The End of A Season....

and no I'm not talking about the fall season. I'm talking about my baby boy not being a baby anymore. Charles-Allen has always been attached to his sippy cup, he lovingly refers to it as his "bobbie". He always wants his bobbie of milk at nap time, but since Parker has been born her rarely takes a nap which means he rarely wants his bobbie. I can't hardly stand it. One day last week he decided to take a rare nap and he asked for his bobbie. I had almost forgotten about it until I saw him on the couch and realized that it had been a while and this might be his last time with his bobbie so I started snapping photos. My sweet baby is growing up.

I love the way he has always rubbed fabric with the back of his hand when he's trying to go to sleep.  When he was a baby and a toddler he would rub my shirt, but as he's gotten older he rubs his pillowcase.  That's how he chooses his pillow, not by the size, but by the softness of the pillowcase.

Year of The Emergency Rooms

This must be the year of the Emergency Rooms for our family. Every one of our kids has been taken to the emergency room this year. Emmy had to go in February when we were in Lake Lure. We had gone to the batting cages and a ball hit her knuckle, I just knew it was broken. Turns out it wasn't, but it looked really bad. Then in August we went to a baptism at the stake center in Kinston and Charles-Allen fell on the wood floors in the gym and got a really bad headache. It didn't bother him at first, but about 5 minutes after he hit his head he began crying, saying his head hurt. Then he got lethargic and threw up on himself. We had to take him to the ER in Kinston and get a cat scan. Finally, Wednesday night after our nephew's birthday party Neal squished Ally's finger in the car door and she had to get 5 stitches. It was pitiful. She's all better now, let's just hope taking the stitches out isn't as hard as putting them in.

Ally and her dad before the stitches.  Don't you just love that baby tummy poking out.

4 months & 2 Years

Parker went to her 4 month check up 2 weeks ago. She was 15lbs and 1 ounce. She was in the 75% for weight and length. She is a total chubster. It's because she's full of sugar. Ally went to her 2 year check up 4 weeks ago. She is 22lbs even. She's in the 20% for weight and 75% for length. They are both in a size 3 diaper!!

Friday Favorites

Cooking is one of our favorite activities that we do as a family. My kids love to help cook and I really feel like they are actually helping. It's not like when they "help" me mop the floor or fold clothes. They actually do a great job with cooking and they never seem to get tired of it. But my favorite from this post is the super cool aprons that my talented SNL Joy made for Emmy and Ally's birthdays in July. When I grow up I so want to learn how to sew. Charles-Allen doesn't have one, but he so wants one. Can't you see him in a cutie pie apron?

The aprons even have their names embroidered on them. How cool is that? I love me some monogrammed stuff. Some would say I'm a little obsessed with it, combine that with my kids names, something else I totally love, and you have a win win.

I wish I had a better shot of Emmy's. It's so pretty. I had a hard time getting her to wear hers because she didn't want to mess it up. Aunt Joy totally scored on the favorite birthday present. Thanks a ton! We love them.

Ten Things I Love About This Collage

10. The fact that it's a collage.

In case you haven't noticed I'm loving the collage maker on Picasa.

9. Green grass

8. Watermelon

7. Water games

6. Bathing suits

5. Summertime

4. Kids laughing

3. My shinny new deck.

2. Stealing kisses from babies

1. COUSINS-they're the best!

NEW JOB-$200 PAY

So last night Neal tells me that we're having someone come over tomorrow and pump out our septic tank. I'm thinking that's got to be a crappy job, I wonder how much it pays. Turns out it pays $200 a job. I'm thinking it doesn't sound like such a bad job anymore. We'll this morning I awaken to my sweet and sassy soon to be 2 year yelling my name from her crib upstairs. She can be quite demanding. Come to find out she's yelling b/c she took off her diaper and pooped in her crib. Good morning to you too. So I put Parker in her bouncy seat, go upstairs to clean up Ally and the crib. By the time I'm done Parker is screaming so I get her milk warmed up and pick her up only to find out she's blown it up. Poopy is everywhere. All over her, the bouncy seat, her clothes. Nice. I undress her, put her in her tub, put new clothes on her and get the bouncy seat and Ally's bed sheets in the washer. After I feed her and get her to sleep and put down, I start making lunch for me and the kids. We eat and Charles-Allen has to poopy, I tell him to stay there and I'll take Ally upstairs for her nap. When I get back I'll wipe you, just please stay on the pot. I stress this b/c we've been through this before as he tends to get impatient and he gets up to find out what's taking me so long and then we have twice the mess. I'm sure he's learned his lesson so I pick Ally up and off to bed we go. Only I notice that she seems really wet. I just assume it's the watermelon and lay her down to change her and find that she's had another rather messy poopy. It's leaked and gotten on her and my shirt. Lovely. So I have to clean her up, change her clothes, and put new sheets on her crib. This takes longer than I had anticipated and much longer than Charles-Allen can stand. So on my way back downstairs I hear him running back to the bathroom. He thinks he's so sly. I finally get in there to wipe him and he's made a mess of it. It's on the pot, on his legs. I mean really. How can this be happening? What on earth did I do to deserve it? So I call my husband at work and tell him that I'm officially in the sewer business and I would like for him to cut me a check for $200. I hear that's the going rate.

What Can You Do But Laugh?

It's been another one of those days, I seen to be having a lot of those lately. It was 1 pm and I was still in my pj's. We've had a long father's day weekend with trips back home and to the beach. I'm exhausted, so are the kids, and I feel a major headache turning into a migraine. Luckily, Ally has just gone down for what I hope is a long nap. Charles-Allen is laying on the couch trying to go to sleep, and Parker is eating and I'm hoping everything goes well and all three are asleep at the same time so I can get a nap. And then it finally happens, they're all asleep. I put Parker down, say a quick prayer that Ally and Parker stay asleep and quickly crawl in bed for a much needed nap. If you'll notice I didn't mention Charles-Allen in that prayer because almost NOTHING wakes him up once he gets to sleep. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that in less than 5 minutes a cute little neighbor boy would be ringing my doorbell over and over and over and over and over again until I could finally open it and let him in. Still this did not wake Charles-Allen, but the sound of Caden's voice as he tells me all about the parachute man he made and demonstrates how it works and inquires when Charles-Allen will be up seems to do the trick. What can you do but laugh and realize that Heavenly Father does hear and answer prayers. The girls did stay asleep, but Charles-Allen didn't:)

A Stressful Week

Last week was a little stressful to say the least. It all started Monday night before bed and Charles-Allen started throwing up. He never gets sick, but before Tuesday morning came he had thrown up 11 more times. We got no sleep all night because I was so paranoid he was going to throw up in the bed. He's not so good about throwing up in a bowl so I was constantly jumping up everytime he moaned or turned. The next day was much of the same and by nightfall Ally started throwing up. By Wednesday I had two very sick little kids but they were finally sleeping more than vomiting so it was a little better for me. Then Wednesday night Emmy, my always sick, catch everything child, began throwing up. She and Ally decided they would throw up all night and by Thursday morning Neal and I were exhausted. Unfortunately, Thursday I was home all day with three kids throwing up everywhere. On me, on the floor, on the bed, on the chair. I don't think I have ever washed so many sheets, towels, and clothes in one week. I was exhausted not to mention the fact that I'm over 7 months pregnant. Charles-Allen stopped being sick on Saturday, Ally on Sunday, and Emmy was still sick all day yesterday. Unfortunately, I realized in the middle of the night last night that her eardrum had busted. She was up and in a lot of pain so we gave her so medicine and Neal gave her a blessing and she was finally able to fall back to sleep. So off to the doctor we go to find out that Emmy has a busted eardrum in her right ear, a clogged and non functioning tube in her left ear, a double ear infection, and her personal favorite strep throat. The doctor also suggest that we bring Ally in since she hasn't been eating well and she has an ear infection. I think I'm about done in. But on the bright side Neal and I haven't gotten sick, yet and we were able to take care of our babies. One thing is for sure, this week has to be better!

Snaggle Tooth

Emmy finally lost her first tooth. She is only a few days away from turning 7 and she lost her very first tooth. Ironically, it was the first tooth that she got in as a baby. I can't hardly stand it. She is growing up way too fast. She lost it when we were in Williamsburg on vacation. We were getting ready to go to Water Country and I told her it was way loose and I hoped it didn't come out while we were at the water park because we might loose it. The next thing I know she has pulled it out. We were so excited. It doesn't take much to entertain us. Unfortunately, the tooth fairy didn't know we were in Virgina so she couldn't come until we got home. And since Emmy didn't sleep in her bed that night she couldn't come then either. Finally, everything lined up last night and she arrived bringing her 3 whole dollars. It was a lot because it was her first tooth. However, I was unaware that the tooth fairy was suppose to write a note (thanks a lot kristen). So I told her that there must have been a lot of kids that the tooth fairy had to visit that night and she didn't have time, but i'm sure next time she would be sure to leave her a note. That was a close one:)