3 Months

Hey how YOU doing?? I just love this pic. I forgot I had taken it on my phone last week or so. Daddy had propped him up like this and I had to take a pic. I took this pic last night, trying to get a smile. My mom thought his new hair that is coming in will be blond, and I think she may be right.

Me and my boy. He does have the sweetest most charming smile when he smiles.

Grace had her 1st candy cane a couple weeks ago while we took down the Christmas decorations.
She sure did enjoy it dontcha think?

Look at my Gracie, her face is getting thinner and she is losing her baby chub. Boo.

Aaron is 3 months old today and he smiles a lot now and coos all the time as well. He goes to bed between 9-10pm on most nights (except for tonight, tonight he is fussing and trying my patience, so daddy is doing the butt patting and rocking the boy to sleep so I can finish this post)(Thank You Daddy)and sleeps about 4-5 hours at first then wakes up about 2ish and then 4 or 5ish and then about 8ish. He also takes a long nap during the day about 3-4 hours sometime between 10-12. I prefer early more like a 10-2pm nap, but her has been going through a growth spurt recently and nursing more. Plus we ran out of his meds for his reflux so that was making him more fussy as well. Today he has been on it again so it looks like we are turning that around.

I am also LOVING my cloth diapers! Really I am! And I got my order of 12 more yesterday so I don't have to do laundry everyday. (We only had 10 before and now we have 22) I told my husband tonight I love changing Aaron's diaper now. I love all the colors (except for white, its so boring) I love how they look and feel. I love how they hold up his bigger clothes. I love that I don't have to spend more money on diapers and how when my kids are totally out of diapers I can resell them and ideally get half of my money back. I also love that I picked the FuzziBunz One Size Pocket Diaper. This particular brand I love because I don't have to buy a bigger diaper when he gets bigger. It did take my husband and I some time to adjust all of the elastics in the legs but so worth it!

I am loving being at home with my kids. I am loving that I get to get my routine and house in order and have the time to do it and finds what works for us. I am loving cooking dinners for us tonight and experimenting with new recipes.

So here is a quick story about what we have been dealing with lately. A couple of days ago in the morning before her left for work my hubby was telling me he was itching and had a rash on his armpits and groin area. (Nothing super unusual because his skin is super sensitive). When he got home and was telling me about his day he said he was super itching all over and when he took his clothes off his rash had spread all over his upper torso. His allergist (remember he is getting immune therapy for his allergies, allergy shots) told him to take some Bendryl and he did. I was concerned and thought well in a couple hours if that doesn't help we are going to the ER. Well in a couple hours his sister came home and they ended up going to the ER because the rash had spread down his legs too. He was at the ER till probably 130am with an IV and they pumped him full of Benadryl and Epiniphren (sp?) to counteract the rash and then the drowsiness from the Benadryl. He had a follow up with his allergist this morning and that doc admitted he didn't think it was hives and to see an immunologist. So hubby is on an host of drugs (the rash is 98% gone but he is still itching) and we have been racking our brains to come up with anything he has encountered lately that was new to his system. I think he is going to try to get into the on Tuesday, unless he can find a sooner appointment.

It seems like every time I turn around I am writing about some health issue our family is having or more specifically some health issue he is having. At least he is not a hypochondriac because I am the one always pushing going to the doc. :) Hopefully we can figure out what he is so violently allergic to that made his skin breakout so quickly.

So needless to say I really didn't sleep well that night and then was like a zombie yesterday, but conked out early last night and felt much better and able to make it to the grocery today! Amazing what sleep will do for you eh?


I finally was able to get a little bit of smiling and cooing on video. The problem is every time he smiles he moves his head up and every time I get the camera or cell phone all he sees is the camera and doesn't look at me. When I don't have an picture taking device in hand he smiles for me all the time! Go figure!

Happy Birthday Grace!!

Well I finally managed to get our pics downloaded from her birthday party.

My version of Winnie-The-Pooh, copied from one of her slipper socks! (It looks better in this picture than in real life believe me! lol)

In order to get Grace to eat dinner daddy told her we would do presents afterward so it was a struggle to get her interested in her cake.

But she did blow out her candles!

Vern and Jo looking at the Magnetic Dress up doll from Memaw and Pepaw!

Daddy working hard to put her race track together, it was a bit more complicated than he thought!

Playing with her Lace and Trace from Memaw and Pepaw.

A 20 pack of Hot Wheels from Nana and Papadaddy!

A cloth purse from Aunt Linda, so cute!

6 in 1 Race Track from Nana and Papadaddy!

She took forever opening her first couple of gifts because she had to give everyone a piece of the wrapping paper.

Jolynn holding sweet Aaron. (Notice her share of the gift wrap on Aaron's blanket)

Grace Brooke I can't believe that you turned 2 years old on Monday! Where has the time gone? You are such smart girl, you amaze us everyday with how quick you are learning. Just this morning I was sitting nursing Aaron on the couch while you ate some cereal. Afterwards you wanted to wipe your hands dry but there weren't any dish towels hanging on the oven. I told you to get a new one out of the drawer and you dug way in the back and found a clean one. "I found it!" you exclaimed. You were so proud of yourself. Some of your favorite sayings have been "Sure!" instead of Yes. "I got it!" "Go Niners!"

You also have started to enjoying watching movies. You love Pooh Bear and look at me and say while nodding your head Pooh?

You love all of your toys that you got for Christmas and you loved looking at the Christmas lights. You still love Elmo and sing La La La!

You are such a good big sister to Aaron, when I ask, you will go get me his blankie out of is crib and his paci. You also love to hold him and were reading him a book just this morning. You will pat his stomach to reassure him and pat his back to burp him.

One of your favorite pastimes is looking at pictures. You can see some of them in the hall and will exclaim Nana! when you spy her picture while we are changing your diaper or getting your pj's on. You love to name off your family in the pictures. You also love talking on the phone (although I am not sure where she got that!) you say Hi and Bye and I love you and miss you and see you later and then you are done!

You still will take a good nap for me, typically about 2 hours although longer if the house is quiet and I am lucky!

We are working on potty training right now and taking it slow. You know that you get a tiny piece of chocolate if you go tinkle in the potty.

Also on some days you will ask for a pony and I will get a rubber band or two and put some ponytails in your hair. You are still wearing a size 51/2 shoe (I believe, right now all you wear is your size 6 boots and you are used to the ankle support so it doesn't bother you that they may be a bit big still.) And you are wearing 2T and have some 3T clothes.

Every night we brush your teeth, read a book and say your prayers and you do so good going to bed, you never pitch a fit. Your such a sweet girl and love to play with your kitchen and cook us yummy food and feed the dogs.

You adore your daddy and always want to be in his office or putting little treasures into his briefcase. Grace you are the sweetest lil girl two parents could ask for. We love you!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not Pictures of Grace's Party

So I know I said that I was going to do a birthday blog post. And I really did intend to do one, however lets be real. I was too tired and Aaron has run out of his medication for his reflux and has been fussier and fussier. I am going to call the Dr. tomorrow for a refill. And I needed to get these pics off of our old camera.
Here is my handsome husband playing with the cousins! I do think that my husband has very nice looking forearms, if I do say so myself!
I love these pics of my dad with Grace. Up until this trip Grace was not feeling the love for any male type figures. My dad came up and started playing with her, at first she had a melt down and cried her lil eyes out but then she was cracking up and laughing.

He was pretending to gobble up her drink.

I love these pictures with her Poppa here too. Because he slowly won Grace over (and that is a sticker on her nose) by coloring with her.

This pic is great because she was copying him.

Mewaw and Pepaw ordered pizza and put her chair in the living room to watch the Charger game. She was enthralled because we never eat downstairs in front of the TV and we dont have a TV upstairs in the kitchen. Although I shouldn't say never because sometimes we eat breakfast in bed in our bedroom and watch Sesame Street. But only when its time to change the sheets! Otherwise eating in bed with a 2 year old s not advised.

One of our couins holding Aaron.

Papou and Aaron meeting for the first time!

Grace playing with her cousin, who happened to be the flower girl at our wedding! That was almost 7 years ago and I can't believe how grown up she is getting.

Ok the next post will be birthday pictures I promise! I am going to try to download them now!

My First Dentist Appointment

Friday we took Grace to our dentist (whom we love!) and she did absolutely wonderful. They were so surprised at how good she was for only being two years old. They kept saying how they had 4 year olds who weren't this good. So we were quite pleased with ourselves because we had been talking to Grace about the dentist and what they were going to do. Here she is at first just a little bit apprehensive. Then Miss Gail started showing her the tools and the "necklace".

She got to hold the mirror.

She got to ride the chair and lay back and hold a bigger mirror to look at her teeth while they looked at her teeth.

She has 16 teeth! And Dr. B even came in and looked at her teeth too! What a great patient! She got Winnie the Pooh stickers and a new tooth brush in her goodie bag! Which of course she loved because she loves carting things around in bags these days.

We were so proud of Grace we took her to get a treat afterwards. Ice cream! We got her Chocolate and Peanut Butter flavor and let her pick a sprinkle cone. What a happy face!

Yum!

We had her birthday party on Saturday and I will post a birthday post tomorrow. Also we have been kinda working on potty training so I will update on that. Right now we are starting a movie and my Lil Man Cub is screaming feed me!

Fair Portions for Both

It's funny to see our firstborns inclinations to make sure all is fair in her sweet lil world. I went to feed the dogs tonight and found that each dog had both 2 plastic silverware one pink sock, and one stainless spoon in each of their respective bowls. I am glad they didn't really eat this and send us to the emergency vet! Thankfully they are smarter than that, although sometimes I wonder. Our day was busy today. Unfortunately it started for me hearing our male German Shepherd Briggs barfing. I was smack in the middle of a dream about what I can't remember exactly but suffice to say I do remember dancing with other people to Madonna's Express Yourself! And no I didn't watch an episode of Glee last night, although that was what it was like. I was disappointed to see I didn't wake fast enough to prevent the dog from puking. So I had to clean up dog vomit and then was annoyed because Aaron was not up yet and I was awake and then shortly after I heard Miss Grace yelling from her crib, "MOMMMMM!" Yeah that's right Mom not Mommy. I have no idea where she got that from and she says Dad sometimes to. Like she is already 13. 2 going on 13! Most of the time its Mommy, but every now and again I hear Mom.

So we went to Costco and took advantage of our coupons that came out today, getting our wipes and our Cascade and whatnot. We also bought a box of Pull-Ups for Grace during the day. I forgot to tell you all the other day that we spent an eternity on the toilet reading Curious George books and going tinkle. Yes she actually kept tinkling and wanted to sit there. So we will see how this goes.

Then we got a free lunch at Wingers where I have been obsessed with their All American Burger, just your typical burger but oh so good. I have been craving those like a pregnant lady! Ha! I would think that I am pregnant except that I am not and I never really did get cravings when I was pregnant with my kids. Then on to the toilet showroom, we are thinking about getting a new toilet so we looked at different models, and then we went to Winco and got our groceries. We are having an impromptu party for Grace on Saturday and are having Pork Carnitas. I am going to try to do the recipe from Pioneer Woman's Cookbook. I will let you know how it turns out.
Here is our almost birthday girl asleep on the way out to Winco. Totally precious.


Tomorrow we have her 1st dentist appointment and we have been trying to whoop it up all week and make it exciting! Its at 230 so hopefully it goes well. Daddy is going to try to be there for support. I will let you know how it goes!
Oh I hear my lil boy, gotta get him up and fed!

Watching Sesame Street

Here are my kiddos watching Sesame Street the other day! They were both so chilled out and engrossed I took a quick shower! Grace is getting so big she is losing her baby belly and chub and starting to get leaner. Boo! My sweet girl is almost 2! I took this yesterday, just a sweet pic of my boy. He smiles all the time for me now. I think he is kinda partial to his momma! But I may be biased when I say that.

Tonight I took these as I was trying to wake him from his nap. Look how long he is! That is a 3 month sleeper and it barely fits. When he stretches his arms out the sleeves become short sleeves.

Just a closer pic of my boy. He is changing so much. He can get his hand in his mouth now and suck. I will hear lil sucking noises coming from him as makes his fingers in and out of his mouth. I hope he doesn't want to suck his thumb.

I will try to get a video the next awake time he has and I am sure he will smile for me. Time to go he is waking and I got to feed him and put him to bed!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Wow, already today is the 2nd of January. So far this year we have had one busy day and one easy going/busy day. Yesterday for the new year we were invited up to a friends house for a sledding party. It takes us a while to get going these days with the little man on a certain eating schedule and so we got up there around 1pm. We brought yummy bean dip and our super duper sled that moves like the speed of light. (I am not kidding on this) Grace had fun sledding and then came in the house to play with all the other big kids that were there. She was so cute just following them along.
Daddy and I played games with the other grownups until it was time to go. We left around five and stopped at Red Robin to get some dinner before heading home. Our friends live about 45-50 minutes away so its a drive.
Unfortunately right after we left their house my sinus headache I had had all day went from bad to worse and was wickedly painful by the time I got home. Daddy helped me out tons by getting Grace to bed early (which was fine because she had no nap) and me some Tylenol sinus. I immediately went into our room and started nursing Aaron,poor kid was starving. Then Daddy took him for the rest of the night while I took and bath and kept breathing peppermint steam. I put a pot of water on to boil and we have Peppermint oil that I put drops in. It helps clear out the sinuses. Then it was to bed early for me, I think I was asleep by 9ish and then Aaron needed to eat again at 1130. So I woke up and fed him and then Daddy took him and really got him back to sleep for the rest of the night. He woke up again at 5am and I was feeling much better. No more headache just some pressure in my nose so I took some Advil sinus and by 830 was feeling much better. I still am waiting to kick this cold, I have blown my nose so much its getting chapped!
Today was our pajama day. I made breakfast and we spent the day in front of a fire taking down Christmas stuff and essentially burning our Christmas tree as well! No dragging that to the curb!
My front room is 98% clean and organized, although I still have to figure out where to put all of Grace's new toys. So it was a lazy but busy day. Grace is now in bed, Aaron is asleep in my lap and I am going to try to take a quick bath before he wakes up again. Daddy is in bed resting because he felt a sinus headache coming on and doesn't want to play that game!
Tomorrow we are going to have Grandma visit and do some birthday shopping for Grace (her birthday is a week from tomorrow! Yikes! And hopefully catch a movie.
I am still not sure what we are going to do for our Lil Monkey's birthday, but I will let you know. Sorry no pics yet, that's my project for after the bath. If its not too late I will update the post with pics!
Hope your New Years is going splendidly!