Memories

I forgot to add this a few weeks ago when my parents came down to babysit one weekend. This is my Dad feeding Caleb. He left the jar of baby-food "out of reach" when we got up to help me with something.



Caleb drank out of the sprayground fire hydrant for about 5 minutes today.


I had to go to a meeting tonight and as I was pulling out of the driveway, Adam says, "Mommy, I need to tell you something. When you come home turn left and then you'll be home." A-DORE-ABLE!!

We've been...

...on a no-kids weekend trip to New Orleans with 2 other couples. We had a blast eating all over that city. Everything from fancy wine and cheese to alligator to muffalettas. It was so nice to hang out with adults and stay up late and not worry about diapers and feedings and naps. We took one of those carriage rides for a tour of the French Quarter and listened as the driver gave us tips about where to eat. Then, we went and tested his theories. He was actually right! We also saw Brad Pitt's house. Us girls liked that.

...getting Chris' kayak. I don't have a picture of it in the living room, but it too spent some time there. It's lime green and perfect for him and Adam. We have vowed not to use them until after Christmas b/c they are technically our Christmas presents.

...watching Caleb crawl all over the place. He's been crawling for about a month, but now he's working up some speed. He's also following me from room to room and will sometimes venture into Adam's room on his own. He's also captivated by the night-light in the hall. I had to move that. I finally got some video of this cute baby in action.

Merry Christmas To Me!!

Well, we've finally done it. I own a kayak. Chris' kayak will join mine in the living room next week we think. We got this brilliant idea to start looking for kayaks while planning next summer's vacation to Florida. Perfect excuse to get the kayaks we've been drooling over for about 6 years right??? We thought so too. After researching for awhile (about 4 days) we learned that this is the end of the season for buying watercraft down here. So, what's in the stores is what there is until next Feb-April. If we waited, we would be paying full price. Long story short, we got an amazing deal on the one I wanted. We actually didn't find out exactly how amazing until we were checking out and another $200 came off the sale price!!! I know...it was meant to be. So, we were very pleased with ourselves. Both of the kayaks will be small enough to still be very manageable, but still big enough to carry one of the boys with each of us. Fun, Fun, Fun!!!!! And yes, we did have to bring it into the living room.

Family Reunion

This past weekend, most of my side of the family had a reunion in Houston. We made the trip over with the camper...6.5 hours there, 5.5 hours back. We got to see a ton of people we haven't seen since Adam was small and got to introduce Caleb to the extended family. My uncle lives on Lake Conroe so we all 27 of us spent Saturday floating and boating in the lake. A big reason we all got together was because Caleb and his other 2 cousins were born within 3 weeks of each other and they needed to meet. They also had a great day on the lake.

Adam and Pop on the SeaDoo

Adam jumping off the boat

The big reason we all got together...the newest and cutest members of the family!!

Boys Update

I figured that because I use this blog to document my boys lives that I ought to catch up on what they're actually up to. Beats writing it all down in the baby books.

At 8.5 months, Caleb is now army crawling with random stops to raise his booty high into the air. It's a style thing I think. He also really loves to pull up on things...especially my legs. I think he likes the view a lot better from his full height. He's eating all types of baby foods and random things like cheerios, (although he doesn't appreciate these yet) bananas, macaroni and cheese, anything baby-friendly. He is only at about 40% at picking up food and actually getting it to his mouth. He's taking 2-3 naps a day, but now that he's learning how to sit up on his own, he does sometimes fall asleep sitting up in his crib. He's very attached to mommy right now. I can't walk into a room that he's in without a wail...he always needs something or wants to be picked up and hauled around while I do stuff. Nobody else will do. We hope this passes soon. He loves his brother and cracks up randomly and weird things Adam does. This is my favorite thing to watch.

At 3.5 years, Adam is Adam. He is now his own guy. He is so athletic. Loves balloons (he even sweet-talked one away from his great-grandma's house this weekend). He loves to sing and dance, read his library books, and really loves Toy Story right now. I'm loving his new phrases he comes up with each day.
Examples:
"I've got a surprise for you in my room." -He uses this to get us in his room to play.
"Mommy, you look wonderful."
"My booty looks nice." -He is now totally self-sufficient in the bathroom except I ask sometimes how well he wiped. This is his response.
"I miss my big friends." -He really loved his high-school and college cousins that came to visit.
"Duke and Layla are sad b/c they want to come inside and play with me."
"My tubby hurts." - He means tummy
"Mommy, do you want to go to Wal-Mart and buy more food?"


I could go on and on about them both. I wanted to write these down so I don't forget them when they're teenagers.

Vacation 2010, Part 6

Heading Home
We had 3 days to get home and decided to chop it into 3 shorter days of driving instead of 2 long days. So, we stayed at Lake Guntersville State Park and Lodge in Alabama and Clarkco State Park in Mississippi. Both were beautiful but we really had a blast at Clarkco. It wasn't crowded, there was a sprayground and swimming in the lake. It was a great last day of vacation.

Lake Guntersville and the gorgeous view



Clarkco State Park






The day after we got home, Adam got a fever that ran up to 103 degrees. Not fun. But, the Dr. determined it was viral and he was over it in about 24 hours. And now Caleb and I are not seeing eye to eye at naptime. I will shortly persuade him that naps are important for mommy...oh and for him too.

Vacation 2010, Part 5...How Many Will There Be???

A Day On Douglas Lake

Uncle Jason and Aunt Laura live just outside Knoxville, TN on Douglas Lake. It is a beautiful lake and great for recreation. We decided to spend one whole day on the lake. We kayaked, fished (Uncle Jason taught Adam), swam, relaxed, went tubing, and had a picnic. This was one of our favorite days of the whole vacation because it was so relaxing and beautiful. And thanks to our hosts we had plenty of toys to play with.




The fabulous Pop-A-Tot!! Moms and Dads, I found this right before we left for vacation b/c I did not want to haul and giant piece of baby equipment the whole way. It contains your kid like an exersaucer, toys clip on it, cup holders for snacks/drink, and folds up like a bag chair!! This thing is great!! No more eating beach sand or grass!




Adam loved tubing!! He went with both Chris and I, but didn't learn how to scream while doing it until he did it with me.