A Fun Saturday

I haven't done a post like this in a long time, but I love going back and remembering what our days were like, so I thought I would journal what we did Saturday! It turned out a lot longer than I expected, so feel free to just skip this post. This is more for me :) We did a lot of fun things we don't always do, so don't think that all days are like this, but on long days when Anthony is working I try to plan something so that we don't get bored and cranky at home.

7:00am- I wake up while Anthony is in the shower getting ready for work and I check the baby monitor. Rett is usually awake and rolling around in his crib. Sometimes he is crying half-heartedly, probably thinking, "Come on woman! Wake up already!" :) We have been letting him put himself back to sleep when he wakes up in the middle of the night, so I've been turning the sound down on the video monitor.
7:05am- I stumble to Rett's room to get him and nurse him and I can usually hear James in his room as I walk by, banging on his door or kicking the wall. I think he hears Rett and knows that I will be awake. I usually wait until I've nursed Rett to let James out of his room because if James is around, Rett will be too distracted to eat.
7:20am- I let James out of his room and then I change Rett's diaper and take off his pajamas. James usually won't let me change his clothes right after he wakes up. He likes to lounge around in his pj's as long as possible.
7:40am- I get breakfast ready for Rett and feed him while he is in his highchair. James usually just wants milk and cheerios. It is right around this time James starts asking to watch TV and it is very tempting to let him because then I can get showered and dressed while Rett plays on the floor. Saturday we had early morning plans, so I told him we would have to watch it later. This resulted in a tantrum that almost turned into him being sent to his room. Luckily, he was able to calm down once he realized that we were going to go somewhere and do something fun.
8:00am- Anthony has left for work by now, so I get dressed really quickly, grab something fast to eat like a granola bar and try to start the process of getting everyone ready to go. I have to clean up Rett and his highchair from breakfast (that kid is messy!! He even got cheerios in his hair!).

Then I usually need to change his diaper again and find an outfit for him. Changing his diaper is soooo hard! He is so squirmy, as soon as you lay him flat he pops right back over on his stomach. I usually have to flip him back over at least 4 or 5 times before the diaper is fully changed. Once Rett is happily crawling around and gumming some toys, I try to get James dressed. He usually doesn't want to get dressed and I try to lure him by telling him to pick out the clothes he wants to wear. If I can get him into his room, he will declare a spot where I need to change his clothes: by the window, in the corner, etc... If I try to deviate from his designated spot, there will be tears :) I have to make sure to pick out a pair of shorts that have pockets because he loves to put buttons, cars, or any other random things he finds in his pockets. If we leave the house and he discovers he doesn't have pockets, there will be tantrums.
8:30am- Finally we are all dressed, but I still have to pack the diaper bag with snacks for James (the only time he is really hungry is if we are going somewhere). I also double check that there are extra drinks in the bag because it is going to be hot today! My plan was to go to the park by the farmers market and walk over after playing, so I wanted to bring the new double stroller. James helped me get some things out of the trunk and get the stroller into it. It took some figuring out, but I finally undid some straps and got it to fold right so that it would fit. While I was putting the things from the trunk into the garage, I looked up to see that the inside door from our laundry was open and Rett had crawled into the garage to find us! I guess James left the door open. Luckily, he didn't get very far. The garage is definitely not baby safe!
9:00am- I finally get everyone and everything into the car and we pull out of the driveway. I remembered to bring James' sunglasses (which were in a laundry basket) but for the life of me I couldn't find mine. Do you ever feel like your brain just can't hold another thing in it? On the entire drive there, James asked me questions and said things like, "Why you going that way Mommy?" and "When I was a car, I go that way" (pointing down a side street). He also asked me "Why you doing tricks?" when I drove through a roundabout.
9:30am- We get to the park and James says he wants to go to the market first. There weren't any kids at the park and I was hoping James would have someone to play with later, so I got them buckled in the stroller and walked a few blocks to the farmers market. A lot of people bring their dogs and they have live music, so it is a fun place to look around. It is pretty small though, so after we saw everything I wasn't sure what to do next. James wanted to walk on the sidewalk a bit and I thought I remembered that there was a geocache nearby. While he chased a bug, I checked my phone and it was only .3 miles down the road!
10:00am- I told James we were going to look for treasure and he excitedly hopped back on so we could go. The geocache was surprisingly easy to find and James was so happy! He couldn't believe that we found a treasure! The walk took us very close to Anthony's work, so we decided to keep walking and go say hi. The new stroller didn't fit in the doorway of his office building, so I had to do some fancy maneuvering, taking everything out of it, putting Rett on the floor of the lobby and then folding the stroller up so I could get it in the doorway. Anthony was busy with patients, so we got a drink of water, James weighed himself (32 pounds!), we weighed Rett (18 pounds!) and we said a quick hello and goodbye to Anthony before he went to his next patient.
10:30am- I get the stroller back outside the door and load everyone up for the walk back to the park. James requested several snacks :)
11:00am- We get to the park and there are still no kids there! It is getting pretty hot and there is no shade at this park. James didn't really want to play by himself and I didn't have a good place to leave Rett, who was getting pretty fussy. We stayed for a few minutes and then decided to go.
11:20am- Quick stop at Walgreens on the way home to get a prescription and some shampoo. James found a toy fan that he had to have and since it was on clearance I let him get it.
11:40am- Home finally! I nurse Rett for as long as he will let me (probably 5 minutes tops) and then put him in his highchair for lunch. James wants to watch his new favorite show "Super Why" while eating his lunch. I usually let him watch it longer than I probably should because it makes him excited about letters and the alphabet!! He knows all but 6 of them now and he loves discovering them on street or store signs. He gets excited and says things like, "Hey!!!! I see a S!!!" Like it is a celebrity :)
12:00pm- Rett is done with lunch and pretty tired, but if I put him down for a nap now, he will wake up right when it is time for James' nap, which kills my alone time. I decide to see how long I can keep him happy and try to get the afternoon naps to overlap at least a little bit.
12:45pm- Rett fell asleep pulling himself to a sitting position in the baby swing. He was zonked!! I took him out, changed his diaper, and put him in his crib without him even opening his eyes. After I closed his door, I gave James a warning that TV time was almost over.
1:00pm- James and I read books together. James likes to say, "Let's read LOTS of books", or "Lets read ALL the books". It is so cute! He also likes to ask all sorts of questions at each page, like "Why he do that?" or "Whass going to happen?"
1:30pm- It is a few minutes after I put James into bed and I see the light in his room is on (which is against the rules of naptime and nighttime). When I went in there, I realized I forgot to put him in a diaper and he had taken his pants and underwear off, climbed on his dresser and peed in his closet. I could only find a few drops to clean up, so I just cleaned those. I put a diaper on him and tucked him back in bed. He played in his room for the next few hours, looking out the window and singing the first few letters of the alphabet song. Loudly.
1:45pm- Peace and quiet. I shut myself in my room so I can't hear James' antics. Ahhhhhhh.
4:00pm- Rett wakes up and after feeding him, I let James out of his room (James did not sleep at all). James wants to ride his bike, so I change Rett's diaper and put him in a push car, then help James get his shoes and bike helmet on.
4:15pm- We get out of the front door and start walking/riding. James looked so scrunched and uncomfortable on his bike that I had him stop so I could raise the seat. Once I raised the seat as far as it could go, he felt much better! Soon he will need a bigger bike, can you believe it? We went to the big retention pond a few streets over and James found a few sticks that he used at railroad crossing barricades for me and Rett. We had to wait for quite a few trains ;) On the way home we stopped by a house that had a tire swing. The owner was working in his garage and invited James to swing in it. He wanted to get in, but he was adamant that I not swing or push him. He doesn't like the swings at the park either.

5:30pm- We get home and I start getting dinner ready since Anthony will be home soon.
5:45pm- Anthony gets home, we eat dinner and then decide to go out for ice cream!  I felt like trying out a new place by the beach and it was fun. James had vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, Rett had fun tearing up napkins, Anthony had cookie dough ice cream (of course), and I had a milkshake. It was a little too touristy for me, but it was fun to try a new place.
7:45pm- We get home and start bath time for both boys. Sometimes we skip baths when we have a late night, but since the next day was Sunday I wanted to make sure everyone got washed.
8:15pm- Scriptures, stories, family prayer, brush teeth, and bed for the boys.
8:45pm- Anthony starts getting his lesson ready for primary and Elder's quorum for the next day. I don't have a lesson in primary, so I relax with the ipad.
10:30pm- Bedtime!! We are definitely ready for it.

Everett at 9 Months

Our little man just keeps growing and growing! It is getting pretty hard to get good pictures of him because he is constantly moving and exploring. He loves to crawl around now to every room in the house, and he especially loves following Anthony and James. He knows that they are always up to something interesting!

 His hair is getting soooo long on the top! I love the curls and I don't want to cut them because I have friends who have cut their babies curly hair and it grew back straight...I would be heartbroken if those curls disappeared!

He is such a happy, curious, observant, and snuggly little baby! If he is tired at all, he will just lean on you and rest his head on your chest or your shoulder. At church he usually crashes in our arms during the third hour and sleeps on whoever is holding him. He has slept on at least four different people, he is not picky, he will cuddle with anyone!

We sure do love this little guy!

This week

After many months of trying to figure out what type of double stroller I wanted, I finally got a double jogging stroller. The one we had gifted to us was just too difficult to maneuver and after I tried out one just like this one at a friend's house and made sure it fit in our trunk, I was sold!

Ready for our first walk!

Today was my first day of the couch to 5k program now that I have a way to run with the boys. I am planning on doing a 5k in the middle of July, so I've got to get training!

On our run/walk James would ask me why I slowed down when I would take a little break. He is a strict trainer! :) After running we kept walking because James wanted to go over the train tracks. He got out and walked for awhile and found a nickel AND a penny. He was so excited!! We also spent some time watching a slug cross the sidewalk :)

We took Anthony to experience the bouncy house place. He and James had so much fun going down the big slide together.

James got ahold of my makeup brush and decided to climb onto the bathroom counter and hold it over the lit scented candle (I was in the shower a few steps away). I smelled the burning and opened the shower door to see what he was doing. He looked at me and said, "hi!". This kid.

For Father's Day I got Anthony a cloud camo fishing shirt he has been wanting. I had to order it online and luckily it got here on time! James helped me wrap it and we gave it to him after church. I handed it to James and he brought it to Anthony saying, "it miiiiiiight be a fishing shirt" :)

In the afternoon everyone came over to our house to celebrate Father's Day with Fondue. It was delicious! Here are the special guys:

Pinewood Derby, Bouncy Houses, & Spaghetti

Our cub scouts had their very first pinewood derby! We did a good job of putting it together, if I do say so myself :) We had some help from a member of the ward who fixed the ward's track for us and put it together for the big night. Anthony and the other den leader spent about two months working on the cars with the boys during Wednesday nights, since for various reasons we knew that it just wouldn't get done if we left it up to the families. I don't think Anthony minded, for two months he didn't have to plan activities! We had four official cars, one for each of our cub scouts and they all got a chance to race each other. 

After the cub scout races were completed, we had a lot of siblings with cars from their older brothers who wanted to race and, of course, James had his car!

 The winners! Since there were only four of them, I made candy medals for all of them: 1st through 4th place. It is too bad James wasn't included in the tally, his car was pretty fast! He probably would have come in 2nd place. I can definitely see how the parents can get competitive about their kid's cars. It was fun to see him win :)

 All of us together, minus Rett. I think a sister was holding him...I probably should keep better track of my kids :)

 Eating celebratory cupcakes! I was surprised that James actually ate the cake part, usually he just eats all the frosting off and throws away the rest.

One evening Anthony decided to let James "help" him mow the lawn with his toy bubble lawn mower. James was in heaven! He followed Anthony around step by step for the entire front yard, at least for an hour. When they came in, they were both sweaty and grassy. James was so proud of his hard work! We are counting down the days until he is big enough to do this job for us for real. We both hate mowing the lawn in this heat!

The next morning I had James show me how he mows the lawn:

 I got a Groupon for a 60 day trial membership to BJ's that ended up making me $5 in gift cards, so we decided to give it a try. I know a lot of people swear by buying things in bulk, but I'm not sure it is going to work for us right now. Plus, it is hard to muster the energy to drive the 20+ minutes to BJ's for groceries when Publix and Winn-Dixie are right down the road. I guess we will see. My favorite thing about BJ's so far is their grocery carts. There are TWO seats in the front for kids!! What a stinkin' awesome idea!!!

 I've been watching and waiting for this new indoor bouncy house place to open up in South Daytona and it finally did! Thursday was their first official day open to the public so we decided to give it a try. James loved it!! I can't accurately describe the joy this place gave him. He had no fear whatsoever, from the minute we walked in, he was laughing, running, jumping, climbing, and sliding over everything. There were a lot of other kids there to play with and I am starting to notice a pattern when we go places: he tends to attach him self to slightly older girls. I think it is because they are nice to him and tend to "mother" him instead of pushing him out of the way. In any case, he followed around different little girls the entire time we were there. When Anthony asked him later if he was a ladies man, he said, "No!!" :)

Coming down the big slide:

 Another plus about this place: it is only $4 for kids 3 and under to play! Kids 4 and up are $10 to play, so James is the perfect age to get a good deal. He is old enough to enjoy playing on all the big things by himself, but we still get the toddler price :)

Tonight we had spaghetti and meatballs and it was the first time for Rett. That kid can eat!! Lately during meals he seems to be eating more than James! Tonight he had a kids bowl of spaghetti, a baby food jar of green beans, and a slice of a quesadilla. He probably would have had more, but I cut him off :)

It was so fun to watch him eat! He would just stare at us and without missing a beat would grab handfuls of pasta from his tray and push as much as he could in his mouth. We tried to get James to at least try a bite of spaghetti, but he refused. (I have never been able to get him to eat pasta of any kind). At least someone likes my cooking!

Never before seen pics!

Anthony's dad brought us a thumb drive with a bunch of pictures on them from the past few years. We looked through them and found some gems we had never seen before. They are kind of random so I thought I would put them all together in one post so that they won't get lost :)

 Look at little James! He was so tiny! This is the preemie sized outfit we put James' pretend baby brother doll in when I was pregnant with Rett :)

Look at this little chunk! His cheeks and ears remind me of Rett. Look at that mischievous smile!

 James helping Papa clean:

 Bedhead!

A picture of Mimi and Papa and all the young cousins last year right after I got pregnant with Rett. James has grown so much in just one year!

James is the craziest and goofiest right before bedtime. We really need to video tape it one night!

 Cleaning fish with Daddy:

Rett and me in the delivery room right after they gave him a bath. I really couldn't stop staring at him!

 Look at us, both looking at James I bet!

 These kids are growing up so fast! I couldn't believe some of the younger pictures of James. Was my little man ever so tiny? Dang, I love these munchkins!

Everett at 8 Months

Technically our bug is 8 1/2 months old, but I am a little behind on pictures and blogging because we all came down with a virus/cold and are finally getting over it! James got it first and couldn't stop coughing for over a week, then Rett and I got it we both had horrible raspy voices. Thank goodness we are all healthy again, hopefully it will stay that way for a long time! We have been sick more often in the past few months than have in the past few years!

This month Rett officially became mobile! He doesn't do it very often and he still is slow about it, but he army crawls and rolls his away around now. He definitely likes to crawl and grab phones or anything electronic. He also really likes scriptures and has torn and crinkled pages in my scriptures twice after I accidentally left them on the floor!

He is officially sleeping through the night now and he is great about taking two solid naps during the day. Life is so much nicer now that both boys consistently take an afternoon nap at the same time. Hello me-time!

His favorite thing to do is to play with James' toys and to watch James. He loves to be outside and go on walks, and he is 100% a momma's boy. When I am trying to get something done, I do everything I can to avoid getting into his line of sight, because if he sees me he will start fussing and fussing until I pick him up. Then he is happy as a clam! He does this regardless of who else is paying attention to him or playing with him at the time. What can I say? He just loves his mommy!

At a birthday party for a little girl from church, Rett reached out and held 4 month old Jade's hand. What a little charmer!

This was the farthest we have seen him crawl: from the living room into our bedroom where we were sitting. He was so excited to see us and then spent the next 20 minutes or so rolling around on the floor and discovering everything he could reach.