BIG TRUCKS, and another two weeks

I feel like I barely blink and another two weeks have passed.  Yikes.  Here's my belated attempt to catch you up on what's been going on around here.

Clara first.

Clara seems to have second child syndrome.  The biggest symptom is being so eager to move around.  Her favorite position is standing up with us holding her hands. She is starting to roll several feet from where we leave her, and even got up on all fours for the first time last week. Oh Clara, slow down already!

Because Clara won't take a bottle, we were given the okay from our doctor to start solids a little earlier than 6 months.  She is working on that gag reflex, but has now extended her diet to squash, peaches, apple, banana, a little oatmeal and some other odds and ends.  Her grimaces are pretty hysterical, but I do think she's getting maybe about 3 calories worth down.

Nectarine.  What about it.

Homemade graham crackers - the biggest hit yet

She has also broken her second tooth, and let me tell you those suckers are sharp.

The biggest milestone for Clara is that she is now in her own room.  Because she was such a fussy baby, I was a bit reluctant to move her - preferring to have to move 6 inches to feed her rather than 15 feet.  But the move seems to have done everyone good - her typical night is now up somewhere between 1 and 2, and then between 4:30 and 5:30, and then often we get another hour of sleep after that.  Much better than 10:30, 1:30, 3:30, 5:30 and up for the day.  Here she is on her first night - not a very auspicious beginning!

Other milestones are finding her feet -

the removal of the baby swing in the bath -

And continuing to work on her sitting.

Grady is very two right now.  He can be just the sweetest boy in the world, and then turn around and bite you in the back, quite literally.  He also "shot" me for the first time.  I know it was inevitable, but still.  He seems to have realized just this past week that preschool house is his new school, and he has been having some adjustment issues around that.  I think Clara's strong grip has also been a little hard for him as he navigates how and when to share.

But when they do share, it's pretty amazing.

There's another one up on facebook that I can't get to load on here.

Grady still loves trucks, and yesterday he and Matt got to take a boys trip to Big Truck Day, where they were able to sit on big rigs, in stretch hummers, and see all sorts of other vehicles - including.... MONSTER TRUCKS! Grady was a bit timid at first, but soon was excited to go on every truck there!

Well, it's hot and I'm beat, so I'm afraid this won't be the newsiest blog post ever. Hope you're staying cool out there!