All the Little Fishies

Since his sister was born, Lucian's first words every morning have been "Go Mamma house, please?" It makes perfect sense; things at home have changed in a major way, and Grandma's house is a constant. There he will get snacks, a cute puppy, a swimming pool, and nearly undivided attention. He loves it- and so does Max. 

On Wednesday, since the weather was supposed to pass 90 degrees, I took my first solo trip with all three kids down to Grandma's house. (Hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?) Getting dressed and loading into the car went off without a hitch, and the drive was smooth until we were only a mile from Grandma's house. Then Audrey went from zero to sixty and screamed bloody murder until we pulled into the driveway. Could she sense the excitement? Or was she just suddenly dying of starvation? 

The boys ran to greet Grandma and Grandpa, had a yummy lunch, and then prepared to hit the water. It's so easy having Max in the pool now- his feet can touch the bottom in the shallow end, and if he wants to be a little more adventurous he can put on a life jacket and swim across the whole pool. 

Louie, on the other hand, is a wild card. Some days he won't leave the steps, others he wants to jump off the side of the pool repeatedly! Wednesday was a jumping day. Grandma stood in the pool and caught him over and over and over again!

We stayed for dinner (Paul was gone fishin') and got home around bed time. As expected, the moment we pulled out of the driveway Lucian began to ask repeatedly, "Back Mamma house, please?"

Clothes Horse

My daddy picked out this outfit for me

Don't I look absolutely gorgeous?

Yes, you may ooh and aah, I don't mind.

Audrey is eight days old, and she already owns more clothes than I do! Sure, I had fun dressing my boys when they were little, and of course they looked adorable in whatever they wore, but there is something very different about outfitting a little girl. Honestly, we haven't bought many items for her ourselves... our family and friends have left us well-stocked. But I don't remember swooning over baby boy clothes like I am doing now. My mom has said (and I really don't think it's an exaggeration) that she could go the first three months of life and not wear the same outfit twice!

I can remember one outfit that Max wore that I was actually sad to see him outgrow. Everything was cute, but there is only so much you can do with trucks and dinosaurs. Now, every item I pull out of Audrey's drawer makes me want to own it in every size! It's a fact, girl clothes are cuter. This does not mean that there are no cute clothes for boys. I love seeing Max and Lucian in polo shirts and cute hats. But the fact remains: there are more cute clothes out there for girls. At Easter, there was one rack of dress clothes for boys at Kohls, parked next to rows and rows and rows of Easter dresses, bonnets and shoes. Our lives have officially changed, and I don't foresee it being kind to our pocketbook.

Summer Serenade

We recently filled up the first water balloons of the season, and they were a hit! Before the boys could begin throwing their balloons, however, they had to serenade me with a song by their favorite kids' musicians, the Okee Dokee Brothers. I have yet to find an occasion that does not have an Okee Dokee song to go with it, and this was no exception! Max's plan was to end the performance by throwing his balloon at me, but he just couldn't bring himself to do it! (Sigh of relief from me)  So without further ado, here are Max and Lucian performing their rendition of "Water Balloon":

And to give you a look into what the original sounds like, here you go:

Our Family of Five

Audrey Therese decided to join us on Father's Day, June 17! We are so excited and so blessed!! I've been waiting for this day for what seems like forever, and now we have finally met our little girl. We find ourselves slipping up and calling her "he" occasionally... this whole baby girl thing is uncharted territory!

We are all home and doing great. Audrey is a super eater and a super sleeper, although she's still working on distinguishing night from day. Max is head-over-heels in love with his little sister, and Lucian... well... he'll get there. He has already come a long way from the first day, when he refused to hold her and wanted nothing but to go "back gramma's house, please". It's been an amazing, exhausting, beautiful first few days, and I can't wait to share her with you all!

**If you ever want to go back and read about our lives prior to Audrey's birth, I'm leaving my other blog open at http://mybeamishboys.blogspot.com/, but I won't be posting anything new there anymore. **