Long Time.....

So, it has been a really long time since I have posted. Life won't slow down, and I cherish my sleep, so the blogs have suffered. Here is a brief glimpse of what our little clan has been up to since my last post (I know, two months ago!)

Haylee started Preschool at the beginning of November. We made sure that we continued to talk to her about what school would be like, that she was going to have fun, and that this is where big sisters go. She needed more interaction that Dot just couldn't give her.

Here is a picture of Haylee on her first day.

The first day was great, she went in, played with all the kids, and left there happy at the end of the day. Day two and everyday there after was a different story. She cried every time we would drop her off. "I don't want to go to school" is what she would cry as I got her dressed. When we asked her why she didn't want to go, she would just say she didn't want to go. This continued, no joke, until the middle of December. I felt so bad for her that she cried and chased me out to the foyer of the school when I dropped her off, and that there was nothing I could do to make it better for her. The lowest point for me came one morning when she refused to talk to me. Byron had to take her to school, and Haylee refused to say even a word to me. I had a good cry that day, and then the next day, I was over it. I told her that I couldn't help make it better unless she told me why she didn't like school (according to the teachers, she would stop crying about 15 minutes after we dropped her off). She finally told me that she didn't like it because her school friends weren't there for her to play with yet, and she wanted them to be there. We have worked through this, and are now happy to be going to school, learning our bible verses, and letters. She enjoys it now. (thankfully!) My little girl is growing up so quickly!

Let it Snow!!!!

As natives of Colorado say, "if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change" This couldn't have been more true the last couple days in October. The weather reports said to plan on lots of snow for the metro area - up to 24 inches in some areas. Being skeptical that almost two feet would fall, we carried on with our days. Well, as the day progressed, Wednesday October 28th, more and more snow fell. Working for Adams County I knew that there is no way I would ever get a snow day, but one could hope. The day progressed, more and more snow fell. We got word that the office would close early to let everyone get home safely....I was so excited. I hoped for a snow day the next day, Thursday, October 29th, but in checking the office line, we only got to start late. I figured that since we left early the day before, and were getting a late start the second day, being released early again was not going to happen...it did. On Thursday afternoon, the snow finally began to slow down, so I got home with the kids early, and we decided to take Haylee out to play. Enjoy the pictures of the family playing in the snow!

Haylee dressed up to head outside!

Haylee and Daddy measuring the snow

16 inches of snow fell at our house in two days.

Daddy with the kids outside.....brrrr!

Happy Birthday Haylee

Haylee turned three on Tuesday, November 3rd. She was so excited to have a birthday party with all of her friends! The past two years Haylee has had some pretty exciting birthdays. With an "Under the Sea" theme and Octopus cake, to Bubbles and Balloons with a bouquet of balloons cake. This year, I was not on my game and not that organized to have a theme. Haylee is getting big enough and likes to express her opinion, so we decided to let Haylee pick what colors she wanted to use to decorate her cake. Yellow and Purple it was. So, Byron and I baked a three layer cake that when you cut into it, it looked like a checkerboard, and decorated it with yellow frosting and purple accents. I think it turned out pretty well!

We had friends and family over to celebrate and Haylee had a great time. I can't believe that Haylee is 3.....

Happy 3rd Birthday Haylee!

Happy Halloween

This is Haylee's third Halloween. By now, she is a seasoned veteran on costume shopping, pumpkin hunting and trick or treating. This is Carter's first Halloween. Haylee was almost a year old for her first Halloween, so it was fun having a newborn to dress up! Haylee was completely comfortable trick or treating - she would go up to the door, say trick or treat and hold up her bucket for people to drop candy in. It was so funny. There was one person who let her pick the candy she wanted out of the candy bowl, so every time after that, Haylee would get incredibly close to the bowl and try to grab the candy out, even though the people were putting it in her bucket for her....it was funny. Carter did go with us, although he slept the entire time. Enjoy the pictures!

Haylee as an angel -

or devil (depending upon which picture you are looking at!)

Carter our little pumpkin

Pumpkin Hunting

There is a pretty good sized pumpkin patch near our house, and we had really good luck finding pumpkins there last year, we decided to try there again this year. We had a pretty early freeze down in Denver a couple of weeks prior to Halloween, and we were late in getting to the pumpkin patch (we went four days before Halloween) so when we made it to the pumpkin patch, we were disappointed in the amount of pumpkins that they had left for sale. When we started looking for pumpkins, we noticed a LOT of them had already begun to rot (our guess was from the freeze) Haylee seemed more interested in playing on the playground than looking for pumpkins, so we decided not to get pumpkins there, but to let Haylee play on the playground and in the corn box. Carter did not like the pumpkin patch all that much. It could be because it was almost time to eat, we woke him up, or it was pretty windy and chilly...either way, he wasn't a happy camper.

A picture of the two kids - gotta love the "looking into the sun" pictures!

God Bless the Swing

Carter is my little man. I love holding him and watching him grow and learn. Let me say a part of that again, I LOVE holding him. This has become a problem. Because I love holding my son (as I loved holding Haylee too, and it was a problem with her) he will not sleep without being held. Carter will fall asleep on you, but the second that you try to put him down - the eyes open, the grunting begins, the arms begin to fight the swaddle, and eventually, the red face and crying come about. Needless to say, there have been many days where I have spent sitting on the couch holding and watching him. I am not complaining about sitting on the couch all day holding my son (although I am sure there were/are days Byron comes home from a hard day at work and looks at the house and thinks, "what did you do all day?") but there are some days where I do want to get things done around the house, and I can't because the second I put him down, he cries. So you say, why don't you put him in the vibrating chair or something like that? Carter will stay asleep if you put him in the vibrating chair that we have, only problem there - it turns off after 15 minutes. If baby falls asleep with vibration and then it stops, what happens - yep, the eyes open, the grunting begins, the arms begin to fight the swaddle and eventually, the red face and crying come about. Byron and I have tried the swing before, but Carter had no interest in it.

So, this brings me to the last couple of days. I am throwing my dear friend Erin a baby shower this weekend (her baby boy is due in December) and I need to finish up the baby word scramble, put the safety pins on ribbon for the ladies to wear around their necks, oh, and clean the house. In addition to the shower, I return to work on Monday and I am starting to feel like I need to get the house cleaned and organized before I go back. Well, I can't do all of that sitting on the couch holding my beautiful son. I decided that I was going to give the swing another shot - forget you vibrating chair, you do nothing for me when you turn off, except tick my sleeping baby off. So, I pulled out the swing, and put Carter in it, turned it on and held my breath that he would continue to sleep. It worked...it actually worked. He slept, with a few grunts every once in awhile, but he slept....I got to shower, I got to make my bed, Haylee's bed, clean her room, put her laundry away, put my laundry away, Carter's laundry, load the dishwasher (you get the point), I was able to to SOMETHING!

I know that we will have our issues when it comes to breaking him of needing the swing to sleep, which I can handle - he goes to bed at night without any issues, thankfully, so it is merely needing to break him of sleeping in the swing on weekends. I am pretty sure that I will have no problem holding him all weekend long once I go back to work....all I have to say is, thank you Link-A-Doos Open Top Take Along Swing for giving me the opportunity to take a shower when I wake in the morning, instead of at night when my husband gets home. You are the best!

Two Months Old

Wow - time flies even faster with your second baby! Carter turned two months old on Tuesday! I can't believe that my little man is two months old already! He is cooing more now, has the biggest gummy smile with a dimple on his right cheek, and HATES tummy time.

Carter is still a little piggy, eating every three hours. The other night, he went to sleep at 9pm and didn't wake up until 3am. I was in HEAVEN! I thought, "maybe this kid will be like the ones I hear about, sleeping through the night at 6 or 7 weeks. Maybe I will get lucky with this one" - Nope, the next night he was up every 2 1/2 hours eating....

Carter is a different baby than his sister was. He is mellow. He only cries when he is hungry, and eats a lot more than his sister ever did. Haylee would only snack and we worried that she wasn't getting enough to eat. I took Carter to see how much milk he was getting and they told me he was getting almost 6 ounces every feeding. Thankfully I have managed to get a stockpile of milk in the freezer for when I go back to work, and I seem to be able to keep up with him - for now. He is already too big for the 0-3 month onesies, but still fits in the 3 month clothes we have for him - but barely. With Haylee, she was always about 3-6 months behind in clothes, it has been a change for us to have a kid grow so fast!

He is like his sister in that he fights nap time. He will not give in to sleep! Oh how they will learn when they are older that nap time is a wonderful thing! He is also like her in that he hates doing tummy time. I will put him on his tummy and he will last all of 2 minutes before he starts smashing his face into the ground and fussing.

He is such a good little baby, and Haylee just adores him. I am so lucky to have such good kids. Remind me I said this when they are teenagers! That is all for now....