The Goomba Clan

She insisted on the attire... Who am I to argue with a belligerent toddler?

"I finally feel like I can be myself!" I guess she was going for the Pirate Princess Ballerina look...

Someday these shots will be included in a graduation or wedding slide show.

Awww, he's getting a flat head... Oops.

This shot was totally fabricated. I never actually get the two of them to sit near each other without Sydni wanting to dive bomb onto Jared's lap without realizing that it's the equivalent to a gorilla trying to snuggle on a bunny.

Was she reading my mind...?

Happy little dude.

Happy little chick.

Most tolerant kitty....

The award goes to...

We Love You!!!!

Jacob, if you're able to check this site, this was Sydni's first reaction to the video you sent home to us. She loves the little dvd and misses you very much. I hope you're doing ok and we can't wait for your safe return! Every one, your family and mine, misses you and loves you so much.

With ALL of our love,

Cassidy, Sydni and Jared

Hanging Out in the Heat

Pictures with the mutha.

Looks like SOMEone's had a little too much apple juice...

Sydni, with her friends Andrew and Chaso, playing at the park!

Dirt is WAY cooler than boys with flowers. Way to go, kiddo.

And Jared, keeping an eye on our stroller for us. He's super good at holding down the fort.

The Maestro

Sydni has been perfecting her piano/singing skills. She's pretty much a rock star. This little diddy, featured above, is titled 'The 3, 4...' song. It will be included in her first album release. For now she pronounces 'piano' like 'kiano', but I've been trying to teach her to make the 'p' sound at the beginning of the word. Now she says 'P-p-p-kiano!!'. Oy... Notice how she adds a little percussion in there with the music stand? True artistry... or toddlery.

And Now...

Of course, I had to get another one of these shots, it's almost identical to one I took of Jacob napping with Sydni in the hospital.

The little man. Born June 30th at 6:58pm. He weighed 7lbs 12oz and measured 20 1/2 in. Coincidently this was also his Grandma's (Jacob's mom) birthday as well! I was able to have a successful VBAC and the doctors and nurses were all on top of it and very supportive. It couldn't have gone better and I was incredibly relieved that I didn't have to have another C-section!

They let us go home the next night and we were very eager to get home to Sydni and also to sleep in our own bed. I want to thank all of the family and friends that helped us so much with Sydni during this time. I could really tell that she felt so loved and important during this transition of welcoming Jared into our home and I think it made all the difference in her being so open to having a baby brother enter the scene. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, you know who 'you' are.

We were up and running by the 4th of July and had a BBQ with lots of friends and family. The guys from Jacob's work helped do all of the cleaning up after Austin and his new fiance, Rachell, did the cooking and Jacob did the grilling. I wasn't expecting to have such a turnout at our house, but it was a blast and I didn't have to do any work, so I wasn't complaining.

The men hanging out with the little one's. Our good friend Andrew recently had to say goodbye to his expectant wife and two daughters, they moved home for the deployment, so he was soaking up some time with Sydni.

He taught her how to blow bubbles! And for that Andrew will go down in history.

Sparklers with Dad...

Frolicking in the street, enjoying fireworks for the first time!

He's very pensive.

First family photo. Sydni likes to eat Roman candles. That's all I have to say about that.

Oh yeah, I wouldn't miss explosives for anything.

It's my baby bro!!! My Daughter is odd. And I fear Jared is doomed to the same fate.

Whut?

A colorful world

I LOVE the colors in this picture. I'll have to go take the little squirrel back to this playground and have some more fun with this shot.

Pretty flower...

Some of my favorite shots are of her tromping through the grass. Next time I'll have to frame her full shadow in the shot for a little extra imagery.

Keeping 'em coming.

I have become Sydni's permanent paparazzi. These are just some more pics of her being her sweet self.

She knows something I don't know...

In this picture she has her FAVORITE blanket in the world. She likes to drape it over the rocking horse, and the cats, and say "There you go". It's the sweetest thing.

Her favorite thing to do. That's my little antisocial angel. Books! Books are all you need! No boys!

Today we had Sydni's toddler gym class. It's an hour long and there are lots of toys, slides, and ball pits. I love watching her with the other little one's. She's very gentle and kind. She plays for a while and then flies toward me for an atomic hug, just to check in. Every twenty minutes there's 'circle time' and she likes to do the clapping games and sing the songs. There's one part of a song where we 'hop, hop, hop' and I usually try to hold my belly and do little hops with Sydni, but at this point in my pregnancy I think I'm done 'hopping'. I notice everyone eye-balling me to see if my water's going to break or something.

I think tomorrow we'll go to the book store and see if we can find a picture book on being a 'big sister'. I think that would really help Sydni start to understand what her new role is going to be. For now she points at my tummy and says 'Baby!' and rests her head on it and gives kisses. I don't know how much she really comprehends, but I think she's going to do pretty well with the transition next month. I'm starting to get glimpses of the 'terrible two's'; every now and then she'll throw a pretty impressive fit, but we'll get through it, and I know it's nothing personal. Besides, that's what duct tape and sedatives are for, right?

This one's for you, Kat

Yep. That's the belly. Yep. My hair is very short right now.

Ok, bye.

Today's Pic's...

Yes, I am having fun taking lots of pictures now... I just wish the formatting wasn't so annoying on this blog. Sorry it's so scattered. I've reformatted and posted many times trying to make all the previous posts look more 'clean' but to no avail.

So! Just take it as is.

New Camera!

'No, Mommy. I don't want to get up and pose for you...'

'You will pose, and you will like it. We've got to pay for this fancy new camera somehow!'

And that's how Sydni's modeling career began.

Our Trip to Georgia

As most of you know Jacob has been gone for a couple of months now. We miss him very much but he will be home on Saturday. His time at Ft. Benning, GA was extended a little longer than expected and he ended up having an unexpected week of leave; but the catch was that he had to stay in the area. So, I decided that Sydni and I would just have to fly down and make a vacation out of it.

Sydni was an amazing travel companion. We had a total of five flights going accross the country and back and people were constantly reassuring me that they'd never flown with a more well behaved child. I personally think the little DVD player I got should get all the credit, but I'll take the credit in its stead. We got to Georgia around midnight, local time, on the 19th. We were able to stay with our good friend, Adam, near the beach in Savannah and the weather was beautiful the whole time we were there. It was so great to finally be able to let Sydni run around outside and see the world instead of huddling inside from the harsh Washington weather. Adam lives in marshlands so there was TONS of wildlife within walking distance. For the first time Sydni got to see turtles and geese and we were all eaten alive by sand-gnats, but it was worth it.


Of all the new things that Sydni got to see and do, she was the most excited about getting to spend time with her Dada. She adores him and every moment she got to spend with him brought her a lot of joy.









She was doing so well on the trip that I had wanted to take her to a toy store and pick up something new to play with while we were visiting. We went to the stuffed animal section and I held out a cute little puppy. She had recently learned the word 'Puppy' and I thought she might like to have her own. She wasn't really interested so Jacob held up a cute little stuffed kitten to see if she might like that. Well, she pushed it away and Jacob and I just shrugged at each other. Before we moved on to a different toy section Jacob picked up a little blue monster, just out of curiosity. As soon as he held it out to Sydni she grabbed it and gave it a hug and a kiss and started poking his little red eye. Jacob and I started laughing because at that very moment it was so incredibly apparent that this was our child. For the rest of the trip we took 'Bob' with us where ever we went. In the pictures below we are at the Waffle House, also know as 'The Awful Waffle', and she is tenderly feeding Bob and giving him hugs.

Sydni's first time on the beach!

This is Remo, he's Adam's dog. Like I had said before, Sydni just learned the word 'Puppy' a few weeks before this trip. Every morning when we woke up at Adam's house she heard Remo's collar jingling and she would squeel and run for the door yelling 'Puppy! Puppy!'. He was a very good dog and was incredibly patient with Sydni.


















Altogether we had a great trip. It was good to get home, though, and get Sydni back on track with her eating and sleeping. We've stayed home a lot this last week and just watched movies and recovered from all of the excitement. Jacob is doing very well at Air Assault School and he will be graduating on Friday and flying home on Saturday. Three more days until he's home, so we're doing pretty good!

Love you all.