Reina, my Joy

Reina is just growing up. She says things like: "what is the solution to our problem?" And she'll do things on her own initiative. Every morning she gets up, goes potty, gets a shirt and pants on (which accounts for a lot of funny combinations), and asks, "what are we doing today?" She still has things to learn, though.

The other day Vaughn threw all his dinner on the floor. I was tired, and coming down with a cold. I said, "oh, I'll just pick it up later." Well, Reina got up from her seat, got out the broom and dust pan and swept up the mess, and threw it away! I didn't even know she could do something like that! She was so proud of herself, and I was happy for the rest of the day.

In February we discovered a cavity. I was really shocked (especially since she'd just been to the dentist in November) until I talked to several moms who had similar things happen with their kids. But, to be on the safe side, I explained to Reina that eating too much candy would give her more cavities. Since then she has been cured from asking for candy! An hourly request before. What a blessing! And she has a shiny silver tooth, a hit for visitors and friends.

Reina is also having lots of fun playing by herself, making up songs, and conversations. She's doing EXCELLENT with letters and writing. She's been writing her name for about a month now, and she'll write words like HAT, or CAR. It's pretty exciting. We're excited for all her new stages, and grateful we have such a happy, and fun daughter.

Mom, I'm ready to go to the beach!


Happiness


New aprons, custom made by my wonderful mother! We love them.


Can I have a puppy? I want a puppy, just like this one.


Waiting for friends to come.


Ever since we went to my brothers wedding (last December) every white dress is a wedding dress "just like Adrienne's." This girl has a memory you wouldn't believe.


My girl


On mothers day, Reina claimed everything that I recieved, especially the card she made me, the candy for my card, and the cookie for me. It was fun sharing. This was a card from Ben's parent's, she wouldn't let it go.


The Silver Tooth


Daredevil


Her favorite place: the park.

Mr. VW

Despite Ben's fear that Vaughn will never speak, Vaughn does quite well, in his own way. He points, jabbers all the time, pulls us around, and uses lots of words, his favorites are: water, juice, bear, dog, bird, flower, blanket, binkie, diaper, shoe, car...and many, many more. He loves being outside. For my birthday I bought new boots for myself (from the kids, how thoughtful), and Vaughn was so excited about them, I had to get some for him too (Reina already has a pair). The morning after my birthday I woke up to Vaughn thowing his boots on my head saying, "boots, walk." It was 6 am. At least they weren't dirty yet.

He also loves to listen to music, but doesn't really like my singing (or maybe he just doesn't like being sung to). Yesterday in the car we were listening to Enya turned way up (ya, we get really crazy) the car hit a bump and the CD stopped for a few seconds. Vaughn let out a huge, "NOOOOO!" He thought I'd turned it off. I think he just likes quality.

He love to play with cars, and sometimes two cars can keep him ocupied for most of churh. Vaughn is also really good about going to bed, often when he's ready for a nap or ready for bed, he'll take Ben or I by the hand, ask for his binkie, and then lead us to his bed where we put a blanket around him, and moments later he's asleep. It's really wonderful (as you can imagine). One of the more wonderful things about our buddy is that he is so active, and yet can also be very calm. He loves to cuddle, read books about animals and cars, and sit on our laps. Following are some of the best and most recent pics of Vaughn.

Where's Vaughn?


Daddy's Helper


Cute Legs


Mopping is Tough to Do (especially with these heels)


Daddy Love


Finally SPRING!







I moved all the kid's stuffed animals, and as soon as Vaughn noticed it he climbed right up and started to play with them all. He loves stuffed animals, espcially bears.


Squirrel waching

Best Friends

The kids are growing up so quickly, (I know everyone says that, but it's true!) and are doing and saying new things every day. They love each other so much, and spend all their waking hours together. If ever I separate them for different activities, they miss each other. Reina has alredy been teaching Vaughn games to play with her, their favorite is hide and seek. Reina hides and Vaughn counts, "two, two, two, two." He's a pretty good finder, and always remembers an old hiding place. Reina is good at telling Vaughn what to do and when he's doing something right or wrong. The other day she told me that "Vaughn is a very sweet boy." They keep each other happy in the car, and Reina will spend forever telling Vaughn "Vaughn, say 'apple,' now say 'bookcase' now say 'dinosoar' etc etc. Vaughn always repeats her. Here are pictures of the two together.


We don't get enough time outside, here are my kids between downpoars, watching the birds and the cars.


They STILL even sleep together. Reina likes it more than Vaughn. Last night Vaughn was making a huge fuss in his room (it's about 8:30pm). Ben went in to calm him down, he patted Vaughn, whispered to him, and then noticed a very large moving blanket at the bottom of the bed. I guess their co-sleeping only works if Vaughn falls asleep first.


...and of couse, a favorite, watching cartoons together.


It's daddy tickle time...

...and the intensity goes up a notch.


Monkey See, Monkey Do

Downtown!

Ben and I took the kids and Ben's cousin downtown, we had lots of fun and it was beautiful, as you can see.











I have to mention how manly Ben is for carrying my purse. He's my hero.

The best, and cutest kids. Need I say more?

Sleep. Will they ever learn?

The kids are still fighting bed time. They've been sleeping in the same room for about six months, but just a few weeks ago Vaughn learned to climb OUT of his crib but not back IN. Now what? Instead of going in his room every five minutes to put him back in bed, we decided to put him through early graduation to a real toddler bed! This is early compared to Reina, who didn't switch until she was almost three. The change ended up being good timing as Reina kept sneaking into Vaughns crib to sleep with him. I think that she secretly misses her crib, and she has never really adjusted to sleeping in a bed. Who knows?

Vaughn is doing very, very well. He loves his "bear" bed, and actually anything bear. He carries around Winnie the Pooh, and another stuffed animal my sister bought him for Christmas, and sleeps with them at night. The only problem is that now he can get out of bed. We had to start shutting the door again, which made Reina flip out. We decided to let her fall asleep in our room until Vaughn adjusted. After a few weeks we put Reina back in her room, and convinced her to let us shut the door.

It's going all right, if you count Reina yelling everything that Vaughn does, "mom, Vaughn keeps gettig out of bed!" "Mom, Vaughn is getting in MY bed again!" "Mom, Vaughn is knocking on the door." "Mom, Vaughn isn't going to sleep." The other day I thought things were going really well. At least it was quiet. I walked by the room and noticed the light was on. I peeked in and Reina was up on the changing table, the room was covered with all their toys, and Vaughn was handing Reina any thing she wanted from the floor.

Here are some sleeping pictures. As well as one with Reina and her friends playing her favorite, Noah's Ark, on Vaughn's bear bed.




This picture was taken after one of Reina's escapes into our room. We didn't realize she was there until we went to bed. It doesn't look very comfortable. But definitely preferable to her own bed, of course.






Vaughn still loves Reina's bed best, as a car racer. He drops the cars and yells hoping someone picks them up for him. If no one comes after a while he'll climb down and get them himself. And do it all again.

This is a pictures of Vaughn's favorite things. His bear, his binkie, an extra binkie that he presses against his eye when he's tired, as the next picture shows, and his daddy's shoe.

Wellness Fair

The kids and I went to a wellness fair. We saw the Easter Bunny, fire trucks, ambulences and a police car inside and out. We also went to lots of booths where we learned about safety and eating healthy. The kids got lots of stickers, buttons, stamps, bubbles, crayons...etc. Vaughn and Reina were both really excited to see the Easter Bunny. Vaughn kept saying, "Hi!" and waving. We also found out that Reina has a cavity. Uh, oh. No more letting Reina brush her teeth herself.




Vaughn was really scared of the big teddy bear in the streatcher. He wouldn't even walk by it for a picture.

I have been trying to get a picure of Vaughn with a baby for a long time. He loves babies so much. A little too much sometimes. My friend's baby, Henry, was so patient and happy, while Vaughn got in his face and crawled over him, and patted his head. Henry was a good sport.