Growing Up

I have been meaning to post on some updates for a while now, but life has been busy. These two big kids made some major changes several months ago and I feel the need to document them. In a single day, Eli gave up his blanket (that he had slept with since his first day home from the hospital), stopped sucking his thumb and took down his bedrail. About two days later, Madeline (not one to be outdone for long) also gave up her beloved blanket and had her bedrail removed. Then, as if my two precious oldest children had not given their poor mother enough to cry about, Eli decided to take up residence in the top bunk. My oh my. And those once sweet blankets that had become progressively more nasty with each passing year? I seized the moment when M&E decided to abandon them and tossed them in the trash bin.

This dear sweet baby is delicious. Seriously, irresistible. He's a little better with his napping but still not a great napper. He still gets up occasionally in the night, but the opportunity to nuzzle that sweet little fuzzy head in peace and quiet makes it so worth the interruption in my sleep. I feel like we may have a tooth any day now and he's starting to get quite good at sitting up, not on his own yet but soon. He has a healthy appetite and gobbles down his rice cereal, bananas, apples and sweet potatoes, and he's still great at nursing. He has been such an easy addition to our family and we all ADORE our sweet Ward.

Halloween 2011

Virginia Visit

A month ago, we traveled up to Virginia to visit Granddaddy and Vivian. (I know, I know, my posts are few and far between lately. I'm a little busy with life these days.) The drive up there was grueling. It took us 14.5 hours to get there. At around 7 p.m. we came to a stand-still in road construction traffic and there we sat. For 2.5 hours we only traveled 9 miles. Misery. Then, we tried to throw in the towel and stop at a hotel for the night only to be turned away twice due to no room in the inn. We had no choice but to press on and we finally arrived at 2:30 in the morning. The drive home would also be in the running for worst drive ever, but I'll get to that...

No rest for the weary when you have two 4-year-olds who have been dreaming about the pumpkin-patch-on-steroids since last year's visit, so the next day... or actually the same day, I guess?... we loaded back into the car and headed for Cox Farms. It did not disappoint.

I did not anticipate the cold wind, and this little hooded blanket tucked away in the diaper bag came in very handy for little Ward. He was snug as a bug in a rug wrapped up in this and tucked into the Baby Bjorn. Incidentally, Brandon was the champion baby carrier of the trip.

The slides were a hit again this year, but even more of a crowd-pleaser was the rope swing. I was impressed that M&E were really pretty good at it. As Eli put it, "Three-year-olds can't swing on that rope, but four-year-olds can. That's why we didn't do it last year."

The whole gang:

I told Granddaddy before we traveled up there that we expected a full schedule of activities and he delivered. The day after the "punkin patch" we went to Charlottesville for lunch at Michie Tavern and apple picking at Carter Mountain. (I sure do miss Charlottesville.) Our apple-picking duo picked 35 pounds of apples. Yum.

Another day, another adventure. We headed out the next day for White Oak Canyon Falls. My family used to go hiking up in that area often when we lived there and I remember why - it is absolutely beautiful.

I think we only made it in about a mile or so before Madeline ran out of steam, so we stopped for an apple break.

I would be remiss if I also didn't mention that we managed to squeeze in a dinner with Allison while we were up in VA, too. She had just been down to AL to visit us and meet Ward, so that means we got to see her twice in a matter of weeks. I'm fairly certain that hasn't happened since we lived in the same house... icing on the cake.

Three hours into the drive back down south, we discoved why Madeline was dragging during our hike when we had to pull over for her to throw up on the side of the interstate. So, despite the crummy drive, we all had a blast and a great visit, and though it may be a while before we brave the drive again, we will definitely be back.

Genesis 21:6

Soccer Star

Eli had his first soccer practice and game this week. He was so excited and was so cute to watch. He's the youngest member of his team by almost a year, and this was his absolute first experience with soccer. (In fact, as we walked over to the fields, Madeline asked me, "Mommy, is that basketball?".) It was obvious that Eli was a little green, but he had a smile on his face for the entire hour and a half and we can't ask for more than that!

The team did some different drills during practice and I had to laugh because Eli told me afterwards, "I wasn't very good at running backwards. I fell down and bumped my head, so I think next time I'll just walk backwards so I don't fall." At another point, he ran over to the sideline and asked, "Where's Madeline?," and then said, "Oh! I see her! Hi, Madeline!".

Madeline had a blast at soccer too because she got to run around and play with a friend on the bleachers and playground. Soccer and ballet are the first activities that these twins have done separately and as I expected, they're both doing great with having their own extracurriculars. I'm really proud of how patient they have both been while the other practices and it's been fun for me to watch them interact with other children without their best buddy at their side.

We Call Him "Wardy-Woo"

This sweet boy is growing like a weed. He had a check-up at the doctor's office today and he has gained 5 pounds and grown 3 inches since birth.

In the past couple of weeks, we've seen his hard outer shell start to crack. His constant serious expression has given way to the sweetest open mouth smiles that we can't help but reward with tons of kisses. He's also cooing a bunch (love that sound!) and I'm sure we'll hear a giggle soon because he seems to be right on the verge of it sometimes.

Apparently Ward is afraid to miss any of the action around here because this little newborn baby fights sleep like no baby I've ever seen. It's bizarre to me that he will have the most tired eyes that he can barely hold open and will just be miserably sleepy, but he just will not let go and sleep. He's even gone entire days without a real nap. Thankfully, he's very cooperative when we're out running errands and will sleep then, he falls asleep with no protest at bedtime (of course, he's exhausted by that point!), and when he does fall asleep, he sleeps great for hours.

Every one of our precious children has ended up with a nickname and so we fondly refer to our sweet baby as "Wardy-Woo," pronounced "Wordy-Boo" by M&E. Speaking of M&E, they adore their little brother. They have had a cold for the past week and it's killing them to keep their hands off of him. When I told them they couldn't be in Ward's face, Eli came up with the compromise of kissing his little feet instead. Hopefully the big kids will start feeling better soon, so they can get back in this sweet little face.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

We love you!