Botanic Gardens...

Recently I took the kids to The Botanic Gardens of Fort Worth. I had seen it online as one of the places to visit while here and I thought it looked gorgeous. Its 109 acres of gorgeous settings, with 23 different specialty gardens. My two favorite gardens were the Rose Garden and the Japanese Garden. It was a perfect opportunity for me to take some pictures of the kids. It was very HOT that day. I was carrying Dax and the diaper bag so I couldn't really get into the photo taking too much, but I still got some cute pictures. Mostly of Rylee. We had a good time and Rylee really enjoyed walking through the different paths and seeing the water with fish and the fountains.

3 Months Old Today!!!

Today my little guy is 3 months old. Wow, I cannot believe it. Dax is such a cute little boy, we just love having him around. This age is so much fun. He talks SO much. Every morning when he wakes up he just talks and talks and talks until I wake up. He is extremely happy in the mornings. All I have to do is look at him and he gets the biggest grin on his face. Its adorable! He has so many stories to tell. He smiles ALL the time and giggles so cute, especially when I tickle him. And he absolutely adores his big sister.

Milestones from 0-3 months old....
~He can roll over already from both belly to back and back to belly.
~He is so strong! When I lay him on a pillow, he pulls himself up to a sitting position then tips to one side.
~He loves to suck on his hands.
~He loves his swing.
~He loves having a blanket going across his chest so he can hold onto it and then up next to his face.
~He smiles, giggles, and talks all the time.
~He now drinks 5 oz at a time.
~He is still wearing 0-3 month clothes, but just recently switched to size 1 diapers. (although they are quite large on him).

My little baby is growing and getting so big too fast. I love seeing him learn new things and grow, but at the same time it all happens too fast...and it makes me sad!

Here are some pictures of Dax on his 3 month "birthday". We had fun taking them and Rylee was such a big helper.




Rylee wanted to put this butterfly on his head and she laughed so hard she could barely breath...she thought it was too funny!






Today I also took the kids to the Botanic Gardens of Fort Worth, which was so pretty. I got some good pictures and will be posting them very soon. Stay Tuned....

Miniature Train at Forest Park

This past weekend we took Rylee and Dax to ride on the miniature train in Forest Park. Its a 45 minute train ride that takes you over the river, past a duck pond, and through Trinity Park and back. There were squirrels everywhere, Rylee loved it. Dax looked all around at everything we were going by. He was so content and seemed to really enjoy it. We invited our friends Tyler & Kari to come along with their little boy Dylan. The kids seemed to really enjoy it and I must say it was quit relaxing for me too. Afterwards we had dinner at Casa Rita's and then headed home. It turned out to be a really fun day.







Earlier that day Brett had taken Rylee swimming. She loves the water and cannot get enough of it. She asks to go swimming every day.

~A New Pet~

It all started when Brett had brought home a little frog he had found outside for Rylee. When he got home she was already in bed, so it was in a plastic cup all night long. The next morning she held it for hours and it died shortly after. She was devastated. She cried and cried. While crying she said, "he was my only pet and I really wanted a pet." She said it with the saddest face ever. So we decided we would let her get a pet. So that very day I took her to the pet store and bought her a hamster (since that is about the only kind of pet I dare touch...other than a dog or cat). She picked out a dwarf hamster and named her BELLA. She was so excited. She couldn't wait to hold her.




The guy at the pet store said to wait a day to hold her so she can get use to her cage. Rylee asked every two minutes if she could hold her yet. We continued to tell her "not yet". So she took it upon herself to get Bella out of her cage and hold her. Bella got away and went up a little hole that went between the wall and cabinet in the bathroom. Rylee started yelling "my pet, my pet, she is gone forever!" I could not believe it! I put some of her food by the hole hoping she would come out. All day long she never came out. So, I took Rylee to the pet store and let her get a new one. This time she got a normal sized hamster with longer hair, its called a teddy bear hamster and she named it TUK.


We got home and put TUK in the cage and about two hours later I was sitting on the couch, watching TV when I looked up and BELLA was sitting outside the cage watching TUK spin around on the wheel. She was looking at him like he had taken over her home. It was pretty funny! So we caught BELLA and now I had to run to WalMart at midnight to buy another cage. Now we have TWO pets! Not what I wanted at all. Once BELLA was back Rylee only wanted to hold her, she no longer really cared to have TUK. So I decided I will take TUK back to the pet store. She loves having BELLA so much. She gets her out of her cage at leat 10x a day. She even watches cartoons with her. BELLA is so calm and just sits on Rylee. Its pretty funny to watch her with BELLA.

Proud Mommy & Wife...

Waking up to your smiling kids faces is the greatest thing in the world. When I open my eyes and see Dax just staring at me...I love it. Instantly he gives me a huge smile and my heart melts. Its the most rewarding feeling ever.
Other mornings I wake because I feel someone staring at me...or maybe its that I feel someone breathing on me, but either way, when I open my eyes and see Rylee smiling at me it just makes my day. She gives me a big smile and says "wake up mommy its morning time." I absolutely adore these cute, wonderful, sweet, fun-loving kids. They are my WoRlD...
And I couldn't do it all without my awesome husband. He is such a great daddy, husband, and friend. I have never met someone so good to their kids and with the patience that he has. He has so much energy and could run around with Rylee for hours. He has always been so good at taking her to play at the park, swimming with her, finding bugs, frogs, and worms, playing tag, play wrestling, and really just about anything Rylee can think of Brett will do. He has always been such a hard worker. Right now he is working very hard every day to provide for us and I want him to know that I see how hard he works for us and it means so much to me.
Thanks babe for being such a great husband and friend. It means the world to me to have you in my life!!!

Texas here we come...

Its been a while now since I have posted a blog and I have so much to update everyone on....
First, my sweet baby Dax is now 2 1/2 months old. He went to his 2 month check-up on May 18th. He weighs 10 lbs. 3 oz., 23 inches long. So he is long and skinny. Which doesn't surprise me since Rylee was the exact same way. He is so much fun and continues to be such a geat baby. Everyone is always so amazed at how good natured he is. Rylee is still so helpful with him and just loves having him around. She is so cute with him. She loves having him lay in bed with her and watch movies. Its pretty cute.





Here are some pics of Dax at 2 1/2 months old...





Another big update is that we are going to be in Texas for a short time for Brett's job. I was a little worried about the drive with a 3 year old and a 2 month old, but it couldn't have gone better. I was so relieved. Honestly, Dax didn't make a sound the entire trip. We broke it up into several days. We left last Monday night at 7pm and traveled as far as Moab and stayed the night there. I believe that was about a 4 hour drive with the one stop we made. Both kids slept most that time. The next morning we got up, ate breakfast and went to Arches National Park. It was a lot of fun. We hiked around and let Rylee get out all her energy. Then headed to the next stop, which would be Albuquerque, NM.






This was our longest stretch. It was close to 7 hours with gas & food stops. We would feed Dax before we left and then feed him when we stopped to eat and it all seemed to work out perfectly. Rylee napped for a few hours and the rest the time she was really good. She watched movies, colored, drew pictures, etc. I was really excited to get to Albuquerque because that is where my dad lives. We planned to stay the night at his house. From Moab to New Mexico it was mostly just a lot of flat desert. We arrived in Albuquerque around 6pm. My dad's fiance was making dinner and then we all just hung out and visited. It was so nice to see my dad and his fiance Melody is very nice. She also could not believe how good Dax was. She was amazed. I got some cute pics of my dad with the kids. Then Wednesday morning Melody made breakfast then my dad and Brett took Rylee to the park while I got ready, then we headed on our way.




The next stop would be Amarillo, TX, which was about another 5-6 hour drive. On our way there we made a stop at a museum and to see Billy the Kids real grave site. This was something Brett really wanted to do. Once we got to Amarillo and checked into the hotel, Brett and Rylee went swimming while I hung out with Dax in the hotel.
Then it was our last stretch of driving....which made us all SO happy. From Amarillo we drove to Fort Worth. Which was another 5-6 hour drive. As you we will see in the pics, we were starting to get a little silly. Also, I am still a little confused because I never knew they had camels in Texas, but I am pretty sure these are camels?! Hmmm?! (ok I guess they are llamas, ha that makes more sense).






So that was our journey to get here. So far, since we have been here we haven't done too much yet. Mostly just played outside and hung out at the pool. Its very humid here, which takes some getting use to. Hopefully soon I can share some fun things we have done. :)

Here are some random pics of the kids...






Before we left for Texas we went to visit all the family over Mother's Day weekend. We hung out at Brett's parents house most the time. On Sunday, Mothers Day, we went to my moms house and had a BBQ with all the family. It was good to see everyone and Rylee LOVES getting to play with all her little cousins.






So there is the longest update ever. Sorry for such a long post.