Last Friday, my job had a "Bring your child to work" Day. I decided I'd take Zoe.
It turned out to be a really good day and she had a lot of fun.

She took the bus and metro in with me.

She met "The Crime Dog" McGruff:

She got to see and pet a drug sniffing dog... no pics of this. However during the drug sniffing dog exhibit, my colleagues daughter, Raven, took Zoe under her wing and they were inseparable for the rest of the day. Raven is super sweet and loved Zoe to death. She is now Zoes hero:


Here is Zoe at my desk:

Prior to Easter, Zoe wanted to get her hair straightened. Here is the sequence of pics:





And, finally, the finished product:



The day before Easter, we took the kids to see the Easter Bunny @ Tysons Corner. Here is their picture:

On Easter, Kia made brunch (with Mimosas) and Grandma and Grandpa came over to watch the kids do their Easter Egg Hunt. Good times were had...

So... Mama is out of town partying it up with Auntie TT and Auntie Andrea.

Its just me and the kids.

WE LOVE AND MISS YOU MAMA!!!

Here is a video for mama:

Getting kids ready for bed tonight; Zoe gets mad @ me and screams "I'm not your princess anymore!". 20 min later Ryder screams @ me "I'm not your friend!". Ugh.

Last night, we took Zoe out to a special dinner with just Mommy and Daddy.

The occasion was to celebrate the fact that she no longer uses/needs PullUps!

Kia told her a while back that if she can go 5 straight days without peeing in her pullup that we'd take her out to dinner.

So, congrats sweetheart! We are super proud of you.

Here are a few pics:


Thanks to Uncle Ray and Aunt Leah for watching Ryder while we were out. He had a blast as well.

When we get in the car, Ryder insists on buckling his own seat belt.

Ryder likes to give hugs when I leave for work and before bed. He says: "big squeeze. Big squeeze yellow" which means "other side".

Ryder likes to give hugs when I leave for work and before bed. He says: "big squeeze. Big squeeze yellow" which means "other side".

This past Sunday, Ryder and Zoe were playing in Zoes room. Ryder got ahold of Zoes hairspray bottle and proceeded to spray it all over the floor. Because of the product included, it was extra slippery.
So, Zoe goes running across the floor and slips on the slick area and falls and lands on her princess tiara. It poked her pretty badly in the back. She let out a blood curdling scream. Both Kia and I sprinted up to see what happened.

She was fine, for the most part. She just has a pretty bad bruise on her back. It scared Kia and I half to friggin death. Somehow in my panic, on the way up the stairs, I managed to rip the skin off of the tip of my middle finger.

Our nerves were shot for the rest of the day.

Ryders speaking is improving immensely. We can actually have mini-coversations. This is a poor example but I find it very cute: I'll ask "why did u do that?" And he'll say "because".

Kids in tub playing with soap. I tell them not to eat it : Zoe asks me if I ever ate soap as a kid. I say yes. She says, "For real? What did it taste like?"

So... today was Ryders 2nd Birthday. Because its been a hectic week, we didn't have time to plan anything, so we just had a mini-celebration. He had ice cream cake; which Zoe picked out.

We got him some helium balloons (which are his favorite things ever) and a fire engine truck. Zoe had a small fit of jealousy because Ryder was getting all the attention and we wouldn't let her play with Ryders truck.

Here is a photo representation of the meltdown (Notice Ryder in the background not giving a crap):




Anyway, I can't believe that he's 2. On the 1 hand it seems like its been 5 years since he was born; that's most likely due to how much we've been through in the past 2 years... On the other hand, him turning 2 is bittersweet. He's not our baby anymore, but now a big boy. Being a parent is a constant emotional struggle between wanting your kids to develop and grow up and trying to hold on to those precious moments when they are babies.

Here are pictures of Zoe at two and Ryder at two:

Well... its been a wild ride... Its been 2 years to the day that little man (Ryder) was born.

Here is his last "Monthly" photo (even though I've missed the last couple months.

Happy Birthday Ryder James Birdsong. We love you sooo much:

Tonight, before bed we played "Chutes and Ladders" with Zoe. She won. As we tell her its bedtime, her response is: "good night losers".

I'm at work and just got a call from Kia letting me know that Ryder did his 1st ever poop in the potty! He's been sitting on his potty for about a month or so, and has even peed in it a number of times. He likes to sit on his potty and reach up and flush the real toilet.

So... good job Ryder! We are so proud.

We were bathing the kids tonight and I gave them their bath toys, which consists of a couple small balls. Zoe takes one ball and pretends its blush and begins to pretend to blush her cheeks. Ryder takes his and begins hitting himself in the head with it repeatedly.

Last night, after we put Ryder in bed, about 10 minutes after he got into bed, he came out into the hallway naked, carrying a diaper that was full of poo. Gross.

Kids in playroom, Zoe frustrated with Ryder; Kia says to Zoe "Ryder is just a baby and his brain doesn't work like yours yet". Ryder says "Yea! No brain YaYa!"

Playing Jenga with the kids for the 1st time. Thx Aunt Bernie, Uncle Charles, Indigo and Orlando! Zoe loves it and is actually really good. Pics to come...