Dance Party!

What started as a birthday party for George, one of our host parents, ended up as a dance party for Laine and Parker.  

Parker is the granddaughter of George and Sally Burdette, and she spends every Friday at their house.  Laine and Parker have become great friends over the summer thanks to "grandma day" at the Burdette's.  

They gave each other a sweet good bye hug.  We'll miss you, Parker!

Tales from the Crib (part 2)

Having squelched the diaper removal fun, Laine picked up some new tricks. Two nights ago we found Laine in her crib, completely undressed except for her diaper, and along with her was her laundry basket and the towel we had used that day at bath time. How she managed to get the other clothes out of the basket and pull the basket up over the bars and into the crib we still don’t quite know. Apparently she is fairly dexterous.

So tonight I emptied the laundry basket and pushed it further away from Laine’s crib so as to make it out of reach. But, alas, Laine came back with another creative and humorous activity. She was undressed again, not to my surprise. But the clothes weren’t in the crib like they normally are. This time she had thrown the clothes out of the crib and into the basket! She got both top and bottom in successfully without a miss. What an athlete!

Perhaps there will be more tales to come…

Tales from the Crib (part 1)

Those of you who know Laine well know that she likes to keep a busy “nightlife.” For those of you who don’t know, it is typical for Laine to talk and play in her crib for up to two and a half hours after we put her to bed at night. She seems happy, so we don’t mind the chatter.

Well, about a week ago she started pulling her pajama pants off at night. The first time we actually found her this way she had also taken her diaper off. I won’t go into details, but when I checked on her Penny and I had to change out all the sheets, her pajamas, and Koko (again, thankfully we have two Kokos).

This repeated itself at naptime and bedtime the next day. We’re slow learners, I guess. But, thanks to a family I babysat for in the past, I had learned the trick of putting a strip of duct tape across the diaper to keep it securely on. The next night… success! Laine still took her pants off, to be sure. In fact, she took them off again in the morning before we got her out of her crib. But thankfully the diaper was still on.

To be continued...

Finally... pigtails!

Laine's hair is finally long enough to sport some pigtails.  Penny and I are so excited, and Laine seems to really like them as well.  Here's some glimpses of her new look.

The final stretch

We are down to our last two weeks in South Carolina.  Hard to believe the time has gone so quickly.  We leave on August 13th and fly to Florida to see my family for a few days.  Then Penny drives the car home from SC while Laine and I get to fly directly to St. Louis from Florida.  He's such a champ with all the driving - thanks Penny!  

Once we return home we hope to do some car hunting and squeeze in several doctors appointments for Laine and me before classes start.  We'll see how productive we are with all that in about 10 days!  One of those appointments is to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.  I'll keep you posted on what we find out.  We look forward to returning to St. Louis, but once again we will miss our South Carolina friends.

Laine Turns Two!

This week has been a bit of a birthday extravaganza celebration for Laine.  We ended up having three separate birthday parties with friends and family!  Laine has had a lot of practice opening gifts and telling people how old she is.  Her standard answer is "Two!" as she shoots up both pointer fingers to the sky.

This is Laine's party with her other two-year-old friends from the summer.  We celebrated at a great new playground in Greenville. 

After two years Mom and Dad finally broke down and let Laine have her first sugar! (Unbelievable, I know.)  She loved the icing but not the cupcake so much.  Needless to say we're okay with her not being too excited about sugar.

Daddy was worn out after the big party!  (Truth be told, we all were.)

Hunting for a second car

Penny and I have been doing some research lately, specifically regarding the purchase of a second car.  We've been down to one car for about a year and a half, but now that baby #2 is on the way we realize we probably need another car.  We were heading in the direction of getting a mini van (somewhat reluctantly), but upon suggestion we are now reconsidering.  Our biggest hang up with the mini van is the lower MPG that it will get compared to a 4-door sedan or a station wagon.  We researched station wagons for a few days but found them more expensive without as much benefit as we would want.  

So now we are considering either a 4-door sedan or a mini van.  The sedan obviously gets better gas mileage, but will it fit all our stuff when we want to go out of town for the weekend?  Keep in mind we will have two car seats and lots of baby gear (pack n' play, booster seat, etc.) for these minor trips.  And what about when family comes in town and we want to be able to all ride together?  Should we pay year round for lower gas mileage just to get the benefits of these occasional trips and visits?  How much will we use the mini van to car pool with others while we are in St. Louis?

I'd love some feedback, especially from other two-child families (or those who have already passed beyond that stage).  Any wisdom to share?