New Look

I'm sure some of you noticed the changes over the weekend, but I finally had to choose a new look for the blog. We've got a new addition and that last header was done last summer. That's a long time. I was looking for something to catch my eye and wouldn't you know that there was a template called "Welcome Autumn" so I had to go with that. I'm sure my daughter will one day resent being named after a season. Easton's been calling her "Auti" sometimes. I kinda like it when he says it. She doesn't have so much in the way of real nicknames yet. I call her Miss A a lot(as in a rhyming "Hey hey Miss A") or Autumn Girl. Dalton calls her "Hi Cutie Cutie" quite a bit. Nicknames are interesting as they evolve. Never ever would I have thought I'd call my kid "Eastie". And Dalton's nickname went from Daltizzle to Dizzle to Diddles or a shortened "Didds" or "Diddin". Or Jason and I call him "Dah-din" a lot from what he calls himself. We're strange.

But speaking of Miss A...here is one of her smiley "outtakes" from posing for a spot in the Father's Day "D-A-D" pictures:

She started cooing a bit that day (Friday).

Sometimes I can't get enough of her:




And sometimes I can. She has been very "off" these past few days at least. She's not quite the sleeper she was--unless she's on me or tucked right in next to me. ('member my back pain?) She wakes up crying out in pain quite a lot. I think she's not tolerating something in my milk...just not sure what and it's a hard thing to figure out. So she spends quite a lot of time like this:


Then she passes some gas and is back like this again:




Poor baby. It's hard to see her hurting and knowing it's probably because of something I'm eating. She pays me back by sleeping on my chest and kicking me in my incision while she's writhing trying to get past the current wave of trapped gas bubbles.

Plus she's getting overtired somehow and she's just having a really hard time sleeping long/normal stretches. It's not been the easiest. But my other two kids have been great, thank goodness. On Friday while E was in school, Dalton asked me to color on him...so I did. He saw me coming to take a picture of his toes and said, "Cheese" for them while he posed them like this:


After school and nap time and such we played some hide and seek:


But E had a meltdown and both boys ended up in simultaneous time outs:



Okay, I said above they'd been great but I meant other than that. :)

Easton was bored after that (I would no longer play hide and seek with his 'tude) so he suggested we make smoothies:


And then we waited for Daddy to come home. The second he walked out the door Friday afternoon was the moment his month long paid paternity leave began! We're all very excited...especially the two boys:


Paternity leave started with some LSU football on Saturday:


And church on Sunday:


Since Autumn wasn't looking at the camera she had her own shot:


Easton got some new jeans this weekend and I had him wear them to church. They're cinched to the 9th buttonhole on either side of his adjustable waist and I need to take them in a smidge more. They also had to be rolled up and Easton wasn't loving them. I loved the way he put it, he said, "But I don't laugh in these pants" meaning they made him unhappy. He got over it though.


We watched a bunch more football after church and then because we'd done that all day we gave the boys a new Wii game we'd been saving as a big brother gift and Easton's been doing that ever since, minus the time they spent sleeping and the 3 hours he had to spend at school today. At least he has to be a bit active for the Wii instead of completely zoned out like other video games sometimes do. He's in there flapping his pteranadon wings as I type. Dalton's napping upstairs, Autumn's actually been sleeping a nice stretch in her swing for a change and Jason's at Target and Michael's. Welcome to paternity leave!

My Big Guy

Easton isn't getting as much blog time lately, but he's just as present as ever. He's not in his challenging "4 1/2" phase that was giving me so much grief a month or two ago. Whew! He's being pretty amazing. Especially yesterday when I was a bit out of commission from my back spasm business. He was so understanding, so sweet, drew me pictures...I was very proud of him. He's got a great heart.


I'm also very pleased to report that he's been doing very well with school, despite his horrible problems separating from me nearly all last year and the recent changes here at home, he's not been hesitant to leave us at all this year. However, school is still not his favorite place to be. I think he's bored, and not because he's some big genius who's not being challenged...it's because, "I like to be crazy and school makes me boring". Yup, his words. The Montessori classroom--and especially this one, I think--are very, very calm, very structured places to be. And Easton? Well, he's not the calmest. He's super duper active and energetic and I actually think 3 hours of school is good for him in teaching that he can't always be a spaz climbing everything and flipping or jumping to get from here to there.

His favorite parts of school are that he's been getting to eat Oreos for snack a lot(grrrr!) and playing "Superheros" on the playground. I'm sure today was extra boring because the snack was pretzels (E claimed he was too full to eat them) and apparently someone in the classroom had told a lie and therefore no one was allowed to go out for recess because no one would speak up about the truth.

Man, his class does sound like a tough place to be sometimes.

At the same time, he loves his teachers and his friends at school...but of course he'd rather hang out with them at his birthday party (which he's already planning) than school.


It makes me sad that he's in school 3 mornings a week this year because I really feel it cuts down on the time I get with him. I adore that boy so I miss him when he's gone.

Why do they keep growing up?

Well, if it has to happen, I'm glad he's turning into the little person he is. He's a great kid!

I think I might know why I've taken so many pictures of my sleeping beauty lately...it's because when she's awake I seem to capture her in a more awkward light:






And the slight smiles/pretty pictures don't always turn out:


I wish you could see her right now...crazy girl is making me eat yesterday's words and has spent much of today happily swaddled and asleep. For long stretches of time. Heck, she's been happily swaddled and awake too...in Bubb-E's arms:




I love how they're still always wanting to hold her. Especially today (it's helping me out) because I have somehow injured my back. I think it's a spasm. But man, it's really not good. Easton knew I was in pain when I got out of the shower and told me, "Mom, maybe you should take a break" so I changed into my p.j.'s and that's what I've been doing all day...taking a break on the heating pad. Yeouch!

Autumn spent most of yesterday continuing to snooze on the couch...every so often she'd change the position of her hands so I'd take another picture of her sleeping. Not that exciting but I still think she's just precious:




She is a goober in that she whole-heartedly prefers to be unswaddled. I'm a big believer in swaddling...I have bunches of special swaddling blankets, some bought just for "Wabie". I swaddled both boys till they were at least 6 months old. But no, Autumn likes to have her hands free and doesn't sleep well at all if she's wrapped up like most babies would prefer. Trust me, I've tried to just get her used to it...she doesn't like it. She's my third kid, I swaddled in hospitals for 6 years, I know what to do, what to try...but it's not for my Autumn Girl. Oh well.

She also prefers to be right in the midst of everything...hence her day spent sleeping on the couch instead of somewhere quieter. She snoozed and snoozed while the rest of us went about our day playing:


And cooking:


She sleeps right through it and wakes up if it gets too quiet. :) While we got the boys ready for bed last night, she stayed on the couch and listened to music through the TV and our voices through the baby monitor. We made sure to stay plenty lively for her as I snapped pics of the boys in their Halloween p.j.'s. Easton has been asking for "bone jammies" for awhile now. I'm sort of against the whole "skeleton" part of Halloween but bones? I suppose that's just fine.








Love how they're looking at each other with J looking down at them. Such love all around:


Wednesday's are a school day so last night I set out the kids' clothes like I've done the night before school for forever now (okay, a year, not forever). But this was the first time Autumn's clothes were set out too and it just looked so cute to J and I...so I took a picture. Yes, of outfits...


See...and here's two of 'em in those very outfits!



How precious are they?!?!?

We just hung out while E was at school:


Autumn hasn't got a lot of neck strength but I've got her sitting up here:


This is part of why she prefers her hands free:


Look, it's Blue Steel:


At one point Dalton, Autumn, and I went to A's room to put some clothes away. She laid in her crib, he played with blocks on the floor and finally Autumn fell asleep. But, to prove my "she likes to be in the midst of everything" point she woke up crying the minute we left her room. Silly goose!

When we went to pick E up at school one of his classmate's mom said, "So you've got 3 boys now?" because Autumn is not wearing a bow, she was covered with a hospital-issued/stolen receiving blanket and not looking particularly girly. It didn't bug me because clearly there was not much to indicate gender either way, but it does make me want to get her some more bows...some of those big ones that just shout "I'm a girl here!" :)

To make us feel better, we came home and put on some bling that arrived in the mail from Jessica the other day:



Too cute, isn't it?

She also got this in the mail, but it wasn't a surprise like the bracelet. I ordered this:

I still need a better one I could one day leave her unattended with...those crazy beads are major choking hazards so this one is likely staying with her car seat.

Anyway, Dalton is my non-napper today so I've got to go take care of that. Adios!

Sorry for no blog yesterday, Autumn was awake the whole time Dalton wasn't awake during our regularly scheduled "napping/quiet timing/computing hour" so I hung with her instead and also did some tidying up 'round here.

Boy did our house get out of control with nearly 2 weeks of bedrest and then 3 weeks of C-section recovering.

On Saturday, my two oldest friends came over to visit and meet Autumn and Kelli made us enchiladas. Jason took the boys up to work with him (something he couldn't do from home) and so I just sat with the gals and their kiddos for a couple of hours. They live way over on the opposite side of the metro area from us and I don't see them quite as often as I'd like to. But there's Tonya (holding Autumn):


She has Emma who is 8 months:


Then there's Kelli who has Connor and he's almost 18 months:


But anyway, when they were here I realized just how out of control my house is/was. Good thing they've known me for so long other wise I would've been completely embarassed, however, I'm sure they'll still be my friends.

It was after they left I decided I'd need to host a playgroup here at the house for motivation to get this place picked up a bit so I sent out an email that day hee hee!

After Kelli and Ton left, the guys arrived home and we just hung out until it was time to eat Kelli's delicious enchiladas. What a treat, thanks again, Kells!

On Sunday we went to church as usual. Autumn looked mighty pretty in an inherited outfit from Kaiya:

I loved it all...right down to her little kimono shoes (also from Kaiya).

And there's the pretty bow from Amy's girls too:


After church we headed home for football! Hooray for the first weekend of the NFL!!! Broncos and Saints were both on in the early time slot which makes it tricky to watch, Autumn gave up trying to keep track:


But Jason was firmly planted on that couch the whole time...

...even ate his cheese dip from laying down like that.

Actually I'd given him our sleeping beauty, got Dalton down for his nap upstairs, Easton started on some quiet time, the games were at halftime and I actually left J with all 3 of them by himself for the first time while I ran to the K-Mart up the road for half an hour. :) It's a start.

When the games were over and kids were up, Easton and Jason ran to exchange some bad pots (emphasis on the s) I had gotten for Christmas. We've all probably got Teflon coating our insides now thanks to those old pots. Hopefully these next ones will hold up much better...anyway...while they were gone, Dalton asked to hold Autumn so I took pictures:


Look at how he's just checking out her little hand:




Snuggle!

Doesn't his head seem so gigantic next to her? Yikes! I don't think he has a particularly large head...and her's is 55%...anyway...

Sunday night we headed to small group for some games. The boys had a great time with all the kids in the basement. They decorated prayer mats.

Small group night means the boys get to bed really late for them. Which also means they get up extra early. And that's what happened Monday morning. Actually, Dalton stayed asleep. Autumn too. Luckily I was able to leave the littler two with Jason while I ran Easton up to school. Jason headed to work and Dalton and I hung out till Autumn finally woke for the day at 9:30. Sheesh! We ran a couple of errands before going to pick up Easton. Then I had it in my head we'd make a quick stop at Target. I had to return something and wanted to pick up a few things but let's just say it didn't go well and I made my return and decided we'd need to go back home. Darn minimal sleep the night before (for the boys)!

Things were better at home after food and resting. But as I'd said above, this time Miss Autumn didn't want to sleep so much:


Although she sure acted tired:


Easton wanted to hold her while he watched his show during quiet time:


I tried all kinds of tricks and places but Baby Girl just would not fall asleep. Eventually I gave up, nursed her again and stuck her in the car seat so we could all head up to meet Jason at the mall. He needs new jeans, I needed to do a few things there as well so we met for dinner. Food court because Easton wanted pizza. :)

Last night was another late night for the boys because Easton wasn't asleep by the time J brought Dalton in for bed (usually we stagger it like that). It led to a whole bunch of mayhem and eventually Easton was removed from the room to our room to fall asleep. However, he didn't go to sleep and when Jason went up to move him, Easton was sitting up in our bed just waiting. Ugh. And yup, he was up extra early again this morning. Argh! The day of our playdate hosting!

We got doughnuts in us and re-attempted our Target trip (went much better!) and Easton did just fine. Our playgroup went quite well. It was just two girls from Easton's class: Emily and Tabor. Emily is his pal from his old gymnastics class and Tabor is his pal from his summer gymnastics class. Emily and Tabor have been friends since they were, like, 10 months old. They go way back to Gymboree class. Tabor has a brother Holten who is D's age (remember?) and then her baby sister Berkley was born this summer like Autumn. There are not quite 6 weeks between Berkely and Autumn as "Broccoli" (as Dalton called her) will be 9 weeks tomorrow and Autumn was 3 weeks old yesterday. Yes, already! That's old, huh?!

Even though Autumn never really saw the kids (she nursed a lot or slept in the sling) apparently our playgroup really took it out of her and now she's crashed on the couch snoozing happily:

I'm beginning to think it's about time to start put product in Miss A's hair. It's so out of control a lot of the time. :) I washed it last night...she still loves that.

Anyway, you're all caught up once again so I guess I'll wrap this up and go eat the rest of the doughnut holes leftover from playgroup. Toodles!