Cough...Cough...Cough

That's all we have heard this week. Two kids coughing their little hearts out! Landon woke up with a low fever Monday morning and had a nasty cough along with a runny nose. Adalyn just has a nasty cough. So far no fever. Landon hasn't really wanted to eat much this week which is understandable. I never feel like eating when I don't feel good either. On Wednesday afternoon, he napped for 4 hours (12:30-4:30)! And still was in bed by 7:30 and woke up at 6:30 the next morning. By the time Adam and I get home from work, he plays for a little bit then he's basically begging us to put him to sleep.Thankfully he woke up this morning without a fever! Adalyn came into our room at midnight last night coughing. I gave her her sippy cup of water and put her back in bed. At 4:45, I heard our door open again and she was coughing...and coughing...and coughing. I put her in bed with us and within 2 minutes she told me she needed to spit up. She hopped out of the bed and went straight to the toilet. She spit up, or threw up, whichever you want to say. But it wasn't the "stomach bug throw up" but it was more like nasal drainage throw up. She looked at me and said, "Momma, I can't get enough sleep because I'm coughin." Sweet thing. Oh, I forgot to mention Landon has 2 top molars in. Adam discovered them a week before Thanksgiving. I have had my eye out for the bottom two. He is almost saying "No". He will shake his head and it is sounds like he is saying it. Adam has both kids interested in watching pig videos on YouTube. It sounds funny, I know, but they all love it. It seriously will entertain all three of them for the longest time. Landon will grunt and point at the computer until one of us picks him up and shows him pig or cow videos or turns on music. He gets so excited and starts waving his arms and clapping. And Ohhhhh!!!! I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet!!! Landon stayed away from us for the very first time last Saturday!! AHHH! Adam and Adalyn headed to Pelham Saturday morning so it was just me and Landon the majority of the day. He took a long morning nap and after about an hour and 45 minutes, he woke up. I got him out of his crib, brought him in the living room to sit with me and watch TV, but he dozed back off. So I put a pillow on the floor and layed him back down.

Once he finally decided to wake up, I fed him lunch, got everything ready for his first night away from us (booo!) and we left for my parents. I have to admit, I was a little sad! :( I moved my rear view mirror down to where I could see him and stared at him the whole way there.(I know that sounds cheesy but I couldn't help it!) I did pay attention to the road as well though, so no worries. :) It was around 2:00 or so by then and after he played for a little while, I left and him and my mom took a nap. Christopher and Brandy were still in town and they were staying over, too so he had a lot of company to play with. I took the pack n' play over there and set it up in the computer room. Momma said she layed him down at 8:30 and didn't hear a peep out of him until the next morning. By the time Church was over, Adam and I almost ran to the nursery to get him. Instead of running, we just walked really fast. We kept Adalyn home with us Saturday night so we could put up the Christmas tree. She is at such a fun age and really understands the whole Christmas tree, ornaments, Santa, etc. After we set everything up and cleaned up( you know me! MUST CLEAN!) we went to J&G for supper.

She ate Chicken strips, french fries, went to the bathroom twice, and ate jello. The jello didn't go over so well. Her whole body shook and she spit it out. ha. She just wanted to play with it. She said they looked like ice cubes. It was a great day/evening and I'm glad we were able to spend one on one time with just her. The next time Landon stays the night somewhere, Adalyn is going too. Then wait for it.... Adam and I would have an empty house!!! Can you feel the excitement in my typing?!?! Already looking at the calendar to see when we can make that happen! Until next time!

3 year check-up

Adam and I left work early this morning to take Adalyn for her 3 year check up. We told her a few days ago she would be going so that's pretty much all she has talked about. She would randomly ask if she would be getting a shot. We didn't lie to her, we just told her we weren't sure. And thankfully, we were telling the truth. No shot. Just a finger prick, and that didn't even phase her. She was SO excited when we came and picked her up. She was bouncing off the walls. When we arrived at the doctors office, she was in the best mood and kept asking when Dr. Eastham was coming to get her. Since she likes Doc McStuffins so much, I guess she felt like she knew exactly what was going to go on. She would sing, "Check your ears, check your eyes, find out how much you've grownnnnn, time for you check up!" Sweet girl.

Waiting on Dr. Eastham!

Adalyn weighs 39 lbs-96% and is 40 1/4" in height-98%! Dr. Eastham referred to her as a giant. :) I am very short so I am beyond thrilled that she will be a tall girl! I have always wanted to be just a little bit taller so I'm glad she is taking after Adam in the height category!

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving morning we woke up and started getting ready for our day! Adalyn stayed the night with my parents Wednesday night. We didn't have too much to do since we did most of it the night before. With my personality, I have to make lists and be extremely organized when it comes to a big event where cooking is involved as well as packing for two kids for an entire day and most of the evening away from home. Good clothes, good shoes, play clothes, play shoes, Pajamas, plenty of diapers, plenty of wipes, toys and books for Landon, jackets, food for both kids, sippy cups for both kids, two bottles for Landon, extra change of clothes for Adam and myself, camera, all of our food we were to bring, drinks, birthday gifts, and I feel like I could go on and on. That's a lot of stuff for only 1 day! Not only did I pack for our day on Thursday, I went ahead and packed for Thanksgiving with the Clark's on Friday as well. Ahhh, organization makes me oh so happy. Landon took his morning nap and then we were off to Hillsboro around 10:15. As soon as we got there, Landon ran straight for Granddaddy's lap. He kept squealing and waving his arms up and down. He was beyond excited.

We then asked Landon to show us his newest trick! We will ask, "Landon! Where's your tongue?!" This is his reaction:

I'm pretty sure it's one of the cutest things I have ever seen. Shortly after, everyone else arrived. We got our food situated then headed outside for our annual grandkids picture for my Granddaddy. My Grandmother use to love getting this picture each year. Here is our family picture

And of the Grandkids, great-grandkids, and spouses

You can clearly see Landon was DONE by this point with the picture taking. We all headed back inside to check on our food and we got ready to eat...and eat...and eat. Whew. It's safe to say we were all stuffed. We cleaned up, played, and then napped. I took Landon upstairs and we slept while Autumn had Adalyn in the bedroom downstairs trying to get her to fall asleep. I later learned that Adalyn kept talking (and talking) and then finally talked herself to sleep. Landon slept fine and I did too for the most part but all I could hear was gun shots going off by Adam, Christopher and Casey in the pasture. Boys and their toys. Landon and I eventually woke up and ended up waking Adalyn from her nap so we could celebrate all of the November birthdays. November is a very popular month for birthdays in our family! Just my immediate family, we celebrate 5 birthdays. Brandy, Casey, Adalyn, Adam and Autumn. (That's not including all of our other cousins who have November birthdays!Oh, and Singer :) ) Here's the birthday gang!

After cake, we started getting out the Christmas decorations.

Adalyn is at the perfect age to help with the tree! Landon on the other hand, is not. My almost 15 month old was pulling ornaments off left and right! Oh geeze! After a while, he finally gave up after us telling him "no" for the millionth time. He would randomly come over and try to snatch one but I had my eye on him. Little stinker. I have no idea why I didn't take a picture of the tree once we were finished with it! I am easily distracted I guess. We cleaned things up and packed everything and headed home. We put the kids in bed as soon as we got home then we relaxed. It was a wonderful day to be with family and I am very thankful for them. On Friday, we got up and got ready to head to Winchester to celebrate Thanksgiving with Adam's entire family. Thanks to my mad organizational skills, everything was pretty much ready to go. Landon took his nap then we left. We stopped first at Jerry and Nancy's. We did some of our cooking and the kids played. On our way to Melissa's, Landon fell asleep so we let him get his nap out in the car once we got there. Adalyn rode with Jerry and Nancy and she fell asleep, too. Their bodies are use to their 1:00 nap time! They eventually woke up and quickly found the toys and their cousins. Every get together we have 1 5 year old, 1 4 year old, 3 three year olds, a 14 month old and a 10 month old. WHEW! Thank goodness for a big room full of toys! As usual, everyone ate and ate and ate. We all kept occupied with football and playing with the kids. Here are some random shots from our Thanksgiving with the Clark's!-Landon with Uncle Jim

Landon is in love with lights/fans. As most babies are I know, but he will bug you to death until you pick him up and let him touch the string or even just to get a "little bit" closer to the light. After a while, we took a walk outside. It was such a beautiful day!

Here's Mr. Personality in his filthy shirt waving at everyone

Hannah, Maddison and Adalyn

All the kids love Hunter! (and Tori! even though she isn't pictured)

Can we say identical?

Landon and his apple

I saw Adalyn's bow sitting on the table I couldn't stop myself from doing this!

He looks JUST like Adalyn did when she was this age! Amazing. Landon was in charge of the rolls. He took each roll and placed it on the pan. He even licked a few. :)

and here is Super Landon!

Brian, Adam, Tommy, just missing Kenny!

Adalyn wanted to stay the night with Jerry and Nancy since Tori and Hunter was staying there as well. Tommy and Sarah came to stay with us. Landon fell asleep within 3 minutes of us leaving and when we got home, around 7:30, we woke him up so he could take his bottle, then once he was through, we layed him down. It was another long, but fun day with great food and family! Check out some previous Thanksgiving posts! Thanksgiving 2010 when Adalyn was just 1 year old! HERE! and Thanksgiving 2011- Adalyn was 2 and Landon was just 10 weeks old! Amazing what one year will do! Read it HERE!

Landon is 14 Months Old!

This little guy is 14 months old and doing something new almost every day! He now will shake his head "no" when we ask if he wants another bite, drink, etc. He signs "all done", "more", "dog", and "please". For whatever reason when he signs "please", it is the absolute sweetest thing ever. You take your head and rub in a circular motion on top of your chest. His version is your take you hand and very slowly swipe it across your chest. He will do it over and over again. I ask him where my nose is and he will put his finger on my nose. I ask him where his nose is and he just looks at me like, "Huh?" ha ha. He will still not drink milk out of a sippy cup. With Adalyn, I know we spent over $40 just trying to find the "right" cup she would drink milk out of. She was 14 months old when she finally accepted one. It was a Nuby brand, which is what Landon has for his water. I just ASSUMED the same cup that worked for her would work for him. Well, it didn't. I had a small mind lapse and forgot that my kids are nothing alike. Beside their looks when Adalyn was a baby, they have been so different. So darn. Here we go on a sippy cup hunt. Landon has not let us feed him since he was 10 months old. That's when he was completely off baby food and started eating whatever we ate. He will sometimes let us feed him yogurt or applesauce, but that's only if he's in the mood for it. So I somewhat knew this process would be a bit frustrating. (and long) So far, every cup I have bought hasn't worked. Stubborn little thing. But, I know eventually he will take it. So I'm not stressing myself over it. It's amazing how much you learn/understand/accept when you have a second child! Things are SO much easier and you worry WAY less than you do/did with your first. Am I right people? In other news, one of Landon's favorite things to do is take a bath. We can ask him, "Want to take a bath?!" He high tails it to the bathroom. He will turn back to look at us, and if we aren't right behind him, he will walk to us like he is trying to get us, and grunt and then start walking back towards the bathroom. When he's in the bath, he is such a character! He is really very entertaining.

Blowing bubbles! He normally comes up choking after he does this.

He loves sitting and looking through books. Or give him a sandwich bag with crackers or pretzels in it, he will spill it and then pick every single piece up and put back in the bag one at a time. We have to keep all toilet seats closed or else you will find him elbow deep playing in the water. He absolutely hates getting his diaper changed. I have to give him one of Adalyn's old toothbrushes that sings the "ABC's" to keep him occupied. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I'll be glad when he grows out of that stage. He is still in a size 4 diaper, 5.5 wide shoe, 18 month clothes, 24/2T pajamas, AND his hair is really starting to grow! It's hard to tell in pictures since his hair is so white, but he really is starting to get some. People call him "cotton head" all the time. Adalyn was 15 months when her hair finally started growing. I'm curious to see if his hair will stay straight or if it will curl. I'm secretly hoping it will curl but Adam says he will look like a girl if it does. Whatever. Another interesting fact about Landon being 14 months old is Adalyn was 14 months old when I found out I was pregnant again. SO crazy how fast time flies. What a blessing our "surprise" has been! Happy 14 months Landon Riley!

Party day for Adalyn!

We had Adalyn's 3rd birthday party on Saturday, November 10. The theme was Doc McStuffins, one of her favorite TV shows! I had so much fun planning this for her. We all had a wonderful time! The door sign! I LOVED it!

Birthday Invitation

Centerpiece

Got to love Cricut machines! (notice band aids in the back ground. I had them scattered on the tablecloth)

Drinks

Hot Dogs!

The Birthday Girl!

Of course I made her shirt!

Birthday cake- so cute!!!

Present time!

Close up of the poster I made. I am SO in love with it! I plan to do this every year now. It will be neat to see their new "likes" over the years.

She really enjoyed everyone singing "Happy Birthday" to her. She soaked it allll up and scanned the crowd back and forth as we all sang. It was precious!

Sweet friends!

Adam and I with the party girl!

Happy Birthday Adalyn May! We Love You very much!

Happy 3rd Birthday Adalyn!

I cannot believe it- Adalyn May is THREE! I don't think three years have ever gone by as fast as these three years have. People always told me that once you have a kid, time flies. Well, they were speaking the truth. You just can't grasp the whole concept of "time flies" until you actually experience it with your children. Adalyn is so outgoing, loving, incredibly smart, and has such a tender heart, but also has a little bit of an attitude to go with all of that sweetness. :) Her head full of curls are so precious, the sound of her voice is refreshing,and her sweet laugh is very contagious. I am so in love with her and I am very thankful God chose me and Adam to be her parents. Monday night after the kids were asleep, I put up a few streamers on Adalyn's door so when she opened her door in the morning, she would walk right through it! (Making my Pinterest dreams come true one step at a time!) :) I was hoping that I would get to see her open the door just so we could see her face. Adam was in the kitchen and I was finishing my make-up when he yelled for me. I ran in there to find Adalyn laughing. She had opened her door and said, "Mommmmy?" We sang Happy Birthday to her and she just smiled and giggled.

Can't you hear her laugh?

After we sang to her, she asked for birthday cake. At 6:30 AM! So why not?! It's her birthday!

Nancy came and brought "birthday cookies" as Adalyn called them. Sugar cookies with pink icing and sprinkles. So she ate one of those, too. Adam took the day off school to take our pigs to the processor (still not sure what excuse we will tell Adalyn once she realizes the pigs are gone...) Nancy left once Adam got back home that afternoon and once the kids woke up from their nap, he got them ready and brought them to see me at work! Adalyn LOVES coming to work with me so I knew she would like this added treat! After work, we headed to buy our supplies for Operation Children Shoebox. On the way there, I explained to Adalyn what we were doing and why we were doing it. I was hoping she would understand as we were looking at a million toys, books, and crayons, that she wouldn't whine about not getting anything. Thankfully, she was SO excited to help. She went up and down the aisles saying, " I think the little girl would like this!" She made that comment with just about anything we would pick up. I was so happy to see her so excited and that she (somewhat) understood why we were doing this. Some little girl across the world will have a FUN shoe box to open! What a great thing to teach our children, it's not always about receiving, but it's about giving! I was glad we were able to do this as a family on her 3rd birthday. We went home, ate, and I think Adalyn asked to watch Handy Manny. I found it on On Demand, and we watched and played with her new birthday gifts. Shortly after I put her to bed. I kept saying to myself that I couldn't believe she is 3 years old. Here I am carrying my 40 lb 3 year old to her "big kid" toddler bed, wide awake. I am so thankful we can put her down awake and she drifts off to sleep on her own. Just another sign that my little big girl is growing up on me. What a joy she is to us! Please read my Birth Story HERE! Read about Adalyn's 1st Birthday HERE! Read about Adalyn's 2nd Birthday HERE! It's amazing how much they change in just one year! Next year, she will be FOUR. So hard to believe!