Block Party!

Yesterday, despite the extreme heat, we went to our neighborhood block party...and boy did Maddox have fun. It was really too hot for Kennon to go so Eric and I sort of took shifts with Eric taking Maddox down first and then I took her for the last half. It was super hot so the organizers set up a few baby pools for the kids to use to stay cool. Maddox ran around, shoes off, from pool to pool, up and down the little slide, in and out of the sprinkler. She even jumped in the big bounce house they had rented. I had to laugh, when Eric and I both had a chance to finally talk about the party later that evening, it was definitely evident that each of us had utilized different 'Maddox chaperoning' skills while we were down there. I was apparently a little more LIBERAL with Maddox during my shift. She didn't necessarily play directly with any of the many many kids, which is typical for her age, but she sure did love all the activities. There was sidewalk chalk, all kinds of little ridding toys...oh and.....lots of unclaimed food hanging around on little tike picnic tables for Maddox to scarf down before I could get a chance to grab her. She definitely capitalized on some uneaten Doritos!! Oops. At one point she had cheese all over her face. It was really funny, although Eric didn't think it was quite so hilarious that his daughter was kind of a scavenger during my shift!! Sorry Dad. She was having a good time. The pictures below are from BEFORE the party actually started. It is so fun to put her in little summer dresses. Eric came back shortly after they got there to get Maddox's swimsuit and that was her attire for the rest of the event. She was covered in grass by the time we left ( oh and a little Doritos cheese!)....so she went straight to the bath for a cleaning. She is starting to say phrases now which is fun, stringing together 2 or 3 words. Today she pointed straight to the TV and said 'hippo' to the hippo that was on the screen. I didn't even know she knew the word hippo. The Niabi Zoo doesn't even have hippos and the St. Louis zoo's hippo expo was closed when we got there. I don't know how she learned this word....!! It is really amazing and fun. So much easier for her to communicate with us now. Kennon is doing pretty well. He continues to sleep at night, on average, 4 to 5 hours at time. Although we did get lucky and Friday night he slept from 9pm till 4am. GREAT. He still has his fussy times but definitely improved over the last couple of weeks. I swear he grows by the minute and he gives us more and more smiles each day too! He is still fitting in the 0 to 3 month clothes but they are definitely getting a little snug. We'll be moving to the 3 month clothes soon I think. He is a good eater and still doing well with the bottle. We are SO EXCITED. This weekend Uncle Jay gets married which is cause for celebration AND for family to be in town. Uncle Tyler, Aunt Brooke and cousin Carter will be in town as well as all of Maddox's second cousins, pretty close in age to her, on Uncle Jay's side. It should be a fun weekend.