Wiggles time...

Well, all the times I've watched The Wiggles are finally paying off!
The Wiggles, built around a four-man group from Australia, has long been Savannah's favorite television show. She knows many of the Wiggles tunes and sing them right along with the group when we watch them on television or DVD.
Last year Savannah and I traveled to Hampton to see the Wiggles in concert and ended up sitting on the front row... I teared up watching Savannah's face light up when she saw them drive out in the Big Red Car.
Savannah and other kids ended up dancing right in front of the stage right along with the Wiggles and their dancers... she had a wonderful time.
Well, this year the Wiggles are coming to Charlottesville (on Aug. 26) and once again we're going to see them. This time, Pat and Julius will be joining us to make it a family night out and I'm really excited because I know Savannah will enjoy seeing them again.
I volunteered to write a story on the Wiggles concert for Pat's paper and will get to interview Paul Paddick, otherwise known as Captain Feathersword. He is actually the "fourth" Wiggle and is my personal favorite!
Here are a few pictures from last year's show...

A new naptime location...

Savannah crawled into her brother's Jumperoo and apparently lulled herself to sleep... she's something else.

Hat on my head...

Savannah grabbed Julius' hat and kept putting it on his head yesterday... but then every time I would grab the camera she would run around and pull it off his head until I put the camera away.
She would put it down over his eyes and he would jump around in the jumper until he could see... then she would pull it off his head and put it back over his eyes.
I did manage to get these photos in between her attempts to cover him up.

Dinner time at the Fitzgeralds...

Julius has started eating baby food and now we have the challenge of trying to feed two children while trying to feed ourselves. Julius is a good eater... the only thing he hasn't liked were the meat products, but I've mixed them in with his veggies and he seems to like that.
I took these pictures on Monday night after Julius fell asleep while I was feeding him dinner... it was so cute because I could see his eyes were getting heavy, but he kept opening his mouth to eat.
I looked up from the baby food jar and found him asleep and grabbed my camera to capture these photos! Look at his little pouty mouth... he's just adorable!

The Reader...

Savannah got the book, "Brown Bear, Brown Bear", for her second birthday this year and she loves it! I captured this video today of her reading the book to us amid our folded laundry (yes, we do put it away - it just seems like it never ends).
Look closely as she peeks to the next page to see what is coming... and she calls the teacher "children".
Thanks so much Mrs. Melissa and Jayden for the book!

Key to my heart...

I've posted a lot of pictures of Julius in his exersaucer lately, but these were so cute I had to share them.
Julius is getting so big... when I go into his room in the mornings I fully expect him to say "Good Morning Mommy!"

Watermelon time...

Savannah and I went down to a roadside produce stand this afternoon and bought a watermelon, six ears of corn and some peaches. The women told me all of the produce they sell is local and the watermelons were cut from the field on Friday.
I can tell you it was the best watermelon I've had in years and I took these pictures of Savannah to prove it.

Big Sissy...

Savannah woke up this morning and wanted to hold her brother, who always wakes up earlier and was getting his mid-morning catnap in.
Watch as she talks to him... in one of the last pictures he actually hears her and smiles.
Daddy also caught her reading to her brother... she went into her bedroom, got a book and her Pooh chair and brought it in to read to her brother.

Humans or Animals?

I took Julius to his first study at the University of Virginia's Leaning Lab, where students study the behavior of childrenin various scenarios. Savannah has participated in three studies and I signed Julius up when he was born, but never expected them to call for him so soon.
The focus of this study was to see if babies prefer human or animal faces. I held Julius in my lap while Julius looked at slides of human and animal faces. The technician videotaped Julius' face to see which side he focused on while I kept my eyes closed so he couldn't look up to see what I was looking at.
According to the student, Julius was very alert and seemed to prefer the human faces to animal faces. I admit that I peeked a few times and he really was looking at pictures of humans and animals.
It didn't surprise me that Julius is a people person like I am...

My children...

Here are a few more pictures I took today...

Chewing gum...

Here are a few pictures of Savannah attempting to chew gum or the first time... let's hope she doesn't get it in her hair or on the carpet.

Pool time - take 1

This is a video we shot last summer... just a short time after we found out Julius was on the way.
It's hard to remember life without him, but here is a little peek.

Pool time - take 2

I realized tonight that we were Sharon's house almost a year ago and shot video of Savannah and her Daddy in the pool... will post both so you can compare.

Fun in the sun...

We've struggled to get Savannah in the water this summer as she's been afraid of all large bodies of water. I do think we had a breakthrough today as we took the children to my sister and brother-in-law's house in Stafford for some family and pool time.
It took a little while, but Savannah started enjoying the water and actually cried when it was time to leave. Julius, who is so laid back it's a little scary, floated around for a little while before he was ready for some food and a warm snuggle and sleep time on Uncle Kimper's chest.
Here are a few pictures from out time in the pool...

Great Grammy and Papa visit Baby Eli...

I wanted to post a few pictures of Savannah and Julius' grandparents visiting their first great-grandchild, Elias, earlier this week.
We haven't visited him yet as traveling with two little ones does not make for a quiet time for baby... but we hope to see him after things quiet down at the Koza household (although it will never be real quiet again, will it?).
I had to include a picture of Eli as he looks so much like his Mama... he really is her spitting image!

Big sister...

edmi




I can't leave these photos of Savannah out because I think they are so cute... she's such a good big sister. She no longer enjoys taking pictures (guess I've taken too many of them in her lifetime) so I try hard to get good candid shots.
You can see Savannah picked the few ripe blackberries from our vine in the back yard (they were SOUR) so she has a few stains on her face... along with some dirt from playing.
We noticed there was an elephant ear plant growing in the back yard... my Daddy had a green thumb when it came to growing these and seeing it today reminded me of him. Pat nor I remember seeing this plant there last year and I'm pretty sure I would remember it because they always remind me of Daddy.
Maybe that plant had a little help getting here...