Planning a Party!

I am in the midst of planning Emma Claire's 4th birthday party. It is going to be a Princess/Power Ranger party!!!??? What you ask??? Well, we are having a combo party with her cousin, Patton, who turned 4 in July. they are best buddies and are together EVERY chance they get (nearly every day, since we live only a mile from each other). He wanted a Power Ranger party and she wanted a Princess party, so why not combine them? It's always tough to have a Princess-only party and invite boys, so this is how you do it!

It's going to be at our gymnastics gym - which boys and girls both love! They get to be wild and crazy like they always want to be at home - without making a huge mess! That is until Wilson gets into the chalk - we'll just have to wait and see!??!! :)

This is a proof of the invitation (I hope this is okay to post!!??) There were some typographical changes that were made, but you get the jist of things! This was the hardest thing (creatively speaking) I think that I have ever done -- I am not a creative person usually, but I tried very hard - tell me what you think! Also, anyone who sees this invite, who doesn't receive one in the mail, is welcome to come if you are going to be in Tuscaloosa for the day!!!!

The Zoo, Dance and Thumb-sucking!

A few weeks back we took a trip to the zoo! I took all 3 of my children and we went with Ellen, my sister-in-law and her 3 oldest children and Louise, Ellen and Will's cousin, and her 2 oldest children. My mom and Will's mom went to help out with the 8 children in tow. We had a blast - Wilson and Emma Claire absolutely love animals and did their part in terrorizing the farm animals in the petting zoo. Wilson chased them around like a little puppy!

They cooled off in the foam zone and fountains. It was a blast! Here are some pictures of our adventure!

Emma Claire and Wilson have nearly a daily dress-up time - this one occured right after bath-time - no pajamas for me- I AM A PRINCESS (and a caterpillar)!

Emma Claire and Wilson love their baby brother Henderson sooo much - It's a wonder Henderson likes to be put down b/c holding him is necessary much of the time b/c of wild man Wilson - SUPERVISED time on the floor is about all the time Wilson gets with him these days -if not, Henderson would be squished!!!

These are some pictures I took of Emma Claire one day before her dance camp - the batteries in my camera died right after one of these shots, so no more were taken that week :(

Next, we have a thumb sucker!!! I have never had a baby who would suck on a pacifier or fingers - maybe this explains his contentedness!!! :)

Wilson just plain won't sleep anymore! He stays up til about 8:00 now and finally goes to sleep, then wakes up anywhere between 3:30 am(this morning) and 4:15 am - as wide awake as can be! He naps, but they have also decreased - from 3 hours to 1 hour, maybe 2. what is going on!?

Well, this is just a little taste of our "Happenings" lately - Have a great weekend!

Back to Work!!! :(

Well, I returned to work yesterday. It was a good experience overall, it flew by, before I knew it 12:00 had come and I was home. Emma Claire and Wilson were so excited to see me when I walked in the door, that it almost made it worth it to be gone for awhile. Though if given the choice, I would stay home with them in a second, but as anyone knows, the economy is not so great, I have a GREAT flexible job with awesome hours and what can I say, I like my nice house, I like my nice car and I love to buy the children smocked clothes!!!! All of which cost lots of money, so for now, I keep on working!

Our lives are somewhat normal, Henderson is a great baby - my best so far, as far as the crying and sleeping goes. He will just sit in the bouncy seat and look around - I have never had a baby who would just sit and be happy. He sleeps about 13 hours every night and has been for 3 weeks now - he goes to bed around 6:30 pm and wakes between 7:30 and 8:00 am, of course that changes when their school opens on Aug 7 and I start having to wake him up before 7:00 am -- doesn't that just make you sick- to wake a sleeping baby - what if I totally destroy his good sleeping pattern????? Well, don't be too jealous of my sleeping baby because Wilson has now started waking up at 4:00 am every morning and since he is now in his BIG BOY bed (thanks to his monkey climbing abilities) he will not go back to sleep. I have managed to get him to watch Barney or Elmo in the playroom, but nevertheless, he comes into our room about every 15 minutes to give us an update on his show. He climbs into the bed and does nothing short of a dive onto Will or myself. How about that for a wakeup call? Just kidding, I secretly love it, because Wilson never does anything without the biggest smile plastered on his face - he absolutely gets the most joy out of life that you can't help but smile with him!

Some of our latest Wilson stories - he broke Emma Claire's glasses that we had had a whopping 3 weeks - but thank goodness they're under warranty (which I didn't know until I took them in to get fixed - could have saved me a lot of nauseous feelings had I known that when it happened on a Friday night and spent calling all of the "mall" optometry places b/c ours was not open on the weekend - of course no one else carried our brand of glasses - guess you should start off at the cheap places, huh?) Back to Wilson breaking her glasses, he got into Will's closed office , climbed up on his desk, broke the hard plastic case open and then broke the glasses -- where was I you ask? Feeding Henderson - where I always am when Wilson does something mischiefvous!
Wilson also has this, what shall I say, fondness, for his own Poo Poo. If I don't catch him immediately after he does his business, he is covered in it - it's like he thinks it's play dough! We have started sleeping in zippered, footed pajamas, but I can't possibly keep him in those in the 98 degree days! He has received countless spankings for this, but just keeps on getting in it! Any suggestions? And the bad part too, he has on average 4 dirty diapers a day - I know, he eats NOTHING, but still he manages to poop ALOT!
Another Wilson happening - on one of the cool mornings we had a couple of weeks ago, I left the back door to the screened porch open to let some cool air in the house. No big deal, the children can come and go out the back b/c we have a fenced- in backyard. I was feeding Henderson of course (7:00 am) and Will came to me wondering if I new where Wilson was. I told him he was probably downstairs playing with Emma Claire or in the playroom. Well, will found him in our driveway riding his 4-wheeler - he had gone out the back and somehow gotten out the gate down to the driveway -- he is such a little fast monkey and always into something!! Luckily we have a VERY long driveway so he was very far from the street!

Emma Claire attended Princess Dance Camp at the Dance Centre last week and loved it - so we are now signed up for Ballet in the fall, in addition to gymnastics. We have dropped soccer for the fall, but will pick it up in the spring. And this is only 1 child - Wilson will begin soccer and swimming lessons in just 1 year and then we'll really be busy!

We are trying to get in the last of the swimming pool this summer before it closes - I have to say we made it more often than I thought we would, given the ages of my children. I think we went every day last week. Emma Claire has gotten really good at swimming by herself, she loves the slide and the diving board. Wilson even went off the diving board several times, which really shouldn't suprise anyone given his activity level! We have had a great summer and I am sad to see it end, but with that ending comes the great football season and the Fall which I so enjoy with Halloween and Thanksgiving just around the corner. Well, for now it's off to work and a fun afternoon with the children!

Beach Bums!

We had a great time at the beach. I would say that it went very well considering Henderson cannot wear sunscreen yet and had to be in the shade the ENTIRE time and Wilson is still 3 months away from turning 2 years old. Boy did it pass by way too quickly! It was no relaxing vacation, but very much enjoyed! Here are some pictures!

It's about time!

Well, Henderson is now 7 weeks old and I am finally posting a blog. Thanks sister Katie for posting the arrival of Henderson 7 weeks ago. I am able to do this because I am at my parents' house and both boys are asleep. the children and I are heading to the beach with my parents and sisters tomorrow - I can't wait - just to have extra hands will be nice for a change! Having 3 children has been great so far. Henderson is dealing with some reflux issues so we are now on Prilosec and he is doing somewhat better - all my children have been fussy babies, so why not one more? He does sleep great at night - wakes up 2 -3 times, but eats and goes right back to sleep, so I am sooooo grateful for that!!! He is mainly fussy in the day time after he eats and spits up a LOT!!! He is a joy to hold - which he likes ALOT, - never wants to be put down, but it's my last baby, so i don't mind holding him all the time - it has already flown by so fast, God is so good to us to bless us with 3 beautiful, healthy children in such a short time period. It is chaotic some times, especially when we're trying to get out the door, or when I am feeding Henderson and Wilson gets into the storage closet or unwraps all the toilet paper or opens the lower oven and pours his entire bag of cheetos in there - what a mess!!! but all in all I am really trying to cherish each minute! Wilson and Emma Claire are loving their new brother and it's fun to see a tender, gentle side of Wilson -- he cocks his head to one side every time he sees Henderson and says in a sweet little voice - "OHHHH BABY!!!" - it makes me laugh so much b/c he is so wild and boyish. Wilson has just learned to climb out of his baby bed with it lowered all the way down, so I'm confident that nights will absolutely never be the same again. He's a good sleeper, but he'd rather climb than anything!!

Our latest saga, I scratched Emma Claire's cornea with my fingernail - Yes, I did it. She came into our bedroom in the middle of the night and I reached out to her and wham, my finger went straight into her eye - she cried and cried and cried. Of course I didn't think it was that bad and just kept telling her to go to sleep. Well, the next morning she wouldn't open her eye and didn't, until I finally threatened her that she couldn't go to the beach if she didn't open her eye. It was horrible - all pink with a red bloody spot on the white of her eye where my fingernail had scratched it. We went to the Pediatrician's office and he looked at it and said it didn't look too severe, but he wanted us to go straight to an eye doctor b/c she had failed her vision test with her GOOD eye -- we had no idea she had problems with her eyes -- she can see fine with both eyes, but when we covered up the left eye (the injured eye) she couldn't read a thing with the right one. So, on to the eye doctor with Henderson in tow - thank goodness my mother in law was keeping Wilson. So 3 hours later and lots of crying b/c they must have but in 6 different types pf eye drops and ointments on an already painful eye we go home with eye drops of our own to put in 4 times a day and a diagnosis of a possible lazy eye (which is not visible by just looking at her at all). We go back when we get back from the beach for treatment which consists of a patch over the good eye or glasses -- i really need to focus on pirates while at the beach!!! Henderson was an angel through it all and slept in his pumpkin seat while I constantly rocked it, praying he wouldn't wake up. I was not prepared to be gone that long, which I had no problem with nursing him at a Pediatrician's office ( they just expect that, right?), but in the waiting room of an eye doctor - I just couldn't do it. But I did finally nurse him when we got to our examination room - 2 hours and 45 minutes after leaving home!!!!

Well, enough about that, on to the beach we go and I'll try to post again before he's one year old - next time with some good beach pictures!!!

Introducing Henderson Patton!

Edwin Henderson Patton was born a little before 8am on Friday May 2nd. He was 7 lbs. 1 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. Kellie and Henderson are doing great & they are both home now. Here are some pictures of the newest addition to our family.

-Katie

Last Day of work!

We had a great long weekend with my parents and neice (Mary Grace) and nephew (Carson) from Indiana and Katie (sis). My older sister and her husband were in Birmingham staying with my parents and going to the "RACE". My parents and katie and MG and C came to T-town to play on Saturday. They stayed all day and we all had a blast - the children just love playing with each other! Emma Claire even went back to B'ham on Saturday night to spend the night b/c she just hadn't had enough! We picked her up Sunday night before church and boy was she worn out. Monday was a holiday for me and I kept the children home and we played and EC had swimming lessons and played with her other cousins Patton and Chandler, Mills also came over to play with Wilson. So it was a busy, fun filled weekend.

Today is my last day of work - for the next 3 months anyways. Tonight will be my last night to teach 3 year old choir this year. On Thursday, I will get last minute things done (like a manicure and pedicure with Emma Claire -- the important things:). EC and I will then go to a May Day Tea Party at EC's friend, Mary Alice's house (while Wilson is napping at his Nana's) and then enjoy my 2 "big kids" for the rest of the day. My mom is coming Thursday night and we have to be at the hospital bright and early on Friday. I can't believe Wilson is about to be a big brother. He is still such a baby himself - I even rocked him to sleep last night, just enjoyed holding him (although I could barely breathe the whole time - I can't imagine what I would feel like if he was a "normal" 19 month old size??? :) I have recently made a comment that I make this new baby sound like such a "final" event, in that my life will end with baby #3. I know it won't, but I am just fearful that I won't be able to enjoy the "little" things with my other 2 children for awhile. Which I know is silly, because SOMEONE has to do those everyday things, like put them to bed and bathe them and tell them stories and sing to them and pray with them and feed them. And I do forget, that newborns sleep ALOT!!!! So in writing all this, I realize that we are just adding another jewel to our family and that life will go back to normal within a few days - just a little busier is all.

But summertime will be filled with lots of happy times and great memories. I really do have big plans to make it to the pool with all 3 children OFTEN. Henderson should be easy- hopefully sleeping in his carseat alot, it's Wilson and his little wild self that I worry about. Just an example of a "crazy" thing I caught him doing on Monday - I fetched him out of our lower oven yes, OVEN (and gave him a big pop!)!!!! No, it wasn't on, but the upper one was cooking his waffle and I guess he was looking for it. Now this oven has no lock on it, but I think I need to find one - do they make them that you can add to it??? Well, back to the pool, good thing the University pool has an awesome baby pool area with fountains and bubbles!!! Maybe I can hide the big pool from him all summer (yea right - with it's big red slide and blue inner tubes and basketball goal, and fountains shooting out everywhere - it's every toddlers' dream!!) Emma Claire is swimming on her own now, so I will depend on her daddy taking time out to be with her one-on-one in the big pool when he can.

So, all and all I am ready - ready to hold my last newborn and smell that wonderful smell and just slow down for awhile and really enjoy babyhood and childhood. I am definitely ready to not be pregnant, though I can't complain too much, it has been a very good one, again. But I am ready for "real" clothes and laying on my stomach and going for walks in my hilly neighborhood without feeling like a baby is about to fall out of me!!!

I will try to post a blog as soon as i can, but without internet at home, I will be bound to my in-laws and sister-in-law for use of theirs. So, be patient (Katie sis).