CAUTION! Hard Hat Area!

On Friday, Drew and I had a little accident while vacuuming the playroom. I didn't realize he was right behind me and I pulled the vacuum back right into his head. It left a huge mark and he cried so hard. I felt horrible. (Later that night he cracked his head on a metal door frame at church...but that's a different story...) Today, I told him I needed to clean his room before his nap so he helped me change his sheets and then it was time to vacuum. He found the vacuum in the hall and helped me bring it into his room. He likes to turn it on and then usually helps me push it a few times, but today he just ran off as soon as it came on. Thinking nothing of it, I started to vacuum his floor. When I turned around a few seconds later, he was standing in the door with his orange hard hat on. (It came with a big dump truck he got for his birthday...thanks Cynthia...his favorite present EVER!) Apparently he decided he needed to put on the hard hat if mommy was going to vacuum again. I cracked up! He just giggled and came in to help.
Of course I didn't have the camera in the area at the right time...I'll try to catch him in it later...

4 Months!

Allen celebrated 4 months this past Friday with very little fanfare...ok...none at all. But I did give him a big kiss and tell him it was his birthday! Today we went for his checkup and shots. Allen is 16 lbs 2 oz, 26 inches long and 43 cm head circumference...all 75%. So I guess he is properly proportioned! He did pretty well with his shots. The exciting news is that we get to start cereal! Hopefully this will cut down on the spit up and the new crying fits he has started.
Here is a photo of Allen from last week in his cute shirt. And one of Drew helping me cook...he's quite full of himself these days!


I have grand plans to post stuff from January and earlier this month...we'll see if any of it gets done. There may just be a bunch of photos up one day with little to no explanation. You'll know why...

Allen...

Just in case you needed a laugh...this face makes me giggle every day!!!

All good things must come to an end...

...or so the saying goes. And I guess I have learned that it is true. When we moved "home" in March 2006, I knew it was only temporary. Patrick's job allowed us to make the move and for us to be in a near perfect situation - living so close to my family, little to no travel for him, back in familiar surroundings, back in the south... I knew it wasn't forever and I knew we would be off again at some point...I just didn't think it would be so soon!
Patrick has been offered a position (still with the same company) on a major project in Arizona. It is a 2-4 year contract where he will be working with a great hospital in a role he loves. The contract is brand new so he gets to be involved from the beginning instead of cleaning up messes as he has done in the past. It is quite an honor for him and he is very excited about the opportunity. I am so proud of him and so glad his company has recognized his hard work and effort and given him a chance to prove himself further. I just wish it wasn't so darn far away!
Patrick and I went to Scottsdale last Thursday for marathon house hunting and preschool searching. Unfortunately, preschools register in February for the next school year, so we have to get an idea of where we might live now and find a place we feel comfortable for Drew. The trip was long, but moderately successful. I feel confident we can find a place to call home, at least for a few years.
The range of emotions I feel right now is indescribable...

Hate me now...

OK, I don't know why I dare put this into print...I'm just asking for it...the death threats from the other new mommies out there...the realization that it WAS just one night and he'll never do it again...
Allen slept 11 hours last night. Yep, 9:30pm-8:30am. He stirred around 4:45 but I made it into his room and had the paci in his mouth and he was back sound asleep in less than 5 minutes. So I think it counts...my baby is definitely sleeping through the night and is on track to be a champion sleeper like his big brother! I don't know what I ever did to deserve this. I think God just knows I can't function without sleep and I can't seem to get much done when the boys are awake so I need the extra few hours!
YIPEEE!!!

First Day of School!

Today was Allen's first day of school! In true second child fashion, I have no photos to commemorate the occasion. I had good intentions, but between getting his shot records from the doctor this morning (thanks Daddy for picking it up) and maneuvering both boys into church along with all their stuff (thanks Aunt Celeste for your help!) I just didn't get the camera and Allen in the same place. The good news is he had a great day and did fine with his new teachers and classmates. He's the youngest (obviously) and there are babies at all stages in his class which is fun to see. The bonus is that Mommy gets about 4 hours, one day a week, all to herself! Today there was grocery shopping, a trip to Target, and a doctor's visit. (Mommy has bronchitis and is now on a million medications - so fun...)
Happy Thursday!

Christmas Extended

(I'm a little late with all the Christmas stuff...hold your horses...I'll get it all posted!)
The weekend of December 29, Nana's sister and her family all came to visit from Georgia/Chattanooga. We had so much fun celebrating Christmas again, eating lots of good food, and watching the kids all play together. The "big girls" just loved Allen. It's so fun to watch them grow up - these are the girls I have a photo of sitting on my lap at my wedding when they were 9 months old! It's hard to believe they are 8 years old now!
These are just a few photos of our time - the group photo and the one of the kids on the couch are "copies" of the ones made 2 years ago. Grandaddy thought it would be fun to compare!



2005

2007

2005

2007

Zoo Trip

On Monday, Nana and Grandaddy took Drew, Amelia and Jay to the zoo. They all had a great time and Drew talked about it for the rest of the day. Here are some photos Grandaddy took. Oh - when you show these to Drew he will name "Mia, Jay, Nana - who's that?" Apparently he does not recognize himself with the hood on!

Happy New Year!

Disclaimer...this is a really long post so if you don't have the time or just don't care (it's not about the boys), feel free to skip it!

Mommy and Daddy had a great trip to Orlando/Tampa this week. We arrived early Monday morning in Orlando and headed to EPCOT. It was chaos! I had been there before on New Year's Eve but apparently had blocked the experience from my mind. We spent the morning doing things you usually skip - enjoying the Innoventions exhibits, a backstage tour of the Land Pavilion, a meal at Mexico, the American Adventure show... Then the rain came and between being soaked and having a sinus headache/migraine, I decided to throw in the towel for the day. Yep...I quit Disney World. I was miserable and it was only 3:30 and the New Year was still so far away and my head hurt so badly...we left. Luckily, after medication, a nap, a shower and some dinner I perked back up and convinced my patient husband to go back and brave the crowds again. We made it back to the park around 10:00 and thoroughly enjoyed the big countdown they do and the great fireworks. All-in-all it turned out to be an OK New Year's Eve!

Patrick making friends on the "Behind the Seeds" tour - we highly recommend it if you ever have the chance. It's well worth the time and money!

Tuesday morning we drove to Tampa for the Outback Bowl. UT won. The details of the game are not important...we played ugly, there was horrible officiating and the UT fans were pitiful. But, the outcome was positive so it was worth our trip. We made it back to Orlando and walked to Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner. We spent way too long building Drew a Mr Potato Head (yes Kathy - it is SO hard to stop trying to squeeze stuff into the box!) and doing our other shopping that dinner ended up being a hot fudge sundae and a milkshake from Ghiradeli. Highly nutritious and delicious!

Yep...there were as few UT fans there as it looked on TV...it was pretty sad...

Wednesday we met up with our good friends Erik and Mary from Jacksonville. They were in town for the Michigan game and we actually ran into them on Monday at EPCOT - in the midst of the billions of people, we stumbled upon some we knew! They were with family that day so we planned to spend Wednesday with them before they headed back. We had a great time riding the things Mary and I missed in May (she was pregnant too so she was just as fired up to get on them!) like Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster. After a great lunch at the Brown Derby, they headed home to see their little girl and we spent some more time at the park. Oh yeah...forgot to mention that the temperature dropped overnight Tuesday and it was FREEZING on Wednesday. Literally - it was in the 30s and 40s. We were completely bundled up and still so cold. So, we did some more things you usually skip when it's nicer outside, like the Animation exhibit. We got to take a 20 minute art class and learned to draw Goofy. If you know anything about either of our art skills, you are probably laughing out loud right now. But both of our pictures actually turned out to look somewhat like the real thing. At least you can tell who we are trying to draw! We finished the evening back at Downtown Disney seeing a movie...at a theater...when it had been out for less than a month... It was a nice experience!

Freezing...just to look at lights on NY street at MGM...

The highlight of the trip was at 2:00 am on Thursday morning, the fire alarm went off at our hotel. So we evacuated and waited for the firemen to give the all clear. It was such a pleasant experience...awake from a deep sleep, stumble to throw on tons of clothes, stand outside in the freezing cold (it got to 28 that night) because neither of us thought to bring the car keys down...all because some moron put a donut in the microwave and left it going until it caught fire. Ahhh...the joys!
We made it home Thursday afternoon after a brief delay at the Orlando airport. Some stupid guy had to be removed from the plane (after we taxied and were in line for take off) because he refused to put his window shade up and then called the flight attendant some names. The pilot removed the guy himself - he was not happy to have to turn around just for an idiot. We had to wait about 20 minutes for them to find the guy's bag but eventually we made it airborne and home. It was so good to see the boys - we missed them so much! They had a great time with Nana and Grandaddy (who were tired but still love the boys) and I don't think they realized we had really been gone.

Lessons learned from our vacation...Don't go to Disney World on New Year's Eve. Don't let Mountain West Conference officials call a major bowl game. Don't assume it is going to be warm just because it's Florida. Don't forget the car keys when the fire alarm goes off in the middle of a freezing night. Don't ignore the strange acting guy walking to the plane in front of you.
Happy New Year!