8-28-14

While perusing Hobby Lobby, I got bitten by the craft bug, and bought the things to make this wreath. It was the easiest thing, and only took about a half hour! 

Dress up at the Grimm's- He had no idea who iron man man is, but wad thrilled with the costume. 

"Dad, put Alison in here and I will pull her."

Smiley little girl keeping me company while I drink my coffee and attempt to wake up. She is generally a happy baby, but in the mornings her smile uses her whole body! 

Last Tuesday we went to my mom and dad's for Wendi's birthday. Carter loves it when Uncle Adam and Uncle Luke are home and willing to give motorcycle/4- wheeler rides. 

Singing "happy birthday."

Carter and Bridget with their favorite aunt on my side.  :-) They are excited for Wendi's baby to come out!

Alison turned 3 months! 

This child never stops moving! She was ask twisted around, trying to suck on the toy!

Blurry arms.  :-)

Cutting paper while Carter and Alison napped. This results in tiny confetti all over the floor, but she is entertained for hours doing this! 

I've been trying to figure out how to do two side braids all summer, and finally one of my cousins showed me how to do it. Doing hair is not one of my talents. 

Like I mentioned, Alison never stops moving and she gets around pretty good, by turning herself in circles and pushing with her feet. While I was in the kitchen she fussing in the living room, and I found her about 3 feet from her play mat, and half under the coffee table! 

Carter helped himself to an ice cream sandwich while I was putting Alison to sleep. "This is really yummy, mom" he told me. 

Watching a movie with his "glasses" on.  

Alison got turned around and was chewing on the leg of her play mat. She's been chewing on her hands and drooling a lot. I'm hoping this doesn't mean teeth are coming soon! 

3 months!

I can't believe our little sweetie is 3 months old already! It seems like time is flying by, and I'm ready for her to slow down a little. 

Here's some 3 month facts:

- weighs 11lb 5oz and is 23 inches long

- loves attention and being talked to

- smiles readily at almost everyone and is becoming quite verbal

- stranges once in a while, at random times

- sleeps 11-12 hours most nights

- rolls from tummy to back and attempts rolling from back to tummy. That arm gets in her way. 

- loves baths

Newborn pictures!

So I realized last night that I never posted any of Alison's newborn pictures! We once again had Cassie Knepp take our pictures, and I was thrilled with them!

8-13-14

Last Tuesday I car pooled to Roanoke with my mom and Wendi for Wendi's first baby shower! She got some really cute stuff. It makes me wish I could get some new baby things.  :-)

On Thursday we celebrated 2 days of Carter being totally dry! He's had a few set backs since the weekend, but over all is still doing really well. He did however, go number 2 in his underwear on Monday, and knowing he did something wrong, he hid downstairs. When I came down the first thing that hit me was the smell. The 2nd thing was the pile of poop I stepped in. There was random piles all over the basement, and I spent most of Monday morning cleaning up and sanitizing everything. Add in grumpy kids, and Monday was a rough day. (In case you thought our lIves were perfect or something.) 

Monday passed, and on Tuesday the older two slept in, and I was able to spend a quiet morning with coffee, my bible, and this smiling sweetie, who had slept 11.5 hours! 

When Carter got up he wanted to wear his "cowboy boots." I think the poor kid needs some real ones, as his are Bridget's outgrown boots from last year.  :-/ 

And just to throw in some randomness, this is our picture we had taken for the deacon page of the church website. There were some entertaining ones, and this was the best one. 

These two goons hauled Carter's bedding downstairs and made a bed on the living rim floor for themselves. Bridget's  suggestion was that they take a nap there. Ha, sorry kiddo, I don't think it'd be very conducive to sleep! 

Tummy time with big brother. She loves it when Carter or Bridget pays attention to her!

These two love playing in the sandbox. I, however, have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the fun they have in it and the hours they'll play in there, but I hate the sand that ends up in their hair and pockets, and in the house. 

8-6-14

We got home from vacation about 4:30 on Saturday.  Alison slept 12 hours Saturday night, and she was one very happy girl after she ate on Sunday morning!  

Since Bridget had a bad cough, Luke stayed home with her, and since I had to teach Sunday school and work in the nursery, Carter and Alison stayed home too. 

Sunday after church I tackled the laundry and went grocery shopping because on Monday...

 We started potty training Carter!

I was totally dreading doing this. With Bridget it was 3 days of torture. However, he has done so well! On Monday he had two accidents first thing, then was dry the rest of the day! Tuesday he had one accident while playing outside, and pooped once as well, but the rest of the day he was again dry and telling me when he needed to go. Today he told me every time and stayed dry all day! I discovered the first day that the problem with having fun underwear is that he was excited when he'd wet them so he could wear the next pair. He told me "mom, when I get Dash wet, then I want to wear Lightning McQueen."

Tuesday I did 2 bushels of corn, with my mother in laws help. The kids thought shucking corn was great fun, and Bridget would take off one leaf (what are the green parts called?) at a time, and would get so excited when she could finally see the corn.

The last few days of vacation Bridget had a fever and cough. Now she is just coughing, and Monday and Tuesday randomly broke out in hives, which I guess is part of the virus because Carter had them too. Poor thing was so itchy and they were all over her face and back. 

Today the sweet baby had a rough morning - cranky and spitting up a lot. Then she took a 3.5 hour nap, and was full of sweet smiles! 

Vacation 2014

For only the 2nd time ever, our family vacation took us south, to Branson and Table Rock Lake. We left last Saturday morning around 8, only a half hour after our goal. The kids actually did pretty good on the way down, thanks in part to the new double dvd player we had bought the week before. We also got headphones for each of them, so it was nice and quiet. Alison either looked at her toys or slept.

Going through St Louis, Carter was sure he saw a rainbow.  :-)

Upon arriving, my parents discovered that their condo had been double booked, and that there wasn't a clean place free until Monday. Thankfully our condo was ready for us. After much stress, many phone calls, and a condo switch, they finally got a 3 bedroom place that was cleaned and open for the week. The bad part was that it was in a different building than our condo. We got our exercise, because to get from one to the other required going down 2 flights of stairs, across the parking lot, and up 2 flights of stairs. 

We drink a lot of coffee- enough to warrant using two coffee makers. 

Wendi bouncing on her exercise ball. I dint know how much she actually used it throughout the week, but Bridget and Carter had a blast playing with it! 

Swimming with dad, who was the only one of the adults willing to brave the freezing water that first day.  

Sibling love

Watching The Little Mermaids with Aunt Wendi

Alison was great the whole week, taking great naps in het car seat, the stroller, and on grandpa and grandma's bed. 

I think it was on Monday night that we went mini golfing and out for ice cream. The kids had never been mini golfing, and they thought having their own clubs was pretty great! Luke, my mom and dad and I were on one team, and Daniel, Wendi, Adam and Luke were on the other. 

Playing candyland with Uncle Adam. 

Swimming with Uncle Daniel. The kids loved the water, despite it being really cold. I never could make myself get all the way on. 

Making brownies with Aunt Wendi

Reading books with grandma

Sweet, happy baby

Wendi practicing changing diapers and getting a baby dressed.  :-)

Snuggles with grandpa while watching a movie. 

I had bought a small bag of dum dum suckers for the trip, and while Bridget didn't care for them, Carter became totally obsessed with them! 

Driving the boat with grandpa! 

Beautiful sunsets and sunrises seen from the boat. 

Unfortunately the fishing wasn't the greatest, but they did manage to snag a few small ones. 

The kids had fun fishing from the dock one afternoon, and Bridget was thrilled to reel this little guy in by herself.  :-)

A lot of water skiing and wakeboarding also occurred, but I was never on the boat during those times so I have no pictures. 

Alison hanging out with grandma while the kids swam. It was chilly enough out that we wore jackets! 

On Friday, our last day, we went to a beach at a state park. It was a perfect day for it, and the beach was really nice. We wished we had gone earlier in the week, because the kids loved it! 

We had fun, relaxing week, and can't wait till next year!