September Update

Wow where did September and Summer go - oh yeah, I was in Charlotte, I blinked, and the month was over! I feel like so much has happened and we've grown so much!!

Me, Myself & I

Emotionally:  Feeling GREAT! I'm feeling so confident about myself and my abilities to care for my kids...especially by myself.  My trip to Charlotte really helped and I'm ready to tackle the rest of my time here in Greenville!

Physically:  Still kind of tired...Emmett still wakes up 1-2 times a night so it becomes exhausting after a few days.  And my back bothers me from time to time...my massage therapist (I had the most amazing massage in Charlotte!!) says I pick up the kids too much and that my hips are all twisted.  Well, I can't help that my young children are four times other kids their ages size! When they want to be held I hold them - I'll just have to have regular massages later in life! Brennan I hope you're paying attention to this!
Weight loss: Still have about 9 1/2lbs to go...but the good news is I didn't put on any weight during my vacation! So I'm happy - it'll come off eventually...the second child is harder than the first. 
Employment: Yes as of October I will be employed!! I will be covering the 3 yr old class at Logan's school while the teacher is on maternity leave!! I'm so excited!! I will only be working half days in October and will have Logan and Emmett at school with me!! (more to come on this in another blog!)
Things I am Thankful for: My wonderful family who let us stay at their houses for weeks on end during our month long stay in Charlotte, a loving husband, Old Navy Clothing, awesome photographers who took amazing pictures of my kids (another blog to come on portraits), TCBY and Sushi restaurants. 

Logan - 32 Months

Growin’ like a weed:

Size: Height: About 38” Weight: About 38.8 lbs...Percentile: 95^th…What this means: We've officially moved into 4T clothing and size 9 shoes.  This means that I must go shopping and buy all new clothes for fall...oh the joys of a growing boy!

Teething: Luckily we're almost done! All of his 3 year molars are out - they still have a ways to go to be fully in, but I think we're done with this ordeal until he starts loosing the baby teeth and getting the big boy teeth.  One kid down, one to go!

Sleep: Logan sleeps about 11 hours a night...and we're about to start night time potty training.  Really!? Ahhhhhhhhhhh

New Skills:

Potty Training: Still a work in progress.  I was informed today that Logan is the last kid in his class in pull-ups so we will be sending underwear (and lots of changes of clothes) to school next week to begin hopefully the last phase of this process.  Have yet to attempt no diaper at night, but I'm sure that will come quicker than I think. 

Likes: Taking pictures, Dumbo, The Lion King, Candy and playing with his little brother, especially in the tub.

Dislikes: Going potty when he doesn't want to and being yelled at

Saying of the month: "That's not very nice, Mommy/Daddy, that's not very nice"...

Emmett – 4 Months, Week 4

Growin’ like a week, too:

Size – Height: 26” Weight: 19lbs Percentile: 95^th…What this means: 6-9 month clothing…more like 9 month - gonna have to go shopping for this kid too!

Teething: No teeth yet, but the beginning of the bottom teeth are starting to show.  Still chewing on everything and loads of drool!

Sleep: Down to 1-2 feedings a night…though he only sleeps about 9-10 hours a night.  And still sleeping mostly in our bed, but I keep trying the crib :)

New Skills/”Firsts”: We are on a roll!! Emmett rolled over for the first time on September 5th!! I couldn't believe it...this was even earlier then Logan...but it really happened and he's been busy doing it ever since.  You can't keep the kid on his back.  He's also trying to crawl and sit up unassisted!! I was able to bring out the Exersaucer,which he loves. It's really made a difference as far as things I can accomplish while he's awake!


Baby food - yes we started baby food and it's a huge success!! So far he likes everything except apples and suprisingly loves green beans!! Who knew?!


We also are starting to switch to a medium flow nipple on our bottles...I'm hoping this will allow him to take in more food.  

Likes: Attention, playing with his toys, especially his Sophie Giraffe (Brennan would prefer we call it "Sam"), his Sophie Teether (best money I ever spent!), his yellow stuffed dog teether, playing with Logan and being tickled.  

Dislikes: Loud noises, not getting attention, and riding in the car. 


Well that about wraps up this month.  I can't wait to see where we'll be next month!! Hopefully we'll accomplish a lot of our goals (potty training, crawling, etc.) and I'll be posting my October update from Grandma & Grandpa's house in Minnesota! YAY!! Can't wait!

Diana

Beachin' it...

We're so lucky that for the past two years my Dad and Deb have arranged for us to go to the beach with them during our Charlotte trip.  Logan loves the beach and it's so nice to go somewhere different for a few days.  Last year the weather was beautiful and we spent every day on the beach and/or in the pool.  This year the weather, well sucked, but with so many other "tourist" attractions we had plenty to do.  We were also fortunate this year to have Aunt Jessica, my very preggers step-sister, join us this trip! She got a first hand look at what her life is going to be like come November! (This blog is kinda long because I wanted to get everything in...)

Anyway, the girls and little men drove down to Myrtle Beach, SC on Thursday.  We survived the car ride and made it down in time to have a late dinner and Aunt Jess and Mimi even took Logan on a walk down on the beach.  He had so much fun and they kept him out of the water by telling him that "sharks come out at night" = so funny! Aunt Jessica and Logan really hit it off during this trip - she's an awesome playmate and is going to be an awesome mommy to Cylas!! Here's some pics of her practicing her "playing with cars" skills:

The next morning we woke up and realized the weather was yucky to say the least so we decided that Dad and I would take Logan and Emmett to the new aquarium.  It was jam packed full of people but so much fun!! There was a super cool shark exhibit:

And they had a moving sidewalk that took you through an aquarium that even went over your head.

Yes those are sharks!! They were humongous but SO COOL!! Logan could only stand on the sidewalk for so long before we had to get off and walk around.  Papa (my dad) took Emmett, who was asleep, to go sit and wait while Logan and I explored the very crowded aquarium.  Here are some more pics...don't have any of Logan touching anything because he wouldn't do it!! It's times like these when I remember he's only 2 1/2!!

 

 

And they had this cool spot where you could take your picture and it looks like you're in a clam shell.  We had the flash on so the pic isn't that great, but you get the idea!! 

Dad and Logan even made it out the beach for a few hours that afternoon...I stayed inside with Emmett...this is a picture from our 14th floor window:

So if you're ever at Myrtle Beach you must check out the aquarium AND the Alligator Adventure, which Papa and Mimi took the kids to on Saturday so that Aunt Jessica and I could go see "The Help".  (Which was awesome!! I hadn't been to a movie in over a year!!)

Since I didn't attend the excursion to the Alligator Park I will just post some pictures.  I will say that Logan again showed his age a bit when they brought the alligator right up to him to touch and he cried...kinda sad, but the experience was still great.

He came back to the condo and couldn't stop telling me about all the animals they saw!! Thanks Papa & Mimi for letting me take the afternoon off!! 

And thanks for the fabulous trip to the beach!! Hope we can do it again next year...maybe with the whole fam?!

"Happy Birthday Mommy"

Wow what a week it has been!! I celebrated my 27th birthday on Sept.8th and couldn't have asked for a better weekend of celebration! I started my birthday waking up with my boys.  We got dressed and headed to my grandparents house (Bubbe & PopPop) for a birthday breakfast.  What did we eat you ask?! Well duh, Chick-fil-a of course.  I had the chicken mini's, Logan has a plain biscuit and Emmett had fruit. (Yes we started Emmett on baby food a few weeks ago...will blog about that another time).  Anyway, we played at my grandparents house until late afternoon and we had so much fun.

Yes Logn's Shirt says "I (heart) Mom!!"

Did I mention that someone bought us a bowling set that we keep at Bubbe & PopPop's house and Logan is so good at it!! He and Bubbe played all morning!

Then Safta got in on the action...

Emmett was around too...

So after spending most of the day with Bubbe, PopPop and my Mom the boys and I headed back to my Dad's house to spend the evening.  When I arrived guess what was waiting for me?! Beautiful flowers that Brennan had sent.  The card was even better...it said, "Happy Birthday. This isn't your gift but something to hold you over until it arrives!!" LOVE!! I haven't received the gift yet but will update when  I do. I must say that the flowers were completely unexpected (though I always hope to get them on special occasions).  I always love getting flowers from Brennan...just somethin' special about getting flowers from my man. 

Anyway...after my dad got home we ordered dinner, Chinese/sushi of couse, and sat down to a nice meal with Logan and Emmett.  To my surprise he even got me a cake:

It was chocolate with cream cheese icing!!

And Dad & Logan sang Happy Birthday...

My dad had to lite the candle four times before Logan would actually wait for ME to blow it out - SO CUTE!!  

It was so fun celebrating my birthday with Logan and Emmett.  I can honestly say I don't feel that much older though so much has happened in this past year.  One of the best things about my birthday this year was that I got to celebrate it with my "wombmate" and "twinster" Alyssa.  She came in on Friday evening and we went to Cowfish Sushi Burger Bar. It was the first time I had ever been there and it was AWESOME!! It had a huge menu and there was really something for everyone.  Alyssa and I shared some sushi and it was delicious!! My brother had burgushi - if you don't know what this is it's totally worth looking up the menu to find out! Anyway, we had a wonderful time...here's a picture - sorry Deb, I know it's not the best but it's the only one I have.  

The birthday celebration continued Saturday night with dinner at my Mom's house with my grandparents.  We had a wonderful meal and it was fun to celebrate with my family and Logan and Emmett (we missed you Brennan!!).  This time Logan waited till we counted to three to help us blow out the candles!!

                                      

No birthday would be complete without a morning celebration too.  So Sunday morning after we had had breakfast Logan and Safta had another cake for us...it was a plain vanilla cake with white frosting - Alyssa's favorite, mainly for the frosting :).  So we had one last celebration before Alyssa had to leave and go back to Raleigh. 

 

Such an awesome birthday weekend! I couldn't have asked for anything better then to be celebrating my birthday with Alyssa and the kids...well except if Brennan had been there, obviously.  I can't wait to see what year 28 will bring me...

Cheers to another year twinster!! (I'm sure it'll catch on eventually)

Diana

Monkey See, Monkey Do

One of the best parts about being in Charlotte is actually having places to take the kids for entertainment purposes.  Obviously Logan is the one needing the most entertainment, but it's still fun to take Emmett out to places, he loves looking around at people.  Anyway, this past week Safta (my mom) took us all to Monkey Joe's.  If you have one in your area and you have not taken your child(ren) you must! Basically it's a huge playhouse full of bouncy houses and slides.

Side note - this blog is going to be mostly pictures and captions...It was just so fun I had to blog about it!!

Of course Logan picked this slide to go down first...He couldn't resist Lighting McQueen!

I couldn't believe how strong he was!! He did all the houses all by himself!! 

It was a good thing I bought him the socks with the grips on the bottom!!

Have you ever seen a kid more happy?!

He LOVES riding on these things!

Logan hit the JACKPOT on this game!! And it was double ticket day so he had 280 tickets he got to spend!! Daddy was impressed!

He had fun just watchin all the fun.

Meeting Monkey Joe - He could barely contain himself!

Emmett seemed pretty psyched to meet him too.

A proud Daddy - he couldn't believe Logan could do this all by himself!

Daddy got to go down the slide too.

Lovin' some air hockey!

Logan kept sayin', "Make it stop, make it stop".

And we're pooped. 

As you can see this place is awesome! It has just enough places to play without being too totally overwhelming.  They even have a place for little little ones if your child hasn't been on his/her feet that long. Another perk - Adults are FREE...how many places do you go where that happens?! I'm hoping we get to go back before we leave!

More to come on our Charlotte Vacation...