Chow time!

So after several weeks of Jillian watching every fork jab go from my plate to my mouth complete with open-mouth motions as I took a bite, coupled with a new earlier morning breakfast time that Jillian has come to request, we decided tonight was the night for her first try at cereal! Meredith of course, kept refusing to call what I was feeding her cereal (it sure doesn't look like the Honey Nut Cheerios she eats!) I think she really enjoyed it - she did great taking it in and not giving much back and kept opening up for more!

Immediate reaction to the first bite was more confusion than anything - probably thinking, where is the stuff that is on their plates?

She decided to take matters into her own hands and see if she could do better.

When I regained control of the spoon, she was still wanting to help.

Hopefully this dinner of rice cereal will leave her with a full and happy tummy for bed tonight!

Line Leader

Oh, how I forgot that the highlight of any school day could be when you were chosen as line leader! Today when I picked up Meredith she was so excited to tell me today was her day and to show off her super-cool superstar line leader badge! We of course didn't take it off all day!

Jillian is 5 months old

Yesterday was Jillian's 5 month birthday! This month has been so much fun watching her change and grow into her adorable personality. Some of my favorite moments are watching her light up whenever she watches Meredith. And that love is also shared with our dog, Coki - her eyes can track her four-legged sister like nobody's business! She is so vocal - loves to coo and squeal, somethimes even surprising herself with the noises she can make. Her favorite ways to play are with lots of kisses (this has been a pretty constant fave and one I can't deny her!) and her new one is Peek-a-book. Meredith has joined in the fun in trying to make her laugh by popping out from behind Pinky or blankets whenever she can. Jillian still loves her exersaucer so much, which is a huge help to me, to know she loves to play by herself when my hands are a bit tied. She is watching us eat like we starve her all other times of the day, which I hope is the culprit behind her new wake-up time of 5 or 5:30 - so food us up for this little one next. She is also so mobile! She rolls like crazy sometimes ending up across the room from where I put her without me even turning away and now she is trying so hard to push up to get herself moving. I think she has convinced herself that she really can crawl, she just hasn't made her legs and arms cooperate quite yet. She is very determined and I know that once all her muscles catch up to her mind, we won't be able to stop her!

To Grandma's House We Go!

Today we are all recovering from a great weekend! We took Jillian on her first plane ride to meet my grandparent's for the first time. We were a little nervous because we weren't sure how she would react to flying (especially since she was getting over a little cold) and because we didn't know how we would react to flying with 2 little ones and ALL the stuff you need to be able to travel with them. But in the end, it was great and getting to spend time with my Grandma and Grandpa was well worth it all.

It had been quite a while since Meredith had seen Grandma and Grandpa, but she couldn't have been more excited to run right in, give them hugs, and get to playing!

We loved getting to play outside especially because there are horses and a cow that live right behind them. And their neighbor has a beautiful yard complete with a coy pond - Meredith was more than happy to take over the weekend's chore of feeding the fish. We enjoyed some great Grandma signature homemade food and even a trip to the Precious Moments Chapel for the girls.

Jillian posing with her first plane.

Grandpa and Jillian

Meredith loved playing with their workout ball when she was little and immediately found it this trip too, guess who else had a blast! Jillian was so funny pushing it around with her little feet.

Naptime for the guys


A happy girl after feeding the fishies.

This little kitty was my aunt's as a little girl and we have pictures of my brother and I as babies playing with her and I of course have one from when Meredith was little too, so now we have proof that all of the Hanks girls love this kitty.Jillian and Grandma playing - they both had lots of fun.

Now it is Grandpa's turn!

Meredith loved the horse and getting to pet him
Of course the girls had fun with each other too. Meredith loved these stools - usually they were drums.
My dad happened to be in town for work, so we got this cute family shot. Meredith was incredibly happy to have her Papa with her!

Daddy's Girls

When we found out that Jillian was a girl, we got lots of "Oh, you will have to try for a boy for Neal" comments. Neal was the first to laugh at this and say that was not even a thought in our head. He loves his little girls so much and they definitely return that love more than I could ever imagine. Some of Meredith's favorite times are when he takes her somewhere just the two of them.

We had a broken dishwasher that Daddy was fixing - Meredith insisted she get her tools and help too.

Daddy and Jillian bonding over a nap.

Time to run errands on Saturday morning and Meredith picked her orange dress, then picked out an orange shirt for Daddy so they would match. Plus, they needed matching blue hats too!

Belated 4 month stats

So today is actually Jillian's 5 month "birthday" (more on that later) but I never did post her 4 month stats, so although they are late, I wanted to document them anyway!

We went to the doctor on Sept 1 (so she was really 4 1/2 months old, just to complicate things!):

Weight: 15 lbs (70th percentile)
Height: 25 3/4 in (90th percentile)
Head: 45.5 mm (99th percentile)

So again, we had a re-measure of the head to make sure it was right and it was! The doctor said that sometimes that is concerning, so they like to watch it, but he showed me her chart to show me that she had always had a big head (which makes it less concerning) and then as he left he said "And I know first-hand that big heads run in your family." Thanks, I think? At least that made me not worry about the stats! She did not like her shots too much, of course - she was wailing, then would get comforted, and then just suddenly start it back up again - almost like, she forgot that she should be mad for just a minute and then remember that she needed to make sure I felt really bad (it worked, of course!)

We are so blessed to have such a healthy, growing baby girl and could not ask for more!

Labor Day with Los Coltos Locos

To celebrate Labor Day weekend, the Grants invited us to their lake house on Possum Kingdom Lake. We were so excited to get away with our friends and just enjoy a relaxing weekend together. We loved watching Jillian play with Joseph Austin, Aaron and Joyce's son, who is just a month younger than Jillian and Meredith loved all the great adventures the lake had to offer!

We started the first morning off with a wonderful breakfast and a slow morning staying in our jammies. Meredith soon found the kite that I packed for her and she convinced Daddy to go give it a try - poor Neal had to run like crazy to get the kite to go in the air since there wasn't much wind, and then of course, when Meredith took over the string, it fell pretty quickly, but she still had fun!

Daddy was successful and so far so good for Meredith until...

Is anyone surprised to see that her rain boots made the trip?

Jillian and Austin did lots of playing on the floor together - she was trying to teach him to roll over, I think he was almost there!

Later that morning, the guys headed to driving range and the girls and baby Austin hit the playground

Meredith, Pinky and the boots enjoyed the swing

Before dinner, we headed to the pool - Meredith loved playing in the water with Krista!

Meredith kept asking Krista to take her on "adventures" through the pool. Krista tried to gain her trust to get her out of the hippo (she was a swim teacher so was hoping to win her over!) but it didn't work, yet...

Such a fun group! We are so blessed that these two guys have been a part of Neal's life for so long and their wives have become such great friends to me and to us and love our girls so much too.

The next day, the guys headed to play golf, so we hit the beach!

Look at these adorable baby toes!

Meredith was so excited to get to play in the waves and to make sand castles.

Krista and Noah took Jillian out for a swim while I helped Meredith make sand castles.


The water babies enjoying a dip.

Building sand castles - big improvement from our last trip to the beach when she hated getting close to the sand!

The finished product. Sadly a wave came by and washed it away, which was a huge tragedy.

Before heading home, we got to take Meredith on the boat. This was what she had been waiting for the whole weekend.

Loving the fast ride with Daddy.

Look at the joy on her face! Meredith decided early on in the ride that she wanted to drive. She also LOVES Micah, so what a treat to get to ask him and for him to want to show her how!