Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Jonah & Daddy's First Hunt

This past weekend marked a big milestone for Jonah and his Daddy. They went hunting together!!

Michael has been looking forward to that day since the day we found out we were having a boy. He wanted to wait until he thought Jonah was big enough to understand what hunting is and be able to somewhat stay quiet. Well Jonah has done very well with knowing when he needs to whisper and when he can talk loudly or normally. I credit us going to church every Sunday for this. We don't have a children's church or nursery class during church so all the kids stay in the auditorium and MOST Sunday's Jonah does great. He is not always still but at least he is quiet. I think that is pretty impressive for a 3 year old!

So they set out Saturday evening to go hunt at our friend's land. Michael took the ground blind so that they didn't have to climb (safety!!) and so that Jonah could still move around but not bee seen by any deer. Well they did not see any deer, just squirrels, but they had a great time together. I will let the pictures do the rest of the talking.


Heading out! Jonah was beyond excited. He did not nap because he was so excited and when Michael went in his room to get him, he asked if Jonah was ready to go hunting. Jonah said "YES!!" and jumped up about 2 feet. LOL


My two hunters!


Michael took some pics of them in the blind. As you can tell they were both having fun.




On the way home (which is just a few miles away) Jonah fell asleep. He finally got warm and full from his snacks. We laid him down on the floor in the living room because we didn't want him to sleep too long. He was OUT!


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Monday, October 14, 2013

Pumpkin Patch 2013

This past Saturday we ventured out to the pumpkin patch for our annual day of Fall fun. We went with a group of friends from church that all have small kids around the same age. This year we went to Honeysuckle Hill Farm in Springfield, TN. It was a bit of a drive but so worth it.

We took Haley to stay with my Mom since I didn't think it would be a place set-up for little babies. I was correct. She probably would have been miserable and me too because it was a large place and it was a little hotter than we had anticipated but a beautiful day nonetheless.

The farm had a hayride down to the pumpkin patch where you could pick your own pumpkin to keep. They also had various farm animals to look at and some play cows you could milk. Jonah loved that! He milked that cow like it was his job! LOL

They also had a huge sand pit with tons of dump trucks and diggers that all the little boys (and some girls) just loved. There was a big in-ground trampoline that the kids loved too. There were several other activities that cost extra from your admission. We did a couple of them since the church had sponsored our tickets into the farm. Jonah got to dig for "gold" which was super fun. It was a pail of dirt covered little fancy rocks that you washed out in the river and then kept the pretty ones. We also rode the pumpkin train.

I will say my one little complaint was that this place was SLAMMED! There were easily a couple thousand people there at once. The lines for food and getting in were so long. Thankfully we got group tickets and brought our own lunch in so we didn't have to do the lines. We did have to wait a little while to get on the hayride but it wasn't too bad. We will definitely know better next time to be prepared for a crowd.


This is most of our gang. A couple of the kids didn't want to get in the pic and Jonah couldn't reach the face that was left. Hehe!


Once again this is most of the group. It was really hard to get them all looking at the same time. LOL


Me and my Jonah-man! This was in front of the water tower where you could dig for gold.


Daddy and his baby-man! Love Jonah's smile in this one.

 Attempting to jump on the corn popper. He needed Daddy's help just to stay vertical.



Digging for gold!







Such a fun day and beautiful weather! Love days like this and it was some much needed one-on-one time with Jonah. But can't wait to bring Haley along next year!


This was the end result! I would say it was definitely a success!


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Friday, October 11, 2013

5 On Friday {The Good With The Bad}

Ya'll....this has just been one of those weeks that you just try to survive. I think I might have.....

So I am going to layout all the yuck of the week and then follow that up with a silver lining. Just trying to find the blessings amid the crazy.

1. Haley got 3 shots on Tuesday and seemed to be OK with them until yesterday. She went on a feeding strike and would only eat 2 ounces and just scream and not take any more. She also seemed more tired that usual. They told us this might happen after the shots but I thought it would be like right after...not two days later.

The good thing is that she seems to be getting back to normal now and took more ounces in the night and slept from 9:00 to 2:00, which is a pretty long stretch. Also, she is very healthy and for that we are so grateful!

2. This is our busiest time of the year with work and especially this week. So of course my Internet was down for 24 hours....WHY NOT?! (I work from home by the way) So I could not do anything for a solid day and we live in a rural area where everyone uses the same provider and so there was not anywhere for me to go to get Internet either.

But this just meant that I had more time to be with my kids during that day and play and see them....so not all was lost.

3. I ordered the costume below from Party City a couple of weeks ago and it came earlier this week and it was the total wrong size! They sent me a boys size and I had ordered a toddler size. I called and the toddler size was back ordered so they agreed to send me another firefighter costume...except they said that their corporate office would have to call me to confirm they could do this...ugh! So I waited for that call for two days and finally called and just asked for a refund. What a mess and it amazes me how upset I get when it's something for my kids. I was so worried about Jonah not getting to be a firefighter for Halloween and not finding another costume in time. It's not exactly easy to get out to a store with a infant and the nearest town is 40 minutes away.



But I scored a great deal on a firefighter costume on Ebay in his size so hopefully that one will work!


4. Tomorrow we are heading to the pumpkin patch with friends and I am so excited. I look forward to going every year and it really gets me in the Fall spirit.

Last year at the pumpkin patch. Jonah has grown so much!

5. With all the craziness of the week and the having-an-infant-that-gets-up-twice-in-the-night, the hubs and I were wore thin yesterday and not being very nice to each other. After both kids were settled down we just took a moment to ourselves to talk and figure out what is working and what's not working and come up with some solutions together. So grateful for my precious husband and his love for his family and wanting to help out. I don't know what I would do without him!!

Linking up HERE.

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Wednesday, October 9, 2013

Halloween At Our House

I transitioned my Fall decor over to Halloween last weekend. I am gradually starting to add more Halloween stuff to my stash. I used to not have any at all because I thought it was a hard/weird holiday to decorate for. But now that I have kids I think it's fun to decorate and get them into the spirit. I just decorate my hutch and put some stuff outside. You'll also see a peak at my first ever burlap wreath that I made (and probably my last LOL). It was not easy to make and now I know why those things are so expensive to buy. I love how it turned out though!






 I painted a canvas in a black and white chevron pattern and then glued this felt jack-o-lantern place mat to it (from the $Tree).




 I printed out this free Halloween garland from a blog. I can find the link if anyone wants it.





 Some of my other decorations: Ghost from Hobby Lobby/ sparkly pumpkins from Dollar Store/ another free printable in a spray-painted frame. I made the black lace covered tea lights last year.



Outside I just added my wooden crate and a mum and pumpkin with our Boo flag.


I love keeping it simple and but fun for Halloween. Now lets just cross our fingers that the mum survives till the end of the month. LOL


Domestic Superhero

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Haley is 2 Months Old!

Haley was 2 months old on Saturday, October 5th! I cannot believe how fast time flies once you have two kids!

Here is our sweet little sugar dumpling on her month-day.



She went for her well-checkup yesterday and she weighted 10 lbs. 9 oz. and was 22 inches long. That puts her in the 26th percentile for weight and 23rd percentile for height. Dr. said she is proportionate so that is good. Her head circumference was in the 72nd percentile though! She is going to have a big ole noggin like her brother. :)

Here is what Miss Priss has been up to this past month....which is not a lot more than last month. LOL

Sleep:

She is getting there! We had a couple of rough weeks just in that she would not sleep a stretch much longer than 2-2 1/2 hours. This was mainly because she would not drink enough milk before bed and then would not drink much during the night. She also was doing funny with eating during the day too. She got to where she would just take about 2 ounces and then we could hardly get her to take the rest. But since moving up in nipple size and letting her go 4 hours between feedings she has been doing much better. Last night she slept from 7:20 to 12:30 and then from around 1:20 to 5:20. So that is a much longer stretch. The Dr. seemed to think that every 4 hours would be a better schedule for her too. This has improved her ability to also nap for longer times during the day because she is fuller, where she had been waking up completely in the middle of her nap times but before the next bottle was due.

Eating:

Well I touched on most of that above but she is up to 4 ounces every 4 hours and we increased her to a level 2 size nipple which has helped so much. My gut told me last week that something was not right because she would just take a couple of ounces and then want some more a couple of hours later but then wouldn't really eat like she was super hungry. Turns out she has been trying to schedule herself and needed our help. I think that coupled with the fact that she was growth spurting and needing more fluid per feeding. I think we are at a good place now and I imagine she will be up to 5 ounces before this next month is over.

Playing:

It's still tricky to keep her awake for much more than an hour after feeding but she is a happy and smiley baby and loves to hear us talk to her. She loves watching the fan and she will stare up at our family pictures on the wall like she is studying them. I think she is just seeing all the colors in them. She definitely knows our voices and reacts to them. She loves to lay on her back and just move her arms and legs all around. We have to swaddle her for naps and night time or those arms will just keep her awake. She is so strong too and will hold that little head up anytime we put her on our shoulders. She does not lay her head down at all.

Personality:

Haley is really a very content baby and does not need or really even like to be held much unless it's eating time. She loves to lay down and kick and when she's tired she likes to be put in her bouncy seat or the swing and goes off to sleep on her own. We used to have to rock and sway Jonah to sleep and then try to lay him down and then many time he would wake back up. I am thankful that Haley seems content to put herself to sleep because it has helped a lot with Jonah being so active. She also is content to just sit in her bouncy seat and hang out while I do things around the house. As long as she can hear or see me she is usually fine. Also, Haley absolutely loves white noise. When she is getting tired and a little fussy I just turn on my white noise app on the phone and usually she is out within minutes. That little discovery has been a life-saver!

We are just so overjoyed with our sweet Haley bug and can't wait to see her change and develop over the next few months. I am just soaking up every bit of these first stages of her being a baby because now I know how fast it goes by.


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