Bella Smiles

I love those first baby smiles! Bella's melt me! Bella started smiling early and never stopped!

Bella's First Bath - Third Time's a Charm!

When it came time for Bella's first bath, we were determined to not get pooped on this time! With Austin, we didn't put a diaper on him right away and he pooped in his towel and promptly got a second bath! McKenna was diapered but still managed to explode everywhere and also promptly had a second bath. So this time, we made sure to wait until AFTER Bella had pooped to even start the bath and made sure to put a diaper on her immediately afterward. And thankfully, third times a charm! No poop! Bella was already turning out to be easier than the other two!

And true to her easy little self, she was uber calm and just happy as she could be during her first bath. Not to mention, she looked so cute all cleaned up!

Miscellaneous March Fun!

Well, I'm more than a year behind. It's just pitiful! I'm striving to get caught up but it's slow going! I'm gonna make it though! Someday!


March 2012
My cutie pies!




Ride 'em Cowgirl!




Daddy was gone for work for a week and when he got home, McKenna wanted to do nothing but sit on his lap and snuggle. She laid here and let him scratch her back for the longest time! I love that my babies love their daddy so much! He's such a good daddy!






In March, we went to a combo birthday party for Jack & Sammy. Sammy's birthday is about a month before McKenna's. Auntie Becca threw a very cute Toy Story party!



One birthday boy showing off his sliding um...skills




McKenna loved the "Sidewalk Chalk" area!


The other birthday boy showing the Mrs. Potato Head game



Austin Gets a Shiner

Austin came away from the birthday party with his first real good black eye. He got hit with the back of someone's head on the way down the bouncer slide. We actually thought he had fractures in his eyebrow because it puffed up and bruised so badly so quickly. I'm sure it's just the first of many to come!

Pure Determination

You may remember McKenna's early attempts at hopping. By Febuary she had gotten a little better, in that she wasn't flailing herself about. But she developed a funny setup for hopping. She looks like she's about to attempt a back flip, not get her feet .5 inches off the ground.

Such a determined little thing still!

His New Ride

My parents got Austin a new bike for Christmas. It's pretty cool looking and he was so excited! As soon as Daddy had a chance to put it together, we took him down to the park to try it out. I wouldn't classify it as a success - he had a hard time pedaling and wanted us to just push him. But he still had fun! And looked mighty cute in his helmet!





McKenna inherited a new bike too!

Open wide like...a hippo!

Turning 3 years old also marked the time for Austin to take his first trip to the dentist! He was so excited! We had talked about it for a few months ahead of time and every time either Daddy or I had a dentist appointment in the meantime, he wanted very much to go with us!

He did so very good! I think he didn't know that he was supposed to be nervous.





The dentist was great. He showed Austin all the tools he was going to use and of course, Austin was totally intrigued with them.





And he did great holding his mouth open every time he was supposed to. The only problem was the dentist kept telling him to open wide like a crocodile. Except that Austin doesn't really know that crocodiles open big, but he does know that hippos do. So each time I'd whisper, "Open like a hippo," and then he'd get it. The dentist seemed to think that was a little weird!



And afterwards he got to pick a toy. He wanted one of everything! After trying to decide for more than 10 minutes, I finally picked for him! Otherwise, we might have been there all day!

Big Girl Bed

Austin was only 14 months old when we moved him to a big boy bed. Granted, that was out of necessity since McKenna was coming along in just a few months. But still, at 17 months, McKenna seemed so "old" to us to still be in her crib. We really didn't have a reason for moving her into a big girl bed, except we had a feeling she'd do okay.

I was a little nervous because McKenna tends to be even more of a free spirit than Austin in some regards. He did really good with his bed for night but for naps he would play for a bit but eventually make it to his bed.

Thankfully this girl is just like her momma and really likes her sleep! She amazed us by not getting out once in the first several weeks! She did so good! And she so loved her new bed! Of course, we had to get her a cute pink princess bed! We did choose to leave the canopy off, cuz I could just picture Austin doing flying leaps onto it!

Watching Daddy put the finishing touches on the bed


What goes better with a princess bed than a Mater pillowcase? (I bought material to make her a cute pink Pooh one but I wasn't done yet)


Not sure who was more excited about McKenna's new bed! Austin?




or McKenna?


It took her a little while to settle down but it wasn't long before she zonked out hard! It did take her several days to figure out her head actually goes on the pillow though.

'Queen & Mater Movie!

A few Saturdays ago, we took Austin to his first movie - Cars 2! I'm actually not sure who was more excited, me or him! He really didn't know what going to a movie entailed, so I tried to get him prepped a few weeks in advance by explaining that it would be video on a really big TV. He caught on much quicker than I thought he would, so then for weeks anytime I told him we were going somewhere, he thought we were going to the movies! When the day finally came he was bouncing with excitement! Grandma watched McKenna so Brian & I could have a special day with our sweet boy.



I also prepped Austin that we would get to eat fun things like popcorn and candy. He was really excited about getting to watch a video, but I think he was even more excited about the food! Such our kid! Each time you'd ask him what he was going to eat, he kept adding food items!



Funny enough, between having lunch ahead of time at Johnny Rockets and then getting grubbies at the theater, we ate just about everything on his list except for hotdogs and goldfish!



We had left a little too much time between lunch and when the movie started, so we let Austin ride the train a few times. I love how much joy he gets out of it every time!





Then it was time for the movie! We still had lots of time before it started, so I was able to get a couple pics of him sitting in his big theater seat! He was so excited!!





He did really good for the movie. We got him a booster seat, but I think it was a bit uncomfortable. He was wiggling for the first part of the movie, but when I put him in my lap he did great for the rest of the movie. The only time he'd move was when he needed more popcorn. Which he ate a TON of!

And he loved the movie. My favorite part was when he shouted "Oh no, a shark!! Watch out!" when he saw the big boats. I was so proud that he did so good. I love the movies and I'm glad we get to take him with us!

He was exhausted by the end of the movie, as you can see in this quick pic I grabbed of him in front of the poster. He came home and slept hard!! I was pleasantly surprised he slept - I was just glad he didn't spew from all the popcorn...and chicken... and french fries...and candy...and juice...and milk!!