Milo is rolling and scooting and army crawling. He sits up, but can’t yet sit himself up.

Elodie is expanding her vocabulary every day. Cake, cow, book, home, house, work, and says “I” instead of “me.” When she thinks, she looks up and says ‘hmmm’ or ‘umm’ and then answers with either a slow ‘nope’ or a matter-of-fact ‘yep.’ Sometimes when I tell her ‘no’ she says ‘hey’ real slowly and softly, as if I should reconsider my decision. When Lance comes home she whispers “oh, hide hide” and runs to hide in her fort, under her blanket, or if she can’t get anywhere fast enough, she simply covers her eyes with her hands.

Milo and Elodie are all of a sudden best friends. While cooking dinner the other night, I had Milo in the play pen in the next room, and Elodie went to keep him entertained and all I could hear was two giggling children!

This might be a little premature, but this will probably be one of my favorite photos of them ever!!

Milo has officially started eating baby food, and he has eaten everything we’ve given him. If there are bananas in the mixture, we can’t feed him fast enough! He loves to be close to us, and his sister is still his endless source of entertainment. He even makes squeaks that sound just like her! Any chance he gets, he rolls to his tummy and spins around to find the closest toy to put in his mouth.

Elodie is two and a half!! She is saying more letters and spelling S-T-O-P at every stop sign she sees. She can also say the numbers 1-5 (in her own way). She loves helping (fill and empty the dishwasher & ice cube trays, getting clean diapers and throwing dirty ones away, giving Milo a toy or his pacifier when he’s sad) which is so cute and convenient! Her favorite spot in the house right now is the blanket fort we have set up behind the couch. When Lance walks in the door, she either run towards him with her arms wide open, or says ‘hide, hide’ and waits in her fort for him to find her. Outside of the house, her favorite place to be is the playground – she could swing and slide all day if we let her!

Both kids enjoy being outside – Milo watches cars drive by and also keeps an eye on Elodie, Elodie likes coloring with chalk and watering the flowers/weeds/sidewalk.

June! Peony season!! Awesome weddings and engagement sessions!!! Milo’s surgery!!!!

June was busy busy busy – two amazing weddings and two gorgeous sessions, plus all the editing that goes with it, AND I wanted to get it all done before we left for Denver so that I could focus all my attention on to these two cuties:

Elodie is becoming even more expressive. When a blackbird comes to our feeders she shouts “oh, no!” When something surprises her, she says “wow!” When counting our family members, she counts on her fingers “ma, da, me, bee.” “Bye” is now “bye bye” and when she ‘goes to work’ (goes in to my office and closes the door) she says “bye bye” and peeks through the crack of the door to wave and blow kisses before shutting the door completely. She grabs kisses and hangs on to them to save for bedtime. Her snuggle bunny holds on to said kisses for safe keeping during the night. When she listens for something, she puts her hand up behind her ear, and she is officially big enough to open the fridge door all by herself. Her favorite phrase is still “no, me!” so she can do it herself. She got her first scraped knee (enough to need a bandaid) and now she thinks every ‘owie’ needs a ‘woof’ (Scooby Doo bandaid).

Milo rocked his craniosynostosis surgery. It was so hard to see him so groggy and in pain after the surgery, but after a week of being home he is his happy, giggly, chatty self! He says “ayayayadadada” and smacks his lips as if blowing kisses. As soon as he sees his bottle, he spits out his pacifier, kicks his legs, reaches his hands out, and hangs on for dear life. Since coming home, he has started eating baby food which has greatly improved his nap times! I’m hoping this means I can actually get things done during his naps! Either that or take a good nap myself. ;-)

Warmer weather, flowers, and the kids – these are my favorite things this past month!

Elodie now says “hey, bud” to Milo and also loves to give him hugs when he wakes up from naps.

Milo’s new favorite tricks are reaching for his toes and blowing raspberries (even with his pacifier in).

Huge hugs and shout-out to my BPF (best photo friend) Jessica Simons for always being up for photographing every stage of our lives (engagement, maternity, motherhood) and capturing it SO beautifully. :-)

It’s clear that this monthly ‘laura loves’ post is all about the kiddos month after month (and lately they’ve been posted later and later), but I keep doing them because I need some place to document their lives on a regular basis. Since I’ve already got people asking for the next post when I’m a few days late, I’ve got the perfect accountability system in place! So thanks for following along and keeping this mama on track! :-)

Elodie’s new favorite word is ‘me’ – she is wanting to be more and more independent, and if we try to help, her second favorite word, ‘no,’ is also used a lot. She loves attention (grandparent visits are her favorite) and she is getting goofier by the day. She likes to find our letters on every day items and signs ‘M’ for mommy ‘D’ for daddy ‘B’ for baby, and her favorite… ‘E!!!’ She loves to fall (a.k.a. slide) off the couch, and the anticipation of falling is the funniest thing in the world. The only person she says ‘hi’ to is her baby brother. She wants to give him his bottle and catch his spit up and give him his pacifier and show him his toys. She does not want him to be in my arms.

Milo loves loves loves his big sister. He is getting to be ticklish on his ribs and it’s so cute to hear him giggle! He likes to see what’s going on – sitting on my lap during mealtimes and riding around in the baby carrier facing forward are his favorite viewpoints. We found out that his odd-shaped head is something that will likely need surgery, so please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers over this next month as we navigate through all of this.

As for us parents, our busy work seasons start now. For me, finding the work/life balance is a daily struggle, but I am excited to get to see all my couples on their wedding days. Seeing them so excited to start their new lives together is so sweet and rewarding and I’m glad I get to witness it weekend after weekend! :-)

Hope you are all enjoying these beautiful spring days and I’ll check in with you next month! :-)