This & That

(This is going to be a random post...lots of tidbits I wanted to share...)

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone! Greg had a hot date last night at midnight...and no, it was not me :) It was his beautiful baby girl! Nate and I crashed way early (big surprise), so just the two nightowls were up at midnight to ring in the new year. I jokingly asked Greg to take some pics, and lo & behold, he did! He is starting off the new year right...


Check out this pic of Nate in the boppy....we remember the day when he used to fit in it :( So sad. He is growing up too fast! We jokingly refer to him as the "whale" now....well, at least next to Abby, that's what he looks like!

CUTEST KID ALERT. Poor Abby, she's got a lot to live up to in the looks dept. Could her big bro be any cuter in his new WFU sweatshirt?? Cutest Deacon I know!!

Nate has two new favorite foods that COMPLETELY gross me out: 1) Tunafish and 2) Ketchup. (Thankfully he doesn't eat them together.) He loves to dip his nuggets in ketchup, and now thanks to Greg, he eats tunafish out of a can. He even likes it cold....please excuse me while I barf. Here he is with a whole can's worth of tuna that he proceeded to scarf down today at lunch.

Our little baby girl has reached her first milestone...she has moved up from size Newborn diapers to Size 1! Look at the comparison below. She really is getting big!! We are not sure how big yet, but she has a doctor's appt on Jan 7th and I am anxious to hear how much she weighs. I am guessing around 8.5 lbs. Stay tuned.

Last but not least, Nate is cutting more teeth! He already had one of his 2-yr molars in, and now two more have broken through. So, just ONE tooth left to come in and he will have ALL of his baby teeth. Crazy!!

What a week!

What a whirlwind! Abby Reece is 7 wks old today and was VERY busy last week. My family was in & out all week, and then Aunt Gena & Uncle Kevin came for a short visit as well. As to be expected, both of our kids got MAJORLY spoiled by Santa & family. I think we need to buy a storage unit to hold all the new toys! But Nate had a ball seeing everyone and it was fun showing Abby off.

Just some highlights from our week:
-Nate made cookies for the first time, with Nana. It was something I loved doing as a child and I hope Nate will too!
-Greg got beignet mix (at World Market) and made some for us one morning. It was quite the elaborate process, but he did a great job! I have never had the originals at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, but I still thought his were delicious.
-We saw the lights at the Opryland Hotel (see earlier post). They are so beautiful!
-I got to celebrate my little sister's bday with her! She turned 28 on the 26th, so we got pedis with Mom and then went out for Mexican that night.
-Nate is officially Handy Manny's #1 fan...he got a HM-themed toy from almost everyone in both families! Needless to say, he is starting to speak Spanish. Hola, gracias, and vamanos. Hilarious!
-Nate is definitely BFF with men these days....he did not let Pops or Uncle Kevin out of his sight.
-We have given into using a passy with Abby. We don't use it at night yet, but it helps to calm her during the day.
-I got an AMAZING surprise from Greg for Christmas - diamond earrings!! I have always wanted some but never thought I'd get them. Thanks sweetie!!
-Becky's fiance Mike was unable to come visit on Christmas...he was supposed to fly in Christmas night but his flight got cancelled. I was super bummed (as was Bec of course) b/c we had a double date night planned in Nashville. Next time Mike!
-Nate woke up early one morning and Nana just brought him in bed with she & Pops. When I went upstairs at 7:30 am, I found him spooning Nana. It was adorable! (And I was relieved b/c when I saw his bed empty, I thought for 2 seconds that he had been kidnapped!)
-Greg & I had a date night...got to see "The Blind Side" (LOVED IT) and go out for dinner. Always nice to get to be "Em & Greg" for a night instead of "Mom & Dad."
-Besides Nate's Handy Manny toys, his other favorite was a tent/tunnel from Uncle Kevin. I have never seen his face light up so big!
-Nate's new favorite expression is "Oh dear." No idea where he learned it but it's adorable!

It was wonderful having everyone here this Christmas...it was the first year that Greg & I have not traveled which made it MUCH less stressful! We got to start new traditions, like Nate writing a letter to Santa and leaving out cookies & milk. All the while keeping up old ones - all the girls fixing breakfast Christmas morning, having a chili cook-off Christmas Eve, and Greg reading the Christmas Eve story to name a few.

Sorry there are so many pics (about 60 or so!) My family just does NOT know how to only take a few! (Btw, there were about 400 I had to choose from!) :) Enjoy...

'Tis the season

I planned a fun night out last night for us, since Nana & Pops were in town. We went to Nashville to eat at the Rainforest Cafe (in Opry Mills mall) and then to see the lights at Opryland Hotel. If you've never seen them, you need to go!! The hotel in itself is beautiful...all 600,000 square feet of it (I am not kidding). But add in over 2 million Christmas lights, and it's quite a sight!!

On the way to Nashville, Nate entertained himself by looking in the van window (we had his interior light on) at himself and fixing his hair & hat repeatedly. So vain!

We went to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner, and had been talking up all the monkeys & birds etc to Nate all day. My friend Hallie took her 15 month old son there and loved it. Said it was loud, but fun. So I was expecting Nate would love it. WRONG. As soon as we walked in, he started burying his head in his Dad's shoulder. We walked in right as a "thunderstorm" was happening...lights on & off, rain/thunder noises, and all the "animals" making noises. It was a bit much, but Nate seemed to be the only kid scared in there. Typical. (He comes by it honestly though...I was scared of EVERYTHING growing up!) He got better as the meal went on, but still had a tight grip on me, especially when the elephant near us made noises. Here he is burying his face while eating. (Oh and did I mention that Abby slept thru ALL of this!?)

This is what he did during the "thunderstorms"

And here is the scary elephant

Then, a much happier Nate with Nana outside the Opryland Hotel

Oh the challenges of getting your toddler to smile at the camera

Saying "SANTA!" with Nana & Pops

Favorite part of the night: Snickerdoodle

My little angel

Abby was soooo well behaved and stayed in her carseat/stroller the whole night, until this moment. She was NOT happy we disturbed her! And btw, I know this is not the greatest family picture, but it's the best of the 10 shots we took. Welcome to family of 4!

Wow...6 weeks!

Our little Abby is 6 wks old today!! She is doing new things each day...staying alert more & more, entertaining us with her smiles, and still eating like a little piglet! :) She is beginning to stretch out her feedings at night, going from 3 hrs in btw feedings to 4 and sometimes 5 hrs. Yay Baby Girl! She is still little Miss Grunter and having belly issues...I think that is just something that we are going to have to deal with for awhile. She is super strong and holding her head up so well. When laying on Greg's chest the other night, she even began pushing with her legs to try and roll over! Good gracious I don't want her rolling over yet! I think it's funny how with Nate, we were so anxious for him to hit each milestone...rolling over, sitting up, walking etc. But we can already tell we are going to be the opposite with Abby....I don't want her growing up too fast and she already is! It makes me sad just thinking about it.

We have lots of family visiting this week, starting with Nana & Pops arriving yesterday. So stay tuned for lots of pictures and funny stories I'm sure!

(Actually I have a funny story from today about Nate. Nana put him down for a nap and then a UPS man woke him up about 15 minutes later and he poked his head out of his door. I went in to settle him, and noticed his jeans were on backwards. I fixed them of course, thinking to myself the whole time "How in the world did Nana not know she put his jeans on wrong!?" I tucked him in and then went downstairs to ask Nana what had happened. Apparently, she put pj pants on him before his nap because she thought they'd be more comfy. So Nate had taken it upon himself to take off the pj pants, and put his jeans back on. They just happened to be backwards! Little Mr. Independent!!)

Visiting Santa

Finally, a successful trip to see Santa!!

Last year, Nate screamed in horror at the man in the big red suit. No pictures were taken; it was a disaster and I was completely embarrassed at his behavior. Granted, he was only 16 months (and had a huge fear of old/strange men at the time!), but still. It was bad.

Then last weekend, we went to Belk to see Santa, only to find out he is not there this year. (I have lost my mind, apparently. I swore it said he was there on Belk's website.) So we trucked over to Stones River Mall, only to find Santa (!) but with a HUGE line waiting for him. We went home disappointed and promised Nate a lunch with his favorite....salami. That cheered him right up!

So, today, Greg surprised us and took the day off work so we could go at lunchtime and beat the crowds! We were the only ones there, and Nate did great (after some coaching from Daddy). We didn't get a huge smile from him, but at least there were no tears. And sweet Abby...well, she was an angel as usual. Check out her tutu outfit!!

Of course I am too cheap to purchase the 5x7 picture for $15, but I did manage to take a few with my own camera. Sneaky sneaky!

Oops

So I guess I need to be careful, leaving Nate in the same room alone with Abby. Tonight, they were alone for MAYBE 2 minutes, Abby laying on the playmat and Nate watching a dvd (Yes, Mom-of-the-Year here). I came back into the room to find that Nate had placed a burpcloth over Abby's legs (I guess he thought she was cold!?) and then had put the boppy on top of her. No explanation there. I quickly told him we weren't supposed to put things on top of Abby and he ran away and put his hands over his face in embarrassment. Hopefully he won't do it again. For now I'm just glad he didn't put anything over her face!!

Adventures in parenting of two, take one....

Weekly Update

Abby is 5 wks old today and still growing like a weed! She celebrated her 1 month bday last week by getting her first shot at the doctor :( Surprisingly, she is a tough little cookie and hardly cried at all. And...drumroll please...she weighed 7 lbs 7 oz!! (This was last Thursday, so I would suspect she is closer to 8 lbs now.) So as Greg said, she is now a "normal-sized" baby. Whatever...she still looks and feels TINY to me.

Greg and I have gotten into a great routine at night, allowing each of us to get a solid 5-6 hrs of sleep at a time. (Which, for those of you that have a newborn, is quite a feat!) I pump & go to bed at 9 pm. Greg heads upstairs with Abby, and gives her a 10 pm and 1 am bottle. Then he brings her downstairs to our bedroom, puts her in her bassinet, and goes back upstairs to sleep in the guest bedroom. (Nate's room is upstairs too, so Greg is on "Nate duty" if he happens to wake up in the middle of the night.) I usually wake up around 2 am or so and need to pump, and then I feed Abby around 4 am and 7 am. So, as you can tell, we are pretty much on a 3 hr schedule still, even at night. (Even though last night....she went 6 hrs btw feedings!! I think that was a fluke though...her belly was upset and she was exhausted from grunting & crying.) Anyways, I am grateful for such a wonderful & helpful husband. We make a great team!

Back to Abby's grunting...she is definitely having some belly issues, still. In fact, we had her on formula the past 3 days to see if that helped any. Verdict: not much. So we are back to breastmilk/nursing today. And I am just going to alter my diet for the 900th time. Maybe I'll just eat only lettuce for the next 9 months. That'd be one way to lose this baby weight!!

And on a sidenote, we have the most wonderful friends & neighbors!! We are STILL getting dinners dropped off every few days. There is nothing better than a home-cooked meal that you didn't have to cook! :) We are very blessed to have such generous and supportive friends in our lives.