Summer fun

Somehow it's been 2 months since I've made a blog post.  Fail!  I attribute it largely to the fact the I want to spend every free moment sleeping.  I am currently 11 weeks pregnant with baby Smith #2.  Fatigue and nausea have been much harder on me this time around, not to mention chasing my toddler as well as the other two kiddos I babysit.  Hopefully the second trimester will offer some reprieve from those symptoms.

So, what have we been doing this summer, you might ask?  Well, as long as weather permits, we've been trying to spend as much time as possible outside to get Gabriel separated from his love of tv.  We've been venturing out to playgrounds, splash parks, library storytime as well as our own backyard.

Fun at the park.

After waiting over a year to get a haircut, I finally decided to get it chopped off for a change.  I like it, but it seems like my hair is actually more work short than long since it's thick and has some natural curl to it.  Too bad it's never as cute as when you leave the salon ;-)

New do

Gabriel is also becoming quite the little helper in his own little toddler way (only when he wants to of course ;-) )  He will help me clean the house, unload groceries, throw things in the trash, put away his toys, etc.

Gabriel generally prefers his toy vacuum, but on this occasion tried out the real thing!

In June, Gabriel turned 18 months.  He weighed in at 24 lbs 6 oz and 33 1/2" long at his check up so he's still growing steadily.  Having a December birthday, Grandma thought it might be nice to get him a bigger present for his half birthday since his birthday and Christmas are so close together.  Enter the cozy coupe.  Gabriel absolutely loves it.  He was so disappointed we couldn't just take the floor model from the store that he tried out.  He was even depressed today that I didn't want to let him go out in the extreme heat and humidity mid-afternoon to play with it. 

Love at first sight.

We've been spending a lot of time on the weekends with my in-laws.  I am so grateful Gabriel is able to enjoy quality time with his grandparents and develop good relationships with them.  We've also taken a couple of trips down to Cincinnati to visit my mom (who has been doing a lot of commuting to visit us and see Gabriel)  We spent the 4th of July in Cincinnati where much to everyone's surprise Gabriel loved the fireworks.  He is still not as crazy about the big pool as he was last year, but he's starting to warm up to the idea.

Enjoying some reading time with Grandma.

So proud of himself after climbing up into Grandma's bed.

Shucking corn with Grandpa and Great Grandpa.

Proudly waving his flag.

This past week, one of my college roommates came to Columbus to take our family pictures.  It was a lot of fun catching up and I'm sure she got some great shots (It's been sooo hard to get a family photo with a wiggly toddler lately)  The one I've seen so far looks really good.