Big Brother, Big Sister!

Eek! Rory and Lhana are excited to announce that they have another baby brother/sister on the way! Hooray! Due April 2014!!!





Roll Tide!



Slip-N-Slide



Jackets in August?!?

We had a cold front come through this week which was unexpected but oh so nice! The weather was perfect for a light jacket and some much needed outdoor playtime!



PLANES!!

The movie Planes came out, so Rory and I had a date at the movie theatre this weekend. The movie plot was similar to Cars, but the movie was still wonderful. Rory loved it!



1st Day of Pre-K @ RES!

Ahh...my heart hurts. Last week was Rory's first day as a preschooler :( We are sending him to Roopville Elementary! It is such a tiny school and they excel academically. In fact, their scores are ranked 1st over all the elementary schools in this area. RES is 134th out of 1100+ elementary schools in the state. Wow!!

I had prepared myself and he has been begging to go back to school all summer, but the preparation wasn't good enough (for me that is). I walked him in the first morning and was fine but as soon as I got back into my car, my eyes filled with gator tears. Its the beginning of his adulthood...seriously. School will be his life for the next 15 years and this will be our new norm. My 1st born will no longer be spending the days with me cuddling on the couch or baking deserts for us to indulge in after dinner. He will be going to school M-F from 7:40-2:25. Boo hoo hoo!! My heart is breaking. Not only was it hard to have him start school, but they encouraged parents to just drop their kids off after the first couple of days and not walk them in. What?!? I can't walk my little man into school every morning, tell him how much I love him, and give him big fat juicy kisses in front of the entire school. Wehh! I'm wailing over here! It is such a bitter sweet time. He absolutely loves school and gets mad when I pick him up as a car-ride some days. He wants to stay after school everyday :( Good for him, sad for me. I miss my little man who is now such a big boy! On the flip side...Go ROOPVILE HORNETS!!

Each morning, they walk in by themselves and grab a book to read.

Roopville Elementary School! We are so proud that we chose this school!

 Leaving after-school program after his first day of school. He was so sweaty and so happy! He had a great first day!

 2nd Day od School. Still smiling!



Our New Friend, Max!!

We found this sweet booger in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot. We were walking out after breakfast yesterday morning and heard this pitiful wailing kitten cry, so we looked around for a minute until we found this sweet little oreo kitten under a car just begging for someone to help it (or feed it). Megan looked under the car and the kitten came right to her. It had no collar and was extremely skinny, so we saved it! We thought it was a girl originally, so Rory named it Ruby. Come to find out, its a boy. So, Rory changed his name to Max (such as Max & Ruby...the Nick Jr. show). He is such a sweet kitty and Rory just adores him so...we are keeping him!!



Sweet Nanny!

We are so lucky to still have our sweet Nanny around. She has been like a second mom to myself and such a wonderful great-grandma to my kids! She just loved them to the moon and back and, oh, how they love her! So thankful for these picture (blurry or not).



Weekend Recap...

 This girl LOVES he daddy to no end!

 My little "fire-fighter"

Brother/Sister Photos

Jessica was in town this weekend and we got together to take some pictures of the kids. I've been meaning to do it for a while, so as soon as I heard she was headed our way, I knew it was time. We met at 8:30 on Sunday morning. It was a bit chilly and the kids weren't quite awake and as cheerful as normal, but the pictures turned out great! Take a look...



13 Going on 30!?!

Our 13 month old Sweethearttart is turning into a toddler so quickly. She is running everywhere she goes and staying close to brother whenever she can.

She babbles and has a great vocabulary so far. She can say duck, book, uh oh, mama, dada, boo, ball, block, that. She races toward the bath as soon as she hears the word. When I say "Where's Rory?" She turns circles looking for him and if he is napping, she goes right to his room to wake him. I usually let her do this often. She LOVES to walk up to his bedside and just stare at him or make squeeling noises until he wakes up. She just tickles herself pink by doing this. Rory, on the other hand, doesn't like it at all.

Lhana loves shoes. I mean she is obsessed!!! She will go and get them and bring them to us to put on. This is one of the few activities she will sit patiently for. She enjoys velcroing and unvelcroing them and watches our every move in hopes to learn how to put them on herself one day.

She is officially NOT nursing anymore. My milk is dry and she is on 100% whole milk and boy does she chug it. She goes to the fridge and begs to get her cup out and usually goes through close to a whole cup at each meal. She is not a big fan of juice unless it comes in the little cartons with the straws. She finds those to be pretty cool.

She now has 4 teeth with two more coming in. We have be waiting on these teeth for months now and they gave her so much trouble/pain coming in. But, finally, baby girl has some chompers.

Lhana is still sleeping in her crib and will not sleep anywhere else. She goes to bed between 7:30-8:30 and will sleep until 7:30ish...occasionally 8 or so when I am off and stay at home with her.

She is on the verge of eating us out of house and home. This little one is so tiny but can eat so much! She is begging for food 24/7. She eats her three meals with us, which are FULL meals, and constantly wants to snack in between. Do not eat in front of her of she will beg, squeel, whine, kick her feet, fall in the floor... whatever she has to do to get some of that food!

Sweetness is tiny and weighed in at a little under 20lbs at her last doctors visit. So, if she is lucky, she may weigh 20lbs or so now. She wears a size 3 diaper and still rides facing backwards in her car seat. I felt more comfortable with Rory facing forward at 12 months, but Lhana is so tiny and petite, that I am going to keep her backward for a few more months.

LJ going fishing @12.5 months! This chic loves the outdoors and her brother's toys!



Working Mommy & the Dreadful Daycare...

This week was my first week of work at Tanner and Lhana's first week of daycare. I had been dreading this for a long time. Not going to work, but putting her in daycare. I have been anxious to work for a long time but now that the time is here I don't know that I am ready. Lhana is in the Green Room and Crayon Academy. We have heard wonderful things about this center and have many friends who attend so we enrolled Lhana for 3 days each week. I will only be working three days a week a week and we I don't want her going more days than she has to. Poor Lhana have had to make many adjustments so quickly that it breaks my heart. First, attending daycare. That is new for her. Being away from me for more than a few hours at a time is new for her. She stayed at Andrea's house while I was in school, but has been at home with me for nearly two months. We also transitioned her into her crib just a few nights ago. She was waking up every 3-4 hours in the room with us and sleeps much better in her crib. She slept through the night for the first time on Tuesday. I assume it was because she was drained from daycare. They only nap once a day around 11:00 or so. She is use to napping once in the morning and once in the afternoon. We pick her up at 3:00 and she comes home and just passes out. She is still nursing and is still struggling not being able to nurse during the day. I don't send her with a bottle or anything. I am trying to wean her to just a sippy if necessary. I only nurse her when she is at home. This week has been so tough on her. It has been a rough transition going to work and being away from the kids so far. Hopefully when my first paycheck comes in it will make it all feel worth it.

LJ @ 11 Months!

Little lady is 11 months old and inching closer to the big 1 YEAR! Holy cow. She is a walking talking machine. She is such a pleasure to be around nowadays and has come such a long way from the fussy 4 month old we once worried about. During the first few months, we thought we were doomed and that our precious girl was going to be quite a handful. She was very attached to mommy and extremely sensitive to change. She would cry at the tiniest things and had such a dry sense of humor. Well...she has proved us wrong. She still has a dry personality which almost makes her more enjoyable. She doesn't laugh at the things we think are funny or smile when we think she should smile. She does everything on her on time and in her own way. She is perfect. She is such a joy to be around and is practically running around these days. Its hard to believe our sweet girl is inching closer and closer to the toddler stage. It makes me so sad...