Reese Can Feed (and Soothe) Herself!

Sort of. The other day she needed to be fed, but I was unloading groceries. I decided to give her the food and her spoon just to see what would happen. I wouldn't say that she did a stellar job, but I think she did pretty well for being 10 months old!

I've been pretty well rested for the last 5 days too! I finally gave up getting up in the middle of the night to feed her. The child is ten months old now. Wyatt was sleeping through the night at four months! He did start waking up at 4 am around the nine month mark, but we quickly put a stop to that.

One night she woke up around 3 and I went and turned her music on. She cried and cried, but I turned the volume on the monitor down and kept the video screen up. I could see that she was fine, she just didn't want to put herself back to sleep. I think it took about 20 minutes, but she finally did.

Brian found the repeat function on the iPod the next day, so the music just keeps repeating all night (both kids now need the streaming sounds of the Smashing Pumpkins Lullaby CD to put them to bed - all Brian's doing -gag me), but she's slept through the night every night since! Thank goodness, I'm finally sleeping through the night too!

Kenny!

On Thursday night Brian and I went to see Kenny Chesney with Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum at the Amphitheater. This was my sixth consecutive year of seeing Kenny live, and I believe that it was Brian's fourth. I was raised on country music (like, we went to Opryland and Dollywood one year on vacation) and I've always loved it. It took me some time to get Brian to listen, but he's gradually become a fan. He even listens to it now when he mows the yard (you know, when he's not listening to Rob Zombie. Or John Mellencamp. Or Poison.).

Lady Antebellum was awesome, I really like them a lot. I've never been a fan of Miranda Lambert (although she was an upgrade from the awful LeAnn Rimes last year), so when Lady Antebellum said that they would be signing autographs after she performed, Brian and I went and got in line early so that we could avoid listening to her annoying voice. It was pretty neat to meet the band members and get autographs.

Kenny put on an awesome concert as usual. He has really great songs and he always just throws a great big party. We even stayed until the end this year since I'm not pregnant and trying to beat everyone out of the parking lot like last year. There aren't too many people that I would go see over and over again -like Rascal Flatts - do they make good music anymore? I just feel like they try so hard to put out a new CD every year that they stopped caring about what they put on them. Plus they spend half their time on stage telling stupid jokes. But I will go see Kenny every year he puts on a concert. It's amazing!

That was our first concert this year but we're also planning on seeing Brad Paisley with Dierks Bentley, Def Leppard with Poison (that is so Brian), and Toby Keith. It depends on what we get tickets to. Because Brian advertises with radio stations for work, they usually give him tickets to shows he wants to go to. We just have to see what we get. They usually don't give out tickets for the more popular artists (like Kenny Chesney or Dave Matthews), but they do for others. We might even go to the Rascal Flatts concert so we can see Darius Rucker!

Us on a date :)
Two members of Lady Antebellum

All of them. The guy in white is Josh Kelley's brother. That makes him Katherine Heigl's brother in law.

Kenny playing the guitar

Kenny!

Reese Pushing Her Stroller

Reese is starting to catch on to walking...kind of. She's just recently started trying to "push" her little baby stroller, and she's progressively getting better at it! Check her out!

Hanging out with a Lemur!

The kids and I went back to the Waterpark on Tuesday evening with Katie. I can't handle them both by myself! I like going late in the day because it's pretty empty. When I worked there, I always tried to get a spot that would put me in the kiddie area pretty early in the day, and then late in the day. That way I was never lifeguarding the kiddie section during peak "child" hours!

Bixby (the guy that does the Rainforest Show) walks his Lemur, Maddy, twice a day. We were there during one of the walks, so we went to the back to see her. Wyatt had a really great time watching her walk around and crawl up things. He loves Zoboomafoo, so he was really excited to meet a lemur. Although he did ask me where Martin and Chris were!

Wyatt and Daddy
Here's Maddy!

Splashing around by the Pirate Ship!

Busch Gardens!

On Monday we went to Busch Gardens. I think that some of the best investments Brian and I have made is to buy passes for things like that. We have passes to Busch Gardens, the Zoo and the Aquarium. Obviously, we also go to the Waterpark whenever we want! The great thing about the Busch Gardens pass is that we can go to places like Sea World and Busch Gardens Tampa, too (if we're there for some odd reason like we were in November). It's great to just be able to go whenever we want!

Busch Gardens recently opened the Sesame Street Forest of Fun and we really wanted to check it out. It's a neat little section with a few rides, but it's not the best place for Wyatt. He is terrified of costume characters. I don't know when this started, but he screams as soon as he sees them. He was able to go on a few rides there before we took him to see the horses.

He was able to ride the swings for the first time too! Not the big swings, but the little kid ones. He also went on the scrambler with Brian and LOVED it. I am not a fan. I can ride things that go in circular motions. And I can really only ride one roller coaster a visit or I get sick. I blame Brian for this. We went on a Lifeguard Competition trip to Six Flags Darien Lake years ago. We all went on this Superman roller coaster three times in a row (I was peer pressured), and after the third time I lost it. And I haven't been able to ride a roller coaster since!

Wyatt fell asleep in the car on the ride home and he slept on the couch for about an hour after we got home. We also went out for ice cream that night! Yummy! The only problem is that Wyatt is getting very headstrong. He is constantly asking for one thing and changing his mind and flipping out when he doesn't get what he wants. I'm ignoring it and not letting him get away with it, but it's driving me crazy. That night he wanted to hold the ice cream that the four of us were sharing. I told him he couldn't hold it and he flipped out. Screaming. So he got nothing. It sure made for a fun trip!

Brian and Wyatt riding a new ride
Reese isn't afraid of characters. She loved Zoe!

Wyatt petting a horse!

Wyatt on the swings. This is the only picture of him with his tongue in his mouth. He has this obsession with sticking his tongue out lately, just to wiggle it around. It's gross.

Reesie hanging out in her stroller

Wyatt asleep on the couch when we got home!

Ten Months Old!

Reese is 10 months old today! She is such a big girl now, learning new things and constantly playing and crawling around. One of her favorite things to do is to crawl to the playroom and play by herself. When Wyatt was this age we had to gate him in there, but Reese treasures her alone time.

She has mastered creeping along the couch, and she's mastered sitting down from standing. She can walk behind her baby stroller and push it. She even does a pretty good job standing up by herself! No walking though. Yesterday was the first time she took a two and a half hour nap in her crib. She was doing a great job sleeping at night, but lately she's been waking up earlier and earlier. I tried to let her cry it out two nights ago, but it didn't work. She's got teeth pushing through right now, and I can tell that's really bothering her. But I'm determined to get through this phase this weekend!

I thought maybe she was getting cold in the middle of the night, so I gave her a blanket for the first time last night. It is earlier than we gave Wyatt his "boo" to sleep with at night, but I think our kids are polar opposites in terms of body temperature. Wyatt gets hot like Brian, and Reese gets cold like me :). It didn't help though. She was up early today too.

She's eating a lot of table food: Cheerios, cut up bananas, peas, puffs. I'm still giving her the stage 3 food, but she will eat anything and everything!

Newborn

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Five Months
Six Months

Seven Months & Seven Months in Pictures
Eight Months

Nine Months

Here is she is today on her 10 month birthday!

Looking out the window
Hi Mommy!

I'm not really sure...

Crawling!

Feeding An Animal a Bottle!

On Father's Day we went and saw Bixby and Friends Presents: Rainforest Experience LIVE at the Waterpark. It's a really cool educational show that uses magic and real animals to teach about the importance of protecting the Rainforest. Anywho, we got to go take a look at the animals up close after the show. Wyatt even got to give one a bottle and scoop out food for another! I wish I could tell you what animals they are, but I have no idea! Wyatt loved it, and when we went to Waterpark again yesterday he asked to do it again! The show is at the park until July 5 and is included in the admission, so if you're a local you should totally check it out!

Happy Father's Day!

We had an absolutely fantastic Father's Day at the Waterpark! Brian was able to spend time with us and watch Wyatt play (although he was bummed that he couldn't actually play too).

Brian's parents were there too, and we all had a really great cabana to hang out in. The cabanas are new (within the last two years), and I think they were a brilliant idea (but I am biased). They get rented out daily, and they provide cover from the sun and comfy seating, plus somebody waits on you. Its so perfect for people with little ones!

Wyatt went down the slide with me at first, but he got over that really fast. I started walking him to the top and then going down in front of him to catch him. He really liked being a little independent and he had a lot of fun. Its crazy to me that 10 years ago (WOW) working in the kiddie section was the biggest headache in the world, but now its the only place I hang out! One of our neighbors was working in the section and I asked him if he had a headache yet. Even Wyatt was shouting "Walk Please!" by the end of the day!

There's a live show about Rainforest Preservation at the park right now featuring all kinds of animals, so we went and watched it. We also got an awesome behind the scenes look at the animals and Wyatt even got to feed two of them. I'll have to post that video later.

We stayed at the park through naptime and by the time we left both kids were conked out! They fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep when we got to my parents' house. We had a great dinner there, and then came home in time to greet Brian.

This was his Father's Day present (one of them anyway). Wyatt colored it all by himself, but I did the writing of course!
Wyatt's first slide ride of the day was with me. It didn't take too long before I heard "Nope. No Momma. Wyatt gonna do it." So I would wait for him at the bottom!

Reese has a great new hat! It is really fantastic for keeping the sun off of her face and back.

Here's Reese going down her very first water slide!

Wyatt sliding all by himself!

Reese fell asleep in the cabana!

A very happy little boy hanging out with Daddy and eating chicken.

Reese and Daddy

Wyatt and Daddy watching some water slides in their matching shirts.

Mommy and Reese!

My Precious Son!

Tonight Tyler, Wyatt and I were sitting on the couch watching Caillou. Something about a dog was on, so I asked Tyler if he had a dog. He said no. I said "Tyler, are you sure you don't have a dog named Flash?" He said no again. Wyatt looked up at me and said "I have a dog Mommy!" So I asked what his dog's name is and he said "Noelley, Momma!"

I am so pleased to know that no matter how big he gets, he will always remember the sweet dog that he loved so much!

My Babies!

The kids are cracking me up lately. Wyatt is learning so much, and Reese is becoming so independent. Wyatt's new thing lately is singing. It started a few weeks ago with "Take Me Out to the Ball Game." He then moved on to his ABC's and the theme song from The Wonder Pets. Lately he's been learning the words to everything. Caillou, Zaboomafoo, it doesn't matter, he sings it all!

Reese is just getting big! She's got two new teeth poking through, and they don't even seem to be bothering her. It's a little weird because they're not her top two middle teeth, they're the teeth next to them. Since she's going to be a whopping 10 months old next week I'm also in the process of weaning her. I have plenty of frozen milk in the fridge, so I'm giving her a sippy cup (I'm not even going to bother with bottles) of milk every afternoon. I'm completely eliminating her afternoon feeding session with me. I'm going through a little bit of pain right now every afternoon waiting for my milk production to slow down, but that's about it! She's doing really well cutting back. She still has a feeding in the morning when she wakes up and at night before bed, but I will slowly eliminate those before her first birthday. I've heard that breastfeeding helps you lose weight, and I believe that's true in the beginning, but right now I feel like my body is holding on to every pound in case of a famine or something! I want to be skinny again!

I'm not going to start giving her formula, the plan is to keep her on breast milk until the first year. I am not a breast feeding snob. I refuse to make what other people feed their kids my business. But for me, it's what works best. I read a study last week that said that the longer a baby is breastfed, the better the GPA. In a study of siblings, even one month made a .019 difference to the GPA! Looks like Reese is going to do better than Wyatt, because she's got a month on him now! I know it sounds great to say that I breastfeed solely because its good for the kids, but there is a financial aspect too. We're already spending a fortune on diapers and wipes (I simply refuse to put anything cheap on their bottoms, and cloth diapering is out of the question), and formula is expensive! If I formula fed I would have spent way too much money. And since I've been blessed with an abundance of milk, I feel like its my responsibility to save money where I can.

This weekend should be pretty fun. Tonight Tyler is coming over to play while his Mommy and Daddy work. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the kids in the pool at some point. And on Sunday we're going to the Waterpark to visit Daddy just like we did last year! I know Wyatt is going to have an absolute blast hanging out at Daddy's Work, so I'm really excited!

Fun Wedding Weekend: The Wedding

So the weather cleared up and it was an absolutely beautiful ceremony. We all walked from one side of the dunes to the beach, where they had chairs set up. Marc's friend Donnie (who was also a groomsman) played the guitar while everyone walked down the aisle. He did a great job! Wyatt wouldn't walk down the aisle on his own, so Brian walked with him. Once they sat down Wyatt started talking, "Momma alright? What's Momma doing?" So they went and sat down in the back. At one point we all had to repeat after the Pastor and I guess with all of us talking it was a pretty deep sound. Wyatt looked at Brian and said "What's that Daddy? Cookie Monster?"

Most of these pictures were taken by my cousin Lisa. She takes some pretty great pictures!

Wyatt greeting Uncle Marc

Walking by the fellas
Walking with Daddy

Here's April and her Dad!

There's my nephew Charlie with his little bow tie on! Isn't he precious?

Some of the guys! All of the guys!

The Ladies!

They had Unity Sand since it would be difficult to light a candle on the beach.

Hanging out in the ocean!

Daddy and Wyatt

Our family!

Didi, Pop Pop and the kids!

Fun Wedding Weekend: Before the Wedding

We had a lot to do on Saturday. My sister and I had hair and makeup appointments in the afternoon, so I left the kids with Brian. As soon as Katie and I got in the car from the hair place it started raining! We were pretty bummed, but hopeful it would stop before the ceremony!

We got to my parents house at 3:00 so that Wyatt could get his pictures taken with the guys. With the exception of trying the tux on at the shop, he hadn't really worn it yet. He wasn't too excited about it. I'm not sure they even got any pictures of him! The pictures were supposed to be taken outside, but it was still raining! When we got there Marc told me that as far as he was concerned, he was still planning a beach wedding!

Wyatt in his tux! It was a little big. The 2T was too small but the 3T was a little too big. Such is life.
He put his fireman outfit on over his tux. I think he looks like a little Colonial boy, with the exception of the fire extinguisher and the ax.

Marc with the Dads and the Groomsmen. Our brother Matt is to his left, and our Dad is on his right. 4 of the guys have been his best friends since they were kids, and 2 of them are friends of his from VMI.

Reese eating before the ceremony!

Mommy and Reesie!

After we left my parents house (around 4:00, and it was still raining), Brian dropped me off at the condos right next to the beach. I got ready with everyone so we could get our pictures taken. April was the last to put her dress, and I'm not kidding you, as soon as she got the dress on, it cleared up and the sun came out! We all grabbed beers and went out to the beach (where the sand wasn't even wet) and got pictures taken.

By the time the pictures were done it was time to head over for the wedding! I felt terrible the entire time we were getting pictures taken because I knew that Brian was over getting the kids ready all by himself in the parking lot. When we got over there I saw him carrying the kids over and they looked perfect! He did a great job getting them ready for their Uncle Marc and Aunt Apple's big day!