Last Day of School

Thursday was John Grayson's last day of preschool for the year and we celebrated with a closing picnic with his classmates and teachers. The kids spent most of the time running around the playground and enjoyed popsicles and cookies :-)

John Grayson had a wonderful year and has grown so much. He started the year as a barely 2 year old toddler and finished the year as an independent little boy. He talks non-stop, tells silly stories and is a very funny little boy. He loved music class and playing in the sensory table. To quote his teachers, "John Grayson has such a love of life, excitement and natural curiosity...He demonstrates a wonderful sense of humor and we enjoy having him in class."

Best of all, he made great friends (on his own, without Mommy involved at all!) who we will miss greatly next year. We decided to send JGray to a different preschool next year, one that is closer to home and will allow JGray to make friends in the neighborhood. We don't want to lose touch with those friends and definitely plan on having play dates with his buddies throughout the summer!!

His teachers gave him photo album with memories for the year, and it was such a wonderful gift. We will miss Mrs. Zambito, Mrs. Patskan and Mrs. Barock so much next year!!

Here are some pictures from our picnic:

Eating popsicles with his best friends Macey and Caden

Having a fun last day of school

Daddy was able to come to the picnic too!

Delia had fun watching JGray play

Four Months Old!

Delia was four months old on Tuesday, and it's incredible to see how much she's changing every day. She went to the doctor this morning and the doctor said that she's great! At four months, Delia:

1. Weighs 13lb 13oz (50th percentile) and is 24.75 inches long (60th percentile).
2. Rolls from back to tummy!!! As a frame of reference, John Grayson didn't roll this way until he was 5 months old. I think we may have an early crawler/walker on our hands....
   
3. Is incredibly mobile. She holds her head up by herself and even tries to push up to standing when you hold her hands.
4. Loves to smile.
5. Loves to coo and "talk" to you.
6. Thinks her big brother is the funniest person ever. She watches him whenever he's in the room with her, and it's obvious that she cannot wait to be playing with him.
7. Enjoys chewing on her hands. She doesn't favor one finger or hand over another, but sucks on them all equally.
   
8. Still likes to be swaddled, although now we have her sleeping with one arm out of the swaddle. One of our goals for this month is to get her out of that swaddle, or at least to get both arms out of it!
9. Is stubborn. She is such a happy, smiley, sweet baby, but watch out when she gets mad. Sleep training could prove to be a challenge :-)

Here is a picture we took earlier this week of the two kids together. The resemblance is unmistakable!

Berry Patch

On Thursday, John Grayson's preschool went on a field trip to a local farm and picked strawberries. We were very lucky that Grandpa Schmitt was in town and could come with us! Everybody had a wonderful time---JGray enjoyed eating almost as many strawberries as he picked and Delia had a blast facing forward in her Baby Bjorn. After we finished picking berries, the kids were able to run around on a small playground before lunch. It was a great day!!

We are very sad that school ends next week but feel so blessed that John Grayson had such wonderful teachers. We will definitely miss them next year!

A very serious berry picker

Yum, strawberries!

An attempt to get me in a picture with the kids

Picking berries with Grandpa

Picking berries with his friend Macey

Going for a ride with Macey

Special Day at Maymont

Today John and I decided to spend some quality time with John Grayson and took him to Maymont for the morning. The weather was perfect and we had a blast walking around. We saw the animals at the Children's Farm and took JGray to the Japanese Garden for the first time. He loved crossing the lake on the giant stones and watching the carp and frogs in the water. JGray jogged the entire time and even managed to climb a huge hill at the end of our journey. We finished the day with a picnic lunch and frozen yogurt. Yum!

Walking with Daddy

Crossing the lake in the Japanese Garden

Watching the frogs and fish with Mommy

Frozen yogurt is the perfect way to end a great day!

On the Move

Rollin', rollin', rollin'.......Delia is now on the move! This week she started rolling over! Not just tummy to back (which she has been doing occasionally for a while now), but back to tummy. Rolling from back to tummy is much harder and requires a lot of work, so it's very impressive for a not-quite 4 month old. It has created some sleeping challenges since she isn't comfortable enough on her tummy to sleep that way. I guess that's what happens when you do things before you're supposed to :-)

We're trying to capture Lil Miss Mobile on video and once we do, I'll post it to the blog.

Three Months Old

I apologize for being delinquent in publishing this post, but I was waiting until today because we had Delia's 3 month pictures taken. Thank goodness MaMa was able to come with us because there's no way I could have done it by myself!! Delia has gotten so big and is displaying so much personality!

This month Delia:

• weighs a little over 13 pounds! We go back to the pediatrician for a check-up at 4 months, so then we'll have official statistics.
  
• found her hands! She can't decide which ones she likes the most, but hopefully that will make the transition out of the swaddle a little bit easier.
  
• laughed for the first time! It is such a beautiful sound.
• started to coo! She is quite the vocal little girl and loves to let you know that she has something to say. At this rate, she'll be talking by the time she's 6 months old ;-)
  
• rolled over from stomach to back. It's not consistent yet, but it's a start!
• continues to adore her big brother! She loves to watch him as he runs around the room.

Here are some pictures from today's photo shoot: