Our 4th

We had a really fun Fourth of July this year.  We usually hang out at home and don't really do much. Logistically it can be difficult with me and all four kids alone, and the Fourth is typically a pretty busy day for Brian at work!

My parents bought a camper in November, and they've been setting up camp at a local campground that is right on the water.  They were going to be at the campground on the Fourth, so the kids and I decided to join them for a fun day!

Here they are in their Red, White & Blue before we left the house.

The boys started fishing almost as soon as we got there.  Hudson really got the hang of casting the line.

Wyatt has fished before, but Pop Pop is a really good teacher.  

He's also really good to have around when a fire truck comes through the campground :).  Finley hopped up in the truck.  She was wet from the bounce house water slide, so she left the seat a little wet.

Hudson had to hop up in the truck too.  He was a little more comfortable behind the wheel.

We spent the morning walking to the bouncey slide, letting them slide (I still can't believe that Finley did it!), having lunch, and then scootering around and fishing.

Then we went over to the pool for a little bit.  Hudson was much more content to stay at the bouncey slide than swim in the pool, but he eventually made it over.

We went back to the camper for more fishing and showers.

I dressed the girls and Hudson back up in their Red, White & Blue for the next big event of the day....

The Hayride around the campground!  Wyatt wanted to stay back and fish, but these three were excited.  But they were also tired.

Celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence!  I also make them answer random historical trivia questions on the Fourth because I'm a "Cool Mom,"

Once we were home I put Finley to bed, and then we went outside to watch some fireworks that our neighbor picked up in South Carolina.  Because that's where all the good fireworks are!

And after an incredibly long day, this guy fell asleep watching "Pride of the Yankees" with Jeter. And he loved it!  He's already asked me if he can watch it again!  My kids love to watch Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver, so I'm not too surprised.  And Gehrig was on our baby name list.  Ha!

All in all, it was a really great day!  Thanks for having us at the campsite Didi and Pop Pop!

Long Overdue Wyatt!

Brian and I have tried to spend as much time as possible with Wyatt since we got home from the hospital. We've been traveling back and forth to the hospital in the morning, afternoon and at night, but we try to get him tucked into his own bed and follow his routine at night as much as possible. Once Reese is home everything will hopefully be back to normal - the new normal. But especially after last week when he was getting shuffled around, he really just needs some time with Mommy and Daddy. Daddy has had a lot of fun over the last few days playing with Wyatt, while I've been doing more "observation." I'm feeling significantly better after the surgery than I was a few days ago, but I still can't lift him or get up and down or allow him to be around my stomach. I'm looking forward to just having the whole family in the house and figuring out where we go from here.

On Monday Wyatt and I went over to Brian's parents' house to hang out with his parents and Allison, Colin and Piper. Wyatt and Colin have recently started to have fun playing with one another, and they had a lot of fun at Grammy and Grandpa's. They played together in their playroom, they went outside and played on the swing set and they ran around the backyard taking turns hitting off the tee. Brian came over to pick Wyatt and I up and he played out back with both boys for a little bit too. It was nice to have a day to hang out with family and to watch Wyatt play. I've really missed being able to hang out with my Little Fella since the C Section and even the last few weeks of the pregnancy were difficult. Hopefully as I start feeling better I'll be able to play more, but I do need to be careful since he walked up to me and smacked me right on my scar yesterday.

Right now we're awake because Wyatt had a nightmare tonight. He woke up with a piercing scream and wouldn't stop, so Brian went to check on him. He's only done this once before and I've done some research and it's not uncommon for kids his age to have nightmares, but this one really scared him. He stopped crying, but he's been awake in his crib for over an hour. Brian finally went and slept on the floor in his room because hearing Wyatt ask "where Daddy go?" through he monitor was breaking his heart. From the sound of things Brian is asleep, but I can still see Wyatt awake in his crib. I hope he gets some sleep and can calm down.

Brian and I are really starting to be amazed by things that Wyatt has been doing the last few days. He's saying more words than ever and picking up on words the first time he hears them. It didn't go so well the other day when my brother Marc told Wyatt that my future sister in law April's name is Wicked Witch as a joke and Wyatt said "Wicked Witch." His new favorite thing to say though is "Silly goose," which comes out more like "Siwwy goose!"

The other night he had brought all of his toys into the den and I told him that we needed to clean up and take everything back to the playroom. I thought that I would need to help him, but he just started picking everything up. When he missed something I would remind him "Wyatt, don't forget your drum." Then he'd run back into the den and pick up his drum. He did this over and over again, each time getting the specific toy I'd told him about. Then last night, while Brian was getting him ready for bed, Brian had to put all the overnight diapers in the diaper stacker. While he was doing this, Wyatt went into the cabinets on his dresser and pulled out the Desitin, the Baby Powder and the Baby Lotion and set them on the floor where he gets ready for bed. Brian didn't even ask him to! Tonight when we got him ready for bed, Brian asked him to get all his supplies and he pulled them out again!

He's been so helpful recently that we really think that he'll be great when his little sister comes home...hopefully today! I can't wait for them to meet each other!

Pushing his cousin Piper in the swing

Checking on Piper

Playing something with Colin where they keep saying "You're off!" I don't know the rules to this game.

Choking up on the bat

Getting ready to connect with the ball

Smiling at Gretsky the cat

Playing in the weeping willow

He seriously loves this tree

Piper!

Baby Shower!

Yesterday my family, a few friends, and the bikini brigade (my sister's friends who do my yard work) got together for a Baby Shower at my Mom's house. I had a great time! The decorations were cute, the food was yummy and the cake was delicious! We got a lot of great stuff...a ton of really cute outfits (her wardrobe doubled yesterday), new bottles (we used Drop Ins with Wyatt, but I always forgot them and had to go back and get them), a wipes warmer, crib sheets, a really cute Sesame Street humidifier, and the super cute pink play mat and booster seat that I really wanted and more! We are so grateful for everything!

Wyatt was there of course, and while he refused to sleep all day, he did enjoy seeing his grandmothers and great grandmothers and aunts and the bikini brigade. He would basically lead whoever's hand he could get where he wanted them to go and make them play with him. He saw his baby cousin Piper and said "Baby. Baby." I don't think he knew what to do when she cried, but since he told me "No," I'm pretty sure he thought that I was the cause of it. He refers to my sister and her friends as "the girls" and will pretty much follow them anywhere. They've been at my parents house 24/7 this summer, but as I mentioned, they've also been doing stuff around the house for me, so he sees them a lot.

Today I took some gift cards that we've gotten over the last few weeks to Target and picked up some things that we still needed (you know, fun stuff, like replacement bottles for my breast pump). Tomorrow we have my 37 week appointment (the next to last one) and we're going to be taking our 10% off registry items coupon to Babies R Us to get some other stuff that we still need...like her mattress! I'm really trying my best to get us ready for Baby Girl to get here. She still needs a middle name (although I think we both know what it's going to be, we just have to make it "official") and we have a ton of stuff to so around the house, but we'll get there!

The cake. Seriously, it was so good. I'm about to go have a piece now.

Chandelier Decorations

Piper. She wasn't that excited about the Baby Shower I guess.

Weekend Fun

Usual stuff this weekend...Target, Wal Mart, et cetera. Wyatt and I spent a lot of time at my parents' house on Friday and Saturday because we had family in town (hi Jean and Michele!). My brother's fiancee, April, was in town as well making some wedding plans and we got to see her ring, and talk about her plans for the big day next summer. My sister and I were asked to be in the wedding, which we're excited about! Besides hanging out over there we've pretty much been homebodies all weekend (yeah, we're pretty boring around here). Wyatt's been watching a new Animal show On Demand and is learning the animals - he shouts "Cat," "Snake," Fish,""Titer," (that's a tiger folks) and "Zeda" (zebra). He's also become very fond of saying "Meow," when he sees a cat, even if it's a lion!

Anyway, our friends Pete and Shannon bought two kiddie pools for their son's birthday last month and gave the second one to us to let Wyatt hang out in. Since he's still undergoing his daily "soaks" for his foot, I decided to put him in the kiddie pool today. He had fun playing in there (not with actual toys, just a nozzle for the hose and his life jacket that wasn't on), until Aunt Katie jumped in the real pool. Then the kiddie pool wasn't as fun, so he swam with her for a little bit and then she got in the kiddie pool with him.

Who knew life jackets were fun toys?

Having fun!

Dancing with Katie

He had just taken a sip of the nasty water!

Tomorrow we have a Doctor's appointment for Baby Girl and potentially a vet appointment for Noelle (she hasn't been eating much this weekend). Oh, and Brian and I are also going to see Poison tomorrow night. Yeah....I know. But, Brian really likes them and I'm tagging along because I think the girls are funny (and I really like his show), so we should have some fun.....

Our Weekend

Wyatt and I have been on the go pretty much all weekend. On Friday morning we went to my parents' house to see my brother and his girlfriend who'd come to town from Charlotte. They haven't seen Wyatt since his birthday party in March, and Wyatt was a little leery at first about going up to them. But in a matter of five minutes Wyatt was all about playing with "Mawc" and trying on his cowboy boots (I'm not sure where this cowboy boot thing came from...maybe he needs to get out of Carolina).

Then we met Brian's parents, Allison, T, Colin, Piper and Grandma (Brian's Grandma, Wyatt's Great Grandma) at the waterpark where we hung out in a nice, cool cabana. Fortunately, Grammy and Grandpa wanted to take Wyatt to play so that I didn't have to chase him. I did take him into the wave pool while the waves were on and he was a little pro at jumping the waves. He had a blast in there. At one point Wyatt and I were looking for Brian, and Wyatt spotted him from far away and pointed and said "Daddy, Daddy, 'Ere's Daddy!" He was so excited to see him! By the time we left the park Wyatt was exhausted and fell asleep before we even pulled out of our parking spot. We went back to my parents' house where Wyatt and I both took naps and Wyatt was fed dinner and given a bath (I love that place)! When we got home we hung for a bit before Wyatt went to bed and I spent the night attempting to sleep (I really just can't get comfortable anymore).

Yesterday we went down to Moyock for a family barbecue with my Grandfather's family. Wyatt had fun playing on the deck and bribing people to give him potato chips (he would only let you hold him if you offered him a chip first). Brian came home pretty early last night so we went to Babies R Us for a few things (and met up with Steph and Dave) and then went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. I felt bad because we had Wyatt out pretty late, but he was such a good boy at dinner (relatively speaking...it was late). He was zonked out in the car and slept until 8:00 this morning!

Today we're going back to my parents to see my brothers (yeah, now they're both in town) before they leave and to have some lunch. There's four dogs over there right now (parents two plus my "nephews" Charlie and Sarge) so hopefully everyone behaves themselves (baby and dogs alike) and we can have a nice time!

One word I forgot plus a new one....
35. No
36. Marc - pronounced "Mawc"

Easter Weekend

This weekend was a fun family weekend! On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg "Hunt" at a local nursery. Wyatt wasn't exactly "interested" in finding Easter Eggs, but it was still fun. Here's a few shots of him "hunting."

On Easter Sunday, Wyatt got his Easter basket and then we went to brunch with my family. We went to the Founder's Inn, which was pretty yummy. During the brunch there was a small band playing, and the drummer was my middle school orchestra teacher! Wyatt LOVES music, so he enjoyed the tater tots and chicken nuggets (and cheesecake) while he rocked out to the music. Afterwards we went to Brian's parents house and had lunch and another Easter Egg Hunt. Even though his big cousin Colin kept pointing the eggs out to Wyatt, our boy only wanted to play with the soccer ball (or the dogs). At one point during the day we looked at Wyatt and he was standing between two of the dogs petting them with a huge smile on his face! At other times he would be on the look out for Noelle, and would walk up to her. Needless to say, Brian especially was very proud that Wyatt could recognize our girl and wanted to be around her. By the time we got home though, our little guy was pooped. He didn't get much sleep during the day on Saturday or Sunday, so he went to bed a little early last night.

Today we went to the Doctor for the monthly prenatal appointment and everything is going well. And as a perfect ending to the weekend (for Brian anyway, I've still got today!), we got a definite date for finding out what Baby Number 2 is - April 18th!