Monograms & Mimosas

My dear friend, Mary Blanche, is getting married this summer! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of co-hosting a monogram-themed shower for her.

It was a gorgeous day for a party!As my Mama noted, it was a true Southern occasion...half the girls there had double names, and everything was monogrammed, from the cookies...

to the silver!

Just the way we Alabama girls like it! :)

Don't the Neese girls look cute?!

The hostesses surrounding the bride!

Mary B capped the day off with one last set of monograms...the world's cutest picnic baskets for all the hostesses! Mine's already packed for the pool this week--thank you so much!
What a fun day with fun friends!

Cousins

We're in Birmingham!

The two cuzzies have been enjoying their interstate play date.

Engaging in a bit of harassment.

But generally just lovin' on each other!

Day Off

To all of our surprise, Jacob decided at the last minute to actually take Memorial Day off from work! Yaaaaay! How wonderful it was to have him home with us, with a whole day to do what we pleased!

We decided to hit up ESPN Zone for some burgers and games!

{You probably think the muffs are overkill, but it's amazing how much noise those machines make!}

Then we headed to the indoor pool in our building for Andrew's first swim!

He did great! I think we've found our new summer exercise routine!

What a delightful day! Andrew gave it a standing ovation!

Nicole + Kirk

You may have heard there was a big event this weekend in Indianapolis. Well, Family Snodgrass was there! That's right--we went to Jacob's cousin's wedding!!!

We got into town Saturday morning and grabbed a quick lunch with Julie and Dave. Andrew got to have his first highchair experience.

Yeah, I don't think he was quite ready.

Then we checked in for Andrew's first hotel stay.

And headed to Andrew's first wedding. Whew...what a weekend of firsts!

The bride, Nicole, looked astoundingly beautiful!
It was a regular baby bonanza.

The under-one crowd, in various states of slumber, enjoyed time with Great Grandma Snodgrass!

And we all had a great time catching up with family and enjoying the lovely reception!

On Sunday, Andrew got to wear one of his daddy's outfits, which Julie brought him from Texas. Such fun!

We toured downtown Indianapolis and saw the State Capitol.

Then we went to Julie's Aunt Genny's house for a fabulous cookout with lots of extended family. Andrew tore through six--count 'em...six--outfits that day by various means, so what with all the clothes changing and diapering and feeding, I didn't get any photos. But we sure enjoyed ourselves!

After the cookout, it was off to the airport to return from our wonderful whirlwind weekend!

Andrew at 5 Months

Here we are at 5 months! Hard to believe!

I think Andrew is still in the 14-15 pound range. When we were at the doctor last week, he weighed in at 14 lbs, 4ozs, but that's only 2 ozs more than he weighed at his 4 month check-up, so I think his illness had brought his weight down a bit. Regardless, I can tell that he's growing!

And he's certainly developing! He's laughing up a storm these days and grabbing for everything in sight.



He's also doing pretty well with sitting up, going maybe 30 seconds without assistance.

He seems to be keeping those blue eyes and is getting blonder every day.

{Warning: Boring mommy talk ahead!} This month we've been working on sleep training/baby boot camp/self-soothing, whatever you want to call it. Months ago we had Andrew sleeping pretty well at night, but he had slowly regressed and eventually was waking up 4-5 times every night. That's no good for anyone! The biggest change has been that Andrew now sleeps in his crib for all naps and at night, instead of in the bassinette attached to our bed. I had been so reluctant to do this because being able to just roll over and check on him throughout the night was such a comfort. But it was time. The first three nights we put him in the crib, he slept from 10:30 until around 6 without making a peep! It was terribly exciting! That stellar performance has not necessarily repeated itself every night, and being sick definitely threw him off (lately, there's been a cry-it-out session around 4 each morning), but we're definitely better off than we were before.

At night, we no longer have to swaddle him because he goes to sleep with a full tummy. But for naps, when he goes to sleep 1.5-2 hours after having eaten, he just cries and cries, unless he's swaddled. We've resorted to what we call the Swaddle 2.0, where the blanket is wrapped over his arms and under his body. It's much harder to break out of than an ordinary swaddle, but if Andrew gets real mad, he can even break the Swaddle 2.0 {as demonstrated below}. Anybody out there have a suggestion as to how we can get this little guy to take naps without a swaddle? Or should we just not worry about it until he's asking to be swaddled for his kindergarten rest hour?
Despite Andrew's cold and the sleep training, this month has been a particularly great one. It's been so much fun to see our baby begin to interact with the world around him! Andrew remains a sweet, happy baby who is a complete joy to his parents!

Family Weekend

We were invited out to Virginia this weekend for the First Communion of our nephew, Ben. It was great to get in some Snodgrass family time!

As is always the case when the Snodgrass family gathers, competitions of athletic prowess emerged. It all started with Grandma Julie and Katie doing gymnastics in the front yard.

Do any other children have grandmothers who can demonstrate round offs and cartwheels? I find it unlikely.

But then Jacob and Josh got into a little brotherly competition.

Jacob, the patent lawyer:

Josh, the electrical engineer:

These may be the brainiest handwalkers you know.

There was a time way back, when these competitions would be in full swing and someone (not Jacob; he knew better) inevitably would call out for me to join in and try to top whatever feat had just been accomplished. I would hem and I would haw and I would mention having been in remedial gym for two years in elementary school, but eventually I would be cajoled into attempting whatever difficult thing was being done. And I would fail miserably. And Julie would kindly give me some out, like, "Well, at least your manicure looks nice against the pull-up bar." Then I would resume my official role as judge/cheerleader. Now, everyone knows better, so I get to enjoy these competitions sans humiliation. From the front porch.

Regardless of one's role, though, the Snodgrass Olympics are always fun!

Once we got the competitive drive out of our collective system, we turned back to the task at hand--Ben's First Holy Communion. We were so proud our First Communicant!
And Andrew required only one mid-Mass wardrobe change!

Afterward, we enjoyed a lovely luncheon and got in a little more family time before heading home!

Much Better

Baby Andrew is doing much better today! Many thanks for all your prayers and good wishes! He's still congested and coughing, but he's a much happier baby. I am so thankful to be hearing his coos and giggles again.

He even felt good enough to try on a little outfit I made him. The plan was for these pants to be in size 12 months for the Fall, but after I cut out the pattern wrong side to wrong side, I had to salvage them by recutting to fit him now. Oh, well--lesson learned! The fabric is toile with nursery rhyme characters!

The "a" is just felt that I cut out, using a stencil I made from a computer printout of the letter in 600-point font. I think I may use that method again--it was so easy!

And to recap:

Yesterday.

Today.

Yes. Much better.