These two babies...and a salad

Are the sweetest little things on the face of the earth (unless they are crying/whining which does happen often around here, thankfully those moments are short lived) but even then, they are still such JOYS. I'm so thankful to be their mama.

Oh yes, the little guy does wear pink at night, only at home though! I put him in sleep sacks every night b/c he has the coldest room in the house for sure. His little hands are always freezing in the mornings. Hayes climbs in bed w/him every morning and they talk about stuff. Usually just sounds like jibberish!




Helping in the kitchen...H will line up chairs for us all to sit in while I cook most every night.



Last week I had the grilled chicken and fruit salad from ChickFILA and I can't stop thinking about it!! It was soooooo good. So that's what we had last night-so easy to put together. I just used all the fruit we had at home-oranges, blueberries, apples, strawberries, raisins- with a spring mix and grilled chicken strips. Easy, breezy weeknight meal.



I hear the big girl up from her nap. Happy Thursday and Happy 4th!

Watson is 4 months

Our little man turned 4 months yesterday-on the 25th. How in the world? I do not know. It seems to go faster each month. I want to document and soak up every single minute of this time. I love him being a baby and I don't want him to get any bigger!! Oh how we love him at this house. He's not hurting for attention or hugs and kisses in the least. All I do is kiss all over that sweet head and face!



W is for sure a people person. He completely lights up when you get in his face and smiles, smiles, smiles. He doesn't like to see you walk away from him. We just found out today he likes to be tickled like Hayes. He laughed and laughed when the tickle monster got him. He loves to watch Hayes and smiles so big at her. Really I think he might be just a tad frightened of her, but he puts on a brave face. Yesterday morning she whacked him the head w/her wooden puzzle (accidentally) and she told him not to cry about that. He has no choice but to get tough!

At 4 months he still loves his swing and takes naps there occasionally. He has started napping in his bed this past month which was one of my goals. He takes a morning nap (30 min-hour or so), catnaps b/t his 10 and 1 feeding, and then a long afternoon nap (2-3 hours). Lately he has taken an early evening nap too, around 6 or so, about 20 minutes.
Likes the playmat only sometimes, not every day. I think he gets bored w/laying down there. Sits in his exersaucer and bumbo and seems to like both of those.
Loves a stroller ride. We go almost every night after supper. Nathan pulls Hayes in the wagon and W gets the stroller. He lays back w/his paci and just looks around. Tonight he had his feet kicked up on the tray!
He nurses about 4 times a day and then gets a 6 oz bedtime bottle.
Nighttime sleep-this is super risky typing this out, but he is finally starting to sleep all night, praise the LORD! Now this might need to be written in pencil b/c there's always a good chance he could wake up 10 times tonight. We're going on night #14 of the new plan and so far it seems to be working. He goes to bed b/t 8:30 and 9 and sleeps until about 6:30 or 7. I'm hoping to bump his bedtime back down earlier once he gets more consistent, but for now I'll take it.
Oh and LOVES his paci. What would we do without that thing? He is constantly sucking on his fingers/whole hand.
Started Prilosec this month for major spitting up although I can't tell if it is doing much good. We tried Zantac first but that didn't help. He still spits up just not quite as much. So I can't decide if it's worth it to continue, it's pricey, doesn't help a lot, I don't like giving him medicine, and most annoyingly I have to wait a little while after giving it to feed him-hard to do w/a hungry baby! It's been about 4 weeks now. Typing all that out kind of helps me make up my mind about getting it refilled this week. I'm just so thankful for a healthy baby. I know reflux is just a phase like everything else. It will pass and in the meantime I just wash alot of clothes and constantly clean up the floors.
We love you little Watson man! I really don't care if you spit up on me all day every day! You are the best thing ever and we're so glad God made you just for us!

A few Random Pics of our Friday afternoon

This is the funniest little picture to me! I just uploaded some new pics and this was one of them. Nathan had just gotten home from work on Friday and Hayes pulled up a chair for him in the playroom and wanted him to take a picture with her. I've really been bragging on her about how (sometimes) she will now smile and look at the camera w/out her thumb in her mouth. Like making a REALLY big deal about it, so now she is sort of deciding she likes to take pictures! And you see her little Auburn t-shirt? Well we make a big deal about that shirt too b/c she always takes super long naps when she wears it and sleeps so good-so she loves it and always wants to wear her AU shirt when she naps. Let me tell you it's not easy getting her to take if off either. I had to bribe her w/fruit snacks last night to get her dressed to go eat. And the purple bow? Who knows. The girl likes a bow. And sweet Watson, bless his heart, he never knows when/why/how the camera works. All he knows is that big black thing is always in his face. I should have physically turned him around for this pic. He's busy studying something on that wall.

Yea! She turned me around for the camera!

Nathan is out of town today and the little ones are napping, hence the random Saturday afternoon blogging.

H-29 mos.
W-4 mos.

My Laundry Helpers and a Playdate

Chores are so much more fun when you have some happy little helpers...they bring big joy to the small and routine things of our days.

Yesterday we had a playdate w/some fun little friends-Catherine Ellis and Caroline and their 2 baby sisters. W was surrounded by all girls. He didn't seem to mind though. Thanks friends to coming to play. It was fun!!

(Elizabeth, Watson, Caroline)-2 weeks, 3 1/2 mos. 5 weeks

(Caroline, Hayes, Catherine Ellis)-2, 2, and 2!

Watson's Baby Dedication, Father's Day, and a Birthday

Sunday was a big day for Watson and he didn't even know it! We had his baby dedication at church yesterday morning and he did so good! You never know how those things are going to go, but he was such a sweetie pie and smiled and giggled the whole time! It was a special moment, and I tried to soak in everything Dr. Fenton said while we were up on stage. We look so forward to seeing what God has planned for Watson's life. We know great things are ahead for him and how thankful we are that we get to be a part of his life story. Hayes did well too, sucking her thumb and holding on tight to her Daddy. It was a sweet time. All of our family travelled to be here with us and we thank everyone for coming to support us and Watson. We love this little man soooooo much and had a wonderful time celebrating his precious little almost 4 month life yesterday. Y'all are the best!!

And, of course it was Father's Day, so a great occasion to celebrate all the daddies that we love. We had lunch at our house afterwards-bbq and lots of yummy sides. And a little birthday cake time too to mark my 32nd birthday-can that really be? Time flies for sure. There is absolutely no other way I would have rather spent my birthday than being right here with all of our family yesterday. It was the best birthday weekend ever, from a pedicure and free time on Friday to chips and salsa w/our fam of 4 Sunday night and lots of fun in between. Thank you so much Nathan!!

My awesome and very selfless friend Chris did ALL of the flowers for me Friday morning! What a huge gift and blessing that was-I have no idea how to arrange flowers. Thank you SO much Chris-they were all beautiful!!

Hayes was in heaven yesterday with all of her family and cousins here as you can imagine. She loved every second of the day too. She played hard and then had a good long nap once everyone went home!

And I cannot let Father's Day go by without giving Nathan proper credit for all he does for this family. He is our #1 man around here and we definitely wouldn't survive without him! If you know Nathan personally then you know he is one super devoted husband and daddy. This is a man who is sometimes late for work, comes home every day at lunch and then again right after work all because his family comes first. This man wears a suit 5 days a week but does not mind getting in the floor on his lunchbreak to play puzzles, have a tea party, build stairs, makes shapes out of playdough, change diapers, etc. and then goes straight back to work. He will do whatever he has to do to put his family first. That's my idea of a family man. I love him so much and so do these babies!!!

Happy Father's Day, Nathan!! We love you so much!

Daddies

Happy Father's Day to all of our wonderful Daddies!

(Brent, Jimmy, Nathan, Daddy, and Cory)

We just had a great celebration and the only one we missed was Papa. We wish you could have been here with us Papa! It's been a big weekend and Sunday. Everyone at our house is still napping. We had some tired babies!
Be back later with lots of pics once I can get them sorted.

Singing and Mr. Potato Head

In an effort to not lose or forget about any of these precious pictures and videos on our computer, I need to start posting them on here. I'm so afraid some of these little moments will be lost and forgotten here in the sea of pictures on our computer. I continuously upload more and more pics all the time, and alot of them I forget about until I go back and look later.
Plus, these videos are mainly for the grandparents-who all live out of town!-to see. I know they like to see them. Feel free to skip these though-it will not hurt my feelings!

Lately, I have caught Hayes jumping up into Watson's bed with him (which is kind of scary if I'm not in the room b/c she can be so wild w/him.) I'm glad I had my camera close by on this day. She loves to sing to him-Jesus Loves Me, Row Row Row your boat, Deep and Wide, Jesus loves the little Children, Humpty Dumpty, Peace like a river, If you're happy and you know it, etc. She walks around the house singing nonstop!



Here is the little teacher telling W about Mr. Potato Head, one of her used-to-be favorite toys. She obviously knows all the body parts now, but I will find him w/all the parts stuck in all crazy.



And that's all! Happy Wednesday!

The Date Night

Hayes had her first date night last night w/Daddy. It was cute. They had fun. She couldn't wait to get in the car and go. When I was at her door kissing her and telling her bye, she told me to close the door. I'm sure that will be a new favorite thing for her, special time one on one w/Daddy or Mommy. She does not get enough of that right now. Little brother is precious, but his sweet little baby self requires alot of one on one attention these days too, which means she does not always come first. She has handled the divided attention very well since day 1 thankfully. I think it's a good lesson for her to learn though. We do not want her to grow up thinking she's the center of the world, or the center of our family, but that she is a very important part. But a night out w/out baby brother and getting to stay up late did make her feel pretty special and I'm okay with that, because she is a special little girl!


So she got up early from her nap and jumped into the bathtub to get ready. Daddy came home early from work. She got to pick out her outfit and bow (or choose between 2.)



Where did they go? Old McDonalds (what she calls it) to eat and then to the library to hear Jim Aycock sing and play guitar.



Nathan said she paid no attention except when he played "Wheels on the Bus"-one of her favorites. He said she played w/her barbie notepad from her happy meal the whole time and jumped up once to run around the room and then came right back to her notepad and sat down.



So Mr. Hollywood and I stayed home and played and went for a long stroll. He loves a stroller ride and we usually go after supper every night. I'm starting a new night time routine for him as of last night. It's been a rollercoaster of sleepless nights trying to get him to stay asleep and not wake up so much. Last night #1 was a successful night, and I hope tonight will be just as good. He's 15 weeks and 15 pounds. He just can't be that hungry at night. I'm hopeful about our new plan!

Regular or Decaf

We like coffee at our house. We drink it every morning! Nathan likes regular and I like decaf, but sometimes I will drink regular too. Apparently the little lady in our house has picked up on this, and she likes to make coffee every day too now in her little kitchen.



I hear her talking to herself about making decaf coffee. She tells Watson that he will drink coffee too when he is bigger. This morning she pretended to warm her coffee up in the play microwave. Lately she's really been into asking us if we need something too. Like, "Daddy you want more supper?" and "Mommy you want a blueberry muffin?" "Mommy you want more coffee?" It's sweet, shocking, and scary how much they absorb that you don't even realize. She is a total sponge!

The little cook!


Here is W w/his coffee and eggs. She tells him one day he will eat eggs when he gets bigger!

(Do you see his muscle looking shirt? Nathan cannot stand it when I put these little onesies on him and I think it's so funny-he says he looks like an old man in these things and he does-hahaha!)

Happy Friday!

H-28 months
W-3 1/2 months

Memorial Day, Company, and the Zoo

This is a long post, all rolled into one! I still need to catch up w/our trip to Dothan which now seems long ago! We had a great visit and managed to spend some time with all 5 grandparents plus Honey all in one trip. Both little ones did great. Hayes was surprised w/a big girl bed when she got to Nana and Papa's. We didn't expect her to sleep in there, she's not one for being still and going to sleep if she's not contained! But to our delight she actually slept all night in the little toddler bed, but wouldn't have anything to do w/a nap in there the next day (since she had freedom to NOT be contained.) That was not a battle worth fighting though. Naps get in the way when you have people to see. Most days she is still fairly happy and pleasant even when she doesn't have a nap thankfully.



I think the terms good old fashioned backyard fun would sum up our time in Headland and Dothan. We spent a good bit of time outside most of the trip which thrilled Hayes. Both grandparents had baby pools to play in which was nice for the heat. Hayes played in the water hose, fountain, watered flowers, helped make ice cream, picked apples and ate alot of them, and had her 1st four wheeler ride-thank you Papa! It was a really nice weekend. We ate too much good food of course, and thankfully brought alot back home with us. Always nice!

We started our weekend with Friday lunch w/our cousins at our favorite place-La Parilla. Soooo good! I think Hayes ate her entire weight x 10 in cheese dip and salsa. The spicier the better to her. So funny-I ate chips, salsa and cheese dip an awful lot when I was pregnant with her-at least several times a week-just an interesting connection!



All 5!


Lovely!


1st 4 wheeler ride w/Papa-she held on tight for awhile and then got brave and started waving to us!


W and Grandaddy


Hayes and Baker love this little lion seat at Shug and Grandaddy's. She's really too big now for a high chair and hasn't sat in one at home for a long time now, but LOVES to get in the lion seat when she goes to their house. It was the 1st thing she went to see when we got there!


My sweet little man in stripes


Love this of both boys smiling so big


Moving on...We had a very special visitor last week to spend the night w/us! My sweeeeeeeet friend Rebecca who I worked with at West for 6 years came to stay w/us and keep the little ones so we could have a date night. As in, came all the way from Jackson, MS just to see us and let us go out! She is such a precious and selfless person, always thinking of others, and so FUN to be with. I have to say she is the poster child of spontaneity. ALWAYS up for an after school Mexican date, or a spend the night party if Nathan was away (b/c I'm such a scaredy cat!) She did not mind re-arranging her schedule for a second to do something fun. I love that about her! We taught kindergarten right down the hall from each other and always had lots of fun times together, along w/everyone else on that hall! Wow, do I miss that place. I wrote a while ago about really missing that season of my life. I just have lots of special memories all wrapped up in West and Rebecca is in every one of them! So now Rebecca is married and moved way off to Jackson last summer, but I'm hoping she'll be back to Bham eventually. How fun would that be! Thank you SO much Rebecca for coming to spend some time with us and hang out in this crazy household with 2 little babies and loving and enjoying it-at least I hope you did! Come back anytime!



Last, we ventured to the zoo last Saturday to get in on some splash pad action for Hayes. Our time there was short lived. It was just too hot, even in the shade. Both little ones did not seem to mind it though, Nathan and I were the fussy ones-hahaha!Hayes has a difficult time staying in/around the water area, so Nathan chased her around and tried to rally her back to the splash pad the entire time. She didn't show enough interest to put myself through that torturous heat again, so we will say good-bye to the zoo until the fall comes around.





Naptime is almost over and I need to get supper started...Swedish Meatballs-they are really good. One of our favorites now. I will share that soon!

Days to Remember

I am a morning person.



I think they both are too.



They are usually at their happiest and most content point in the day when they wake up (and I am too.) Everything is new and fresh and we get to start all over with a new day. Mornings are my favorite!