Monday, October 28, 2013

Don't Mind Me...

...I'm just in the business of raising a few superheroes around here.
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Friday, October 25, 2013

A Little of This and That.

I feel as though I've fallen into a blogging funk. Truth is, our fall has been way more chaotic and full than I ever thought possible, leaving little time (or energy) to try and figure out my thoughts to put on "paper." I figured doing another high/low post would be the best possible solution to ensure I don't forget how life is right now, and allow me to organize things without having to use paragraph form.

High: Having three kids. Some days, I take a slow look around and marvel at all that I have been blessed with. I cannot imagine our life without Tyler (or without either of my big boys too).
Me and the King of no sleep.
Low: having three kids. I realize I'm contradicting myself. And honestly, it's not exactly a LOW. But in all truthfulness, sometimes having three kids makes things a bit more complicated. Like this morning, when I desperately needed to make a "quick" try to Sams. I wasn't in a healthy frame of mind apparently, because I decided it would be a good idea to take all 3 kids to the store by myself. Half way through and I was pushing a full buggy with one hand (which is no joke with those Sams Club buggies-- those things are like pushing a suburban through a retail establishment!), holding the 19 pound infant in the other, and desperately trying to get out of the store before all 4 of us had complete meltdowns. Someone slap me if I ever attempt that again. (although I do have to brag on myself and say that as crazy as I was for taking all three boys to the store, I did have the decency of mind to say "better than empty!" to the man who thought it was necessary to point out the blatantly obvious fact that my hands are full.)
Low: the three year old phase. Lord have mercy. This phase may very well put me in the grave early. Connor can be the sweetest thing ever and then turn on a dime and make me wonder what I've done to deserve such hellacious moments. Thankfully I have the perspective that we'll eventually get through this, but my kidneys are going to take a beating, because there are days I can't make it through without two Rt 44 Cokes with Lemon from Sonic.
He has spent the last 10 minutes complaining that the chip is "not working". Ha!
(at this particular moment, he was complaining that his chip didn't work. NO IDEA, Y'ALL.)
Low: Potty training. As much as I was not a fan of pushing a human out of my nether region, I can promise you that I would go through childbirth 194821 more times if it meant I didn't have to experience potty training with my children. Brayden was an absolute breeze to potty train, since I waited till he was ready and he has an exceptional drive when it comes to peer pressure. Connor, on the other hand, would much rather stick with the same thing, which means that I am stuck changing two sets of diapers for the foreseeable future. We do have moments where I think that we may be making a breakthrough, but nothing is even nearing consistency. So far we've had pee on the couch, he strips down to nothing in the cold so he can pee on the fence, and my personal fave was being told that he liked to pee on the potty at the same time his brother was peeing too. Did I mention the time when we were woken up at 4:30am to delightful tales of how Brayden had taken Connor to the bathroom on his own? I won't tell you how fun it is to clean pee off the floor before the sun comes up. Mainly, because, well, it's not fun.
High: Seeing my mom twice in one month. My family lives pretty far away, so time with them is savored around here.
Gravity 3d with my momma.  :-)
Low: the reason we saw my mom twice in one month is because a good friend of hers whom our family has known for years, passed away. I am so thankful that we have the hope that we'll see Mrs Lynn again, and am grateful that she no longer deals with the hurts of this world, but her death was a solemn reminder to me that this world is not our home. Death sucks, and was never Gods plan.
High: My mom being in town means that I got to sneak away with my love.
Date night.
Chips, salsa and margaritas, plus good company and child-less conversations=pure bliss.
High: having the blessing of MDO. I'm really not sure what I'd do without it.
Low: having to spend my MDO days going to the doctor for a seasonal allergy shot... for the dog.
Bringing my first baby to the Dr today... He has the worst seasonal allergies  :-(
Bless his heart. His allergies are the WORST during spring/fall season changes. And since we've been so busy he kind of got the backburner. Sorry, Toby. I promise we still love you, even if you're now fourth fiddle.
High: watching Tyler experience avocado this week. My kids have all had drastic differences when it comes to reacting to avocado. Brayden absolutely HATED it. Connor LOVED it, and Tyler, well... he's still deciding. :)
I'd say he hasn't quite made up his mind on avacados yet.

The weather here is supposed to be pretty this weekend, so I'm hoping we can get outside a bit before the weather turns so bitter cold that we're stuck inside during the solemn months of winter. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Sunday, October 20, 2013

Tyler Paul {5 months}.

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(his pokey fuzzy hair slays me)


I cannot even believe I am writing this post (albeit a day late and a dollar short). 5 months has passed since we welcomed our sweet baby boy into the world. This is a bitter sweet post for me to write, as Tyler has hit so many milestones in the past month. He's obviously grown just a little, and is on the verge of starvation ;)
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::5 month highlights::

- rolls from back to front and front to back
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- started solids (so far we've only tried green beans, but he ate them like they were candy, and acted as if he'd eaten real food since the day he came into the world). After his first bite he smiled and said "mmmmmmm". No lie.
- he now fake coughs when he's trying to get someones attention
- he can fully reach out, grab something and bring it to his mouth
- he now wears 12 month clothes for the most part. 12 month tops for sure, and mostly 9-12 month bottoms.
- still wears a size 3 diaper, but this is only because I haven't been to the store and I have a stash of size 3 diapers I'm trying to get through. Otherwise, we'd be in size 4.
- He weighs around 20 pounds. We'll know official stats next week when he has his well check.
- still no teeth, but he is working on them like it's his full time job (read: lots of drool and whining).
- still exclusively breastfed. I pump a lot, so he gets atleast one bottle a day.
- he absolutely ADORES his older brothers. ADORES them.
- naps are still hit or miss. On good days, he takes 3 naps (2 long ones, and one cat nap). On bad days, well... they can be bad. Part of our problem is our busy schedule, which doesn't allow me to have a consistent sleep schedule for Ty. And part of the issues are him not being 6 months old yet, so the 45 minute intruder is NOT our friend. We're also transitioning to crib naps instead of the swing, and I'm sure that plays a role in it too.
- he is trying to pull his knees under himself. I promptly pull them out from under him. Mommy aint got the time or energy to run after THREE boys yet!
- he will sit up by himself for a few minutes at a time (then promptly topples over). He's SO proud of his new skill
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- has learned how to give the best slobbery kisses this side of the Mississippi. I love it!
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- he has the best facial expressions. My fave is when he cocks his eyebrow when he's "talking"
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- he is a pretty laid back baby, and doesn't cry much. Except he HATES his car seat. HATES IT. Car rides right now are pretty awful for all involved.

Sweet baby Tyler,

You are the perfect little completion to our family. We love you so much and are so grateful that God gave you to us!

Sunday, October 13, 2013

A Little Trip to Tulsa.

Last Thursday our little fam headed over for a quick trip to Tulsa. I had gotten 2 free tickets to see Dave Ramsey Live, and that combined with a Living Social deal for the Tulsa zoo means that we made it a little family trip. I figured a recap of our two day extravaganza would be best summed up in high/low form.

Low: Tyler made it clear he absolutely, hands down, hates his car seat. This is so new to me-- I've never had a baby so adamant that the car seat is of the devil. Is there any cure for this problem or are we just SOL?

High: Definitely seeing Dave Ramsey Live. Drew and I are big fans, so it was fun to hear him speak live. It also encouraged us to press on with our goals of building a legacy (not just financial, I might add) for our family. 

High: 2 room hotel rooms. God bless Embassy Suites. There's no way we'd be able to fit all of our people and all of our stuff in a tiny room.

Low: hotel room sleep. Oxymoron of the year. Tyler was up most of the night, so that meant I was too. I was also grateful for the 2 room hotel room for this reason as well, because at least it was just Tyler up and not all of us. Could have been a lot worse.

High: hotel room bed jumping. No pictures were taken to document the event, but I assure you that my boys had a blast. Brayden dubbed it his favorite moment of the weekend.

High: free breakfast buffet. My boys eat us out of house and home, so we were grateful to have the price of a big, hot breakfast out of the equation. Brayden was excited to have endless possibilities. Just for breakfast he ate: strawberries, strawberry yogurt, 5 pieces of bacon, a serving of scrambled eggs, a biscuit, a blueberry muffin and a cream filled, chocolate iced donut. Dude can pack it away. And an hour later, he asked for a snack and proceeded to eat 2 packages of cheese crackers, a ziplock bag of goldfish and two granola bars.

Low: stepping out of the hotel room to peek downstairs at the boys swimming, and realizing I didn't have my key after the door slammed shut. Tyler was inside of the room on the bed. I had to rush downstairs to get the key from Drew. Never have I ran so fast.

High: The Tulsa zoo. I was kind of nervous that the trip would be a disaster, but I was pleasantly surprised. Aside from the large junior high group that was there, the zoo was relatively empty, so our little family could meander as we pleased without having to wait in lines or worry about children getting caught up in big school groups. We rode the carosel so many times I actually got dizzy.
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Connor said his favorite part was the sheeps and goats.
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Low: Tyler screaming for about half of the trip back. That's not fun for anyone involved.

Overall, I'd say the trip was a smashing success. Trips with kids are hard, and not that restful, but they are also full of great memories. I'm also encouraged as it becomes easier with my older boys, that there will be a day when all of them will be excited to be in the car and traveling somewhere.

High: we got back in time for a pretty paid back weekend, that included watching the Hogs get creamed by South Carolina, playing soccer, and some time with Mamaw.
It's Mamaw time!
Just a swingin' #latergram #tylerpaul
the weather this weekend was amazing aside from a small dose of rain showers, so we were outside for a lot of it. This guy is a fan of the swing.
Oh hey. I'm just sitting up on my own now. No big deal.
this little guy is learning to sit up on his own. He only lasts a few seconds, but he is SO proud when he's doing it.
He ran up to me after Sunday School and said "I'm here! King Connor!"
Connor has been quite the little toot lately thanks to the terrible threes. But he's also equally hilarious. This morning he made a crown in Sunday School, and after picking him up he kept saying "King Connor is here!" and waving his crown around to everyone. Haha!

Hope everyone has a great week! We have storms coming in, but I"m so excited because they are bringing in REAL fall weather! Yay for fall!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

My Sweet Babies.

We've had an unexpected laid back weekend, which was welcomed by all of us in the midst of a crazy busy fall schedule. Saturday it rained the entire day, which meant soccer was canceled and we were cooped up indoors. Sunday the weather was absolute fall perfection. We got out of the house a bit in the afternoon to go to a local garden park so I could snap some new pictures of the boys. I had thought about dressing them up, but then I thought that that doesn't really capture who my boys really are. They are always just wearing their undershirts and a pair of shorts, and are NEVER found wearing shoes unless we're in public (and even then it's questionable). So I just told the boys to put on a pair of jeans and not worry about shoes or fancy shirts. They were so excited about their apparel, especially Brayden.
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can someone tell him to quit growing?! He looks 16 and it makes me so sad!
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Connor is like the animal whisperer. Always catching something.
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these are his super hero muscles. It also looks exactly like what he does when he's not getting his way. :)
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sweetest baby in the world.
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oh my heart. I am so blessed. SO SO blessed.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Pumpkin Patch Extravaganza 2013.

One thing Drew and I have tried to make a priority as parents is to make fun traditions with our kids. One of those traditions is our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. We have visited one of the local pumpkin patches every year since Brayden was born. I look forward to this time with our little family every year, and love watching the boys grow in excitement each year that we've been. You can see our previous visits here:

This year we had the added bonus of being able to go when my mom was in town. Everything's more fun when Gigi is here :) (plus, it never hurts to have an extra set of helping hands!)
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I felt like Connor really ate up all the activities. He was SO excited about everything and kept laughing. As hard HARD HARD as this age/stage is, it's also my favorite because I feel like he has such true, deep joy of the most simplest things in life.
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as we were passing the patch of the smallest pumpkins, one was sitting off of the vine like a loner. Connor ran towards it and exclaimed, "I CAUGHT IT! I CAUGHT THE PUMPKIN!" He was beside himself with excitement that he had "caught" a pumpkin. Drew and I looked at each other and just laughed. I normally like them to pick the pumpkins off the vine, but how do you say no to that?
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I wish I had taken this picture before we left when it wasn't as bright. Bless the boys hearts, they could barely see anything.
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my boys are AVID grasshopper hunters. It's their favorite past time in the backyard. Imagine their grasshopper loving hearts when they realized the pumpkin patch was INFECTED with grasshoppers. I'm convinced if we hadn't pushed them to do other things, we could have easily just spent our time out there catching grasshoppers and they would've been content.
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Ty just soaked it all in
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a little corn hole fun
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we've usually gone towards the end of the season, which means the patch is a bit trampled down and the pumpkins are picked over. This year we made it out on the first day, which meant we had pick of the patch, and also had to wade through a few weeds as well.
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we decided we'd get each person in the family a pumpkin, so the boys had quite the time picking out 5 perfect pumpkins for each of us. Brayden has since informed me that we forgot to get a pumpkin for Toby.
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if this doesn't warm your heart, I really don't know what will.
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it had rained pretty good the day before, and we were worried a bit about the patch being too muddy for us to go. Thankfully it wasn't too bad, but I'm glad I made the boys wear their boots anyways. Boys are magnets for mud. I wish I could have recorded the giddy laugh Brayden had when his boots sunk in this nasty stuff.
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kings of the mountain
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look at that smile. He loves riding tractors.
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they fight like cats and dogs, but also work well as a team when they want to.
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when they left on the mule train, Connor looked back and said "bye you guys! see ya later!" ha!
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this was the best family picture we could get out in the patch. I promise we're not all angry. haha!
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about to set out on the hay ride... Tyler was nearing the verge of an implosion, so we didn't really even try to get one that was good. 

And I bet you are all wanting to see a cute baby in the pumpkins. Never fear... baby goodness is here:
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this picture CRACKS ME UP. He was SO through with pictures.
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eating hay sounded like a much better idea to this guy
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his chubby fingers are some of my favorite things in the world.

I'm so excited that fall is here! We're officially ready with our pumpkin family, and can't wait for more of our fun family fall and winter traditions to continue.

 

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