Grandma Happy Bibs

Yesterday a little packaged arrived in the mail for Charlie Bear from Grandma Happy.  It was a box of bibs!  But these aren't just any bibs, they're made of recycled tee-shirts!  Because of Charlie's condition, he does a lot more drooling than the average bear.  So I've had him in bibs most of the day.  They bummer is that most of the bibs are small and he tries to rip them off.  And the big ones on the market look like plastic artist smocks - no fun either.  The other bummer is that as Charlie grows older and older, he looks kind of silly wearing tiny baby bibs.  So, Happy came up with a brilliant fix.  The bib lies flat, feels like regular clothing and covers his lap!  Thank you Mama!

Charlie is signing "more more more" as I take pictures.  Poor kid just wants his food.  This morning's meal was applesauce, steamed carrots and quinoa.  Yum!

Another stroke of brilliance.  Happy cut the backs of the shirts into squares to use as reusable wash cloths and wipe-up rags.  Perfect for us because we've eliminated paper towels from use in our household.

School Friends Pool Party

We had an invitation to join Walker's school pals for a pool party today.  It was so much fun to hang with parents while the kids wore themselves out in the water.  Of course, I hopped in the pool too and let Charlie take a dunk.  Both Charlie and Walker love the water SO much.

Walker did a great job of keeping his head above water and paddling all over!

Stan - our host - propped the boys up on some cool floatation devices and dragged them all around the pool.

Whoa!  Hang on Walker!

Here's Charlie just after his dip in the pool.  Naked baby!

He was so comfy on the Hammock that I just let him take a short snooze there.

After swimming, the kids were all treated to a great spread of snacks!

And the best part was that Walker's teacher, Miss Carolyn, came to the party as well!  We love her.

Pool Boys

This afternoon, we visited a dear friend and former doula client at her home in Frisco.  Her baby girl was 16 months old today, so we celebrated with a little sunshine and splashing.  Thank you Jessica for having us over!  The boys loved the water and I loved the company.

When the Texas heat got to be too much, we headed indoors for more playtime, homemade cookies and iced tea.  It was basically the perfect summer outing!

Pizza and Cookies

Today, after a quick trip to Old Navy to get bathing suits for the boys, we visited some friends for a play date.  We met the Vaughn Family through Walker's preschool.  Eli is in Walker's class and Charlotte is Charlie's age.  Their mother, Natalie, has become a good friend and their whole family is just lovely.  And Natalie makes such good chocolate chip cookies that I would swear they're laced with something addictive.  We were joined by another couple of kiddos, which made for a fun, multi family play date.

Walker found a new hat at Old Navy just like his green hat, which is too small for him now.  For 6 bucks, I couldn't pass it up.  Walker found this net and started looking for butterflies.

After a dip in the kiddie pool, Walker enjoyed a few slices of cheese pizza.

This is Charlotte, having just woken from her afternoon nap.  She and Charlie are the same age.

Charlie became very focused on something...  sometimes he gets this look and "checks out" for a bit.  This is the face that our neurologist does not like to see.  Sometimes its hard to get his attention when he's like this.  But then, he "returns" and continues as if nothing has happened.  I don't really worry about it very much, especially since his most recent EEG didn't show seizure activity.

Here he is, checking out all the older kids with their pizza.

Here come the cookies!

Here is a photo of Eli, Walker's bud from school.