Cade's ABC's

I especially love the "Purdue Cowboys" at the end. He walks around saying that all the time. He hears about them both so much, he thinks they play for each other. haha!

Our two month old

Harper Noelle is two months old! These precious first weeks sure do fly by, don't they? We are so proud of our baby girl. Harper is the absolute. sweetest. thing. ever! She's starting to coo and those little sounds melt my heart. She has been on the verge of laughter a few times, too, and I so look forward to that first real belly laugh! There is already a noticeable difference between her temperament and that of our other two. She is so laidback and content to sit in her chair or carseat, be held, be alone, be played with, be picked on- it doesn't even matter. She just goes with the flow, as crazy as it is sometimes. She cries and fusses so little that Ella and Cade get very worried when she does. =) We could not ask for a happier, more pleasant baby! She takes tummy time pretty much like everything else- she just goes with it until someone decides to flip her back over. She's getting so good at holding that little head up! Harper loves time with Daddy. She's a cuddlebug for sure! She and Ella are pretty big pals. Harper gets excited when Ella talks to her, like she knows she's about to hear or see something entertaining. Ella enjoys holding, dressing, and feeding her, just taking care of her in general. She is also very concerned about keeping Harper healthy. Ella is always reminding Cade to be gentle with her and to wash his hands before touching her. She's a good, little mommy. Cade wants to play with Harper all the time. He thinks it's so fun when we sing and pat-a-cake her hands or dance with her. He has a hard time walking by her without kissing her cheeks or rubbing her head. If she fusses, he runs to her first and says, "Don't cry, Hah-per. It's okay!" then he runs to me and says, "Mommy, baby's twying (crying)!" I love that he already feels protective of her. Love those big, brown eyes! Happy girl! And for my part, I'm counting the days until I have to go back to work (only ten left! {tear}), but physically, I'm feeling pretty good these days. It's all the sleep I'm getting- seriously! On most days, Harper nurses and goes down around 9:30- 10 pm, wakes up around 5 am to nurse, then goes back to sleep until 8- 8:30 am. In the past, I was never very good about sticking to any specific baby training methods. Ella and Cade were awful sleepers though, and I was determined to do everything on my part to try to make a difference this time around. After talking to some moms who swear by it, I was planning to try 12 hour sleep training with Harper. The little sweetheart made it easy on me though- she did it all on her own! Such a smart, little girl for only two months old!! =)
*For the record, Harper is 12 lbs 9 oz and 23 inches long this month.

Cade's crush

Cade has a thing for his Aunt April. He talks about her all the time and asks me at least three or four times a day where she is and if we can go see her. Yesterday, we saw a picture of a bride in a wedding dress and Cade asked me what she was doing. We talked about how one day he will grow up, fall in love, and get married. He asked me, "Aunt April married?" I told him that Aunt April was married to Uncle Chad. He said, "Oh," and went on playing. After a few minutes, he came up to me and asked, "Mommy, I marry Aunt April?" haha! So cute! You'd better watch out for this one, Uncle Chad!

It's all about perspective

As I was holding Harper on the couch the other day-
Me: Ella, can you believe you were ever this little?
Ella: I know, and now I'm already five and in kindergarten. And when Harper's five, she'll go to kindergarten. And I'll be ten then.
Me: I can't believe it. When Harper's five, she'll go to school, and you and Cade will both be in school. What in the world will I do all day?
Ella: Well, I know, Mommy! When we're all in school, you'll finally be able to take a nap!

Cade update & our weekend

Cade is doing great after having tubes placed on Friday. We couldn't be happier. He came through the whole process so well. After being told we would be at the hospital about four hours, we ended up being discharged in a little over two. Cade was so brave the whole time, laughing and answering all their questions like such a big boy. He only cried at the last minute when they started to put him to sleep. For the rest of the day on Friday, he was pretty emotional and not quite himself, but he was up bright and early on Saturday and back to normal. The doctor told us it would be like taking his earmuffs off and we would probably see some immediate differences. It's amazing the changes Chris and I have noticed already. He's talking in more complete sentences. He has complained to us about things like the radio and vacuum being too loud. He doesn't seem to get frustrated quite so easily. He constantly brings us books and will sit and listen to one after the other, whereas before, we couldn't get him to sit still to listen to one. It's all so exciting!!
This lucky little boy got visits from all his grandparents this weekend. My mom and dad came up Thursday night to help out with the girls and take Ella to school on Friday. They decided to stick around Friday night, too, and stay home with me and the kids on Saturday while Chris went to work. We headed to dinner and the mall Saturday night and were surprised by Mamaw and Papaw there! Awesome! We had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and they spent Saturday night and Sunday with us. It was such a fun, relaxing weekend, and we're pretty sure our kiddos have the greatest grandparents in the world!
Cade is such a boy's boy! He loves hanging out with both his papaws. I love this.
Ella got her first 300 piece puzzle and she and Pap worked on it all Saturday morning. Nice work! Harper got spoiled by Grammy... I got spoiled by Grammy, too. She was kind enough to alter my bridesmaid dress for me, and I appreciate it so much! Ella was so interested in what Grammy was doing. She sat next to her for hours, asking questions and chit-chatting. I used to do the same thing when I was little, and it was super sweet to watch.

On Friday

Cade will be getting tubes in his ears first thing tomorrow morning (because this week hasn't been emotional enough! ha!). Would you please say a small prayer for him, that the procedure goes smoothly and his recovery is super quick?

First days of kindergarten

Kindergarten is off to a great start! Ella is having a blast and she comes home each day just so excited to go back the next. I can't even begin to tell you how happy that makes us! She was up bright and early on Day #1. I usually call her "Pokey Puppy", because she is normally so slow about getting ready to go anywhere. However, on the first day of school, she was dressed and ready in record time! I was amazed. She looked so sweet and BIG standing there ready to head off to kindergarten. She just couldn't grin big enough! And I did pretty well, too! Standing there taking pictures almost got me, but I pulled it together. =) I didn't really lose it until she kissed me goodbye, jumped out of the truck, and took off running into the building (Yes, we drop them off at the door and have to stay in the car. The whole no busing/ transportation/ drop your kids at the door issue is a complete post in and of itself!). She ran in and didn't even look back. I was happy that she was that confident and excited, but Geez! She could have at least acted like she would miss me! ha! When I picked her up that afternoon, she couldn't talk fast enough. This is what she told me about Day 1-

-She got to hold Pipsqueak, the class hamster. That was her favorite part of the day.
-She made one friend, Fiana. She has red hair.
-Mrs. Lakanen is soo nice and really funny.
-She saw a little girl with a purple backpack with hearts and puppies on it. She doesn't know her name, but she really wishes she had a backpack like that. Maybe she'll find out where she got it tomorrow.
-She got to play on the playground.
-She went to the bathroom twice. The thing to flush the toilet was up really high. The first time she went, she flushed the toilet with her foot. The second time, she forgot and used her hand.
-Mrs. Lakanen read a book about a bird who drove a bus. They had to turn on their ears like this, "Click!"
This is a picture about her first day. On the left is Pipsqueak and she loves him. Day #2 About Day 2-

-She was glad she didn't wear her flipflops, because not one single person had on flipflops.
-She made two new friends today. One was a little boy named Graham. The other was a little girl named Abby. She's the one with the purple backpack. She got it at Target, but she got the last one.
-She worked in the art center today and made a special card for me.
-She didn't get to play on the playground, because it was too rainy.
-They talked about rules today, like don't pinch, don't hit, don't be mean. One little boy got in trouble, because he wouldn't stop talking.

Day #3 About Day 3-

-She got to paint. She didn't get to bring her picture home today, but will tomorrow.
-Mrs. Lakanen read a book about goggles, and it was so funny. This boy had goggles and some mean people were trying to trick him to get the goggles, but they couldn't do it.
-She didn't make any new friends today. She has just her three and that's fine.
-Today is the first day of September, and she has been in school for three days already. When she has been in school for one hundred days, something will happen. She's not sure what, but it will be special.

Set for Kindergarten

Ella has spent the last couple of days getting everything ready for school tomorrow (!). She had a few projects to complete prior to the first day. I know, right? Homework already and kindergarten hasn't even started! One of the things she had to do was use modeling clay to make something that represents her family. She decided to make an ice cream cone, because we all love ice cream and we love to take trips to The Cone. We thought that was pretty good thinking. =) She and Chris worked on it last night, then left it out to dry. Tonight we wrote a story about it, and then she colored it with rainbow colors. She also had to draw pictures of her hopes and dreams for kindergarten. She drew a rainbow (she hopes to learn about them), a book (she excited to learn to read), a person (she wants to make new friends), a playground (she wants to play and learn new games), and ears (she hopes she'll be a good listener =). To celebrate her last day of summer, Chris took the day off work and we had a fun family day, complete with pancakes for breakfast, Skyline for dinner, and a trip to the zoo in between (pics to come!). Of course, we've talked a lot about kindergarten and how things might be a little different around here. Ella has taken everything we've said very seriously, and she is completely cracking us up with her thoughts on how kindergarten is about to change her life:

To Mamaw- I don't know if I'll ever get to talk to you again. I mean, I won't be able to talk to you at night, only on Saturdays and Sundays, because I'll be going to school every other day.

To Chris- After Tuesday, you'll probably not get to see me very much. I'll be gone all the time. I have school every day except Saturdays and Sundays!

To Cade- Buddy, you're going to have to learn to do things for yourself. I can't do everything for you anymore. I'm going to be at school, and when I get home, I'll be so busy with work that I just won't have time!

Whoa, slow down, Little Lady! We're not ready for life to change quite so much just yet! =) She was all smiles and just so excited at bedtime tonight. She's ready. As for Chris and me, we'll be the ones with big ol' tears in our eyes in the morning, so say a little prayer and just be kind to us tomorrow, would ya?

Happy kids

Maybe I'm just overly sentimental and schmucky these days- lots of big, special life moments going on- but I love catching those genuine, heartfelt, cheesy grins on the faces of my kids. It's shows me they're happy and that's important. Love the sparkle in her eyes... And can't you just hear his mischievous giggle? And Harper, well, she was being stingy today... She's was actually quite bored with it all... Seriously, Mom, put the camera down! =)

They survived!

We're happy to report the guys survived Kyle's bachelor party weekend. They even managed to smile for a picture Sunday morning! And boy, were Ella and Cade happy to have Daddy back home! Can't you see why?! haha!