School Days

Today was the first day of "school" for Garrison and Allie-Parker!  I can not believe I have two going to school now!  The day overall went pretty good.  Garrison did as we thought, walked in, said, "bye momma" and started talking to his teacher... non-stop.  He was still talking to her when I walked by his room after dropping Ap off :0  Allie-Parker did not go so easily.  She ran out of her classroom crying!  Ah!  I stayed for awhile and she did finally calm down.  But poor thing, she just wasn't into it.  I asked her on the way home if she wanted to go back in a couple of days and play, to which she replied, "I have toys in me's playroom at home to play with".  Fun times.  But after we got home and settled in she  was very chatty about playing with her buddies and the toys in her classroom, so hopefully school will be fun for her :)

Here are some pics documenting the first day of school!  

For breakfast we had a new family favorite, banana dog bites.  You can find the recipe here. They are super yummy and veeerrryyy filling.  Maybe too heavy in my opinion, but the kids ate them up! 

Don't you wish your hair looked like this in the morning?!?!

 More breakfast pics... hello crumbs on the table and clothes on the couch :)

After we ate we headed out to take some MORE pictures!  I know, can you believe it?

It took one snap to get this picture of Garrison.  He is looking so big boyish these days.  I can't really say that I like it all that much, but whats a mom to do?

Then we moved on to our little "picture diva".  I kid you not, I took 15 pictures of Allie-Parker and these were the best I got!

  

She was very proud of her new shoes, that she picked out herself.  She is also OBSESSED with her lunch box.  After every picture she would say, "Did you get me's shoes and box"?  I just love that little munchkin :)

Both kiddos got great reports from their teachers.  I really think it is going to be a great year! 

**Big thanks to my Mom who came over before school to watch Riley-Anne so I didn't have to carry her in**

Anything you can do I can do better

Allie-Parker copies everything/looks up to Garrison so much (however you want to take it).   Everything he does, she not only has to do herself, she has to be perfect at it. While this is super cute, and she has perfected tons of task, she gets so frustrated when she can't do something! Poor girl, she doesn't realize that Gar has had 16 more months of experience than her! 

Here are just a few examples of Allie-Parker's "me do" attitude: If Garrison puts his clothes on by himself, dad-gummit Allie-Parker is going to do it herself too. If Garrison is eating with a fork, Allie-Parker will sling her food all over the kitchen until she gets it right!  It's pretty funny to watch, but very messy! 

Last but not least, while we were out in the backyard playing, Gar packed up his chair and cup and said he was "moving on"...

Two seconds later... look who else has her chair on top of her car.  Allie-Parker had her cup in the back too, but when I got ready to take the picture she must of got a little thirsty :)

My Day

• Make three breakfasts (one being a bottle)
• beg Allie-Parker to eat
• make coffee
• realize there is no hazelnut creamer, cry for a minute
• clean up breakfast
• dress three wiggle worms
• Find tennis shoes... later they were found under the couch cushions (is your house crazy too? please humor me and say yes)
• get everyone in the car
• walk Garrison into school (with my girl wiggle worms)
• take girls to library time
• come home
• Mrs. Polly comes over for a minute
• make screaming, hungry girls lunch
• beg Allie-Parker to eat
• clean up lunch
• short naps
• wake girls up to get Garrison from school, cry for a minute again
• pick Garrison up
• Get spit up on by Riley-Anne while we are there
• drive home while listening to Elmo talk about amphibians
• get everyone out of the car
• change two diapers
• lay everyone down for a nap
• watch Riley-Anne put herself to sleep, possibly the sweetest thing I have ever seen, cry for a minute again :)
• SWEET SILENCE!!!

Only child for the day

My mom and dad kept Garrison this weekend so Allie-Parker got to experience life as an only child! We had a great time! Friday night we took her to Chik-fil-A and she really lived it up! She ate and ENTIRE kids meal and had a juice box for the first time. That is a super big deal because I always water her and Garrison's juice down! Her face was just priceless! Then Saturday, Ryan had an irrigation job, so we got to hang out all day. It was so great to be able to play with her and give her all of my attention. I do think by the end of the day she started missing her "Gar gar" a little bit. When she woke up from her nap, she kind of just wandered around the house saying his name over and over :( But then we went and got some ice cream, just us girls, and she seemed to be just fine!

Getting ready for Riley-Anne

We started switching out Allie-Parker and Garrison's rooms this week. Allie-P and Riley Anne will share a room (Garrison's old room) and Garrison will move into Allie-Parker's room. Try explaining that to a 2 1/2 year old and a 15 month old! They just still do not really get it! I have gotten the closets switched out and I think that is all I can handle for this week. For some reason I became very sentimental while organizing their closets. It made me think about bringing them home to their nurseries for the first time and how small they looked in their cribs, and how quiet everything was ;) There are so many sweet memories that took place in each of the nurseries, it is going to be so hard to change them up! But Miss Riley-Anne needs a place to make her memories too... so we will be adding a few new things for her!

P.s. I know there are a ton of pictures... I just could not narrow them down!

Garrison pulling up in his crib for the first time! I walked in, and there he was standing up! We found out days later Allie-Parker was on her way!

So, so tiny on her first day home!

Garrison checking on his new baby sister

Peek a boo!

All grown up sitting in her "rock rock"

Morning after sleeping in his big boy bed for the first time!

What happens if you turn your back! They got into that green bucket in the back of the picture and into the closet! I was only gone for like 5 seconds and they completely destroyed the room!

VBS

We had Vacation Bible School two weeks ago at our church. It was so much fun to be apart of! Garrison was old enough to attend this year and me and Allie-Parker helped out in the nursery. Garrison had a blast, he left very tired every night, but was so excited to wake up the next morning and talk about what all he had experienced! His favorite things about VBS were: Holding onto a rope to walk to different rooms, saying "Lets go Parrots", and singing songs. He also would talk about some Bible stories that he learned about. They also did something called "God sightings". The other day I helped Allie-Parker while she was doing something and Garrison said, "Momma, that a God sighting"! I never knew how happy it would make my heart to hear our son talk about Jesus. It is just so great to see him become more and more interested in the Bible and God's love for him.

Here are some pictures of Garrison and Allie-Parker outside of the church. I hope to "steal" some photos of them that were in the slide show and post them later :)

Happy Mothers Day!

We had such a wonderful Mothers Day! Of course, with all the craziness of running around seeing family I forgot to take pictures, sad. Even with no pictures it was still great.

I started the morning by being greeted by Garrison saying "Lets go in the the living room" (same thing he says every single morning) at 5:30. But, I got to sleep in for another 2 hours while Ryan took care of the babies! And if that wasn't great enough I was served breakfast in bed... with no little fingers grabbing at my food!!! It was so wonderful! I could really get used to this type of pampering :) The best part of my day was on the ride home and both children were asleep and Garrison woke up and said, "Happy Mothers Day Momma, you are my best friend". I will never forget it!

I could not be more thankful for such a loving husband and such precious gifts... "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord," Psalm 127:3.

Sweet Allie-Parker... I love you precious girl. Thank you for all my sweet kisses and hugs today. You have such a tender heart, but you are so tough too! You make me laugh all the time because it seems like you can fall 100 times and never cry, but as soon as you get in trouble you get so upset! I can not wait to see you grow up. You will be such a good wife and momma some day... but please take your time!
Sweet Garrison... I can not believe that you are a little boy now and not a baby! You have such a great imagination... I love to sit and watch you sometimes just to see what kind of fun things you will come up with. You are such a great helper with sweeping and throwing away trash! Thank you for always helping and trying to remember to say "yes ma'am". I love you sweet boy.

Most days I become so tired of doing the same silly, seemingly small tasks over and over. But I am finally coming to realize that raising my children is more than just a mundane thing I am "stuck" at home doing. So when I am telling Allie-Parker for the 5oth time today not to open that cabinet or trying to get Garrison to be kind to his sister I will tell myself I have been entrusted with these children. I pray that I teach them more than just their numbers and ABC's, but teach them about and show them Christ's wonderful, selfless love.

December update part 1

Do you ever get so far behind on something you just don't know where to start? It's kind of like that feeling you get when someone called you on Monday and left you a message and it is now Saturday and you know you should call but it just seems ridiculous. Ok, maybe thats just me...

This post most likely will be all over the place with a bunch of pictures... so, as Garrison would say, "here goes".

We have been seeing a lot of this...

and this...

Tears and silliness.

It seems like Garrison and Allie-Parker have switched personalities. We are hoping that all of Allie-Parkers crying is from teething, or it might just be because she is a little spoiled by her Momma.

Garrison has turned into quite the ham. He is always saying something funny, making a funny face, or putting something on his head and calling it a hat. He is currently into telling people if they are a lady, man, boy, or girl. This is very entertaining when we are out running errands,and Gar is proudly announcing to people as the walk by if they are a lady or man. People just kind of look at him confused while I am telling him how smart he is.

Allie-Parker has been quite fussy lately and started waking up in the middle of the night, so not like her. But other than that she has been a perfect Christmas angel and has been a wonderful shopping buddy.

She can stand on her own now. To say she is busy would be an understatement. She is so much fun to just sit back and watch.

She loves her big brother...

and is constantly right behind him. Allie-Parker no longer lets Garrison take a swing at her, she fights back and will pull his hair or pull on his shirt until he falls down. But they do love each other...

Sorry but I do not have any pictures of me and Ryan to put in this post- gah I know you are so disappointed. Since you asked, we have been doing great :)

6 Months and counting...

All of these pictures are of Allie-P either at the Dr. are on the way! I can't believe she is already 6 months!

But before you even ask, no we are not ready for another one! We are perfectly in love with being a family of four :)

Two week weight check

One month well baby

Three month well baby

Six month well baby

I think I will pass, thanks though

So this is the face Allie-Parker has been giving me all this week while I am trying to shove cereal and apples into her mouth! She is not very fond of it at all- but she is now at two containers of soy formula a week, and I can think of a million things that I could spend that 50 bucks on!

She did do a lot better today (I didn't end up with apples all over me...) so hopefully she will take to real food soon!

Update

Mornin' stalkers! Sorry so long with no posts- again the lazyness....

Ryan went back to school today so it is high time I start being productive- so I am choosing to update my blog instead of cleaning the bathrooms...

On another note- our house is for sale- officially. We have shown it once but haven't heard anything back. We think the buyers might of gotten lost in our neighbors knee high grass. But if you are interested in it- please know that there grass is usually cut- well not really- but my husband will give you a good deal on cutting your grass if you buy it!

Well I will update you with pictures of what has been going on lately. So here we go...

The most precious child you will ever meet- at her 4 mo check up (more like 4 1/2 mo) she weighed 16 pounds 5 oz., sadly I think she has her mother's metabolism

Swipper planning his next move

"Success, the peacock is mine"

Allie-Parker wondering where her toy went :(

MAJOR volume/ bed head

I pretty much just summed up my life for the past two weeks in 5 pictures. But seriously, we had a great summer and hate to see it come to an end- we are already missing "Da-da" like crazy!

To update or not to update...

Sorry it has been so long, but to be honest I have found myself to be very lazy these past few weeks.

Nothing really exciting has been going on! We live on a pretty predictable schedule from day to day. We have been enjoying some time at the park walking and swinging and loving that Ryan is home most days by noon! School is about to start back up, and football season already has so we are taking advantage of every minute he is home!

What's new with Allie-Parker

A

Hanging out at Gigi's pool

Sleeping good :)

Allie-Parker reading her book ;)

It seems like Allie-Parker is changing every day and just like with Garrison it hurts my heart. I love it when they are tiny, squishy little ones- but I guess they have to grow up.

The only way to describe Allie-Parker is darling. She is just a darling and that is all there is to it! She is a good eater, puts herself to sleep easily (for the most part) and is really just fun to be around.

She has started rolling from her back to her stomach, but it isn't easy for her yet. She has also has started having great control of her neck and with that she has begun to actually enjoy tummy time. Within the past few days she has become very smiley and has started laughing out loud! It is precious!

We haven't been pushing or trying to force a schedule with her like we did with Garrison- but she follows a predictable 3 hour routine. It is so much more enjoyable letting her eat when she wants to eat (within reason) and sleep when she is sleepy, rather than being a slave to a schedule.

I finally feel like I am recovered from the worst c-section ever (out of the two that I have experienced). My incision still has a very small opening, but seems to be healing itself nicely. With out a doubt it was all worth it. We are all so in love with little mam. I could not imagine our family without her.

Two month stats

Allie-Parker visited the Dr. for her two month check up last week, I think?!?!? Dr. said she was looking great, very strong and smart (would you expect anything less?!?!) I am just a little bit proud of her!

She weighed 11 pounds and 4 oz. and was 22 in long. She had to get a few shots- but she did better than me! After the doctor visit was over we went shopping at Babies R Us and Tiny Town. I bought Garrison a potty chair while we were there. I got some real strange looks because I had a potty in my buggy with a two month old. I felt the need to tell everyone we passed that I wasn't planning on teaching Allie-Parker to use the potty anytime soon!

Recent pictures

Mr. Blue eyes

Morning after Allie-Parker slept all night (don't be jealous, it only happened twice)

Sweet smile

18 month old cutie pie

Garrison telling Allie-Parker "no, no, no" about who knows what

Identity crisis

There are the four categories that our days now fall into. Good days are when both babies are happy and most of their needs are met, bad days- well that describes itself, lucky days are when both babies are fed and actually nap at the same time and "thank goodness for new days" are the worst of the worst. We haven't really experienced too many of them since bringing Allie-Parker home- but today would definitely qualify!

Garrison woke up at 1:30 (yes in the a.m) and stayed awake crying until about 5. I would of loved to just shoved some ear plugs in and tuned him out, but he is my child and the motherly guilt kept me awake all night tossing and turning over silly questions like - did he have cheese at dinner (he is lactose intolerant BIG TIME), did I give him enough attention, and hundreds of other things that you don't think of until your child is screaming your name for 4 hours :(

On a positive note Allie-Parker slept through the night- but that was the last time she slept until now- 8:30 at night :( Boo! Needless to say the day was rough!

I constantly feel like one of them is not happy. If I am playing with Garrison, poor Allie-Parker is just hanging out in her bouncy, if I'm playing with Allie-Parker Garrison is getting into everything and screaming for juice. How do Mom's with more than two do it? Much less Mom's with multiples?!?!?

Both babies are asleep now and me and Ryan actually got to hang out - luckily Allie-Parker's colic is all but gone so we don't have to battle that anymore every night.

Thank goodness that tomorrow is another day and I get another try at being a Mom of two!

*Picture explanation and title: I was making up our bed today and Garrison just walked into the room wearing a headband. Me and Ryan have been saying that he has been going through an "identity crisis" since he is now a brother- and then he walks in with a headband on- HILARIOUS*