Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 21 weeks old!!! At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 1 year and  9 weeks old!!!   We have had a low key week and have spent a lot of time a home.  Jane Claire is still dealing with THE SAME double ear infection she has had for weeks now.  We are on round number 3 of antibiotics.  Not a fan!!  She has no fever but I keep seeing her grab at her ears so I am doubtful things are improved.  Not to mention she wakes up crying in the middle of the night off and on and has more fussy bouts throughout the day.   Honestly, you would never know the child feels bad if you weren't looking for it.  I am HOPING we can be done with this soon!!!  Anyway, I took a lot of random pictures this week so be prepared!

My poor neighbors probably think we are the biggest rednecks.  Crosby loves to be outside in his undies running around or swinging with Jane Claire...

Just to confirm we are indeed rednecks, he drops his drawers and tee tees right in the grass!!!!  I turned my head for a second and look back to see this classy sight...

I guess this is normal male behavior?!?  Let's just hope this doesn't happen when we are surrounded by people!!!  I pray my sweet little girl doesn't pick up any of his habits!!!  Speaking of Miss Priss, Jane Claire was worn out after lunch and play time outside.  I love it when she lets me rock her to sleep.  I was able to take the sweetest video of her falling asleep with her lovie.  She rubs the ruffled edge against her face as she is headed of to dream...

I may or may not have sniffed a time or two to keep her moving.  Is that not the sweetest thing ever?!?  I am so thankful I was able to capture her sweet little soothing technique!  Precious thing.

Later in the week we got a package in the mail which resulted in a big, empty box.  Of course 2 kiddos wanted to get inside...

Getting one of them both looking in the same direction is nearly impossible...

Someone is always trying to get away!!!

And eventually she does just that...

At least he will pose for me now...

It's like I used hairspray and styled his hair...

And I can promise you I didn't.  The boy couldn't get much cuter could he?!?

Little Bit had a sippy cup malfunction...

As you can see in a close up, milk went everywhere!!!  I thought it was pretty cute though...

I attempted to take another video of Jane Claire walking.  She wasn't exactly on her game this morning but it was still cute...

And notice the one shoe.  She LOVES shoes.  She actually gets them out of her closet, brings them to me, turns around and sits in my lap and holds her foot up.  It is pretty cute!

I snapped a sweet picture of my wild boy resting.  It never gets old watching them sleep.  With this one, I end up paying for it around 10:30 at night when he is lying in my bed wide awake!  But it is worth it to see this every now and then...

We have 2 sets of stairs in the house.  Actually, we have 3 if you count the insanely steep set connecting the the bonus room back to the real "upstairs" part of the house.  When my babes start showing interest in the stairs, we just embrace them and start climbing and sliding back down.  Crosby loves to play the game where he crawls ahead of Jane Claire, gets to the landing, turns around to look at her and squeals rather loudly.  Then she starts to climb up and I come after her, playing the "I'm gonna get you" role. She crawls as fast as her little arms and legs can take her, stopping to make sure I am behind her and laughing a few times along the way.  Once she reaches the landing with Crosby he squeals rather loudly again and she gets the biggest grin on her face.  As you can imagine both kiddos LOVE this game.  It has been going on for a few weeks now and Jane Claire is now participating in the squealing.  Soooo loud.  Soooo funny.  This is sort of how it goes, minus Crosby squealing the entire time just because he is being recorded!!!

I should not share this picture because it makes me look like an incompetent girl mom.  It is too funny not to share!!  I actually left the house and took Jane Claire out in public dressed like this...

Yep.  It is on backwards.  She wore it that way half of the day before I even noticed!!!  It was her first time wearing it and for some reason, I had it in my mind that it was one of the tops that opens in the back.  Clearly, it does not open in the back.  It buttons all the way down the FRONT.  And has a collar that makes it even more obvious!!!  Have mercy.  I can only imagine what the gals at the YMCA were saying about her outfit!!!  

It is rare that I get to post pictures of "special event's" in Blake's world so I HAD to share this one.  He has been playing in a men's soccer league all spring.  They had their final game on Saturday and they actually won the league championship.  Most of the guys hung around to receive the trophy and posed for a quick picture...

It has been fun to see him playing again with old teammates from high school and club soccer.  He still has mad goal keeping skills even after all these years!! :-)

That brings us to today!  We started swim lessons this morning with Mrs. Becca!!  Crosby has LOVED swim lessons the past few years.  That is probably because he is part fish.  Although I am sure he would say "part shark"!  He was all ears as she gave out her instructions...

 

Getting ready to take off...

Learning to use his arms...

Reaching for the water in front of him,

Pulling his arm through the water...

I am sure with a little practice, he will be all over the pool again!!

The little ones stood around taking each other's snacks the whole time!

Little swimmers sitting and listening to their teachers...

Something tells me there will be more pictures of my little fish is the future!  Let the swim season begin!

Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 20 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 1 year and 8 weeks old!!!  It has been a busy week for Jane Claire.  So many milestones.  Her top, right tooth popped through on Sunday. Her gums have been swollen for weeks so I have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for one to finally break through.  Well, it officially happened.  AND my sweet little girl is officially started walking.  No more steps here and there.  She figured out the full fledged walk!  Oh  my heart.  My baby.  My tee tiny baby...

Sigh.

We had a fun play date a the park earlier in the week.  Don't let the shorts fool you.  It was a wee but chilly.  Hence Jane Claire's semi purple lips above!  ;-)  She LOVED watching the big kids run around.  She wants to be a big kid too...

She wanted to climb right up there with Crosby and Annie.  Luckily she was no where close to getting up there.  One thing at a time little bit...

The big kids were kind enough to sit a spell to let me take one picture.  With the sun beaming down in their eyes.  Crosby, Dean and Annie still look pretty cute!

I just LOVE this one of Jane Claire on the slide.  Those baby blue just pop off the red background...

Then I sat her down in the grass...

Watching her attempt to pick "flowers" was pretty precious...

Crosby wanted to take a selfie with me.  I will gladly agree to take a picture when he is willing!!  

And here is proof that I am still wearing the fleece in MAY!!!  SO ready for permanent warm weather!  I am thinking we are super close to saying it is here to stay.  Fingers crossed.

So.  Blake and I have a trip planned for our upcoming anniversary.  We will drive to Knoxville and stay one night there.  The next day we will head to Highlands, North Carolina and spend 2 nights there.  The children are...how do I put it....not invited.  Sounds nice for and anniversary trip, no?!?  Yet, there is a small problem with this plan.  Jane Claire has never spent a night away from me.  I sort of feed her.  She doesn't take bottles which kinda makes distance impossible.  The good news is she now takes whole milk from a cup!  That is progress!  Of course she still likes for me to feed her too.  Wonder how this trip going to work??  

I thought it might be best to do a trial run before we head off to another state for a few days.  My parents gladly offered to have the kids down for a night this weekend.  My heart hurt all week just thinking about my baby spending the night away from me.  I knew it needed to happen though. So, we loaded up the car on Saturday and headed to meet my parents.  Crosby is an old pro so I knew he would be just fine. (although I don't think HE has spent the night away since right after she was born!!!)  Here they are right before they drove away...

Then they drove away...

Break my heart!!!  It did for a second or so.  Then I realized the anticipation was far worse than the actual parting of ways.  I wish I could write about some fabulous date Blake and I went on.  And post a picture of us all dressed up, looking cute.  Umm.  Yea.  No.  No date.  No pictures.  Blake was sick.  Of all times!!!  Of course it wasn't about me and Blake anyway. It was a trial run for my parents and the kids.  And that went perfectly!  I cannot tell you what a relief that was.  And of course it was thrilling to pick them up after church and see their sweet faces again.  It is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder I guess!

On Sunday evening , we had small group.  Blake wasn't 100% so he stayed home.   I snapped a few pictures of the kiddos that were too cute.  Ainsley and Crosby were having a little tea party...

Jane Claire was very interested to see what they were doing...

She managed to scoot Crosby right out of the chair and take his place!!  She looked so big sitting in that chair...

Then she did this...

And her What a little doll, that girl.  She melts my heart.  So do these two...

Blake promised Crosby they could go camping.  When we got back from small group, he had the tent set up in the bonus room and was ready to "camp".  What a trooper considering he had not felt good most of the weekend!!  Crosby loved sleeping in the tent.  Maybe one day they will take it outdoors!!

A little funny story about Jane Claire and kissing Blake...  You may or may not have noticed that Blake has been keeping a beard.  He hates to shave and it is easier not to.  (Sure wish I could get away with that excuse!!!)  Anyway, recently Jane Claire has been giving good night kisses to everyone before bed.  But when it is Blake's turn, she leans in like she is going to kiss him right on the lips and then turns her head at the last second and starts laughing!!!  It is soooo funny.  Apparently she is not a fan of his beard!!  

Today Crosby had all of his sharks lined up on the swing set.  I had him give me his best shark face and this is what I got...

Hilarious.  Tonight we made a run to Sweet CeCe's for dessert.  My little bit looked so cute sitting in the tiny adirondack chairs...

"Look!!!"

"Mommy.  Stop taking pictures and LOOK."

Guess I am going to have to start putting shoes on my baby girl...

Mondays with Crosby and Jane Claire

At 11:24 am, Crosby Fox turned 4 years and 19 weeks old!!!  At 1:03 pm, Jane Claire turned 1 year and 7 weeks old!!!  Crosby's age hit hard this week.  Almost to the 4 and HALF year point.  Crazy.  Thursday was his last day of school at Otter Creek.  Another year behind us.  Only one left to go.  I must stop here for now and take break or I might drown in a puddle of tears just thinking about that last statement...

Ahhh.  There is this picture that will melt anyone's heart...

I snapped this picture and the one above with my phone.  So the top one may not be the cutest of Jane Claire but it is sweet of them together.  And Crosby looks pretty precious.  Then I got this one of little bit.  Oh my goodness she is such a little doll.  Right?  Her and her new, TINY, size 2 Sea Wee sandals.  Presh.

So we are back to this topic a lot faster than I was hoping.  His last day of school...

Sigh.  Is it just me or does the school year go by faster each year?  It took forever when I was growing up.  Summer was the slowest season to come around.  How is it that time keeps speeding up.  You blink and a year is over.  It is just not fair!!!  I need these little years to drag on a bit.  Sigh.  

Here he is at drop off.  Walking through those red doors one last time...

Headed in to great all of his favorite teachers!

And I say "ALL" because apparently he makes stops along the way to say hello to every teacher!!  Even the ones he has never had!  Too funny.  He is definitely a social butterfly.  My child for sure.  The school had a popsicle party for the kiddos and parents.  Blake was working so I was flying solo.  I didn't any pictures of the actual popsicle part because it was just too hectic with little bit on my hip but I managed to snap a few in his class room.  Jane Claire is still a favorite show and tell object for his classmates.  Most of them just love babies!  Gracie, Addy and Crosby stopped to pose with her.  She looks less than thrilled...

Sitting in his spot on the bench, listening to Mrs. Fisher talk...

Loving on his best little buddy, Sweet Addy...

Little Bit just hanging out on the floor while I attempt to snap pictures...

Crosby and Miss Fisher...

Standing in front of the red doors...

The before and after.  Why do I do these things to myself???

One of Crosby's classmates was sweet to throw a end of school swim party at his house.  So we headed to our very first swim date of the year.  Again, I was solo so I knew it would be interesting with both kiddos. As you can guess, pictures were virtually impossible!!!  But I managed to get a cute one of this little bathing beauty...

And one of the fish swimming away with Gracie!!!  

We were invited to a surprise party on Sunday night and were asked to submit video or pictures for a video that was planned.  That was easy...

He is so funny.  Loves looking at himself in the phone.  Me on the other hand, not so much.  I had to submit  one of myself talking.  That was horrific and has been deleted.  I am pretty sure it took me at least 10 times to take one I was remotely okay with.  And I shot one in just about every angle of every room so I could get just the right lighting to minimize the fine lines and zits I am sporting these days.  What is this I am hearing about the FaceTime facelift???  Hmmm... ;-)

On Saturday I made a trip to Louisville to shower a sweet friend and her baby with lots of love!  My dear friend from OT school, Elizabeth, is expecting her first baby.  A sweet little boy!  It was so fun to see her face when I walked in the door.  Maybe I didn't exactly let her know I was coming!!  ;-)

My OT gals:  Me, Elizabeth (and JMS ;-) ), and Kellie...

Me and Elizabeth...

Meanwhile, Blake was holding down the fort back home.  Or should I say his entire family held the fort down.  It was a rather nutty day.  And Blake got off rather easy!!  ;-) Originally he was off this Saturday.  But that got switched around after I made plans to go to Kentucky.  So, Lulu and GranBuddy came up to watch the kiddos as I was leaving town.  They took Crosby to his soccer game and Blake met them there.  THEN, Blake had a soccer game (which he sort of failed to mention until the last second!!) and the Malones got to keep the kids at Anne Claire's house a little longer!  What would we do with out family!?!  

Crosby had a soccer party scheduled but it was cancelled due to a rain threat.  That allowed me a little more time in Kentucky with Kellie.  I was thinking I had plenty of time to visit because I didn't have to rush home to his party.  Except I forgot about Blake and Crosby's date to the Avett Brother's concert.  Luckily, I just happened to jump in the car when I did because I made it back just in time to meet them in downtown Nashville for dinner!!!  Yikes.  Told you it was a hectic day! How could I forgot the concert?!?  No worries!  We stuffed our bellies at Cori's Dog house (relish) and headed our separate ways.  I got these pictures on my phone throughout the night...

Crosby standing in front of the stage..

Crosby took this picture while sitting on Bake's shoulders!  I cannot believe they were down on the floor!!!

When he took this picture!!  I know Blake looks like he was in pain but he says he wasn't! ;-)

Okay.  Could they be any cuter?!?  Love these boys...

Believe it or not, they stayed for the entire concert!!!  He and Blake got a little tired of standing so they found seats about half way through and enjoyed the rest of the show from their bums.  What a fun and jammed pack Saturday for our crew.  And sweet Jane Claire was just along for the ride all day.  Good thing she is a super easy and flexible baby!!!

Crosby had a makeup soccer game on Sunday afternoon.  The same makeup game I thought he had 2 weeks ago.  Yet, when he an Blake arrived to the fields, they were the only ones out there.  Umm. Yea.  That would be because the game was THIS weekend!!!  And to top that off.  I drove to the Shoemakers so Jane Claire and I could ride with her, we were yacking and missed the exit AND Blake and I got to the garage before we remembered I had driven his car to the Shoemaker's house!!!  Yep.  It was THAT makeup game. Heaven's to Betsy.  Any whoo...  

I didn't get to stay for much of the game because I had a surprise party to attend.  Did I mention the weekend was hectic?  While we were watching the game, I looked over at Jane Claire and noticed this... 

Do you see what I see curling up at the base of her head???  Her hair has curls in it!!!!  Oh my goodness I am so very excited.  I mean, Blake and I have always been the stringy, straight haired type.  Clearly Crosby got those genes.  To see curls on my baby girl's head thrills me.  I mean, I am not imagining this am I?  Those are curls, right?

I hated to leave the game but I had a little Surprise 30th to attend for my sweet friend Kara.  It was a lovely evening with great food, lots of laughs, a few sweet tears, a fun video (including my lovely non FaceTime facelifted, zit face video blown up to about 8 feet on a wall :-/ ) and THESE dear, dear ladies...

Anne Claire, Me, Kara the birthday girl, Heidi, Jenny and Courtney...

Fun times with a great group of gals!  It was so fun to celebrate you Kara!!! :-)

When I got home from dinner and put Jane Claire.  Something was still there...

 From every angle, it looks like a legitimate curl...

 Right?!?

Oh fingers crossed!!!!  I would love for my sweet thing to have a little curl in her hair.  I guess I should stop talking about it and maybe it will actually happen.  Kind of like her eyes.  They still have a tad of green in the center which makes me think the baby blues won't last much longer.  Crosby's did the same thing.  So maybe if I just stop mentioning it, they will stick around.  The curls AND the baby blues. That is how these things work, right?!?