In the Belly

You'll have to excuse Reese in this video... she's on toddler crack or something.  If you can focus despite the two little wiggle worms, they have an announcement to make...

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Yes... it's true.  I have a baby in my belly.  That's the reason for my blogging slump.  I've been pretty sick and extremely TIRED.  Hopefully all that will come to an end pretty soon.  Baby # 3 will be arriving at the beginning of July!  It's a good thing we have months to prepare... after watching this video, I wonder how we can handle another one!

Reese Taylor Tims

Tonight at dinner Reese said, "Yummy, Mom.  Thank you Angela."  She had us rolling.  She's learned all of our full names and has moved on to the extended family.  How crazy smart is this girl??

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Wait till you hear her say "Dabid Alex Doyoyoyyoyle".  Grandpa's real name is David Alan Doyle... and she thinks it's hilarious. Especially the Doyoyoyoyle part.  Funny girl.

Smarty Pants

Reese is a sponge.  Oh, and a parrot too.  We have to really watch what we say around this girl... b/c she repeats everything and remembers it the next day.  She loves to learn and will sit and work puzzles, etc. for hours.  I think she's going to be the nerd in the family. Here's little miss smarty pants showing off for her daddy.

You'll have to ignore Tucker throwing a fit in the background b/c he wants to go on a ride on the the 4 wheeler.  That's a true picture of how different they are... Reese doing puzzles and being all studious and Tucker wanting to go outside to play. 

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The Giggles

Who needs expensive toys when you have the trusty ol' knee horse??  I don't think I've ever heard Reese giggle so much.

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They took turns for at least 30 minutes and almost killed the horse.

WWF

Our Friday night entertainment has sure changed since we had kids...

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Surprisingly, Reese can hold her own.  They've really been playing well together lately... and it's fun to catch them on video when they don't know we're watching.   

No... I love you!

Just an early Valentine's Day present from Reese...

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The other night, we went to eat with Brian and Jen and Reese went around and told everyone at the table she loved them. Melt your heart!
Tucker doesn't say "I love you" yet but I'm really hoping he doesn't start. He says "Yeah, yeah" everytime we tell him we love him and I totally adore it. I guess that's how the cool guys say "I love you". At least we'll have a code for when he's in middle school and too embarassed to tell me he loves me.

Bite... Please

I'm sad to admit that I used to make fun of those parents who teach their kids sign language (sorry if you're one of them), because I always thought they looked crazy hitting themselves when they wanted something. But now I know exactly why they do it. SANITY. I don't think I'm ready to bust out the sign language book yet, but if I hear "Eh, Eh, Eh" one more time, I may need a padded room.

We're totally in that "I want it now, but don't know how to tell you" phase. Hate this phase... can't wait until they are talking in full sentences and I have to ask them to "catch a bubble" so I can have a minute to think. I know... be careful what you wish for, right?

Anyway, we're working really hard to teach the kids that grunting and pointing doesn't get them what they want... that they need to say "up" "down" "bite" "drink" "please" etc. Tucker isn't as anxious to talk as Reese, but he does particularly well if there's food involved.

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Did you catch that? Bite... Please. Not to be confused with Bye... Cheese.

Poppy

Lewis Arthur Olson, or Poppy as we all called him, was Chris' grandpa. Chris had a special bond with his Poppy. When he was little he would sit and watch Poppy work in his wood shop for hours. Poppy is the one that taught Chris how to use tools and appreciate the craft of woodworking. Chris remembers hammering away for hours, wearing crazy earmuff so to not damage his little eardrums, and just being amazed as he watched Poppy's projects come together. As Chris got older, Poppy let him use his tools to build all kinds of fun stuff: skis to ski down the hill at their house, a soap box derby car, a dog house, and much more.

Chris still has several of the wooden toys that Poppy made him when he was a little boy... wooden cars and trucks, a tractor and a great rocking horse. I know Chris thinks of Poppy every time Tucker climbs up on the rocking horse and goes to town.

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To this day, Chris still loves to build things... he's made several pieces of furniture and wants to have a big shop to do lots more when we move out to the land. I hope this is something that he can share with Tucker... all the stories of Poppy and his tools, and his love for woodworking. Hopefully this will create a special bond between them... just as it did between Chris and his Poppy!

Don't Try This At Home

Grandmas and Grandpas are for spoiling. If I've learned nothing else during the past 14 months, I've learned that. With grandparenting comes the right to spoil... at least I think so and I'm sure most grandparents would agree. They have the right to give you ice cream and candy, let you stay up late, and do all the things that they wouldn't let their own kids do.

Reese and Tucker have been blessed with two sets of grandparents that enjoy spoiling them. And Chris and I enjoy watching them enjoy it. When the kids get stay up until 1:00am, have a snow cone before dinner, syrup on their pancakes, or get to run around on the kitchen table, I just smile, shake my head, and then thank God that my kids have four grandparents that love them and are around to spoil!

I wouldn't try this at home though!

Good Job!

After being out of town for Aunt Carrie's funeral, going to Houston two weekends in a row, and working like maniacs trying to get ready for school to start, the laundry was totally taking over our house. I almost decided not to go school shopping after seeing all the clothes we have. You caught the "almost" right. I could never give up the opportunity to do a little shopping.

Anyway, I Hate (with a capital H) laundry! Reese and Tucker, however, seem to quite enjoy it. And that makes it more bearable for me...

As you can see, she was quite proud of the "good job" she was doing! Now Tucker, on the other hand, isn't really into helping. He's a typical boy and would much rather just play with Dad during laundry time.

I'm a Big Girl Now

As a working mom, I've always been afraid that I'm going to miss all of Reese and Tucker's "firsts"; first time to roll over, sit up, crawl, stand, walk, etc. I was so blessed to be home with them this summer and get to see Tucker take his first steps. He's been walking for weeks now but Reese has been totally content to just crawl from place to place. After all, she is crazy fast.

Last week she was just playing as she usually does (without pants on b/c she often refuses to let us to put them back on after a diaper change) and she finally realized that she could stand up all by herself. She was quite proud of her new accomplishment and spent about 15 minutes going up and down, up and down. I caught a little on video...



I was so excited that she waited for me to get home from work to show off. I think she finally decided to try it so she could look at her pretty pink toes. "Thanks Aunt Amber, for my first pedicure! I'm a big girl now."

Back-to-School Blues

Well... my days of swimming pools, afternoon naps, and late night movies are officially over. And I've decided that 5 weeks of summer is not nearly enough. I hear all of you "non-educators" telling me to shut up, but I'm ignoring you. I'm totally suffering from the back-to-school blues. Instead of playing in the pool with the babies today, I spent the afternoon mulling over the implications of the new graduation requirements that were just passed by legislation (a month before school starts, I might add). You know you want to hear all about it.

I know I should be grateful for the weeks I've had with Reese and Tucker, but right now I'm committed to pouting about how it just wasn't long enough. I do keep reminding myself that they get to hang out with Aunt Amber until she starts teaching in August. And that's pretty cool.

Does it make me a bad mom to admit that there were actually a few enjoyable things about today? Like not having to cut anything up into tiny little pieces at lunch, and going a full 7 hours without changing a single dirty diaper. Hey, these things are huge. Although I enjoyed being off "mom" duty for a few hours, I still missed Reese and Tucker like crazy. It didn't matter how much chocolate I indulged myself in, the back-to-school-blues just wouldn't go away. Then I came home to these guys...

All better!