Robbie is 20 months!!!!!!!!

Wow, now Alex is 1/3 of a year old and Robbie is 1 2/3 years old! I think we're going to have a talker on our hands! We're working on ABC's and counting to 5 (though Matthew goes up to 10 with him). He's really good at telling us what an animal says. I think he just gets cuter by the day!

The other day Robbie was eating lunch and I didn't realize how tired he was. I had gotten up to do something and came back to do his sleeping head bobbing. I tried to take away the bread stick that he was eating, but he cried when I did that. He ended up finishing the bread stick before I took him to bed.

Tech Ed

Matthew's company sent him to Tech Ed, a Microsoft conference, last week.  Naturally I didn't want to spend 4 days by myself with the boys, so we packed our bags and headed south!

Matthew had to work last weekend while his company prepared for its sale, so he was able to leave early Friday and we headed to his dad's house.  We were there in time for dinner.  Brittany had her Ipad and she and Robbie played some games.  I think his favorite game was Fruit Ninja.  Fruit is "thrown" into the air and you use your finger on the screen as a sword to cut the fruit.   Robbie seemed to be pretty good at it.  He was entertained, anyway!

Aunt Brittany and Robbie

Robbie didn't realize we were on vacation and still woke up at his usual time.  Matt got up with him but came to get me once he realized just how full Robbie's diaper was.  We had to strip Robbie in the tub and probably would have given him a bath if he didn't seem so upset about being in the tub in the first place.  I'm still not sure how poop got on the back of his arms, but it was a pretty big mess!

Eventually everyone got up and headed downstairs.  Jean made cinnamon roll appetizers (Robbie had 2!!) and then a delicious quiche.  Jim, Matthew, Robbie and I took a walk after breakfast.  It was a pretty nice morning.  We planned on heading over to Barbara's place around Robbie's nap time so he could sleep in the car.  Matt took the scenic route so the boys could sleep longer.  We stopped at "Jonathan's" Chick-fil-a for lunch before getting to Barbara's.

Barbara had the family over for dinner.  Mark and Brigette came over early because they hadn't met Alex yet.  As you can see in the pictures, Alex was very comfortable with Brigette!

We heard some very exciting news at dinner.  Kim (Matt's cousin) announced that she is pregnant and due in January.  Matt's other cousin, Jamie, is also pregnant and is due a week before Kim.  We found out over the weekend that Kim and Adam set their wedding date for September 8.  We'll see them again soon!

Sunday morning we took the boys to the beach.  Alex slept most of the time.  It took Robbie a while to get used to the sand and the water.  We would "jump" the waves as they came and Robbie liked that.  I'm sure we'll make more trips to the beach this summer.

Sleeping Alex

Mimi and Gramps came out and we all went to lunch.  We were going to sit outside, but there wasn't any shade or breeze and the people at the next table were smoking, so we went inside.  It wasn't much cooler inside because the AC wasn't working, but the food was good!

After lunch we went to my parents' house.  Matthew stayed for a while and then he left to have dinner with his dad and then went the rest of the way to Tech Ed.  I stayed with my parents to have extra help with the boys.  

Monday morning my aunt Barbara, uncle Jack and cousins Scotty and Brandon came over.  My mom was taking them to the airport for their trip out west.  They went on a cruise to Alaska.  I know they had a good time.  April (Scotty and Brandon's mom) has posted some of their pictures on Facebook.

Robbie ready and waiting for visitors wearing Abuelo's flip flops.

Scotty and Robbie

Brandon and Alex

Brandon and Alex

Scotty and Robbie

Later that morning Chat brought the kids over to play.  They all went for a ride in the Jeep.  Nathan is a pretty good driver, though I think Mia had a few close calls as Nathan was trying to turn the Jeep around.  After a while Nathan and Mia switched places.  Soon Robbie will be able to drive, too!

Where's Robbie? :)

Monday was Jonathan's birthday, so they had us over for dinner.  On our way to their house we stopped by to see my Grandma.  She is doing well and enjoyed spending time with her youngest great-grandchildren.

I know the picture is blurry, but it's a good one.

Alex telling Nana stories.

Robbie looking at the fish.

Jonathan and Chat made grilled chicken, stir-fry vegetables and rice, Mom brought over Jello (which Robbie couldn't get enough of!), and a strawberry cake for dessert.  I love everything that Chat makes and this was no exception.  I'd have her teach me how to cook, but then Matthew might start expecting it!  Robbie had fun playing with his cousins and all of their toys and they definitely wore him out!

Alex and Mia

Reading with Abuelo

Tuesday night we went out to dinner with my parents' long-time friend, Deane.  He has a grandson a few weeks younger than Robbie.  After dinner he came back to the house to visit a while longer.

Showing Robbie pictures on his phone.

Robbie watching Bubble Guppies one morning. 

Wednesday we went to my friend Polly's house.  Alison brought her boys over and it was nice to see everyone.  The plan was to swim in her pool, but Robbie didn't like that idea.  He did go down the slide into the pool a couple of times, but that was about it.  We moved the slide to the grass so he wouldn't do it when no one was looking.  We ordered pizza for lunch and the adults (we're adults now!!) were able to talk while the kids were eating and playing inside.  It's always nice to get together with them.

After Robbie's nap we went to see my Grandma one more time.  She hadn't been feeling well but seemed to be doing much better.  Then we met up with Jonathan, Chat and the kids at Chick-fil-a.  Jonathan was done with work and the kids were finishing up their dinner when we got there.  We sat by the play place and the kids did a lot of playing!  It was nice at the beginning when they were the only kids in there.  That didn't last the whole time, but they were fine.

Playing on the stairs.

I think he's having fun!

Dad had a Groupon for a barbecue restaurant, so he picked it up for dinner.  Even though there were some bad reviews online we liked it.  We did get a gyro platter and salad just in case!

Playing together after dinner.

Thursday morning I took the kids to my cousin Jill's house.  It's been a long time since we have seen each other and the kids.  Her daughter Ryan is so cute.  I see lots of pictures on Facebook, but it's not like seeing her in person.  I know Jill took a few pictures of the cousins together, but they really weren't cooperating so I doubt she got a good picture.

After lunch my mom, the kids and I headed to pick up Matthew.  Matt had my mom's car so we didn't have to take the car seats out of the van and Mom was good enough to go with us so Matthew didn't have to come pick me up to head home.  It was a fun week, but it always goes by too fast!

Here's a cute video of my dad and Alex laughing away!

Alex is 4 months old!!!!

Wow, 1/3 of the year has passed since Alex's birth day.  He is definitely growing and looks much longer lately.  We have noticed that he likes to grab toys more than Robbie did.  He almost immediately rolls onto his stomach when you lay him down on his back, though he doesn't always like being on his stomach and cries when he is.  He could roll back over, but he seems to prefer to wait until someone flips him.  It's a pain when he rolls onto his stomach in the middle of the night and just wants to be back on his back.  We get lots of smiles from him during the day.  I guess that's supposed to make up for the nights! :)

One week

One month

Two months

Three months

Four months

Playing with Robbie

Big smile!

Getting his pacifier from Robbie

So proud after rolling over!

Trust Fall!

If you don't know what a trust fall is, it is when you fall backward and expect the other person to catch you. Robbie must really trust Matthew!!

The Boys

I've been trying to take more pictures lately because I feel like I haven't been taking many. It's also hard because as soon as Robbie sees the camera he wants to look at pictures, not sit and have his picture taken.

I put Alex in the exersaucer for the first time yesterday. I don't know if he really liked it or not, though. It's also on the highest level, so his feet were just dangling in the air.

I had the freezer open as I was getting my breakfast ready. Robbie found Matthew's leftover McFlurry and decided to help himself!

The boys on the play mat. They were holding hands, but of course I didn't get that picture!

Alex has been rolling around like a pro!  I think once he got the hang of it he just decided to take off.  Here is a video of Alex rolling from front to back.

And him rolling from back to front.

And this is how far he rolled (he started on the mat)! I think he would have kept going if the toy didn't get in his way.

Usually Robbie likes to play in Alex's crib because he likes Alex's soother. Yesterday I put Alex in Robbie's crib while I changed Robbie and when I finished changing Robbie he wanted to get in the crib with Alex.

It is ridiculously hard to get a picture of Alex smiling because as soon as he sees the camera he stops smiling. It's too bad because Alex has a cute smile! We did get a couple of good pictures, though.

You can tell he's smiling behind his arm!

A little smile.

Roly Poly

Alex just rolled over from his back to his front

to his back

and is working on getting back on his stomach.

Robbie is 19 months old!!!!!!!

I can't believe that Robbie is on the down side 1 and heading to 2 years! I am amazed at how he has been picking up words lately. He now can tell you what a dog, a monkey, a cow and a cat say. On Monday when we were walking into the gym I said "Robbie, stay on the sidewalk. Thank you." and he turned around and did the sign for "thank you"! I have been doing that with him for a while now (probably since he started signing "please"), but that was the first time he did it. We were out on the porch earlier this week and a plane flew over us and Robbie (sort of) did the sign for airplane. That's another sign I've been doing for a while that he just randomly started doing! It's been raining a lot here lately and we have gone outside to play in the rain. Robbie found some mud and got his hands nice and dirty. I don't know why he decided to taste the mud, but he did and his face was pretty covered with mud, too. His water table had some water in it (duh, it was raining!) and he rinsed his hands off a little bit in the water. I was surprised at how much dirt was left in the water! Dirty Robbie! (But not as bad as before he "rinsed" off)

Dirt left in the water table

Rinsing off and playing in the sink

We'll have to get a video of Robbie's happy dance. It's so cute, but I say that about most everything he does! :) Alex was playing on his play mat the other day and here is how he ended up.