The "phantom" pacifier

Julian is addicted to his pacifier. This is good and bad. Good, because if he is getting fidgety or fussy, we just put that sucker in there and he's a happy camper. Bad, because if it falls out at 3 am. we have to go "cork him" to get him to go back to sleep. Well, I'd like to tell you about the phantom pacifier that he likes to suck. When he is in a deep sleep, he continues to suck on his paci. Most times as soon as he falls into this deep sleep, it falls out. He is so out of it that he continues sucking as if there is still a paci there. It is absolutely hilarious to watch. I'll try to get it on video soon and post it. He doesn't have anything to suck, so his little tongue finds it way into his lips and he begins sucking on his tongue. I know this isn't the best thing for development, but I'm sure it will go away. So, there he is, sucking on his tongue, making the weirdest sound ever. We have tried to mimic it ourselves, but we can't recreate it. It is great amusement to us almost every time, except when I am trying to take a nap. This kid will NOT nap unless he is laying on Eric's pillow in our bed. So, there I am laying next to him, desperate for a nap, when I hear the "click, click, click..." of him sucking on phantom. Ahhh! Yesterday I even tried ear plugs....and I could STILL hear it!

Aren't they cute?

Olivia had an Easter egg hunt at school on Monday! It was so cute! She knew exactly what to do, and found 5 eggs! She soon realized that she would rather eat the candy in the eggs than hunt for more, so she plopped down and went to town on the chocolate. That's my girl!

What a handsome little man! He's such a happy little dude. Only three things make him cry: hungry, poopy, or extremely tired. Oh, and an occasional bonk on the head from Olivia. :)

I would empty my bank account to know what goes on in that pretty little head of hers at any given moment. She's probably thinking of her next snack.

I love this guy! He's so great! He is obsessed with rolling onto his belly, even though he doesn't really like being on his stomach. He's getting pretty close to sitting up all by himself!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Wow, it has been awhile!

I just realized it has been a little too long since the last blog. I also found a blog that I hadn't posted yet from the day Julian turned 4 months. I'll just skip that one and add those pictures to this one. Our most recent fun news is that my sister Lisa and her daughter Addy just visited us for 5 days. We had such a blast! The girls played together super well! We had a few "mine" fights, but not too bad. They left on Saturday and we already miss them tons! Olivia had a fit when we took them to the airport. She was kicking and screaming when they got out of the car. We'll get to see them again in May when we meet up in Orlando for some summer fun!

Julian is finally starting to sleep through the night. He usually goes to bed around 8:30, and gets up between 6-7. Thank goodness! This morning he got up at 5:45, ate, and went back to sleep at 6:20. Of course, Olivia was up at 6:45, so I was up bright and early. He has mastered front to back rolling, and is extremely close to rolling back to front. He absolutely loves Olivia! Every time she is in eyesight, he strains to see her and smiles from ear to ear! He's babbling all the time, and laughs and squeals constantly. He's still a very happy baby! Julian loves to take his paci out of his mouth and play with it, chew on it, throw it...but then he gets upset that he loses it and lets us hear it. It is a never ending game of find the paci around here.

Olivia is such a sweet little girl, most of the time. Her fits in the past couple of weeks have dramatically reduced in number and intensity. I hope that continues, but I am not holding my breath. If I have learned anything as a parent, is that as soon as a good pattern starts to develop, something happens to interrupt it. She is really into her baby dolls these days, having one favorite in particular. Her name is "baby doll" (how original) and she takes her everywhere. She changes her diaper a million times a day. According to Olivia, this doll poops about 20 times an hour! Our tissue/wipe supply is dwindling rapidly! She still goes to her preschool twice a week, and is really learning a lot. She can count to 11 and can recognize her name when she sees it written on paper. She's reciting a lot of songs from school also. Olivia loves her teachers and looks forward to seeing them and her friends on most school days. She loves her little brother and wants to be around him as much as possible. She hugs and kisses him all day long. He has started pulling her hair, but she doesn't get too upset with him. I think she understands he is not doing it to be mean.

We have a very busy month ahead of us. Eric's parent's are coming to visit, I am going up to Fairfield, TX to throw my awesome friend a baby shower, and then my mom is coming to visit. That is all happening within a span of about 10 days. Forgive me in advance if my blogging continues to suffer. :)

Kids are fun!

Mommy and her favorite little guy!

This is the best shot we could get of both of them, and we had to bribe Olivia with chocolate to get her to hold him. She kept trying to dump him off into the grass. :) No one offered me any chocolate to hold him, I did it willingly.

My little man

Hi Guys! What's up?

Yes, I AM this happy all the time!

Thankful Thursday

Today I am having a wonderful day with my son. I should be cleaning everything in my house, but I am not. I have done a little work here and there, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to play with Julian and take tons of pictures of him today. He is at such a fun stage. He smiles at me every time I walk into the room. If I say one word to him, he cracks up as if I am the funniest person he knows. Well, that might be true actually. :) I took some video of little man rolling over. He can roll front to back now, and is working on back to front. He is taking a nap now, which is why I am continuing my "not cleaning" and blogging instead. I am going to make this short, because I also need to take a shower. I love Mondays and Thursdays when Olivia is at school and Julian is napping and I get to take a shower BY MYSELF. :)

I know, he IS the cutest baby ever!

I love you Julian, with all of my heart!