It's cold!

Cold! Within a week it has gone from being in the 60's and 70's to being in the 20's and 30's. H, who is normally ready and willing to stay outside as long as possible has been asking to go inside before I'm ready to!

It has turned drastically cold lately, so we have been spending a little bit more time inside.
So that also means finding more indoor activities. I have spent a little (bit too much) time on Pinterest lately finding awesome toddler/Montessori printables for matching and early learning activities. I have most of those activities prepped and ready for use, but today we just did some good old art! Stamping, coloring and stickers.

Doing a little art while brother watched on. C thinks that H can be quite funny!

Hey!

Cheese! (My new camera (early Christmas present from Pop and SweetHart) has smile detection!!! We were trying it out, and it worked!)

We also blew up an old exercise ball to get a little activity on cold days. H loves it, and C thinks it is funny when we bounce on it, or when I bounce him on it. I think this will help get a little energy out when it is too cold or rainy to go outside.

What are you doing to entertain yourselves in cold and rainy weather?

This week

There has been some splashing in puddles and playing with the neighbors.
Lots of rain, clouds and wetness.

Some trying of new foods
(Not such a big fan of peas... We will try sweet potatoes tomorrow...)

And visits with Aunt Jennifer. H and C both loved Aunt Jennifer!
She and Frank came for the LSU/Ole Miss game and went to the Grove (Ole Miss' version of tailgating) and we had a great time.

I hug bruver!

Thankful

We enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving day here. H and his daddy enjoyed a little bike ride. I found a little guy bike seat at Goodwill last week, and H and N have been loving it! H especially.

Getting ready to ride.
I think H really likes that he gets to sit in front of his daddy and see the world pass by

Hey people!

Clapping for a fun ride

C and I took a few self portraits while the big boys were riding.

I kept trying to get him to smile by making animal sounds
(always makes him smile and laugh) and tickling him

But we kept ending up like this!
He likes to give big, wet kisses!



We have so much to be grateful for!

First meal

Little brother has been all but begging for his first meal lately. Any time we eat around him he starts chewing and reaching for our food, never taking his eyes off of it! Tonight we gave in and fed him!

H's first meal was around the same time and was a much different experience than this one. (You can see it here) H wasn't much interested in food and hated the cereal for the first week or so. C, on the other hand loves it!

For H's first meal, I prepared a small bowl of cereal and milk.

He may have had a spoonful or two.

For C, I prepared a small amount, but I think he would have eaten another helping

Aside from the excitement of a new experience for C, one of the fun parts about this meal was how excited H was about it. He's turning into quite a caring big brother. (the other day C was fussing in his crib after he woke up and before I could get to him. I heard H coming down the hall saying "It's ok bruver. I coming.")

For your viewing pleasure.

Cloud 9

The Moms group went to Cloud 9 this week. It is an awesome place to go - there are a bunch of blow-up bouncy machines in it. I thought H would love it since he enjoys the "bouncy house" at Clara-Hartwell's next door, but we walked in and H got a smile on his face and went straight to the play tables. There were some little animals with beds to play with, a marble run, and a train table. He had no interest in jumping. I don't know if the noise from the blowers, or the size of the jumpers, or what, but he just had no interest in jumping. Happy as a clam playing with the other toys though.

There was a wide range of ages there - but at one point I looked over at the train table and it was full of two year old boys - and none of these little boys ever ventured over to the jumpers, they stayed happily away. We were all laughing that all of the other ages, and the girls were jumping, but all of the two year old boys had no interest in going.

All of the two year old boys.

A father and his sons

Daddy, we love you!

You make us laugh

You keep us safe

You make us feel secure

You are strong for us

You are there for us

We know we are in your heart

We're so happy to be yours!

Reading Rodeo Round-Up

Our local library (which we love!!!) had a Reading Rodeo Round Up this weekend. It was sort of during nap time, but we just had to go! I put the boys down a little early for their naps so we could make it. Our library is great. They have Toddler Time every Friday and Miss Nancy (the childrens librarian) and Mr. John (the awesome puppet show actor) are rock stars in our house! And they put up with H asking about every five minutes if there is a puppet show that day.

There was a cute little pony named Popcorn.
H kept trying to get everyone to give her some hay to eat.

Watching all of the activities.
He is at a stage where he seems to prefer to watch what is going on instead of participating.

Daddy lassoing.

Roasting marshmallows with Daddy and Mr. John

I think this marshmallow made the whole afternoon worth it!
H's favorite snack these days is a little cup full of cereal, raisins and a few marshmallows.

Story time got a little interesting with a s'more in one hand, baby in the sling, brother leaning against you, and a puppy trying to lick the crumbs off of brothers face...

That's a little better!

Coloring a horse.
When H colors with markers, he likes to take out all of the colors he wants, take off all of the caps, then color. He took a little convincing to understand that this was not the best place to do that.

"We go home and seep, seep, seep and then....we go to puppet show!!!"

6:09

H's bedtime has always been around 8pm, and he would normally wake up about 8am. It was wonderful! After the time change, he would go to sleep between 7:30 and 8 and wake up about 7. Ok, I can handle that - it was actually sort of nice to have that extra hour in the morning. But this morning, someone came padding into our room at 6:09. 6:09!!! That is too early. Then I looked at the monitor and C was squirming around too. 6:09! C had some new toys in the crib and H had pulled out the under crib storage and found all sorts of fun things to play with!

So, when you wake up at 6am, by 8am (when we would normally be getting going) the little brother has already been nursed, big brother has already watched his morning shows, the yogurt (that was cooking in the crock pot over night) is already put away, orange marmalade is already cooking away in the crock pot, dishes are put away, breakfast has been eaten, a blog post has been posted, and little brother is already back in bed for his first nap of the day!

So, say a prayer for us that we all make it through the day in one piece! (I know that for some of you 6am is probably a great night sleep and maybe even late, but for our little family, it is a little earlier than we are used to!)

This week:

We have had a sick little boy - random fever, this is H snuggling and sleeping at 6:30pm.
(He is not really a snuggler and hasn't been rocked to sleep in almost two years!)

A little morning music and exercise.
C thought the sound of the bells was hilarious, he kept laughing every time they rang!

C started sleeping in the big crib!
I wasn't quite ready for this transition, but he was a little too active in the night for a small rocking cradle. He needed to have more space, and a stable place to sleep. The boys are also sharing a room now. I hope that we won't wake up one morning to find both of them asleep in the crib...

And this morning at 6:09...
You can see the under crib drawer pulled out and C's little eye peeking at you from the crib!
Even though it was a little early, these are very cute faces to wake up to - no matter the time of day/night!

A sleeping update

Last night H went to sleep in his big bed, and this morning I found him in his old crib.

This is where I found him at naptime:

And little brother is enjoying sleeping on his tummy

Not so sure

about the hat...

I had made C and H matching hats before C was born, and the 0-6 month size that I made for C was too small, even right when he came home from the hospital. So, now that the weather is getting cool, it was time to make one that fit. This one is in the 6-12 month size and I think it will fit for a little while. Although it fits him, I am not so sure he likes it....




What do you think?

Growing up

Do you remember the picture of this sweet big boy sleeping so soundly in his big bed?

And this tiny little newborn in his cradle?

This is what I woke up to this morning (an hour early - we're still on the old time...)

Peekaboo! A cute little round head peeking over the cradle side.

I guess he decided he likes sleeping on his tummy better

And this boy climbed back into his old crib. We put the side rail back on the crib so he wouldn't get in the crib anymore, but I guess he had other plans...