the seeman family

Some new skills

2012-01-27T10:05:00.004-06:00

The last couple days, Finley has started to wave....well kinda. We know that's what she's trying to do but it really looks more like she's saying "Praise the Lord". That, or she'll be a good waitress some day :)

This also shows more of her stinky face....silly girl.

Oh!!! You can also see her first bottom tooth when Nick gets up close to her face!

I'm just so thankful that the weekend is here! This week was soooo slow! We are looking forward to celebrating Cole's actual birthday this weekend. It will be low-key but still fun, of course :)

24

2012-01-26T08:49:00.008-06:00

We had our first ever stomach bug in the Seeman household this week. Yes, in the 3 years of being a parent, we have never had any stomach issues (God knows I can't handle it...haha). Tuesday morning Cole came into my room around 7am crying and before I could even open my eyes and realize it was morning, I was being thrown up on. For as much as I HATE throw up and it being my biggest phobia ever (I seriously think I need therapy for this), I actually handled myself quite well. I was a little frantic though because of course as this is going on and trying to get Cole cleaned up, the carpet, making sure the dogs stay away from the mess, of course Finley wakes up at this time too. I called Nick but he was already close to work and couldn't come home. Cole was acting pretty normal at this point so I thought maybe it was just a fluke thing. I plopped him in the couch and told him to stay put.
Benson knew he wasn't feeling good :(

I called my mom and as we were chatting, Cole got sick again so I knew he definitely was sick. I did all I could think of....call Gigi. Thank GOD she was home and didn't have anything going on because she was a life saver. She brought pedialyte, crackers, popsicles and lots of Gigi love :) Of course as the day went on he got sick a few more times and his energy was sucked out of him like crazy. I honestly don't know how I would have done it by myself because it seemed like Finley was always in need of something while Cole would be getting sick. Plus, trying to keep Finley away from Cole took some work.

Luckily he slept pretty well that night and woke up feeling much better the next morning. It's crazy because literally 24 hours after he got sick, he was acting like his normal crazy self. He didn't have much of an appetite yesterday still but was feeling much better! He even got some work done on his laptop :)

I was supposed to take Finley to get a shot yesterday morning, even got her out in the pouring rain to show up and them told me that because big brother was sick that her getting a shot and compromising her immune system would not be a good idea. Well, I was fine with that, I guess :) So we will wait another few weeks till her 9 month appointment. Tracy stayed with us yesterday as well, so I could take Finley to her appointment and just in case Cole started to not feel well again. Again, she was such a HUGE help and I don't know how I would have survived the last two days by myself.
Unfortunately it's been raining like crazy here the last couple days so I am getting cabin fever BAD!! Like, I think I might go crazy today :) I definitely need a break from being a mom!! :) Hopefully the sun comes out this afternoon so we can at least get outside for awhile. However, I am just so thankful that his sickness didn't last long and I'm still praying that Finley doesn't get anything. I'm sure she will be fine!

On a more fun note, over the last couple days, Finley has been starting this "stinky face" thing and it's so funny because Nick used to do the same thing as a baby.
This is a video of Finley doing her stinky face and the picture below is of Nick doing the same thing.

Cole's birthday weekend

2012-01-23T08:32:00.014-06:00

This weekend we celebrated Cole's birthday. It started with the Holler's (our old neighbor friends) coming to stay with us Friday night. Cole was SO excited to see Lexie that he could hardly contain himself. They played so well all weekend and they had so much fun. It was so great to see the Holler's since we haven't seen them in several months. We definitely miss having them around! Here are all the kiddos Saturday morning after breakfast.

Kaylee, Finley, Lexie and Cole

After breakfast we had to hurry and get ready for Cole's party. It was at 10am but luckily it was at a bounce house so we basically just had to show up and they do everything for us. It was fabulous! No setup or cleanup and not being able to chat with people because you are busy getting things ready and cleaned. Plus, the kids had a blast! They had all these bounce houses, slides, obstacle courses to play in and I'm sure all the kids took great naps that day :)
I took a ton of pictures but here are just a few fun ones.
Chris Bell with his daughter Reagan (our good friends from Houston) and Cole going down the slide.

We attempted to get a picture with all the kids, you can see how well that turned out :) A few of the kids didn't make it in the picture and most of them aren't even looking at the camera, but you get the idea.

After the kids played on all the bounce houses, etc. we went into the party room and had the party. Cole wanted an Alvin and the Chipmunks birthday cake so he was pretty excited to see the final product. Everyone sang to him and here he is blowing out his candles.

A bunch of the kids having their snacks and cake.

These two guys look like they are up to something :) I guess just enjoying some cake.

Finley also had fun seeing her boyfriend Josiah. They are so funny, they just stared at each other for the longest time.

Cole and Lexie, they sat by each other the whole time :)

After we got home and all the kiddos took naps we let Cole open some presents (that was the only way we could even get him to take a nap). He got a lot of great things and we have some really great friends for getting him all those great gifts but I did want to show what Nick and I got him. He has been obsessed with bikes lately because he sees little boys at the park riding their bikes and he always tries to steal them so we wanted to get him his own bike. He was pretty excited to get it!

Saturday evening, the Bell's, Holler's and Nick's parents were all at our house for dinner and we also played Mexican Train. The kids had a blast playing all day but we were all ready to have some adult time :) The Bell's also stayed at our house Saturday night. We always love having them stay at our house. They are so easy to have around and always sad to see them leave.
Here is Reagan and Cole Sunday morning before they left. They are so cute together and will definitely be great friends growing up.

After the Bell's and Holler's left Sunday afternoon, I tried to clean up the house some and do some laundry and then Nick's family came up to watch some football and Granddad helped Cole ride his bike. It might take him a few times to get a grasp on riding his bike because he was more interested in ringing his bell this time but I'm sure the more we do it he will catch on fast!

It was such a fun weekend and I know Cole had so much fun with all his friends. He was definitely sad to see everyone go home but next weekend we will have another little celebration for his real birthday. Nothing big, just a birthday dinner and I'm sure he'll love it.

The story of my life the past week

2012-01-18T09:38:00.006-06:00

I mentioned awhile back that Finley got her first tooth a couple weeks ago and it definitely was not a fun experience. I thought we might be in the clear for awhile but I was wrong....way wrong. Let these pictures of our day yesterday do the talking.

Every time I'd lay her down, she'd cry...hence why I'm holding her. Luckily Cole was napping at this point otherwise this wouldn't have been happening :) I actually loved cuddling with her because she is normally that child that just wants to sleep in her bed.

More cuddling, I'm just glad she's not crying....yet

Can I at least get one little smile???

There it is!!!!

Ok, enough of that......WAAAAAAAAAA!!!! Mom, hold me!!!!!

Yep, this is pretty much how the rest of the day looked. *Sigh.

Her poor gums are so swollen and she won't eat. She turns her nose up to anything I give her. I did give her one of those mesh things with some ice in it and she liked that and she will eat some puffs but that's about it. She has been SOOOOO clingy, like, cries the instant I leave the room. To say my arms are tired of holding her is an understatement! I gave her some Tylenol and oragel yesterday but didn't seem to work too much. I just hope we are over this pretty soon because I hate seeing her miserable like this.

In other news.....I "might" be going back to work next school year :) It's all very tentative but I have been in touch with people at Hebron (where I have worked since college) and it's a possibility I could have my part-time position back. Again, VERY tentative. AND, our old sitter Jennifer would probably be able to take both kiddos too, which would be wonderful!!! That is a huge reason I decided to stay home this year because Jennifer could not take Finley as a baby and we couldn't find other child care and plus I wanted to be home while she was a baby but I really do miss my high schoolers. Crazy, I know!! Nothing will really be able to be decided on till April-ish but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I told my principal that I'd only come back if I could have my part-time spot back, I'm not willing to do full-time yet. So, we'll see what happens but I would be ecstatic!
Well, gotta go get some house work done, going to have a house full of people this weekend and I don't think they'll appreciate how filthy my house is :)

The Weekend

2012-01-15T12:05:00.008-06:00

Thursday morning, my niece Sydney had to have her surgery. This is something all of us, especially Ryan and Rachel have been anticipating since she was born. I imagine they are THRILLED it is all over with now and they can just put it behind them. Her surgery went great but she did have a rough couple of days afterwards.
This is her right after the surgery...is she not the sweetest thing ever??

She was not allowed to eat anything for a couple days after the surgery so if you can imagine, she was not a happy camper! I just can't imagine a 3 month old, who is used to eating every 3 hours, not being able to eat for 48 hours!!!!
She finally had her first feeding yesterday around noon and then they were able to take her home last night. Here she is, all bundled up and ready to go home. I think she looks an awful lot like Cameron in this picture :)

Our weekend was pretty uneventful, we mostly hung out at home and played. Poor Finley didn't have any clean girl pj's so she's having to wear big brother's :) Cole was showing Finley how to use the iPad :)

Poor Roxy

Yesterday afternoon we just did a little bit of shopping and then went to church. Nick went out with some guys last night to watch the Broncos game while I stayed home and vegged in bed watching the game and old Glee episodes. Exciting, I know. As much as I wanted to go hang out with Nick last night, he insisted that the baby monitor would not reach the restaurant :(

Today, I wanted Finley to try out some tofu. She looks like such a big girl in this chair. I was cleaning her high chair so we stuck her in Cole's chair and she just went to town on the tofu. It was perfect for her because she could pick it up by herself and also has a great texture. I think she really enjoyed it, even though I was gagging in the background :)

We are getting so excited because next weekend is Cole's 3rd birthday party. His birthday isn't till the 29th so it's a week early. We have some wonderful friends coming into town and Cole will be so excited to have everyone around. Hopefully I can get everything done this week for his party, but thank God we aren't having it at our house this time :)
Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

8 Months

2012-01-11T15:20:00.004-06:00

Finley Marie...you are 8 months today!!!

How are you seriously that old already!?!
(you were too curious with the camera to smile this month)

You weigh 20lbs, not sure of length, haven't had that checked for awhile
Size 3 diaper
Wearing 12 month clothes - I feel that you have plateaued a bit
Still wake up once in the night, but now all I have to do is go put your paci in your mouth. I have tried to not make you dependent on your paci at night but you are starting to want it more and more, just during the night though. So other than a quick plug in around 1am, you are sleeping completely through the night.
You go to bed between 7:30-8:00pm and wake around 7:30am
You are down to 2 naps a day now, usually 10am and 2pm which makes it hard because they overlap with your brother a bit. I have a feeling you will move to 1 nap MUCH sooner than Cole did!
The last couple days I will hear you in the middle of the night and I'll see you up on all fours, rocking back and forth...gotta get that practice in, I guess :)
You are not crawling yet, like I said, just getting up on all fours and rocking. I am totally fine with you not crawling yet, makes me life much easier!
Here is a video of your rocking skills. You definitely get that booty in motion!!!

You still sleep on your tummy and hardly move throughout the night. You will inch your way up to the corner of the crib and then won't move the rest of the night. Guess you like your head in the corner for some reason.
You still eat every 3ish hours
Eating 2 meals a day. You still have no interest in baby food BUT you do like rice cereal. As soon as I try to mix cereal with any baby food, you refuse. Stubborn much!?! I usually bake up sweet potatoes, squash, zucchini and have those as finger foods, or bananas, avocado...anything that is soft. You also love puffs and yogurt bites. Pretty soon I might try some tofu...ick!!!!

You have started saying "da-da", even though it means nothing to you :)
You cut your first (bottom) tooth this past weekend. You were not a graceful teether and I'm hoping the rest of them aren't as hard to come in.
You have been VERY attached to me lately! You usually go to anyone but lately you are definitely a mama's girl!
You also got your very first shot a couple weeks ago. We've had to postpone a couple times because you had the sniffles but you did great, cried for a minute and then were fine.

Here is you and your brother at 8 months.....my he had a big head!!!!
You are definitely more petite than him, aaaaannnnd, still waiting for that hair to come in :)
We love you sweet girl and can't believe that in 4 short months we will be celebrating your first birthday, yikes!

12

2012-01-09T08:25:00.006-06:00

12 Random Things for 2012

12
Random Stuff
I'm trying to not drink sodas anymore
We are considering getting rid of our cable tv
I need to read more
I want to start volunteering at church again. I took at 3 month break that has turned into 8, eek!
I'm really not enjoying this teething stage, hello clingy-ness!!!!
I miss working....some days
I really want to learn how to sew
We cannot wait for our Hawaii trip but secretly I'm totally stressing about the time zone change and how they will adapt...and how we all will handle an 8 hour flight
Starting to think about bathing suit weather is scary, thanks to a cute 8 month old I will never be able to wear a 2-piece again :(
I need to stop baking desserts
I want to move....getting that itch really bad!
Candles and plug-ins give me the worst headache

11
Things I do every single day
Tell Cole about 367,491 times "What I'm doing". Yes, he asks that many times
Make breakfast for my two babes
Read blogs
Text Nick
Get on Facebook
Go check the mail (not sure why I love doing this)
Check my calendar
Check houses on Zillow (no, we aren't really in the market, just like looking)
Change diapers
Change my clothes due to spit up or other mishaps :)
Read some of my book I'm currently reading (Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks)

10
Books that are on my reading list
Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - currently reading
Hunger Games
Live a Praying Life
Sing You Home
Lone Wolf
Crazy Love
Nothing Daunted
The Tehran Initiative
Bringing up Boys
Bringing up Girls

9
Future Vacation Destinations
Maui, HI - going in March with my whole family
Las Vegas - going in June with friends
New York City
London - so wish I could go while the in-laws are over there but it's hard with a baby
Disney cruise
Switzerland
Wine Country - without kids :)
Hawaii - without kids :)
Tahiti

8
Currently in my Family room
2 sleeping dogs
toys
sippy cups
toys
empty cups
dvd cases
shoes
toys

7
If you came into my house the TV would most likely be on
Food Network
The Bachelor (so embarassed about this)
Private Practice
The Office
The Firm (new show I watched last night and LOVED it)
Man vs Food (Nick loves this show)
Modern Family

6
Some of my favorite foods
Strawberries
Green apple salad
Pb&j sandwich
asparagus
Filet
any breakfast food

5
Purchases we want to make/currently saving for
Pillows for our bed
Bedding for our bed
New carpet
Down payment for bigger house
New kitchen table. Acetone and Mod Podge have destroyed our current table

4
Music I cannot stop listening to
Beautiful Exchange - Hillsong
Anything David Crowder
We Are Young - Glee
Kari Jobe

3
Things we want to accomplish this year
No more car payments - almost there! After this we will be completely debt free (besides our house)
1/2 marathon - want to do White Rock next December
Get some type of part time job (from home?). I really do miss working but not willing to put kiddos in daycare, ugh!

2
Things I can reach from where I'm sitting
baby monitor
stack of dvd's Nick needs to copy to our computer

1
Picture that I love
Nothing glamorous, but this is us on an average day and I just love those smiles!

Mimi and Papa Visit...and New Years

2012-01-02T11:21:00.021-06:00

My parents flew down here last week and stayed for 5 nights. It was great to have them here since we didn't get to spend Christmas with them. The kids loved having them around and they also got to open some Santa gifts from the Colorado Santa.

Cole LOVES his vitamins that Mimi gets him. He asks for them every morning so I know they are a big hit! Here he is trying to open up his vitamins.

He got a lot of fun things from Santa...

And Cole is SUPER excited about his Yo Gabba Gabba shoes. I know, they are a little crazy right!?! I really can't even stand that show but he would not take these shoes off and I guess they are pretty fun! :)

Finley got her backpack and a cute duffel bag which will come in handy when we go on some weekend trips.

Other things we did...let's see....more getting up on all fours

Haircuts that we did NOT enjoy :( We bribed him with candy, juice, movies....but he just wasn't in the greatest mood. Oh well, it got done and looks great!!!

Did lots of playing outside because the weather was perfect this weekend!

Played with our new sticker books....for hours and hours!!

Finley played with her new cape from Mimi and Papa. These are the coolest things because it's like a wearable blanket. When you put them in their carseat, stroller, etc it just lays right on top and it isn't a big bulky blanket that has to go under the straps. This will be so nice to have!

New Years Eve:
Last New Years Eve we got together with our "Family Playdate" group and we did the same this year. Ken and Kristi hosted and as usual we all had a great time. Ken cooked a fabulous meal and we enjoyed watching the kiddos play.

Cole had so much fun with this trampoline, he would get so high and get his knees way up in his chest.

And as usual....we had to get the kiddos picture taken. Unfortunately we were missing Liam and Finley actually was big enough to be in the picture this time.
Finley, Kate, Emmie, Cole, Piper and Grayson

We left Ken and Kristi's pretty early because everyone has kids so we headed home and met Nick's parents at our house so they could join us for the evening. Cole was playing pretty hard and all of a sudden he heard Justin Bieber come on the TV and just sat and listened to him. Pretty funny...but he better not be a bieber fan!!! Ahhhh!!!

Alright, so after he was done watching Bieber, he put his goggles back on (don't ask) and flew around like Super Man

Even dad got in on the action

Cole stayed up much later than normal (but did he sleep in??? NO!!!) and the adults actually stayed up pretty late playing Mexican Train. It was a lot of fun but I definitely felt it the next day!
Sadly, my parents left this morning and we put all the Christmas stuff away...what a sad, depressing day :( Tomorrow Nick goes back to work and then it's back to the normal grind. However, only 3 weeks till Cold's 3rd birthday so we will be getting things set up for that. AND, the next time we see Papa and Mimi, we will be here....

Christmas

2011-12-27T21:01:00.018-06:00

Here is a little recap of our Christmas weekend

Christmas Eve:
After making one last stop at the mall for a gift, Nick and I spent most of the day getting our house ready for company on Christmas Eve. After the kiddos had their naps, we got them dressed up and we headed to Christmas Eve service at church.
Cole was not awake yet at this point so I had to get some pictures of this cute girl. I don't typically put her in dresses yet because personally I think they are annoying when they don't know how to walk yet...but anyways...I think she looks super cute all dolled up!!!

AND, she was so curious with the shoes that were on her feet. Again, one of those things I think are super annoying until they start to walk. :) But with it being Christmas and all, we had to go all out.

Me and my kiddos before church, and yes, the only way we could get Cole to get into the picture was to bribe him with a sucker. :)

After a great Christmas Eve service at church and seeing some great friends we all headed back to our house for the night. Blake and Emily and Nick and I were in charge of this meal and Blake and Em brought some yummy food!! Nick made his ribs and I....well, I didn't do much, ha!
After we ate we took pictures.....

And after pictures we opened LOTS of presents. Literally, I took about 250 pictures that night so I was a little overwhelmed on which ones to put on the blog so I'm just keeping it simple with the family pictures :) The kids got great toys and the adults got some fun stuff too! Emily got Just Dance 3 so after the kids went to bed, we sure had fun doing some dancing!!! I'm not going to post an incriminating pictures of myself, but I will post these pictures...hehe
Christmas Day:
After everyone woke up we opened up Santa presents and had a leisure morning around our house. After Finley's first nap we headed into Granddad and Gigi's house for the day. They were cooking everyone surf and turf and we also had some other relatives from Austin come into town.
When we go to their house Granddad and Gigi got these fun rocking "polar bear" and "lambs" but they will stay at their house and the kids can play with them when they visit.

Everyone else opened up Santa presents and here are just a couple super cute things the kids got.

Blake looks thrilled to be wearing Finley's apron!

Finley loves her little dolly :)

I did enjoy a few glasses of yummy champagne during the day so Finley had a couple bottles during and Granddad really enjoyed feeding her one of them. He especially loved her little fingers up his nose!

A little tradition that Nick's mom makes us do is we all have to sing the "12 Day of Christmas" song before we eat. Her place-settings at the table are the 12 Days of Christmas theme so whatever day we sit on we have to sing that part of the song. Nick always gets stuck with "Fiiiiiiive Golden Rings".

And whenever Dad would sing his part (yes, he got a little out of control a few times), Cole would bust up laughing. Silly dad!!!

Blake also brought his Clark Griswald mugs and they enjoyed some homemade egg nog that he made.

After several late nights and not getting much sleep, both us and the kids....we are exhausted!!! :) BUT, it was such a fun weekend and we realized how truly blessed we are to have such wonderful family!
Today, I was running on fumes and Nick told me to go lay down so after I knew Finley was fed and didn't need anytime soon, I laid down and 2.5 hours later I woke up and felt AMAZING!!!! Y'all, I have not taken a nap like that since before Cole was born!

We are super excited to have my parents come tomorrow and spend some time with us and help us ring in the new year. Cole will be so happy to have Papa and Mimi here and I'm sure we'll do lots of fun things.
Hope everyone had a great Christmas!

A few happenings

2011-12-19T15:49:00.008-06:00

We have had some fun things go on this past week. It sure is a busy time of year! Gigi got back into town last week and we have definitely been taking advantage of her time :)
Nick went to Top Golf last Tuesday while Cole, Finley and I had a birthday party to go to. It was at a restaurant and I knew I wouldn't be able to handle both kids by myself so I recruited Tracy to come along. Thank goodness she was there because not 10 minutes into getting there, Finley pulled a HUGE glass of water onto me and her, and of course I was wearing jeans, ugh. There also was a huge slide at the restaurant that Cole went on about a bazillion times and half of those I had to go with him because he was too scared so I definitely needed a another set of hands.
When we got back from the party, Santa was making his way through our neighborhood. It's so cool because they get the ambulance and fire trucks out and put their lights on and have Christmas music playing while Santa waves to all the kids, it's so great!

Cole and Gigi waiting for Santa to make his way to our house

This past weekend we had our Life Group Christmas party. Pete and Katie definitely know how to host! We all had a great time with great food. It was also nice to just be around the adults and have conversations that didn't involve a toddler asking me "what I'm doing" every 2 seconds. Nick's parents babysat for us and before we left Finley put on a little show for us. She's been getting in the push-up position for a long time but she actually got up on her knees. It's kind of hard to tell in this picture but she's up on her knees...so exciting!

Here is a picture of our Life Group

Sunday afternoon Cole had a birthday party for his friend Liam. Cole loves seeing all his friends and everyone had a great time.
Cole's friends Emerson and Zinnedean

Nick and Finley were supposed to come with us, but I'm having a hard time trying to figure out their nap schedules and she was sleeping when we had to leave. Finley has now transferred to 2 naps a day which makes it hard because now her naps overlap with Cole's. She naps around 10am and 2:30pm and Cole has always napped at noon....so you can see that one of them is sleeping at all times. However, this makes it hard to actually get out of the house so I have tried to push Cole's nap back to 1:00pm so that I at least get one hour to myself but it's really hard for Cole to make it to 1:00, he's usually falling asleep before then. I'm sure he will get used to it soon but I'm really looking forward to them both being on the same schedule!!! :)

I'm so excited because Nick has the next 2 weeks off so we get to do a lot of playing this week! The 4 of us finished our Christmas shopping this morning and we have a bunch of other fun things planned so it will be so fun to have dad home!!

2 toddlers+2 babies= hysterical disaster!

2011-12-14T11:51:00.011-06:00

I mentioned that while we were in Colorado for Thanksgiving, we got all four Volk grandchildren together for some picture-taking. Our good friend Corrie took the pictures and we LOVE her! It was a gift for my mom's birthday and back when we booked the session we thought it would be a GREAT idea....ha!! Nobody really thought much about getting 4 kids under the age of 3 to take pictures, 2 of which can't even sit up yet. Well, here is a little bit how the session went......

I mean, how cute are these two?? We couldn't have asked for better smiles and participation from them. They were amazing!!

Besides acting like typical toddlers, they pretty much smiled and looked exactly where we asked them to.

I think they had just as much fun as the parents were having watching them. They were totally hamming it up!

Our handsome guy

Doesn't she look like Cindy Lou-Who?? Love this girl!

Ok, so after the big kids did their thing and did an amazing job, we thought we'd add the 2 babies in. I mean, besides the fact that Finley is pretty much laying down and Cole looks like he's in charge of both babies at the same time, I think this looks great....right!?!

Here we go.....Meltdown city!!! Again, rockstar Cole did great!

Ha!!!

If you can imagine, the parents are all dying laughing!!!! Well, that and also making sure none of the babies get flung off the bench.

And literally...those were the best ones!!! Ha! So there ya go mom....Happy Birthday!!! I promise someday we will attempt this again. Till then, all we can do is laugh!

Visit with Santa

2011-12-13T10:43:00.006-06:00

Yesterday we met up with some friends to go visit Santa. I was so excited to take Cole this year because he's really starting to understand all this Christmas stuff. Even though he is a very quiet (for the most part), reserved kid, he definitely is not shy with things like this. Last year he could hardly handle his excitement to sit on the Easter bunny's lap. He was about to bounce off the walls when we got to the mall.
Here's Cole and Finley while waiting in line...it's so hard to get a picture with both of them looking at the camera because she is constantly staring at her brother :)

Emma and Cole waiting patiently

My friend Ann makes the most adorable clothes for little kids. She does such cute embroidery and comes up with the cutest ideas. This isn't the greatest picture but she made Emma's outfit. Her pants were so fun!! She has an Etsy site called Babyegg Boutique if you want to check out any of her stuff.

Finley looks thrilled doesn't she??

And here is how the Santa picture turned out....

For as excited as Cole was to sit on Santa's lap, he acted pretty stoic once he actually got up there. Again, it was SO hard to get Finley to actually look at the camera because she is very fascinated with men, and his beard was VERY fascinating!!! :) But, at least neither of them are crying, woohoo! :)

Of course, as much fun as all the Christmas traditions are and everything that goes into the holidays, we feel it's extremely important for Cole to understand the meaning behind Christmas and the reason we celebrate this holiday. I'm so thankful that he goes to a Christian preschool because they really talk a lot about Jesus and the meaning of Christmas. I absolutely love that he comes home from school so excited to show me his "baby Jesus".....or the other day he came up to me and said, "Mama, wook....it's baby James". Ha!!! I have to laugh!!

We have a very fun week coming up. We have a birthday party tonight, park playdate, baby Jesus birthday parties at school, mom's night out with some fun girls, Christmas pj's party, and Life group party....whew, I love this time of year!!!
We are also so excited because after Friday, Nick has 2 weeks off!! He so needs a break because he's been working 10-11 hour days, then coming home and working several hours after we all go to bed. Ugh...poor guy, didn't come to bed till 2am last night and got up at 6:00am. Not sure how he does it, but I can't do anything but admire him for all his hard work!!
Hope everyone has a great week!!!

7 Months

2011-12-11T11:36:00.003-06:00

Finley Marie is 7 Months!!

You are turning into such a big girl! Where have these 7 months gone?!?
What is new with you this month??

I have no clue what your weight is, I'm guessing around 18lbs
Still very tall with loooong legs
Still wearing size 3 diaper and medium cloth diaper (again, only when we are home)
Wearing 9-12 month clothes
You are sleeping about the same as you have for the last few months. Consistently you wake up once during the night, usually around 4am. Every once in awhile you will wake up one time around midnight, but that is rare.
You are an awesome napper! You still take 3 naps....9am for about an hour, 12:00 for almost 2 hours and then 4:30-ish for an hour. You are so easy because when you start to whine I will just go lay you down in your bed with your paci and you fall asleep on your own, so easy!
You eat every 3-ish hours, sometimes more frequently

In honor of Robert Griffin III, we thought we'd put you in some Baylor attire today. Go Baylor!!
Cole also wanted to take a picture with you, and you couldn't have been more thrilled.

Same as last month, still hate baby food.....sigh
You love anything that you can feed yourself, I'm not sure if it's a texture thing or what but you are pretty insistent on not eating baby food.
You are starting to sit up much better by yourself. I still put the boppy pillow behind you because you will fall backwards.
I don't know if I'd call you a lazy baby, but you really don't do much rolling around. I thought you would be doing more of that but when I put you down on the floor, you are just so content watching your brother and playing on your tummy that you will usually stay put. Even during the night in your crib, you pretty much stay in one spot all night long.
You just got over having another little cold. We were pretty much over your first one but with traveling and super dry air in Colorado, we came home with another one. Because you have not been 100% we still haven't been able to get you your first shot. I'm thinking we will be able to this week because you seem great now.

For fun, here is Cole and you at 7 months. He sure was a chunk! He had almost 7-8lbs on you at this point, plus, his head was gigantic!! It's so fun to see the differences but also similarities.

We are so looking forward to spending the fun Christmas holiday with you and watch you celebrate your first Christmas. We love you very much little girl!

Proof that Finley WILL NOT eat

2011-12-10T09:24:00.002-06:00

Here is to show everyone what I'm talking about when I say that Finley will not eat her baby food. She does this every stinkin time. She has come to love puffs or anything she can put in her mouth by herself, but anytime I put the spoon up to her mouth, she purses those little lips so tight and won't eat. I remember with Cole, feeding him was such a fun thing to do because I couldn't get the food in fast enough and he LOVED anything I'd give him. I have come to dread breakfast and dinner time because it is a beating trying to feed her!

I'm wondering if I just need to start steaming/baking fruits and veggies and give it to her as chunks so she can feed herself but I still think she is a little young. Everyone says, "she'll catch on" but good Lord, we've been doing this for almost 2 months now and it hasn't gotten any better. I hope this isn't a glimpse of a stubborn teenage girl we might have on our hands :)

2011-12-08T11:05:00.002-06:00

Cole comes home from school singing a new song almost every day. I love it! Sometimes I reeeeaally have to listen hard to figure out what he's singing but usually I can figure it out. Last night we caught Cole singing this song in bed. It's a little fuzzy because it's from the monitor but there are a few clear parts.

"I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee,
Won't my mommy be so proud of me
I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee
Ouch, he stung me"

My Birthday

2011-12-07T11:43:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was my birthday and for it being on a Tuesday, it was pretty fantastic!! Nothing wild and crazy went on, but it was just perfect!! First, Nick surprised me with staying home from work (I was most excited about this!!). He had one call he had to be on at 9:00am but then he was free the rest of the day.
My morning started out with these two cuties. I love the mornings when Cole climbs into our bed and drinks some milk and Finley likes to hang out with her brother.

I was also very excited because I had to make a grocery store run and anyone that has children knows it's kind of stressful going with them, so Nick stayed home with them and I got to go BY MYSELF to the store. It was amazing!! I didn't have a toddler saying every 2 seconds, "Mama, wook....cookies" or "Mama, I want some". It was delightful!! Oh, and Nick told me that as soon as you turn 30, you no longer will be carded. Well, first time ever, when I went to the grocery store, they did not card me for the wine I bought!!! I laughed because, literally, I get carded every stinkin time!! I guess I finally look my age now, eh??
After they both took naps we packed up and headed to the mall. Nick's birthday present to me was this watch and I needed a few links taken out. We had a couple other things we needed to do at the mall so while Nick took Cole to the play area, Finley and I did our shopping. At one point we got into the elevator and you know you are in an elevator with a bunch of moms and cute babies because after sitting in the elevator for several minutes chatting it up about our babies, we noticed nobody hit the floor button. Yep, we were sitting in one spot....going nowhere. Awesome! :)
On our way home from the mall, we decided to go look at a few houses that are for sale. Finley was sleeping so we thought we'd just drive around a bit and let her sleep. Plus, Nick and I LOVE looking at houses. We definitely will be looking for new houses in a year, or two or three so we are keeping our eyes peeled.

Nick and Cole were in charge of getting dinner started. They made Taco Soup and with the chilly weather, it was amazing! Even though it takes a little longer having Cole "help" in the kitchen, he absolutely loves it!

After we got the kids to bed, Nick and I sat down and watched Crazy, Stupid Love. It was such a cute movie and we loved it! I can't remember the last movie we watched so to actually sit down and watch an entire movie was fun!
I LOVE days like that and we had so much fun with dad being home with us. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.
However, I am a bit tired and zombie-like today because Finley decided to wake up at 11:15 last night. Nick tried to get her back to sleep but as soon as he'd lay her back down, she'd start crying. It wasn't the "hurt cry" so I knew nothing was really wrong. So, the stubborn streak in me decided to just let her cry it out. That went on for an hour so I went in and fed her, because usually that will for sure do the trick. Nope, cried for another hour. Well, not really crying the whole time, just talking and off and on crying. I went in and patted her back for awhile and then let her cry some more. FINALLY at 2:15 (yes 3 hours of this) so fell asleep. Me, who usually goes to bed at 9:30 didn't get to bed till 2:30am and of course was up at 7:00am. Good thing Cole had school today because I wouldn't have had the energy to entertain him today.
Good thing my little girl is cute and gives me BIG smiles in the morning because that makes the sleepy days well worth it!

Go Baylor!!

2011-12-04T15:33:00.010-06:00

What an exciting game this weekend against Texas! I just wish that when we were in college, the football team would have been this fun and exciting to watch! Either way, we are so proud of Baylor and can't wait for tonight to find out which Bowl game they will be in. We are keeping our fingers crossed that they will be in the Cotton Bowl at the Cowboys stadium because we would for sure go!!

Besides watching Baylor stomp all over UT, we had some other fun things to do this weekend. After running errands yesterday morning we attended Josiah's adoption finalization party!!! We are so excited for the Cone's that they are welcoming such a fun little boy into their family! I know our kids will be great friends and can't wait to see them grow up together.
Here is a picture of me and Josiah...what a little tank he is!!! He and Finley are about 3 weeks apart so having our kids so close in age is great!
Congrats Dave and Steph!

Last night we had some friends over for some ribs. Nick was really excited about making ribs and I think they turned out pretty good.
Here is Nick with Finley...had to show off one of her Christmas outfits.

My children are getting so good at taking pictures. Cole is so sweet with Finley and is so cooperative, I love it!!

"Muah"

Here's "The Godfather" (Nick), Grayson, and Cole....those are 3 cute guys!!

Cole, Finley and James...one day James will like being on his tummy :)

Nick was so excited to put the kids in their Vikings gear today, but unfortunately (fortunately for me), the Broncos beat the Vikings. Nick is pretty bummed out with his Vikings this year....but like he said, "At least Baylor won!!"

We are sad that this weekend is coming to a close, even though this weekend has been very rainy and dreary, it's been very relaxing and fun....definitely got us in the Christmas spirit! Can't wait for the next couple weekends filled with Christmas parties, date nights and family time!

Thanksgiving in CO

2011-11-28T11:45:00.027-06:00

Last Saturday our family of 4 flew to Colorado for a week. The flight was great, both kids were excellent! Once we got there we went to Gunther Toody's for lunch and I knew deep down that I shouldn't have had that giant milk shake :) Later that evening, Finley was NOT a happy camper. I knew that she couldn't handle a lot of dairy so that milkshake was definitely pushing it!!! What also stunk is that we were having a grandkid photo shoot that afternoon and she definitely cried through the whole thing....poor girl! I'm sure the pictures will be funny though :)
Of course when we first got home, my dad was so anxious to show us his new toy.

Sunday we went to church then met up with Ryan and Rachel's family for brunch.

Cole and Cameron love playing together and for the most part are very nice to each other :) How cute are they, walking together after brunch!?!

Sunday evening was a fun night! My mom and I went to dinner with some long-time friends, Kaye and Courtney and Rachel also joined us. After dinner I was VERY surprised with a little birthday surprise party...even though my birthday is a couple weeks away. It was so fun to see all my friends and lots of family. What a fun night!

Monday morning, we had to make a trip to the mall and Rachel had a doctor's appointment so Nick, my mom and I took Cole, Cameron and Finley with us. Even though it was one adult per child, it was still pretty crazy!!! We didn't spend a lot of time at the mall because if someone wasn't pooping their pants, they were having a meltdown. We were tired after that trip! :) After all the kiddos took naps and watched a little cartoons (how cute are these 3??), we headed over to Ryan and Rachel's to celebrate Ryan's birthday.

We enjoyed some yummy pizza and carrot cake that Cole and Cameron decorated. I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like :) If I wouldn't have helped, there would have been sprinkles in a two-inch radius :)
Papa absolutely loves having all his grandkids together and Finley definitely loves her Papa!

And Mimi is so funny, always making her laugh

Ryan got to blow out his candles, with the help from Cameron, and opened some presents.

Cole also had fun playing with Cameron's toys. We don't have a lot of these around our house yet!

Sydney is the sweetest baby! Love her!

Wednesday, Rachel and the girls came over so I could teach her how to make bows, rosettes, etc. Luckily Uncle Ross and Nick were around to help out with the kids while Rachel and I were being crafty.
Finley and Sydney had fun playing on the floor together. Finley was definitely curious about this other baby!

Finley also enjoyed making out with my mom. She only did it to my mom and was so funny. Finley would just grab her face and try to eat it.

That evening, my dad took us to the park to play for a bit. The weather was great, but once the sun went down, it sure got chilly!
Papa is so funny!!!

Finley even joined us at the park, doesn't she look cozy?

That evening, Nick and my brother Ryan went to an Avalanche game. I'm sure Nick was ready for a night away from the kids. When you aren't used to being around them 24/7 I'm sure it can be tiring! Ryan and Nick had a great time and I'm so impressed that Rachel let Ryan go, since they were hosting Thanksgiving at their house the next day, ha!

Thursday, we hung out for the morning at my parents and we actually got some family pictures.

After Cole woke up from his nap that afternoon, it seemed like he just wasn't acting quite right. I guess I just thought that he was tired because he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. However, once we headed over to Ryan and Rachel's for our Thanksgiving feast, we could tell he definitely wasn't feeling good. While sitting at dinner he asked to go to bed. He went a laid in Cameron's bed for awhile and when he came back down he was running a temperature. Nick and I decided it would be best to take him back home because we didn't want him to get any of the kids sick. So our Thanksgiving got cut short but we still got to eat some yummy food!
Ryan with Cameron...silly dad!!!

Nick dancing with Cameron and Cole....this was about the only activity Cole did all night, poor guy!

Poor Cole had a rough couple of days after that. He ran a temperature for a couple more days and was pretty much down and out till we left for home on Saturday. I have never seen him like that and I absolutely hated it! We had a house-full of little kids at our house Friday night and Cole didn't even try to come play, he just laid in bed upstairs and watched tv and slept.
He did venture outside a little bit to get some fresh air and sit by the fire.

After having 2 nights of VERY interrupted sleep and lots of crying, Cole turned the corner on Saturday. Nick thought it would be best to take him to the clinic, especially since we were flying home that night. Doc told us that he had an ear infection, which caused the fever. Cole has not had an ear infection ever so I was pretty shocked at the prognosis! He never said his ear hurt, but maybe the sleepless nights should have been an indicator...
Again, we were so thankful that Cole started feeling better Saturday afternoon because we were flying back to Dallas that night.
Papa with Finley before we left

Before we left, my dad gave me a ride on the motorcycle. This was my first time on one and it was pretty fun. I think what's scary is knowing there is absolutely nothing between you and the road! We didn't go far, just around the neighborhood but my dad absolutely loves it!
Finley loved his helmet too! she thought it was pretty interesting

We obviously don't like saying good-bye to all the family but my bed had never felt so good the night we got home!! We didn't get home till about 11:00pm so you'd think the kids would have slept in right??? Nope....7am, they were ready to go....ugh!!!!
We spent the day getting all our Christmas stuff out and set up and Cole had a blast helping out this year!! It's so fun to see your kids understand what Christmas is and participate in all the fun! He helped put ornaments on the tree, even though his were all on the same branch, ha!

Nick's parents came up and watched some Viking football and Dennis helped with the tree. Dennis and Tracy are headed to London for awhile so we wanted to see them before they took off. Tracy had to spend a little time in Minneapolis this past week so she brought back some goodies for the kids. Cole got these cute Viking slippers...they are hilarious!

We are now spending the next couple days getting everyone healthy (yes, Finley and I both came home with colds). Again, we had such a great time in Colorado will definitely miss my family! My parents were so gracious with sharing their house with our crazy family and also getting lots of fun goodies for the kids throughout the week. We so appreciate everything!

Finley's 6 month appointment

2011-11-17T14:09:00.003-06:00

Yesterday I took Finley to her 6 month appointment. I always love well-checks, I just like to see how much they have grown. :) Here are her stats:
Weight: 17.5 lbs - 73%
Height: 27.25in - 93%
Head: 17in - 70%
I had a feeling that she was pretty tall, so this definitely made me certain. I think she's going to get the long torso like her dad and long legs like her mom...hopefully! Except hopefully she's not 6ft 5in. :) What I like about the second child is that the doctor is pretty quick with our appointments. Unless I have specific questions, he pretty much tells me what I need to know and sends us on our way. She was supposed to get her first ever shot yesterday but because she's been pretty congested for a couple weeks, he wanted to wait till she was completely healthy. She will get her first shot after Thanksgiving break, then another one a month later. I love that our doctor lets us do our shot schedule how we like...with some guidance, obviously!
Overall, she is great...the doctor and I were laughing because the second the doctor walked into the room, she just laid on the bed, so completely still. She just watched everything the doctor was doing and didn't take her eyes off him. He checked her eyes, ears, gums, everything and she sat there so still. Silly girl :)
Now we just need to work on getting her completely healthy. Start loading her up on some Briar Rose, hopefully that will do the trick! :)

Weekend Recap

2011-11-14T07:45:00.012-06:00

Here is a little recap of our weekend. Friday night, I'm not sure if everyone will be able to handle what party animals we are, but I'll go ahead and tell you. Nick put Cole to bed around 8:00 and decided to lay down with him. Nick proceeds to fall asleep in there and I can't even tell you what time he came to bed. Since my evening was kinda shot, I decided to just go lay in bed and read my book. I end up falling asleep around 9:00...I know, we are ca-razy people, right!?!

Saturday, our friends The Cone's came for a little lunch visit. Dave and the boys were in our neck of the woods and came over for a visit and it was so great to see them! Cole and Evan always have a great time playing and to say "boys will be boys"....these pictures of them wrestling says just that!

Evan is quite the bruiser!! He had Cole pinned down pretty good a few times.

Saturday evening we met up with our friends for our "Adult playdate". Ha! We love getting together with everyone and it sure is crazy with all the adults AND all the kiddos. It is definitely entertaining and the kids have a great time.

Grayson and Finley

Even though this jumperoo is always in Grayson's play room, of course he wasn't interested in it till Finley got into it.

Crazy kid....yep, that's our Godson :)

It's always been a tradition to get a picture of all the kiddos and if you can imagine, it's not an easy task!!! It's funny because once the parents gets each kid in place it's a race against time to get the camera's flashing. We were like the paparazzi, flashes everywhere!!! We did get a few good ones but the other not-so-good ones are absolutely hilarious!!!
Liam, Emerson, Piper, Grayson, Cole

Here is their first picture together last year. It was a terrible picture and Grayson was little enough that he was in bed, but here are the 4 older ones:
Emerson, Piper, Cole and Liam

Sunday after church and naps, Cole and Nick did some yard work and also cleaned our windows. Nick got our yard ready for winter and now our yard looks a little bare :(
Cole had a blast washing windows with dad because Nick let him spray and he LOVED that!

"I got you mom!!!"

Just to leave you with a cute video of my kiddos laughing together this morning. I love that they are interacting a bit and can entertain each other. Nothing better than toddler and baby laughs!!

This should be a fun week, bounce houses, Bible Study, Finley's 6 month appointment, Mops and getting packed for Colorado!!! Can't wait to be in some colder weather!!

6 Months

2011-11-11T09:41:00.003-06:00

Today, on 11-11-11, Finley Marie is 6 months old!! What a great day!!!

Not sure of your height and weight yet, you have your 6 month doctor appointment next week, but I can't wait to see how much you have grown!
You are still in size 3 diapers, size medium Bum Genius diaper. While we are home I'll slap a cloth diaper on you :)
Wear mostly 9-12 month clothing
Your legs are crazy long so a lot of your pants are too short
You still sleep pretty well. The last week or so, you were waking up twice during the night but I think it's because you are rolling so much now and you'll accidentally roll onto your back and you aren't quite sure what to do. You aren't real graceful quite yet :)
Bedtime is still 7:30ish and you will wake up for the day anywhere from 6:00-7:30am
Still taking 3 naps a day. A 45 min around 9:00am, then around 12:00 you will "hopefully" take a 2 hour nap. And then a 45 min one around 4:30pm.
We started giving you some food a few weeks ago. We started with sweet potato and you have also had green beans, peas, squash, zucchini, apples and pears. I would have figured that after doing this food thing for a few weeks that you would get the hang of it, but you really have no interest in eating. You love playing with the spoon but as soon as I put the spoon up to your mouth, you clinch those lips so tight. It's not like you don't like the food because once it's actually in your mouth you like it, but again, not a huge interest. However, I'll let you suck on a real apple and you LOVE that, so maybe you will just be one of those babies that's not a huge fan of baby food...ugh :)

You still nurse every 3 hours or so and definitely have no problem with the bottle now! You even take the bottle from the ladies at church, yay!!! :)
The days of you napping on mom and dad's bed is about over. You roll all over the place and now if I leave the room I have to make sure you are strapped to something, ha!
I'm trying to get you to practice sitting up, but you aren't that stable yet. We'll get there.
You are also getting up in the push-up position but not even close to crawling yet.....thank God!! I'm not ready for that yet.
You aren't as scared of strangers anymore. You are pretty comfortable with whoever now.
You will be making another trip to Colorado soon and I'm sure you will do just as great as you did last time.

We love you pretty girl and CANNOT believe you are half a year old already...sheesh!!!

Family Pics and big boo boo's

2011-11-08T08:42:00.009-06:00

We took some family pictures this weekend and I was so excited for them! We haven't taken real family pictures since last summer so it was definitely time! Colleen took Finley's newborn pictures and she did our family pictures this weekend also, she is so great to work with! I had spent most of last week getting all our outfits prepared and semi-matching. I like to all have different colors but all follow the same color scheme. With it being winter and "kind of" Christmas pictures, we went with gray's, red's and blacks. I can't wait to see how they all turned out. I snapped this picture right before we left to send to my sister-in-law so we could talk about pictures the grandkids are taking over Thanksgiving...and this picture just turned out so darn cute!! Of course when you aren't really trying, they both smile, right?

Literally, 5 minutes before we are needing to walk out the door, Cole was running around like a crazy man. He tripped and went head first into our iron kitchen table. He was hysterically crying, you know those deep sobs where they can't quite catch their breath? We were a little concerned because he was acting a bit off, so I kept an eye on him and after some Tylenol and a couple suckers, he seemed to be ok.
He had a giant goose egg on his forehead and a few bruises on his cheek.

Our pictures went great, both kids were in great moods and the weather was great. After getting into the car, Cole crashed.

The rest of our weekend was great, we spent some time with friends and also spent some time at home. I love Cole and Finley are starting to interact a bit. Finley thinks Cole is the coolest, funniest person ever and when she laughs at him, he gets the biggest kick out of that. He is so sweet to her!

Crazy girl :)

Random story....Nick and I used to do P90X pretty regularly but when I got pregnant and the only form of exercise I could do was walking to the mailbox, we stopped doing it obviously. I'm really wanting to get back into working out but I have not done it in so long and am so out of shape that I was afraid to get right back into P90X. My mom has these other DVD's that is a part of Beach Bodies but they aren't as long and hard. I brought them home and would start with these before P90X. I had the DVD's laying in our office and this one was laying on top. Cole saw this and says, "Look...Mimi". Ha!!! However now, he sees it and says "Mama". Nick came home from work and he shows it to him and says "Dad, look...Mama". Yes Cole.....you are certainly correct. That IS your mama on the cover of the DVD!!! :)

Just some randoms

2011-11-05T13:32:00.006-05:00

There is nothing I love more than snuggling with my babies early (yes, 6 am early) in the morning. Ok, so no I don't particularly enjoy getting up THAT early, but I do love sitting with these cuties and snuggling with them. With the time change tonight, I'm curious how that will go over. I'm not too worried about it. Finley is pretty good in that she'll sleep 10-11 hours no matter what time we put her to bed. However, Mr. Cole wakes up at 6:30-ish no matter what time he goes to bed. Ugh! Maybe we can bribe him to stay in bed an hour longer, yeah??? :)

Last night when dad got home, this is what he came home to. Yes, Cole is completely my child because this is exactly how my room looked when I was little. This made for a fun before-bed activity....I know you are jealous of our Friday night!!!

Last night I got this text message from my mom with this picture. Can you believe my dad!?! He just up'd and decided to trade in the four wheelers and get this! He's taking his class this weekend to get his license, but I'm not quite sure if I'll be ready to go for a ride when I come home over Thanksgiving. Maybe just around the block.....:)

Nick has a softball tournament today and I took the kids to his first game at 10:00am. I knew it wouldn't interfere with naps and even though it was pretty chilly and windy, we still had fun. Cole had a blast watching and cheering for dad. I had to stop him a few times from running onto the field because he wanted to play too. Nick was nice enough to throw the ball with him after his game. Cole has been so attached to Nick lately, wanting to do everything dad is doing, even wanting to go to work with him. Poor guy....he's just stuck with mom all the time :)
Don't you hate it when you are trying to make it home for naps and you try and try to keep everyone awake so they don't fall asleep in the car, because everyone knows that even if they sleep 10 min in the car, good luck trying to get them back to sleep. Anyway, unfortunately it didn't work. Finley fell asleep first and then Cole. Trying to get 2 kids back into the house and keep them asleep is quite the task! I got Cole inside, undressed b/c he was filthy, went potty.....except he didn't get "it" down in time and pee'd ALL over both of us and the bathroom. Great, perfect timing! Got us both cleaned up and him into bed and now it was Finley's turn (Yes, I left her in the car....don't judge). I got her inside, changed her diaper and fed her a bit so she would go back to sleep. Nope! She thought she was done with her nap. So....I spent the next 30 min doing this with her.

I got to rock her, which I actually loved doing because she doesn't typically like to be held or rocked while sleeping. She just likes to be laid down...so I definitely welcomed this! After she was good and asleep I did lay her down because her fat body was starting to hurt my arms :)
Now I am enjoying a quiet house and as I write this I'm wondering what that pee smell is and realize I forgot to change my sweater....guess I should go do that. I love boys!!! :)
Happy Weekend!

Halloween Festivities

2011-11-01T14:29:00.013-05:00

Our Halloween fun-ness started last Friday at school. Cole's class had a party and the parents were invited. I have been saying since Cole started school that I would love to be a fly on the wall to see how he is during the day. Does he listen to the teachers? Does he play with the other kids? Does he eat his boogers?? Yes, I've seen him do it once!! So when we were invited I was so excited about going! I got to observe him play for awhile, which was pretty funny. He kept playing in front of the mirror, doing some funny dances and laughing at himself. Then they worked on a craft and had a yummy snack.

"Look mom!"

I had so much fun helping celebrate his party and I know he was so excited that I could stay! After we left the party, Finley and I went and hung out with James (Finley's boyfriend) and Katie. It's always nice to have some girl time, especially because she lives down the street from me! Besides Finley molesting James in this picture, are they not the sweetest babies ever!?! James cracks me up, he looks like a little old man. Such a sweet baby, and I could just squeeze those cheeks of his.

Sunday evening our church put on a Fall Festival so we took the kiddos to that. Obviously Cole loved the bounce houses, we could barely get him out of there. However, Nick had to drag him out after he kept punching kids in the head. I guess he took his Superman costume to a new level. :)

Cole also went down some fun slides.

While Cole was having all his fun, Miss Finley was just hanging out being a good girl. She even took a little nap with all the commotion.

Me and my girl

Yay!!! We finally got a family picture!!! Maybe in about 10 years we will have pictures where everyone is looking at the camera.

Monday morning, our mom's group had a party and there were TONS of kiddos there. Probably 25ish. They had so much fun and it was funny because towards the end it was meltdown city!!!! All us mom's were laughing because it was one meltdown after another. Cole took at GREAT nap yesterday!

He hung out by the food most of the time :) And he did lose his cape somewhere along the way.

We did do a little trick or treating last night too. We took him to see Andy and Teresa because they always like the kids to come by and saw some other friends while we were there. Unfortunately on the way home Finley was zonked and I had to go put her to bed while Nick took Cole around our neighborhood. Oh well, next year I'm sure she will cooperate more :) Overall, we all had a great time and can't wait for next year!

My trip home

2011-10-27T13:53:00.013-05:00

Last Saturday morning, Finley and I flew home to Colorado. My excuse was to see my new niece Sydney...but really I was anxious to see everyone!! :) Of course I was sad to leave Nick and Cole but I wasn't quite ready to fly with both kids by myself yet. Finley did great on the flight there, sleeping for most of it and then yelling/talking loudly the rest of the time.
My parents picked us up from the airport and we went straight to Ryan and Rachel's house. I was anxious to see their new house, which I LOVE, and to see Sydney. We hung out there the rest of the day and played with babies. :)

My dad holding Finley and Ryan holding his baby girl Sydney. Finley looks gigantic!!

Finley passed out while we chatted on the couch

The rest of the time just consisted of hanging out at my parents house, more playing with babies and visiting with friends and family.
This is me with my sweet niece

All the girls...except Finley, she was in bed :)
Me, Sydney, Rachel, Mimi and Cameron

One of the days I was there, I went to our massage guy who works wonders!! When I was in college and on the rowing team I had a lot of problems with my wrists and he always worked those problems out, he's pretty much amazing! Since I've had Finley I've been having the same problems and he worked on me while I was home. While I was there, my mom was in charge of Finley for the afternoon and it sounds like they had fun. Here is Finley "hanging" out with Mimi. :)

Uncle Ross also got to come up for one of the nights and it was great to see him. Finley loved Uncle Ross, she would just stare at him.....so cute!!

The last night there, my mom made a great dinner for everyone.
Here is Papa with Finley and Cameron.
He absolutely loves being a grandpa!!!

Cameron has become a big fan off Ross. The way she says his name is hilarious and I just thought this was so sweet. He played with her for quite awhile and I know that means so much to Cameron.

How pretty is she!?! I could just eat her up...she is such a sweet baby who loves to snuggle!!

While I was there, it was perfect weather! 80 degrees on Monday, mid 70's Tuesday. Then all of a sudden Tuesday night...this came in!! This is what it looked like when we woke up and it wasn't even done snowing at this point yet! I think they got about 10 inches. It was so pretty but VERY wet and heavy. The roads were totally fine because it had been so warm but the trees definitely got a beating!

Finley and I had to fly out that afternoon and luckily there was no flight delays. Finley even got to wear her new hat that I got her. She will totally be ready for some cold Thanksgiving weather when we go back! It's just so crazy that it was hot Monday then snowing Wednesday! Crazy Colorado weather!

Finley and I had so much fun and it was great to see everyone! We cannot wait to come back for Thanksgiving with the rest of our family...we sure did miss Cole and Nick!
Also, a big THANK YOU to Gigi for watching Cole for a few days. I know he had a great time and we are so blessed to have you around! :)
Gigi was also a huge help last night getting home and us experiencing our first throw up experience. If anyone knows anything about me, throw up is my biggest phobia EVER!!! Luckily I've been blessed with a child that has never once thrown up....till last night. Don't worry, Cole is totally fine, it was just the result of getting dizzy, coughing/gagging at once and it just came out. Yikes!!! After we got everything cleaned up, we had to laugh. Ha!!

It's that time again

2011-10-18T08:40:00.011-05:00

Yes, it's that time in my life where I break out the good 'ol Super Baby Food book.

So that I can make lots of this.....

Last Friday I gave Finley her first taste of food. Our doc told us to start with anything green, but I just couldn't resist starting her on sweet potato. That was one of Cole's first foods and he loved it so I wanted to start her off with a good taste in her mouth. :)
I made all of Cole's food and plan on doing the same for Finley. I love doing it and it is SO much cheaper! Granted, it does take some extra time but I knocked these 3 foods out pretty quickly yesterday. Yesterday I made zucchini, pears and a butternut squash. Note to parents, one butternut squash makes an insane amount of baby food!!! That is a gallon size bag completely full! I also have peas and green beans that I need to puree, so I will be doing that in the next day or two. I can't say that she really enjoyed her first couple experiences with food, but she didn't hate it either :)

I told Nick that he needed to get the high chair out of the attic, because what you see below...well, we just can't have this!! First off, I don't understand how these bumbo chairs are even safe! Look at this crazy girl! Second, I wouldn't even be able to leave her alone in this for a second! Granted, I did have her on the table while doing this but I was holding her the entire time.

I just can't believe that she is already old enough to be eating food....oh yeah, and just a couple hours ago, I got to change the very first "solid food" diaper!! Yikes!!! I think she lost about a pound from everything that came out and boy was it stinky!! I will miss the days of those non-smelly diapers...never again :)

Here is a cute video to leave you with. Finley thinks our puppies are pretty hilarious and I love that they can entertain her. (If you're wondering why that bin is under her jumper, our doors are too tall for the jumper to reach the ground)

5 Months

2011-10-11T12:33:00.005-05:00

Our little Finley is 5 Months!!!

Besides the gigantic new bow mom made you, what else is new this month??

I'm guessing you weigh at least 16lbs
Not sure on the height, but you are dang tall!
Wearing a size 3 diaper
9 month clothes, and getting close to 12 month clothes
At the beginning of the month you had totally regressed with your sleep patterns, waking up around 1:30am and then again at 4:30am but one night I was so tired that I let you cry yourself to sleep and since then you have been sleeping 10-11 hours....thank God!!
Bedtime is around 8:00pm and you wake anytime between 5:30-7:00am.
You are still eating every 2.5-3 hours
I think I might start giving you some food here soon. You are obsessed with the spoon and totally know what to do with it and I just know you will do so well with solids. Maybe after we get back from Colorado we will start. I'll probably start with some sweet potato and anything green, the pediatrician told us.
You are definitely on 3 naps a day now. You take a 45-1 hr nap in the morning (9am), about a 2 hour nap early afternoon (12:00-2:00) and then another hour in the early evening (4:30).

You have become so wiggly. You are rolling all over the place now...ok, not all over the place, but you roll over pretty easily now. You are officially rolling from back to tummy now.
You love to grab everything in sight. I love putting my face up to yours and you just grab my face and try to eat it :)
You have started doing 360's in your crib and it's funny to see how you wiggle your way up from the bottom of the crib to the top corner by morning.
You are starting to become a little scared of strangers or people you haven't seen in awhile. This weekend when Sharon was here, you weren't too sure of her right away, but you quickly became great friends! You definitely like to keep an eye on your mama!!

You think your brother is about the coolest person ever. You will watch him so intently and laugh at him all the time. He has been so sweet to you, yesterday when we were laying in bed when you both woke up, he reached over and held your hand...melt my heart!!
This is Cole trying to give Finley some "juice" out of his fancy cup :)

Finley, you have brought nothing but pure joy to our lives and we all love you so much!!

The Past few days

2011-10-10T13:54:00.016-05:00

This past week has been pretty crazy! Hence the long absence from blogging. I wanted to start off though, with these pictures of me and my kiddos from last week. I don't take a lot of pictures with them so I wanted to post the ones that actually turned out.
Finley and I match....and I didn't even plan it that way :)

Can you believe we actually got both of the to smile at once??? Well, Finley's is kind of a half-smirk but still so cute!!!

So what have we been up to the last few days???
Thursday morning I met up with the girls at my MOPS table and we took some goodies to one of the fire stations. We took the kids with us and luckily they gave us a tour and showed the kids all the trucks and equipment. I think they were all in awe because Cole is still talking about fire trucks and I know they all had a blast.
Here are the bigger kids

They were so nice and let the kids put on some gear and take pictures. This was a big hit!! Cole especially loved wearing the boots because he's been obsessed with boots lately. His little friend Caden has some rain boots and Cole puts them on every time we go to their house. I think I need to get him his own pair of rain boots.

Friday morning I had Mops and then I had to get ready for our weekend guests. Nick and his buddy Chris Bell went on a fishing trip to Wisconsin and his wife and daughter were going to come spend the weekend with us. I was SO grateful that she came up because I absolutely hate being home alone and this would have been my first time alone with both kids for several days so having Sharon around was fabulous!
Also on Friday, my good friend Kelly went into the hospital to have their baby girl Rowan and they needed a little help with Liam. He was at MDO but needed someone to take him home so of course I offered. Gigi was around Friday to help with Cole so Finley and I went to pick up Liam. Do you think he was a bit confused as to why I was picking him up??? ha!

After getting Liam dropped off, I headed home and Sharon and Reagan showed up soon after I got home. Cole was SO excited to see them and he and Reagan just played and played all afternoon and evening.
This is them jumping on my couch...yikes!!! They were acting like crazy people that first night and it was so fun to watch them!

Saturday morning, we packed up all the kids and headed to Grapevine Sea Aquarium. We dropped Finley off at Gigi's house so it could just be me and Cole and we had such a great time.
Here is Cole and his future bride....she is the cutest, sweetest girl!!

Here are a couple more pictures from the aquarium

"Cheese!!!!"

This is just a funny random picture from Saturday. I have absolutely loved having this nap nanny but I'm thinking she may be getting a little big for it. She is such a squirmy thing lately that she's flipping right out of it.

Sunday we went to church and Cole was so nice to show Reagan his Sunday school room. We didn't get called out of church so that is always a success. :)
Later that afternoon we went to a gymnastics place for Evan's 3rd birthday party. We had a blast there and it was so fun watching Cole this time. He had another party there about 9 months ago and he didn't really participate much so this time he was having a blast.
Cole and Reagan enjoying some goodies...

Sharon and Reagan enjoying some cake and ice cream

Sharon and Reagan left this morning and we were both pretty sad. Cole hates when people leave, especially his future wife, ha! He just sat at the window asking were Reagan went. They had so much fun together and it's so fun to see our kids play together. I appreciate Sharon making the long trip up more than I can express. She is such a great friend and will forever be a life-long friend, even if we live 4 hours away. She is such a great example of what a great mom is and she and Chris definitely need to have LOTS of kids because she is so good at this mom thing! I wish I had a video camera at the lunch or dinner table this weekend because Reagan is not quite 2 years yet and I have never heard anyone her age talk the way she does. Her vocabulary is amazing and every word that comes out of her mouth is so clear. She can talk circles around Cole and she's 9 months younger!! Maybe it's just a girl thing but she literally didn't stop talking during all our meals...hilarious!!!
Even though we are sad our friends left, we are getting so excited to have Nick home again. We sure have missed him and can't wait to see him tonight!

Love this age!

2011-10-01T12:27:00.006-05:00

I know I probably shouldn't say this and I will regret it when my kids are grown...but I am really glad that we are out of the newborn stage with Finley. Don't get me wrong, she was a great baby, pretty good sleeper, happy...but for some reason, newborns intimidate me. AND, she is so much fun right now and I see so much personality coming out.
I know she looks a little small in the Bob but it says that you can put them in there without the car seat around 10 weeks. I tried putting her in it yesterday for the first time without the car seat and she looked a little uncomfortable :)

How about this stroller....does she look comfortable here?? Ummmm, doesn't look like it. ha!

Probably in another month or so when she can sit more on her own she will be more comfortable in the strollers. Speaking of strollers....obviously right now we have the single Bob stroller which we LOVE!!! For the longest time I didn't think I would need or want the double Bob but I sure am re-thinking that idea! We have the sit n stand stroller (Craigslist, $40)which is great for travel or shopping, but I love to take the kids outside for walks/jogs and I can't do that in the sit n stand stroller. With me being home more and the weather being bearable now, I want to be outside all the time so we are wondering if we should get the double. Financially, we don't want to spend $600+ on another stroller, so we are looking on Craigslist. But I also can't decide if we should get rid of the single, oh, too many decisions!!
Is my husband teaching our daughter bad habits already?? We thought it was funny that Nick put the bottle right by her and she automatically opened her mouth. He also put some macaroni n cheese up to her mouth and she opened it nice and wide. Looks like when it comes time to feed her solids, she will get the hang of it quickly :)

We took this video last night while Nick was getting her ready for bed. She really is giggling a lot now and to a parent, that is the best sound!

I realize there are no pictures of Cole in this post so I'll leave this picture. Funny story....he has really been into Batman and Spiderman lately and his friend Evan sent him a birthday party invite and it was Spiderman. He was SO excited to get it that he wanted to take it to bed with him, ha! He kept asking for spiderman all day and then he'd sing happy birthday to the invitation. What a goof!Quick update on potty training: Still absolutely ZERO accidents at night. No diapers or pull ups, just an underwearing boy who rocks at night time! However, we did have a little set back once he started MDO. He's so quiet and didn't tell the teachers when he had to go so he had quite a few accidents the first few days at school, usually on the playground. However, he hasn't had a "wet" accident in a couple weeks now and the teachers said he's getting much better with that. I can't even remember the last time he wet his pants when I was with him, I guess I just know the signs and he tells me when he has to go. We still have a couple #2 accidents but I know that comes with time. When we are home he usually does great, but if we are at the park or out somewhere, sometimes he doesn't catch it till it's already coming out...yuck! Like this morning....we went to the park, and he had an accident. I looked and it was NOT the type that could be cleaned up in the back of my car. Luckily, Katie lives across the street from the park and we used her bathroom. That underwear was thrown out!!!!!
Overall, he is doing so good and I'm shocked with out easy he was to train....good job Cole!!!

A Day in the Life

2011-09-27T08:03:00.009-05:00

A blog that I read, Live a Charmed Life, she did a fun post about a Day in the Life. It basically documented what her day consisted of and I thought I'd do the same. It's always kinda fun to go back and read this stuff to see how our lives have changed. Hopefully when I look back at this post a couple years down the road, I'll be getting more sleep than I am now :)
So this was our day, Monday September 26, 2011
We had no play dates, Bible study, MDO.....so this is what our days look like when we have nothing going on:

5:00am: Finley wakes up, I feed her and try to put her back down. It takes a couple attempts but she eventually does. I contemplate going for a run since everyone is still sleeping and I know I'll have an hour or so till everyone starts waking up....but...
5:50: Cole is at his door, knocking to come out, ugh! I make Cole get into bed with us and we lay there for awhile. Nick's alarm goes off and Cole helps dad get ready while I lay in bed a bit longer.
7:15: I finally get out of bed because all I hear is Cole yelling from the family room. I go out there and yell at Cole for yelling...ha! Not really.
7:45: Finley wakes for the day. I change her and feed her. Cole and I then have breakfast.
Cole plays around the house, Finley plays in the exersaucer and I check some emails, get on facebook and do a blog post.

9:00: Finley goes down for a nap. I do a little laundry, pick up the house a bit and Cole continues playing.
9:55: Finley wakes up and I change her and feed her
Pack everyone up in the car and we head to the park. It was an absolute gorgeous morning, perfect park weather. However, we had a little potty #2 issue while we were there. Thank God I got one of those little "to-go" seats for the back of my car and we used that. Gross though!!!
11:30: Head back home from park and Cole eats lunch. Cole then goes down for a nap and Finley goes down for a nap right away too. Praise the Lord...they are sleeping at the same time!! I then eat lunch, read some blogs and read my book for book club.
1:15: What!!! Cole, you are not up already!!! I give him some milk and make him lay down for awhile longer, a one hour nap is NOT cool! After he lays in bed awhile he finally asks to come out and I let him. He has a snack and then watching part of Annie until Finley wakes up. While he watches Annie, I do some meal planning for the week.

2:15: Finley wakes up, I feed and change her. We then get ready to go to Target to get groceries for the week. This is what my cart looks like when we are done. Not much more will fit and poor Cole is stuffed in there. I guess I might need to break out the "car cart" next time I'm there. But, then at least I know I can't buy a whole lot because it won't all fit, right??:)

We get home and while I put groceries away, Cole watches some tv and Finley hangs out on the floor.
4:15: Finley goes down for her last nap of the day. Cole and I sit down and have a little snack and hang out while sister sleeps. I also do some dishes and clean up the kitchen.

5:20: Finley wakes up, I feed and change her and then she hangs out in the kitchen with me while I start dinner. I made sloppy joes and asparagus. Once dinner is done, Cole and I eat dinner and Finley watches us. We typically eat dinner before Nick gets home because he usually doesn't get home till 7ish and by that time we are starting to get ready for bed.

7:10: Nick gets home and plays with Cole while I give Finley a bath
7:35: Cole goes to bed
7:50: I feed Finley and put her to bed...nighty night!!!

8:45: Ugh....Finley, why do you keep waking up an hour after I put you down???

She has been doing this lately and it's kind of annoying. I see if she has to burp, she doesn't burp so I feed her a bit more and then she goes back down. I think we are going to have to start the sleep training thing soon because she is getting to the point where I don't think she can put herself back to sleep once she wakes up. She does great for her naps, can put herself to sleep no problem, but not at night. She has been waking up at least 2 times at night lately and again, I think it's because she wakes up and can't put herself back to sleep....anyway...
9:15: Since I know my kids don't like to sleep right now, I decide I should get ready for bed and read my book. I go to sleep and sure enough, Finley wakes up at 1:30am, then 4:45am and doesn't want to go back to sleep....we are NOT starting our day at 5am, sorry. I made Nick get up with her :)

Anyway, that was our day yesterday...not too interesting but again, it will be fun to look back on this in a few years or when my kids are teenagers sleeping in till 10am, I can show them that once upon a time, they liked to wake up at 5am.

Our Weekend

2011-09-26T08:45:00.006-05:00

Here is what our weekend consisted of:
Thursday evening my parents came back into town. Finley was a good girl and took great naps Thursday so I could get the house straightened up and get dinner in the crock pot.

Cole helped me get dinner ready that night. I think it's hilarious that he loves to snack on lettuce :)

Friday, my dad and I were on our way to take Cole to school and realized that Friday was the only day my dad would have to spend with Cole so we decided to play hooky from school so Cole could hang out with Papa. So we went to get coffee, we played, then headed downtown and met Nick for lunch and then dropped my dad off at his conference. My mom stayed with us the rest of the weekend. (I'm so mad I didn't take any pictures while they were here) Beau, Stacey and Grayson came over Friday night for dinner....always a good time with them! Grayson is so funny now, he just started walking and he's like a little drunk man walking around.

Saturday morning, Nick stayed home with Finley and my mom, Cole and I went to meet my friend Katy and her two girls for lunch. Katy is such a great friend, she even came with a giant bag of clothes for Finley. That couldn't have come at a better time because she is running out of clothes!!! She is pretty much in 9 month clothes and we were also needing some winter clothes so Katy definitely came to the rescue :)
Here is Cole, Morgan and Rory playing after lunch...those girls crack me up so much!

Saturday night we went to church and then watched some Crocodile Dundee...haha!
Sunday morning Cole and I took Mimi to the airport to meet my dad. They are going to Florida for another conference this week.
We just hung out the rest of the day. Blake and Emily came over and we watched some football and played outside.
Here is Finley showing off her mid-rolling over skills. She has gone from her back to tummy a couple times and I'm shocked she is doing it so soon. Cole was 6 months before he did that....maybe because he had more booty to hoist over :)

Love this sweet face :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!!!

Cole loves Annie....the movie

2011-09-20T20:01:00.005-05:00

Cole's latest obsession is Annie. No, not me....little orphan Annie. I've said it before that Cole ADORES musicals and this is his new fave.

This is him singing to "Tomorrow", you can faintly hear the music in the background but he is starting to learn the words and I just think it's so cute!
I also like how Finley just lays there and watches him....she looooves watching her big brother!

Last weekend we met up with a bunch of our friends at Oktoberfest. We meant to go with Beau and Stacey but then realized all the other families in our little group of friends were also going. You know if we would have planned this we couldn't have made it happen, funny how that happens.
Cole and Liam climbing around

Finley was so good the whole time! It was a little warm and I feel so bad that she is stuck in her car seat, but she was great! Hey, at least it wasn't 110 degrees out, we'll take that for sure!!!

The boys playing with some cars

We had a great time, but wish we could have stayed a bit longer. Cole went through a fun bounce house 3 times and it cost us $2 each time he went through!!!! For something that took him all of 20 seconds to get through, we totally got ripped off. Oh well, he had a blast doing it!

We have definitely been on the go this week! This morning I had bible study at church....which I got called out of because "your baby won't take her bottle"....ugh!!! Stubborn girl! It was a great morning at church though with some great gals. We came home, ate lunch, took naps and headed to our friends house for a play date. It's great getting all the kiddos together to play because it wears them out. The video above of Cole watching Annie is what he was doing when we got home. He just wanted to snuggle in our bed and sing :)

My parents are coming into town again this weekend. My dad has a conference in Dallas and then they head to Florida for another conference so my mom is tagging along with him. It will be good to have them here again. Luckily Cole will be going to school tomorrow so I will have a chance to get some cleaning done. :)

Crazy Sleeper

2011-09-13T13:54:00.014-05:00

I guess I have a slight obsession of taking funny pictures of Cole while he sleeps. To say that he is a crazy, wild sleeper...that is an understatement. He has been this way since he was very little and I have the pictures to prove it!

He loved having his lovie over his face when he was little

Not even sure how he got in this position or how it was even comfortable

He just kind of fell over on me

Showing off his belly

Cole, you have the WHOLE crib!!

Typical boy

I was kicked out of bed right before I took this picture

Spread Eagle

He's using his monkey as his pillow

Why are his legs crossed!?!

Hope you enjoyed my crazy kid while he sleeps :)

4 Months

2011-09-12T11:12:00.001-05:00

Happy 4 Months Finley Marie!!

What are some of the fun things you are doing this month?

You weigh 15.10lbs - 89% and are 26 in tall - 96%
You are still in a size 2 diaper but are almost in a 3
You are wearing mostly 6 month clothes
Your sleep patterns are still about the same. Bedtime is around 8:00pm, you wake up once (usually around 4am) and then go back to sleep till 7:00am.
You eat every 2.5-3 hours. Usually 7am, 9:30, 12:30, 3:00, 6:00, 8:00.
You are taking between 3-4 naps a day. It's hard because 3 isn't enough and sometimes 4 is too much. As soon as I think I have your schedule figured out, you go and switch things up.
You aren't much of a crier lately, but you love to YELL! You have definitely found your very LOUD voice! We love it! :)
You are rolling over more, from stomach to back and are trying hard at the other way too.

You have started accepting the bottle and THANK GOD because now mom can go to book club and bunco at night at not worry that you will starve :)
You love your nursery worker at church, Maria. She loves seeing you come in and she always says what a happy baby you are. However, last night at church, she said you were pretty stubborn because you wouldn't take a bottle from her....hmmm.

You are laughing and giggling so much now, especially at your brother. Whenever anyone laughs, you try to laugh along with them.
You make the best eye contact and will just follow intently while people talk to you.
Our pediatrician said we can start doing some green vegetables around 5.5 months, unless you start waking more at night acting hungry, then we can start around 5 months
Overall, the doctor said she is great and is a very big girl!
Great report Finley!

What I Love Wednesday

2011-09-07T10:31:00.016-05:00

Today I'm linking up with Jaime at This Kind of Love for What I Love Wednesday So many of my friends have been getting Tom's for Fall and I SO want some!! My friend Stacey said they just look like an "Annie" shoe and I totally agree!! These are a couple that I would love to have.

I love that I started a Bible Study at church and I'm so excited about it. We are doing Faithful, Abundant, True and so far it's pretty intense! I love it!

I love my nails this week. (I'm also loving my sparkly ring...hehe) I've wanted to try these nail sticker things so I finally put them on last week and they are so fun! They have so many patterns so this was my first pick. I'll definitely be trying some more.

I'm loving Finley's new shades. We got a gift card to Gymboree from Nick's grandpa and these were on sale so I grabbed a pair. She looks like a little bug...a little bald bug. I love her little bald head!

I'm also LOVING that she is so smiley and giggly now. Nick can really get her giggling and it is so precious! She also loves to laugh at her big brother.

I love Finley's pacifier's. They are Wubbanub's and we love them! It makes it so much easier for babies to hang on to them and they are just so darn cute. This is the one we have already, Freddy the Brown Teddy.
This is Finley sleeping with her Brown Teddy. (I know she is napping on my bed with lots of pillows and blankets everywhere, but don't worry, I check on her literally every 2 seconds, ha!)

This is the next Wubbanub that I want, so cute!

Last, I'm loving that Cole started Preschool Pals this morning. He was SO ready to get back into school and meet some friends and play. I've loved having him home with me the last few weeks but we were both ready for him to start back up and get some of that structure back.
This is him on our way this morning....

And this is me trying to get some pictures of him before he went into class. He was so excited I couldn't get a good picture. He was so fascinated by all the kids' backpacks and lunch bags that I couldn't keep him focused :)

It will be nice to have a few hours during the days to get some stuff done and I know he will have so much fun! Can't wait to hear how his first day went!

Cole's text message conversation with Uncle Dan

2011-09-01T13:19:00.009-05:00

The other night I was at Cole's Mother's Day Out parent orientation and Nick stayed home with the kiddos. When I came home Nick showed me the text message conversation Cole and Uncle Dan had that night. I was laughing so hard......
(sorry pictures are blurry and dialog is slightly edited)

Cole: "Hi fireman Dan!"

Dan: "Right back at ya Cole"

Cole: "My fire truck"

Dan: "This is my fire truck and sorry, I'm not taking my shirt off...the guys would laugh at me"

Dan: "We only take our shirts off when we are watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"

Thanks Uncle Dan for being such a good sport!!

Sad things, new things and a few randoms

2011-08-29T18:53:00.010-05:00

First off, does everyone see this?? No, Nick and I did not sell our house....although we eventually would like to get into something a little bigger, but this is not our sold sign. Nope, this is our friends and greatest neighbor's ever sign. Ryan and Casey have moved 3 hours away and last weekend was their big move. They have been living about 1.5 hours away from us for the last couple months but we would still see them every couple weeks when they would come up for appointments or to check on their house. However, their house finally sold and they are officially....gone :( Not am I only sad that we are losing our "guest house" (my family would always stay at their house because it has been empty for a few months) but we are losing some of our greatest friends and Cole's best friend Lexie. Casey has been one of those friends that will always be a friend, no matter where they live...more like a sister.

We have been through weddings, pregnancies, babies, husbands being butt heads....we have been through it all together. As sad as we are that they have moved so far away from us, we are so happy that Ryan found such a good job and that they are closer to her family.

We will miss you Ryan and Casey!!!

This weekend we did a whole lot of nothing. Cole helped Nick do some push-ups. 30 extra pounds definitely makes a difference!

"All the way down, dad"

Nick had helped a buddy move some furniture on Saturday and he came back very sweaty. I needed him to hold Finley for a minute while I did something, but this is how I made him hold her...so she wouldn't get smelly :)

Today I put Finley in our jumper for the first time. I always forget when Cole first did things so sometimes I have to go back and look at pictures or old blog posts to see when we did things. Here is Cole around 3 months. This was his first day in the jumper.

And here is our cute girl in it for the first time. We have to put this plastic bin under her because our doors are too tall and she doesn't reach the ground. :)

Here is a little video of her attempting to jump. She is kinda getting the hang of it, but she sure had fun!

Long weeeek

2011-08-26T08:10:00.011-05:00

I feel like this has been such a long week! Cole doesn't start MDO till after Labor Day so we are trying to find stuff to keep us busy, but with this heat, it's hard to find a lot of things to do indoors. So, we've been hanging out a lot at home.
Look at how high this girl gets her head now! She cracks me up, she just loves being on her belly so we still haven't made a lot of progress on the rolling over. She HAS done it, but only a couple of times.

The other day I got Finley to laugh. It was the cutest thing and music to a mom's ear. It's so fun to watch them figure out how to do these things, like laugh.

This is her mid-laugh. The picture is terrible because I was laughing too and it's from my phone, but you get the idea.

Yesterday we had a last minute play date at Susan's house. Can I just say that her house is my DREAM HOUSE!!! First of all the house is gorgeous but I was in love with her back yard. In Texas you don't see very big back yards but theirs was huge! AND it backed right up to a golf course so it felt so open. They had a fire pit, great patio....ugh, just what I eventually want sometime.
She had set up the coolest bounce house/water slide and it was absolutely perfect for the toddlers.
Cole had so much fun and he could have stayed several more hours but it was getting SO hot and Miss Finley was too distracted by everything going on and wouldn't sleep so we had to get back for naps.

Cole blowing bubbles

Picture of most of the kiddos, they all had so much fun, can't wait to do it again soon!

Yesterday afternoon I got Finley in the bumbo chair. She doesn't like being in it for too long but she had fun eating her ducky.

I mentioned my friend Katie that was having her baby soon, well, she had James very early this morning.....Welcome James!!! All is well with them and we actually got to watch their first fur-baby for them. Last night I took Cole with me to pick up Charlie. Of course Cole thought it was fun to get in Charlie's cage.

I was surprised with how well all the dogs are getting along. We have 4....yes, 4 dogs at our house right now. We are also dog sitting for Gigi's dog, Max. After a few minutes of a sniff session they all got along great and lay by each other.

I think Charlie is ready for baby James...don't you?

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Teeth Week

2011-08-22T13:00:00.009-05:00

This past weekend we had a baby shower for my friend Katie, but I'm so mad at myself because I didn't take any pictures except this one. I had to take Finley with me because Nick and Cole were going to a birthday party. This handsome guy with Finley is Jack. This is my friend Megan's son and he is the sweetest kid! He got right down to Finley's level and would talk to her. Such a good kid!

Katie is due with her first baby boy in just a couple weeks and we can't wait to meet Baby James!

Our poor little Benny Boy got a much needed haircut last week, but pretty sure they cut him too short on his "manhood" area because it's all red and he keeps licking it and now it's looking infected. Nick says he sees some cut marks so remind me next time to tell them to stay away from his privates :)
Poor Benson has to wear a cone for awhile till it heals because it will continue to get worse if he keeps bothering it.

Look at those lips....Finley's, not mine :) Maybe she is our future movie star :)

Yesterday I took Cole to his first ever dentist appointment. Obviously I was a little nervous because what parent isn't nervous to take their 2.5 year old to something like this!?! Everyone there was so nice to him. They gave him a little tour and then the hygienist showed him all the instruments that she uses. They even had a TV on the ceiling that distracted him.

After she showed him everything and let him pick out his own flavors of polish and fluoride, she got him to climb up on the table and she got to work. She actually looked and counted all his teeth, polished them and did a fluoride treatment. I was shocked that he let her do all that. They even got him to sit still long enough to get some x-rays. They showed me the x-rays and it's so weird to see the adult teeth above all those baby teeth....kinda gross weird :)
The dentist said he has all his teeth and that is pretty advanced, and that usually they don't have them all till around 3. I was surprised to hear that because he didn't start getting teeth till he was about 10 months.

"Ok, get me down from here"

I was so proud of Cole, he did so good! He will now go back every 6 months...gotta get in the good habit of going twice a year!
Apparently this is teeth week in our house. Both Cole and Nick got their teeth cleaned and unfortunately, I have to get a root canal tomorrow morning. I am VERY upset about it!!! I would rather break my arm off and beat myself over the head with it than get that kind of dental work done. Apparently I clench my jaw so bad that I cracked my tooth. After this I will be getting a mouth guard for at night because I refuse to go through this again. It's just such a long process because I have the actual root canal tomorrow, then a week later I have to get fitted for a crown and then another week later I get the permanent crown. I'm going to be so sick of dentists after this....ugh!! When the endodontist asked what I was afraid of, I told her that I am so completely claustrophobic and when all those instruments and gauze, etc is in my mouth I start to get panicky, like I can't get out of the situation....sounds stupid, I know. She completely understood and said a lot of people are like that and she promises to give me lots of breaks. Plus they have a TV that I can watch during the procedure. Ugh, I just want tomorrow to be over already!

Dancing Fool

2011-08-19T17:18:00.004-05:00

First off, this is how we found Cole sleeping last night. At one point I looked on the video monitor and thought I saw feet up by the headboard....so I went to check it out. This is how we found him. Crazy kid!

I don't know if you can see that mattress cover thing that he is laying on. My friend that gave me all the potty training advice told us to get one of those water proof mattress pads that is supposed to go UNDER the sheets, but Jenn told me to just let him sleep directly on that. That way, if he has an accident during the night, we don't have to completely strip bedding, just that pad. Genius! Luckily, he still has not had an accident at night, but just in case.
However, if we would have let him sleep like this all night, the pad would not have helped at all :)

My parents bought Cole Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and he is now OBSESSED with that movie. He has always loved musicals, especially Mary Poppins, so we knew this would be a big hit as well. He loves this one part of the movie in particular. He loves to dance to it, and he has learned how to do a somersault because of this dance. And yes...I let my kid run around in his underwear.

Happy Weekend!!!

What I Love Wednesday

2011-08-17T08:02:00.002-05:00

Today I'm linking up with Jamie with What I Love Wednesday's.

I'm so excited to see this movie, but I insist on reading the book first. I LOVE reading and always prefer the book over movie. However, I definitely can't get through books as fast as I used to because by the time I actually get to bed, I'll read about 2 pages and my eyelids get crazy heavy. THEN, the next night I forget half of what I read so I have to go back and re-read a page or so, so you can imagine this thick book might take me awhile :)

I'm so excited that this trashy, fun show is back on!! This is totally my guilty pleasure right now and I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I even watch it. I'm almost afraid to admit that I watched The Bachelorette last season and this is even worse. I can't help it though, it's pure entertainment and makes me feel very good about myself...except for the fact that all the girls are skinny and gorgeous.

This little beauty right here is my new favorite thing. Nick introduced me to these yummy coffee's and I absolutely LOVE them. I have to have it every morning, with just a bit of cream and sugar. Nick always makes fun of me though because I only drink half a cup.....every. time. I don't know what it is, because it's so yummy, but I just can't bring myself to finish a whole cup of coffee. Yes, I'm weird.

I'm also loving that this sweet face.......

Has started rolling from her tummy to back. I know, she's 3 months and probably should have done it by now, but she absolutely loves being on her tummy so why would she want to flip over?? But, she's done it once so far and working hard at it.

There she goes....

AND, my biggest love right now is this little booty....how cute are those underpants? Ok, it's not really the booty, but that he has not had one accident since our first day of potty training, which was last Saturday. Even at night, he's stayed completely dry!
Ok, but let me kinda take that back, he hasn't quite mastered the "poo" part...we are still working on that. Maybe towards the end of the week we will venture out of the house for a bit because I'm getting bad cabin fever!

You like the shirt tucked into his underwear??? That's his dad's kid!!!

Successs!!!!....well, we are getting there

2011-08-14T12:51:00.003-05:00

This weekend has been our weekend to "tackle" many things that have needed work. Does everyone see this picture?!? Let me say that we now have a cute little girl that WILL take a bottle!!! Praise the Lord! I have many things on my up-coming calendar that will require me to not be present for every feeding so I knew that we needed to get this no-bottle thing under control. We are familiar with this whole thing because Cole was the exact same way....apparently they like it straight from the tap. :)...ok that was kinda gross.
Anyway, I knew we'd have to exclusively do bottles for a couple days and eventually she would figure it out. It actually never even got to that point where we had to do bottles for each feeding because after only a couple feedings, she was taking it no problem. It's just such a pain having to pump for every feeding so thankfully she figured it out sooner than expected. We will just have to make sure we try to do 1 bottle a day so she doesn't forget.

Our second order of business this weekend was to potty train. We started Saturday morning after breakfast, we threw all his diapers away and decided no diapers period! All my friends I talked to were right....after the day 1, you come away feeling very defeated!!
Day 1 pretty much looked like this....ALL day!!!

Honest to God, we went through at least 20 pairs of underwear! Now, they weren't all full out accidents, he would just let a little dribble out and leave a little wet spot but the idea of him getting a new pair of underwear was very appealing to him.
We are now on day 2 and it is going SO much better! He did have one accident during the night and only one minor one so far today so he is definitely starting to catch on. Yesterday it's like he didn't quite understand the sensation that he had to go until he started going. I felt like we were training a puppy yesterday because you have to catch them in the act and then rush them to the potty...exactly what we did with our puppies :) Today he's understanding the feeling before it comes out, then he'll do a little dance and we have to remind him to run to the potty and we've had great success today. We decided to just go the full-out potty training route. Most of our friends told us to still do diapers and naps and bedtime, but we decided to at least give it a try with absolutely no diapers. I'm glad we did because I really think it will work. We just have to be very diligent with cutting off the drinks 2-3 hours before bed and my friend Jenn told us to take him to the potty a couple hours after he goes to bed and even though he's still half way asleep, they will usually go. That and making sure we get him to the potty first thing when he wakes up, I really think he will catch on fast!
I can't wait to see how the next couple days go!
Even though it's only day 2, I'm already getting cabin fever....probably because I know we will have to spend most of our time at home for the next week or so. It will definitely take time till I feel comfortable with him going in public. I'm so excited to only have one kid in diapers, yay!!

3 Months

2011-08-11T08:06:00.002-05:00

Our Little Finley is 3 months!!

You weigh approx 14lbs
You are wearing 3-6 month clothes, mostly 6 month clothes
During our trip to California, we FINALLY moved you up to a size 2 diaper. After 5 outfit changes each day, we figured it was the diaper that just wasn't doing the job anymore.
I just realized the last couple days that you no longer are a newborn, you are turning into a baby now with so much personality
Your eyes are still blue/gray but a lot of people think they will turn out like mine, which are green
You are starting to "talk" so much now and really interact with people
You make the best eye contact and will just stare for the longest time when people talk to you
You definitely know your mom and dad's voice, if you hear us in the room you will turn your head and just follow our voice, so cute! The other day while walking through the airport, your dad was carrying you and you just arched your head back and watched him for so long.
You are still a pretty good night sleeper. You actually have digressed a little since last month. During month 2, you would go anywhere from 7-10 hour stretches, but now you go anywhere from 3-7 hours. I'm not complaining though, I don't mind seeing your sweet smiles in the middle of the night :)
You also have become a great napper! You have definitely taken to your wubbanub pacifier and all I have to do is stick that in and you will fall asleep in minutes.
You are typically taking an hour nap in the morning, then a 2ish hour nap early afternoon and then a couple more cat naps the rest of the day.
We are starting to put you to bed between 8 and 9pm and you usually wake up for the day around 7am
You have been sleeping in your own room for several weeks now and do great. Except, because you are a tummy sleeper, you scoot to the one side of your crib and get wedged in there and I think that is what wakes you up sometimes during the night. We need to figure out how to keep you from moving around so much.
Month 1 and 2, you had to eat every 2.5 hours, but now it's every 3 hours. If I try to feed you before that, you will get VERY mad!
You have decided you don't like bottles. We need to fix that because that makes it very hard for mom to leave you for more than 3 hours!
You took another airplane ride to California this past week and did pretty well. You are a great flyer but you were definitely not yourself during parts of the trip. Your stomach was pretty upset for several days and I could tell you were in some pain. I'm wondering if you are becoming sensitive to dairy, I haven't had dairy in a couple days and you have been fine. Bummer if that is the case because that means no ice cream...booo!!!
We love you so much little girl!!!

Here is the latest video of our girl "talking"...she sounds more like a kitty cat :)

California....I wanna go back!!!!

2011-08-10T14:39:00.028-05:00

We just got back from California last night and even though we were exhausted and TOTALLY off our normal schedules, we had a blast! We left last Thursday and we left during nap time so that Cole would nap during the flight. Our flight leaving DFW was about 2 hours delayed, so here is me and my girl waiting patiently at the airport :) We are SO excited to be getting out of the nasty heat!

Luckily, Cole did fall asleep the second we got in the air and slept for a little over an hour. Finley did great on the flight too, slept for most of it.

When we landed in San Francisco, we were greeted by 65 degree weather....ah-mazing!!! We even had to put on light sweaters, loved it! We couldn't have asked for better service. Nick's parents are the greatest, we walk out of the airport and have a car there waiting for us. No driving to the car rental and waiting in line. So nice of them!
Before we headed up to Santa Rosa for the wedding festivities, we met up with a good friend from back home and my cousin and his wife for an early dinner. It was so good to see all of them. Unfortunately we couldn't stay too long because we had a 2 hour drive ahead of us and when you have a nursing baby that has to eat every 3 hours, you are kinda limited on things like that.
We made it up to Santa Rosa (with a good hour of crying and screaming) and immediately put the kiddos to bed. I'm not gonna lie, being 2 hours behind was pretty tricky to work with. :)

The next couple days were spent touring around a few winery's, swimming, hanging out with family and chasing around kiddos. Here is sweet Finley ready to hang out outside for a bit.
Poor thing though, she really wasn't outside that long and was always in the shade, but somehow got a little sunburn on her cheeks and nose. I feel like a horrible mother! :(

We visited the Simi Winery and while the guys and my parents enjoyed some wine tasting, Rachel and I hung out with the kiddos. How funny are these two!!!

This is how Finley toured the winery's :)

We then went to the Coppola Winery. That place was so cool! We had a great lunch there and really enjoyed our time at this gorgeous place.
These two have so much fun together. They are so sweet to each other and really make each other laugh

After visiting a couple winery's, we came back and had to get ready for Emily and Blake's Welcome Dinner. Finley was such a good girl and slept so that we could get ready.

The Welcome Dinner was fabulous. We enjoyed the nice weather outside and some cocktails and then they moved us inside for the dinner. Here is Rachel, me, Finley and my mom at the Welcome dinner....where's Cameron!?!

Cameron is definitely very interested in the baby, I think she is going to be a wonderful big sister!

Nick and Finley at the Welcome Dinner

She was such a good girl and sat quietly during the dinner and then eventually fell asleep. However, at one point, she had a big blowout....like so bad that I was holding her, it came out the top of her diaper and got all over my skirt and dripped down my leg. Lovely huh? I sent Nick into the bathroom to clean her up and I think it took 5 grown men to get her all cleaned up. If you could see the team of men coming out of the bathroom after getting her cleaned up, that was definitely a funny sight!

Cole had a great time at the dinner, he at one point stole the microphone and was walking around with it, trying to get people to talk into it.

The Welcome Dinner was absolutely beautiful. The food was great and it was just so fun and everyone did a great job putting it together.
The next day was the wedding. I got to hang out a bit with Emily and the girls while they got ready and that was fun. Nick and I had to catch the trolley up to the winery a bit early for family pictures so my dad and brother Ross were in charge of getting Cole and Finley ready for the wedding. I really did feel bad because when they walked in our hotel room, I handed Finley to my dad and told him she just pooped and they needed to put her clothes on, ha! At one point, my dad and brother had to call my mom to see if her little cardigan sweater went on top of the dress or underneath the dress....oh goodness! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall!
The venue were Blake and Emily had their wedding was gorgeous! It was up in the hills a bit and had awesome views. Everything about the wedding was perfect, I mean, look at those flowers, isn't that gorgeous!
That is Nick in the middle of Emily and Blake, he did a beautiful reading and pretty much made everyone cry!

Father and daughter...nice face Finley :)
(You like the napkin Nick has on his shoulder?? No way was he going to risk getting spit up on his nice white shirt!)

Me and the hubs...this is the view from the wedding site

During the toasts, Anna and Emma were champs at keeping the kiddos quiet. Those girls were SO good with our kiddos and were so much help! When having a 2.5 year old and new baby, it's hard to keep track of everyone and still have time to enjoy yourself. Also, my parents were so helpful during the actual ceremony because Nick and I got to sit up front with his family and my parents were in charge of Cole and Finley....and I know they had their hands full!!!

Me and my girl...it was a little chilly there so we had to keep her bundled up :)

Mimi and Finley....thanks for the help mom!!!

So pretty much Cole was a big hit on the dance floor. Him and Cameron were dancing fools! They also had a fun photo booth for everyone to take pictures. Cole loved getting into everyone's pictures. So many people would tell us how Cole's little head would pop up in their photo booth pictures....kinda like Where's Waldo, ha!

Again, I can't tell you how beautiful Blake and Emily's wedding was. They definitely had their touch put into it and was so unique and special. I think everyone had such a great time.

After the wedding, we had one more full day to have some fun. We went to a couple more winery's.
Finley was really enjoying the walking around :)

Cole with a giant wine bottle

At Kendall Jackson winery, they had the prettiest outside area. Gorgeous flowers and landscaping everywhere. Nick was chasing the kiddos around and they were so funny.

Uncle Ross, Cameron, Nick and Cole outside Kendall Jackson

We left the following day and had a pretty smooth trip back. However, in San Francisco, they wouldn't let us take our stroller through security because they said it was too heavy. Um, ok...pretty sure we have traveled with the same stroller all summer and nobody said anything to us. So chasing around Cole and carrying around Finley in her car seat wasn't the most fun thing. When we got to DFW airport, Nick just stuck Cole on his suitcase and strolled him around this way, ha!

Of course coming back to 110 degree weather is not my idea of a fun time, especially when you have 1000 loads of laundry to do, but it is always nice to get home and get back into our regular routine. Cole went to the sitter so I could get stuff done around the house and this is poor Finley in the only clean clothes I had...poor thing clashes just a bit!

We had such a great time in California and are sad it's all over. A year and a half of wedding planning, a gorgeous wedding and fabulous vacation...of course it's sad that it's all over!

2011-07-31T14:13:00.009-05:00

Thursday morning, my kiddos were all snug tightly in mom and dad's bed. How cute are they?!? Then it was so funny b/c next thing I know, Finley fell asleep sitting up like she is in the picture.

I just had to show this picture, I feel like she is turning into such a big girl! She was watching the Twins play. Nick is going to force her to be a Twins fan, I guess. :)

Thursday mid-morning, we went into meet Dave and his boys Evan and Josiah for some indoor playtime. Evan and Cole are the same age and Josiah and Finley are the same age so it was nice to let the big boys play and then we could sit and talk babies....yes, me and Dave...haha!!!
Evan is such a hoot, he is just a crazy man and absolutely hilarious. Him and Cole play well together so they had a good time. However, at one point, there are probably 8000 kids (no, I never exaggerate) in that one small area and I couldn't find Cole and had a bit of a freak-out moment because I was sure he got out and was outside the mall, walking the streets next to the busy highway :) Well, he did get out, he climbed over the seating area where the parents sit and was playing on a car ride thing. Whew!

Onto something fun, new and SCARY at the same time. Do you know what these cute things are?!?

Personally, I think these are just the cutest things ever!

Well, I've been thinking that we need to start potty training soon but I had absolutely no idea how to do it. I've heard some kids just potty train themselves but I knew by the time that would happen Cole would be going into middle school. He has definitely been showing signs that he's ready so I talked to my friend Jenn who just finished potty training her little guy and she gave me a bunch of great info. We are going to start the weekend after we get back from California and Nick is even going to take a day off of work so he can watch Finley for me and I can devote that time to Cole. I'm very excited to start the whole process and have one kid out of diapers but I'm also pretty curious how it's going to go because Cole is a MASSIVE wetter at night! I will post more about it after we go through the process.

The other day I let Cole pick out a couple packs of big boy underwear and of course he picked Toy Story and Mickey Mouse...was I surprised??? He is so curious about this underwear thing and always wants to wear them but we told him he can't wear him till he starts going in the potty.

This week we will be getting ready for our trip to Cali! We are so excited....especially because the high there is 80 degrees. Nick's parents and Emily headed out there yesterday and said the weather is just perfect. It will be a nice change because Wednesday is supposed to be 108! Yikes! Too bad that is the day I have decided to clear out my classroom and make the haul from my classroom to my car a bajillion times. Good times :)

What I'm Loving Wednesday

2011-07-27T08:58:00.010-05:00

I'm linking up with Jamie today on What I'm Loving Wednesday. What a fun concept! Especially in this miserable Dallas heat, it's nice to post about all the fun and positive things instead of the things I'm Not loving :)

I'm loving that football is back on! Football season is a big favorite in our house and one of our favorite times of year. Because Nick is a huge Minnesota Vikings fan, he has rubbed off on the rest of us a bit. I will still always be a Broncos fan at heart, but I just love watching how excited Nick gets over this team!

I'm loving that I learned how to make these cute rosette's. All this girl stuff is all so new to me so it's been so fun learning to be crafty and make my own accessories. I made this one out of an old tshirt!

I'm loving that in one week, we will be here.....

I'm loving that in a month we are having a baby shower for a friend and finding these cute ideas on Pinterest are so fun! I absolutely LOVE this onesie! If I could find this in girl colors I would get it in a heartbeat.

We found these cute popcorn containers and will try to make these for the baby shower

I'm loving this idea from pinterest. Especially when the kids are older, if they complain that they are bored they pick something from the jar and whether its going to get ice cream or clean their room, they have to do it....brilliant!!

I'm loving my new dress I got from White House Black Market. With not being able to get rid of my post baby mid-section as fast as I did with Cole, this dress is very flattering. All I need is some hot pink shoes to go with it!!! ha!!

And as usual....I'm LOVING these sweet faces!!!!

Mimi and Uncle Ross visit

2011-07-26T10:10:00.011-05:00

Last Wednesday, my mom and brother Ross drove down to Dallas. My brother had a wedding in Houston so my mom decided to ride along with and spend the week with us. It was so great having them here because it gave us a little break and something to do in this gross heat. A couple mornings my mom took Cole to the splash park and they played there for a couple hours...just enough to wear him out! In the afternoons when it was just too hot to be outside, we would run errands. We went to the mall a few times, mainly to do some dress shopping for Blake and Emily's wedding. Cole found the merry-go-round and just had to go for a ride.

Friday night we grilled out and Nick's mom came up for a visit. As we all sat down to eat, I found it funny what our center piece was.....what a cute center piece though!!!

Saturday evening we met up with our friends for our "family playdate". It's pretty hilarious getting everyone together and chase all the kids around. Thank goodness my mom was around because she was able to chase Cole around and play referee or she could hold Finley while Nick and I did the chasing. We always have a great time playing and visiting with everyone, even though there isn't a lot of "visiting" going on when all the kids get together :)
We had to get a picture of all the kiddos (minus Finley). Getting 5 toddlers to sit and cooperate is not an easy thing to do. Here are all 5.....

There goes Liam.....

And, there goes Emme....

Sunday we went to church and then in the evening, Ross and my mom watched the kiddos. Nick went to dinner with his family and I attended our Life Group meeting. We are picking our new study that we will start in August and I'm excited that we are doing Love and Respect. I've had the book for several years but haven't ever read it or did the workbook so we are excited to go through it. I've heard great things about it! While Nick was with his family Sunday night, Emily sent this towel home for Cole. It's a Buzz Lightyear towel and Cole was SO excited to wear it. Whenever we were at home, he has it on. He wore it all day yesterday and put it on first thing this morning.

Cole has always loved the Cozy Coupe cars and my mom decided to get Cole one while she was here. My brother put it together for us yesterday and Cole had to help out....with his Buzz Lightyear towel :)

And again...wearing his towel this morning for breakfast

We were sad to see Mimi and Uncle Ross leave this morning, but luckily we will see them next week when we all go out to California for Blake and Emily's wedding. We are getting so excited to celebrate with Blake and Emily and can't wait for the festivities! This weekend was Emily's bachelorette party in Austin and I would have loved to have gone, but I felt that it still was a bit early to leave Finley for the weekend. Plus, when you have a breast-fed baby that refuses to take a bottle right now, that would have made for a loooong weekend for Nick :)
This week I need to get a few things wrapped up: Get my classroom cleaned out, return all my equipment, FINALLY get a YMCA gym membership and get packed. It's still so weird to me that I have to go pack up my classroom and that I won't be returning August 15th for in-service. Kinda bittersweet, but SO excited for this next chapter of my life!

Some new stuff and our weekend

2011-07-17T18:50:00.010-05:00

We've had a pretty low-key weekend, Friday night we went and met up with Nick's family because they all just came into town and we had dinner. While Gigi was away she got Cole some new toys. He wasn't too sure about this pig at first but once he realized that it snored and made some funny noises, he got pretty excited!

Friday night was also Finley's first night in her own room and bed. I have been ready for her to go into her own room so Nick and I could have our room back to ourselves. No more having to wander around in the dark trying to get ready for bed or having to tiptoe around in the mornings. Of course I liked having her close to us but it was time for her to move out :)
As ready as we were, I still was a little sad the first couple nights. Never again will we have a newborn baby sleep in our room with us. Well, never say never....but as of now we are perfectly happy with our family of 4!!
Here is little Finley her first night in her bed. The picture is from the video monitor, so this is what we see when she is in her bed. Close enough so I can see if she's breathing in the middle of the night, ha!

She has been doing great in her bed so far. We've been putting her down around 9pm, she sleeps till about 5:00am, I feed her and change her because she usually wakes up soaked through :( After a quick feed she is back to bed till close to 9:00am. This morning I had to wake her at 8:30 because we had to go to church. I sure am loving this good sleeper that we have on our hands!!

I've also talked about how I semi-tried to get her to take a pacifier for 8 weeks and she never seemed to interested so I decided to give up. But lately, she has just been going to town on her hands, she can't get them in far enough....so I thought I'd try a different kind of paci and I introduced her to Freddy the Brown Teddy (named by Aunt Rachel and Cameron). She seems to really like this paci so we will see if it sticks. Again, I was TOTALLY fine with her not taking a paci because that was one less thing we have to break her from but she wouldn't leave her hands alone and it really does come in handy while out in public.

Saturday we met up with some great friends for dinner. Katy and I have been friends since college and lived together after we graduated. When she got married and Nick and I got married I remember we'd sit around eating dinner together, just the 4 of us....we had to laugh last night at dinner because they have 2 young girls, plus our 2....definitely makes for different dynamics! We sure had fun though, always great to see the Fishers!!

Today we just went to church, had some friends over for lunch and watch some soccer. Nick and I have been so excited about the Women's World Cup so it was definitely a bummer to see how it ended today but I guess if we are going to lose, I'd rather lose to Japan, with everything they have been through this year.
We are now gearing up for another week, we are super excited to have my mom and brother come into town. Cole is going to be so excited to see Mimi and Uncle Ross!!

I'll leave you with a few faces of Finley. We sure are seeing a fun personality in this girl and love seeing all the faces she makes.
You like the double chin??

Big smiles for dad!

Also, here is the latest video of Finley. Nothing too exciting because it's night time and she's not the happiest baby this time of night, but she's still cute :) Also, her sneezes are the cutest thing ever!!

Changes

2011-07-13T19:34:00.008-05:00

Look at this girl...holding her head up so high! To be honest, we really haven't been doing a whole lot of tummy time, mostly because she sleeps on her tummy and gets a lot of tummy time during the night:) I can tell that her neck is getting real strong. Here are a couple pictures, which I think are so funny because she always puts her arms back by her sides.

Doesn't she look like a little birdy??

So, it looks like I'm going to be spending a lot more time with this cute face starting in mid-August. Yep, I am hanging up my role as "teacher" for a few years and will be staying home with the kiddos.

Trust me, this is a decision we have been thinking about since I got pregnant with Finley. We (well, mostly I) would go back and forth, not knowing what would be best for me or our family. Nick was so supportive and wanted me to do whatever I felt was best. What made the decision so hard was that I absolutely LOVE my job. I love the people I work with, the subjects I teach and overall it is a great school. I was so afraid to give that up because teaching positions are so hard to come by right now. I was excited because I was still going to be able to work part time but after having a very hard time finding new child care and by the time we pay for child care, it wouldn't really be worth me only working part time. Once Miss Finley joined us, it made my decision much easier and I realized that I truly want to be home with her.

It's crazy how God works and how everything happens because the day I put in my resignation, Stonebriar Church called us and let us know that they have an opening and Cole can join Mother's Day Out if we were still interested. Cole will absolutely love MDO and he will do that Wednesday's and Friday's. I am also joining a MOPS group with some of my Life Group girls and will also probably start up with a Bible Study at our church on Tuesdays. Soooo....we will keep plenty busy!! No matter if I worked or not, we still wanted to keep Cole in some type of program so that's why we are so excited that he got in at Stonebriar's MDO.
I am definitely sad to be leaving the only job I have known since I graduated college, but I'm pretty excited to start my new "job".

I am going to leave you with this video of Cole. This is what I am going to be doing from now on...taking videos of my crazy kids!!
(Rachel, notice the picture of Granne and SuperPop that come up on our tv?? haha)

2 Months

2011-07-11T12:12:00.000-05:00

Finley is 2 Months!!!

Here is some of what she has been up to:

You weigh 11lbs 12 0z and 23 inches - 76% for both
You are wearing 3 month clothes and a size 1 diaper
You still look just like your big brother and daddy
I think you are going to keep your blue eyes. They have not changed and are VERY dark blue
You have started to smile a lot more and interacting with us. You are starting to coo a lot more and make some cute noises.
You are the BEST sleeper at night! I typically give you your last feeding at 9:30 and you sleep till about 4:30. I give you another quick feed and then you'll sleep till 7:30ish. I feel so blessed to have a good night sleeper because your brother was a terrible night sleeper.
Because you sleep so well at night, your naps during the day aren't so good. Some days you may only take a few cat naps, therefore, making you one cranky baby. Buuut, that doesn't happen a whole lot, just every once in awhile.
You still are a little cranky and high maintenance from 6-9pm. You are always super tired but don't want to sleep or be put down. Your dad and I have to trade off holding you this time of night.
You still are a great eater. You have been a breeze to nurse. It usually only takes you about 15 min to eat. Your feedings are still a little inconsistent. Sometimes going only 2 hours in between and sometimes 3. Typically you eat every 2.5 hours.
You had your first airplane ride to North Dakota and did fabulous, you slept the entire time.
I decided after 8 weeks of trying to get you to take a pacifier and you not being too interested, that maybe I'd give up as you don't seem to need it. However, you do munch on your hands and fingers a lot when you are hungry, I just hope that doesn't turn into thumb sucking!
You still are sleeping in mom and dad's bedroom but I think we are going to have you sleep in your own crib starting this week. I always told myself that once my babies sleep good during the night that we would transition into their own room. Well, you've been doing that for several weeks and I think it's about time now. It is kinda sad though!
We went to your 2 month appt this morning and doctor said you were perfect. You did not get any shots because he says that since I'm breast feeding and staying home with you that he prefers to not do any vaccines till at least 6 months. I'm ok with that!!

Finley, so far you have been such a great baby! I don't know what we did to deserve such a great sleeper and sweet baby...maybe it was the year of getting up with your brother every 3 hours, ha! We can't believe you've been with us for 2 months already, time sure does fly!

North Dakota Trip

2011-07-10T20:07:00.025-05:00

Last week we spent 5 days in North Dakota for my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. We flew because driving to ND from TX with a 7 week old baby did not sound fun :) Our trip to ND went pretty smoothly. Both Cole and Finley did awesome on the flights. Cole was entertained with the iPad and Finley slept through both flights. We had a long layover in Chicago (4 hours) but by the time we got lunch and let Cole play at the kid area it went by pretty fast. Luckily, My Aunt Lora and her kiddos were also at the airport and on the same flight into Bismarck so we got to spend some time with them.

Here is Bryce holding Finley before we boarded our flight. He is such a great kid!! He was so sweet with Cole and always wanted to hold Finley....love those kids!!

We finally made it to Bismarck and had to get prepared for the massive amounts of family we were about to see. My dad is the oldest of 12 kids, I have 38 cousins and there are 3 great grand kids (Cole, Cameron and Finley) so that is a LOT of people!!! Unfortunately with there being so many people, we didn't get a chance to visit with a lot of the aunts/uncles and cousins.
Cole and Cameron were entertained by all the cousins and new "toys" at my grandparents house. Sweet Madison was such a big help with watching the kiddos!

Here is Finley just hanging out...:)

The second day we were there was the anniversary celebration. They had a full mass and ceremony that was beautiful! We are so lucky to have such great grandparents that have been together for so long and we have a great family to show for it!
This is the entire Volk Family. This is all my dad's brothers and sisters, their husbands and wives and all the cousins. There were a few that are missing but you get the idea.

The only thing that stunk was the ceremony was right in the middle of nap time so Cole was very tired during it and had a little meltdown in the middle of it. Luckily my mom had a rice crispy treat and then soon after he fell asleep on Nick's shoulder.

After the ceremony they had a great reception with great food and lots of dancing.
Here is Nick with his pretty daughter. She had a cute pink dress on for the wedding but had a bit of an explosion so we had to change her.

Cameron and Cole had so much fun dancing, they were hilarious and a big hit!
They had a bunch of those candy bracelets for the kiddos and as you can see, Cameron got into the candy :)

My mom got Cole this fedora hat (he loves wearing hats) and he wore it the entire reception. Well, he would take it on and off a million times and throw it across the dance floor and then run and get it. It was pretty funny.

Cameron kept wanting me to hold her during the reception and I just loved that!! I hate that I don't get to see that sweet girl more often so the fact that she was clinging to me was so fun! :)
Here's me with Cameron and Mimi with Finley

With having 2 kiddos now, we don't get to stay out as late anymore and party with the family. Staying up late with the Volk family is so fun, it's amazing how things can change with little ones. I wouldn't change it for the world though!

The next day was a park day with the whole family. We were only able to stay a couple hours because we had to get the kiddos home to nap. Cole was so worn out that he fell asleep within minutes of being in the car.

That evening we spent with my mom's family. It was so great that everyone got together because we hadn't seen some of them in years! My mom has a very large family as well, with lots of aunts/uncles and cousins. We sure packed a lot of people into one house but it was so great seeing and visiting with everyone.
After a long day, Cole and Cameron desperately needed a bath. Cameron was so amused with Cole and they were just giggling and being so silly.
Don't you love Cameron's hair!!! :)

The next mornings we attended a parade. It was surprisingly hot so Finley and I didn't stay long because it was way too sunny and hot for her. Mimi stayed with Cole and the rest of the family and it sounded like they had a blast.

Cole and Cameron enjoyed their giant suckers.
Notice his hat...he wanted to wear it all week!

After the parade, everyone came home and was pretty exhausted. Here is Grandma Volk snuggling with Finley, how sweet!

Cole also was so tired that he passed out on the couch...first time I've ever seen that happen.

We also got to spend some time in the small towns that my parents grew up in. My family has spent a lot of time in Flasher and Raleigh but Nick and Rachel have never visited so we were all anxious to show them where my parents grew up and especially the farm my dad grew up on. We had lunch at a little cafe in Flasher before we headed out to the farm.
Cameron and Cole playing after they ate

Here is the house my dad grew up in....this sure brings back great memories!

They lived on TONS of acreage and we got to spend some fun times there when we were little kids. It was a dairy farm so it was so fun watching them milk the cows.
This is the building where they would milk cows.

About an hour before we arrived a goat gave birth to 2 babies. It was the cutest thing!

We also stopped by The Prairie Learning Center. This used to be the school my dad and siblings went to but it closed down years ago and turned into a center for troubled teen boys that should be going to jail but given a second chance. We got to take a tour and it was so cool to see what a great program they put on there.

While most of us were taking a tour, Nick and a few others stayed in the gym with Cole and Cameron so they could play. I'm not really sure who was having more fun, Nick or the kiddos.

The following day we were supposed to fly back to TX at 6am. Our original flight was cancelled so we didn't end up leaving till that night. After spending 3 hours at the airport, about 6 delays and not knowing if we would make our connecting flight in Denver, we finally made it home at 2am. It was great to be back in our own beds but we sure had a great time seeing all our family. I hate that we only get to see everyone once a year or so but when we do see everyone, we have the best time!

We are now getting back into the groove but NOT enjoying this weather down here. It wouldn't be so bad but when you have a newborn you can't spend time outside because it's just way too hot for her. We are just having to plan indoor playdates :)
Before we know it, we will be in cool California for Emily and Blake's wedding and definitely enjoying the weather there!!

Father's Day

2011-06-20T11:06:00.010-05:00

This weekend, we were lucky enough to spend Father's Day with a great dad and husband. A couple weeks ago, Gigi and I took Cole and Finley to a pottery paint place to make Nick's Father's Day gift from the kids. I knew having Cole in a place like that would be a disaster so once we did his part of the platter, Gigi took him home so he didn't break everything in the store :)
We made a grill platter for Nick and it has Cole's hand print and Finley's footprint.
Here is Cole getting his hand painted
Getting his hand print on the platter

Here is what it looked like after the hand and footprints. I didn't get pictures of Finley getting her foot painted because I had to assist in that part :)

This is the final product. We made Cole's hand into a hamburger and Finley's foot into a hotdog. How cute is that!!

On Sunday morning, Nick opened up his present from the kiddos. Here is Nick and Cole showing off his present while we are eating breakfast.

The rest of the day involved church and then BOTH kids taking a long afternoon nap AT THE SAME TIME!!! Halleluia!!! While both kids napped, Nick and I did something we haven't in a long time.....we played Mario Kart and Guitar Hero. We used to play Mario Kart all the time before Cole was born but haven't in a couple years now. We had fun, just relaxing and playing games.
Finally Cole woke up and wanted to take part in the action. Here is Cole jamming out with the guitar.

How talented is this guy!!! He can play Guitar Hero WHILE putting a baby to sleep, ha!

Later in the afternoon, we headed to Nick's parents house for a yummy dinner. Dennis and Nick opened up their presents and boy were they pretty excited about them!!
Dennis got a new iPad!!! Dennis travels all the time, so having this will be great for him.

And Nick got a new universal remote for our house. We have a ridiculous amount of remotes so this one will do everything all in one. I think Nick stayed up till after midnight trying to get that thing programmed...dork! :)

It was a great Father's Day weekend, unfortunately I was not able to spend it with my own dad, but I will be seeing him very soon. Hope everyone out there had great Father's Days!!

My hair and some crazy kids

2011-06-18T08:58:00.011-05:00

Last weekend, I randomly decided to chop my hair off. I always do this to myself....I want to grow my hair out but by the time it gets long, it gets too heavy (I have crazy thick hair), too hot and it gets in the way when you have little ones, especially the baby!
So, here is my before picture. I feel like I look so frumpy in this picture, so a change was definitely needed!!

I don't really have a good after picture, this is the only one I have...but you get the idea.
We cut 9 inches off, 1 inch short of Locks for Love. If I was a good person I would have waiting another month or so and donated to Locks for Love but when I get something in my head, I want it NOW! And I definitely wasn't wanting to go any shorter because it already got a little shorter than I had wanted.
(Finley's face is definitely starting to fill out!!!)

This week, we had a couple play dates. Wednesday, Cole, Finley and I headed over to a girls house and it was perfect because all us moms have boys within a few months of each other and then 3 out of the 4 moms had baby girls. So, I didn't feel like the only mom trying to juggle 2 little ones. Cole had such a great time playing with the boys and playing outside. Of course it was my plan that I would feed Finley before we left, then she'd fall asleep in the car and sleep the whole time we were there, but of course she didn't fall asleep and wouldn't sleep the whole time we were there so my plan of sitting around chatting with the moms didn't really happen. :) Oh well!
Thursday, Gigi came up and watched Finley so I could take Cole on another play date to the splash park. I was so excited about taking him and only having to worry about 1 kid and actually being able to spend some time with the other moms, but Cole was just not having the best day. He wasn't really feeling the water park and then he went to play on the swings and jungle gym stuff, then he fell and hit his head pretty hard and then it was just down-hill from there. We finally went home and I think he had a pretty good headache. Poor guy!
This picture is terrible but I thought it was a funny picture of Cole with a straw hanging out of his mouth. :)

Cole using mom as a jungle gym...he did this about 50 times

Then he had to get some snuggle time in with Roxy...ahh!!

A cute picture of my little family

The other day we gave Cole a blue sucker and we couldn't believe how blue his mouth turned. It was stained like that for the whole day/night. He thought it was pretty funny though.

Cole showing off his favorite thing ever...his monkey. He is so attached to this monkey, I wonder if it will go to college with him :)

And Miss Finley....she is doing pretty good. She actually has been having some longer stretches of sleep this past week. One night she had a 5 hour stretch and I couldn't believe how rested I felt...haha!

We have a pretty fun weekend planned. Today we actually have 3 birthday parties we were invited to but I think we may only make it to one of those. Our godson Grayson is turning 1 so we are excited to spend part of the day with him. Plus, Cole is SO excited about going to "Beau's house" (Grayson's dad). Cole is so funny, he will randomly talk about going to "Beau's house" so when we told him we were going today he got pretty excited.
Tomorrow we are celebrating Father's Day with Nick's family. I'm excited for Nick to open his presents, and I'll be sure to post pictures as soon as he sees them first.
Happy Weekend everyone!

1 Month

2011-06-12T09:08:00.003-05:00

Happy One month Finley!!

Here are some of the things you have been up to this month:

Not exactly sure on your weight, but I'm guessing it's close to 9.5lbs
You are starting to look like a little sausage in your newborn clothes, so we will soon be in 0-3 month clothes.
You still look just like your big brother when he was a baby, people always comment on your big lips :)
Your eyes are still very blue, and I know around 6 weeks is when they change, so we won't be surprised if they stay blue.
With us switching you to tummy sleep, this week has been a bit of a challenge with us getting enough sleep during the nights. You have consistently been sleeping in 3 hour stretches, nothing more. I was really enjoying the first few weeks of your life when you would go 4-5 hour stretches...not sure why we have decided sleeping isn't "the cool thing" anymore.
You take great naps during the day, but the witching hours of 5pm-9pm are not the most fun. You are always so tired during those hours but refuse to be put down. You just like all that snuggling.
You have been the best eater! You are still exclusively breast feeding but have had about 4 bottles so far. You eat about every 3 hours, but every once in awhile only go 2 hours.
We are starting to see more smiles out of you. I'm assuming they are either gas or pee-pee smiles but they are still cute!
You have the longest fingers! Everyone comments on the size of your hands. Maybe you will be a basketball player, or pianist :)
Finley, you have been such a sweet baby, very easy to have around. We can't believe it's already been a month since you have been with us.
We love you very much!!

Our week

2011-06-10T13:09:00.006-05:00

I've been a little behind on blogging, not for any real good reason....actually I take that back. Trying to find some time where both kids are sleeping and I have a few minutes to get pictures on my computer and figure out what to write, I guess I do have a good reason.
Last weekend, I needed some mommy and Cole time, so I asked Nick to watch Finley and I took Cole to the splash park. Cole is so funny, he still isn't too fond of water, especially in his face, so I think he was the only kid with dry hair for the first 30 minutes. However, he did loosen up a bit and finally got his head wet. He was having so much fun, running around like a crazy man.
And yes, he is wearing the same swim outfit as last summer. If he still fits in them, I'm not going to spend the money on new ones!

After we left the splash park, we went to Sonic and had yummy drinks. That is my kind of afternoon! It was so great to spend some alone time with Cole. He is not being neglected by any means lately, but our attention isn't solely on him anymore and I wanted to spend some uninterrupted time with him.
Next week my mom's group has a play date at the splash park so I'm going to take Cole again and Gigi is going to come watch Finley. If it weren't crazy hot outside, I would take her with us but it is just way too hot for a baby right now.

Tuesday evening, the girls in my Life Group got together for a pot luck dinner and we just sat around talking, drinking wine and actually watched some basketball. It was such a fun night, I totally needed some time out with girls!! That was also Nick's first time being home alone with both kids. He managed to get Cole in the bathtub and into bed, who knows how much crying went on or how clean he "really" got, but he was proud of himself and I was proud of him too. :) Now we are going to have to do this more often!!

I've talked before about how our Roxy is our little mother-hen with the baby. Yes, I lay my baby on the floor, giving Roxy the perfect opportunity to cuddle. :) It really is so cute to see how sweet Roxy is.

The reason I sometimes lay Finley on the floor is because we have realized lately that she is going to be a tummy sleeper. Yes....gasp!!!! I know they are supposed to sleep on their backs but we have had major issues with her sleeping on her back and she sleeps much better on her stomach.

Finley has major gas issues and if she goes to sleep right after she eats, she gets extremely gassy. We follow the whole "eat-play-sleep" pattern during the day, giving her tummy some time to settle before she goes to sleep. However, at night she goes straight to bed after I feed her. She would grunt all night long, never seeming like she was in a good, deep sleep. She wouldn't cry much but I could tell she was uncomfortable. We've tried the gas drops, gripe water....which the gripe water does help a lot but not enough to let her continue on her back. So, after monitoring her for a couple days during the day, sleeping on her stomach, I felt comfortable enough to try the night sleep on her stomach. Last night was our first attempt at it and she did sleep much better. We have an AngelCare monitor which would alert us if she stopped breathing so I felt better about the tummy sleeping. Even though we have the Angel monitor, I think I checked her every hour, haha!!!
I just hope this is our answer and she continues to sleep better!

So let me tell you about my Mother-of-the-Year morning I had. My mom's group was meeting at IHop to have breakfast with the kids. I knew I was being daring, attempting to take both kids out to eat by myself. I've gone out and done errands, walks and parks by myself with the kids, but expecting Cole to play nice with all the kids and sit still during a meal....AND try to keep a nearly 1 month old happy.....HAHAHA!!!!!!
To start out, I thought we were meeting at 10am, but looked at it was 9:30. I didn't have time to feed Finley so I pumped a bottle real quick but I really was hoping she would just sleep the whole time, not needing the bottle. After scrambling to get everyone in the car, we were a few minutes late. Ok, so we sat down and all the kids had crayons and paper to color on. Except, Cole and the kids around him kept stealing each others crayons and Cole had a meltdown. Yeah, a little embrassing! After threatening timeouts and who knows what else, I did what any mom would do.....gave him my phone so he could watch Mary Poppins videos :)
Alright, so he starts to settle down and now Miss Finley is waking up...great!!! I knew if she woke up I'd have to feed her so trying to give her her 3rd bottle in her lifetime all the while trying to carry on conversations, it's not so easy. Again, she has only had 2 bottles before this so she isn't real comfortable with them yet. So after massive amounts of spit up and burps so was good to go, however she wouldn't let me put her down.
THEN, I realize I smell pee....I feel around on Cole's shorts and realize he is completely soaked through his diaper. I completely forgot to change his diaper before we left and didn't even bring a spare!!! I guess I'm so worried about making sure I have everything for the baby that a I didn't even think about a spare diaper for Cole! I mean, literally, he is wet all the way up to his shirt, everything! I had no choice but to let him finish eating and sit in his wet-ness.
We were all pretty close to being done eating and I don't think a server has ever gotten that many mom's their checks so fast! Yes, we were one of "those" tables that every server dreads having. We finally got into the car, but I wasn't about to let him get the carseat all wet, so this is my view of Cole from the front seat.....haha!!! Poor Cole!!
Yep, no clothes, diaper, completely in the buff!

I knew I'd have to experience my first outing at some point, but never did I imagine it to be such a disaster. All you can really do is laugh right?
Hopefully our weekend turns out better. Although, Nick has a guys night tonight so I'll be with the kiddos on my own tonight. Maybe I can actually get in time to watch our netflix movie that's been sitting on our counter for 3 weeks :)

End of the Year Party and some randoms...

2011-06-03T15:02:00.007-05:00

Thursday was Cole's last day at Ms. Jen's. I had been dreading this day for so long because Cole absolutely loves being at her house with all his friends. I know he will miss all of them, but I'm sure we will keep in touch with them! Wednesday afternoon Ms. Jen had an End of the Year party and it was a blast watching all the kiddos!
They all munched on some yummy food, and they even had snow cones!

Ms. Jen even had a pinata for the kids to try to destroy, however, this pinata was impossible but they still had fun giving it a good whack!

Once all the candy was out, they all got to fill up a bag to take home.

We are definitely going to miss Cole being at Ms. Jen's, she truly has been such an awesome sitter and friend. She loves what she does and you can see that she just adores those kiddos. Cole was lucky to be with them this past school year!

Here is a funny picture of Cole taking his nap today. He's been so funny when it comes time to go to bed, he gets books, crayons, stuffed animals, anything really and puts them in bed with him. This is how I found him today...crayons, sippy cup, books, coloring pages, monkey. Silly goose!

This morning we had to take Finley to the hospital for her 2 week newborn screening test. Yes, she is a little over 3 weeks now, so I was a little delayed on getting the test done. Actually to be honest, I just forgot about doing it. I think with Cole we did it at our pediatrician's office but now they make you go back up to the hospital to do it...which is a little annoying b/c they have to get her all registered and that takes forever to sign all that paperwork.
All they had to do was prick her heel and get some blood. She fussed a little bit, but overall did great. While we were at the hospital I took her up to the lactation office to have her weighed b/c I was curious.
She was 7lb 2 oz at birth....
7lb 6 oz at one week....and....
today she was 8lb 15oz!
The nurse weighing her said that is definitely above the average weight gain so I was super excited to hear that because Finley is a massive spitter-upper and I wanted to make sure she was gaining enough, which she is!! Yay!!

Here is a cute picture from the other day....I love it when they sleep like this. She likes it when she gets the chance b/c at night I swaddle her soooo tight and to where she can't get her arms free. Hehe....but, that's they only way she will sleep 4-5 hour stretches.

"Whatup folks!!"
These cute sunglasses were a gift from Gigi, they are the smallest sunglasses I've ever seen!! :)

Hope everyone has a great weekend!!!

Our long weekend

2011-05-31T21:39:00.011-05:00

We had a long, busy, but fun weekend!! We started the weekend off with another trip to the park. We are having to start doing all our outside trips in the mornings because it's starting to get very warm and humid here...ugh! While at the park, Cole spent some time pushing Finley around in the stroller.

Later on in the day Cole got out his Big Wheels and pushed himself around on that. He still hasn't quite figured out the pedaling part so for now he just pushes himself. :)

Just a goofy picture of Mr. Cole, enjoying his drink

Friday night we went into Nick's parents house because he had a lot of family in town for Emily's wedding shower. It was great to get out of the house a bit and seeing all the family. Finley did great being out and about and all the aunts loved passing her around :)
Saturday mid-morning was Emily's shower. It was at a lovely winery and it was a blast seeing everybody. It was a great shower and Finley slept the entire time! She is still pretty inconsistent with her feedings, sometimes going 2 hours, sometimes 3 and sometimes only 1...so I knew it would be best for her to come along with me. I totally lucked out that she slept the whole time because it was pretty noisy and towards the end of the shower she got passed around quite a bit between Gigi's friends. They were so funny, they would literally time each other before the next person got to hold her, ha!
The rest of the day we just hung out with the girls and then enjoyed a nice dinner at Fireside Pies. I was gone pretty much all day, and when we got home, I was EXHAUSTED!!! Luckily everyone slept great that night!
Sunday, we got up and went to church for the first time since Finley was born. I didn't want to put her in the nursery yet so we just sat in the back with all the other infants. She did great and Cole was so excited to be back at church. Every time we pull into the parking lot, Cole yells "Play!!!" We are so lucky that he loves being at church!

Sunday afternoon we had to go back to Nick's parents house to get our car and while we were there, Cole decided that he was going to pack up all our stuff and head home. He grabbed his backpack, Finley's diaper bag, my phone and he headed right out the door. What's funny is that he didn't tell any of us that he was leaving, he just walked right out the door and luckily we saw him. I guess we are gonna have to make sure our front door is always locked so he doesn't make a habit out of this :)

Monday, we mostly hung around the house and relaxed. That evening we went to a BBQ that one of the couples from our Life Group was putting on. They have an awesome house with a pool and every toy for the kids that you can imagine. We all had a great time and it was so fun spending time with our friends. However, Cole had a TOTAL meltdown when we had to leave and literally screamed the whole 5 minute drive home. I know, 5 minutes is nothing, but when it's screaming like that, it feels like forever! We have never seen him get so upset so I'm guessing he was just having way too much fun.

Here are just a few random pictures from the last few days.
Cole being sweet to his baby sister :)

Finley sporting one of the new bows she got from our friend Debby :)

What a sweet princess....sleeping babies are the best!!

I've been noticing lately how much Cole and Finley's baby pictures are so similar. Except for the hair.....
This is Cole when he was about 2 weeks.

This is Finley at 2-ish weeks

I always joked that if I ever had a daughter, she'll probably be bald. With girls you want them to have lots of hair....but nope, my son got all the hair. I just think it's so funny that Cole had mountains of hair from day one and still does...yet Finley is a little baldy. She does have some dark hair in the back, but in the front, it's pretty bald. :) Oh well, she's still cute as can be!!!

Starting to get adjusted

2011-05-27T08:32:00.007-05:00

Finishing week 1 with both kids by myself under my belt, I'm starting to feel more comfortable with my duties. Wednesday morning I even got both kids to the park and it was a very successful trip! There were a ton of kids there so Cole had a blast! Luckily Finley slept in the stroller the whole time so Cole and I could play.
After we were at the park, we went to Sonic and got lunch and drinks....that is my kind of day! :)
Here is a picture of Cole and Finley playing in her playmat.....Cole loves laying and playing with all the baby stuff lately!!

Yesterday Cole was at Ms. Jen's so Finley and I just hung out at home most of the day. We did take a trip to the grocery store but that was the fastest grocery shopping trip I have ever been on because she started to get a bit fussy.
Nick's sister is having here wedding shower this weekend so we have quite a bit of family coming into town so last night Nick's mom, Aunt Mary and cousin Stephanie came up for a bit. My friend Wendi from school came up for a visit and it was great seeing her! It's nice to have visitors come up, especially when you are stuck at home most of the day. :) We also had some friends from church bring us food and Nick was in LOVE with the meal!! I'm guessing it's better than anything I've been preparing lately...ha!
I love this picture of our sweet Roxy...she loves to lay by the baby!!!

Here is a current picture of Finley...she's wearing a cute skirt for the first time. Although, I realize with our crazy comforter it's kinda hard to see her skirt pattern.

Here are a couple more pictures of Cole and Finley from this morning. Just hanging out in bed and yes, Cole is on the ipad. It's ridiculous how that kid knows how to work that thing!

Quick update on the kiddos (mostly for my record): Cole has been super great with Finley, although he has been a bit clingy lately. Usually when we take him to Ms. Jen's he runs to the door and doesn't look back but lately he's been clinging to us not wanting us to leave him. Totally understandable!! We've had a few more tantrums and meltdowns but for the most part he's doing a great job in his new role.
Finley has continued to be a great baby! She takes great naps during the day and is sleeping really good at night. Our pediatrician says we still need to feed her every 3-4 hours at night and that we can start letting her go 5 hours once she is 1 month old. She is pretty consistent with waking up every 3 hours though. Once I feed her she goes right back down though so I'm only awake about 20-30 minutes each feeding. Totally different than when Cole was a baby...it took that kid almost an hour to eat each feeding so I was MUCH more tired with him than with Finley. Finley does have a bit of a harder time in the evenings, that is kinda her fussier time. Nothing we can't handle though, and usually at that point Nick is getting home from work and he takes her...hehe! :)
We are looking forward to spending time with family this 3 day weekend!!