Being Thankful

At school, S's teachers worked with them on being thankful for and then took each child's picture in their turkey hats. I thought that it turned our really cute!! When asked what she was thankful for, S told them that she was thankful for elephants. Hmmm...??

Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!!

On Wednesday we made the almost 8 hour drive to New Bern, NC. Whew!! I will say that S did AWESOME in the car on the way there and we didn't even have to pull out the DVD player because she entertained herself so well! I was so proud of her!! C did okay, and really I couldn't have expected any better out of a 4 month old.

We rented our own house this year and it was fabulous! My parents met us at the house on Wednesday night with dinner and some baby supplies in tow. What a huge help!!


Thursday we went for a walk in the morning and did some letterboxing in the historic downtown district. It was a great way to start the day!

We then headed to Papa's house to meet up with everyone for lunch! WOW! SO MANY KIDS this year and the weather was beautiful so they were able to run around outside. And boy did they run! S has a tendency to run and run and run but also tends to run away. We had to keep a constant eye on her or she would disappear down the street. Good grief! The food was amazing, as always, and we all ate way too much. M and I weighed ourselves before we ate lunch and by the end of the day he was 7 lbs heavier and I was 4 lbs heavier. Think we enjoyed ourselves!?!?:)

On Friday, the guys always go play golf. After a quick visit from Grandpa before he left town, the kids and I headed downtown to meet up with the cousins and go see Santa. We had fun until it looked as though a tornado were going to touch down - seriously scary looking sky. We ran for the cars and found our way back to Papa's to eat yet some more:)

After a good nap for both of the kids back at our rented house (unfortunately C was sleeping in my arms so I didn't get to take one), we went back to meet up with the whole crew again for the annual Turkey Shoot Out awards.

The drive home did not go nearly as well and both kids came home with colds. A very whiny/fussy ride. All of us were glad to pull into the driveway and get out of the car!!

C did not sleep well at all while we were there(surprise, surprise) so we were pretty much sleep deprived the entire trip. But, aside from that, we had an awesome time with the family!

All the Friends

S has really gotten into sitting her stuffed animals up in a line either on the floor or on the couch. I just had to get a picture of it because it is so cute. I told her to climb on up and get in a pic with them and she told me "All the friends are here!" In case you are wondering why she has her arm up in the first picture, it's because as I go to snap the picture, she takes her hand and grabs the air and tells her imaginary friend, Evan, to look at the camera!!

New Rule

So last night was awful...well, actually, the last SIX nights have been awful!!

C has always had this issue with his arms flailing and he doesn't seem to be able to relax by himself. So we have swaddled him to sleep. Fixed!!

Then, I got this awesome idea that during nap time I would swaddle him with one arm out and give him a paci to go to sleep because I was worried about him being fully swaddled and rolling over and suffocating. This plan has not exactly worked very well. He tends to mess with the paci too much putting it in and out of his mouth and eventually loses it and I have to go "plug" him again. Then, in the middle of sleep cycles, after the paci has already fallen out, he wakes up and I have to go plug him again so he can finish his nap. Kind of exhausting, but I thought it would get better if I just kept at it. I started this about two months ago and have seen no improvement.

And, in actuality, it has taken a toll on his night sleep. Before I started the whole nap set up, C was just swaddled at night and was sleeping through the night just fine. Now, however, he is still swaddled but has been waking up 3-5 times and not being able to go back to sleep because he wants his paci. It's an absolute NIGHTMARE!!


Well, I can't take it anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!


Last night I tried getting rid of both the swaddle and the paci at the same time. Ummm.... not very successful! I let him cry/fuss for a total of 1hr45min (don't worry grandmothers, I went in there a couple of times to reassure him and love him). But, I could see we weren't getting anywhere so I swaddled him but no paci. He went right to sleep (who wouldn't after fussing for that long?!?!). He slept like a champ after that!


So, my new rule for my little man is no pacis in the bed. I will go back to swaddling him fully at nap time and nighttime, but he will only be seeing his paci when he is out of his crib. This is more for me than for him since I know he is tired but I am not always home to put him down for a nap when he needs it.


Hopefully a couple more days and we will be back to sleeping around here!!!!


As for the swaddle, I think that will have to wait to go until he can sleep on his stomach to keep his arms from flailing around. S was about 6 months when she started sleeping on her belly so maybe it won't be too much longer. We'll cross that bridge when we get there. I just can't get rid of both at the same time!

Double Trouble

I was told by the pediatrician last week that I needed to do more tummy time with C. I already knew this, because I do next to none, but it was different hearing it from the doctor. So, I've started trying to make sure C is on his tummy several times a day. He just does NOT like it! S has been getting down on the floor with him and I have to praise and get excited when she lifts her head up and rolls over too:) I think C does enjoy it more when she is down there with him and I am glad that they have fun interacting with each other at least to some degree.

Cereal

We started C with cereal tonight! He definitely was intrigued by it! He opened his little mouth very willingly to get it in there. He still needs to figure out how to close it and then swallow, but that will come! Despite his face in the second picture, he did like it I think. Yay for starting food!

Going Back in Time

Saturday we went to Roper Mountain Science Center and had a ball at their Fall Harvest Festival! The event was full of demonstrations from life in the 1800s. There was music, woodcarving, a blacksmith, gardening, feeding the animals and the highlight was when M and S were able to help plow the field. What a hoot!! Even Little Man enjoyed things a little while lounging on his blanket in the field. A beautiful day to be outside!

Jumping Fun

Well, not so much jumping yet! I tried C in the jumparoo today for the first time. One big toe can reach the floor but that is about it. Guess he needs to grow a little more before he'll enjoy this toy:) S sure did like making him bounce (REALLY high I might add). Poor kid, he's in for a brutal childhood with her! HA!

Visit to Santa

I had not planned to visit Santa quite this early! S had a dentist appt this morning and when we got finished it was only 9:30. So, I had a few things to get at the mall and figured I'd get that done and then let S play in the play area there for a bit before heading back to the house. We saw where Santa was set up on our way to the play area but he was not there yet. I couldn't believe he was already out!! Anyway, I asked S if she wanted to go see him, but she said "no". No problem, it wasn't like I had them dressed in their Christmas outfits anyway. We played for a while and then were walking back through the mall and this time Santa was there. S said she wanted to go see him. "Are you sure? No crying, right?" She insisted she was ready. OKAY!! I wasn't going to pass this up! Sweet C was just dozing off when we got there but I was willing to take my chances since he is normally happy and pulled him out of his car seat and plucked his paci from him mouth. He just smiled:) I love this kid! If that had been me I don't think I would have been as nice about the whole situation. S didn't even wait for the "elves" to go over the picture packages with me. She jumped up on Santa's lap and started talking to him. Yay!! We got a somewhat good picture. S isn't smiling, but don't let her fool you, she really actually enjoyed talking to Santa this year - a far cry from me having to be in the picture last year:) Such a big girl!

Treasure Hunt

This weekend we went on some treasure hunts (aka Letterboxing). What a blast!! I got the idea from a friend and found details here to help get me started.

After S's nap yesterday, we went and picked out our stamp and headed to find our first treasure. I wasn't sure how into it S would be, so I chose to do one that was located at a park so that if she didn't like it, the entire trip out wouldn't be a complete wash! She LOVED it! She loved trying to figure out which way to go and it gave us a good chance to work on 'left' and 'right' - still working on it, but she'll get it soon!

We had so much fun yesterday, that we went again today and Daddy was able to come with us this time! Thank goodness because the ones I found this time were not very stroller friendly. It was quite humorous watching M push the stroller along the path. We actually did two today. The second one had such rough terrain that C and I waited while M and S went searching.

This is such a fun, inexpensive family activity and really gives you a chance to get out and explore with your kiddos places that you may or may not have been before but even if you have been, you will still discover something you have not when visiting before. Also, letterboxing is done all over the country so if you are travelling, you will have an instant activity to do while you are there!

Science

There is no Friday on the Farm in November, but there is Sharing Science. The first one was all about sound. S was really into it, more than I thought she would be, and was all about trying everything out that the teacher had for them and was so good while we were there! What a great learning experience for her!

I know the second picture is really blurry, but you can still see the excitement on her face:)

Two Peas in a Pod

These two wear me out when they get together!!!! S loves her Gigi and they always have a good time when Gigi visits:)

Art, Art, Art

Since S didn't have school today, we went to our much loved art studio this morning! It was absolute chaos as everyone else had the same idea with the county schools out today. I knew the setup of the studio and decided that the best way to handle both of them together would be to have C in the front carrier. Whew! He is one heavy hunk of lead! By the end of it I was exhausted and quite possibly am going to need to have my back realigned! Maybe next time I'll work it out where it will just be a girls morning out! It was all worth it, though, because S had an awesome time and was so, so, so good while we were there. She didn't even throw a fit when we had to leave - although the bribe of a snack didn't hurt either:)


Times like this it is nice to have my old, smaller camera with me that I can stick in my back pocket. Notice how tired this mommy(and my baby boy) looks in the last picture! They don't lie when they say that pictures speak 1000 words!


Like his pink paci holder thing!?!? HAHA! That was from when S was a baby and thank goodness it was still in the diaper bag. It sure served its purpose! I might should invest in one that is a little less feminine!

Stella's Got Her Groove Back

4 Months

C is FOUR months old today!!

He is such a blessing to us:)

He is becoming more and more interactive with S everyday and she loves to try to make him laugh!! So much fun to watch!

He is still getting up typically one time a night (with the occasional two times and then sometimes not at all). We go to bed not ever knowing what kind of night it will be. He is fully swaddled when we put him down and no paci at night (unless he wakes up at an odd hour and I refuse to feed him, then we'll plug him and we'll all get a bit more rest!).

He takes about 3 naps each day. A short one in the morning typically on the go - poor kid, all he wants to do is catch a snooze and S and I are having too much fun to stop. His long one is in the afternoon and coincides with S...ahhh!! Then again around dinner time. I swaddle him with one arm out and also give him a paci. This set-up works right now, but something is going to have to change soon because he rolled over for the first time today! I guess I will have to start weaning him of his swaddle although I am dreading it!

C is eating about every 3 hours during the day, but his long afternoon nap will sometimes go a bit over and it'll be closer to 4 hours. I don't plan to start cereal quite yet, but will continue with only milk for a bit longer.

Every month there is so much change that it makes me sad that the "baby days" are passing so quickly! I am trying to cherish these days with both of my babies!!!

Stats Update (11/12/2010):
Height 26.5in (89%tile)
Weight 17lb11oz (88%tile)