Builder Meeting

We met with our builder today to go over the choices we made at the design center a couple of weeks ago. We also got to see where our house is going to be built on the lot we chose. Below is the drawing. The front of the house is on the right and the back on the left. We are on a cul-de-sac and there is also an alley behind our house that connects to the cul-de-sac along our lot. This means we still have a side-entry garage instead of a rear-entry.


I don't think I've ever posted a picture of what our house is going to look like. Here it is ...


And here is the layout of the first floor. We'll also have a bay window in the study and a deck next to the screened porch. Also the layout needs to be flipped because the garage is on the left instead of the right.


This is the second floor layout ...


The builder should be breaking ground in the next couple of weeks. We are so excited to start seeing progress!

Puzzles

Carter pulled out some puzzles I bought several months back yesterday and has been obsessed with them ever since. He's getting pretty good at them too ...

Lobsters

This is the highlight of the grocery store! Both boys LOVE watching these guys!

Another Haircut

Since Carter is starting school in a few days, I took him to get his haircut at Carson's Barbershop where we took Rylan a few weeks ago. I never realize how long and crazy his hair really is until it's shorter and neat. Carter did a good job (as usual) and was very pleased to get a Dum-Dum when he was finished.


Afterwards we went to Barnes and Noble for storytime. This is probably my second favorite storytime after the Brentwood Library. Today's theme was the circus. After reading a couple of books to the kids, they got to do some circus-type activities, including walking the tight-rope ...


Then they got to paint these circus-theme drawings ...


This storytime is nice because it's not very crowded. And there is a train table. Both Rylan and Carter will never get sick of other people's train tables.

Lazy Sunday

We didn't have any plans today so we decided to explore the northeast side of Nashville.

First we took the boys up to the Shelby Bottoms Greenway for a jog/walk. We parked on the east side of the Cumberland River and walked across this huge pedestrian bridge to the greenway.


After we finished our jog/walk, we let the boys play at the Two Rivers Park where we had parked. The playground was another one of those wooden play structures that seem to be really popular around here.

We had a quick lunch and then went over to Opryland to walk around. Carter had fun exploring the atriums.





After awhile, Carter was over the photos. This was the only face he'd give me ...


We can't wait to go back at Christmas when they decorate Opryland for the holidays. And this year they are supposed to have special Dreamworks stuff. Carter was very excited about the posters of Alex the Lion from Madagascar that were hanging everywhere.

After dinner we took our evening walk so that Charlotte could get some exercise. Tonight's walk was to the Redbox at Walgreens. Living so close to so much is what's making living in this apartment bearable! Brian and I have rented 3 movies since we've lived here. I think that's more than we usually rent in a year!

Adventure Science Center

I took the boys to the Adventure Science Center on Thursday.

Carter seemed to remember the place and ran to the green screen right away to watch himself dance ...


Rylan liked throwing these balls but never got close to the mouth ...


There is a germ game where you shoot targets with laser guns. Carter did a good job of pulling the trigger while I aimed the gun for him ...


Carter got about half way up the vertebra ladder before chickening out and wanting some help back down ...


Rylan played at the train table while Carter checked out everything else in the preschool area ...


We ended up going back to the museum with Brian today. I think Brian is allergic to us because like last Saturday his allergies started bothering him really bad this morning. We didn't want to be outside so we decided on the Science Center.

Carter and Brian had fun scooping up balls with the excavator ...



We only stayed an hour and I didn't take many pictures. We had fun though and Carter had a blast running around with Brian instead of Rylan and me.

Rylan Update

It's been awhile since I've posted about the things that Rylan is doing. So, here it goes ...


Rylan's still holding off on walking. He's gotten great at pulling up, cruising, and getting from a crawling position to sitting. He's also crawling "normal" most of the time now instead of belly crawling.

Rylan doesn't have any true words yet. Sometimes I think he says mama, dada, and bye-bye but he's not consistent. He does have a particular scream he uses when he wants something. He usually points at something when screaming so I generally know what he wants.

Rylan is starting to recognize some songs, and he'll do the hand movement to match the song. His two favorites are "The Wheels on the Bus" where he spins his hands around each other and "If You're Happy and You Know It" where he claps.

Rylan is still not a fan of books. When I sit down to read a book to him, he loses interest on the first page. However, he has been pulling books out of the basket in the family room or off the shelf in Carter's room more often and will turn the pages in them. The only books he has an true interest in are the ones with flaps in them where there is something to find behind the flap.


I'm still nursing Rylan though I could probably wean him anytime now since he likes milk. I'm generally nursing him before his afternoon nap, at bedtime, once during the night (I REALLY want to cut that one out!), and if he gets up between 4:30 and 5:30 am because he'll usually go back to sleep for a bit. I've tried cutting out the middle of the night feeding but Rylan takes a long time to settle back down on his own and I can't sleep with him crying. He doesn't follow the theory of crying less each night of making him cry it out. I'd rather spend 10 minutes nursing him than be up for an hour or more listening to him cry.

Rylan has gotten pickier about eating. He doesn't eat much baby food anymore (though I do get some in him most days) but he doesn't like much else either. He often likes something new once or twice and then refuses to eat it anymore. It seems like he eats very little each day lately.

Rylan has slimmed down a lot in the last few months but he still has a descent amount of chunk. I wonder if all that extra weight has slowed him down with learning how to walk.

Rylan is fussy a lot still. Staying home and playing in the apartment is not something we do too much because Rylan does more fussing than playing. He just seems bored with all his toys even though we have tons.

One of Rylan's favorite things to play with when we are at places that have them are train tables. Unfortunately ours is in storage since there is no room for it in the apartment. He's also a big fan of balls and throwing them back and forth.

Even though Rylan can be difficult and we feel like we're going crazy, we love him a ton and can't imagine life without him!

More Storytimes

With it still so hot and me not wanting to spend a ton of time at playgrounds right now, we've been going to different storytimes still almost everyday. Since Rylan's not walking yet, it's hard to put him down at playgrounds. So I end up following Carter around while holding Rylan and we both just get all hot and sweaty and don't have much fun.

Yesterday we checked out the storytime at the Williamson County Library in downtown Franklin. The librarian that led the storytime did a few songs and read a few books. The boys both did a pretty good job staying in one place (though neither paid much attention). Carter's favorite part was when they did a song where they got to play with shakers made from plastic Easter eggs.


Today we went back to the storytime at the Brentwood Library. Today's craft was a frog on a lilypad.


So far this is my favorite storytime of the 4 places we've been to.

We are starting to make some friends too. I met a woman today at storytime that has a 2 year old boy and 4 month old boy. We exchanged numbers and will hopefully get together sometime soon. We also met someone that lives in our apartment complex last week at Brian's soccer game that has a 10 month old boy. Her boyfriend was playing on the team Brian was playing against. We met them at the apartment pool last Thursday.

Preschool Orientation

Last night I went to the orientation for Carter's preschool that he will be starting on September 1st. The programs around here call their 2-year-old classes Parents' Day Out (PDO). We got this note from Carter's teaches in the mail this weekend ...



Both of the teachers seem nice. They have been teaching together for 8 years. There are 10 kids in Carter's class (2 less than normal just because enrollment is down). There are 5 girls and 5 boys. About half the kids were in the PDO program last year. I talked to a few of the other moms and they were super nice. One family also moved here recently. They have a girl in Carter's class and a 7-month old boy. I really hope both Carter and I make some new friends through this!

Carter's teachers gave us all a bunch of basic information about how they run their class. It'll be interesting to hear how Carter adapts to things like not having a snack whenever he wants it or having to take naps on a mat with other kids around. The teachers gave us a copy of the schedule they'll be following ...


The kids aren't supposed to bring their own backpacks and lunch bags. Instead the school provides them with these bags ...


They are huge. I took Carter's today to get his name embroidered on it. Even though he had been excited about using his monkey backpack, he seems equally excited about this new one (thank goodness!).

I'm nervous for Carter because this will be his first time in a new environment on his own. The only people that have watched him for us are our parents and Sarah. I'm doing my best to prepare Carter for school so he's excited about it but we'll just have to wait and see how that first day goes.

When we first started talking about preschool, Carter would say something about me going with him and when I told him it was just him going, he'd get sad. He doesn't ask if I'm going anymore so hopefully he somewhat understands that this is something just for him. We talk about school several times a day so I'm hoping I've done a good job of preparing him.

Cookie Mouse

I took the boys over to Barnes and Noble this morning for their storytime. We got there a little early so the boys played with the train table for awhile.


We put our train table in storage because I didn't think we'd have room in the apartment for it. Carter told me today that "the guy" took it. Back when we were in our house still, Carter had gotten a bunch of candy at the Fourth of July Parade. I didn't want him to have anymore of it so I had tossed it during his nap. We ended up having a showing for our house right after naps and when we got back, Carter asked about the candy. I told him we didn't have it anymore and he said "the guy" (the person viewing our house) took it. From then on, whenever he couldn't find something, he said "the guy" took it.

Today's book at storytime was "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie". Carter did an excellent job sitting on the benches by himself and listening to the entire book.


After the book, the kids got to meet Cookie Mouse!


As you can probably tell from that picture, Carter wasn't too sure about the giant mouse! Carter gave him a couple of fives but didn't like having to turn his back to the mouse or being touched by the mouse. There were a few kids though that were scared to death and just cried so I think Carter was very brave considering he wasn't very comfortable.

Nashville Zoo

Brian and I took the boys to the zoo this morning. Unfortunately we didn't stay long though because Brian's allergies were making him miserable. He couldn't stop sneezing and felt terrible.

We were there for about an hour though. Both boys really liked the meerkats. Carter is too short to look out this tunnel on his own but Brian went in with him so he could see some meerkats up close ...


We spent about half an hour at the Jungle Gym. This is an awesome play structure at the zoo. Nashville has a lot of wooden playgrounds with this maze structures. The one at the zoo is huge and you can almost get lost in it.


They even incorporated some neat cargo nets over some water ...


I hope to go back to the zoo again soon because there are still some parts we haven't explored.

Downtown

We went downtown this morning to check out the Dragon Boat Festival. Even though we went down there pretty early, it was HOT. There was no breeze and the sun was beating down. There wasn't much going on other than the boat races so we didn't stay too long. Carter did like watching the boats race though.


And he did get to make this dragon that he was very proud of ...


We walked up and down Broadway and 2nd Ave as long we were downtown and had paid for parking. There are lots of bars and restaurants down here but it's not exactly the most family-oriented area.

We decided to head back to Brentwood and had lunch at a fantastic little taco place called The Local Taco. They put southern comfort food in tacos - it sounds weird, but it was so good. After lunch we walked down the street to the Town Center Saturday street fair. There wasn't much there either but it was good to check it out. I can't wait for it to cool off some so we can actually enjoy spending the weekend outside!

I Miss Daddy

I'm so glad that our house finally sold and that we're all together again. For about a month before we joined Brian in Nashville, Carter would randomly get sad, put his head down, and say "I miss Daddy". It was getting hard on him only seeing Brian on the weekends. Carter is completely obsessed with Brian. If Brian is around, he's the only one that can get Carter out of his carseat, carry him, or just about anything else.

Rylan still isn't walking and isn't really saying much yet (sometimes it seems like he's saying mama or dada or night-night, but it's not consistent). It almost seems like he was holding off on all that stuff until we were around Brian all the time again. He's been getting a lot more confident with cruising and climbing the last few weeks so it shouldn't be long until he's walking. I'm glad Brian will be around when Rylan goes through the next set of milestones.

It's also nice not having to keep the apartment perfectly neat and clean. I had to be ready to leave the house with very little notice for showings so we had to keep everything picked up and clean. It's hard enough to get the boys and dog out of the house in 30 minutes. I didn't have time to also pick up. We had more notice for most showings, but there were a few that we had less than an hour notice.

It was so hard keeping everything neat with two little boys who love to dump buckets of toys out and only have an attention span of a couple of minutes per toy. Carter definitely watched more television than I'd like because there were times I was just out of energy and wanted him to not make another mess.

The hail storm and damage didn't help with selling the house either. We still had showings even a week after the storm but I wonder how much that kept people from being interested in the house. However, the damage was so extensive in west Knoxville that it would of been difficult to find a house in the area that didn't have some damage.

Being on my own with the boys was hard too. I was scared to death at first about it, but we found a groove and it ended up being better than I'd expected. Baths and bedtime were the hardest part but it eventually became routine as well. I would usually put Carter in front of a movie for 15 minutes while I nursed Rylan and got him to bed. Then I'd read to Carter for awhile and get him down. It's a lot less time consuming now that Brian is around to put Carter to bed while I feed Rylan and get him down.

I'm so glad that life is back to normal for us, even if it is in this little apartment.

Brentwood Library Storytime

We went back to the storytime at the Brentwood Library yesterday. The craft this time was an owl. Carter carried that owl around for most of the day yesterday saying "hhooo-hhooo".


And he wore his tiger mask for most of the day.

Today's Activities

The boys and I took Charlotte to the vet this morning for her annual exam and shots. I didn't have any recommendations for a vet so I just chose one that is close to our new house.


The office is about a year old and in a new building so it's really clean and nice still. There is a dog park behind the office for dogs that are patients to use anytime.

Carter liked that he got to help and hold Charlotte's leash once we were in the exam room ...


Charlotte wasn't nearly as scared as she was at our vet's office in Knoxville. I never noticed her hind legs shaking like they would there. Carter still gave Charlotte lots of hugs to make sure she didn't get scared ...


Taking both boys and the dog somewhere on my own is always an adventure. The boys were being good but loud while we waited in the exam room. The receptionist must of realized I didn't bring in enough toys because she brought in some coloring books, crayons, and these ...


Carter wore this one most of the day ...


I liked the new vet enough. I like our old vet better but this one was nice and seemed thorough. The staff was nice as well and they charged me a little less than our old vet did for Charlotte's last annual exam.

After the vet we dropped Charlotte off back at home and went to Harlinsdale Farm to have a picnic. This park is an old farm that had walking horses that the city of Franklin bought. There's not much there besides the old barns, some gravel trails, and a dog park.




We found a nice shady spot under a tree and set up our picnic. It wasn't too hot and really quiet at the park - it was really relaxing.



Rylan is just like his brother - he found some sticks and was content.


After lunch we walked around the park for a little bit.


Carter smelled all the flowers that he found ...


After the park we went over to the main Williamson Country library and got a library card.


Their storytime started up again this week but it conflicted with our vet appointment so we'll probably check that out next week.