A fun family weekend

Well, we had a great weekend and are now looking forward to a short week and celebrating Thanksgiving with both sides of the family all together!! First, a look back....

Here's just a cute shot I got of Kylie...

On Thursday morning, I decided to brave the world again alone with two kids. We met my friend Jacque (another friend from prenatal yoga when I was pregnant with Noah) and her two kids, Elizabeth and Jacob. We went to a grat new find (thanks to my neighbor, Morgan) - Planet Child. It was a perfect little play place and very safe and clean for the kids. We were there for almost 2 hours and then went to Chick-fil-A for lunch afterwards! It was a big morning and we were all ready for a nap afterwards.

Jacque, Jacob and Elizabeth

Noah and Elizabeth - only a few weeks difference in age! - we need to get them together with Eli and see the differences in size. :-)
Friday, I stayed home with thd kids and had some fun outside time in the morning. Noah enjoyed running around and digging in the dirt. Such a boy. When Waylon got home, we all went out to dinner. Kylie is usually fussy in the evenings - usually starting right at dinnertime - so we were wondering how it would go, but it was great. She slept in the carrier most of the time.

Saturday morning was a big one. We decided to check out the Raleigh Christmas Parade so we loaded up and left the house around 9:00. By the time we made it downtown, parked and got to the site, it was 10:00 and the parade started coming by just a few minutes aftewards. Noah had so much fun watching everything although one of us had to hold him up to see the whole time - and the parade was 2 hours long (we just had to stay until the end to see Santa!). I'm still sore from holding him! We had lunch afterwards and didn't start home until 1:00... then NOah slept for 3 1/2 hours!!! We wore him out.

He really loved the big balloons.

Kylie missed most of it! :-)

Santa!

Later on Saturday, we did some tummy time with Kylie -

she was really into it as you can see. :-)

Noah loves to wrestle with Daddy

Yesterday morning, we had a quiet (as quiet as can be anyway) morning at home. We made pancakes for breakfast (Noah had three!), we played for a while and then he helped Daddy out in the garage again. I made mac and cheese for lunch and Noah had three big servings (plus peas and apples!) before a 2 hour nap. Growth spurt??

After nap, we went over to Nana and Grandad's to celebrate Grandaddy's birthday. Lots of playtime and good food - as always! Dinnertime these days is always interesting though - between Noah, Savannah and Kylie (with the evening fussies), it was quite the tag team dinner. Should make Thanksgiving interesting this year!! :-)

In the toy box with Savannah - they act like brother and sister (that's good and bad!). :-)

I love that they are so close and hope they will be for life!

Nana and Grandad with Noah and Kylie

One of the five outtakes of trying to get a picture of Noah kissing Grandaddy.

We never did get one with lips on cheek! :-)

Loving their new grandaughter

This week for Thanksgiving, we are heading to the lake to celebrate. This year, we will enjoy the holiday with both sides of our family! We will have my parents, Leah and Casey, Waylon's parents, Andrea, Sean and Savannah there! We are so excited to have everyone together. Noah is going to be in hog heaven!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We sure have a lot to be thankful for!!

Professional Pictures

Here are some of the shots we got last Sunday at Portrait Innovations!

Also, an update on the sleeping issue -- Monday night was a little better - she went 4 1/2 hours between feedings and slept well in between. Last night - AMAZING! - I fed her at 10 and she slept until 5!!! Then went back down easily until we were up with Noah at 7:00. Crazy. I'm sure it was a fluke but I'll take it! My mom said she heard me talking about how Noah was a better sleeper at her age and didn't want to be shown up by her big brother! :-)

A Crazy Week!!

Well, Monday started off with Waylon feeling even worse than he did on Sunday. His temperature kept going up and up and he finally went to the doctor on Tuesday morning. The diagnosis?... Pneumonia!! Can you believe it? He says he never felt fully better after the first sickness but it was hard for him to determine if he was still sick or if he was just tired from having a newborn! The doctor gave him antibiotics and steroids to get over it and now he's feeling much better. I'm hoping we all can stay healthy for a while now but I have a feeling it's going to be a rough winter for everyone.

Since last Wednesday was Veteran's Day, Noah's daycare was closed, so we had two playdates to keep us entertained - Maddie in the morning and Savannah in the afternoon. It was nice to have activities and it made the day go by quicker.

Lollypops with Maddie

Thursday on the other hand, was a looooong day. t was rainy, I had no activites planned and by about 4:00, I was done! That evening turned out to be kinda rough, too so it was just a hard day all around. I did however take both kids out alone for the first time! It was just a quick trip to get Noah's hair cut but it went very well!

Friday morning, Kylie was smiling at me a bunch and I caught this little one on camera...

Later on Friday, we loaded up and went to the mall with Janet and Mason. We just walked around, played in the play area and had lunch. It was another nasty day so it was nice to get out. I took our new double stroller but Noah walked most of the time. He was really good and stayed right with us! I think he's really embracing this big brother thing.

Saturday, Waylon decided to stay home from the NC State football game (wow!) - he said it was because he wanted to make sure he was over the pneumonia but I think he felt bad for me! :-) It was nice to be home together all day. That morning, Waylon did some work on the car while Noah painted out in the garage (that is until Noah decided he needed to help with the car)...

While they were outside, I got a little artsy with taking some pictures of Kylie... :-)

....which sparked me to call and finally make an appointment to get some professional pictures taken. I called Portrait Innovations and they actually had some appointments available on Sunday morning. We got some great shots and I'll post some in another post soon.

Sunday afternoon, Nana and Grandad came over to visit for a short time and I got this really great shot...

Today was back to school and work for Noah and Waylon and Kylie has just been smiling at me all day! I caught a few more on camera.

As I type, Kylie is fussing with Waylon. We have been working out this evening/nighttime thing over the past few nights. She's always been fussy in the evenings but she had been sleeping pretty well at night - only waking up for feedings. Well, the past few nights, she's been waking up in between feedings, so we are getting pretty tired! We just have to figure each other out still -- we'll get it one of these days (course then something else will change, right? - that's how it works, you think you get in a routine and then everything changes). :-)

Better go take my turn with her!

Weekend Activities

Friday morning was a beautiful fall day, so we decided to play outside for a while. I had Kylie bundled in the carrier so Noah and I kicked a ball around and played in the leaves.

After Noah went down for his nap, Jennie came over to visit. We got to relax while Noah was sleeping and play after he woke up. It was so nice to have company (and extra hands!) for the afternoon.

After Jennie left, we went for another walk with Janet and Mason. When Daddy got home, we ordered pizza and had a nice relaxing evening in.

Saturday was all about plans changing for the better....

Waylon was planning to go to the NC State game. I decided to join him with the kids for the tailgate. The plan was to just go out for an hour or so and have him walk me back to the car and let Noah fall asleep on the way home. While we were at the tailgate, Cory mentioned that they had an extra ticket to the game. Just as everyone was getting ready to go into the game and I was getting ready to head back to the car with the kids, we decided to all go in! Everyone did great for the short time we were there - Kylie slept through the whole thing and Noah enjoyed it all yet again. We didn't even stay for the whole first quarter but it was fun anyway. It was obvious Noah was very tired (the game started at 1:00 - right smack dab in the middle of naptime) and we were sitting in a sunny section of the stadium so I was kinda worried about Kylie being too warm/getting too much sun. By the time we made it back to the car, it was about 2:30 - Noah fell right asleep and didn't wake up until 5:00!! On the way home, Kylie started fussing and was crying very loudly - Noah slept through the whole thing! Good test for him! Here's a shot of us walking into the game as a family....

And here's the outfit that Kylie wore to the game! :-)

The other part of the 'original plan' for Saturday was for Eli and Evia to come over for some playtime after nap. When we decided to go to the game, I called Evia and changed plans on her - asking if they wanted to come over later instead and stay for dinner. She was very accomidating and even suggested they bring dinner with them! Wow! So their whole family came over around 6:00 compete with a big pot of chili, all the fixin's and dessert, too! Thanks so much guys! As always, Noah and Eli had such a great time and were so well behaved.

Even though we don't see them very often, Noah asks for Eli quite a bit. One moring a few weeks ago, I woke Noah up for school and, still in a haze, he said, 'Where did Eli go?' I asked if he was dreaming about Eli and he said yes. I asked what they were doing in his dream and he acted out driving his toy cars around. It was so cute. Saturday when he woke up from his nap, he immediately asked for Eli and then a little bit later, he said, 'I had pizza and cheetos today.' I didn't know what he was talking about because we hadn't had either of those things and then it dawned on me.... he had pizza and cheetos at Eli's birthday party (back in August)! His little memory amazes me!

They love each other - check out how tall Eli is!!

(and he's even slightly younger than Noah!)

Sunday morning, we decided to try a bottle of pumped milk with Kylie. I was a little nervous that she might not take to the bottle because she's not really all that interested in the paci but she did. It took her a few minutes to figure it out but once she did, she drank 2.5 oz, took a short break, spit up a lot of it, and then drank another 1 oz (she's much more of a spitter than Noah was - even when nursing). Waylon (and Noah!) enjoyed feeding her and it's nice to know that I can now be away during a feeding! I might take advantage of that sometime soon! :-)

Getting ready to eat!

First bottle

Noah wanted to help her finish up the last little bit.

Sunday afternoon, Nana, Grandad and Savannah came over to play (Andrea and Sean are on vacation in the Dominican Republic so Nana and Grandad have been keeping Savannah all week). They had fun running around outside and stayed for dinner, too. I missed getting any photo ops - these days the camera doesn't always make it out!

I did snap this picture after the left though - I thought he was so handsome in this outfit...

I'm finishing up this post at 4am during a feeding. Kylie has been back to eating every 3 hours for a while now (she was doing 4 at night for the first few weeks). I've been having trouble staying awake during the night feedings cause I'm just so exhausted so working on the computer is my way of trying to stay awake! :-)

Waylon started feeling a little feverish again yesterday. We are really hoping he's not having a relapse of whatever he had before! He might hit the doc if h'es not feeling better soon - we are worried about bronchitis or pneumonia cause he's had this cough for a while. So far, Kylie is still okay - every day that goes by that she stays healthy, I breath a sigh of relief. I just want her to be older before we have to deal with any sickness!

Today/tomorrow, Noah goes back to school and Waylon go back to work so it's just the girls again for a few days. Hopefully 'we' can catch up on laundry, relax a little and maybe catch up on some sleep! We'll see!

Our Week

This week was my first full week home alone. It actually went pretty well - I survived anyway! :-)

First, a few more pictures from Sunday that I forgot to post last weekend...

Another bath - this time with Daddy

Playdate with Stella Dot - breaking for juice and conversation. At one point, the icemaker dumped some ice and we heard Noah say, 'That's the icemaker'. It's so fun to hear them talk to each other! :-)

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Noah was in school so it was just me and Kylie... things weren't quite as slow as they had been when I had help. It's amazing how an extra pair of hands helps! Kylie was a little fussy in the mornings on Monday and Tuesday, so that kept us snuggling and I wasn't able to get much done (like shower) until the afternoons! :-) Janet and I took a few walks which was nice and on Wednesday, we actually went out to lunch at Panera with Janet and Mason and another neighbor, Morgan and her 12 week old, Phoenix! I wish I had gotten a picture of all the kiddos... it was fun to get out with other new moms. We have one more neighbor due in a week! Four kids in 4 months!

Some more pictures....

A sleep smile - love those.

Actually, I think I might have gotten a 'real' smile yesterday. She was wide awake and I was talking to her and she smiled at me! It was so cute. It's so fun to watch these new developments all over again! Noah is excited, too. This morning, he was talking to her saying, 'Do you want to play with my trucks? (pause) Okay, let's go!' So cute.

Saying hi after he got home from school on Monday

Just a cute outfit picture :-)

Noah saying goodbye before Pajama Day at school on Tuesday!

Another cute sleepy/cute outfit shot (check out the shoes, too!) :-)

It's so fun to dress up a girl.

Yesterday was my first full day home alone with two kids. It went pretty well but I was very tired by the end of the day. Both kids were pretty good - we used the TV some but not too much, I don't think. We even made it through a trip to the doctor to get Noah his H1N1 vaccine. So glad we got one for him!

I was nervous about getting Noah down for a nap but Kylie was actually sleeping when it was time for him to go down, so that worked out well. We'll see how it goes today!

Wide awake.

Another big development - Kylie rolled over from front to back! I had her on her belly for some tummy time and she was getting frustrated and rolled onto her back! I thought it was a fluke so I put her on her belly again and took video and she did it again! I couldn't believe it - at 3 weeks old. I'll try to post the video if I can get it uploaded.

Well, Kylie is alseep in my arms and Noah has been watching Diego while I've been doing this and it's almost over now so I better wrap it up! Have a great weekend everyone!