I'm not here anymore!

I'm HERE!!!!

Please be patient as I figure things out over there!

In the meantime...

If you want a chance to win a 3 pack of custom AIO diapers from Cara at Bubbles & Bows Boutique, head over here!

Stay tuned...

For some changes...

Zach's going to be getting me my own domain for this blog and my others, so I can do a bit more advertising and bring some money, money, money... haha :)

I think, by Saturday, everything should be finalized ;-)

Not for the faint of heart...

You can't make this stuff up, as my friend, Angela, would say....

We were running late, of course, to get out the door to the bible study at church. K gets very still. Says, "maaaaaaamaaaa" and then throws up ....not only that, he conveniently catches it in his hands....

Then, looks at his sweet, precious brother...

yes....

he wiped it on B's head....

seriously....

See ya next week bible study...

The rest of the weekend....

Was just as crazy, busy and fun :)

Let's see, Sunday was church (which started with us screaming at Benjamin the whole way there so he'd stay awake ...so he'd sleep through church, haha! It worked!) And then we grilled out for dinner Sunday night.

Today, we packed up and headed to The Purple Cow Dairy & Zoo. We weren't really sure what we were going to see upon arriving, but, we headed on anyway!

We ate lunch there and then headed 'out back' to see the animals - every thing from dogs, to goats, to kangaroos (that were not dead, just simply hot & tired, haha), to camels and peacocks! It was quite...interesting! :)

Then we headed back in to get some yummy ice cream!

After stuffing ourselves to the brim, it was time to head home to NC. We got in the van and Benjamin was asleep before long. Keaton had lots to "talk" about before finally falling asleep. Then it was Zach's turn. I had to (wo)man the van and stay awake. It was hard, but Zach deserved the nap - as I took Benedryl the past two nights to sleep and didn't really realize he woke up with the boys at 530 in the morning, well, I KNEW he did, but I didn't KNOW he did...good ol Benedryl! ;-)

We got home, unloaded the van and let the boys have some freedom....before loading them back up, heading to our old apartment to get a van load (only a handful on things remain! whew!) and then to get yummy Mexican for dinner (no one wants to cook after driving all day!) The boys were super tired, but in all, did a great job being "patient" while we waited and ate.

So, now, pictures :) From the whole weekend....

Benjamin could really care less about the animals....

Keaton could care less too, rocks are more exciting!

The Benjamin Paparazzi

They had a bunch of benches out front, Keaton had to try them all out :)

Yummy ice cream!

Me: "Look, Keaton! Baby Goats"
Keaton: "Whatever, mom, look rocks..."

I'd never seen a real peacock (that I know of) I was amazed!

We knew he was ok...see below

See... :)

What was he so excited over? dogs...

(Detour back to Zach's parents house...) Huge bubbles!

Pitiful Benjamin...

16 months apart...about 5 inches apart...

My sweet boy!

Keaton on the John Deere stool (he LOVES John Deere....that's my boy!)

What a weekend....

...and it's only 730pm, Saturday night!

Yesterday afternoon, Zach's parents got into town and we all went to dinner at O'Charley's (YUM, 3 cheese bacon burger, drool....)

Then we rushed home, got the boys in bed and I went to Kohl's and did some shopping! I did GREAT!

I spent about $24 and got about $170 worth of stuff!

I bought -
two rugs for our kitchen (normally 24.99, sale price $8.47)
a super cute shirt (normally $30, sale $14.99)
a black flowy skirt (normally $34, sale $19.99)
a bathing suit top (I already had a matching bottom, haha!) (normally, $38, sale $21.99)
and some swim trunks for Keaton (normally $16, sale $8)

I had $5 in Kohl's Cash and a $50 gift card. On top of that, for every $50 you spent, you got $10 in Kohl's Cash back. So, I paid $24 and some change and then got $10 back in Kohl's Cash!

Whew!

I got home and we packed up and went to sleep as we knew morning was coming all too early...

...sure enough, 5:45am, we hear noises from Keaton's room!

I jump in the shower, Zach gets the boys and gives Benjamin a bottle and then, finished packing and by 640am, we were on the road!

We got to Roanoke around 9:30am and went to visit Great-Grandma Connie (who Keaton called Kiki and Con the whole way there) :)

Then we met my mom at Macado's for lunch.

Afterwards, we headed out to her house for a short visit and then down to Collinsville to Zach's parents for the remainder of the weekend.

We ordered pizza, got the boys bathed and in bed.

Whew.

I took benedryl about an hour ago and the fact that I'm still typing (although typing 'ago' like 'awwgo') says a lot. However, I will pass out the second I lay down, or atleast I hope so as I only got about 4 hours of sleep last night!

more of the weekend to come....later....after it happens ;-)

Sweet Cheeks

Squeezable, kissable, edible

Proof

Here you can see B crawling & saying something near and dear to my heart ;-)

Movin' Movin' Movin'

Benjamin is crawling! He's been taking a "step" (a crawl??) the past two days, this morning, he let loose before church and off he went, he even shot me a "now what are you going to do??" look...thanks, kid!

After church, he took the puzzle basket, pushed it out and then crawled to it, pushed, then crawled....all the way across the living room.

I think he likes crawling ;-)

Tooth #6 is here, 7 & 8 are on the horizon and bothering him ever so much! I feel so bad for him.

9 Months (B)

Simply amazing!

What is B up to?

Well, he has 5 teeth and working on #'s 6, 7 & 8 ((6 & 7 are about to pop through, 8 is on the horizon))

He's trying so hard to crawl - he pops up on all fours and rocks ((can I state AGAIN how nice it is to have him 'contained'...How did I survive when K started crawling at 6 months?! However, with B's 'girth'...he's getting a tad heavy, possibly within 4lbs of K....walking might be nice)) ;-)

He's trying to pull up - he has super arm strength, he just can't figure out what to do with his legs

He loves to crawl over things (like a pile of pillows or K's bean bag seat)

He's eating avocado, bananas, yogurt (for breakfast every morning with avocados or bananas), squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, green beans, and mum mums (due to his potential wheat intolerance/allergy/whatever...) - all homemade (except the mum mums and yogurt - until this weekend...maybe, haha!)

Everything finds its way into B's mouth - including 2 bugs today (he's one up on his brother on that one...that I know of...)

He still, for 9 months now, thinks Keaton is the greatest thing, however, has started lashing back. Yesterday he bit Keaton when he was aggravating him! I had a nice laugh ;-)

He can clap, loves shaking things, loves when things 'disappear' and then reappear, loves to be ticked, "eaten" and kissed

Still sleeping all night, how we got it right at 6 weeks this time, I still have NO idea!

He quit nursing last weekend, much to my dismay, he'd really rather eat solids or be playing - he barely even takes a bottle

He says dada, but no mama - it was the same with Keaton ;-)

He's still as snuggly as ever (and I hope it stays that way!) :)

And I think that's it on my little mini me!

It's official

We.

Are.

Potty Training.

Keaton loves the potty...and apparently has been asking in his Sunday school class and they've been taking him! (haha!)

We figured we should run with the cues.

After avoiding the inevitable for awhile now, two days ago, I knew I had to do it.

He had the worst diaper rash. I needed to put some serious diaper cream on him and I couldn't do that with a cloth diaper, but he freaked out over the disposable being on him. So that settled it. Run naked and let me know when you have to go!

So far, no accidents in 2.5 days. But he's spent more time in the diaper than I anticipated due to errands. He's gone a handful of times on the potty.

I made a run to Babies R Us last night to get a ring for our toilet (I hadn't anticipated doing this, but, I figured it would help K relax so he didn't have to hold himself up and some stools to stand on to wash hands (what we've put off buying for a year now anyway).

So we did that and we'll get some undies this weekend ;-)

And...

That's that.

We're training!

Photo Fun

Capt'n Keaton :)

Why is B so happy??

Because his heiny isn't crooked, thanks to our chiro!!!!
The boy loves his mum mums, but also found out today that chunks of banana are pretty good too!

Keaton also found a new found love for pistachio salad!

The flowers that Susan (Zach's mom) got me for Mother's Day

The hanging basket my mom got me

My hibiscus plant!

My Mother's Day/weekend

We had a jam packed, super fun Mother's Day weekend.

Friday afternoon, Zach's parents got in town and we (we meaning every one but Zach b/c he was still at work) went to Chili's for dinner...

Saturday, we went to Lowe's to get some things to fix our couch (it broke when we moved...I tried to move it and well, b/c of the brokenness, it got stuck in a place I hated it). My flowers that Zach ordered arrived for Mother's Day (they are gorgeous!) Then, my mom got here around 11 with lunch. My mom gave me my Mother's Day gift - some yumy Bath & Body Works lotions and a super fun cupcake book! After lunch and naps, Zach mowed and then my mom & I headed to Marshall's. Zach met us at Zaxby's for dinner (yummmmy!) After dinner, (and after my mom and I got lost trying to get back home!), we got the boys in bed and then my mom and I headed to Target for groceries and supplies for our cook out the next day.

Sunday morning, we had baby dedication at church - always a fun morning! After church, we came home and had a cook out -
burgers, dogs, chicken, deviled eggs, pistachio salad, beans, watermelon, potato salad, drinks, and pound cake with whipped cream and strawberries.

Zach's mom bought me a gorgeous flower as well.*

Whew.

The boys napped and then, my mom and I went back to Target to get non-grocery things (and some grocery things) and brought home yummy Taco Bell.

Yesterday, my mom came and helped me with the boys most of the day. We were going to go to the Farmer's Market in Raleigh, but opted just to visit the little fruit stand near our house and got some green beans (for B), some squash, cucumbers, and kiwi as well as two gorgeous plants...one hibiscus and one....other pretty one* ;-)

We also went to World Market because I finally found curtains I liked for the living room!

She left around 4, I made pancakes for dinner and, surprisingly, for the first time ever, I think, Zach got off work early! So he rushed home before class to see the boys and put Keaton to bed.

Whew!

*I'll look at the names and take pictures later! :)

Freedom!!!!!!!!!!!! *

This bag represents Freedom. Ok, I'm being a BIT dramatic ;-)

B is now almost 9 months old. We've yet to take him to the nursery at church, mostly because he's a completely different baby than K was - he SLEEPS and is QUIET (usually) at church. Where, at this point, K was crawling and screaming, haha!

Well, I agreed that after Mother's Day we'd start taking him to the nursery. My main reason for not wanting him to go (other than gross germs that we have MORE than enough of, thank you, K and your 2 year old class) was his naps. He sleeps GREAT in church (drool, snoring, the whole nine yards...) Well, he woke up after we finished singing and I knew it was going to be a fight to get him to stay quiet. So, I did it.

I took him to the nursery.

Now, we are uber-blessed at our church, as we take the whole "multiply" thing seriously. We've got a bajillion babies (42 we dedicated today, that means, approximately 42 babies were born in the last year! Not ALL the children were newborns, but, not all newborns were dedicated...one of those horrendous math problems, haha, anywho). So, our nursery is set up "bed babies", "crawlers", "young toddlers", "older toddlers", "young 2's", "older 2's", "young 3's", "older 3's", "pre-k(A)"**, "pre-k(B)"**, Kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd & 3rd grade, and 4th & 5th grade....and yes...we have amazing, incredible people who serve 6 months a year in these positions teaching our children!!!!

Moving along....so, I dropped B off in the bed babies class. I felt dumb taking a near 23 pounder in there with these itty bitty newborns, but the kid can't crawl (woohoo, haha) Apparently, he did just fine...

We agreed that if he was sleeping, he'd stay in the service with us, to get his nap, but once he woke up, I'd take him on into the nursery.

Zach's parents had gotten the boys these super cute back packs for Christmas. I normally just carry a back pack when we go out - has changes of diapers, snacks, etc...for the boys and then my stuff (mainly gum, wallet and chapstick...) K carries his bag to Sunday School with a diaper, wipes and his sippy...well, B will now have his little bag...

And mama??

Mama will be carrying that cutie patootie bag you see up there! I'm super stoked (yes, I said stoked) :)

Stay tuned for funny stories from the weekend....

*Must be read with a voice used in Braveheart ;-)
**A is the 1st half of the alphabet, while B is the 2nd half :)

Meet the Jetsons

This little gadget is supposed to enable us to pick up more digital channels without having cable. If it's cloudy, it works perfectly. So, while I was able to watch a potential tornado form near N.C. State earlier this week, watching the CBS Early Show each morning is quite a feat....not to mention, look where it has to reside....
Zach - weigh in on how awesome it is.... ;-)

Updates

My mom always asks what the boys are going new...and then there are the times when Zach sees Benjamin (sometimes for the first time in days) and B will do something and Zach is amazed. I say, "Yeh, he's been doing that for days..." forgetting that he didn't see it the first, second, third....eighteenth times!

So, what are the boys doing?

Benjamin is:
*Starting to get up on all fours and rock...
*Trying to pull up
While B might crawl 3+ months later than Keaton did, I feel that he will copy him in the crawling & pulling up/cruising at the same time....
*Eating more than I can keep up with in any way, shape or form - his favorite food is AvoAppleGurt (homemade Avocados, Applesauce and Yogurt). His favorite snack is Mum Mum's as we think he may have a wheat allergy or intolerance. He started getting a horrible rash around his face when he'd eat Cheerio's. I stopped giving them, the rash went away. I gave them, the rash came back...So we're being careful for now.
*Loving being outside - eating grass and going for walks in the wagon

Keaton is:
*Eating everything in sight. I think he may be in the middle of a growth spurt as he's asking for snacks 2-3 times a day (or maybe this is just him being a boy!) :)
*LOVING his big boy bed!!
*Showing me how 2 year olds throw tantrums!
*Trying to do EVERYthing himself!
*We're talking about potty training, but nothing serious yet; however, he apparently "loves trying" according to his Sunday School Teachers that are letting him try (they want to train him, BY ALL MEANS!!! Go for it!!!)

Giddy!!

This weekend I sent off my registration to start my doula certification!! I'm so excited!! (and nervous! haha!)

I have one birth lined up to attend in August (if we aren't at the beach at that time...don't worry, she has a 'real' doula too!!) :)

I need 6 births within a year of the workshop in June.

Yes. Giddy sums it up!!! :)