Dragons and babies

I can not believe tomorrow is August already. My baby girl will be turning five in two weeks. I am so not ready to discuss that yet.  July has been a very busy month. One of the highlights was our trip to Savannah for Auntie CareCare's baby shower. I won't get into all the details of the party (sorry, I have a lot to do in the next 4 weeks) but did want to share some of the highlights from our week.

Perhaps the thing that will stick with me the longest - possibly forever since I have my personal stereo named Brennan stuck on repeat - is the kids learning and signing Peter, Paul and Mary's Puff the Magic Dragon. It all started with a little book about a reluctant dragon. For whatever reason the kids love this book at Nana and Pop's house. And the second night we were there Brennan was fighting bedtime. In lieu of his usual bedtime lullaby he requested a dragon song. Well, Puff, is the only dragon song I know and I could only remember the first line. So Maya found it on YouTube and played it for them. They very quickly memorized the first verse. Kaelyn has all but the last verse memorized now. And now, for your viewing pleasure, Brennan's performance of Puff the Magic Dragon:

The kids were very affectionate toward the baby in Care Care's belly, hugging and kissing and talking to him every day. But Brennan still has a lot to learn about babies. Evidenced by his very logical-for-a-two-year old question, "Care Care, why you eat your baby?" He also learned the word boobie. Although I don't think he really knows what it is since he often points to my shoulder and says "Boobie!"

Kaelyn also still has a lot to learn to about where babies come from. I wasn't quite prepared when she asked how the baby was going to get out of Care Care's belly. I don't remember who it was that told her it would come out the "Exit" but that seemed to satisfy her curiosity, at least for the moment. (Note to self: come up with a game plan to discuss where babies come from before she asks again.)

And here are some photo highlights from the rest of the trip.

Lots of golf:

A day at the beach:

Baby Time!

Kaelyn and her new buddy Reese:

Beautiful Mommy to Be:

Showing of her manicure:

Cuddling with Daddy to Be:

My dreaming angels:

Two weeks

Whoa! Who knew so much good happen and be done in two short weeks?

If you don't already know, two weeks ago last Friday Matt was offered the position of Executive Director of the New Hampshire Golf Association. I am so proud of him and excited for him (and us)! He has worked so hard and truly deserves this opportunity.

So... here is what our life has looked like since then (I may be missing a few things. It's all a little blurry from lack of sleep):

Lots of yard work
Father's Day celebration
Cleaning the house
Meeting with Realtor
Kid swap with best buds Hudson and Tucker (lifesaver for getting the house ready!) x 4
Trip to Lowe's
Packing stuff up
Not one, but two book club meetings
Staging the house
Cleaning
Yoga (gotta stay calm and centered)
Patching and painting walls
Listing the house
Organizing

Donating almost two carloads of stuff
Bringing sick kid to Minute Clinic for ear infection
Hair cut
Night out to celebrate Matt's new job
Play date with more friends
More yard work
Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning
Packing, packing, packing
Another trip to Lowe's 
Playing at the park
Showing the house three times in two days (have you ever tried to keep your house show ready for two days with two kids and a dog? Exhausting!)
Offer on the house!!!!
Farmer's market
Signing papers
Sold sign up!
(whew! no more cleaning for awhile! just packing...)

 And Matt has been working every. single. day. So it's all been a little surreal. I'm hoping now that the house is sold and Matt has a day off this week, we can relax a little bit and at least and try to soak in the reality of this major life change. And maybe figure out where we're going to live in New Hampshire. I already have three real estate apps on the iPad. I may or may not be slightly obsessed with house hunting.

As much as I am excited about and looking forward to exploring New Hampshire it's going to be hard to leave Franklin and all the friends we've made here. I'm not quite ready to get into that yet though. I'm too exhausted to be emotional right now.

On a lighter note, I think we've found an architect and builder to build us a house in New Hampshire.

Summer fun - pool time!

Nothing like a dip in a tiny blow-up pool in the backyard to really make it feel like summer time!

Action shot: diving in. Probably not the best idea...

They had a blast! And I had fun watching. I loved all their facial expressions.

Happy Father's Day!

A surprise Father's Day party (with just the four of us).

A man and his grill.

Happy kids who ate ALL of their dinner (good work on the grill).

Dada had to go to work but we can still tell him why we love him.

I guess this is Brennan's way of saying "You're the best Dad!" He insisted I take his picture with this one too.

And a Happy Father's Day to Buppa and Pop! We love you very much!

Dedication

We already knew that Brennan is a golf fan. And he's not too bad for a 2-year old. But somewhere in the last two weeks it has turned into an obsession for him.

It may have started at my cousin's wedding where we had to drag him off the driving range kicking and screaming.

And then while Nana and Pop were here we pulled out Kaelyn's clubs and Pop practiced with the kids.  Now the plastic Wii golf club and rubber Mickey ball are no longer good enough for him. He'll only use Kaelyn's real golf clubs and real golf balls.  Most days as soon as he gets up in the morning or gets up from nap I hear, "Where my gowf cub? Where my gowf ball?"  One night he came into our room in the middle of the night with the golf club in tow.  Even brought it into bed. And I think we need to find a mini golf glove because he had a blister on his thumb the other day. 

The boy may just have the dedication to go pro one day.

Big Boy Bed

I was not totally ready for this transition. However, since Nana and Pop were in town in last week Dada thought he'd take advantage of having a handy helper (not the kind on Mickey) to help him put together a new bunk bed for Brennan. Apparently he didn't think I'd be a very good helper. Or, he didn't want to end up getting divorced. One of the two.  It was also convenient since we like to use Kaelyn's room for guests when they come to visit. So now, instead of sleeping in Brennan's room on the floor, half in her princess tent, Kaelyn has an actual bed to sleep in.

Dada and Pop putting on the finishing touches

I think Kaelyn was actually more excited about the bed than Brennan was. We couldn't get the mattress for the top bunk until the next day and when we told Kaelyn she'd have to sleep on the floor one more night she broke down in tears. So we compromised and they slept on the bottom bunk together.

The transition actually hasn't been awful. All day I was having flashbacks to Kaelyn's first few months in the big bed, having to escort her back to bed probably dozens of times each night. I even remember being 8 months pregnant and sleeping on the floor outside her room just to keep her from getting up long enough that she might have a chance of falling asleep.

Brennan has been coming out.  Not nearly as much as she did though. Mostly because he follows Kaelyn out or she sends him out to get us if she doesn't feel like getting down. And whenever she comes out to go potty he has to as well. Which I guess isn't bad. He actually goes potty every time so at least it's good practice.  And I think there were a couple nights when she was back in her own room that he didn't come out at all.
 

So cozy!

 If I'd had the choice I would have kept them both in a crib until middle school, but alas, that may be frowned upon so the big boy bed transition was inevitable.  And I think everyone is happy with the bunk bed choice.

Now for potty training...

Needs batteries

I guess we have more battery-operated toys than I thought. Lately, whenever something doesn't work (or Brennan just can't get it to work how he thinks it should), even if it doesn't use batteries, Brennan matter-of-factly says, "Not working. Needs batteries."