Happy 7-11!

 

Free slurpee day on 7-11!  Claire and I went to the pool that night after Fielder went to bed and got our slurpees on the way home.  I'm not sure whether she liked it or not....."Mommy, it's a little too salty on my tongue, but it's good."  Ok, whatever that means!  Gotta love a freebie!

8 months

Fielder turned 8 months on July 10!  He's a busy little man, army crawling all over the place and oh-so-close to crawling.  He just recently mastered getting himself in a seated position from laying down and can go from seated to crawling without the face-plant.  It was pretty tough to get a picture of him laying down - the one above was one of the few I could get before he was rolling and crawling away. 

He can pull himself partly up onto my lap or a step - like in the picture below.  And....yesterday when my mom went in to get him from his nap, he was STANDING!  Yikes!  As soon as I got home from work we lowered the crib mattress. 

He's got all 4 top teeth coming in at the same time which makes him pretty miserable sometimes.  And, I was right....Bob took a peek and sure enough he has 2 fused teeth on the bottom.  I call it his "double-wide."  At some point he'll need an x-ray to see if there are 2 adult teeth or not.

Happy 4th of July!

4th of July weekend at Uncle Chuck and Aunt Bradford's River House!  Thanks for a great weekend!  (We missed you Clay and Patti)




Top 7 things to remember:

1 - Rob and I were offered the "luxury suite" so that we'd have room for the kids - Fielder slept in his pack n play in the closet, Claire on a blow up mattress, and Rob and I in the bed.  I felt guilty kicking out Aunt Bradford and Uncle Chuck, but man it was nice!  It was our first overnight trip with Fielder and I was so relieved that he slept ok!

2 - It was SO hot out so most of the weekend we were all crammed into the little pool.  We even used the hot tub as a pool for a while.  The kids didn't need fancy toys - a corona bottle and plastic water bottle were the items to be fought over!

3 - Unfortunately there wasn't much wind to speak of either, but when it did pick up briefly we took advantage and went out for a ride on the Hobie cat.  It was my first time on it since I was pregnant last summer.  Claire, Mom, Chuck, and I went out while Andy, Tara, Sam, and Samara were in the sailboat.  Rob got jipped and stayed at the house while Fielder napped.  Claire loved riding on the Hobie Cat and I had to hold onto her or I think she would have just jumped into the water.

4 - Samara woke up early Saturday morning and never got a nap.....so she was pretty tired by dinner time that night.  She couldn't even keep her little eyes open and was literally falling asleep on her plate. 

5 - After Fielder and Samara were in bed, we went out on a sunset cruise on the boat.  I think that was my favorite part of the weekend - it was so peaceful and beautiful out on the water.  There were hardly any other boats out and we cruised up and down Sandy Point.  Claire and I sat up front with the wind in our face, just like I used to love to do as a kid (and still do.)

6 - I wanted Claire to stay up and watch fireworks with me, but she ASKED to go to bed!  Must have been pretty tired!!  Somehow all the kids managed to sleep through fireworks going off just a couple houses down.  We sat out on the pier and watched them while visiting with Scott.

7 - The highlight of the weekend for the kids was the swing that Andy rigged up.  First there was one swing and the kids would fight over it, so then he hooked 2 swings together and they could ride at the same time.  Uncle Chuck took a turn pushing and would spray the girls down with the hose!  They loved it and probably stayed in the swings for an hour. 

 

                                                             

Goodbye Turkey Oak

On Wednesday (4th of July) we had our last family gathering at the house Rob grew up in.  There'a contract on it and they'll close in a couple weeks.  Rob's parents built the house and he was 10 when they moved in.  It's not only the house he grew up in, it's where his mother passed away and where he moved back for a while to be with his Dad and brother.  So many memories in that house for him, but also for me too.  It was hard to say goodbye to it, but we are happy for Bob and Coral that they no longer have a big house and even bigger yard to take care of. 

We were about 2 minutes away when I realized I had forgotten my camera.  I almost cried!!  Jake snapped this picture with his phone.  I have quite a few pictures of us sitting on this fireplace from over the years and I think this might be the first one with Fielder.  Luckily Bob had his camera so there are more pics in front of the house so I'll add those later.  We all sat around chatting and enjoyed one last family dinner (thanks Coral!).  It was actually quite funny because Coral had arranged for people to come and take some of the last pieces of furniture.  They happened to show up while we were eating and they literally took the table out from under us. 

7 months!

 

Our little guy is going to be T.R.O.U.B.L.E.  He is already into everything, army crawling all over the place (usually making a beeline for electrical cords, remotes, dog toys, Claire's shoes, or anything else that he really shouldn't be playing with) and gets so frustrated when he can't do what he wants to do.  He's sitting up, but hasn't figured out how to get from sitting to crawling so he just face-plants and then can move around.  He isn't quite crawling yet, but I don't see that as being too far away.  YIKES! 

He's got 2 bottom teeth, although 1 of them I call the "mega tooth" - I don't know if it's really 2 teeth that are going to shift apart or if they fused or what?!  I guess I'll need to talk to the ped about that.  I never know if it's teething or if he's just tired, but the boy can really be cranky at times.  We have a hard time keeping him happy, especially in the later afternoon.  All he has to do though is flash that smile and he's back in our good graces  :-)

He has eaten everything we've given him to try (avocados, green beans, puffs, peaches, prunes...too many to name.)  Meal times are not very fun though because he kind of growls through the whole thing.  Maybe he's just mad that I'm not shoveling it in fast enough?  I can't wait for him to be able to feed himself!

Still getting up once at night to nurse....I have no idea when that will phase out.  As hard as it is to get out of bed, I do enjoy that peaceful time with him.  As long as he will go back to sleep, I am happy.  I am dreading the day that he decides to just stay up for the day at 5 a.m. like his sister used to do!!  (Surely one of these kids will enjoy sleeping in like their Daddy!!)  Naps are still hit and miss like they've always been.  45minutes - 1 hour twice a day is pretty normal.

I know he's growing like a weed because he's into 9 month clothes now and his pajamas are getting too short!  He mostly likes to roll around on the floor and "play" but he really loves the Johnny Jump-Up!  My favorite thing is to watch him jumping while Claire is running around and the 2 of them are laughing like crazy.

I survived....

Last Monday Andy and Tara didn't have a sitter and needed help with Samara.  Mom and I helped out (I had the kids in the a.m. and Mom took over when I went to work.)  I was nervous, but we all survived!  My mantra for the day was "do not let them see your fear."  Ha ha!  Actually it was much easier than I had expected.  Claire had preschool and once I got Fielder down for a nap I was able to spend some time alone playing with my niece!

Playing with play doh....fun for about 5 minutes

Playing in the pretend kitchen.  It was great fun mashing up the leftover muffins, crumbling them to bits and then eating it!  Time to clean up?  No problem, just bring out the vacuum cleaner Charlie!

I think Mom got the harder shift again.  All 3 kids, finishing up lunch, putting Fielder down for a nap, and then trying to get Samara to take a nap!  Andy brought over her brand new cot which she loves, but I had a feeling she wouldn't be too keen on taking a nap in the middle of my living room!

Do I look like I'm going to nap on this cot?!

Not sure how she did it, but Mom got her to fall asleep on the floor!

I'd say it was a pretty good day!  After going to work and putting my kids to bed I was BEAT! 
P.S. - Tara, do you want the shoes that Samara is wearing in the above picture?  They don't fit Claire anymore  :-) 

Zoo Day

We spent the morning with Andy, Tara, and Samara at the zoo last weekend and a fun (but exhausting) day!