I see London. I See France. I see...

Renn's Underpants!

I'm saving this picture to show to future girl friends.

Don't worry girls. He's no sissy. He's really a super ninja. His "Hi-yah!" ninja chop was so lightning fast the camera couldn't capture it.

But even with his inner ninja, he really is a softy.

And he's good at sharing.

That is... when he's not being a dinosaur.

Kayak Dadadaventures!

Since we found out that we were moving to Corpus we have been talking/planning/hoping to buy a kayak. We were hoping for one that someday we could squeeze everyone into, but still small enough for one person to take it out alone. Two weeks ago we found just the right one on craigslist, and later that day took it out for its maiden voyage.


Bennett and I took it out in the bay in the really shallow water. The maiden voyage lasted a glorious five minutes before Bennett said that he wanted out. He kept trying to stand up and I think that he didn't like how unstable it was. Then to convince me that he was serious about being done he kept saying, "Mama, out" over and over. Luckily it was shallow enough for us to get out and walk back to the shore before a breakdown happened. I was worried, how was Bennett going to go on our 3-4 hour father/son fishing trips if he couldn't last 5 minutes. We'd just have to work on it.
Kim and I decided that even though it is just a kayak, he/she needed a proper name. We decided on Flavia, after the main character from a fiction series we like. Officially its Flavia de Luce, but is also known by the nickname Flava Flav, a drastically different pop culture reference.
The second outing with Bennett and Flavia did not go much better than the first. This time we went with friends that were watching Renn on the shore while Kim, Bennett, and I went out for a short trip. Bennett lasted about 30 seconds before letting us know persistently that he would rather stay on the shore.
He was so excited when I first brought it home and told him that it was our boat. He climbed right in and laughed and played inside it then. Now I was getting worried. I didn't want to push him and make him start hating going out in the water. I started thinking about all the different treats and incentives I could try to encourage him.
Yesterday we planned a little trip to some paddling trails near Port Aransas and I think that we turned a corner. Bennett and I went out together for about 20 minutes!! There were a lot of birds to see and he loved pointing them out and saying pelican, egret, and ibis. We saw fish jump and crabs in the water. Then on our way back to the shore we nearly ran into a pod of dolphins!! They came up less than 20 feet straight in front of us. Bennett was so excited. We followed after them for about 30 seconds and I counted 8 dorsal fins sticking out of the water. It was so awesome to come that close to wild dolphins!! With the added bonus that Bennett saw them and got really excited too.
As we got back to the car where Kim, Renn, and Athena were waiting Bennett kept saying "Dolphins, more more." Luckily the dolphins swam right past them and Kim saw them too. Athena apparently noticed them first and and was sad to miss out on her chance of swimming with the dolphins.
Seeing the dolphins jump out of the water right in front of us was incredible. But the best part of the trip happened a few minutes after we got back. Kim and I were talking excitedly about our dolphin encounter and Bennett was splashing in the water next to us. He walked over to Flavia and started pushing her out into the water. When we looked up to stop him, Bennett kept pushing and calmly said "bye-bye" to us. Apparently he was now ready to adventure out on his own.

Bennett's a learning machine!

Bennett loves to play hide and go seek.  He covers his eyes while we count.  This morning I found him counting in our closet all by himself.  Surprisingly he did it again for the camera!  I don't know why he felt he needed to pause in between each number. Dramatic effect?

For Aunt Kelsey and Uncle Scott

 Thanks for making us so cute! Love this tie and headband bow.

Sunday Best

Renn and I went to all of church yesterday for the first time. This was the first time I also had fun dressing her up as a little girl, head band and all.  I'm a t-shirt and jeans kinda girl and that's pretty much how I've been dressing Renn as well.  But Sundays are a different story.  Who doesn't like to look cute on Sunday? Since I'm having a hard time finding a nursing friendly outfit that also fits my enlarged body AND qualifies to be put in the cute category,  I need to accessorize with a cute baby. (Not to mention that I need to look acceptable as I meet my future friends here in Corpus for the first time. I need a good first impression).  So here she is.  Renn is her first-Sunday-at-church dress.

Please ignore the bad lighting/weird angle.  I was wrestling this little guy to keep him from crushing his sister as he tried his hardest to get share her attention.  It came down to me just snapping whatever picture I could to document her outfit.

Renn is diong amazing.  She's pretty calm for the most part.  When she starts to make a fus usually all she really needs is to be up on your shoulder or facing outward slung across your forearm as you walk around the house.  When she's tired, we just wrap her up, calm her down, and put her down.  Pretty easy.  This past week her baby acne has gone into full swing.  Bennett's was horrible and lasted for what felt like forever.  I think in comparison hers isn't quite as bad.  Hopefully it wont last as long, too. 

Quick funny story.  Yesterday when the girl I met in the nursing room (daughter just turned two and a baby about 7 months) asked me what Renn's name was I totally blanked.  I started saying something and then totally stopped, stuttered, thought about it for a minute and then told her.  I blame it ont he fact that we always refer to her as "baby sister" or "the baby".  For example, " Bennett, quit running circles around the baby.  You're going to step on her head".  Or, "Bennett, baby sister is sad and crying because you were being silly and slapped her.  We don't slap baby sister".

We're still alive!

I feel like I can finally start to breath again. May was crazy. Packing, moving our stuff, birthday, baby, graduation, selling the house, moving ourselves, and doing it all in one week. I can't say that things have settled down into a normal routine yet. Russ is still home for another 2 weeks before he starts his residency. We still have stuff to unpack and cupboards to organize. I'm currently lacking the motivation to finish. Russ keeps talking about ways to decorate to make this house a home and I keep avoiding the topic. Isn't that a little bit of a role reversal?

This is the beautiful face that got up for the day at 6am. Lucky for you it means nobody else is awake in my house and so I sat down to write this blog.
Renn is doing spectacular. She eats great. She sleeps great. She poops great. She pretty much does everything great that a baby her age should be doing. Bennett just loves on her. When I hold her Bennett wants to be held too.
He also likes to do what she does. He loves to lay on the floor next to her or lay in the boppy with her. He keeps sneaking into our room and climbing into her bed and chewing on her pacifier. He runs to her side whenever she makes the smallest cry and tries to shove her pacifier in her mouth. Then he leaves his finger inside while she sucks on it and laughs.

These two kids make me happy.

Besides playing with his baby sister Bennett loves to play in our new back yard. He loves running through the sprinkler with Athena. He loves his new swing set and his new sandbox. I'm loving that I can send him outside to play while I make dinner.

Russ was still attaching the slide but Bennett could not wait any longer.

I think he looks like a little Tom Sawyer in these sprinkler pictures.

Such a perfect baby!

Save the Planet!

Bennett's really been into recycling lately.