Nolan met a new friend this week. The Yates Family Exersaucer. It has seen a lot of love, drool, spit up, diaper blow outs, and a toy keeps popping out, but it has been there for all of our children.
Here is Peyton at 4 months in the saucer: (Late October 2007)
Here is Mallory at 4 months: (March 2010)
And here is Nolie making a Yates family rite of passage. He turned 4 months this week and met the exesaucer: (July 2011)
This might be the best $59.00 we ever spent.
And just in case you need a reminder about how literal kids are, I asked Peyton to help me get Nolan to smile for the camera.
Nolan turned 3 months old on June 28th. No new stats until his 4 month check up but I can affirm that he is a VERY BIG Boy.
He is wearing 6 or 9 month clothing and size 2 diapers.
At 3 months old he is Rolling! Both ways. Tummy to back and Back to Tummy. We are trying to break him of the swaddle but he has a really hard time sleeping without it so the nights have been a little rough lately. Sleep training begins at 4 months on the dot! He loves to do patty cake with his hands and feet, hold conversations, be held, and play on his play mat. He is SUCH a sweet baby and puts up with a lot from our crazy family. We all love him so much.
My Crazy Haired Assistant removing Nolan's photo and sitting prop! She is fired!
Let's try a new location. "I'm keeping an eye out for that assistant of yours Mom! You sure this is safe?"
"Much Better. Safe in the confines of a photo backdrop with walls."
Wanted: A new photography assistant. The old one didn't work out so well. Please apply via this blog.
I always wished more of my best friends were having babies when I was having Peyton and Mallory. We could share the pregnancy pains,the joys, swap nursery ideas, commiserate over not drinking wine together :), etc. Well- be careful what you wish for because after celebrating the pregnancies of Kelley, Paige, and Megan I found out I was pregnant again myself!
Here we are in September, the Pregnant Bridesmaids in Kristen's wedding
From Left to Right, Megan and Paige due in February, Me due in March, and Kelley due in October
And here are the babies on the Outside! taken this June (in birth order) Hayes (7 1/2 months), Ellison (4 months), Reese (4 months), Nolan (2 1/2 months)
Can you tell who goes with who?
What a blessing it will be to see these babies grow together. They will all be in the same grade. God clearly has his own timing and eventually my wish did come true!
Here is Peyton from his first trip to the lake, 2007.
Here he is 4 years later at the lake on his 4th Birthday. (nothing too exciting, just singing happy birthday)
At 4 years old Peyton is loving, smart, inquisitive, stubborn, demanding, dedicated, beautiful, funny, and sweet. He loves to play with little cars, build garages, bridges, and towers for them with his blocks, use his imagination with his parking garages and pretend car keys, and loves flashlights, boardgames, skittles, cheetos, and grown up coca cola. He loves to listen to stories and helps you create the plot along the way. He loves Great Wolf Lodge. He and his Daddy have become the best of friends and love to golf together, play tennis, mow the lawn, ride bikes, tell stories, and play with the water hose and the slip and slide. He adores his baby brother Nolan and laughs at the shenanigans his little sister gets into. He loves white grape juice, Ritz crackers, and Totinos Pizza.
He still stays the funniest things. Here is a sample of recent "Peytonisms."
"Is the Eeeelarm on? Is this an EEEDult show or EEEdult game"? Eeee currently equals the letter A. " When I am 10 I will be all grown up" "I can do it. I am older enough!" "I do it my Own." "Mallory hit me. She needs to go to Jail!" "Nolan is a boy because God knew I wanted him to be." "God said we are all done having babies." (He came up with this one on his own! I guess 2 babies in 2 years was enough for him!" "My foot didn't know any better.: (after getting in trouble at school for knocking over a sand table with his foot after he was told not to touch it.) "I like to chew bubble gummin" "Did you forget my lunchie box?" "Is this the movie we watched Last Night?"= Last night stands for any amount of time that has passed. He will insist he went to the lake "Last Night" even though it was really last week, etc. "Why do I go to school "All the Day?", "I want to play All the Day!". "Why do I go to time out All the day?"
Last week he drew this picture on the white board. When i asked him what the picture was he said "It's just my Abstract."
Peyton Adam- you are my heart and I love you more each and every day. You are growing into such a smart and wide eyed little boy. Being YOUR mother is one of the greatest joys of my life. Happy Golden 4th Birthday my Baby Boy!
Here is the last post about our 12 day road trip trip in May. Our final stage was to spend a "restful" week at the lake house in Hot Springs, Arkansas. We decided that we needed a big reward after our long drive so turned it into a mini vacation. Nick, Alice, Ry, Cord, Cael and their nanny Hannah were also there. It was also Peyton's 4th birthday so we had a mini party for him with his cousins. I try to do one big party every other year so this worked out perfect since it was his "off" year.
After a 12 hour drive (you saw how that went in the last post about this) we arrived to Hot Springs. Marshall and I love to reminisce about our time spent there before children. Sleep till noon, drink tons of beer, float all day, etc. That isn't the case anymore but the kids had a great time tubing, playing with their cousins, floating, playing with the lake house toys, and being together. I think I'd choose the latter :)
Peyton turned 4 on June 4th so we spent the morning at a really neat putt putt course. It is an awesome course but was 100 degrees out so we were a little overheated :) After that we went for a pizza buffet then had a golf themed birthday cake back at the house. We were so lucky to get to spend his special day with his cousins. Peyton loves playing with them and they are so sweet to Mallory, they just dote on her and she loves it.
The lake was a great way to end our trek across the country. We had some rough moments- kids screaming, flat tire, up all night in hotels, etc. but the memories truly are priceless and I loved spending that much time together.
And here are all the pictures, all jumbled up and out of order. If I ever have time I will better organize them but this is the best I can do with all 3 kids home this morning. It has taken 2 Popsicles, a box of animal crackers, and 3 PBS shows to get this blog post written so I can't imagine what will happen if I try to organize the pictures :)
