Fun Times

Note to self: Never forget the level of crazy in the van when your 3 month old is screaming crying because he's hungry, your 4 year old is crying & yelling because she fell and scrapped her leg in the parking lot & your 6 year old who should know better is trying to carry on a conversation with you at the same time! Driving home from Kinston the other day...a 30 minute trip felt like hours!!

Blake - 2 months

Little Man is 2 months old already! What a sweet boy he is!

He's changed a lot in the past few weeks. He started smiling at us around 6 weeks & of course it's the most precious little grin!

He started laughing around 7 weeks with this little laugh that kind of gasps for air. Sometimes he lets out this tiny little squeal too. Adorable!

He's nursing 6 times a day right now - what he's been doing pretty much since the beginning. He sleeps a lot! He pretty much has awake time early in the evening from 5-8 - that makes for interesting dinner & bed time with the girls. Daddy and I have been keeping our teamwork going & so far it's going well. So thankful for a good daddy & husband.

He sleeps from about 8ish to 10:30-11:00 when I wake him for the last feeding. He then goes back to sleep until around 5:00 or 6:00. Since he is still in my room at night, I can reach over & give him his paci for a while to keep him content. So sometimes it's almost 6:30 or 7:00 before he wakes to eat.

He's a great baby!! I am so thankful!

Blake's First Road Trip

We are on our way to Georgia to introduce Blake to our family that hasn't met him yet. We planned on leaving right after Avery got out of school at 3:30 but it ended up being about 5:30 before we left Greenville. It's going to be a long night.

We are going to Georgia and first stop is Athens. On Sunday we will go over to Gainesville. Then on Tuesday we are headed up to Nashville and Pigeon Forge, TN in Ryan's parents RV. We will make our way over to Ryan's Tough Mudder race next Saturday & then home. Ryan's parents will come get the RV at some point once we are home.

Avery is busy in the backseat writing stories - she is so proud of her writing skills these days. I don't remember the beginnings of being able to write but I'm sure there is a great sense of accomplishment in it. We are so proud of her!

Riley is drawing away and surprisingly complimenting Avery on her writing and drawing. So cute!

I am getting the "Look Mom!" "See this Mom!" "Here, look at this!" every minute while Ryan is listening to his music on headphones. My friend Leslie recently told me they refer to my seat as the "helper seat". It's not a good place to be - mildly exhausting...hopefully the girls will sleep some tonight and my seat won't get too much attention.

I'll write more later...

Girls Night Out

Tonight Avery & I went out on a girls night, just the two of us!

She has asked me several times if we could go out without Blake or Riley - just us. So, thanks to Ryan (aka Daddy) - we made it happen tonight.

She picked the restaurant & she picked our favorite place...Panera! Yummy, Mommy was happy! We ate and did her homework while we were there too. That was fun - studying for a plant & seed test. :)

Next we went to Old Navy to buy some school pants and a couple new things. She loved trying on clothes! It's her favorite thing to do in stores now!! I must say its pretty entertaining to watch her prance around in front if the mirror. So cute!

Last but not least our final stop was yogurt at Sweet Frogs! Oh my!! Delish! My favorite flavor is Thin Mint with sprinkles and Oreo cookies! Avery loads up her cup with gummies, sprinkles, chocolate sauce & a few other silly kid candies. She loved it and so did I!

I loved my night with you sweet girl! You are such a fun little lady to be around. Xoxo

Blake - 5 weeks old

Our little man is 5 weeks old. And let me just say he is the sweetest and most precious baby ever! People keep asking me if he is a good baby and I feel almost guilty responding "he's so great" but it's the truth. I feel like sometimes its expected to have a fussy baby or one that is high maintenance so I am a little apprehensive about bragging on him. But in all actuality, it must be said because I do know that it might not be this way forever. So I am loving every minute of it and thanking God for him every single chance I get!

This week was fun. Blake is being a good sleeper. Going about 3- 3
1/2 hours between feeding during the day and about 6-7 hours at night. He is usually sleeping through that 2-3am window which really helps me because that's the time of morning I have the most trouble waking up. I can handle the 4-5am much better. He is still in a bassinet on the side of our bed. I love having him so close to me, I'm thinking its going to be so hard to put him in his room eventually. Soon enough...

right now I am holding him as I blog. I just found the blogger app for my phone so I am thinking I might be better at this blogging thing now! I can upload pics and everything without using my computer!! Awesome!

We went to a concert this weekend with the girls. We saw the Nick Jr - Fresh Beat Band. It was in Raleigh at the amphitheater. It was outside and raining!! Oh my, I was miserable but the girls had a blast! Singing and dancing in the rain - a great combination! With a little shopping beforehand & dinner at Carrabas - it evened out to be a fun family day.

Blake - 1 week old

Whoa, little man...let's stop the hands of time from ticking away so quickly! It seems like the last week has literally flown by in a whirlwind! I know that's because of all the excitement of you being born and family being in town and visits from friends. But even though I probably won't remember much about this week in a few years it sure has been SWEET!

You are such a joy! A true blessing from head to toe. Today we had a busy day...busy for me at least. I am still adjusting to getting out and about and my body still gets really tired and sore from "running around".  This morning we went to Riley's preschool to meet her teachers. She has Mrs. Suzie and Mrs. Eunice this year. They are really sweet and Riley had a good time seeing her classroom and seeing her friends who were there. She described her teacher Mrs. Suzie to Daddy last night as "BEAUTIFUL"! So cute!

After that we headed to Chick-fil-A for lunch. That was super yummy, as always and you were a perfect little angel the whole time. This was mommy's first time nursing you in public - man I forgot how cumbersome those nursing covers are! I managed and you were happy and content. We ran into our sweet friends The Porter's and Riley was able to play in the play area with Noah and Anna for awhile.

We came home and rested for awhile and Nana went to pick up Avery from school. I really miss your sister during the day but she is having so much fun in First Grade! She is such a huge help when she is here. She likes to pick out your outfits, hold you standing up - like a "big person" and lay on the couch with you. You are such a great snuggler, Blake, so I don't blame her always wanting to be with you.

We ended the day at the girls favorite place!

ZAXBY's

It was your first trip to the Memorial store. You missed it though, because you slept the whole time. But you were there and we documented it with a picture.

A great day hanging with you! Happy 1 week!

Blake's First Dr. Appointment

Daddy and I took Blake to his first doctor appointment today. He did so well!

He had to get stripped down naked for his weight check and he didn't like that much but he was easily calmed down and took a little siesta until the doctor was ready to see him.

He looks and sounds great the doctor said. He hadn't gained much of his hospital weight back since we left (he was only 10 lbs) so Dr. Goth wanted him to come back for a weight check on Friday. Hopefully he will be gaining weight soon enough...especially since I am breastfeeding.