Thanksgiving 2015

I started this post before Thanksgiving and am finally going to finish it up real quick! I was writing about what we are thankful for and even though Thanksgiving has come and gone.... I am pretty sure we are all still thankful for the following....

I am thankful for a wonderful hubby that let's me convince him to do things I am most certain he does not want to do... (like go to a craft night)

 Christopher is most thankful for Matt, but some other people made his list...

Christopher loves his little brother... He is so rough and tough all the time but the moment he gets within inches of Caleb, he slows down and is so sweet. 

and he most definitely is thankful for his buddy, Austin.

We had a fun Thanksgiving at our house on Thursday and right as we were saying goodbye to everyone, Christopher ran by us and declared he was staying at Nana's.... and then the next night he spent the night at Uncle Anthony and Aunt Sara's. He sure is growing up so fast. 

Nightly routine. 

Matt does Caleb and I do Christopher... sometimes I think Matt gets the better end of that deal! :) 

We ran our annual 5k last weekend. Christopher did the 2k with Nana and Granddaddy and then the Tot Trot. 

Happy morning baby! 

Short and Sweet! 

Be kind!!! 

Halloween and Florida... All in One!

As most of you know, we had to go to Florida this past weekend for my grandfather's memorial service. So in my head... why not throw a trip to Disneyworld in there as well!?! By Friday night, I wanted to pack the car up and head home- Christopher was being a butt and Caleb couldn't nap... but it was super fun nonetheless! We ended up driving the whole way back Saturday...which eliminated Hotel #4 for Christopher. The boys were rock star travelers and we made it home with just one stop.

 I am going to write this blog through pictures. :)  and holy pictures! There are about a billion... in no real particular order. 

Captain America Christopher (as he called himself) and Tiffany

Matt dressed up as IronMan and surprised Christopher at his daycare Halloween party. Of course, IronMan was needed to help Christopher get out of bed the next morning. 

and Austin and his daddy- Mr. Incredible. 

Elliot, Christopher, Luke and Austin

 It was so fun to see all these boys playing together again! 

Our trick or treating crew

Caleb getting his first treat! He stayed home with Nana and helped hand out candy.

And on to Disney pictures.... We left Monday morning after taking a tour of Christopher's (hopefully) preschool for next year. We drove in the pouring down rain and made it to our overnight destination of Lake City. Our plan was to drive most of the way Monday and then just have a couple hours to do Tuesday. Christopher was most excited about the 4 hotels we were going to be staying at while on this trip. 

This was hotel number one! We got in around 5:30, ate dinner and just hung out. It was so relaxing- Caleb slept great and we were all well rested to drive into Disney the next day!

All unpacked and ready to get into our room- Christopher picked out pirate themed rooms for all of us. Nana and Granddaddy had adjoining rooms in all of our hotels and that was soo convenient. 

Caleb chilling at the pool. 

Christopher deemed this girl his new best friend. 

Family photo on the way to Disney Springs! 

It was Raquel's birthday this day... and since the teacups are her favorite, we sent her this picture to say Happy Birthday! 

Operation #hugmickey! When I would ask Christopher before we went what he was going to say to Mickey and he would tell me "nothing, I'm just going to hug him." 

Waiting to see Mickey- but that's not why I took this picture- check out his physique- you can see definition on his arms. 

En route to Magic Kingdom for Christopher's day of Big Brother fun! 

Dinner at some crazy dinosaur restaurant at downtown Disney.

Of course, Christopher would get stung by a bee on his hand in line to ride. 

Hotel #2- the pirate rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort

What??!?! Oh hey- Little Miss Avery! (This is from our time in Clearwater)

Matt said "Let's take a picture of him in case he gets separated from us"... um okay. 

I think this was our first ride... Pirates of the Caribbean.

Driving the race cars.... oh my. Thank goodness for the rail down the middle. 

Crammed into Dumbo.

Christopher and his "coffee"- he was all about some pomegranate lemonade.

Hotel #3- Christopher was pretending he was fishing with Caleb's activity mat poles. 

I do not remember what he was eating... but he had some serious chocolate mouth! It could have been his chocolate chip pancakes he had at breakfast. 

Testing out the water at the hotel. 

Dinner at the Dinosaur restaurant. We were all trying to making it into this picture... Caleb's foot made it. 

This was when we arrived at Disney. Christopher and Caleb got their own swords and eye patches. Caleb got his "1st Visit" Disney button too.

Of course they had a Lego store! I got some secret presents for him, including a Thanksgiving set for him and Uncle Anthony to put together. 

We had a crazy, huge accomplishment this morning and I have to brag on my little one. C1 and C2 both woke up around 7- and they both wanted breakfast. I told Christopher I would get him his cereal in the middle of Caleb's bottle, to which he replied that he could make his own. I agreed to let him give it a whirl.. and he did it. Got his bowl, spoon, cereal and milk... poured the cereal up to the top (with a few on the floor that he got down and ate up) and dumped in the milk. We had bought a small container of milk when we got back from Florida so the container was just big enough for him to handle. I went ahead and washed the container out to fill it up for him to use again tomorrow to make his own cereal. He must have asked me ten times- "Mommy, are you proud of me?" We called to tell Matt and I am sure he was thinking... oh good now he can get up on his own, make his cereal and watch cartoons while we sleep. :) 

And some videos...

surprising the boys

telling about his trip

riding the Barnstormer (C calls this Goofy's airplane)

driving the race cars (Matt filmed this upside down)

working on scissors

caleb on his activity mat

And that is all... I think! 

Have a great day!

Be kind.

2 Month Check Up

Caleb had his 2 month birthday and checkup this week. He has gained a couple pounds in the last month- weighing in at 11 pounds 5 ounces and is 24 inches long. He is definitely longer and skinnier than Christopher was at this age (he was 12 pounds 12 ounces and 23 1/4 inches long). I most certainly love that I have this blog to refer back to for all of these stats! Christopher was very concerned that Caleb was going to get the "flu shot" and kept telling us to be sure that they didn't give him one. He didn't want Caleb to hurt like he hurt. He is so sweet. I told him that he was going to get shots, but Christopher was okay with that... as long as it wasn't the flu shot. :)

Caleb's 2 month picture. 

All smiles before his doctor's appointment. 

Christopher wanted to play on the porch....

and Caleb wanted to play on his mat, 

so I sat in the doorway with the door open. 

Matt came home and was like "what is going on?"

We took Christopher to the library to get some books for the first time. Of course, he picked a Ninja Turtle book. We checked out a couple books and a couple movies. Friday night is going to be pizza and movie night- we got Bernstein Bears Trick or Treat. He said he would only watch it if it wasn't scary. 

Bashful baby. 

Laying in bed with mommy one morning. 

"Look at me! I used to play like this under here!"

Happy Halloween!! :) Hopefully I will post some pictures, but no promises. We leave for Florida on Monday, so we might be kinda busy. :) 

Be kind! 

Time for Your Check-up

Another week of maternity leave has flown by. I get to play "room mom" at Ms. Jeanne's and I am loving it! I get to make crafts for her, and calendars, and sign up sheets... so fun! Caleb is growing like a weed and really chunking out. I can imagine his weight gain from his one month appointment- we go on Wednesday for his 2 month checkup. He had a really fussy week last week but this week has turned around. He has trouble getting himself to sleep for naps, but since he is kinda clockwork, I put him in his swing and he goes right to sleep. Caleb goes down great at night and sleeps like a champ in his crib, but hasn't quite made the napping thing happen in there. 

Christopher is as crazy as ever. He has really developed this great scowl these past few months. I have to admit- he looks a lot like me when he does it. :) He had his second checkup at the dentist yesterday (pics below) and he was awesome. I couldn't believe when he let her use the scraper on his teeth. He was so brave because I could tell parts were uncomfortable for him, as his feet and legs would kinda tense up. We have been working lately on swishing and spitting without getting it everywhere and it showed when we went. I was so proud of him.  After that, we went to the doctor. Christopher has these bumps on his hand and his head and has had them since he was 2, but the doctors are always like- oh those will go away within a year on their- and well they haven't and he has gotten more on his face, so we went to get a prescription to get rid of them finally. He also got his flu shot. He asked if it was going to hurt- and I said, yes it will- a lot, but it will just be for a second and then it's over. He did great and got a new Imaginext toy- his most favorite thing right now. As soon as I pulled that out of my purse, the crying ended immediately. 

On the way to the dentist, he was asking me about his Superhero cereal and if it had sugar bugs in it and I told him yes, lots. I also said it was't very healthy for him to eat it and that he needed to start eating yogurt and granola for breakfast again. So he started asking me about lots of other foods and if they were healthy or not. Later in the day, we went to Chick-fil-a with Matt and he had chicken nuggets, applesauce and milk. He asked me if his chicken nuggets were healthy and I said no, and he wouldn't eat them. UGH. Everything he ate the rest of the day, he wanted to know if it was healthy or not, and if it wasn't, he wouldn't eat it. He asked if his pizza was healthy and before I could say no, everyone jumped in and lied to him and told him yes. This morning he asked for yogurt for breakfast and told Matt he couldn't eat cereal that was not healthy anymore. HA. I love him. 

Right now, Christopher is full of everything.... Mommy, I'm full of my dinner. Mommy, I'm full of playing outside. Mommy, I'm full of laying in my bed.  (Mommy, I'm full of .....)  :) It cracks me up. 

Enjoy the pictures! 

All done at the dentist! 

Getting all cleaned up! 

Caleb loves the lights on his activity mat. 

We didn't have yogurt, so he had daddy's cereal and fruit for breakfast. 

Hi Caleb! He is getting so big that his 3 month jammies are starting not to fit. 

Eric sent Christopher a football helmet. He kinda falls over when he has it on- those things are HEAVY!!

Caleb in his Notre Dame jersey- it's a little big still, but maybe another month and he will fit perfectly into it. 

Family photo on the way to church. (Caleb is in the carseat.)

Nana and Granddaddy taking Caleb for a walk so I could run some errands.

I took Christopher to the park and for a picnic with his buddy Elliot again. Christopher climbed to the top of this thing and scared the crap out of me. I told him maybe he could wait to do that again with Daddy. 

One night after dinner, I took these 2 munchkins to the playground in our neighborhood. Oh the conversations on our walk there... 

HA! :) Poor Caleb. 

A couple videos of Christopher singing to Caleb. 

firefighter, firefighter

rockabye, little sleepyhead

Have a great weekend! 

Be kind.