Showing love for Brooks & Bennett!

On Saturday, we got to celebrate with the beautiful Mom-to-be, my sis-in-law, Nicole!  The weather was perfect.  The details were perfect. She deserved the best-darn-Shower-ever and by golly, she got it! :)

She looks amazing housing two little boys in her belly!

 We were surrounded by great company!

And Noah got lots of attention from the ladies :)

His favorite was the littlest lady--Miss Peyton!

I soaked up a few rare moments of having my hands free.

It was Noah's first time sporting little jeans & I must say, he modeled them well!

Nicole's BFF put on one amazing Shower.

Nicole's mom snuck in some baby boy practice :) She's going to be one awesome Grandma!

Nana & Noah :)

My sisters :)

The Shower was nothing short of perfect.  Now its a countdown until Brooks & Bennett enter the world!  The amount of love we have for them already is overwhelming! I couldn't be happier to see my brother & Nicole become parents!! :)

Days go by...

I'm becoming more confident with this whole tackling-two-kids-at-once thing.

My big boy is funnier than ever & too smart for his own good. My little guy is growing too quickly & likes to chomp on just about anything.

We ventured out to a new playground just a few minutes from our house.  It was so refreshing to go somewhere new & comforting knowing if we needed to abort, our house wasn't far away!

I got my haircut last week & for 75 minutes, my sweet husband was trying to entertain Noah in the salon's parking lot.  Noah has started the whole uncomfortable-with-unfamiliar-faces faze & has where's-my-mom-at-all-times faze.  Its rewarding to feel needed, but it made my haircut anxiety-filled.  Post haircut, we enjoyed some snuggles & a nap :).

Just a few of my faves...

Somebody is becoming pretty good at holding his head up.  He's all about standing upright these days too.

Noah's almost to 4 months already.  Seriously, time needs to slow down.  Here's a little monthly comparison so far.

This moment my heart melted.  C was playing pretend in the tub & Noah was just fascinated.  Big bro gets such joy out of seeing Noah smile at him.  Me too, buddy.

Neighborhood fun

The weather has been frah-eeeeeeeeeezing this past week.  We organized a last minute neighborhood gathering around our firepit.  It was practically a date night for Matt & I!  Connor played with the neighbor kids (scootering, flashlight tag) and Noah was tucked in bed by 6:30pm.  I had the video monitor in view and we parked ourselves in the driveway of our neighbor's house.  We moved over our firepit and we had a nice little gathering with nearby neighbors.

Connor actually came to me at 7:50pm to tell me he was ready for bed.  He played himself into exhaustion with these little girls.  I was surprised he enjoyed himself so much, since he's very much anti-girls these days.  While the kids were eating pizza at our picnic table in the driveway, I overheard Connor cracking jokes & the girls were giggling.  If only you knew how Connor told jokes...

Here's one:

Connor: Why did Joker eat pizza?!

Girls: Why?

Connor: Batman Joker stinky poop!! (followed by instant chuckles)

Girls: (Giggles all around)

It was great for Connor's joke telling confidence.  I'm not sure he grasps the concept of telling jokes that make sense.  Regardless, he makes you laugh!

We woke up Sunday morning to a chilly 37 degrees outside.  The house was beyond cold, but we refused to turn the heater on.  Connor & Matt had fun writing on Matt's car in the frost.  C loved it!

My sweet smiley babe has been living in footie jammies for the past week to keep him warm and cozy!  Poor kid has been drooling more than a bulldog, so he's accessorizing with bibs all day- every day.

Big dorky bib or not, he is the cutest little babe!

This face makes me melt :)

Off to bed I go!  Goodnight blogger land!

Real quick...

I currently have 1,000,000,000 things to do, but wanted to share a few pictures of the cutest boys ever.

They have the best smiles.  I make adorable kids.  High five me.

Some days Noah's hair looks dark and C's hair looks blonde...

Other days I have two red heads.  Regardless, they're ridiculously handsome.

 

Kaylee's 5th birthday party.  Connor made sure to let Kaylee know he was already 5.  Big guy was proud.  He gets the age thing a little confused--he is thoroughly convinced he's 5 1/2 now.  I tried to explain the concept to him, but no go.  Owell, he'll be 5 1/2 for the next 10 months :).

Please do not confuse his over-sized bucket hat with a sombrero.

Sidenote: I found that Kohl's carries matching plaid shorts in baby sizes as well as size giant for Connor.  I jump on any chance to have their clothes match.  Shopping for them is so much for fun than shopping for myself!

 Back to pounding out my to-do list.  

Happy Tuesday!

Mish-Mosh

Between Instagram, Facebook, and my blog, I forget where I have posted pictures.  With a precious little peanut that likes to cat nap all day, I don't have much down time to blog.  Uploading phone pictures while nursing every hour onto social media sites is a lot easier these days.  With school starting back up tomorrow for C & a big FSU game on tonight, I managed to have both boys asleep in bed by 8:00pm.  While half my attention is on the TV, I figured I could squeeze in a few blog posts while I have time.

On December 30th, my growing boy turned 3 months.  He's so smiley and chatty these days.  He loves to nurse, take a bath, be outside, and lay on his piano playmat.  He does not like the car or to nap longer than 20 minutes.  His hair hasn't fallen out yet, with an exception to the bald spot on the back of his head from rubbing it off when sitting.  He has to wear a bib non stop, as he's drooling like a dog.  He has the longest, prettiest eye lashes I've ever seen.

He likes to smile at me the most.  I'm completely okay with that. :)

Then on Dec. 31, I turned 29.  I received ZERO sleep the night before my birthday, but my sweet Connor was pretty excited to see me open my SpongeBob Squarepants 3-D card and Batgirl jammies from him bright & early.

Nana & Papa picked up C for the afternoon to give him some attention, which was such a gift to me.  Knowing C was having a fun day made my day so nice.  They ventured out to mini golf, where he & Nana got a hole-in-one on the same hole.

My folks are pretty good at sending picture updates when they have C.  I thoroughly look forward to receiving the pictures.  How can you not smile when you see them?!

We ventured out shopping for my birthday.  It was more like me running into shops, while Matt tried to keep Noah occupied outside.  I got some alone time, even if I was going as fast as I could!

After shopping, we settled at home, then headed to the Minichs' for New Year's Eve festivities.  It was the best way to have a night out with the kids.  Connor got to play with his buddies there, while we tried to converse among adults.  I was doing a lot of baby bobbing to keep Noah asleep, but still had a good time.

New Year's Day we headed to a quiet family gathering at Debbie's house.  Noah continued his cat naps, where I spent more time getting him to sleep than him actually sleeping.

Connor spent a good 5 hours playing in the pool with his cousins.  He was in heaven.  He was well behaved the entire day and zonked out in the car around 7:30pm when we left.

I have to say that even if our days seem long lately, I've been extremely grateful for Christmas break from school.  Not having to load the boys in the car early in the morning has been wonderful.  Noah is becoming easier as the days go by, so we're slowly able to juggle what C wants to play with Noah in tow.  I've found that moving Noah's bouncy seat to the bottom of the driveway allows C & I to ride our bikes in a small circle in front of the house.  The sense of accomplishment I feel when I entertain both boys at once is amazing!

I snuck in a pic of my big boy while we did chalk in the street.  Notice chalky knees...

This smiley guy is such a joy. The 5 minutes of smiles and squeals each day help me push through the sleeeeeepless nights and tiny cat naps.

Yesterday was a first for us.  First time riding in the 'big' part of the stroller while I took a nice long walk with my Mom around her neighborhood.  He was a fussy mess when I put him in the stroller, but as soon as I busted out the app on my phone that "hushes" (it literally says "Shh, Shh, Shhhhhh" over and over), he quieted almost immediately & went to sleep for the whole walk.  Technology is a beautiful thing.  I'm extremely grateful I'm a Mom in this day & age!

 

I think I'm all caught up on my photos.  This football game needs to become a little more exciting to justify me giving up precious sleep time!  Come on, Noles!!

Good night Blogger land!

Noah's Baptism 12-22-13

I'm not sure what happened...

I had these photos on my computer & edited the day after Noah's Baptism, but somehow I never blogged them.  So...better late than never.  Here are some great pictures captured by my sister's significant other, Eric.

I strategically planned Noah's baptism for December, so we could thoroughly enjoy the beautiful Christmas decor/spirit at the same time.  My alarm was set extra early, so I could get myself ready early before either of the kids woke.  I pumped every other night the week prior, so I could have a bottle ready in case I needed to feed Noah during the church service. I bought myself a cute, non-nursing friendly dress to wear, so I wouldn't feel frumpy.  I had both boys dressed festively.  Cameras were charged & ready.  We arrived at the church 35 minutes early to allow time for me to calm a screaming baby, if needed (as he hates the car & we had a 30 minute drive to church).  I walked Noah to sleep in the parking lot of the church just minutes before we had to go take our seats.  Connor was beyond excellent, thank goodness.  He was so well behaved & exactly what I needed since I was anxious to see how Noah would perform when it was our turn to head to the front of the church.  Noah woke the moment we sat down & the service started.  He usually cries almost instantly for a feeding once he wakes, so I was afraid he'd start squawking just as we were called up.  It happened with Connor's baptism just as it happened with Noah's.  It's as if God knows I need my boys to behave.  Both, Connor & Noah, didn't make a peep through their baptisms.  It was a massive relief.

Big brother made me so proud :)

Our best attempt at a family photo post church service.  You can't tell in this photo, but I had just endured quite the episode about 20 minutes prior.  Just following Noah's baptism, we headed back to our seats for the service.  Noah became a little squirmy, so I gave him his bottle.  Well, I tried to give him his bottle.  Noah wasn't having any part of the artificial boob.  He was now mad.  As I sat in the front row of my church, I knew I needed to exit right away.  I left the bottle.  I left the diaper bag.  I left Matt with Connor.  I calmly, but quickly, found the nearest door.  

So, here I am.  I realize that through all my planning, I was faced with a dilemma I hadn't planned on.  My baby wanted to eat and I was wearing a dress that I couldn't get unzipped by myself, let alone by myself with one arm as I hold my baby in the other.  My entire family was still in church & I had no way of reaching any other them.  Oh dear.

I bee-lined it to the baby room, which was thankfully empty.  I plopped my screaming baby in a bouncy seat they had available (I tried to pretend it was clean & never used), and I tried my hardest to contort my arms to get my dress unzipped.  This is when God laughs and miraculously gives me the power to get out of my dress enough to calm my hungry, angry baby!  So here I stand in the tiny bathroom area equivalent in size to an airplane restroom, nursing my baby with my dress half off.

This is when God gives me a hand again.

I hear the door open & Matt & Connor come in, just in time for Matt to help me as I would have never been able to get my dress zipped back up.  I was sweating.  Connor kept asking if church was over.  I, then get a call from the gatehouse in my neighborhood saying that Connor's dad was there to pick him up.  Mr. Dependable had forgotten about Noah's baptism, driven all the way to my house, for me to have to get on the phone with him to remind him that pickup was at my church.  He was not happy to say the least, but I wasn't about to let him affect our memorable day.  Instead, I enjoyed the extra 20 minutes with my sweet Connor. :)

It was a beautiful morning in church, followed by a lot of Mom stress, followed by a beautiful ending.