Memorial Weekend

We had a very busy weekend. It started with a trip to the zoo on Friday with Brandy and Tyler. I wasn't sure how it would go by myself with the two kids. It went surprisingly well though. Luckily, Sawyer is much lower maintenance than his big sister. The kids had a great time watching the butterflies and playing on the playground.

Saturday was Audrey's actual birthday. My mom and dad came over for lunch and my mom brought Audrey a cake. I think she liked the cake better than any of her presents. In case you are wondering, Audrey is really 3. My mom likes to put in an extra candle, one to grow on. Then my dad and Ben started in on the projects of the deck and play structure.

I put in a picture of the beginning of our deck, not much to look at yet, but we'll see in a few weeks. Ben is also working on Audrey's play structure. I didn't put a picture of that on the blog because there isn't much to see yet. You'll have to watch for future posts. I'm just hoping these two projects don't take up the whole summer.

On Sunday we had a little BBQ here with our neighbors, Brandy and Brad and Sean and Stephanie. The kids had fun running around and playing outside, since it finally got warm here. There is a picture of the three kids dancing to Five Little Monkeys.

On actual Memorial Day, Ben spent a lot of time working on the play structure and starring at the deck. He did get the major board drilled into the house though, a little scary since the have to drill into the foundation of the house. It was very warm here today, over 80. Audrey enjoyed running through her bug sprinkler, one of her b-day presents. Sawyer enjoyed examining the grass and trying to eat it. He is really trying to crawl now. I'd say another month and he'll really be going.

I hope you all had a great long weekend. I put in a couple bonus pics of Sawyer just because I think they are cute. Aunt Emily got him the awesome Spartan outfit and it's finally warm enough for him to wear it!

No More Swing!

For those of you who were worried that Sawyer would never sleep in his crib and that Ben would have to build him a toddler size swing, worry no more. I told everyone who was always bugging me about where he was sleeping that he would sleep in his crib when he was ready. I just don't agree with letting a kid cry for hours on end, especially at such a young age and when he was so happy in his swing seat.

We knew he was getting ready for about the past month because he has been rolling around on the floor like crazy. It was a process but at least my kid won't be traumatized from crying himself to sleep every night or thinking that his parents abandoned him. This is how his sleep progression went. When he was 3 months we stopped the swing after he fell asleep. When he was 4 months we put him to sleep with the swing stopped. When he was 5 months we put the swing seat in his crib. He finally started turning on his side in the swing (buckled in and swaddled, looks like we have a Houdini on our hands) so I decided to try him out at nap time in the crib. He went right to sleep without any screaming. Two nights ago we put him in at night and he slept from 8:00 to 8:00, same thing last night.

I think it's important to remember that every kids is different and is made to feel secure in different ways. So there's my little rant to the people who have been annoying me about the swing. You can all rest a little easier now. Oh and for you southerners, if you're wondering why he is still in fuzzy pj's and has a blanket around him, just know that it doesn't get warm in MI until June. Today it is in the low 50's, YUCK!

Audrey's Birthday Party

Yesterday we had Audrey's 3rd birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. It was crazy and exhausting but the kids had a great time and I didn't have to do any prep or clean-up!!! Audrey loved going on the roller coaster simulators this time with Abby and Tyler. Uncle Ryan taught her how to play skee ball by throwing the ball over hand, that was interesting. Daddy liked driving the Mario Kart game with Audrey and Abby. You can see all the kids enjoyed their cupcakes, probably the frosting more than the actual cake. Audrey can be seen in the last picture opening her Strawberry Shortcake doll from Aunt Brandy. She has loved playing with her!

She got a bunch of wonderful, fun, outdoor toys for the summer, if it ever gets here. So thank you to all her friends and family for such nice presents. Also, thank you to Uncle Ryan and Justin for coming this weekend and braving the dance recital and Chuck E Cheese. They were a big help and Audrey loved the extra attention!

Audrey as Bunny Foo-Foo

Here she is, our little dancer! After months of practice, the final performance was on Saturday. The whole family came to watch Audrey dance on the big stage. She did a good job but never quite made it out to her spot. You'll notice she didn't spin around with a partner because her partner was two girls over from where she was. Audrey just couldn't hop fast enough. Unfortunately Audrey did not make any encore appearances this time, as she did in the Christmas show. We'll never forget that!

We all loved watching the show. They were definitely the biggest hit and got the loudest applause. Must be the cute factor, not the talent. Even though the performance was short it was well worth it to Ben and I. Who doesn't love a group of three year olds dancing to Bunny Foo-Foo??

Audrey is the one on the far right who gets picked up and put back with the rest of the class. She is supposed to be in 3 more spots but didn't make it. Also notice the little girl that goes running off the stage half way through. I guess she got stage fright. The video is from a digital camera because we weren't allowed to bring in actual video cameras. It isn't the greatest picture but you'll get the idea. Enjoy!

Sawyer is 6 Months!

We can't believe that Sawyer has been around for half a year already! The time with the second child goes way faster than with the first. It is amazing! I took Audrey and Sawyer to the doctors yesterday for their check ups. They let me do Audrey's 3 year a little early so I'd only have to go in once. I hate taking 2 kids to the doctors, I'm sure you all remember when Audrey tried to beat up the little boy that didn't speak English. After that experience I get a little nervous. Sawyer is an even 18 lbs and 27 inches long. His giant head is in the 90% but his weight and length are only in the 60%. Ben always said he wanted a pumpkin head. Luckily Audrey's growth has slowed down a bit. She only gained about 3 lbs over the past year and grew only 2 inches. She's 32 lbs and 36 1/2 inches. I was getting worried she was going to grow to over six feet at the rate she was going! The docs visit was uneventful other than having to collect a urine sample from Audrey, that was an adventure. They both look great and got a clean bill of health.

Sawyer isn't really doing a whole lot of new things. He gets up on all fours and doesn't move. He looks pretty funny with his giant head when he does that. I'm sure he won't move for a while considering his head is as big as his body! He rolls around both ways. He tries to sit up from a laying position by doing a sit up. He can't make it up though, once again I think it's the giant head. Ben says that Sawyer can do more sit ups than he can. He loves to eat rice cereal. His other favorites are carrots and sweet potatoes. He makes tons of funny noises and squeals. I love listening to that!

Learning to Mow and our Little Screecher

Here is Daddy teaching Sawyer to mow the grass. Daddy figures in about 6 or 7 more years he will no longer have to do this job. Really though, I had to take Audrey to get ballet shoes and it was Sawyer's nap time. The second kid learns to nap wherever you need them too. Very different to when you have only one kid and your schedule revolves around theirs. Number 2 just fits into your life and adjusts to the already hectic schedule. We can't believe he'll sleep while Ben mows the grass but not in his crib!

Sawyer makes so many noises. He has been a noisy baby since the night he was born. We actually had the nurses in the hospital take him to the nursery for a few hours after he was born so we could get some sleep because he creaked like a door while sleeping. As you can hear, the noises have evolved into a puppy/piglet sound. This is the way he wakes up in the morning and the noises continue all day, it was great fun on the airplane. He sure is a happy baby!

Audrey singing "Walk in the Rain"

Here is a clip of Audrey singing Sawyer her favorite song. Papa Hatcher sings this to her and it is probably her favorite song. Excuse the volume. I told her to sing loud and it turned into shouting. We'll have to work on her tone a little bit. I think she scared Sawyer a little bit because he started to cry a little in the middle of her serenade. Also, notice her groovy dance moves. Daddy taught her those.