You know you are the parent of a 2 year old if.....

Yesterday we were leaving the pool and I told Mason we were going to Chick Fil A. As we entered the parking lot and pulled to the drive through line Mason realized we weren't going inside and got upset. Here was our conversation:

Mason: "I don't want to go home I want to go in Chick fil a!!!!"

Me: No Mason we can't go in Chick fil a today we will go another day.

Mason: Mommy I want to go in Chick fil a!!!

Me: Mason we are going to get our food and take it home, we will go inside one day soon okay?

Mason: No, go inside Mommy!"

Me: Mason we can't go inside because we are wearing our swimsuits and you are not allowed to go in a restaurant in your swimsuit.

Mason: (thinking deeply before talking) I go in there naked mommy!!!

I'm trying to picture little Mason walking in Chick fil a naked, ordering some chicken nuggets then going into the play area. :-)

This little incident made me think of the other off the wall things Mason has done lately. 2 year olds are an interesting breed. They are the sweetest things in the world one minute then going crazy the next. I love this age and wouldn't change anything about it but there are definitely lots of challenges! I know that one day I will look back on this age and things that seem stressful now will probably give me a good laugh!

So just for laughs....you know you are a parent of a 2 year old if.....

You find a Thomas the Train ball in your bag of pretzels.

Your white kitchen cabinets mysteriously have orange crayon all over them.

Potty training consumes your thoughts and pee pee, poo poo and potty are three words used almost more than any others each day.

Old Mcdonald and The Wheels on the Bus play constantly in your car. You almost forgot you actually have a radio that plays adult music.

When your child is finished with a snack you tell them to put the rest of it in the trash.....later you discover that same snack floating in the toilet.

You constantly use food as a bribe. "If you go potty you can have an M&M!" "If you finish your dinner you can have a cookie!" "If you are good in the store you can have goldfish!"

You can spend an entire morning cleaning but an hour later the house looks worse than when you started!

You find the entire contents of your purse spilled onto the floor and your child with tic tacs in his mouth and your lipstick on his face.

You get a cracker out of the box and it is mysteriously wet.....hmmm someone has been licking the salt off and putting them back in the box again!

You find yourself hiding in the other room while you are eating a snack because you know you will have to share it (give it all away) if your child sees it.

Your child say's "I love you Mommy!" followed up with a huge hug and a kiss and you know that it is all worth it!

Does anyone have anything to add? :-)

4 Months!

Connor you are four months old today! Where has the time gone? You are growing SO fast!

You are still such a sweet and content baby. We love having you in our family!

Here is what you are up to at four months!

You weigh 14 pounds 11 oz. (48% percentile)

You are 26 inches tall. (80% percentile)

You are such a happy baby. You smile at anyone and everyone and have started laughing all the time!

You are so vocal! You constantly make little squeals and shrieks!

You are still a great sleeper. You do wake up at night occasionally but most nights you sleep from 9-6.

You still fight daytime naps! The only sure way to get you to sleep during the day is to drive somewhere. You always fall asleep quickly in your carseat and it's were you take some of your best naps!

You are getting your first tooth and it's been so rough on you. You are always drooling and constantly have your little hands in your mouth. I can tell you are in pain and it makes me so sad! I really hope it breaks though soon!

You do really well pushing up with your arms when you are on your tummy but still aren't rolling over! You a laid back little guy just don't seem to be in a hurry! That is fine by me!

You are wearing mostly 3-6 month clothes and size 2 diapers.

You are eating every 2-3 hours during the day. You've decided to boycott bottles but we are working on finding one you like!

You are very interested in Mason. Sometimes he will be doing something silly and I look over at you and see you smiling at him. It melts my heart to see the two of you interacting. I can't wait until you can really play together.

Happy 4 month birthday sweet boy! We love you so much!

Fun with friends!

Yesterday we got to meet my friend Amy's (and Mason's friend Gavin's) new baby! She was born last week and is precious! It's amazing how huge Connor seemed next to her!

Unfortunately Connor slept through their first date but I am sure that one day they will be good pals! Lucy is definitely on the approved girlfriend list for Connor!

Then we headed to play with Mason's friend Ava and her little brother Keegan!

How cute are they?? They were born only a week apart so its fun for Connor to have a friend so close in age!

Mason and Ava braved the heat outside while we stayed inside with the babies.

They are so sweet together. We are pretty sure they will be getting married one day! :-)

Today we went to Jack Carter pool in Plano with Mason's friends Carter and John. It was such a great pool for toddlers! It was really shallow and had slides, squirters and lots of other fun stuff! Mason had no fear and went down a huge covered tube slide the second we got there!

I'm hoping that Connor is not quite as adventurous as his older brother! I don't know if I can handle two kids with absolutely no fear!

Mason and Carter enjoyed squirting themselves and the poor lifeguards too!

Mason loved this slide and wanted to do it again and again and again!

Sweet little Connor wasn't too sure about the water. I think he was wondering why his bath was so cold??? He was much happier sitting in the shade!

The many faces of Connor Benjamin

Connor is developing such a little personality lately! I remember reading in a baby book that four months begins the "golden age" of babyhood. He will be four months next Friday and I definitely agree with the book that he is getting to such a fun age! There is nothing quite like the phase where a baby can smile, laugh and interact with you but still can't move and get into stuff! I am enjoying this stage as much as possible because I know that it won't be long until he is crawling, into everything and my whole world will be changing! Here are the many faces of Connor at 3 1/2 months!

July 4th Fun!

We went to my brother in laws house for swimming and BBQ on 4th of July and had lots of fun! Here's some pics from our day!

Mason with his cousin Wesley....they look like trouble here!

Connor was ready to celebrate!

I tried my best to get a good picture of the boys. But they turned out like this:

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And this:

So we resorted to pictures of us with the boys!

Swimming with Liev:

Uncle Kevin must be telling Mason something important here!

Jared helped Wesley and Mason build a fort. Such a thoughtful daddy.

This little guy loved all the attention he got!

This and that

I had so many pictures to post and don't have the time for separate posts so just wanted to do a catch up of what we have been up to in the last week or so!

We are trying our best to beat the crazy summer heat! This has involved lots of trips to splash parks and pools!

Here's Mason and Carter having fun spraying each other!

Mason and Presley in their matching floats.

Connor sleeping the shade :)

So having two kids is hard. Not that I just realized this but I especially decided it a few days ago after attempting to go swimsuit shopping at Kohls with both kids in tow and no double stroller or cart. Hmmm I think I was temporarily crazy when I came up with that idea. Connor screaming in the baby bjorn (I guess he stopped liking it???) and Mason wanting to push the cart through the tiny little aisles instead of ride in it was more than a little stressful. So after the Kohls fiasco I promptly called Jared and told him I would be buying a double stroller that day! We had one that someone had given us that just seemed so big and heavy and I had been wanting a lightweight one for a while. I decided on a side by side umbrella stroller and love it. Its so lightweight and I can even get it in and out of the car while holding Connor!

Jared turned 30 on Wednesday so I had a "surprise" dinner for him. I'm not good a secrets so I think he had pretty much figured it out ahead of time but it was still a lot fun!

Afterwards Mason and his cousin Liev had funny riding the horses outside the restaurant.

They started off like this:

And before we knew it Mason had jumped off the moving bench and on to the moving horse! That boy is crazy. I love this because it shows Liev and Mason's personalities perfectly. Liev is the calm and reserved one and Mason the little risk taker.

Connor is getting so much better at tummy time. I will be the first to admit that I am horrible at enforcing the amount of time they should spend on their tummies. Watching a baby scream and kick to be turned over is not my idea of fun! In the last couple of weeks though, Connor has seemed to be enjoying it more and more! He is so close to rolling over too!

We also tried the excersaucer for the first time! He is still to0 short for his feet to reach so we improvised by adding some books at the bottom for him to stand on!

We are starting to work on potty training with Mason. That is a whole other post but we bought him some Thomas the Train undies in hopes that it would motivate him. One morning I let him put a pair on then discovered him like this:

I guess one pair wasn't enough?

We have been enjoying lots of time in the backyard in the evenings when it is a tiny bit cooler.

Connor is big enough to swing now!

Mason's favorite backyard activity is playing with the hose. It could entertain him for hours!

And finally if you are still reading the longest post ever, here are just a few more pictures of the boys I wanted to share! Have a great holiday weekend!