Beach Babies

The babies were so cute at the beach they deserved their own post! It was cold and windy so we kept the babies bundled up. Maddy was piled under blankets and jackets and wore socks on her hands to keep them warm. I have a question for all the Michigan relatives, how do you keep a babies nose from getting cold?

Beach Bonfire

My dad's woodpile in the backyard has been growing over the years, and he decided it was time for a bonfire! We all met down at Dockweiler Beach to enjoy the fire on the cold August Wednesday night. My mom brought along hot dogs and s'mores to roast over the fire. We had the largest fire on the beach! 

Visit with the Lundys

Sunday, we also went for a quick visit with the Lundys. Christy's daughter Hazel started walking a few weeks ago, and we wanted to see how mobile she is now. She walks around so confidently, you'd think she'd been doing it for months. 

Hazel shared her cute chair with Maddy, so we could get some pictures of the future best friends. Hazel and Maddy both ended up with their hands in their mouths! Hazel was curious about Maddy's dark eyes, and tried to touch them, luckily Christy was quick to intervene while I was snapping the pictures. Coincidentally, they were both wearing outfits from the same Gymboree luau line.

Visits with the Kitanos

We got to see the Kitano side of the family twice this weekend. We were dropping off the supplies that Maddy would need at their house while Grandma Jane was watching her during the week, and we stayed for dinner. Uncle Kevin was there too, and enjoys watching (literally watching) Maddy. He is working on becoming comfortable holding her. I told Mike before Maddy was born that I thought she would have him wrapped around her finger, and I was right! After dinner, we went over to see his beautiful new condo that he just moved into. 

Sunday, Uncle Scott had us all over for hot dogs and Wii. Maddy enjoyed being held by her family, and watching them all play games. 

Weekend Visit 1

Our first visit of the weekend was to the Rexon's house. My mom was there to babysit Bella while Laurel and Josh went to his high school reunion. My mom is always eager to babysit her granddaughters, and calls dibs on the weekends since the paternal grandmas are available during the week. Laurel and Josh looked wonderful, and Bella seriously gets cuter every time we see her. She was smiling up a storm for her Uncle Mike! Soon the babies will show an interest in each other, but not so much so far :)

Japanese Festival

Also last weekend, we stopped by a small Japanese Festival going on near us at a Japanese Market. Maddy, like usual, slept through the excitement. She finally is a fall asleep in the car seat baby! You can also see the new big blue sun umbrella for our stroller. I would get horrible sunburns as a child, and even now when I don't reapply my suncreen often enough, so I am a little paranoid about how much sun exposure she gets, especially since it is advised to not use sunscreen on a baby until they are 6 months old. 

Maddy is wearing a bonnet from when I was a baby, and then later worn on my dolls. 

Aquarium of the Pacific

Last weekend, Maddy rode the metro for the first time! We took it down to Long Beach to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific. The aquarium was packed with summer camps, so we  kind of browsed our way through. Maddy wore her starfish onesie and brought along "Nene" her musical light up seahorse that she LOVES. She enjoyed having her Daddy explain everything to her that she was looking at. She seemed to enjoy watching the sea lions the best. As you can see in the last 2 pictures, she was a little more interested in trying to fit her hands in her mouth.

Big Girl Car Seats

Amazon.com was having a great sale on convertible car seats earlier this month. 20% off, no tax and free shipping. We took advantage of the great prices and bought Maddy her big girl car seats. We will continue to keep her in her infant car seat as long as possible still. We bought two of the ones you see in the picture for our two cars and another one we had delivered to Grandma Jane's house for when she watches Maddy. After buying 3 carseats we're a little poor, but by buying them all during the sale, we ended up saving ourselves a couple hundred dollars! 

Maddy tested out her new car seats in the living room, and seemed to love them, it helped that Daddy was being silly with her too.

Sunglasses

Maddy spends a lot of time outside, so we have a wide variety of sun hats for her, and now she also has sunglasses. Are they not the cutest sunglasses ever?

Back to Work

Sorry for the absence of posts, I went back to work this week to start planning with the other teachers in the new Magnet Center at my school (I will be job sharing/working half time with another teacher). I had to work 3 days this week and 4 days next week. I am officially a working mom. I feel lucky to have had 12 weeks at home with her. When schools starts back September 9th, I will be working every Thursday and Friday and every other Tuesday. I couldn't ask for a better schedule. I can still go to my stroller strides classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and catch the Mommy Movies on Mondays after class! 

Maddy has been staying with her Grandma Jane while I work, she is all smiles when I leave and usually sound asleep when I pick her up. We're lucky to have Jane to do this for us, so much easier to leave her knowing she is being well cared for! 

Ready for all our updates? We've been busy!