Crazy Chaos

Last night was one of those crazy nights that you know you'll miss one day. I keep waiting for the day that having these 3 little ones becomes easier, but lately it has just been getting crazier. Nolan is into everything, Mallory can't keep her hands off of him, and Peyton has become very particular about things.  This results in pure chaos, especially from the hour of 5 PM until every last one of them is asleep.  Which is when Marshall and I breathe a huge sigh of relief and these days watch reruns of "How I Met Your Mother"  :)

Last night they all took a bath together after dinner.  Nolan got out first, got dressed in a clean diaper and clean jammies and I set him down in the living room to get the others out of the bath.

Well did you know that "Wine-os" come in all shapes in sizes?  Meet Nolan, the world's youngest wine-o.The second I set him down in the living room he reached up to a glass of wine that I had just poured (and a normal 10 month old should not be able to reach), and poured the entire glass all over his head.  He was COVERED in red wine.   I scooped him up, and put him right back into the bath with Peyton.(Where Peyton told me that Nolan smelled like wine.) :)

The Wine-o eating breakfast this morning in his second pair of jammies

Minutes later Peyton asked to be held and when I went down to lift him up he slammed his mouth into my shoulder and his lip split and started bleeding everywhere.  He cried for awhile over that one, more out of being tired than the actual lip.

The whole time this was going on Mallory was refusing to put her jammies on and insisted on wearing only a pink bath towel.  "Pink Towel" has become her favorite item. And when we finally got at least her diaper on she just kept taking it off, trying to give herself and Nolan diaper changes.  She really does try to change her own diaper- may be time to potty train.

When we finally got everyone settled and the crying and screaming had stopped (for the moment) and Mallory was finally in jammies  I looked across the living room and saw this.

And It Made Me LAUGH. And I wanted to remember it.

The Pink Towel Prevailed!  At least someone got to keep wearing it!

Nolan is 10 Months Old and Walking!

10 Months Old

Nolan turned 10 months old on January 28th and I forgot to write his post!  Here he is today, almost 2 weeks into his 10th month.  He has a little "comb over" today (he got some lunch in his hair) and lots of drool on his shirt, but he is as cute as ever! His biggest accomplishment in his 9th month was learning how to walk!! He started taking steps at 9 month and is now full on walking.  He definitely walks like a drunken sailor but walking is now his preferred way to get around.  He is as big as ever, eats more food than the other 2 children combined, is happy happy, loud, and just the sweetest baby ever. This month he has loved pulling Peyton's trains off the train table, playing in Peyton's closet (lots of big boy toys), laughing at his sister, taking baths, and eating big boy food.  

His best friend these days is Elmo.  Elmo is the only way I can change his diaper- it is the only thing he will sit still for so Elmo lives on our changing table.  Nolan claps and claps his hands whenever Elmo sings to him.

We are so proud of our little baby that is already walking.  Big babies sometimes take longer reaching their milestones but Nolan has been early on all of them, especially walking.  This baby boy keeps us very busy!

I've got moves!

Happy 10 months to our precious baby. Nolan continues to be such a joy and a huge blessing in our lives.  We love you!

Big Giant Baby Game

Here is a little game we played today when Nolan crawled over to Peyton's blocks and started taking them apart.  Peyton didn't miss a beat and rather than getting upset played right along.  I grabbed the camera :)

Once upon a time Big Giant Baby walked into our town like a tornado and started ripping apart the family windmill farm of Peyton Yates.

Oh No It's BIG GIANT Baby!  RUN!

Someone,  Call 911! We need help!


"911, What's your emergency?"

911 Dispatcher Mallory

(Sirens Wailing)- The cop car arrives and OH NO, we are no match for Big Giant Baby.  Better send an airplane in to catch him in a net and fly him away.

 

Big Giant Baby has his hands on both the cop car and the airplane.  Will we be able to stop him?!?!

Yes- Looks like that did the trick!  Time to go to Big Baby Jail.  But were will we find ever a jail big enough to hold big baby?  Sheriff Yates, start building one!.


Hmm- not going to hold him in, I think there is a giant jail just over the mountain and good timing, cause Big Giant Baby needs his morning nap.

There we go, the sheriff has put Big Giant Baby in Jail and all is well in the world again.

See Peyton, it can be SO MUCH fun when your baby sister and baby brother destroy your block buildings.  Lets turn lemons into lemonade.  See you the next time BIG GIANT BABY wanders over! Now where in the world is our 911 dispatcher?

Nolan Price

Peyton has a new name for Nolan, and as usual I find it highly entertaining.  He now refers to his brother as "Nolan Price" which stems from one of his favorite shows, a Welsh animated tv show called "Fireman Sam."  On this show,(which has VERY strong accents) there is a rather annoying little boy named "Norman (you guessed it) Price". Norman is not very well behaved and drives the fire brigade crazy with all of his practical joking.  You often hear the fireman yelling "NOOORRMAN PRIIICE".  Well, Peyton has now taken to calling Nolan "NOOLAN PRRICE" in a similar tone. I expect a Welsh accent to come out of him at any moment too.


Norman Price:

Nolan Price:

And just to give you an idea of how annoying this Norman Price really is and why sweet, mellow, adorable Nolan's association to him is so funny to me, I dare you to watch just 1 minute of this. Moms of little boys- I bet your little ones will love this show too. (available on netflix)




Our Nolan Price had his 9 month appointment and weighs about 24 pounds (85th percentile) and is over 31 inches long (greater than 95th percentile).  He is doing wonderfully and is just almost walking on his own.  In the pictures below you will see that his face is a little banged up. He took a bad fall on the patio this weekend but is okay now.  The doctor checked him out and said he is good to go, but it was still scary.

Peyton and his buddy, Nolan Price

Matching Pajamas from Gigi and Dandy

Best Buds

"NOLLLAN PRIIICE!"

And not to be forgotten, Little Mal-Mal had her picture taken today too.  Here she is on her way to school after doing her own hair styling.  She insisted that she wear all of the bows and headbands together and even put some of them on herself. Her preschool teacher gets such a kick out of her fashion arrival each morning.

Now off to take care of little Nolan Price while the other two are at school. :)

Peyton and Pirates

The conversation this morning on the way to school made me appreciate my life and my job as a Stay at home mom.  I wanted to record it for memory sake.  Peyton has had lots of questions lately, about everything.  He is just trying to figure out the world.  This is just a sampling of what we talk about.

 From Last Night:

"Mom, are pirates real?

"Well, (I struggled with this one, because technically there are pirates out there but you don't want your 4-year-old to know that. Lots of questions lately about the authenticity of Batman, Superman, etc.- I figured I'd be honest.)  "Yes, actually there are some pirates."

"REALLY?" . (Very Wide Eyed.)  

"But you don't have to worry about pirates because they live far, far away in oceans that Mommy would never take you too."

"What do they do?"

"Well, they live on boats and steal things that they don't belong to them. But you don't ever have to worry about seeing one."

"Oh, Okay."

This Morning on the way to school:

"Mommy, Why did God make pirates bad?"

"Well, God didn't make them bad.  God makes all of us good, and allows us to make our own choices. And pirates made a bad choice to be a bad person."

"But Why did they do that?"

"You know how sometimes you make a choice when you are playing with your sister?  Like sometimes you choose to be nice to her but sometimes you choose to be mean to her?  We try to make the best choices we can and sometimes that can be really hard, especially when we are angry, but we have to make choices with Jesus in our heart, the way that he would choose- Pirates have a hard time doing that."  

"So God does not want us to be bad pirates." "Do Pirates not go to heaven?"

"Well, Jesus wants them to go to heaven but he also wants them to make good choices because they have Jesus in their heart.  You don't need to worry about that because you keep Jesus in your heart.  Does that make sense?" 

"Wellllllll MOM!?!

 Yes!?! (I couldn't wait to hear his conclusion to this conversation and the important impact I was obviously having on him)- 

"THERE GOES A RITZ CRACKER TRUCK!!!!

End Scene.

Peyton this week, 4 years old and so proud of his puzzle work.

Girl's Getaway- Inn Above Onion Creek

2012 Girl's Trip with Leigh (dog from the Inn)

Girl's Weekend 2012. Hopefully there will be a post like this every year!  I just went to a wonderful B&B with 6 of my best friends.  2 of them are currently pregnant so we needed to keep it close to home and decided to try the out "The Inn Above Onion Creek" since it is located just outside of Austin near Wimberley, Texas. It was fantastic.

http://www.innaboveonioncreek.com/

We spent the weekend eating, eating, drinking some wine, eating some more, and just catching up and spending time together.  The chefs at the inn are amazing and the hospitality/setting is so relaxing and nice.  We were able to reserve a cottage together and had our meals in the main inn. I highly recommend this place if you are looking for a simple weekend get away.

On Friday we all met in Wimberley and had an amazing lunch at The Leaning Pear.  We did some shopping at the small town stores and then headed back to the Inn for our first amazing meal.  That night we had our Christmas gift exchange (we've been doing versions of this gift exchange since college) and played board games and celebrated Kristen's birthday a little early.  I'm pretty sure we were all in bed around 9:30 PM!  Ahh, that is living!  On Saturday we had a delicious breakfast, followed by some spa appointments, and then surprised Leslie with a "Thing 1 Thing 2" twin baby sprinkle.  Then it was time  by the pool (you wouldn't have believed the weather even though it was January), another delicious dinner, and games and conversation.  Then breakfast and time to head home.  I feel recharged, refreshed, and reconnected to the girls that have been my friends for life, some of them even since elementary school.

This was such a simple, easy weekend. Nothing fancy, no flights, really close to home for most (well Kristen came in from El Salvador!) but I wouldn't change anything about it. The destination is just not as important as the time spent together- especially with a beautiful setting and yummy food.  I love you girls and our times together.  Can't wait for next year!

This dog loved our group. She poses for the camera!

Our cottage "Thelma"

Surprise Sprinkle Leslie!

Surprise!!! While you were at the spa we set up a baby shower!

Lots of butterflies at the Inn, I caught this little friend on my arm

Spending time in the "Library"

And here is our weekend's menu you need more reasons to try this place out! They use fresh, local, ingredients. We even saw all of the oranges they used for each morning's fresh squeezed orange juice in their compost pile :) I love food so everything below was such a treat.

Friday Night Dinner:

Roasted Tomato Soup with Cheese Crouton

Blackened Salmon with Chive Butter & Lemon

Creamed Orzo with Leeks

Sauteed Haricot Vert with Pinenuts & Shallots

Coconut Cream Pie

(pretty much the best pie I've ever had in my life)


Saturday Breakfast:

Open-Faced Croissant Breakfast Sandwich with Smoked Ham, Over Easy Eggs & Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Sliced Tomatoes

Fresh Squeezed OJ

Assorted Breakfast Breads

Homemade Granola & Seasonal Fresh Cut Fruit

Saturday Special Lunch (we arranged for shower)
Chicken Club Sandwich on Ciabatta
Salad with honey dijon mustard dressing
Homemade Brownies (to die for)


Saturday Dinner:

Farmers Market Salad with Pure Luck Chevre, Candied Pecans & Pears

Prime Rib with Au Jus & Horseradish Sour Cream

Roasted Vegetable Puree

Collard Green-Cornbread Gratin

Chocolate Cake

Sunday Breakfast:

Challah French Toast with Warm Cinnamon Peaches

Sausage

Scrambled Eggs

Fresh Squeezed OJ

Assorted Breakfast Breads

Homemade Granola & Seasonal Fresh Cut Fruit

Grapefruit with glazed Sugar
Fruit


I told you it was good!  :)


See you next year Paige, Kelley, Aimee, Kristen, Megan, and Leslie.  By then we will have added THREE more babies to the mix with hopes of more to come!  Thank you to Marshall and my parents for taking care of my sweet babies so that I could have some "me" time.

Nolan at Nine Months

Nolan turned 9 months old December 28th.  During his 8th month he learned to stand alone, somewhat walk behind a walker or a table, cruise around, and eat lots and lots of solid food.  I also just recently weaned him and that has been pretty sad for me but he hasn't seemed to mind at all.  There is something so special about nursing and I am so blessed that I was able to nurse all 3 of my children.  It is just another parenting milestone that pulls at your heartstrings, it makes me sad that he is no longer my little tiny baby.

Nolan is still very big and we will have his 9 month stats after his appointment next week.  He is very verbal and chatty and says many consonants like mama, dada, papa, nana, etc.  He strongly dislikes having his diaper changed or being spoon fed and is very strong so he often wins those battles.  He also dislikes his car seat and we wrestle with him and have to physically bend him in half to get him to sit :).  He loves to eat, play in the bath tub, be outside, play with his sibling's toys, bang at the window at the dogs, and be held.  He recently spent an entire weekend by himself with his Gigi and his Dandy and loved all of the attention and loving care he received.

I tried to take his picture by himself but these pictures are MUCH more indicative of his 9th month.  His siblings just want to be everywhere that he is and he is rarely lonely.  Peyton and Mallory both dressed themselves today, and yes-that is her Foofa costume and Peyton's shirt is on backwards.  Happy 9 months Nolie Noo! You are a happy, happy big boy and becoming more independent every day. We love you.