playing cars

I just love these pictures and seeing how Wesley is just entranced with watching his big brother. Apparently now whenever I put Wesley down on the floor in the tv room Jack declares that it is time to play with cars.

Wesley seems to really enjoy tummy time, and pretty much anytime I put him down on the ground, big brother wants to play with him or hold him or poke him (at least he usually asks permission first...and obeys when we tell him NO!). He gave Wesley a white car to match his pjs and Jack took a green one to match his Buzz Lightyear PJs.

Bath Time

Jack decided to take me up on my offer to help give Baby Wesley a bath. It is so sweet to see him taking interest in caring for his baby brother. He has also helped me change a diaper and he likes picking out clothes and socks for Wesley....not that they always coordinate....but hey, who cares!

I love little boys...

I can remember when my brothers were little they would lay on the floor to play with their toys like this....and now my little (big) guy is doing it too....so cute! And just so you know, they never lay still...just like his uncles, Jack was still wiggling all over the place while playing with his toys...it just brings back sweet memories and makes me smile!

some perils of parenthood!

Well, I've already mentioned about our visit to Hobby Lobby, but there is much more to tell about our day today....

Wewent to a new mediterranean restaurant here in town. I LOVE gyros and was very excited to finally have a place in town to try....there is actually one more place in town that have gyros too....its on my list of places to try too....anyway...the food was quite tasty although our service was so-so and we felt it was a bit overpriced for the amount of meat we got. I'm willing to try it again someday to see if the servings are better for the price, we'll see. Now you may think that a simple visit to a new restaurant wouldnt be much of an adventure, but you see, we accidentally let Jack leave the house in...gasp...BIG BOY UNDIES! These days we put him in Pull-ups when we leave the house. Although potty training is DEFINITELY making progress...he really isnt consistent enough letting us know that he needs to sit on the potty...he's just getting better about holding it until we remind him to sit....but he is certainly showing more initiative. Well, when I realized our mistake I started having a mini panic attack...thankfully we had the diaper bag with plenty of diapers and pull ups inside...but I kept going back and forth about whether to go ahead and risk it or change him. Finally I chickened out and took him to the bathroom to change him, and in the bathroom I saw what had to have been the shortest toilet I had ever seen...other than a child's size one. I asked Jack and he agreed to try to sit on the big boy potty, which we tried for a few minutes, when he informed me that he wanted to try standing up....which we tried for a few minutes before I stuck my head out the door and called for Josh to come and help with this particular part of potty training! :)I just wasnt sure about the exact right way to teach it...I figured let Daddy take charge. In the end, nothing happened and Jack ended up joining us with a frsh apir of pull ups and our lunch continued without incident. Whew!


Now to the REAL adventure....HAIRCUTS! Apparently Jack has inherited his fathers ability to have very fast growing hair....and it seems like Jacks hair gets shaggy SO fast....probably because it is hard to get a good haircut on a squirmy toddler, so we already start out behind. Anyway, while Daddy was at the dump, I decided to to a "practice run" with a practice haircut on Jack. He had done a pretty good job at his last haircut, so I was hoping that this time we could get him to sit by himself and put on the cape. To practice I put him in his booster seat, draped a blanket over his clothes, and talked the whole time about being still and quiet while snipping scissors around him. Everything was fine until I had the bright idea to get out Daddy's clippers so that Jack could get used to the sound and sensation of the clippers and hopefully not freak out....well....just hearing them buzz in my hands made him cringe...and he did NOT like them tickling his neck....so we put them back and I figured we would be ok for the haircut and just request no clippers.
We got to the salon, armed with gummy bears to help with the impending drama....and it all started to go downhill as soon as they called him back. As soon as they headed towards the chair Jack decided to go boneless and start his protest. Finally Daddy got him in his lap, with both of them covered by a cape (which is a tiny bit of progress since the child sized cape usually freaks him out completely!) Jack fussed and complained the whole time and whenever the stylist came near his neck or ears he screamed "no clippers, no clippers" even though there were no clippers to be seen. Gummy bears didnt even help...in fact at one point he was freaking out so bad I was afraid he would choke on his gummy bear. All of his crying and screaming got several looks from the other patrons, mostly pity or amazement...and it caused Wesley to wake up and start adding his own cries to the noise. I had to step away from Jack and tend to Wesley and thankfully another stylist came over to show Jack a picture of her kitty cat and calm him down to talk about his puppy dog Maggie. In spite of it all, he came out of it with a pretty good haircut....and NO, I was a mean/firm Mommie....he did NOT get the lollipop they normally give to kids at the end. I figured that would be sending him the wrong message about our expectations for his bahavior during haircuts. He wasn't happy about it, but got over it quickly. I think all 4 of us needed a nap after that episode! My friends keep telling me that it gets better...I sure hope so...or he may start sporting long hair, or I may have to sedate him before taking the clippers to him! sheesh! I've decided that while I absolutely LOVE having little boys...on haircut days it might not be so bad having a girl....at least we could let her hair grow out long if haircuts didnt agree with her.

My husband, my hero

I was encouraged this morning when the day started out on a positive note.....since my parents loaned us their Rendezvous for a while we were able today to haul off a load of trash to the dump and a load of stuff to Goodwill. As I (think I) mentioned earlier, Jack's baby crib was recalled. After quite a bit of hassle, we finally got a new crib for Wesley (and the load of cardboard that was hauled away from the packaging was evidence of that). Here is a picture of the hulking behemoth. I am hoping the fact that it cost more than 50% more than our previous crib and weighs like 2x as much means it will last longer and NOT be recalled! I actually really like the dark cherry color and the fact that we got to buy a separate rail and it can become a toddler bed, but it isn't a convertible crib that will also become a big bed too...guess it's "semi-convertible"


Anyway, since we had the big car, today was also the day that Jack's bed was to be hauled away too. Every time I thought about it I would get very sad and teary. I told Josh he would have to sneak it out of the house so I wouldnt be so sad...and he tried...but I still found out and got all emotional again. I know, I am silly...but I really loved that crib....it was a nice color, it was a nice style, a great price, and most importantly, it was my first babys first bed....used for over 2 years.

It had the scrape on it where Maggie's nails nicked it when she jumped up to see him the first time we put him in it. It had the tooth marks in it where Jack would gnaw on the rail when he was teething...it had sweet memories and maybe a few hopes that it could be passed down someday.

Anyway, my sweet hero of a husband devised a solution. We are hoping he will get a chance soon to build a much needed toy box, so he salvaged some of the rails and wood to use on the toy box...which I think is a PERFECT solution...and I am a happy mommie once again. I'll have to post a picture of the future family heirloon when it gets built. I am so excited!

WHY?

Oh my goodness, I hear it all day long, every day! I realized today that it doesnt really bother me very much when we are at home...I just answer him or distract him....but today while we took a family field trip to Hobby Lobby, I thought my ears were beginning to bleed from Mr. Motormouth's constant talking. He had to talk about EVERYTHING he laid his eyes on and ask at least 2 or 3 questions about each thing, which made it hard to look at what I wanted to see...because he will NOT be ignored...he will repeat his question or observation over and over and over until it is answered or acknowledged. I thought grabbing him a book would be a distraction..but no..I had to read him the book, upside down...and answer questions about the pictures. and then somewhere along the way he has learned to ask to "take home" all the cool things he is looking at..and when I tell him that we can't buy everything....it starts all over again "But WHY Mommie, why cant we buy everything? WHY can't we take Thomas/book/school bus/green pumpkin/christmas tree/basket/dinosaur/slinky home with us? "...I'll be honest...I was EXHAUSTED by the time we left...but I also have my mom's words ringing in my ears...to be thankful he is so observant and inquisitive...it means he is happy and healthy and smart....
Now you may ask yourself...when did Granny Ruthie learn such wonderful words of wisdom...well according to her it was around 30 years ago....from a fellow shopper...when I was doing the EXACT SAME thing to her....apparently now its payback...and my mother is enjoying it very much! :) and truth be told, I am enjoying it too (most of the time) and I am DEFINITELY thankful! (and a little exhausted)

Wesley is 3 months old!!

On September 22nd Wesley turned 3 months old. He weighs in at 16.2 pounds according to our bathroom scale. When looking back on the blog, Jack was over a pound heavier at this same age which BLOWS MY MIND since this kid already seems huge to me and feels like he is about to break my back! I've already started putting this 3 month old baby into some 6-9 month clothes. Buying clothes for this little guy has been interesting too...I saved back all of Jack's clothes, but since my boys were born in opposite seasons, I still have to get several items of clothing for him when he grows into a new size.
He has been smiling for several weeks now and I LOOOVVVVVEEEE it! One of my favorite things about nursing my babies is getting to see all these sweet expressions that no one else gets to see...and one of my favorite expressions is when he is SO busy smiling at me and gazing into my eyes that he forgets to eat. So adorable! I've often thought that no matter how little sleep I have and how messy my hair is my 3 boys always make me feel beautiful by their sweet words and loving eyes.
anyway, he is a very smiley baby and is never happier than when one of us is interacting with him. If he is not sleepy, dirty or hungry, any fussiness can be fixed by stopping what we are doing and just smiling and talking to him. He loves to give us his sweet toothless grins and "talk" with us.

He has also started rolling over which came as a shock to me! Since Jack hated tummy time so much, he never got much practice rolling from front to back. It wasnt until he was 4 or 5 months old that Jack rolled back to front....well baby brother is going about it the right way and is already rolling from front to back, he's even doing it both directions. It was cute the other day when I had Wesley practicing rolling over on our bed, Jack asked if he could practice rolling over too...

Wesley seems to be sleeping better as well....most of the time. He will usually stretch out 4-5 hours at night for at least 1 feeding....there have even been a few nights lately where he has only awakened me once between bedtime and 6am which is AWESOME! I'd love for that to continue! He still doesnt nap extremely well during the day....most days he will take one nap that lasts over an hour either in the morning or during Jack's naptime. Usually this nap is taken while he is in his swing or in his high chair (dont worry, we arent actually feeding him solid food yet, the high chair is just a nice place to put him while we are eating or working in the kitchen) I am still trying to figure out why he sleeps SO nicely in his bed when it is dark outside, but as soon as the sun comes up, he doesnt sleep well in his bed at all....only 15 or 30 minutes at the longest. Seems wierd to me! I have also noticed that if he is not sleeping during Jack's naptime, he INSISTS on being held, and then he usually falls asleep. It makes it hard for me to use naptime as a time to get stuff done around the house since naptime was a hallowed time before he came around...so I am just having to learn to take every opportunity earlier in the day to accomplish my tasks while also trying to balance spending time with big brother too.

We still havent left Wesley with anyone other than the grandmas. I feel a little nervous about leaving him in the church nursery or mops or cbs nurseries. It's not really related to all his past health issues, I'm not worried that he will slip into respiratory distress during Sunday School....its more that I know how he can be kinda high maintenance with only being happy being held...but I know eventually I will need to leave him. We'll see, I think it will be easier when his feeding times stretch out a bit more too.

He is such a wonderful, beautiful baby, and there isnt a day that goes by that I dont thank God for him....not just for giving Wesley to us, but also for His mercy in letting us keep him. It's a whole different level of thankfulness and it is amazing.

asserting toddler independence

As I stated in an earlier post...Jack often wants to wear his undies backwards so "everyone can see" whoever is on his undies...well the other day while wearing them backwards he got an uncomfortable wedgie and I explained why he was uncomfortable and we havent really had much of an issue with it since. Here is a part of a recent underwear conversation between us:
Mommie: "Do you need help putting on your underwear?"
Jack: "No Mommie, I can do it by myself!" and about a half second later...."Can you help me?"



I think I have also mentioned Jack's usual reply when I tel him he is strong: Usually it is "I am strong like incredible hulk" but today it was "Incredible Hulk is strong like me!" and "Incredible Hulk has big muscles like me!" It kinda reminded me of all the "Chuck Norris" sayings that are going around...is he getting a Chuck Norris complex? :)



He got a new bathtub toy at Walmart today that he is supposed to "share" with Wesley. When we got home just before naptime he REALLY wanted to play with it...I told him that he could play with it when it is bathtime...so he says "Can I take a bath now?" I reminded him that bathtime is after dinnertime so he says "Can I eat some dinner now?" So I had to remind him that we eat dinner when Daddy comes home....no follow-up questions to that response.



I told him "I think your Lightning McQueen shoes are getting too small" and he replied "No Mommie, these shoes are the right size for me"....what struck me as amazing about this statement was 1)A short 9 months ago at Christmas Time it was a BIG DEAL that he said "Happy New Year" at the end of the Song....and now he is saying 9+ word complete sentences and whole conversations with me...and 2)I was impressed that he used the word SIZE about his shoes when I didnt use that word at all in what I said to him....interesting.

we went shopping...

I had intended for Granny Ruthie to take Jack shopping after meeting him for the first time in the hospital....and as we all know, those plans didnt work out. So, in an effort to battle a bit of cabin fever, we headed out to a local dollar store to go toy shopping. Jack got to pick out a baby toy for Wesley and what did he choose.....wait for it.....a TRAIN! He also picked out a set of teething keys too....he was really cute playing with all the baby toys to choose just the right one.

And of course big brother also needed a toy too....he picked out this crazy car that runs into walls and flips over. He was VERY excited about this toy....before we put batteries in it. Once we got it working his face registered equal parts amazement and alarm....and has pretty much not allowed us to turn it on since. Here I was afraid it would give Maggie a heart attack....she's really not gotten the chance to be scared by it!

One of my favorite parts of this experience was once we got the toys home and of course Jack has played more with Wesleys toy than Wesley....and of course he had to ask me about the train..."What's his name?" (I mean, it has a face, so of course it must have a name!) I looked at the package and told him "It says his name is "Poppity Pop" and next question "What his whistle sound like?" "Popopopopopopopopop!" He's so funny!

It's HEREDITARY!

It's HEREDITARY!!! guess what wesley discovered he can gnaw on....yep...his pointer finger...just like i heard Miss Julia has discovered! It must taste REALLY GOOD from the racket he is making! ;) Maybe I'll get a video of that soon....it cracks me up!

Ma Fisher's New Home

We drove into Gallatin this weekend to help with Ma Fisher's move from her apt to an assisted living facility. Before going to her apt we stopped by her new home to say HI. I hadnt seen her since Rachel's graduation party in May and hadnt talked to her since around my birthday in June because she was in and out of the hospital around the time Wesley was born and in a nursing home recovering from her illnesses by the time we got home and no access to a phone. Anyway, I missed seeing and chatting with my grandma! She also hadnt seen Wesley yet...so we stopped by. We caught her at lunch with her friends, so we proudly showed off her great grandsons to her and her friends. As we were leaving, one of the nurses sweetly asked if we would like to see her room and wait for her there...as we turned our attention to the nurse, Jack turned his attention to something on the wall....something box shaped and RED and had what looked similar (to him) as a light switch....so....since light switches are fun to play with in other places, he decides to....you guessed it....
PULL THE FIRE ALARM!!!!
We were standing there, right in front of everyone including the nurse who had exclaimed "NONONO!" and Ma Fisher and her friends...to say I was horrified would be a gross understatement....and I'll confess....a small part of me was also kinda amused....Josh and I both had a hard time balancing our shocked looks with a few giggles...trying to impress upon our young curious son the seriousness of what he had just done and trying to hide our giggles. Jack of course was also horrified....he started wailing from fright at the loud sound. We explained to him that it was called a fire alarm and it was used to call firemen to come to put out fires, and that little boys should NEVER pull them....EVER. If you ask him about it, his side of the story sounds something like this:
"I pulled the fire box and it made a loud sound and I cried and the lady said NONONONO! and Mommie put her hand over her mouth and put her arms up and firemen came to put out the fire and turn it off." I found that each time I would tell someone about it in his earshot, he would look more and more worried and get more and more upset each time he would talk about it....so dont ask him about it...he feels traumatized enough!

sonic run-wacky pack wednesday

Wesley on a sonic run in July...

Wesley on a sonic run in September...has he really changed that much?

To smile or not to smile....

It's really hard to catch the cuteness of Wesley's smiles...none of these do it justice, I'm really sad that the closest one is so blurry....we'll keep trying...but here is a taste...

HUGS!

Oh how I love these boys!

AND I love Wesley's face as he is the victim of a drive-by hugging! Is that a deer-in-the-headlights look or what?

I have HANDS!

and I know how to use them.....right?

I've also caught sight of him entranced with watching his hands. Jack was asking me the other day why baby Wessy was staring at his hands....it's really sweet to get to explain to my first baby the wonders of babies.

brotherly love!

awwww! His shirt may say "FUTURE BIG BROTHER" but the future is now here and he is a very sweet big brother!

See how quickly the tides change around here

I'm a little frustrated with how blogger is uploading pictures these days....I had these all arranged the right way, and then for some reason they upload sideways. GRRR! Anyway, just turn your head to the left, or rotate your monitor to the right, and enjoy!
As I have stated before, Wesley really likes to be held in the afternoons...you know during big brothers long nap when I USED to get stuff done....now my afternoons are filled with cuddling a sweet pudgy, cuddly, smiley baby....although you wouldnt know it from these pictures. He is VERY hard to catch smiling. He LOVES to smile at faces, not so much at cameras. I also wanted to show you how quickly this little guy's days changes around.
This is actually the closest I've come to catching one of his smiles....it was at 2:09 pm

Then around 2:11 he was frowning....

not sure about the camera phone in his face at 2:13

aaaaaaannnnddd asleep at 2:20. I love how the passy is just hanging out of his mouth....he can't decide if he CANT LIVE WITHOUT his passy, or if he doesnt really care either way.....its changes quickly too.

blogging is hard....

especially when a certain baby prefers for my arms to be full of HIM and not the computer. Am I complaining...NO! We went the first 11 days or so of his life without being able to hold him at all....and while I thought that from being in the NICU he might not want/need to be held as much, but I dont mind, especially now that he has discovered how to SMILE!
In the mornings he has a pretty good stretch of time where he will be content and I can get some dishes and MAYBE a tiny bit of laundry done...but pretty much during big brother's naptime, Wesley wants ALL my attention. Naptime used to be my time to get stuf done....like laundry, dishes, a nap, balancing the checkbook, blogging, etc. today I am trying this:upload as many pictures to different posts as I can, and save them, so that I can try to add words to the entries on our little laptop during naptime....maybe he wont mind sharing me with a mini laptop.
I'll admit, we arent taking as many pictures of him as we did of Jack...just too much running around after 2 kids to keep the camera as close by...but I am trying. Please dont give up on me and my blogging....it IS important to me, and I AM trying. :)

a Day out with Thomas

I'm a little bummed that these pictures ended up uploading backwards....but it took me SOOOO long to upload them that they will just have to stay this way.
We had a "Day Out With Thomas" last Sunday. Pops and Bertie wanted to come with us, but when Pops wasnt feeling well, Granny Ruthie was able to come instead. I think Jack LOVED having 2 grandmas along for the ride, and we sure loved it too! The weather was nice, a bit warm and QUITE sunny. It got pretty warm and in hindsight it might not have been the best idea to bring such a small baby, but thank goodness for Granny Ruthie and Bertie to help us. I'm not sure we could have done it without them.

This was Jack at the END of our trip. He was SUCH a trooper even though it was a while past his naptime. He really did behave beautifully....I didnt know what to expect, but he did much better than I would have imagined.
Jack and Daddy got to ride the "little train"

Granny Ruthie seemed to enjoy watching and cuddling with her newest Grandson. Thanks for helping to keep him cool and in the shade.

More shots of the little train.

Waiting for the little train, getting a lift with Daddy.

Our favorite Cookeville Celebrity, Conductor Jack was there to entertain the crowd.

Posing with Thomas. You wouldnt believe the line we had to wait in to do this....to me this was the hardest part of the excursion....the sun was a bit oppressive and the line was long, but Jack didnt seem to mind too bad, and the Lemonade Bertie got for us helped A LOT too!

Looking out the window while we were riding on the choo-choo.

Holding his "Junior Engineer Certificate"

Enjoying the ride!

This is what Wesley did for most of our outing.

I actually took this picture myself....not too bad.

Thomas's excited passengers!

Climbing up on the passenger coaches "All Aboard!" This picture looks wierd because our camera decided to start acting up and the shutter only partially opened...grrr!

Jack and his Bertie showing us his ticket to board Thomas!

Jack and Daddy...he really wanted Daddy to hold him, which was hard since Daddy had Wesley in the bundle of Joy....but Daddy is "strong like incredible hulk" and managed it just fine!

getting ready for Thomas

We went to Walmart the night before and found Jack a Thomas shirt....and it turns out 99% of the little boys there had Thomas shirts/outfits from Walmart...but honestly, I didnt see any others like ours!

Jack and his Grandmas!

zzzzzzzzz

Playing with the train Tables. We noticed that there were lots of little "Rusty" toys, but not many others....we figured Rusty must be one of the less popular characters and thus less likely to be snatched by the little kids.

Jack and Rusty

CHOO-CHOO!

Bertie and Granny Ruthie also brought their cameras, one of these days I will get their pictures from them and post more of our adventures.