Guess Who is Two?!

May 8th, 2010

Really?    Really???

Has it been two years already that this miracle boy blessed our family with his sweet little spirit?! Two years have passed and he is now turning into such a fun little boy. Definitely opinionated and learning how to test limits, but oh so cute nonetheless.

He is 100% boy and loves to play outside. You can hear a wimper from the back seat as we drive by any park....he loves to play at the park - the summer heat will be rough on this kiddo! He loves to wear shoes and loves for anyone else in the house to wear shoes. He woke up from his nap the other day sad...and all he could say was "shoe". Apparently he did not like napping without shoes - silly kid.

His talking is coming along slowly but surely. I don't push these things too hard...things like crawling, walking and talking. I figure they will do them soon enough and there is no stopping them once it starts! Some of his words are "mama, dada, baba, ball, football, basketball, milk, cookie/cracker (coo coo), please (beep), up, school, Andrew, did it (learned this from Drew's potty training),  hot, one, two, wow wow (wow wow wubzy), bob bob (sponge bob), choo choo, shoe, animal sounds (cat, dog, cow, monkey, snake, bird, duck) and possibly a few other words.

Carter's birthday landed on the same day as the baby shower.....but we tried to make it a special day anyway. He spent the morning with daddy out and about and enjoyed some Orange Julius which he apparently inhaled! I managed to sneak away during nap time to get his gifts. For dinner we have a favorite of his....pizza - he can eat so much pizza! Drew even put down two pizza crusts - so impressive!

I had high hopes of making a train cake, but as I attempted to assemble the cake verging on 8:00 that night I realized the cake was too soft and would have needed to be frozen or refrigerated to work, so I settled for a very moist, slightly messy, but oh so tasty square cake with rainbow sprinkles. Carter didn't mind.

He was very excited about the candles!

 

I just love the way he blows. He sticks out his bottom lip and kinda blows upwards. Insanely cute, but not efficient in blowing out candles so I had to help.

He loves eating utensils these days. When I give them dry cereal in a bowl for snack he has to run off to the kitchen to fetch a too big for him spoon to eat his cereal. Adorable.

He likes to say "cheese" for the camera these days. Makes for cheesier pictures, but still cute!

I don't have a picture of the final product, but this child was MESSY!!! He thoroughly enjoyed his birthday cake.

Drew even spent some time picking the sprinkles off the cake and licking a bit of icing.

I think Carter got more presents than he does at Christmas....and Drew lucked out too. I ended up getting some extra things for Drew and so did Grammy. I was so grateful since he has been having a hard time with all the change. The morning was spent with presents for mommy and Maylee and then the night was filled with presents for Carter. It helped him make it through with a few for him too!

Drew was very excited about his Buzz Lightyear jammies!

Toy Story is a favorite in our house. Luckily Carter attached to Woody and Drew loves Buzz - whew - WWIII avoided for now.

Seriously - there were SO MANY PRESENTS! They have had so much fun and enjoyed all of them!

 As of 05/21/10:

Age: 2 years
Weight: 25 lbs 14%
Height: 33 1/2 34%
Head: 49 cm 63%

Great Things

Isn't it a saying that great things come in small packages....well, I have to agree. Miss Maylee sure is a great thing and I just adore every little ounce of her.

She was able to come home Wednesday last week and we could not have been more excited - well....I was a little nervous too, but mostly excited! There was talk back and forth about when she was coming home. Some thought she was ready since she was off all tubes and was taking all feeds by mouth, but others felt she was still a bit too small at the whopping 3 lbs 12 oz that she was. Well, the ones who thought she was ready won out on Wednesday and we brought her home that afternoon!

Such a little person acquired so much stuff in her 3 week stay at the NICU.

 

Here she is in all of her little self glory. She doens't quite fit into any of the newborn furniture so she rarely gets to sit in there and if she does she needs extra padding and a very watchful eye. But she sure is adorable though!

Daddy gave Maylee her first feeding at home. Don't mind the pink walls, etc. We are still trying to find time to get the kiddos rooms sorted out. Feeding was a little rocky for the first 12 hours or so. I actually got quite panicked when she was not eating like she did in the hospital, but that didn't last long and she is doing great!

Shelley and Rich brought over the bassinet later that night. I felt bad for taking it back so soon....we had no idea Maylee would be needing it already! Little Hailee and Miss Maylee are going to be the best of friends (at least that is what we have decided!)

On Friday I took her for her first doctor's appointment. I love our pediatrician - he is amazing. Anyhow, I only snuck one picture in, not so great, but hey - it is her first visit to the doc and that is the best I could get. She did great other than the FREEZING temperature in there. Seriously, if we are ever hot this summer we are headed to the doc office to cool down. She weighed in at 3 lbs 15 oz which was up from what she was at the hospital so we were so pleased!

I have found that I don't take as many pictures of her as I did say....Carter when he was a baby. I am worried about flasing her eyes too much and I don't want to disturb her sleep. I have a feeling that needs to change because I need more pictures of this sweet little princess!

  

Maylee spends most of her time sleeping in my room, but occasionally when she is awake and we have her out the boys LOVE to get to hold her. Once Carter gets ahold of her he does not want to let her go. It is so cute to watch the boys love on their little sister. They really are so good with her.

She had her weekly weight check yesterday and the girl is growing!!!! She came in at a very heavy 4 lbs 6 oz. I can't believe it! The doctor is very pleased at an ounce a day weight gain. He has bumped me up to allow for nursing three times a day. My hope is to have her nursing completely by the time she would be 40 weeks which is just over three weeks away. This Friday she would have been 37 weeks gestation. Crazy to think I had Carter at 37 weeks and Maylee is now a pound below Carter's birth weight. Check out the little chub that is on her cheek now!

Overall our little peanut is doing amazing. She is eating well and sleeping great (most of the time). Last night was a little rough for some reason. She was quite restless and woke up multiple times super sad. It is hard to say what is causing it, especially with using milk I put in the freezer weeks ago. Who knows what I was eating then! We may need to switch to current milk until she is older so I can watch what foods bother her.

All the while of having our little precious baby home we have been trying to find ways to pass the time and make things special for the boys. It is hard not being able to take them to the park or even out on errands. A glimpse into our time here -

We have had chocolate pudding and peanut butter for dinner (well, the boys did)

Lots of n house bubble blowing (Gymboree bubbles are the best) 

Family movie at home complete with homemade kettle corn (love the movie Meet the Robinsons)

She is four weeks old today and will be one month old on Saturday - hopefully I can get some cute pictures to update with....but is it even possible to get a picture of this little lady that is not cute?!

***Soon to come...the plan is to get Maylee's infant pictures done this Satuday and I could not be more excited!!!***

We love our little Miss Maylee.

Friends

I have a list. A list that goes along side my "to do" list for the week. It is a separate list for blogging. I jot down little reminders of posts I want to make. On my list it just said "friends". I had to pause a moment to remember what I meant by that....then I remembered.....I remembered the adorable pictures I took just a few days ago.

My boys are beginning to get along better. Yes, they still fight and quite obnoxiously at times, but they are also starting to enjoy playing interactively with one another and it is the cutest thing ever. Hearing them play together sure makes my heart smile.

Easter 2010

I love Easter....I really, truly, honestly do. Do not think that since I have procrasinated on this post that it is because I do not love Easter. I have put it off because I have SO MANY PICTURES to sort through for this post, but alas...it has been long enough.

I love Easter. I love the true meaning of Easter. I love to have a reason to take a special day to devote remembering our Savior and his resurrection. I love the reminder to take moments to teach my children of Christ. As a family we have decided to try and keep all the commercialized parts of Easter on the Saturday before Easter Sunday and spend actual Easter focused on Christ and the Ressurection.

We dyed eggs during which Carter decided to break his open, but was NOT thrilled with what was inside. Maybe he will enjoy this activity more next year. Drew on the other hand loved picking the colors and drawing on the eggs. He is at such a fun age for things like this!

This year we made and decorated sugar cookies with Julia and the kiddos.

Then played with some toys to burn off the sugar

Saturday morning the boys arose to find the Easter bunny had visited our house. Little stinker left white foot prints all over from hopping on the furniture! I am so glad he got our note about coming a day early!

We had an egg hunt at Aunt Lulu's house in the afternoon. The kids could hardly wait to get outside and start.

Note to self - DO NOT stuff eggs with anything peanut butter again - it melts faster and messier than chocolate.

Drew had to wear double socks and no shoes since the day or two before he hurt his toe on the couch and lifted his entire big toenail - OUCH!

Hailee even had a little fun getting an egg or two!

They all collected quite the baskets full of eggs!

And in the end, even after being worn out and sun drained - Jared was so sweet to share some of his loot with Drew.

We had another egg hunt on Sunday with the Bakers. More candy fun!

These three adorable little boys were all born within months of each other. It is so fun when we get them all together. I think between me and the other mamas we took about 50 pictures. I am not sure any of us got one with all three looking at the camera and smiling. They are sure cute though!

We enjoyed wonderful Easter festitivites, as well as an amazing Easter dinner at Brig and Camille's. I really do love this time of year. I am so grateful for my elder brother who died and was resurrected for all of us. Happy Easter!