Bath time!

Grandma Jeanne has a hard time saying no to Dallin. So when Dallin wanted the entire bottle of bubble bath in the tub, guess what he got?

Hercules takes a nap

For some reason Dallin loves to fling his mattress on the floor when he takes his nap. Sometimes I will find him sleeping on the floor with his blankets, but today I found him back in his bed, minus the mattress. Since he doesn't do this at bedtime, I have come to the conclusion that it is not that the mattress is uncomfortable, but rather that he has a strong need to destroy something before he can rest well for his mid-day nap. We finally removed Missy's queen size bed from his room last week because he kept pushing that mattress onto the floor as well. If you think that's impressive, you should see what he can do when he has a little bit of sugar in his system.

And then we have Taylor's sleep habits. He has been falling asleep gnawing on the crib posts the past few nights. I'll be honest, it kinda freaked me out the first time I walked in and saw him doing this but then I realized he is probably teething. I think it might be time to give up his swaddle so that he can gnaw on something else.

Some advice for Dallin's little brother

1. You must not fall asleep in the car EVER because as soon as you do Dallin will scream, "Taylor, WAKE UP!" until you are wide awake.

2. You must never be left alone with him while in your car seat, even for 10 seconds, because you will get tipped over and made into a human drum.

3. You must be cautious to fall asleep in your crib (you thought you were safe there, right?) because he will sneak into your room, turn on the light, and crawl into the crib with you bringing his cars and baseball bat.

4. You must remember that whenever little girls come up to adore you Dallin will suddenly get a little overprotective.

5. You must remember that it is a sign of love when he gets up in your face and screams, "Taylor!"

6. You must not cry when he has done something mean to you because he will urgently plead with you, "No, Taylor, shhhhh!" out of fear of being caught.

7. You must not try to to figure out how his shoes end up in your car seat each time we head to the grocery store even though you are on opposite ends of the row (you can imagine why we moved the two of you apart).

8. You must NOT join him in the tub for bath time because the second you sit in the tub he will walk over to you and pee on you. Yes, he will pee on you.

My sweet Taylor. You will not always have to live your life in fear. Coming in at 16 pounds at 4 months, Dallin will have to watch his back in no time at all.

My water babies

My boys love the water, which works well for summer in Arizona. Dallin could swim all day long and Taylor is just the happiest little guy when he's taking a bath. This is Taylor's first time in a pool and he did very well. He just sat back and enjoyed floating.

Thank you, Missy!

We LOVED having Missy come and live with us this summer! Dallin adores Missy and often asks, "Where's Missy?" He also likes to identify things around the house that belonged to Missy during her stay (Missy's bed, Missy's closet, Missy's toilet, etc.). She is probably grateful to have her own room again, but Dallin sure misses waking up his roommate at 5:45 each morning (either by putting his finger in her nose, hitting her face with his cloth ("Missy, wake up!"), or just staring at her until she woke up). Our summer consisted of swimming, sports classes, movies, cooking, playing at parks, biking, baseball games, trying to get Dallin to nap, trying to get Taylor to nap, changing diapers, bathing both boys, reading, playing speed scrabble (Missy is so good but she let me win a couple of times), cleaning, spending sister time at the end of the day when the boys were asleep (so much fun--the girl makes me laugh so hard I almost cry), seeing Mama Mia, going out to eat (our favorite: Joe's!), splash parks, batting cages, and parades. It may have not been an easy summer vacation for her, but I sure am grateful for all of her help with the boys and for the time we were able to spend together. We love you, Missy!