Papa Murphy comes to visit

Dane calls my dad Papa, from when he couldn't say Grandpa--and I think it helps him to distinguish between his two excellent grandpas--which would make my dad Papa Murphy, if you think about it. I hope that catches on...

Since my dad is such an inveterate traveler for work, it means that he always has frequent flier miles--and we got to benefit from that this weekend when he used them to come visit us to meet our friend Graham! He was only here for two short days but we really had such a good time with him. We've been spoiled with Kristen and then my dad visiting lately! We took my dad swimming and to exercise at the athletic center with us, and out for some authentic Texas BBQ and Frisco snow cones. It was a fun-filled weekend.

Cutest picture ever #1 (#2 to follow later in the post)--the first time Graham met my dad.

Swimming at the new Frisco Athletic Center water park.

Dane insisted that my dad sit in the back with him the whole time.

Happy, social little Graham!

Dane's favorite pastime with visitors.

Papa accompanied Dane to nursery and took some cute pictures of him there.

And meanwhile, Graham pooped all over two different outfits during church and ended the day in just a diaper.

Cutest picture ever #2!

We feel lucky to have such great grandparents on both sides for our boys. And we can't wait to see them all soon!

Summer, summer, summer, summer

It is officially SUMMER here in Texas! Say it in an urgent whisper like on High School Musical 2: "Summer... summer... summer... summer..." This means it is too hot to do anything outside all of a sudden, really, especially with a two-month-old. I don't know what to do with such a small baby in the summer heat--Dane was born in September so he seemed old enough to fend for himself (theoretically) by his first summer. So we are looking for good things to do that are indoors where I don't need to think about babies being dehydrated or overheated or sunburned.

We have a very awesome new built-in activity with the Frisco Athletic Center, which has a gym and free day care for the kids and an awesome swimming pool and water park! Dane loves going to the fun club and even more loves going swimming with me afterwards. It's been a real lifesaver for me this past week. Other than that, we've been staying close to home and spending lots of time talking to Graham, who is just getting to be so expressive and SO happy and smiley, I just can't get over it! If he makes eye contact with someone he just breaks out into the most beautiful, enormous grin, and coos and talks so happily as long as you keep doing it back to him. I feel like we've gotten to a GREAT baby stage, where he doesn't scream that much any more and he's not as hard to get down for naps, and sometimes (not all the time) he takes longer naps and sleeps for a while, which is AWESOME. He loves his swing and basically naps in there all the time during the day now, but we've got him still sleeping normally at night. 

Look at these stripey pants!

Oh, he LOVES his playmat. He will lay there for 20-30 minutes just looking at the same toys over and over again and being sooo focused on them. One of them plays music and he is just fascinated and so happy to sit there and watch and listen.

Kind of working it in the Bumbo!

Dane has been really loving summer too. He loves playing in the water, so swimming and splash pads are high priorities for us. I just signed us up for a mommy and me swim class that will hopefully help him become the slightest bit more water safe before we spend a week at Bear Lake with the Leiningers, and also because I know he'll really enjoy it. I also bought this water table for him and it has been a big hit. It's pretty low-tech, but he doesn't need much to keep him happy. And I love that we have our covered patio that keeps him in the shade when it's 97 degrees outside!

And I love the water table because I can sit 5 feet away from him, but INSIDE, in the air conditioning, and he will happily play by himself with me watching through the window. WIN WIN.

Dane and his best friend Ben were playing at the water table today and completely soaked themselves, so we had to take off their clothes and dry them. So they spent the rest of the afternoon running around in their diapers and looking like twins. It was hilarious. 

We are all of a sudden really close for our trip to visit our families, and I feel like there is SO much to do to get ready. And yet I spend my time reading and blogging instead of planning for that... I guess it'll happen whether we're ready or not!

a few random pictures

We are still loving life with two kiddos, although it's been a little stressful lately with Graham still not showing any signs of sleeping longer stretches at night. I am starting to get a little weepy and randomly angry over very random things and I am pretty sure it's the constant lack of sleep. It's been nine weeks and on the one hand I know that isn't that long, but on the other hand it feels like it's been FOREVER. It would be bearable if only we knew when it would get better, right? When Dane was this age, he was already only waking up once per night--and I kind of secretly thought we were just awesome parents for figuring that out so easily. Turns out we didn't know anything and were just super lucky--should have known that all along! This parenting thing sure is out there to humble you and bring you down to the dust, whether by physical deprivation or by emotional stretching--you name it. But MAN that Graham boy sure is getting cute and smiley and talkative, so it's all worth it.

We brought Graham to church for the first time last week, at eight weeks old. We only ended up staying for sacrament meeting, because Dane was coughing up a storm and not fit for nursery, and Graham was a little sick too. But he sure looked HANDSOME in his brand new church outfit that Sister Gebara sent us!

First day back at church for Mom too! 

Dane has really been into tea parties and picnics lately. He likes to spread out a blanket and arrange his trucks and cars on it and tell me they've all come to a tea party with him. We'll give him a string cheese and some water and he's totally satisfied. 

Always nice to share with baby brother.

So much love for his brother. It's hard to resist that big brotherly love!

Hello tiny friend! Looking good!

Tommy resurrected a Leininger family tradition and we had a picnic pizza dinner while watching a movie last night. We watched the Incredibles together and Dane was totally into it the whole time. 

Today, for Graham's second time at church, we stayed the whole time AND Graham and Dane accidentally ended up matching! They both looked super handsome. I can't get over Graham in his overalls... I absolutely LOVE it.

Love these two boys--even when they are driving me crazy and making us sleepless!

A visit from Aunt Kiki!

We were sooo happy to have Kristen come visit us this week! Seriously, we felt so honored to have her spend one of her off-track weeks from teaching to come visit us. We wanted to entertain her and show her the amazing sights of Dallas, but ended up staying really close to home and basically not doing anything the whole time--and luckily, she was a super gracious guest and didn't mind. We went to the splash pad, to a bounce house place for Dane to jump in, and to several fun places to eat around here, including Babe's Chicken Dinner House (which is just as awesome as it sounds for fried chicken). She was soo helpful for me too--she babysat Dane while I took Graham to his 2-month doctor's appointment, and she was Dane's best friend to play with all week (which was the biggest help of all!). We spent some two hours trying to put together a gliding bench I bought at Aldi (there was the mistake right there), only to get to the last step and find out they didn't give us enough screws. But the best part was just having her here to talk to and hang out with during the day--so nice to have some adult conversation and someone to be with during all the craziness of every day. Unfortunately, it was all so low-key that we didn't take many pictures--but it was such a great week anyways. THANK YOU Kiki for making our week so much brighter and more fun!

She tried all week to get a good picture with Dane where he was actually smiling and looking at the camera--and finally, success!

Having a tea party outside with some muddy water from Dane's water table, haha.

On Friday, before dropping Kristen off at the airport, we went to an aquarium in Dallas, and Dane loved looking at all the fish. This was the only thing we took pictures of really, haha!

Very nervous around the crabs. The worker was trying to get him to touch a hermit crab and Dane was not having it.

Also very nervous about this albino alligator. Kristen had to keep him safe here.

And he wouldn't touch the stingrays either. I was a little worried he was going to have nightmares after all these animals he was scared of at the aquarium, actually--but we've been good so far!

We splurged on the $2 and bought fish to feed the stingrays with--they swim right up and suck them out of your hand. Sooo scary! (Dane refused to do it, so Kristen and I did it ourselves.)

And then Dane ran around in the little fountain outside of the aquarium before driving to the airport.

Graham was there for everything too, promise! 

We had a great time with Kristen here. We were sad to see her go, but it just makes us even more excited for our upcoming family reunions at Bear Lake and Aspen Grove. We CAN'T WAIT!