Friday, August 31, 2012

True Love

So much love in this bad photo.  An iPhone picture of the picture on the monitor, bad. 
 
Graham loves stuffed animals.  Dylan couldn't have really cared any less about them when he was this age.  Graham, snuggles them.

 
Dylan loves his baby "bubba" so much that he has given him "monkey." Dylan has been attached to that thing for almost a year.  Then when we were in Colorado, he wanted Graham to have him.  Now he still has "baby George" but still.  He gave away his best stuffed friend, to his baby brother.  Melt my heart.

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

A glimpse

I love having two boys.  Whenever someone asks me if I am going to have a third for a girl, the answer is usually no.  I want a third child, not necessarily a girl.  If I get a girl, great, if it's a boy, well at least I know what to do!  I love that my boys are close in age, they will be great friends.  I got a little glimpse at my future yesterday.

Graham has recently started actually playing with Dylan.  He will roll over to him, not sure why but it's funny, and then try to climb on him.  I think Graham watches Dylan and Adam play on the ground together and just wants to do it too!  I don't mind boys being boys, I know they will fight, but yesterday, Graham thought being sat on was funny.  All of the giggles are coming from him.  It went on for half and hour like this.  I can't wait until Graham can walk and entertain Dylan a little for me!

This video is what I'm going to use to show Dylan when he complains to me about Graham sitting on him, when Graham is the bigger of the two.  Only a matter of time!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Dreams

 
 
Little Man, big dreams.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Leaving

Our trek back home was a little more adventurous than we had hoped.  Though still not near as bad as it could have been, but not as great as getting there.  We wanted to leave a little earlier in the evening than 11pm, for obvious reasons.  So we aimed to be on the road by eight.  Graham was being a pill because he was tired, and Dylan was being a pill, because well, he is two and a half.  Much to my surprise, we were on the road at 7:30.  The boys watched a few mickey mouse shows before Graham fell asleep around ten.
 All was well until he woke up at about 12:30 very unhappy.  Adam hopped in the back and fed him a bottle, he chugged it.  Surly that's why he wasn't happy.  He was now wide awake. There was crying, so of course Dylan is now awake as well.  After a pit stop. and a few more mickey's both were back to sleep.  It felt like an eternity, but I'm pretty sure we only had an unhappy Graham for like half an hour.  They both went back to sleep until about seven.  We wanted to stop somewhere for them to play a little since they had been in the car for about twelve hours by this point!  luckily we were in Texas, but about an hour outside of Wichita Falls.  So over three hours until we were home.  So we Google mapped a Mickey D's and decided we would have that.  We get to this place and it doesn't have a play place.  FAIL.  Oh well, it's over thirty miles to the next "town" so we just suck it up.  We order, eat, then realize that Dylan has wet his clothes.  Adam goes out to the car to change him.  When he comes back this is what I hear.

" Honey, I messed up."
" What?"
" I locked the keys in the car."
We saw a bear on the last day!
Do you know how ticked I was? Luckily for him the town we were in had a wrecker that opened car doors.  Luckily for him, we didn't have to wait but ten minuets for him to get there.  I would have hurt him if we had to sit in that McDonalds for hours, with Graham having a dirty diaper. ( we just took Dylan's off and put it on Graham, Dylan went without!;))

$50 later, we were on our merry way.  Three hours to go.  I had pretty much driven the whole way except for about three and a half hours,  but I felt I could push on as long as Adam talked to me.  So that's what we did.  We made it home about 11, where we played a bit then put everyone down for a nap.  Including Mommy and Daddy.  We woke up for a lovely storm here in Texas so that was nice.  We brought some of the cooler weather with us.  You are welcome.

I am still trying to get caught up on laundry and putting things away, with the boys demanding my attention it's hard to not just make the house more of a mess!  But we had a great trip, and we are looking forward to the next vacation at the end of September.  This one could be more exciting.  It's a plane ride.:/

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

We made it!

We made it to our town house in the mountains at about 2:30 their time. Not bad.  We quickly set up pack and plays so that Graham could get a nap.  We knew Dylan would be too excited to actually take a nap.  We were right.  But lucky for us, he did go to bed early.  While the townhouse Adam's parents rented was really nice.  It was terrible.  It was on the mountain, so of course they built up.  There were, like 6 or 8 ( I forget) flights of stairs.  I consider myself in pretty good shape, but dang, in the mountains, that was tough stuff. 

We spent the first night at home, we didn't want to risk taking the boys out for dinner, not knowing how they would react.  That was a pretty good idea, because Graham was not a happy boy come dinner.  We unpacked, and discussed the weeks plans.  Adam and his dad planned to play golf two of the days, while his mom and I planned on the Spa and lunch another day.  I honestly would rather Adam play soccer 5 days a week than play golf because it takes way to freaking long.  He is gone for 6 hours when he plays.  It's like he went to work!:)  But the weather was too nice to deny him playing twice on vacation.  I know, I'm too nice!:)  The first day they played, his mom and I loaded up the boys and walked across the street to the park.  Grandma had taken Dylan the first day, so it was old hat to him, he wanted his shoes off, and he wanted to swing.  I set Graham in the grass, he wasn't a huge fan! 

We ate at many good restaurants, our favorite from last year was a hit again, Sweet Basil.  It's probably the best restaurant in Vail.  Yum, Yum.  We also tried a Latin place, a tapas place, we ate at home a few nights, Adam and I had a date night to a resort on the mountain's restaurant. I know there are more, I just can't think of it. 

We obviously did lots of things, but I don't bore you with details. The most notable is probably the fact that Graham got a new tooth while on the trip.  This didn't make for a very happy GramBam, nor did it make for very fun diapers.  I'm not sure if it was the tooth cutting, or some of the yummy table food he was trying, but he had an upset tummy basically the whole time we were there.  Luckily, he seemed to be acting fine, but he was not happy about the really bad diaper rash he got.  Luckily, a few baking soda baths and a trip to walmart for diaper cream worked it's magic and it went away pretty quickly.  But he came back with a new pearly white front tooth.  My baby is no longer a vampire. 

It was nearly impossible to keep graham from trying to kill himself on the stairs.  He is good at going up them, but obviously has no idea how to go down them.  He tricked us with his speed a few times, luckily I could him as he was rolling down the second to top stair.  That could have been bad. 

Dylan loved having attention from his Grandparents, as well as having Daddy around for so long.  He did great, was happy almost all of the time.  Though he did want to play in the water all the time.  There was a heated pool, but we knew he couldn't handle it.  It was too cold outside.  He did get to play in the fountains at the center of Beaver Creek though, he enjoyed that.  Though even that water was too cold! 


Overall, it was a great family vacation, but we were ready to go home, sleep in our own beds, use our own showers, and play with the toys that the boys didn't have there.  Oh, and to see our new patio!  ( blog coming on that soon!:))









Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Getting there

We were gone a week.  I'll break up the posts into three so they don't bore you too much! 

You are welcome honey!
We had been asking each other for weeks what the other thought was the best time to leave.  WE had decided early morning on Saturday.  So I thought.  Friday I spent all day doing laundry, cleaning so we could come home to a cleanish house, and getting the dogs situated for their sitter.  Adam comes home at 5, and says " Have you given any more thought to leaving tonight?"  Well to be honest, I hadn't thought about it at all, I thought that we were leaving in the morning.  I hadn't packed a. single. thing, I had a soccer game at 9:42, and well, it was already 5pm, and I hadn't taken a nap that day.  Needless to say, I needed an answer because I had already given a "yes" to attending my game, and I needed to let someone know if plans had changed.  The answer was, " lets leave after your game." So I scrambled to get packed, the boys, me and Adam, toys, diapers, baby food, baby gates ( that proved useless) soccer stuff, clothes to drive in.  It was a mess.  We managed to get out the door just in time for me to not be late to my game. 

Remember, my game was at 9:42, stupid time yes I know, but that put us getting done 10:22.  Adam drove around with the boys during the game, hoping to get them to go to sleep.  No dice.  So when he picks me up, Graham had JUST fallen asleep.  We had to run by Adam's parents house, so we really didn't start out on our 15 hour journey until about 10:45.  So we get on the freeway.  People, we sat on 635( major freeway for those not in the area) for at least 30-40 minuets.  It was soo stupid.  Then we get to 114, with all this dumb construction and road closings.  At this point, it was after 11, and I think Adam and I both were having second thoughts.  I was gross and sweaty, Graham had woken up because of all the starting and stopping and Dylan was just kinda chilling.  But it was late, and we weren't even out of the metroplex. 


He required this really old towel on him!
Finally we get on a road that isn't closed and we get going.  Folks, will you believe me if I told you that the boys slept for the entire night?  I didn't think we had a chance.  No here is where I get bad mom of the year.  They were both forward facing.  I realized they could basically be laying flat if I could recline the seats.  Yes I know, technically it's against the law for graham to be flipped, but oh well.  He is back rear facing now, as is Dylan, so all is good.  But they slept.  Graham woke up at about 4:30, and played for an hour with who knows what, and went back to sleep.  They were both awake and ready to play at about 7.  We stopped at Denny's, then at a park for about half an hour.  Then we turned on Mickey and continued our trek. 

I think Adam and I stopped about 3 times total.  The mini seriously gets the best gas mileage ever.  We would only fill up because we were at a gas station.  Not because it needed it.  Adam drove the bulk of the way there.  About 10 hours, while I filled in the gaps of about 5 hours.  It was a pretty drive, and I'm super happy that the boys did great. 

( upon trying to take the pictures of sleeping people, I realized my camera memory card was dead, so no good pictures of the car ride.  Sorry!)

Monday, August 20, 2012

Monday Menu

Since we are back, we made a menu, in hopes that we can shrink our stomachs back down to normal size.  All the delicious food and booze got to both of us.  It's just so hard to not eat too much when you are eating such yummy food.

So this week, I remembered about a blog that I read years ago, and so a few of our meals come from there!

Last night: Crispy Parmesan tilapia with roasted tomato caprese Salsa., and wild rice

Monday: Picking up something after Adam's indoor game.

Tuesday: Balsamic Chicken, spinach and tomato pasta salad

Wednesday: Grilled Cheeseburger wraps, Greek salad

Thursday: Baked tomatoes with quinoa, corn and green chilies, garlic toast and zucchini

Friday: picking up something after my indoor game, but before limo birthday festivities.

Saturday breakfast: Cheese Bacon biscuits







Saturday, August 18, 2012

Lesson's Learned

We are back.  We made it.  We drove to and from Colorado with a two and a half year old and a ten month old and survived.  Dare I say, that it was pretty easy, I would maybe consider doing it again. Though on our first vacation as a family of four, I did learn some great lessons:

- I might have the most easy going, adaptable children ever.
- Always take everything with you in a diaper bag.  Even if you have not used it in months.  Luckily for me, Beaver Creek Colorado has a Walmart!
- Driving after taking a nap and knowing you are leaving, is much easier than leaving after a 9:45pm soccer game, and not deciding until 6 pm you are leaving.
- I love my mini van.  This trip would not have been possible without it.
- My mini gets AWESOME gas mileage.
- There are a lot of crappy "towns" in Texas.  Like seriously.
- I gain way too much weight on vacations, but the food is just so delish.
- Taking the boys on a solo walk down the mountain seems like a great idea.  Until you have to walk back up.
- Having such a great trip this week, makes me excited for our long weekend away next month.
- I'm so happy that I have in laws who love our boys and will watch them on their vacation so that Adam and I can have a date night.

That's all I can think of right now.  There will be more detailed posts coming this week. Hope everyone had a great week!

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Little Monkeys


These four little boys are going to be best friends.  With each other.  I know I've said it before but I'm so happy that my boys are going to have friends that they have known since birth.  Carson and Dylan love their babies.  The babies love them.  I'm so glad they get to grow up together.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Graham {10 Months}

Double digits.  Oh my.  I can't wrap my head around the fact that he is so close to one.  I even ordered birthday invitations yesterday.  Crazy I tell you.  Not a whole lots has happened this month really.  Graham continues to be a great baby.  Luckily for Adam and I, Dylan snapped out of his "terrible twos' this month as well, so we had a great month. 

Graham has really started to show his personality.  He is so laid back compared to his older brother.  For example, when he is tired and we are still out eating or whatever, he will just sit quietly and not scream like Dylan did.  But he is also silly.  His favorite thing to do is be upside down.  He also finds making his bottle to be hilarious.  I open the microwave and he giggles, I pour the powder in, he giggles.  His newest favorite thing is for daddy to hold him and play with the soccer ball.  He loves looking down at it and giggles. 

This month, he also learned, much to my disliking, that he kinda likes the pacifier.  I rarely give it to him unless he is just yelling for no reason.  But he often finds them himself.  So resourceful.  I never let him sleep with them, and when we are in public, I take it out.  I don't want him to get attached to it, because it'll be gone soon. 

He hasn't really progressed on standing.  He did stand by himself at Becca's once for like 60 seconds, but I don't think he has done it since.  Maybe this month.  He is a pro at walking with the little walker push toys though, so who knows, maybe he'll walk before he turns one. But he sure can crawl, fast. He usually heads one of two directions, our closet to chew on shoes, or the kitchen to play in the water bowl. 

Lately he has become a little bit of a snuggle bunny at night.  after I feed him, he will lay his head on my should and let me rock him for a good 15 min.  I LOVE it.  We have hit a little of the separation anxiety, I think.  Last week at the gym they said he had been crying the whole time I was gone, but they thought that it might be his teeth.  He is this close, to cutting a front upper tooth.  I can see the corner of it, but it hasn't popped through yet.  Those he does have 4 pearly whites, I'm hoping his vampire look will be gone soon!

This month we went through a little bit of a bottle strike.  I'm not sure if it was because of teeth or what, but for a couple of weeks, the kid refused to finish a bottle.  Which with Dylan we were used to, but not this guy.  Luckily, he is back to finishing his bottle.  I am working really hard on getting him to eat more table food.  So far he like, graham crackers, shredded cheese, peas, carrots, green beans, bread, french fries, asparagus and he was pretty iffy on the Mandarin oranges!  On vacation we will probably be trying mashed potatoes and some other things since we will be eating at nice restaurants!

Graham continues to love his big brother, and has even knocked him over a few times.  It's pretty funny.  Dylan is getting a little more possessive of his toys now that Graham has started trying to yank them out of his hand.  We are working on " trading with Bubba." I make Dylan give Graham another toy if Graham has the one he wants.  It works pretty well.  Graham loves when Dylan comes up and rubs his head and says " Hey Bubba"  Graham also loves his night night hugs and kisses from Dylan the best.  They sometimes get a giggle.

Graham still doesn't really have any words per se.  His favorite is bop.  Which might mean ball.  I'm not positive. He can say mamama, dadada, nanana, bababa. None of them are the correct way of saying them of course. I'll take the sounds though.  I love when he says bop too!:)


I can't believe that my baby is almost one.  I hope that the next two months go as smoothly as this one has.  I can't wait to see what Graham will be like when he can walk.  I so look forward to watching my boys run and play together. 



10 Month Stats:
19ish pounds
30ish inches
Eating four eight oz bottles
3 solid meals a day
wearing 12 month onsies with with occasional 9 month
9 and 12 month sleepers, 6 month if they have no feet
sleeping pretty good, though still waking up too early for my liking!