Heaven

Kai: "Is that heaven in there?"

Molly: "No, honey, it's a parking lot."

Sneak Peek!

Kai had his first taste of inner tubing and he loved it! Here he is (with Ruby who isn't enjoying her infant lifejacket) at Molly and Anne's cabin ready to jump in for his second day of riding the waves.

Uncle Joey

If you ask Kai who one of his favorite people are, he will respond quickly, "Uncle Joey."

If you ask anyone who Kai looks like, the overwhelming response is, "Uncle Joey."

If you wonder who we love living near and who we wish we could spend all of our time with, our response is, "Uncle Joey."

Happy 39th birthday, big brother!

(My cousin Keeler is in one of the photos-- he is in the midwest playing baseball this summer and we were lucky to celebrate Joey's birthday with him too)

Moon

We just had a wonderful visit to Kt's house out on the St. Croix River. Driving to Hudson is like going home for me, since it is where I spent so many summers as a camper and then working as a counselor at dear Ol' Camp St. Croix.

On the way home, we were all quiet and the kids were getting sleepy (finally after Ruby cried the whole time there and back- she is so not a fan of the car seat). Kai was watching the moon and he said, "How does the moon move?" Joe told him the big secret that the moon doesn't actually move, but we do. Kai replied, "No, it must move from neighborhood to neighborhood so each and everyone can see it." Later, after I read him some bedtime stories, Kai told me that the moon needs to move to say good-night to everyone.

It made me smile thinking of this moon traveling to each block to each house to say good-night. No offense, Joe, but I think I like Kai's explanation better.....

Good night.

Summer Lovin'

Here are a few photos to show you just how much fun we are having this summer! In fact, maybe a little too much fun, since I haven't had a chance to post more photos or update our blog. Look for more soon-- we have had a wonderful couple of months!

O Brother, O Brother

The #1 question people still ask is if Kai likes his little sister....Like? Naw. Kai is completely in love with Ruby June. He snuggles her, "babysits" her, tries to make her laugh, and holds her whenever he can. Kai is also very loud and I think that Ruby must get so tired of it. But, just when I am thinking that I feel so sorry for Ruby because her brother is just too loud or too in her face, she lets me know she doesn't agree. He might be yelling, but she is laughing at him and smiling and tracking his every move. She also is trying to move and is rolling and is desperately trying to sit up more on her own. I think it's because she wants to follow her big brother and see what trouble he is going to get in next!

P.S. Yes, that shirt is so cute-- Aunt Christy sent it to Ruby and it says, "Surrender the Booby."

Where does God live?

Kai had a lot of questions for me the other morning over breakfast. A little background: we have a blue, shiny, pretty paperweight (more like a sparkly globe) in the middle of our table that used to be my Nonny's. Just a few minutes after she died, I grabbed this paperweight and stuck it in my purse. I figured no one would notice. Well, Kai did and he has loved it. We move it from room to room often.

As we were eating, he asked me if God lived in the globe. Then, he went on to ask if God was a man or woman. Next, he asked if he could go and visit God and find out if God was a real person. I tried to answer the best I could...but, I wanted to tell him that these are the sort of questions that people have been trying to answer for ages. He looked at me completely perplexed when I told him that I thought God lived everywhere and that God is a man and a woman (say what, vern?). He asked if everyone thought the same way I did (No!)

Our conversation left me smiling since it has been fun the past year or so having conversations that actually mean something...Kai is a pretty amazing kid.

Quiz

So, can you guess who is who? (Kai or Ruby) Both are photos of their first smiles. It seems so obvious to me, but so many people have mentioned how similar they look. Shoot, after posting this, I realized one of the photos has pink. Darn pink-- a total giveaway. But, do you think they look similar?

3 months

Happy 3 months Ruby! You have grown so much. You love to smile and laugh. Plus, you "talk" constantly and love it when we talk back with you. If a stranger says hello to you at a store, you give them a huge grin and start jumping up and down in excitement.

You are almost 14 lbs. and are sometimes too tall for your 3-6 months clothes. You like to sleep at home in your crib (so different from your older brother who preferred our bed) and you are a rock star sleeper and sleep at night almost 8 or 9 hours (again, so different from Kai who didn't sleep this long of a stretch until he was 2 years old!). You are patient. You are happy. And, you love your big brother. You even like it when he hugs you a little too tight or wraps his body over you (with me saying, "Kai, give your sister a little space," over and over again).

You have just started to figure out the bottle, so for the first time you've been away from me for more than a little bit. Up until this point, you've come with me to work and we joke that you are the only 3 month old who has attended more than 7 weddings!

As you can tell from this photo, you love being with your Papi. You enjoy early morning runs with him in the stroller and being in a sling with him while he makes dinner.

I've started to work part-time on Tuesdays and Thursdays and your Nonny is caring for you now that she has retired (after 39 years of teaching!). You don't know it yet, but you have the best babysitter in the world.

Summer

Summer is Here! We kicked off the summer with an end-of-the-year Slip and Slide party. Here is Kai enjoying his most favorite perks of summer: popsicles and friends (his buddy Walter)Then, we headed to my 15 year college reunion in Grinnell, Iowa. It was a wonderful weekend: complete with friends, laughter, pizza, and hanging out and doing nothing! But, the bummer was how long it took us to get there. It's suppose to take 4 1/2 hours to drive to Grinnell, but took us over 8 hours each way. It seems Ruby June is not a fan of the car! Here are some photos at one of our many breaks: Kai is enjoying the tractor and I'm trying to calm Ms. Ruby down.

Finally, the "brothers" came to town! We went on a road trip last summer to Michigan to visit the Davis Family. After a week of excitement, Kai told me he had three new brothers. He continues to tell everyone that he has one sister (Ruby) and three brothers (Reese, Luke, and Baby Gabe). We had a picnic on Memorial Day to enjoy some good "family" time together!

Bailey

So, lucky us...we've had almost 40 days of help!! I tell you, this is the rock-star way to have a baby! We have felt so much love.

Bailey came and stayed with us for 10 days (Reba, who I wrote about earlier, is her sister and equally as incredible) and we had a wonderful visit with her. She helped me through two weddings (I have coordinated a wedding almost every weekend since Ruby has been born and I've had Ruby with me, along with a helper), folded laundry, made lunches, played with Kai, and cared for Ruby June. All of the help was incredible, but the real joy for me was getting to know Bailey better. She is 15 years old and such a wonderfully smart, loving, and strong woman. WE spent all week trying to convince her to move out here with us for the summer!

Happy (Ruby) June!

Genius

Kai woke up this morning (we slept in until 9 am-- unheard of for us!) and scurried down to the frig to see if we had any yogurt squeezers. These are his absolute favorites.

When he saw that I had picked them up from the co-op the night before, he said, "Mom, you're a genius!"

What a way to start the morning out! It doesn't get much better than that.

Picture Day

Well, Kai rarely smiles for the camera at home. So, we ventured off to a real photo studio to see what we could find. Here are some of the photos. Most of them didn't turn out the best...mainly because we couldn't convince Ruby June to smile and the photographer at Target was kind've a dud. Oh well-- these ones turned out great!

Slip and Slide

I'm a blog thief: Here is an entry from Andrea about Kai and Soren's fun! (www.randreafam.blogspot.com)

"This past week the weather was fantastic and called out for some water activity. We were honored to be able to break in the Slip 'n Slide that Soren gave Kai for his birthday last January. Kai dove right in while Soren cared more to stay on his two feet. Both had a blast. Thanks for sharing in the fun Kai!"

Seattle

Well, it's Day 2 of Joe's trip to Seattle. He has a conference to attend and plenty of friends and family to visit too. I am insanely envious and wish the whole family could have joined him. I'd love to shoe Miss Ruby J off to all of her aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends. Plus, Jasper was born not too long ago (Jen Costigan's son) and Ruby needs to meet her new buddy.

We were over 1/2 hour late to Kai's school, so that tells you a little bit about how it is going. And, Kai woke up last night and cried for nearly one hour for Joe and he told me today that he is "real mad that Papi left me here." But, thankfully we are getting loads of help and we hope Joe is having a blast (but, not too much fun that he is tired when he comes home!)

Happy, Happy Baby

Ruby June is such a happy baby. Some of you may remember that Mr. Kai wasn't the easiest of babies, so this has been such a wonderful surprise for Joe and I.

(Now, I am a bit worried I'm jinxing it by writing this. Please dear God of sleep don't let this be the case!)

The hugest difference is that Ruby June sleeps!! And, not always in my arms. She actually sleeps in her own little, cozy bed at times and for (gasp!) at least 6 hours straight at night. Kai did not sleep this long until he was 2 years old!

She also smiles, laughs, coos and melts our hearts daily (and doesn't cry like Kai did whenever he was awake!). She is just such a very, very good little gal. We truly feel very, very blessed.

Kai and his little sister

When people ask me how Kai is doing as a big brother, I say wonderfully! Now, this is the truth. He showers her with kisses, hugs, squeezes, and pats. He helps me do her diaper changes, grabs blankets for me, holds her, and shows her off to his pre-school pals with such pride.

The other day I heard him say to her in a whisper, "Ruby June, don't worry! I'll keep you safe."

And, I've heard him also say, "You're so beautiful."

Now, the other truth is that at times he wakes her up with all of these kisses. He also is trying to get my attention in bigger and better ways. Today, I couldn't find him and he had unlocked the porch door, gone into the car that was parked on the street (I must have left it unlocked) and was pretending to drive it like a "police car." I found him yesterday upstairs in the bathroom painting his entire body in make-up. Last week, he used the stamp pad and marked his entire face (and our bedroom carpet too!)

So, it has been more challenging around here. But, overall, I'd say it's not that bad.....I mean, I need funny stories to tell him when he is older, right?

Binka

Joe's mom just left after a great 3 week visit. We've never had her here for that long and we appreciated every minute of it.

I'm not sure how Ruby is going to burp without her-- she was the queen of getting those sneaky burps out. Or how Ruby will sleep in the afternoon now that she has gotten used to Binka's warm shoulder. I'm not sure how the rest of us are going to have as smooth days and how I'm going to manage these two crazy kids all at once.

We'll manage, but it sure was nice to spend some time with a wise pro. After all, she had 4 children under the age of three once upon a time. Wow-- that makes two seem like a breeze!

Happy 2 months Ruby June!