Sunday, May 31, 2009

This Weekend

Now that Brian is in full summer mode at work, the kids and I are flying solo on the weekends. I've always been able to figure out fun things to do, but with two kids I sometimes lack the energy that's required to get them out of the house! I always keep my diaper bag stocked and ready to go, that way if we're leaving I just have to throw my wallet and phone in and I'm ready to walk out. It's just getting one kid's diaper changed, then the other, then loaded in the car....sometimes I just don't have the motivation to leave!

Friday afternoon we went to the park after naps. Wyatt is obsessed with the swing. My mom took him on Thursday and he stayed on it for an hour. The only reason he got off was because she told him that the swing was tired! He didn't stay on the swing quite as long on Friday, but he did have a lot of fun. When Brian got home we went to Red Robin and then went on a walk. Wyatt loves him some Red Robin. He gets giddy as soon as we walk in and stays that way until we leave. He loves their grilled cheese!

Saturday we went to WalMart early. If I'm not in there first thing, then I go out of my mind. It wasn't too bad, and we got what we needed pretty quickly. The only sad thing is that it's still May and I've already had my fill of tourist drivers. If one more cuts me off I am going to scream! After naps we went to an early dinner with my mom and sister. Then we went shopping and for ice cream at Handel's. Wyatt loved his ice cream, but he was a mess!

We spent most of today hanging out at the house, but did run to Toys R' Us after naps. They just turned our Toys R' Us into a joint Babies R' Us store, and I had coupons and Reese needed some pajamas. I got her some really cute clothes. Wyatt got a ball. Seriously, I've never seen a kid happier with a toy that costs $1.50. Pete and Shannon and Tyler came over for a playdate after Brian got home and the boys had a blast playing together. They ran around inside, tackled each other, dumped all of the toy bins out, and went outside to play on Wyatt's slide. I think next week we'll be going over their house....
Hanging out in their swings Wyatt swinging
Reese swinging. She got a little sunblock in her eyes and it sent her into full allergy mode. Fortunately it only lasted for about an hour or two!
Reese and Tyler playing with trains
The boys winding down watching some Caillou.

Standing Up!

Reese is pulling up on everything today! It's now 10:00 and so far she's pulled herself up on the couch to creep along, up behind her stroller walker, and she is now standing outside the exersaucer pulling herself up and playing with her toys!

Her brother is "painting" in his high chair. He loves to paint the pages in his little book. I think his favorite part is getting the paintbrush wet and then moving it along the page! He did just ask me if it was toothbrush. Fortunately, it wasn't in his mouth at the time....

Reese's 9 month well baby check up is tomorrow, so we'll be headed there first thing in the morning. She was 19 pounds, 10 ounces at her six month check up. I'm guessing she's about 21 pounds (closer to 22) right now. Any other guesses?

Friday, May 29, 2009

My Little Reader

Wyatt is really into books lately. He loves to look through them and pretend he's reading. He talks about what's going on in the pictures. He doesn't go to bed at night without asking to look at one more book. He can recognize about half of the alphabet, and he can sing his ABC's, but he's still a long way from actually reading a book!

Anyway, here are a few shots of him reading lately!
Reading his Spiderman book on the couch this morning

He took a break from sliding down his slide yesterday afternoon to read


Wednesday, May 27, 2009

"The House That Ruth Built"

Wyatt has a little board book about the New York Yankees. He's been looking through it a lot lately, and he loves to point out all the different equipment and the bases. Tonight we were reading it before bed and he stopped on the picture of Yankee Stadium. I told him "Wyatt, that's Yankee Stadium. It's called the House that Ruth Built." He looked up at me and said "It's the House that Ruth built Momma? House Ruth built?" I nodded and kept reading.

I don't have the heart to tell him that because the Yankees tend to be slightly greedy, they've torn down a true monument to baseball to sell more luxury boxes. But I digress.

We kept flipping through the book until we got the page with all the Yankees players with retired numbers. I pointed to the center of the page and told him that it was Babe Ruth. He looked at all of the players and pointed back and said "Look Momma, there's Babe Ruth! Look, there he is!"

We finished that book and moved onto the second, and then Brian came in. Wyatt grabbed his Yankees book and walked over to Brian and opened it up to the page with Yankee Stadium and said "Look Daddy! Look at the House that Ruth built!" Then he flipped a few pages back and said "And there's Babe Ruth Daddy!" Brian smiled at him and pointed next to Babe Ruth and said "Yep, and that's Mickey Mantle." Wyatt pointed and said "Mickey Mantle holding his bat Daddy? Mickey Mantle gonna hit the ball?"

I couldn't tell who was happier: Wyatt because he loves baseball, or Brian because he's just so happy that Wyatt loves it too.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Nine Months Old!

I can't believe that my baby girl was born nine months ago today! She is getting so big, and she's learning so much everyday.

In the last month, she's learned to crawl and she's learned to stand. About a week after she started crawling she started trying to lift herself up from a crawling position to standing, but she still hasn't accomplished it yet. She has (very) recently learned to stand up and creep along the couch. This is all amazing to me because there is one thing she absolutely will not do. She won't roll over. She can roll over, but she won't do it. If she's sitting up and suddenly falls back, she won't roll over to crawl. She just lays there. But it's frustrating because she knows how to do it!

I don't have a real prediction on how long it will be until she walks, but I will say this: I'm not rushing it. With Wyatt I was so excited when he started walking (at 8 months, 26 days), but I'd be happy if she just crawled for awhile. I am not eager to be outnumbered by my walking toddlers!

Her little babbles are quickly turning into words. Right now she has "Mama" and "Dada" down, and she uses them appropriately. She also says "Baba" and "Didi" which really aren't words, but those are some of her grandparents names! I don't think she uses those correctly though. She absolutely loves to babble, and I think she's going to be a little talker for sure.

Right now we're attempting a nap in her crib...which I haven't really been enforcing. She sleeps in her swing in her room most days, but she's going to get too big for that soon. I'm just hoping she continues to take a long nap, because she's been taking 2 to 3 hour naps in the swing. She's still sleeping through the night, but very recently she's decided she doesn't want to go back to sleep when she wakes up around 6:30. She used to just come to bed with me and fall back asleep! Hopefully this is just a phase!


It's a little out of focus, but here she is creeping along the couch!
Playing in her exersaucer this morning at 10:07 when she turned 9 months old!
Waiting for some lunch this afternoon!

Friday, May 22, 2009

My Little Guy

Here are some pictures of Wyatt two years ago when he was only two months old.
Hanging out by the pool
Sleeping in his swing
Okay, this isn't Wyatt. This is Noelle in the morning before she and Brian left for work!
Wyatt in his "Jedi in Training Paints" onesie. Brian had a lot more control over Wyatt's wardrobe than he does over Reese's.


Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Thank Goodness!

I can not tell you how happy I am that Kris won American Idol. Sure, I've been bored with it for several weeks, but I was still rooting for Kris. The only thing I'm not supporting is that song...it truly stinks. They've never really been great songs, but this one is especially bad.

And speaking of especially bad...let's discuss Adam singing Beth. Brian was traumatized. He sings that song to Reese all the time, and Kiss is one of his favorite bands...but I think Adam might have ruined it for him tonight!

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

This Kid Cracks Me Up!

Tonight I made Mac & Cheese for dinner. I put Wyatt's in his bowl, and (idiotically) didn't set any aside for seconds. I wanted a little kick to mine, so I added some crushed red pepper and mixed it in. I sat down to eat with him, and when he was done he asked for seconds. I carefully picked out the flakes of pepper and gave it to him. I guess I didn't get it all, because he looked at me, put his spoon down, threw his hands up and shouted, "What happened to the Mac & Cheese Mama?" I picked out the piece he found and he went back to eating...three bowls. At least it had carrot puree and flax seed mixed in...right? That's makes it healthy....

Monday, May 18, 2009

Fun at Target

We went to Target tonight to get a few random things. Like Puffs and anything else Gerber related. The cheese puffs, yogurt melts, and 3rd foods. My little girl is an eating machine, and I can barely keep up with her demand. Right now her schedule is looking a little like this:

Anywhere between 5:30 and 6:30 - breastfeed
8:30 - rice cereal and a pureed fruit mixed with oatmeal (made by me), puffs or yogurt melts
10:30 - breastfeed again (if she's awake...this feeding usually doesn't happen when I'm working)
12:00 - rice cereal mixed with a pureed veggie (made by me), puffs or cheese doodle things
3:00 - breastfeed
5:00 - a Gerber 3rd food, whatever is leftover from lunch, some sort of diced fruit (banana, mango, whatever I have)
7:45 - breastfeed and bed

She is constantly eating. And I'm not going to lie, if I want her to play nicely in her exersaucer for a little but, I bribe her with some puffs. Apparently I was starving her tonight though, because while we were at Target she decided she was hungry...for her own foot.

Just hanging out
Another moment where Brian and I look at each other and say "Um, I don't know if you know this, but there are two kids in our cart...and they belong to us."
Reach, reach, reach...
Got it!


Insight Into Wyatt

Here is a peek into the interests and creativity of Wyatt:

Last night Wyatt was busy playing with one of his fire trucks. At the time, the fire truck was being driven by R2-D2 while a little green Jedi master named Yoda was riding shotgun. I asked Wyatt where the fire truck was going...he replied "to find dinosaur bones".

In summary...R2D2 and Yoda were driving a fire truck to find dinosaur bones. This kid cracks me up!

-Brian

Saturday, May 16, 2009

Jockey's Ridge (400th Post)!

Today was a pretty big day for us. We all traveled to the Outer Banks for Piper's first birthday party. I can't believe it's been a year since she was born! Anyway, we all traveled. The Waterpark opened today, and for the first time in seventeen years, Brian wasn't there. He decided that it was important for him to go to Piper's birthday party. I can't even describe what a big thing that is...it's huge!

Anyway, we got down there about an hour and a half before Piper's party, so we decided to go to Jockey's Ridge. Wyatt was super stoked to be there. He had a great time running around with Daddy, going up hills, and watching the hang gliders. The boys literally ran all over the place. Reese and I didn't even try to keep up! She did have a lot of fun playing in the sand, but I had to stop her from eating it!

After Jockey's Ridge we went to Piper's party, and the kids had a great time hanging out with their cousins. There were lots of little baby girls there, so Reese hung out on the floor with them while Wyatt and Brian were causing trouble in the playroom. Piper's party was Ladybug themed, and Allison gave jars of live ladybugs away as favors. Ours kept trying to escape, so Wyatt and I released them when we got home. He had a great time watching them climb on the grass and fly away!
Wyatt and Daddy walking on the beach
It looked like it was going to rain, but it didn't. Awesome view of the dunes though.
Reese and I!
Wyatt and Daddy climbing up the dunes
They made it to the top! Wyatt was shouting "I did it!"
She had fun...I promise...
Digging
Hang gliders

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

My Little Addict...

So I would never want to be away from my baby, but I think she needs to go to rehab.
*My Mommy tried to make me go to rehab, but I said "wah, wah, wah."*
She's addicted to these:
Gerber Puffs.
Now, Wyatt loved them...but Reese is obsessed with them. She practically hyperventilates when she sees them. I bought some more today and she started jumping in the cart and smiling and wriggling her fingers. I think its withdrawal. I bet this is exactly what Gerber had in mind when they created this product...
Although, if I'm being honest...I've totally switched to the Target brand. They're like 60 cents cheaper and they taste just as good. And yes, I've tried them. Because I think they're a delicious (and pretty light on the calories) snack too.

Tides Game!

So I'm a little late posting this because we went last Tuesday night, but we went to the Tides game last week. One of the perks of Brian's job is that we get to do some pretty fun things (besides go the Waterpark whenever we want), thanks to trade or because of companies that he does business with.

On Tuesday we went to the game and we sat in the luxury box that belongs to one of the Waterpark's food vendors. Brian goes at least once a year, and I went with him last year, but this year we decided to take the kids. It was raining lightly, so we decided to wait to tell Wyatt where we were going until we got to the game (in case it was rained out). He was so excited!

We were able to sit inside, but there's also a covered balcony that you can go out onto to watch the game. Wyatt sat with his Daddy on the balcony, but also enjoyed spending some time inside. One kind of scary things about the balcony is that you're a little more susceptible to foul balls. One actually came right up to us, and another kid caught it. I'm pretty sure Wyatt's favorite part was the unlimited supply of pitato chips inside!

The game was called after the top of the 7th inning because of rain. Wyatt was bummed that he didn't get to sing Take Me Out To the Ballgame, but he still had a blast. He didn't even fall asleep on the way home!

Wyatt sitting on Daddy's lap
Reese in her Yankees shirt
The view!
The family at the game!


Monday, May 11, 2009

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day yesterday was awesome. I was planning on sleeping in....but Reese had her own opinion about that. She didn't wake up until about 6:45, but I was aiming for 8. Brian said that he would get up with her, but I didn't want to waste pumped milk when I could feed her. Plus I was already awake, so I got up. Wyatt gave me my flowers and cards, and then I got to take a nap on the couch from 8 to 9!

The Mother's Day after Wyatt was born Brian put a video together of pictures of his first few weeks. He had music in the background, and it was just a perfect Mother's Day gift. He spent a lot of time on it, and it meant everything to me to see how big my little baby was in 6 short weeks. I still cry when I watch it.

He gave me another video yesterday, but this one was of Reese. We've both talked at length about our feelings involving her stay in the NICU. That experience is a part of her story, and if we eliminate pictures of her time in there, then we eliminate the first 11 days of her life! So the video included pictures of her on her machines, up to 4 months. If Brian had tried to put pictures after that on there, the video would have been 20 minutes long! I loved it! Wyatt was not so thrilled with the beginning. He started crying every time he saw Reese hooked up to something. Once we were past her in the hospital he was fine, but he was literally flipping out during the other pictures. Brian put Taylor Swift's song Best Day at the end of the video, and since I've loved that song since I heard it on the the CD, it was the perfect ending!

I got to take a nice, long shower and then we went to Brian's parents' house for the day. Wyatt had a great time playing with Colin, and Reese took a nice long nap in her swing. Wyatt also picked up a new word - several. Mimi told him yesterday that she brought him several balls to play with. He immediately repeated the word, and then stored it in his brain until this afternoon when I put him down for a nap. We walked in his room and he walked over to the drawer where I store his sheets. He pulled a few out and said "Mama gonna put seberal sheets on Wyatt's bed?" Um, no.

The plan was to stop at Handel's on the way home to get some ice cream. I love Handel's, but haven't been there since the night before Reese was born. It's been 8 and a half long months. Unfortunately, Wyatt fell asleep in the car and I didn't want to wake him. Plus our lawn was in desperate need of mowing. So we stopped for Vanilla frosty floats at Wendy's and came home and put Wyatt to bed at 6:15. Reese and I hung out while Brian mowed the lawn, and then Brian and I spent the night watching The Amazing Race while I drank some of my leftover batch of Sangria from April's (my brother's fiancee) Bridal Shower. I had an absolutely perfect day, and I hope all you other Mothers out there did too!

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Odds & Ends

These are some shots from the weekend...

It's a little blurry, but it's the best picture of him carrying monkey around in the carrier. He was walking and running everywhere. And swaying back and forth a lot...apparently I do that when I carry Reese.
We made cupcakes on Sunday.
I spent every afternoon last week working on this. It's Noelle's Garden. The mulch still needs to go down and we need landscaping stone to surround it, and then we'll get a black lab statue to put there as well. In the back is a spruce (because Noelle was a Christmas dog), and the flowers are Gerber daisies.
Here's Reese at Mt Trashmore on Sunday. She loves swinging. I cropped myself out for two reasons. Because I was a sweaty mess, and because I was wearing my Leadership Workshop shirt from my senior year when I was a counselor. I get teased constantly for wearing it by my husband, but it's one of my favorites. He even called me to tell me that he saw "some other dork wearing one" last week. Whatever!




Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Help! Reese and I are Trapped in a House Full of Dorks Comic Book Fans!

On Saturday we were out and about, and Brian suddenly realized it was free comic book day. That's right. Free comic book day. I am madly in love with my husband...but he likes comic books. And he's a grown up. Now over the years, he has lost interest in this hobby, but he still has a few that he likes to get and read. So he goes and gets them. In this house, we don't ask questions about how much comic books cost, or how much it costs for me to get my hair done :).

Anywho, free comic book day is a fantastic event where people go and get (you guessed it) free comic books. Since Brian can't get out of the car without Wyatt whining, he decided they would go in together. I used to go to the comic book store with Brian...but then we got married and I got out of it. I'm sure it was nice for him to have someone to go with. Even if his companion is two and can't keep his hands off of everything in sight!

Because the new Wolverine movie came out last weekend, they were giving out wolverine foam finger things. I can't really explain them, so look at the pictures. The boys had a great time!

Battling with their foam blades
I think Daddy got Wyatt
Playing
Wyatt's first trip to the Comic book store.


Monday, May 4, 2009

Reese Crawling

Here is the video of Reese crawling yesterday. Once you see where she crawls to, you'll see why I've spent the day baby proofing. And spring cleaning (see the link to Simple Mom in my side bar). And making baby food (because that story is ridiculous). But mostly baby proofing.


Sunday, May 3, 2009

We Have a Crawler!

Reese started crawling forward today! She's been going backwards for about a week now, but she made her first successful forward crawl this afternoon. We were in Wyatt's room after he woke up from his nap, and she started inching towards one of his books. Once we were downstairs, she was on the move. At this point she's very interested in cords, so I'm thinking I'll be re-baby proofing the house soon. Once Wyatt got to a certain age, I just figured it was better for me to teach him not to touch things than it was to keep everything put away (I want my house to look nice, and he should have some sense of self control). I mean, I don't let him go romping through the poisonous cleaning cabinet - that one is locked - and I'm not letting him stick his fingers in sockets - those are covered - but I still have picture frames and the laptop down at his level. So I guess I'll be getting everything situated for the Little Miss to keep safe. I'll be posting some video of her first crawl later!

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Visiting the Fire Station

My mom took Wyatt and Reese to the fire station on Thursday to see my Dad. When my brothers and I were kids we used to go to the station to visit him all the time and we loved it, and Wyatt did too. My mom brought Wyatt's fireman costume with her that morning when she came over so that Wyatt could get dressed up at the station. He had a fabulous time visiting Pop Pop and playing in the truck. Here are some pictures my Mom took that day.

Wyatt sitting in the truck. In this seat, he's the Captain.
Wyatt driving the truck
I guess he's practicing his pick up skills while driving the fire truck. "Hello Ladies..."
Wyatt and my Dad in their uniforms
Having a snack in the kitchen


Friday, May 1, 2009

Wyatt's Trip to the Movies

Last Sunday Brian and I decided to try taking Wyatt to the movies. We were pretty sure he wasn't going to make it through the whole movie, but we wanted to see how he would do. Actually, I could have waited, but Brian is obsessed with movies and couldn't wait to take Wyatt with us. We decided to take him to see Disney's Earth because he loves animals. He recognizes every single animal, can tell us what they all say, helps his Mommy and Daddy animals take care of the baby animals...obsessed.

We thought he would be okay because he was great during the previews, but as soon as the animals came on it was "Look Daddy, look at the polar bears." Then he said "Aw, look at the baby polar bears eating." And on and on and on. I would have loved to stay with him because he was loving it, but we were getting some dirty looks. We decided to leave (at this point it had been 10 minutes), and went to the desk to see if maybe we could just get tickets for a different day and to find out when the best time to bring him would be. They actually refunded our money completely and said we could bring him back any weekday morning and he wouldn't be a bother. I'm still excited to take him to see it. And I'm excited for it to come out on DVD.

Since the movie was a bust, Brian and I decided to go to the Home Depot to get some things for our new garden. It's crazy how easy anything is with just one child. It was a breeze. Since we wanted Wyatt to still get in some quality Mommy/Daddy time we took him to Red Robin for dinner. He loves that place so much. Anywhere that he can go and get a grilled cheese and a balloon is heaven!


Walking to the movies with Daddy
Waiting for our tickets
Giving the ticket stub to the ticket stub taker