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

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

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

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

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

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

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!!