Smothering

Rock really loves his sister.

Which means he smothers her all the time. Any advice on what to do about his over-the-top affections? I don't want to stifle his love, but it often upsets her.

Home Depot

Rock and Fix went to Home Depot to make a pencil box.

Apparently HD does a kids project on the first Saturday of each month to teach kids about tool safety.
And did you see the real HOME DEPOT APRON Rock got?! Pretty cool.
Here he is talking about his creation.
A few days later, while I was making a new slipcover for my mom's couch, Rock and Fix painted his pencil box. He had to strip down protect his clothes from the Disney paint.
Now if we could just get him to the stage where he paints in his underwear instead of a diaper...

Orioles Game: How NOT to Smile

As you can see, I wasn't invited to go with the guys to a recent Orioles game. I'm not sure what happened there, but based on these pictures, I'm pretty sure Rocket was giving lessons on how to give an awkward not-smile whenever you are asked to smile for the camera.

Good work Fix men. Way to look not-happy.

Fix, if you want to take a happy group shot, you need to tell the rest of your group to look happy. Or at least tell them to look at the camera.

Looks like Rock wasn't listening closely to Rocket's instructions. He actually looks happy here. He must be distracted by his new "First-time-at-an-Orioles-game" hat. Stefon, good job in not-smiling.

Again, good job gentleman. Way to show us how to be awkward in a picture.
p.s. If you want your team to win, take Rock to a game. Last season, the Nationals won their last at-home game in a bottom of the ninth when we took Rock to the game. The Orioles also won in the bottom of the ninth at this game. Rock also got on the jumbo-tron TWICE. I am so jealous.

Shots

Sophie the giraffe is now constantly at Louisa's side. She is especially helpful in calming Lou down when she needs a shot.

Louisa has very bad reactions to her shots (read: we usually spend the rest of the day administering drugs to keep her fever down and holding her very carefully so as not to make her scream in pain while she goes in and out of sleep), so we have been spreading them waaaay out.

She only smiles like this before the shots are given. Poor girl. Oh and Louisa has also been given the superlative of "Fix Baby Girl Most Likely to be Bitten Repeatedly on the Head by Mosquitos." Again, poor girl.

Air & Space

Our trip to the Air & Space Museum started with a trip to the fountains at The National Gallery of Art.

After the 2.5 year old in our party treated us to a stubborn "I'm not going to the Museum" episode, we walked across the mall to meet Megan, Elsie and Benton.

While Megan and the older kids explored the airplanes...

I hung out with Prince Charming and...

Sleeping Beauty. And her PBK Sleep Sheep. That thing, and the white noise it creates that helps her fall asleep anywhere, is priceless.

Teething Smiles

It appears that Louisa might be teething. She wants to put everything in her mouth. Especially if it's cool like a beer bottle.

Or made of fabric like all of her clothes.

And she's drooling like a champ. But she's been drooling and gnawing for over a month. And she's not fussy like a typical teething kid.

In fact she's smiling all the time these days and her smile takes over her whole face. Unlike Rock who always led with a frown, this girl will smile away at anyone who crosses her path.

It's too cute.

Peas: Louisa's First Food

Rock's first meal was a big deal. We planned for weeks to prep what he would eat for such a special occasion. He had rice cereal and he hated it.

Fast forward to this meal. Rock helped me make this menu with this recipe for dinner, which is COMPLETELY fabulous, but there was nothing special about this evening in particular.

Until, Fix decided to give Louisa some of his peas and she ate her first solid food! I know some parents start with solids at 4 months, but since our kids are so prone to allergies, we decided to wait until they were 6 months old. Louisa is 5 months old in these pictures.

And she loved the peas! She probably only ate about 4 peas total, but she had a lot of fun doing it!

Of course we'll be holding off on giving her a full solid meal until she's a 6-month old, but it's good to know that she's ready and able when that time comes.