!) I’m probably crazy for even trying to take them both by myself!
- Landen has [finally] figured out how to crawl in and out of his crib. I have mixed feeling about this. It is nice at nap time when I don’t have to go in to get him and he is not as crabby when he gets up since he doesn’t have to wait for me to get him, but it is not so nice when he wakes up a 6:30am before Elliot and I are awake. One morning he went out into the living room and found a chair to push up to the TV and get the bottle of finger nail polish off the top. He then tried to paint his toenails and then moved on to paint the wall in the hallway and spilled on the floor and his pajamas…ah toddlers!
- continues to be observant. He has watched me pump breast milk and has since got into my pump bag and takes out the shield and holds it up to his tummy and makes a sound similar to the pump. Then he’ll look at me and say, “I pump.” I have to try really hard not to laugh as I take it away from him!
- starting to show some interest in potty training. He likes to go in the bathroom when Elliot is in there and take is pants off and sit on his potty chair. We can’t get him to sit long enough to actually do anything, but he has learned how to tuck his pee pee in…so that is a step in the right direction.
- when he hears crying or sees a picture of someone that looks like they are crying he says “her cry” or “I cry.” He has a sensitive side!
- when he doesn’t want the food on his fork or spoon and needs to use it for something else, he will hold the utensil up and start sticking out his tongue like he wants us to lick it off for him. It is pretty fun to watch his tongue.

Sorry this got so long. I’ll post 4th of July pictures later this week (hopefully).