George's First Holiday Program

Today we were tickled as we watched our little man in his preschool holiday program!  I have been trying to talk to him about what he was doing for the program and if he was singing for weeks and have gotten nothing in return.  Today, we watched as he somewhat rocked baby Jesus for "Away in the Manger" and sucked on his hand and jumped on the bleachers during their song about becoming a Christmas Tree (to the tune of I'm a Little Tea Pot).  It was really cute, of course we felt proud, and I will look forward to seeing him in another program!  Maybe next time we will get some lyrics and can practice the songs with him before the big day!

Half a year down....

Happy 6 month birthday to our little lady.  Big changes have been occurring with our little Ruth.  She has started eating baby food, first up...green beans!  She LOVES it!  She grabs for the spoon, laps it all up with her tongue and shrills with excitement!  It seems she may like food as much as her big bro!

6 Month Stats:  12 lbs 4 oz; 23 inches long...still riding the 3rd percentile for height and weight, but she is steady on her little curve!

MMMMM....green beans!  Give me that spoon mommy!

What happened to Fall???????

I feel like I have let an entire month go by with no updates...and realized, I have!  It has been a busy month and we are embarking on an even busier December.  We spent November going to the kite festival, "Touch a Truck," finishing up with Kindermusik and hosting Thanksgiving in Wilmington.  George saw, and refused, Santa for the first time this season and went to a birthday party (as parties have become very exciting to him).

Ruth is big enough to sit in the seat of the stroller!

Ruth has continued to grow and we can hardly believe that she will be 6 MONTHS old next week!  I guess I need to start planning for her first birthday celebration!  She is sitting up on her own, not completely upright, but can hold herself up with her arms in front.  She loves her exersaucer, can hold her bottle, gobbles up rice cereal (she will be an eater like her big bro) and still lights up a room with her sweet smile! I also think she is getting some sprouts of hair on her head and I attempt hair bows every once in a while.


We have had to start using some discipline techniques with George.  I borrowed the book 1-2-3 Magic from a friend and is has been a lifesaver.  He rarely makes it to 3, however, when he does he sometimes will walk me to his time out.  It makes me laugh inside when he does this, but I keep my neutral face and wait to smile when he is out of sight.  It seems to be working well so far, so hopefully it will help limit the naughty behaviors.  George talks more as each day passes.  He is still really big on people's names, and loves greeting them when he sees them.  He also has a keen memory for what car they have, their neightborhood/house, or where he knows them from.  He often gets excited driving down the road and thinks he sees "Mikes/Ellie's/Maddies/Skyler's" car.  He still loves his cars, loves fire trucks, motorcycles (aka Boy Daddy or Morning Crackers).  He loves to say his name, and just this past week has started to say his sister's name, "Poof."  He no longer limits his music to Lady Gaga, he now also likes Flo Rida (aka Porida).  He did not eat Thanksgiving dinner quite like I thought he would, but did like the pumpkin ice cream.  He had a great visit with Mimi, Grampy (aka DaDa Ga), Aunt Tobi, but his favorite visitor was his cousin Owen.  He even skipped breakfast one morning because he would rather play with Owen.  These two are going to be best buds growing up!

George and Ruth at the Kite Festival in Wrightsville Beach

Driving the tow truck

Ruth enjoying some rice cereal

At the WB Christmas Tree lighting....

Andy joined us on our final day of Kindermusik

October Fun!

It has been a busy month of October fun with lots of celebrating.  George had his Noah's Ark party at school.  He was our "little stinker" and did really well with keeping his costume on.  We also had our annual get together with some of our friends and their children for some playing and snacking on treats.  A fun time was had by all.

At the schools Noah's Ark Party

Everlee, Daniel, George, Ruth, Stella, Madelyn and Kaia

We don't think George really understood the idea of Halloween or Trick-or-Treat, so we practiced with our friend Larry.  Once George realized that saying trick or treat at someone's door produced a piece of candy, he was in.  Meanwhile, this was his first try at candy, he ate an M&M and had the melted candy on his face the rest of the night.  I think our "Lil Stinker" had a great Halloween and will be ready for next year!

So this is what Trick or Treat means...

One house down...

But I don't want to be finished!

come on...you're holding me up!

Sweet Brother

I love that George is so in love with his sister!  Tonight he let her sit on the chair with while they watched jeopardy!  They are going to be such little buddies.

Onery...but I sure do love him

George is in what I call a "trying phase."  He seems to very deliberately be testing the limits and trying my patience.  Sometimes I wonder how such an angelic looking child can be such a stinker!  He has been a bit of a grump the past couple days and I was feeling like I needed to take a quickfire parenting class to learn how to get him to mind, have good manners, and stop hitting and kicking at me.  Well, then I picked him up from school today and learned two things:

1.  "It was so cute today.  One of his classmates fell asleep on the floor and George just went over and started rubbing his back," says his teacher.
2.  A mom stopped me and shared, "I've been meaning to tell you.  When I ask Lane who her friends are at school, she says, 'I really like George.  He is a sweet boy.'"

With my head between my knees I was quickly brought back to reality that I do have a sweet son, and no, he is not turning into a bad kid, just developmentally going through what he needs to.

Maybe I need a time out....

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch

We went to the pumpkin patch this weekend to pick out pumpkins and hope for some cute photos of our sweet babies!  It went alright, but George did much better last year before he could walk around and try to run away from us or find the wagon to pull around (again, away from us).  But the end result was some cute shots, learning that Ruth likes to stick her tongue out, a lot, and we found two pumpkins to carve.

Smiling in the first halloween hat that George wore the first time he came to the pumpkin patch.

Happy 4 Month Birthday!

Today our sweet little girl is 4 months old!  We can hardly believe how fast the time is flying by.  We had our well check today and the results are in:

Ruth is a whopping 10 lb 7 oz and is 22 1/4" long.  She is riding nice and steady on the 3rd percentile curve.  This was such awesome news.

Now, if you know me, I went into the appointment neurotic and worried that Ruth is not using her voice, has weak leg strength and is falling behind the curve for these developmental marks.  I write this down on the sheet and hope that the doc will give me some insight or tell me that my little lady is "just fine."  Of course, since she is like her brother, after filling out the form, she decides to prove me wrong and cooed and caaed the entire time we were in the waiting room, and while waiting in the exam room was pushing up with her legs like she was working out!  George does this to me all the time, just when I am so worried he pulls out and shows me that things are "just fine."  I wonder sometimes if the two of them sit and silently plan how to make mommy "freak out."  Ha Ha

What do you want to listen to?

So, if you know Andy and I well, you are aware that we have very different tastes in music.  I must say I am pretty much a fan of pop music, like the beat, and really like the versions of songs that have an even faster beat (tends to help me motivate to run faster or work harder during a workout).  Since I am usually driving around with George he has become familiar with my music.  This always drives Andy nuts. :-)

Well...in the last several days I think what has occurred has caused Andy to begin plotting his revenge on my.  I had taped the VMA's for George and I to watch to see if any of his "favorite songs" were performed.  As we saw Lady Gaga win I let him hear the song in the background and let him know that was who sings the song he likes.  George then started saying "lady gaga" as he walked around or when he wanted to hear music.  A few nights ago he brought us the ipod doc and said he wanted to listen to lady gaga.  As I put on Bad Romance, George began to jump and dance in excitement with Freddy and then began to sing "Ra ra, ra ra ra, la la la la la" as Andy and I stared in amazement that he knew the words.  I promise, Andy, I did not teach this to him!  We are attempting to get video of this and will post if he performs for us!

Opposite of the Biggest Loser

Ruth has been having weight issues, but they are opposite of what you would be watching on the Biggest Loser.  We have been watching her and taking her in for regular weight checks and continued to see her be too small to even be on the "percentile" chart.  Today was a big day!  She gained 13 oz in the past 2 weeks and is now officially in the 3rd percentile (or as the doc says, "she is the average size of a 4-5 week old).  So at two days shy of 14 weeks, Ruth is a whopping 9 lbs. 3 oz!  Go Ruth Go!

Time Flies

I can hardly believe that my sweet baby girl is already 3 months old!  It seems like yesterday that she was born and now she is a quarter of a way through her first year.  She is growing in size and developing so quickly.  All of us, (Andy, George and myself) enjoy staring at her and waiting for her award winning smiles.  George especially loves when she smiles at him and always has to point it out.  I think it helps draw him to her, he wants to talk to her or show her things that are going on and is often rewarded with a big smile or coo.  This makes him elated and all giggles.  My heart melts when I see this, they are going to be such buddies!

George is doing new things every day and always amazes me.  He loves to sing his ABC's and has started singing the entire song alone (he used to want us to join him).  He is big on names and associates people with places he sees them often.  He often asks me when he is going to see Daniel, or Elly, or Julia to play.  I love watching him as he notices that we are understanding the words he is using.

Today George started his first day of PreSchool at Scott's Hill Christian Academy.  He was so excited to go to his "new school" and kept asking if he was going to see "boy."  I didn't get it at first, explaining that "yes, you will be able to play with boys and girls at school."  It wasn't until we pulled into the parking lot that I realized he was talking about a "boy" we saw last week during his orientation.  He makes me smile when I notice him associating places with people.  Of course, to me this means he is well above average for his age, but I realize that I am just an excited mommy who is proud as her son makes these developmental strides!    Anyway, George was a trooper, marching right into his room without looking back.  I stared into the room watching as my little guy sat at a table with one of his teachers pushing a car and trying to fit the car/truck/bus puzzle pieces into place.  When I picked him up his teacher said he had a good day and seem to have fun!  She also mentioned that they were doing a project painting their hands and counting and George wanted no part of this and would not allow them to even count his fingers.  Hmmmm...might need to work on the art projects at home.

Happy 12 Weeks Old Sweet Ruth

We have been lucky to have Ruth in our lives for 12 weeks now!  What a great time we have had.  She is such a sweet natured baby, just like her Big Bro!  Here is a pic of her today striking a pose.  I'll post video of George singing to her later...

On the up and up...

So, our little Ruthie is gaining!  She is up to 8 lbs. 6 oz.  That means a little over half a pound in the past 10 days!  Yay!

A Blogging Attempt...

Soooo...I have been inspired by several friends who have started blogging and figured I would give it a try.      I am hoping that I will continue with it and not give up out of frustration.  That being said, I figure that this would be a nice way for family and friends to stay updated on what has been happening in our life.

I'll start with a little update on our sweet little Ruth.  I must say, she is her brother reincarnated!  She not only looks so much like George, she is a little peanut like he was weighing in at just 7.5 lbs.  She may be slow at gaining, but she is developmentally on target amazing us with her strength and melting our hearts with her smiles.  George has becoming rather fond of her as well, and always wants to say hi to his "Baby" when he sees her.  She is very tolerant of his constant kisses and head rubs that he enjoys to give her as well.

Our sweet boy George has just turned 2!  We cannot believe how time is flying by, and often are sad, however, we then marvel at how much he is doing now and how much fun we have with him as a "toddler."  It is funny how everyone always tells you that all of the sudden your little one will begin talking and saying so much, and that is exactly what has happened with George.  Whether it is his surprising us with singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, ABC's or Row Row Your Boat, or saying peoples names, nothing has made our day more than when he started saying "I love you."  It is so cute how he says it with a slight southern accent and how when he tells one person he loves them, he needs to then go around and tell everyone he loves them (even if it is his car or shoe)!

We seem to be celebrating George's 2nd Birthday all month long.  I'll post some of the highlights of the celebrating.

We began the month with Grampy, Mimi, Aunt Tobi, Owen, P-Pop and Grammy coming into town.  We all had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather and each other.

My new sand and water table.  

The cake candles brought on a bit of a scare...

Yes, we did decide to put him in his "beater" and denim diaper.  A trend in his lifetime :-)

The second celebration was during George's actual birthday weekend.  We had a couple nights to stay at a hotel and booked the weekend at Carolina Beach.  Our little family had a nice "staycation" with each other.  We spent the evening of George's 2nd birthday at the beach with the Reids.  George ate cupcakes and spiced goldfish and danced with his friend Stella.  We spent the day at the pool on Saturday and after dinner took George to ride the "Choo Choo" at the boardwalk.  The night would not be complete without George enjoying his first ice cream cone.  I think it may have been a highlight!  

 Happy Birthday Morning to our 2 year old Leo

Dancing and playing with Stella at the beach.

Sleeping in the hotel and reading my Happy Birthday Book.

 Riding the "Choo Choo" with daddy.

Eating my ice cream cone!  Yum Yum

Ruth did come with us...

Our fabulous playgroup had an "August Birthday Celebration" at Hugh McRae Park and George had a grand time playing on the play set with his friends, and of course sitting down for some cupcakes!

George and Elly

Climbing fences and looking at cars with Paige

The final celebration of the month, whew!  George's friends Everlee, Stella, Daniel and Madelyn came over with their parents for a BBQ.  We enjoyed watching all of the kids (other than George, who was scared) play in the moon bounce.  They also threw balls, ran around, and drank water and splashed around in the water table.  The parents all enjoyed a few cold one's and some burgers.  George and our family feel very lucky to have such great friends!

Daniel, George, Stella and Everlee...what a change a year makes!

Our own little picnic

My attempt at a pull apart basketball cake.

Freddy getting in on the cupcake action!

Ruthie getting some love from Nicole!