No More Gummy Smile

My baby got her first tooth yesterday. No pictures yet, but they'll be forthcoming.

Unlike her brother, who had just had a teeny edge of his first tooth poke through in the beginning, Teagan's tooth came through all at once. She's enjoying experimenting with her tooth, biting on all kinds of objects, checking out what her new toy/tool can do.

I can't believe my baby's getting so big.

Baby Teagan on Daddy's Shoulders

I believe I'm correct in stating that this is Teagan's video debut on the ol' blog (not counting her 3D sono pix video). What a bad mom I am! I'm sure by the time Kieran was this age he had at least 10 videos that had been uploaded. I guess that's what happens when you're baby # 2.

Teagan is getting so big, and she is truly a wonderful, precious addition to our family. I can't believe she's already 6 months old. Makes me happy and sad all at the same time.

Videos like this make me remember that I want and need to be taking pictures and videos of my kids everyday so I can remember them at this age when they're older and grown.

Snoozing and Snuggling

Many of you know that we cosleep with our kids. I know I've said it before on this blog, but we really love having our kids with us at night, all snuggled together and cozy. Plus, seriously, it makes my life a bazillion times easier to have the kids right there for any middle of the night incidents. Baby needs to nurse? No problem, I'll just roll over and give her what her little mouth is searching for. Big brother had a bad dream? No big deal, one of us will just scoot over, gather him in our arms for a big snuggle and everyone's back to sleep before you can say nightmare.

Plus, I am one of those people who really, REALLY needs her sleep. Seriously. If I don't get my 8 hours a night, I am a big witch with a capital B. If you don't believe me, just ask David who has had firsthand experience with this for the past eight and a half years. Or better yet, ask my mom, who has been experiencing this for, oh, probably my whole life. Cosleeping helps me get those golden 8 hours of sleep (provided I go to bed early enough...) that I desperately need.

And in addition to helping me get my requisite sleep, cosleeping gives me many, many opportunities to get all sentimental and gushy about my kids, as well as opportunities to laugh. My friend Linda posted a picture a while ago of her three kids all snuggled together asleep, and since then I kept thinking that this blog was long overdue for a post with some of the pictures of my kids all cuddled and snoozing away at night. Kieran insisted on sleeping in his "football" pjs one night, despite the fact that it wasn't really going to be very cold. When we headed back to bed, this is what we found:

LOL! Um, we think he was just a wee bit hot.

Another night we heard Kieran say, "Nuggle" (snuggle) on the monitor and went back to check on the kids and found this:

Typically, our kids sleep on opposite sides of the bed, which seemed like the most natural thing to do when Teagan was a baby. I mean, you don't want your almost-2-year-old rolling onto your newborn... Now that she weighs 2/3 of what Kieran does, I don't think we need to worry about that anymore. :) These pictures just melt my heart. Usually Kieran just wants to snuggle with Mom or Dad, but I think he's officially added Teagan to that list of acceptable snugglers.

Sweet T, Beach Baby Extraordinaire

I feel terrible that I posted tons of pictures of Kieran at the beach and then never returned to post any of Teagan's first impressions of the beach. So, without further ado, The Beach, Part Deux:

Here's Teagan getting ready to head down to the beach: And dipping her toes in the surf:

Mostly, though, she hung out under the umbrellas with Grandma, Grandpa, and Mom:She did venture out with Grandpa and Uncle Dan at times: And of course, with Mommy: Kieran had a fantastic time! He loved the beach and is constantly asking to go back.I think he also really enjoyed having a chance to bond with his aunts and uncles. The three of us had a fantastic time! We missed David, of course, but we LOVED the beach.And this, my friends, is what Kieran looked like pretty much every afternoon at or just after lunchtime.
Getting him to go down for his naps was a piece of cake. As a matter of fact, both of my kids slept like champs while we were in Virginia. Makes me glad that we're headed back in just a few short days. :)

Beach Baby, Beach Baby

We're currently at the beach (although sadly sans David, who is back home working hard), where KRUF has experienced the ocean and sand for the first time. He is LOVING it, and I have a feeling that I'll be pressing even more urgently for a move to the shore (or at least closer to the shore than the Midwest...) once this trip is over.

Here are some pictures of Kieran and Uncle Andrew making their way across the beach to the shoreline (and Uncle Andrew trying to get Kieran to wave to me up on our room's balcony):Here's Kieran enjoying building a sandcastle (more like a sandmound):

and dipping his toes into the Atlantic for the first time:
Today will be Teagan's first day experiencing the ocean, but yesterday she observed her brother from the balcony of our room with Grandma:
You may have noticed that Kieran is doing everything with his Uncle Andrew, who has fast become one of his favorite pals. It's been awesome to see how tender, gentle, and patient my 15 year old brother has been with his little nephew. Kieran couldn't wait to "go outside" once we arrived at the hotel (and wouldn't even put on his swim gear, as you may have noticed) so Uncle Andrew gladly took him out to check out the beach while I got us settled, nursed Teagan, etc. Here are some adorable pictures of the two of them:
These are just a few last pictures for Daddy, whom we're all missing, although we're have a great time: