Our Life with Two: April 2012

Monday, April 23, 2012

The Fiesty One..

My personal Favorite...I call it the.." Lets get on with this photo shoot already" Look.

We call it "Dolly Dress up" around here. Our definition of Dolly Dress up is: "Dressing your child up in ridiculous outfits and accessories and taking a million pictures until you get the perfect picture(s)." My sister was behind the camera on this dolly dress up session!

Half Way to Three!

The most Beautiful Blue Eyes..and longest eye lashes I have ever seen ; )

...and a laugh that turns any bad day into a great day in an instant.

Its hard to believe Parker is 2 and a half already. I LOVE this age. I love everything about it, the laughs, giggles, how he pronounces his words, hugs, kisses and watching him play and learn new things.

Some of his favorites:

Playing outside on his slide and swingset
Trains, Trains and more trains.
Looking at Books.
Singing and Dancing
Jumping and climbing
Playing with daddy
Popsicles
Going for "car rides"
The Muppets
Disney Cars
Making Animal sounds (you name the animal and he can make the sound...You cant stump him!)
Counting

I could go on and on. His vocabulary has taken off in the last few months. Its amazing and so cute. He is changing everyday. I wish I could hit pause on this time of his life and keep him a little boy forever.

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Robin eggs

A few days ago I was trimming the bushes and shrubs outside...Right as I took my first swipe through the butterfly bush...I saw this...

One lonely little Robin Egg. I felt so bad..I almost cut right through it. I moved it and then thought If I touched it then the mother may not come back (I know nothing about birds) So I put it back where it was (however now it is sitting right at the very top of the butterfly bush instead of buried in the middle (since I hacked off the top half of the bush!)

Later on that day....

...Phew. The Robin did come back and was sitting in her nest. I checked the nest again when she flew away and there were two Robin eggs. The next day I checked and there were three. Then....

I checked the fourth day and there were 4 eggs! I thought this bird was crazy. Leaving one egg per day. But then I used good 'ol google and read that this is typical of a Robin to leave one egg per day and stop at four. I have to admit, for the most part I don't even really like birds. I have this weird phobia of them chasing and biting me! But I found the following information about

Robins really interesting:

Robins lay there eggs in mid morning at feasting on earth worms.
Robins usually lay four eggs then stop.
Until they've laid a full clutch, robins allow all the eggs to stay cool so the babies don't start to develop. It means all the babies hatch close to the same time.
They sit on the eggs for 12 to 14 days. The female usually does all the incubating. Even in good weather, she rarely leaves her eggs for more than 5 to 10 minutes at a time..
She also must turn or rotate the eggs several times daily. She hops on the rim of the nest and gently rolls the eggs with her bill. Turning the eggs helps keep them all at the same temperature and prevents the babies from sticking to the insides of the eggshells.
Males only occasionally sit on the eggs, but they hang out in the territory throughout the daylight hours and respond immediately if the female gives a call of alarm. A male may even bring food to feed his mate, but usually she leaves the nest to feed herself.
Once the eggs hatch, the babies spend 9-16 days in the nest.

I keep thinking it would be really neat the watch them hatch..however the probability of that would be slim to none.

....and that's your 101 in "Robin pregnancy..labor and delivery"

Thursday, April 19, 2012

Polar Opposites....

Both Kids at 5 months old. Layla sporting her "hurry up and take this picture look" and Parker all giggles and smiles. These two could not be any different in personalities.