It was a weekend of firsts on Saturday at the Schneider household. Jonah had his first friend over for a sleepover and we decided to surprise him and Ryan and make it extra special with their first campout in the backyard! Josh setup the tent, we grilled hotdogs and made smores. Josh decided to rough it outside with them and by roughing it I mean they had an air mattress, a fan, a laptop (to watch Shark Boy and Lava Girl) and surround sound speakers!
Every year my Chi Omega sorority pledge class gets together for a reunion. When we were younger we used to spend the weekend at someone’s house, maybe go out to eat, go to a club and on a few occasions we rented a boat and spent the day on Lake Travis or Lake Lewisville. As we’ve gotten older and some of us have gotten married and started families our reunions have taken on a more mature theme. The last couple of years we have stayed at a hotel, had dinner at swanky restaurants and then hit the spa in effort to enjoy some much needed relaxation (especially those of us with kids). This year I wanted to plan something a little different so we headed down to Fredericksburg and stayed in a wonderful Bed and Breakfast that we had all to ourselves. We still ate dinner and drank champagne at the swanky restaurants but we also did a little shopping in downtown Fredericksburg and then hit the dirt roads to find the Alice Springs Cafe which is home to one of Texas’ best cheeseburgers and the cheeseburger I had definitely earned the right to that claim! Afterwards our GPS (who we named Andy) guided us through the back roads of Fredericksburg to Becker Vineyards where we attended their annual Grape Stomp and Wine Tasting!
It was so nice to have a getaway with the girls, catch up, reminisce about college, laugh and make a few new memories!
And I just want to point out that my husband also enjoyed his first weekend alone with both kids. Not that I was worried…they had a great time.
It seems like only yesterday I was in the hospital waiting anxiously for Miss M's arrival but according to the calendar it was five months ago today that our little ladybug was born. I've always heard that with the second child, time seems to just slip by in the blink of an eye and boy were they right. Maybe it's because we've been so busy this summer but it's still hard for me to believe that next month Meredith will be half a year old!
So, here are some of her five month updates. We recently introduced cereal and she's not a huge fan but I guess it's an acquired taste. She laughs out loud when we tickle her belly or say funny words. She is rolling both ways now. Sometimes I have to be careful because if I step away for even a second she will be clear across the room! Though she has such delicate little features, she is starting to develop tiny baby rolls on her the back of her legs which I just find irresistibly cute! She loves taking a bath and getting a massage afterwards with calming lotion. She is fascinated with Riley. Everytime she sees him, she flashes the biggest smile and starts kicking and screaming. She seems to find comfort in sleeping next to Jonah and loves to snuggle with all of us in our bed in the mornings. She is still sleeping through the night and letting her mommy get eight hours of sleep. Well, it could be eight hours of sleep if I didn't edit photos, check email, work on my blog or play on Facebook until the wee hours of the morning!
We have finally established a nap routine which brings some much needed peace and serenity to our household during the day! Two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. Our night time routine consists of what I call the three B's...bath, bottle and bedtime. Meredith likes to be swayed and hushed to sleep but don't even think about sitting down in the glider to rock her to sleep. That is a major no-no and she will instanly wake up and express her discontent. Meredith is what I think Dr. Sears refers to as a "high-needs" baby in his books. She likes to be held ALL THE TIME! I guess we kind of expected her to be a little high maintenance considering my pregnancy but we didn't expect her to cry every time we sat her down! Not that we mind holding her all the time. Actually we love it but the reality is we also have a three year old to care for, laundry that has to be done, and errands to run. So, we are still working on finding a balance in that area! She's just a girl that knows what she wants and she's determined to let everyone around her know too!
First Cereal
I love her blue eyes...just like her Daddy's 
Finally big enough to sit in the Bumbo seat
She's so delicate just like a little ladybug which is why it's a perfect nickname
Love this smile
Who wouldn't want to hold someone this adorable all the time??? 
I'm hoping that's the case with the third set of ear tubes that Jonah received this week plus having his adenoids removed. He was a real trooper when we headed to the surgery center before the sun came up, something none of us are used to. After a shot of the "happy juice" I wouldn't mind having one of those for myself and a little persuasion with some surgical gloves, Jonah happily left in the arm's of our doctor and headed to the OR. Exactly 47 minutes later, he was sobbing in the recovery room over the fact that there was an IV in his arm. It took me, Josh and a nurse to hold him down so he wouldn't rip it out. Finally, he calmed down, took a few sips of apple juice and they removed the IV and released us home! After a 4 hour nap he was back to being Jonah, running around and begging for fruit loops and goldfish! 
After going to the Wet Zone with our friends this summer, I knew we would be going back again soon because Jonah had so much fun and it's the perfect water park for young children. The pools are not too deep. There are slides and playscapes designed just for toddlers and they even have a lazy river.
So, what better place to take Kayla when she came to visit Jonah especially since Kayla loves, loves, loves the water! Did I mention she loves the water? They had so much fun and Jonah even managed to get Kayla to go down one of the slides! 
A Children's Museum is designed to encourage children from a very young age to explore and learn through interactive exhibits which stimulate their curiosity and creativity in a fun environment. Well, the Children's Nature and Science Museum in Dallas provides just that type of opportunity.
Going to a Museum with four little ones (two three year olds, a fourteen month old and a four month old) is an adventure in itself. Especially when you start out the trip by parking right in front of the front doors to the museum but don't realize that you've parked in front of the front doors and walk all around the Fair park complex in the 100 degree Texas heat looking for the front door. Then when you finally find a door to go in and walk to the counter where you pay, you look out the window and see your car! Sometimes I ask myself "why"? Why do moms continue to torture themselves like this??
But I finally got over it and we ended up having a great time answering some of the kid's "why's" by exploring our world in the dinosaur dig, the water room, and on the little farm. 
* Yes, that is my son checking out the elephant to find out if it is a boy or girl! 
My friends Sarah, Courtney, Jenn and I along with our kiddos all got together for a couple of days of fun! We hung out in the pool, grilled out and took the kids to the Wet Zone! We had a great time catching up and reminincing about our college days at SWT! It was a lot of fun and it's something we definitely need to do more often! 
I took Jonah to see Dora Live with my best friend Vicky and her niece Emory. Jonah was super excited to see Swiper the Fox and was even more excited when Diego made a special appearance during the show. After the show he asked me if he could buy Meredith a Dora doll to take home while we were in line waiting to buy his rescue pack! Isn't that so sweet?? 
Jonah, Meredith and I headed down to Dallas to attend the Taste of Dallas a few weeks ago with our friends Vicky, Lindsey and her husband Mark. Good food and good times with friends. 
Meredith was really upset that she couldn't try all the good food! 
So I made a little promise in one of my last posts to try and post something every day! Ok, so that didn't really work out as planned! At this point, I'm so behind that I am just going to have to do a bulk update and try to start again with the daily posts.
Miss M turns 4 months old today! Our little ladybug is growing and changing so fast. It seems like Jonah stayed a newborn forever and with Miss M every time I blink, she's one month older. Smiling, Cooing and Laughing consume her days when she's not sleeping! And she's a girl on the go. After Jonah was born I think we were too scared to take him anywhere for fear of him catching a cold or crying and making a scene in public. But with a 3.5 year old we can't sit at home all day so Meredith goes more places and does more than Jonah did at her age. Just in four short months she's been to the zoo, the pool, the gym, the salon, the mall, and various restaurants. She's been on a roadtrip to Austin, she went to the Taste of Dallas, and she goes to all of Jonah's playdates.
I still watch in amazement as Jonah interacts with Meredith. He is so smitten with her. She is the first person he asks about in the morning and he showers her with hugs and kisses all day long until it's time for bed. He tells me when she's upset and he checks on her while she's napping. He draws her pictures and brings her "surprises" from the store. The joy on his face when he makes her smile or laugh is priceless. Everyday I try to engrave that image in my memory!
I hope it lasts! We'll see how "smitten" he is when she starts taking his toys as she gets older or better yet, dating his friends when they are in high school! Heh!
I'm typing this post with heavy eye lids so forgive me if I start to ramble. Since I became a SAHM in June it feels like our life has been put in overdrive. Playdates, home organization/remodeling projects, shopping trips, sports camps and everything else we couldn't work into our hectic schedule when I worked from home has filled up our calendar the last couple of months and that has left me little time to blog.
I'm still trying to adjust to this new life as a SAHM and as a mother of two. One of my friends told me it takes about three months to adjust so I have one more month to get it together. I have definitely developed a new admiration for my SAHM friends and even my own mother who stayed home with all of her children. Every night I try to plan out the next day's activities with Jonah while coordinating it around Meredith's feeding and sleeping schedule. I may not technically be working but I'm definitely continuing to utilize my Project Management skills. I wonder if all this planning and coordination will fulfill my CE (Continuing Education) hours for the year??? 
The title of my blog is "The Daily Stroll" and my tagline reads "Stroll through the Daily Adventures of the Schneider family" yet it's been several days weeks since I posted any news or updates. I don't know where the time has gone this month but it's passed right by me! Of course it takes a lot of time to download, edit and post pictures and we seem to always be busy during the day. For example, just in the few minutes that I have been typing this particular post I have been asked, "Mommy, may I have a glass of Grape Juice?" and "Mommy, will you turn on Wow Wow Wubbzy on OnDemand?" and "Mommy, will you trim my nails, they are too long?!" (my favorite one) and "Mommy, do you like Sponge Bob Squarepants?" My answer to the last question was "No" which means I just spent an additional ten minutes explaining why I don't like the talking sponge that lives in a pineapple under the sea. Now that I think about it, Jonah has never seen an episode of Sponge Bob so I don't know where that question came from.
Anyway, I used to try to blog at night after the little ones went to bed but this summer Jonah has developed a habit of staying up late (thanks to Daddy) so by the time he finally falls asleep it's also bedtime for this tired Mommy!
So I'm making a promise to all my blog followers (even though I think the only follower I have is my mother) that I will try to post something everyday going forward even if that means publishing unedited photos or omitting a photo all together. At least my mother will have something to read while she drinks her morning coffee.
Without further adieu, here are some more pictures from our weekend in Georgetown over the 4th of July.
One weekend trip required seven bags for four people. This didn't include the camera bag, the stroller, or Josh's laptop bag. 
Christian, someday Kayla will teach you how to drive
Happy boy!
My happy boy! 
Happy Girl! 
My sweet boy!
"Come on Meredith, let's go get on the swings!" 
"What mashed potatoes????" 
