A Night and Day Difference: Articulating My Thoughts

This week brought Valentine's Day, Carrington's first day of school, and beautiful weather! I loved all of these things- even Carrington starting at Memorial Preschool. The staff is so wonderful there, and I am forever grateful to Sarah for the recommendation. She was so cute on her first day and did fantastic.

I was at dinner last night with one of my girlfriends and we were talking about how wonderful life is right now, with both of our new babies and their big brothers, and I was trying to tell her how much more I am relishing Carrington as a baby. It's so hard for me to put into words, but I'm going to try...

Trey and Carrington are night and day different. Trey loved to be held, cuddled, would have gladly slept with us all night long, and is still very much this exact same way. He is my snuggle bug, and I love that about him! Carrington on the other hand, is Miss Independent. When she's tired, she wants to be wrapped and laid down, when she is awake, she wants to be sitting up (or really standing up), looking around, and being a "part" of everything! I'm not sure she has ever REALLY cuddled with me. For this reason alone, I'm really trying to hold on to her baby moments and not rush onto the next stage.

I think what really sparked this thought process was the email I received this week that said: "Is your baby ready for solids?". Again, things are so different then they were with Trey. At this same stage with Trey, I couldn't wait to start solid foods, to have him sit with us at dinner in his high chair, for him to hold his own bottle, for him to sit by himself- the list goes on and on. We spent countless hours encouraging him to sit, and then crawl, and then walk. With Carrington, I am desperate for time to stand still- I DON'T want to start solids, I don't want her to sit by herself (ok, maybe that one a little bit), but I don't want her to crawl, walk, or be a big girl at all! Maybe because her personality is so much less "babyish" then Trey's was, or maybe I'm just more aware of how quickly time really does fly by, and it scares me to death! Either way, I want to appreciate the moment instead of constantly looking forward to the next stage she is supposedly supposed to be starting. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to hold her back, but I don't want to fast forward either.

I hope you are all going to enjoy this GORGEOUS weekend! We spent the week meeting Doug for lunch at a park near his job on Valentine's Day, and then he was out of town for training for a few days, but he's back now, and our big plans for the weekend include visiting with Grammy, Papa, Big Daddy and Nanijay, and visiting the Biltmore! I can't wait!!!!

Carrington Elizabeth- 15 Weeks Old!

Carrington is such a delight! I say it all the time, but she gives her smiles away. When I think back to how ridiculous Doug and I would have to be to get Trey to smile, I cringe. Carrington smiles the second you pay her any attention at all, and I love it! And she sleeps with a big smile on her face all the time!

Her big accomplishments are rolling, which she's been doing for several weeks now, but we still haven't mastered rolling from belly to back- she tries for a few minutes, and then gets pissed and starts screaming. I can't blame her, but I know she needs to learn on her own. We still haven't moved her into her big girl crib in her own room. We will officially move her over at the end of the month (when she is 4 months old). She is a fantastic sleeper, but she is still occasionally waking up in the middle of the night, and at 4 months we will "sleep train" her to put herself back to sleep. I have no doubt whatsoever that she will completely get the hang of it with no problem at all, and the fact is that she is probably ready now, but I remember Dr. Lods telling me that babies should not be forced to cry it out until 4 months, and I don't want to permanently damage her by possibly making her cry it out before then! :) I know, it's silly, but it's the way I feel!

Up until now, Carrington has been going to work with me, but this was her last week! Starting this Tuesday, she is going to be attending Memorial Preschool with Trey on Tuesdays and Thursdays! I'm super excited, since she is awake a lot more often now, and it's starting to get tough having her in the office with me. I love having her there, but I get anxious when she starts getting fussy, and I hate that!

She is cooing like crazy, and has conversations with us now!!! It is adorable and makes my heart melt to listen to her. She also belly laughs when I rub my nose against hers. Hilarious! She is fascinated by her hands, and spends hours staring at them and putting them in her mouth, only to pull them back out and look shocked that her hands are in front of her again! She also loves to stand, so she has been spending her mornings in the jumper in our bedroom. She isn't quite bouncing yet, but she loves the independence and the ability to stand all by herself.

I think that sums up Carrington's world right now. I'll post pictures of her first day at school this week!!!!

Trey- 23 Months Old (almost)

Well... I think I can officially say that this is the last time I will get to refer to Trey's age in terms of months. Next month, he will be turning 2 years old, and from that point forward, his age will be counted in years and not months. Is it crazy to say that this makes me want to cry? What happened to my baby boy???? I want to hault everything and just spend time in the NOW!!!!

He is so independent, and he tries desperately to do everything on his own. My mom always tells the story of when I was a little girl, and I went into the refrigerator all by myself to get my own juice, and I spilled it everywhere. This is Trey every day. Twice this week I looked over our 2nd floor railing to discover that the front door deadbolt has been unlocked and Trey is wandering around outside- always with a purpose. Usually he is looking for our kitty cats, and he is doing this because he watches Doug do this every night, and he is only doing what his Dada does. He will go into our freezer and pull out frozen waffles to make his own breakfast, he climbs on top of the counters (after pushing chairs over and climbing up) to get his sippy cups,... This weekend, we finally had to go to Home Depot and buy the bronze latches that bolt at the top of doors! I will feel a thousand times better knowing that wherever Trey is, at least he is in the home! :)

Like I said, Trey spends so much time trying to "help". Earlier this week, I had to go to the bathroom (and chose to not bring both kids with me), so I laid Carrington on a blanket on the floor, put some Veggie sticks on Trey's table for a snack, and quickly tried to race to the bathroom- seriously, I only needed about 30 seconds! In that 30 seconds, Trey was quiet for a few moments and then joined me. As he walked in he says "Thank You", with a big smile on his face. What does this mean???? I am panicked and run into the family room to discover Carrington with 3 little Veggie Sticks hanging out of her mouth! Apparently Trey felt like sharing!!! YIKES!!!! Thank GOD that nothing terrible has happened to my children, because I fail as a mother every day! :)

I've mentioned this before, but Doug and I really messed up with Trey and the entire bedtime routine. As a baby, and now as a toddler, Trey has always fallen asleep in our bedroom, on our bed, and then we move him to his crib (after he is asleep). This was getting really old, and we decided to make the switch to laying Trey down, still awake, and he needs to put himself to sleep. I really thought this was going to be terrible! Night #1, Doug took Trey into his own room, read him one book, and put him in his crib. I was shocked to discover that Trey only cried for about 5 minutes, and then laid right down and went to sleep!!! Every night since then, he has cried less and less, and now the most he cries is maybe 10 seconds!!! If I had known it was going to be this easy, I would have done it long before now! I sort of thought that Doug and I started off with the bad habit, so we were stuck with it! I am thrilled to find out that I was wrong! And I honestly didn't give Trey enough credit to be able to do it. He is more than capable of figuring out how to go to bed on his own- Lord knows, he does everything else by himself!!!!

Trey's current favorite word is "Lillow", which is what he calls his Yo Gabba sleeping bag. I couldn't figure out what this meant, but it finally occurred to me that he is saying PILLOW, since the sleeping bag has a little pillow attached to the top! It makes perfect sense now, and I don't know why I didn't get it right away! :)

Our other activities this week included taking our make-up family and sibling photographs, and we spent a fantastic afternoon at Discovery Place Kids. The best time of day to go is at 3pm, when everyone else is home with their kids taking naps and the place is empty! We had free reign of the entire museum, and it was awesome!

We are looking forwad to Valentine's Day this week, and our class Valentine's are super cute! We are also excited about NaniJay, Big Daddy, Grammy and Papa coming to visit this weekend! Yay!!!!

Finally Playdating Again!!!

Carrington is 3 months old now, and we are finally getting out there and playdating again!!! Between my kids being sick, and then everyone else's kids being sick, I've been a little hesitant to share the toys, snot, drool, and everything else that's going around! Finally, though, I couldn't take it any longer, and we hosted a "Dance Your Wiggles Out" playdate at the house last Monday, and then we got to spend Wed. with Evan and Becky! Yay!!!! It was so much fun to spend time with other people again!

The other fun part of our week included Pajama Day at Trey's school, and I took the opportunity to sneak in his classroom and snap a few photos of the kids- they were so cute!!!!

Carrington 3 Month Sneak Peek!!!

The same weekend as Lazy 5 Ranch, Carrington had her 3 month pictures. They went fantastic, except that Trey was a complete STINKER, and we weren't able to get any family or sibling pictures. I am lucky enough to have a fantastic photographer that told me not to worry at all, she would come back and do the sibling and family pictures in a few days. I cannot begin to explain how relaxing it was to know that even if we weren't able to get in everything that I wanted, she would make sure that I would get the pictures eventually. This is only a sneak peek of the entire shoot, but I LOVE what I see so far! :)

Lazy 5 Ranch!

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything! Part of our delay was all the company and fun we've been having! A few weeks ago, Uncle Brian and Aunt Kristyn came to visit, along with Brian and Jess. We had a ton of fun, and spent the day at Lazy 5 Ranch. The weather was beautiful, and although we wanted to take the Hay Ride to see the animals, it was all booked for the day, so we had to ride our car through instead. It is a little intimidating to have these animals coming at you, and they are AGRESSIVE! We were all a little terrified of the ostriches, and the buffalo were a little scary as well. Doug was Mr. Funny Guy and put the child lock on Kristyn's window so she couldn't roll it up. I've never heard such panic in a person's voice as when Kristyn was frantically saying "Doug, stop, they're coming, they're coming!!!". And then later, Kristyn announced "I don't like this..." Haha!!! The good news is that Trey loved it! :) Even Carrington had a good old time!

Later that night, Carrington had another "first", when we left her (and Trey) with a babysitter while we all went out for dinner! She did fantastic and slept the entire time! :) I was so worried, and for nothing!

Carrington's Conversations

Carrington has full blown conversations with us now, and I catch myself asking her things like "Can you say Mama?" and "Tell me your secrets". She is definitely a morning person right now, although if she is anything like Trey, that will change! :)