Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Halloween with my three

Making play-doh pumpkins today
Baby Watermelon Livi
The Scary one, Ironman, and Watermelon girl
Isaac
Livi
Eli

This and that



Isaac- 

Isaac is finishing up football. His cousins, Bryce and Braedon played as well. Poor things haven't won a game. He starts wrestling this week and has practice everyday after school from 3:30-6:00 as well as Battle of the Books practice twice a week. Wheew!

Braedon, Bryce, and Isaac after a game
Eli-

Eli is officially potty trained and has been a hamster lately. After he was put to bed the other night he snuck downstairs, climbed on our kitchen bar stool, put in the four digit password and preceded to watch Disney Jr until we caught him red handed.

Today he locked me out of my bedroom. When it gets quiet I go looking to see what he's into. While I was drying my hair, he took the step ladder out of my closet, pushed it to the pantry, got down the crackers, and got up in his chair at the table. When I walked in the kitchen he said, " I was hungry Mom." I go back to the bathroom and he comes in there with his sippy cup full of ice and then gets water out of the bathtub faucet in his cup.

Getting water in his sippy cup
Step-ladder and the pantry
I caught ya!
Olivia-

Olivia is sitting longer periods by herself without support and continues to melt my heart with her little precious self. I couldn't imagine having a girl before she was born and always said I wanted a house full of boys... but I was so wrong. She is the sweetest little baby. She loves to snuggle and just hugs you and opens her little mouth to give you kisses right back.

Mom and Dad-

We had our first fire last night. When we were building we both wanted a real wood burning fire place and as we were sitting on the couch after all the kiddos were in bed listening to the crack and pop of the fire, we gave each other a high five. It was great. I hope my house won't smell like wood smoke but it was so relaxing and cozy!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Don't ever change

Yes, you may have to wear hearing computers behind your ears but that's okay because it makes you different from the crowd. Not everyone gets pretty pink ears :) Different is good so don't try to strive to be like everyone else. Wear those pony tails when you are older and always remember I'm your biggest fan! Mommy and Daddy love you Livi!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Eli's new Choose

These are his new shoes and I thought they were adorable. They are called Chooze... the right and left shoe have a different pattern. Easy to tell right from left for people like me that sometimes still hold up an L :)

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Anniversary weekend

Josh and I celebrated our anniversary by heading to the Old Edwards Inn and Spa for a short weekend away.  I didn't want to be too far from Olivia since this is the first time she has been away from me overnight. The Inn was historic, lovely and the service was remarkable. When we arrived the front desk welcomed us by name and handed us a glass of champagne. After a tour of the Inn we found our room decked with rose petals, strawberries, fresh cookies, personalized envelopes, and even slippers for our feet! The first night we had dinner at the Madison and I cannot rave enough about the food. I was able to cut my filet with a butter knife! We were so incredibly full after dinner our waiter brought up our dessert to our room.

Saturday we slept in (sleep-that wonderful thing I haven't had in over 5 months) and then shopped around downtown until time for our spa appointment. That evening we drove to Franklin to watch Taken 2 and then came back and hit the outdoor hot tub and pool. We were the only ones crazy enough to go swimming at 10:30 at night but that was okay. The pool was 85 degrees which was still a bit cold for me (it was 45 degrees outside) so I spent the most time in the hot tub.

It was such a relaxing, wonderful weekend and we both enjoyed spending quality time together. The boys were fine (other than Eli getting sick the last night) and Livi did great with Nana. She did boycott the bottle for 6 hours after I dropped her off; however about 10 pm she gave in and ate like a champ the rest of the time. Of course I brought my pump and a cooler and stockpiled some milk.
Front of building from Main Street
Service- Robes and slippers in our room :)
This was given to us as we left the hotel- water and fruit for our travel!
Champagne, strawberries, fresh homemade cookies, personalized letters... the works!
Side entrance.. I love the hanging baskets 
Josh and I - this was a self shot snapped off our porch
The roof top terrance above, and spa building to the left
Rose petals on our bed





There were so many beautiful waterfalls on the way to Highlands. The weather was gorgeous; sunny with a crisp cool breeze and the trees were in peak color. Josh and I stopped at Bridal veil falls and Dry falls on Sunday where the pictures below were taken. 
This was at Dry falls where you could actually walk behind the falls
Pretty rainbow reflecting off the water
Dry falls
View from the drive
Dry falls
Very curvy road
Love you hubs!

Monday, October 22, 2012

By George I think he's got it!

I'm going to knock on wood as I type this but I think Eli is potty trained!! It's been a week and a half without an accident; he's staying dry during nap time and has even been dry in the morning several times! The draw back is that he is getting up earlier.. instead of the usual 8:15-8:30, it's now 7:15.  As soon as he wakes up he goes to the potty, throws his pull up away, and comes down stairs saying "I'm ready to eat." 1 extra hour sleep or no diapers... sleep or no poo??? I think I will deal with the lack of sleep :) Way to go Eli Thomas-- bittersweet milestone because he is growing up so fast.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Olivia is learning to listen

Olivia is doing great with her little hearing computers. She isn't pulling them out (yet!) so I am thankful for that. We are still continuing our weekly therapy and Livi is learning to listen. We have several learning to listen sounds that we have inputed- airplane (ahhh), boat ( /p/, /p/), pumpkin (ha, ha), and cow (moo). We are also targeting 'power words' which are words that she would need to use frequently throughout her day. The Carolina Hurricanes have funded part of the REACH program we are enrolled in and may be interviewing us and Olivia- pretty cool! We meet with Ms. Hannah on Tuesdays over the computer for our REACH session and then Ms. Kristin (her oral/deaf educator) comes out on Wednesday mornings. Eli is at school on Tuesday and Thursday mornings so that gives me extra time to work with Olivia as well. Here is a little song we wake up to in the mornings when I put her hearing aids in. I found it on Cochlear's HOPE site and adapted it a bit for Olivia. Please disregard the singing... I always make dogs howl when I sing! 






Monday, October 15, 2012

It's the unexpected

Today I took all three kiddos to the dentist solo. Eli, Olivia and I checked Isaac out of school early and when we got to the Jr. high ( you walk in through the cafeteria) Eli sat down in a booth near the office and said he wanted to eat lunch right there at Isaac's school. Later when I asked Isaac if he wanted us to come eat lunch with him one day he said, " ummmmmm". I got the hint!

Let me say I was a bit worried about Eli and the dentist. Remember the hay ride incident a few weeks ago?? Plus his last 6 month visit didn't go so well! So to prepare we watched a you tube video on going to the dentist before we left and talked about the big chair and the instruments.

He was as good as gold! He sat in that chair, laid back, put the sunglasses on, and got his teeth cleaned! Whoohoo, it's the unexpected things that make your day! Plus both boys had a good check up with no cavities so that makes me happy as well.

We celebrated at one of my favorite eating establishments.... Tupulo Honey.  When we got home, both little kids napped at the same time,  and Isaac didn't have to be picked up so I took a nap! That wonderful three letter word that always seem to evade me!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Boo

Halloween is coming and the babies are ready!
Daddy is under my spell!
Carter, Olivia, Eli and Camden- best cousin friends!

Cute saying of the day

Eli, "I have teeth, Daddy has teeth, Brother has teeth, Mommy has teeth, Baby Sissy doesn't have any teeth. We need to go to the grocery store and get her some."

Friday, October 12, 2012

Olivia Jane is 5 months old

Lil' Miss is growing like a weed. We moved into 9 month sleepers this week. It's probably from all these mid night feedings lately. Eli or Isaac one brought home the crud and little Livi caught it. She ran a fever and has been snotty and congested. I could tell her little throat was hurting from the drainage so I've just been letting her nurse as much as she wanted through the night... Yea it's going to be fun to break this pattern. Why is it they can learn a bad pattern in 1 night but good sleep patterns take forever! The first night every time I laid her down she got choked so I inclined my bed and held the sweet baby all night. I honestly didn't mind because she just cuddled on my chest and her wee little hands touched my face... It's a wonder she has a face left I've kissed it so much!

What can Livi do now?? Well She is sitting briefly unsupported, rolling all directions and can even get off her play mat in the floor. She has started rice cereal and had homemade applesauce so far and continues to nurse every 3-4 hours during the day. She lights up when you smile and talk to her. She loves to take a bath and to have her diaper changed...the girl just likes to be nakie.. who can blame her!




Isaac was smiling at me!
I'm a bubble guppy.. see that drool!
"Can I bite this Mom?"
Sweet smiles
Happy 5 months Olivia Jane


I am so enjoying this time, even on weeks like this when the whole house has been sick and I can add up on one hand the hours of sleep I have had. When Isaac was a baby I was young, in college, and didn't have the time to just stop and enjoy every minute. Even though I spent so much one on one time with him I was always anticipating the next stage. With Eli I had to go back to work and  I am so blessed and thankful his grandparents were able to keep him, but I wasn't at home to get all those sweet snuggles during the day. Plus Eli didn't stay a baby long. He sat early, crawled early, walked early and my baby was gone. He is still a handful of energy! 

So my goal is to try to really soak in these precious days. Soon she will be crawling out of my arms and won't let me hold and rock her and I know it happens all to quickly. I feel like I am always cleaning, picking up, doing laundry and I know it has to be done but sometimes I put cleaning before playing with the kids. Because I have therapy coming into my home I don't want it to be a mess but I'm sure our therapist isn't going to know if my upstairs bathrooms are dirty.  Right now my house is a mess but I'm trying not to care. I am learning that I don't have to clean my floors 24-7 (they just get dirty again 5 minutes later), and those dirty dishes will wait. This quote is appropriate for this week!



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Ever held a live hummingbird?

My sis has! This little fellow, affectionately known as Hummy, flew into Audra's garage. He was dying so she picked it up and gave it some sugar water and it flew away! Crazy!

Monday, October 8, 2012

I got my s'mores!

Josh and Isaac made me a makeshift fire pit so we roasted s'mores tonight! It's so chilly and felt great to sit by the fire with my loves!
Isaac, after football practice munching on a marshmellow
Josh and Eli

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Cam is ONE!

My sweet baby nephew turned ONE. Wow, has it been a year already since he was born! He's such a darling boy and is toddling around. My sis had a small party at her house to celebrate and I bought him a ride on truck so he could join the big boys. There are 10 months between Carter and Eli and 8 months between Camden and Olivia, so they are all close enough in age to have play buddies. I feel blessed to have my sis near me so our kids can grow up together.
Camden and Nana

Time to seed

Josh has been working on the grass again. Both Isaac and Eli helped over seed. It's cold today ( 50's) and feels so good! I'm ready for a bonfire and s'mores :)

Looking for Christmas tree

I'm looking for a nice 14 footer for our new house. If you see any for sale ( discounted) let me know. I saw this one at Lowes but it's 12 foot and I think it needs to be a little taller for our tall ceilings.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Contraband

After the third day of Eli taking two hours to fall asleep during nap time, I confiscated all of his trucks.

Gosh, I could write a book on him!
View from the cam
The contraband