Chicago-ish and Lola's First Birthday

Last weekend we headed up to the Chicago burbs to visit with our good friends Erin and Doug and go to baby Lola's first birthday party. We had such a fun, amazing weekend visiting with friends and family-

Here are Collin and Dex hanging out at the splash fountains-

Baby Collin hanging out in the water-

Clark playing with somebody's truck-

On Saturday we went to the city to have lunch with some friends. We went to Lucky's Sandwich shop from Man V. Food and WOW, check out the size of these sandwiches. Although somehow Rich was able to put his down and not be full!?!

Clark had fun at the playground-

This lucky little girl had THREE yummy cakes!

Clark the balloon monster-

Lola had FUN with her cake!!! How cute is she?

Grant's Farm

One of the fun STL attractions is Grant's Farm (used to be owned by General Grant) where kids get to walk around a farm, check out animals and even feed the goats. Clark was not down.

And Clark did NOT like the goats!

And finally a position he was more comfortable with-

look how creepy these goats were!

The goat decided my jeans would be yummy-

Web Cam Time

Clark and Dex love talking to Grandma and Grandpa on the web cam! Here's Clark hugging his little brother-

just like Uncle Joe

Clark had to get fireman jammies in honor of his Uncle Joe. We can't wait to take him to the fire house when we head to FL in November, Clark will go NUTS. He's obsessed with fire trucks these days, and every time he hears a siren (which is often in the city) his face lights up and he says "fi tuck! fi tuck!"

matching diaps

After Clark's "shower" tonight we snapped a couple pictures in their matching diaps. And yes, Clark is obsessed with showering so last night Rich let him take one all by himself. He was RIGHT there the entire time though and Clark seriously loved it :)

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And here's Clark tickling Dex's "button" Clark thought it was funny... Dex, not so much.

Nicolle & Brian's Wedding-

I have to put up a couple pro pictures from Nicolle & Brian's wedding- seriously, I love the way they turned out, her photographer did an amazing job capturing how beautiful these two are. And if you want to check out her site CLICK HERE.

Having a Cosmo before walking down the aisle

Rub the belly-

One for Beth

I thought of you when I dressed Dex in this onesie... Miss you!

Head control

Dexter is getting so strong and is able to hold his head up so great these days!

But it's tiring so he has to take breaks :)

Dex with an attitude

Recycled Wool

One of the girls I "know" is pretty crafty and we decided to make a trade. I sent her one of Rich's old wool Brooks sweaters and she made Dexter a wool soaker diaper cover and mailed it back to me. The sweater made two soakers so her little one could have one too. So cute! She's going to open an etsy.com store, so as soon as she does I'll post the link. Some advantages of wool is that it breathes better than traditional waterproof diapers so it allows a greater flow of oxygen to the skin minimizing diaper rashes. And because of the lanolin, it's naturally anti-bacterial and water resistant.

The many faces of Dex

Here are a couple pictures from Dexter's bath the other night. Now that he's more awake he's making all these cute little face expressions, AND he smiled for me today. The first one I've seen that wasn't because of gas and it was the cutest little thing!

Adult time-

When Grandma and Grandpa were in town Rich and I got to head over to Nicolle and Brian's condo for a yummy dinner and a trip to the ice cream shop after... It was great to have an adult night! Here are a couple pictures Nicolle emailed me from the night-

Brian got the boys Cubans to celebrate Dexter's birth- and of course Rich's ended up being dropped over the edge of the balcony thankfully not setting anything on fire-

My favorite newlyweds

sweet little boy-

Dexter has been SO much more awake lately, and we've been having fun seeing him check out the world. I took the boys for an hour long walk yesterday and he actually stayed awake the entire time looking around. Yesterday he was awake from his morning feeding until 3:30! Today he got in a nice morning nap which was fantastic. Actually, as I type this I'm experiencing the Holy Grail of being an at-home-mommy of two... BOTH boys are sleeping at the same time :) The house is clean, laundry is done, diapers washed & put away, dishwasher empty and I have some "me" time. Yay!

Daddy and Dex

I had to take a couple pictures of my adorable boys- Dex already likes hanging out with his Dad, just like his big bro.

Stretching out their backs

watching the Yanks together

Dex waving HI!

clark the helper

Well, yesterday was my first day solo with both boys- I've been so lucky to have had Rich home for a couple weeks and then his folks in town to help as well that I haven't had much more than 15 min alone with them until now. It was hectic, really hectic- but we made it and today has been much better. Here is a cute pic of Clark, every time Dex cries he says "don't cry" and goes to his side. It's pretty cute stuff- this time he found Dexter's bink and tried giving it to him.

AND, this is what happens to a perfectly clean living room when you're stuck on the couch feeding the baby and a toddler realizes you can't run after him- it took Clark about 5 minutes to make this mess, and me way longer to clean it up!

Missing Grandma & Grandpa

Sadly, yesterday evening we had to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa but thankfully they're coming back in September to celebrate Clark's 2nd birthday. Clark was smitten with his grandparents on this visit and this morning had a little bit of a tough time when he couldn't find them. He wandered from room to room calling their names, it was pretty pitiful. But, we're so thrilled he loves them as much as he does and can't wait for them to come back!