No Traffic

There is no house news. The realtor said that there has been absolutley "no traffic;" no questions about the house, no phone calls, nothing. Heads hung low, we lowered the price again to $119. It is sad to see the house we love so low in value. But, that is the market.

Here I am with my two babies resting. We take naps together each afternoon, and even when I can't sleep, it is so nice to be able to be still and silent. Staring at my peaceful sleeping kids helps to lower the stress of everything as well. I love this time.

"Bouncy Bouncy"

Here is a video of Henry jumping in his jumper. Watch the whole thing, it is really cute. You see Henry go crazy jumping, you see the amazing height he gets on this thing, you see Margaret Mary enjoying her brother, helping to bounce him and making him go "wound and wound and WOUND!" (aka round and round and ROUND!). You see MM get jealous of the attention and start "adult talking" (which is jibberish), you see her throw a little fit and then beg for her turn. Jason and I can't get over how cute MM is talking...but more on that later!

Henry's 6 Month Check-up

First, of all I can't believe my baby boy is already SIX MONTHS OLD!! It feels like yesterday, he looked like this.



But now, Henry is 18 pounds, 13 ounces (70% percentile), 27 3/4 inches long (90%) and has a head circumference of 46 1/2 cm (97%!). He is such a bundle of joy, always smiling and laughing deep belly laughs. He is fierce, focused and determined. When he sees a toy he wants, nothing can stop him from getting to it. Sometimes his face turns red and he starts grunting as he tries to master up the physical strength to get to it.







Just a few days short of his six month birthday he started pulling up on objects and can now pull himself up to a stand on just about anything! Its scary as he has had some pretty hard falls as a result of this.



Henry still loves to nurse to sleep and to bury his face into my shoulder when he gets hurt. I love him so much and love to watch how his masculine heart explores the world around him. Henry is such a blessing.

Favorite Memories of Parent's Visit

Playing in the water, both at the splash park and at home.




The Park. Having two extra set of hands made it very relaxing! Henry got a lot of swinging time (instead of in-the-sling-chasing-MM-time) and even went down the slide with his sister.




Seeing Margaret Mary bond with her Memaw.



The Alligator Farm. Seeing MM's facination with the alligators. Her running up and down the board walks. Her saying "aligaytor", "teeth", and "no touch".





But perhaps, most of all, I enjoyed this. A rare occurance in The Craig House.



Thanks Mom and Dad!

First Pics of Parent's Visit

Here are a couple of pics of my parents visit. They are taking most of the pics, so I can't wait to upload their pics to my computer. They have better documented all of our adventures. Here are a couple that I was able to snap at the water park the other day.

Margaret Mary spent most of the time trying to drink the water (gross!). It makes for a pretty good picture though. It was hilarious when the water pressure would change and would come up faster through the spicket and shoot her right in the face. She didn't mind at all! The girl loves water.




We took turns holding Henry in the shade. Here are some sweet ones of Henry and my dad. Jason calls them the two most photogenic people in the world!




Will post more about the visit later...

Fun Day with Friends

The Weilers came into town again! Margaret Mary loves "GusSam" (Gus and Sam, brothers) and is still talking about how much fun she had with them. We met up at the beach and spent a couple of hours there. This is the first year MM has been able to play independently in the water. She did a good job staying in the shallow spots, even when tempted by Sam to come out further. One time she was crawling in the water, she tripped and her face fell in. The girl didn't miss a beat. She picked her head up out of the water and with a joyful expression on her face, sighed "beach!"





Henry slept for the first half of the trip, enjoyed himself for a few minutes, and then got terribly annoyed about the sun being in his face. Here he his in his few joyful minutes being held by his Godmother, Jana.





We then went to some Gardens to walk around. I really wanted a pic of all the kids, for memories sake, but we couldn't get them all to stand still in the same place. I did get this one sweet one of Margaret Mary and Sam. Sam has decided that he wants to marry her and gives her kisses (to which she gets a big smile on her face). But, she hasn't returned his affections, she is still a papa's girl all the way.



We are so thankful to the Weilers for making the trip (Henry still has a hard time with the carseat). We are even more thankful for their friendship. We will miss them dearly when we move.

Dang Dogs

Nothing raises the property value of your house like your neighbor's pitbulls dragging their crate all over your yard, right?

Henry's first time in the Swing!

Success!

Even MM joined in on the pushing. His joy was contagious. This was the first time Henry was out of the sling at the park. It was hard to push him and keep my daughter nearby. A little glimpse of what life will be like as Henry gets older and wants to play at the park as well. I already know Henry is going to be a handful. He is everywhere at the house. Not crawling yet, but scooting over pillows, toys, anything in his way to get to what he wants. He can sit up for a second, but isn't content to stay in one place. Margaret Mary was the same way!



All that fun led to one tired baby, and one snuggly momma. Henry has NEVER been a snuggler, even as a newborn. It was always hard to hold him because he didn't melt up against you, he would push himself off of you to look around. The sling has taught him to cuddle a little bit, in fact, the sling is the only time when Henry will be content to stay in one place. If you try to hold him outside the sling, he is constantly turning himself, pushing off of you, grabbing your face, etc. Thats why I loved this moment so much.

Homemade Water Park

It has been HOT in Florida recently. So hot, that setting up the sprinkler in the driveway was more of an act of desperation on my part then entertainment. So yesterday, I put Henry in his bathingsuit and Margaret Mary in a shirt and panties (Target didn't have bathingsuits in her size out yet), and turned on the water. The kids had a blast, and I got to cool down a little bit. Henry tried to catch the water in his hands and then eat it. MM had fun filling up containers with water, pouring them into other containers, and running in and out of the sprinkler. Margaret Mary LOVES water and would be content to play in it all day if I let her. Her face just LIGHTS UP, and she is smiling from ear to ear. Henry loves splashing in the water. Giving him a bath is crazy, he splashes the WHOLE time. He is very intense when it comes to playing.

MM wet and going towards the little sprinkler.



And then check out this handsome baby blue eyes. I can't help but post multiple pics of him. My mother heart is so smitten with my son. Such a sweet a special relationship.



Random fact about Henry: he is incredibly ticklish!

My Babies

Finally, a pic with me and both kids in it! Doesn't MM look so old?

Craziness

It has been really crazy around here lately. Jason was sick, then the kids were sick, then daylight savings time reeked havoc on our evenings (what kid wants to go to sleep when its still bright outside?), and then Margaret Mary began having a lot of bad dreams. :( It has been pretty intense with Jason and I often falling asleep when the kids do out of exhaustion. The good news is that our kids are incredibly cute, so although they cause the chaos, they also bring us great joy in it.

Margaret Mary's energy has quadrupled. She is all over the place singing songs (and singing the actual words!), dancing, imitating me when I sing, and finishing lines from her books. She LOVES being outside, but has a huge fear of the ant piles all over our yard. She also has been talking about her heart. When Jason was sick she told me that her heart was sad and that she wanted to hold him. It was very sweet. She also calls everything her "baby." At first Jason and I were really confused as to what she thought baby meant. She would yell and cry for her babies when her movie would end (that had no babies in it). We realized that we use the word baby often. Jason and I call eachother baby, our kids baby, etc. So, she has learned that the word baby is used for something that is dear to her. Therefore, she calls all of her friends "babies." I feel bad because she begs for playdates to see "kids" everyday. She also calls EVERYONE her friend. The guy on TV is her friend, the lady on her almond milk bottle is her friend, anyone who walks by us is her "friend." MM is also obsessed with glasses. I bought her some from target and she wears them everywhere. Inside, outside, in restaurants. It is pretty ridiculous.

The other day we were talking about moving to our new home in Denver. Margaret Mary picked up on what we were saying and said "no, (and pointing to our house) home" as in THIS is our home. It makes us sad, because we love our home so much, and nervous to see how she will do with the move.

Henry is Henry. Talking, moving all over the place, laughing at his sister. I have never seen a baby laugh as much as Henry at five months. The kids take a nap at the same time each day and I make MM sit on the bed while I nurse Henry down. Henry fights me as hard as he can, uses all his will to twist against me so he can see his sister, and then CRACKS up at her. I mean deep, belly laughs. He loves her so much. She then looks at me with her paci in her mouth and says "wake, Henry no sleep," and then starts playing with him. I have to hold in my laughter.

House Showing and Parade

Today we went to the St. Patty's day parade downtown. We were going to go explore the fort, but when we heard about the parade coming, decided to watch that instead. Margaret Mary had so much fun clapping to the music, pointing at the horses, and telling us that the firetrucks were scary. We also saw our friends, The Havens, there and MM loved playing with little Faustina.

As for a house update, We had a showing! It came at the worst possible time. Jason was really sick all day wednesday and thursday and so the house was a mess Friday morning. I spent most of the morning doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. Durring the kids nap, I got a call from the realtor that someone wanted to see the house between four and five. It was exciting but I knew I would need to kick it into high gear to have the house ready (and us out of the house, which is a battle in itself) by four. The kids were so great while I ran around cleaning everything. I don't know what I would have done if they were fussy! We left the house at 3:54. MM hadn't had lunch yet (she is such a trooper) and Henry was overdue for his last nap of the day. We got food, went to the park, picked up Jason and got home about an hour and a half later. I was kinda hoping the people would still be at our house, but they weren't. In fact, it looked like the house hadn't been touched! It kinda makes me nervous that they didn't come, but then that is one of the stressful things about showing. Please continue to pray for us!

Oh Baby!

Here a couple of pics from the Baby Shower this weekend. We are so excited for Baby Van Horn and can't wait till May 21st (the expected due date and according to a billboard in NY, the expected return of Jesus! How funny!). I had a great time throwing the shower for Emily. All my Wilmington friends from college did such a GREAT job of throwing showers and making the showeree feel special. I was so excited to pass on the love. A Big Thanks to Lisa for taking pictures. I completely forgot to!




The Decorations and presents. The friend making the centerpiece for the shower had to stay home because her kids got sick. Desperate for something to decorate the kitchen, I hung up some of my kids baby clothes and put some books on the table. I think it turned out okay!


The best part of all: a joyful, beautiful, Emily enjoying her friends and presents. In this pic, in great shadowbox made for Emily by Mrs. Anderson, you can see the invitations Jason and I made. We had so much fun writing the poem! Some of the funniest moments in our marriage have been writing poems or parody songs of random things.


I couldn't resist posting this sweet pic of Henry playing. MM hung out with all the big kids and their papas at the Mission Grounds.

What a great weekend!