Building

Brian had to work last night so I had a morning of activities with the boys out of the house planned so that Brian could sleep. Unfortunately he had to go back in this morning only after a couple of hours of sleep. But the boys and I still went to Home Depot and Lowe's to do their building workshops.

We got to the one at Home Depot just after 9 am and they were having the workshop outside! It was COLD!


Rylan had to sit on a bucket just like Carter (and almost fell off several times). Rylan is copying everything Carter does lately.


Today's project didn't use any nails, only screws. Carter liked this a lot.


Carter took my camera and snapped a few pictures of Rylan and me ...



After building the snowman napkin holders, the boys got to paint them.


Miraculously Rylan didn't get any paint on himself (except for on his hands).


He was a huge fan of painting and got super mad when I took the paint brush away from him a few times to add more paint to it.


We added stickers once the paint dried. Here are the finished products ...


After Home Depot we headed to Lowe's to make the first part of the train they will be building over the next few weeks.

Both boys did really well sitting with me and helping as we built the cabooses.



The kits came with two sets of stickers so Carter decorated his caboose with the Christmas stickers and I put the regular stickers on Rylan's caboose.


It was a little difficult building two kits at the workshops but both boys were super patient (for them) and they seemed to enjoy themselves.

House Update

The boys and I stopped by the house yesterday to check out the house exterior progress.

There was a lot of landscaping completed (we're hoping for some more though) ...




The screened porch and deck look awesome. The windows also got screens.


Tonight we all went to check out the inside.

The range had been installed as well as the backsplash ...


Closet shelving was installed. This is the pantry - so much room!


Carpet was installed ...


Bathroom mirrors are up ...


I think they might still have to do another coat on the hardwood, but they are looking great!


The steps were still wet so we couldn't go upstairs.


I can't believe we'll be moving in in only 3 weeks!

Zoo

It was nice today (upper 50s and sunny) so I took the boys to the zoo. We hadn't been in over a month (which is a long time for us).

Two of the gibbons were playing which kept us entertained for awhile ...


We stopped for lunch not long after we got there. I pushed back getting there so that it was a little warmer. The boys were willing to take a picture since I promised food ...


Carter sat a few times and asked me to take his picture! Weird, but nice!



Carter took my camera for awhile and got a few good pictures ...



The zoo was so empty. We'd go ten minutes or longer without seeing anyone. I love the zoo in the winter!

Christmas Tree

It just wasn't feeling like the Christmas season to me with no decorations up in our apartment.

We had planned on getting an artificial tree to put upstairs in our new house that would be the kids' tree (it will have all the ornaments they make). I had bought a ton of cheap ornaments to fill the tree from Target after Christmas last year (they were all 75-90% off). I kept those ornaments out from storage because I had no idea when our house would be done (we originally expected it to not be done until 2012) and figured we'd have a tree in the apartment.

Since we have a close date for our house of December 23rd, I had originally planned on just putting a tree up on Christmas Eve in the new house. The other day I decided that I couldn't wait that long. I went searching for artificial trees and found one I actually liked at Lowe's. It's a 6.5' pre-lit tree with branches that look relatively real and only cost $128.

The boys and I picked the tree up this morning and decorated it after naps.

At first it was pretty challenging as Rylan would take off every ornament that Carter put on. He eventually got bored of that and played with some toys. Carter only got bored when there were about 20 ornaments left. He was such a good helper. He even put the hooks on the ornaments all by himself. He kept heavily decorating one area until I'd suggest he try another place (there are 2 or 3 ornaments on each branch where he was decorating).

As we were decorating, Carter kept asking me "Do you like your new tree, Mama?" It was really sweet. And then when I'd tell him he was doing such a good job, he's say "You doing a good job too, Mama."

Rylan Update

Rylan is such a sweet, sweet boy. He has started giving kisses randomly. They are the wettest, grossest kisses ever but I LOVE them.

Rylan is walking great now. He's gotten fast too. There are still occasional tumbles, but he has quite a bit of endurance. It is so much easier now that he can get around on his own too. Granted, the boys occasionally run in opposite directions, but it doesn't happen too often.

It took Rylan a little longer than Carter to start saying his initial words, but now that he has started, he can say SO MUCH. Unlike Carter, he often repeats random words we say. I'm surprised by the fact that he already says a few words together. Like "I do" when we ask him if he wants something. When he wants something, he usually says "please" or "that". His cutest word is "waffle" (which is what he usually has for breakfast). The most annoying word he says is "tv". I try not to have it on a lot, but we usually watch a couple of cartoons every day. He is a little obsessed.

Here's a video (broken into two parts) that I took of Rylan while we were waiting for Brian to meet us for lunch ...

The absolute cutest thing he does is when you ask him a question he doesn't know the answer to, like "Where's Carter", he puts his hands up, shrugs his shoulders, gets an "I don't know" expression, and grunts.

Rylan is really good at playing by himself when Carter isn't around. But when the two of them are together, there is a lot of screaming, taking of toys, and sometimes throwing of toys. Carter is usually the one that wants what Rylan has and just takes it when I'm not looking (which causes Rylan to scream). But Rylan will also sometimes take things from Carter. There is still some head-butting when Rylan gets mad at Carter, but not nearly as much as before.

Rylan is still rear-facing in his carseat and doing well with it. I'm hoping to leave him that way until he's 2. Carter was so fussy in the car though that I turned him around at 18 months.

Rylan does well when we put him down for a nap or at night. He no longer wants me to hold him when I sing to him before it's time to sleep. He points at his crib and grunts. Once I put him down, I still sing our usual two songs (Hush Little Baby and The Farmer in the Dell). He'll get right on his stomach, flip back and forth, and look up at me and smile. As soon as I say "I love you" after singing, Rylan starts crying because he knows I'm leaving. But he stops after a few minutes and goes to sleep. It sometimes takes longer for a nap if he's not that tired, but he'll usually cry for a minute or two, play a little, and repeat until he falls asleep.

Rylan's still taking two naps a day. We sometimes skip his morning nap if we're on the go but he usually still gets in a short nap in the car.

Rylan's favorite food right now is chicken. He'll eat as much as me when we're out and I'm sharing my meal with him.

Rylan is still enjoying books (finally). He's getting good at pointing things out in books when we ask him.

It's so nice getting to have a little one-on-one time with Rylan right now when Carter is in school. He's starting to pick things up so quickly right now that I like having the time to work with him.

Thanksgiving - Part 1

Brian took last Wednesday off from work and we spent the day driving from Nashville to Raleigh. We left early (5:50 am, central time) and stopped in Knoxville so that Brian could have his annual physical with the doctor we love there. While Brian was at the doctor, the boys, dog, and I got the tires rotated on my car (we get free rotations at the place I bought my tires) and then drove by our old house. I was surprised by the amount of remaining unrepaired damage in our old neighborhood from the hail storm in April. There were still lots of broken windows and a few tarps on roofs.

We got in to Raleigh around 5:30 pm (eastern time) . We decided to keep the boys up an extra hour in order to try to keep them on central time. It was weird putting them to bed so late but at least they weren't getting up at 4 am then.

On Thursday the rest of my family drove to Raleigh, including my mom, dad, Jan, Karey, Mike, and their dog, Bella.

It was beautiful outside so we spent a lot of time out there playing while frying the turkey.







We had our meal around 2 pm. Unfortunately Carter crashed right before and asked to go to sleep. We didn't know it then, but he was getting sick (he had a fever all the next day but was back to his normal self by Saturday morning).


We had a wonderful meal and then Rylan and Brian crashed ...


Normally we would have put Rylan down for a nap in his playyard but we put both boys in the same room this trip and Carter was still sleeping (and we didn't want to wake him up). The boys did really well sharing a room (they were both in playyards). They both went to sleep at night quickly (Rylan did his normal few minutes of crying) and didn't wake each other up in the middle of the night. They slept in one morning but once one started making a little noise, they were both up early. It was okay though and we were happy not to have Rylan in our room.

After Carter got up from his nap, we celebrated his belated birthday. He got a ton of presents from his grandparents and aunt and uncle. Some of his favorites are a Mobigo, a giant stuffed shark, a remote-controlled helicopter (actually, that's Brian's favorite), a car that you can drive using a laser gun, and a HEXBUG.

Then we had cupcakes from Gigi's Cupcakes. They were really good. There was more icing than cupcake. Carter ate ALL the icing off his cupcake and not one bite of the cupcake.




That evening Carter started complaining of a headache but didn't seem warm yet. He didn't have much of an appetite either. After a dose of Tylenol and bathes, the boys watched the Ice Age Christmas special and then were off to bed.


We had a fun and filling Thanksgiving!

House Update

I'm too tired to get my Thanksgiving posts finished, so here's a short house update instead!

The boys and I drove by the house today just to see the progress outside. Railings had been installed on the front porch. I'm so glad they aren't wood or plastic. I really like the black - it goes well with the door. And you'll be able to see the furniture on the porch.


The screened porch and deck had been built. There were some guys working on the screens in the garage when we drove by.





The screened porch and deck are huge. I can't wait to spend time in our backyard in the spring!

First Snow

After reaching the mid-70s this weekend, it is snowing today. Not much but there are plenty of snow flakes mixed in with the drizzle we are still getting (it hasn't stopped precipitating since we got back to Tennessee on Sunday). Brian and I finally managed to unpack the car last night in the cold mist but we still haven't taken the box off the top of the car. Besides it being wet, we don't have anywhere to put it since our leaking garage still hasn't been fixed (unless we want to put it under the dripping water). I think we should get a discount on our rent since we can't use half our garage and there has been no attempt to fix the leak yet!