Plays well with others

One thing I remember about elementary school was report card time. I would wait with patience to see if I had earned all "S"s--for Satisfactory but unevitably there would sometimes be the dreaded "N" for Needs Improvement. There were so many captions and assessment points that I can't remember them all. I wonder what grade I got in the plays well with others category...no comments Mom.

Gabrielle is doing pretty good with her play skills. At least when playing with her cousin Alex anyway. We went to visit Matt's brother Dave and his wife Christi, baby Olivia, and Alex last week. Gabrielle and Alex played together and it was so cute. Alex is 8 months older than G so he is obviously more advanced in the playing skills so G kind of stood around and stared at him, but joined in as well. There are new pictures in the kids' shutterfly page if you check out the links.

We had our sister-in-law Sam with us last week as well. It was awesome to have her in town. We were so excited when she told us that she hopes she can come spend a week with the kids every summer. I agree with her thought that you can't get to know your nieces/nephews if you only see them for a weekend at the holidays or random weekends. You really have to stick around for a pretty good chunk of time to learn their schedule and discover their little quirks. I hope that when the kids get older that we can send them for a week with Aunt Roxie in NYC or with Aunt Whitney where ever she ends up. We may as well send them for a week to the grandparents as well while were at it. I'd guess that we've got enough family members that I should be able to send them somewhere different every week and have the summer to myself. I don't like that idea so much so we may have to put the trips on rotation. Or maybe we'll have a lottery.

I'm going to venture out with the kids by myself today. Matt has a concert on base so we'll go and watch. I figured this was a good time to make my first attempt since it doesn't matter if we're late, have to leave early, or show up at all. It will interesting to see how it goes though. I'm guessing Colin will just sleep the whole time but Gabrielle will probably want to get up and run. I'll take some pictures if I get a chance. It's weird to think that 2 summers ago it was Molly going to the concerts with me and I was taking a bag with water, chew toys, and puppy snacks. Tonight I'll still take water and chew toys of the baby variety but we'll probably skip the puppy snacks in favor of Cheerios or raisins--though she still tries to get into the dog food occasionally.

I'm baaaack...

I've been a bad blogger. I've been home for almost 3 weeks with the new baby and I've only blogged once. I hope you can forgive me...I've been a little busy. You know, with taking care of a new born and all. Anyway...

Colin is doing great. He had his 2 week check up last week and he weighs 9lbs 6oz and is 22.5in long. Everything else checked out fine and his jaundice is all cleared up. He doesn't have to go back until he's 2 months old now and he'll get his first shots then too.

He's really pretty strong for being less than a month old. He tries really hard to hold his head up but at this point really looks more like a bobble head doll than anything else. He can hold it for about 15 seconds and then the bobbing starts. Most of the time he ends up head butting me in the boob so it doesn't hurt him. He's doing pretty well with his sleep schedule. For the last few nights he has slept for either a 4 or 5 hour chunk to begin with. Anything 4 hours or longer is awesome and it doesn't feel so much like you're taking 2 hour naps all night.

Gabrielle is doing good too. She is adapting well to having Colin around but is still a little rough with him at times. She knows that she has to be nice when she touches him, but forgets that he's there sometimes and attempts to sit on him, crawl on him, etc. Hopefully we can get that fixed soon. She is finally over a cold that she got a couple of weeks ago. It was kind of drug out by the fact that she's getting some more teeth. Or at least we think she is. She's had the drool fountain on in her mouth for about the last 4 weeks but there's nothing to show for it yet. She sticks everything she can in her mouth though so it's got to be teeth.

Matt just got home from a 2 week TDY to SD, WY, MT, and ID. My mom and his mom were here helping me while he was gone and I am so greatful to both of them. I honestly don't know how single parents do it--or spouses of deployed soldiers either. Maybe if you know your husband or wife is coming back then you've got something to look forward to but then there's no guarantee. I'm so glad he's home though

One last bit of exciting news--I'm an aunt again. Matt's brother Dave and his wife Christi had a baby girl on Thursday. Her name is Olivia Grace and she weighed 8lbs 6oz and was 21.5in long. I think they got to go home today and I think everyone is doing well. I now Alex was excited for the new baby when we visited them in the hospital.

I hope to be a better blogger for the rest of the summer. I can't believe I go back to school a month from tomorrow!