House Pictures

I realized the other day that I hadn't posted any pictures of the house since we moved in. I still have a few boxes to unpack and lots of decorating to do (like hanging up pictures) but it's getting there.

This is the entryway ...


The dining room ...


The office ...



Downstairs half bath ...


We are planning on redoing the furniture in the family room in the near future. I want to hang the tv above the fireplace and then do a big sectional couch and two large chairs closer to the kitchen. We have a large open area between the family room and kitchen right now that won't be weird looking once we get better furniture.




We will probably build a desk to match the kitchen cabinets and counters where the Mac is now in the kitchen.



The guest room is a disaster right now. It's where we're storing all our empty boxes. But I LOVE having the treadmill in such a convenient location now that the kids can't hear when they are asleep. I was able to run 5 miles last night after they went to bed



The guest bath ...


We just started working on unpacking the garage. We got a lot of the Gladiator tracks up that we use to hang everything but that's about it. At least now we can start putting things away.


We love our huge screen porch. We've already spent time out there playing on warm days. And since it's right off the kitchen, I can send the kids out there when I'm making food.



Our deck is nice and large too. It's going to take us forever to seal it all this spring!


The loft bonus room at the top of the stairs is where I've collected all our baby stuff. I'm going to do a consignment sale at the end of February and get rid of some things so I'm going through it all still. We are also still waiting on our couch that the storage company has lost in their warehouse. We aren't getting our hopes up that we'll see it again.


The master bedroom from the hall ...


And around the corner ...



The master bath ...


The enormous master closet ...



Our storage area off the master closet ...


I love that the laundry room doesn't share a wall with one of the kid's rooms anymore so I don't feel like it'll wake them if I want to do a load of laundry during nap or at night.


My absolute favorite room in the house is the playroom. We spend a ton of time in there. We had 5 boys and 3 adults over today and everyone was able to fit in there and play. It was a little crazy but lots of fun!



The kids' bathroom ...


Carter's room ...


Rylan's room ...


We still have a lot of work to do but it's definitely feeling like home.

Speech Evaluation

Carter had his speech evaluation today. It was at noon so I had to pick him up early from school. I hated that he missed part of the day but I didn't want to push back this appointment at all.

The evaluation was at Crockett Elementary with a speech therapist. I filled out paperwork and tried to keep Rylan quiet while the Ms. Janet showed Carter pictures and asked him to name things. Then she told him a story using several pictures and asked him to tell her the story (I think she wanted to see how he did putting words together). Last she had Carter repeat sounds while looking in a mirror. He was a little shy for this part so Ms. Janet bribed him with stickers.

Ms. Janet still has to go to Carter's preschool and observe him there but then we'll have a meeting and discuss what help Carter will need. She said she wasn't really supposed to say anything yet, but Carter definitely needs speech therapy. As we already knew, Carter's dropping middle and end sounds. Ms. Janet said this sort of thing does not get better on its own. She said if we didn't do anything at this age, Carter would get to kindergarten and be really far behind with his speech. He'd then probably need speech therapy all through elementary school. By doing therapy at this early of an age, Carter should be almost 100% caught up by kindergarten.

Carter was so excited to go to the "big kids school" today. I hope he continues to be this excited because we'll probably be going there a lot soon!

Adventure Science Center

Carter has been asking to go to the "Science Center" now for weeks. I did not want to go over winter break just because of how crowded it gets when the kids are out of school but for some reason decided that today, the MLK holiday, was okay. Brian was trying to get some work done from home today so I wanted to get the kids out of the house and do something for them and since it was cold and rainy today, the Adventure Science Center is what came to mind.

We lasted about 2 hours and I only lost Carter once for about 30 seconds (it gets hard when they run in different directions and there are tons of kids around!).

Rylan is still wearing his "crown" ALL THE TIME. I don't even notice it anymore. We were out at dinner the other night and Brian and I suddenly realized he was wearing it when we were almost done with our meal. I wonder what other people think.


Carter yelling out "All Aboard!" ...


The boys in an eagle nest ...


So silly ...

Recent Photos

There are lots of little things that the boys are doing right now that I've wanted to post about so I don't forget them. I need to make a list of all the things when I think about them during the day because when I sit down to do a post, I forget everything. In the meantime, here are a few recent pictures and a video.

It was relatively warm on New Year's Day so the boys played outside for a bit. Carter is finally big enough for his Radio Flyer tricycle and was very happy to pass his smaller green tricycle off to Rylan.


Last week we met Sophie from Carter's PDO class at Shipwrecked Playhouse. The kids had lots of fun but the place is overpriced so we won't be going there often.


Carter's been dancing a lot lately and most of his moves involve being on the ground. Are there break dancing classes we can enroll him in?


After Carter got himself all dressed up in his workman stuff, I asked if I could take his picture and he posed for me like this with his arms crossed. Rylan is a ham for the camera sometimes and had to join in for the picture.


A few days ago Rylan pulled the inside of a play construction hat out and has been absolutely obsessed with it. It's his little crown and he wants to wear it all the time and even has to take it to bed with him (though he takes it off to sleep because it seems to poke into his head when he lays down). Here's a little video with him wearing it ...

It snowed a little yesterday. Nothing major, just some flurries. It was so cold though that the dusting didn't melt when it stopped and schools got canceled today. I think most people thought it was a waste of a snow day - the weather didn't stop us from getting out early and running our errands. Here's a picture of the snow coming down yesterday and the workers still bricking the house being built behind us ...

Target Toy Clearance

I spent way too much money this morning. I hit up 3 Targets and got tons of toys for the kids' birthdays and Christmas, for friends' birthdays, and to donate next Christmas. Everything I bought (minus one Lego set at 50% off) was 70% off. I spent a total of $178.62 (plus tax) for $582.09 worth of toys.

Carter had school this morning so I went to the first 2 Targets with both boys before dropping Carter off. The Target in Brentwood was almost done with their markdowns and scanning the last few things. The ladies working their were super nice and no one else was there shopping yet. I easily got tons of stuff there and then headed over to the Cool Springs Target.

They were just starting to do markdowns at the Cool Springs location. The two ladies there were not friendly and at first refused to scan anything for me. Until they scan an item, it won't ring up at the register at the lower price. (I am a little obsessed with this sale and know too much about it, can you tell?) Their excuse was if they scan my item, when they get to more of that toy, they won't put a sticker on them because they already scanned mine. I nicely argued that that doesn't make sense because even though a lot of the same toys are grouped together, there were still a lot all mixed up. I pointed out a specific example of a group she had finished a minute ago and that there was an identical toy further down the aisle. She huffily gave in and scanned my 3 items and we left.

We dropped Carter off at school and then Rylan and I went to another Target in Franklin. It was almost 9:30 am when we got there and it was very picked over. All the markdowns had been completed at least. I still found several awesome deals.

So, here is my haul. As usual, I'll probably have buyer's remorse and return at least a few things.

Step2 Real Projects Workshop ($20.98) - I totally caved and let Carter open this today. I was planning on keeping it for awhile but he kept asking for his "work kitchen". I guess it resembles his kitchen, which is also Step2. The boys played with it most of the afternoon.


Playskool Heroes Transformers Rescue Bots Fire Station ($11.96)


Fisher-Price Big Action Construction Site ($14.96)


Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Play'n Go Construction Site ($5.08)


Fisher-Price Lil' Zoomers Spinnin' Sounds Speedway ($9.88)


Playskool Weebles Turn 'n Tumble Home ($8.98)


Tag Activity Storybook ($4.18)


Thomas & Friends Vehicle Playhut ($8.98) - Everytime we pass this in the toy section, Rylan freaks out and screams "That, that!". I have Carter's tent set up in the playroom right now and Rylan is a little scared of it but hopefully he'll like this one!


Play Wonder Folding Wooden Barn ($10.48)


Circo Roundhouse Train Station ($6.58)


Circo Collapsing Bridge ($6.58)


Thomas & Friends Trackmaster Rattle & Shake Coal Hopper ($7.18)


Toy Story Buzz Lightyear Deluxe Talking Figure ($5.08)
Toy Story Garbage Truck Playset ($9.58)


Cars 2 Francesco Bernoulli Air Hogs ($8.98)


Fisher-Price Big Action Trucks ($3.28 each)


Mega Bloks Cat Mixer ($1.18)
Tonka Chuck & Friends Trucks ($1.36 each)


Jungle Junction Roadway Racers ($1.94 each)


Vtech Letter Sounds Learning Bus ($4.48)


Time 4 Toyz! Fireman Playset ($3.00)


Time 4 Toyz! Foam Floor Mats ($6.00)


Lego Duplo My First Supermarket ($9.98)

Stomach Bug

I'd heard the stomach bug was going around so I have been sanitizing all our hands when we go out like crazy. Unfortunately, it didn't prevent it from claiming us.

On Friday night Rylan threw up a little before bed but I didn't think much of it. It seemed a little more like spit up and he barely seemed to notice it. We put him to bed, and we never heard him make a peep all night.

When Rylan woke up in the morning he did his normal calling for me and Brian. When we went to him, he was covered in old, stinky throw up. It appeared that he had thrown up a few times during the night and slept in it. Poor thing! He was happy though!

Rylan was acting normal so we fed him breakfast and played. He went and hung out in Brian's office for a bit and did his business. Unfortunately it was not healthy and as soon as I picked him up, we were both covered in it. Yuck!

After getting us cleaned up, I took Rylan back downstairs and was holding him when he threw up all over me. I knew at that point that there was no way I wasn't getting sick.

Rylan didn't have much of an appetite the rest of the day, but he also didn't throw up again. His diapers are still gross, but not nearly as bad as the first time on Saturday. Though it's like he's a newborn again and is having lots of blowouts that have been getting all over me.

I was starting to think we were out of the woods and that Rylan was going to be the only one that got sick until I got up on Monday morning and felt terrible. I never threw up but was hanging over the toilet several times thinking I was going to lose it. Brian decided to work from home for the morning to help me some with the kids. He was about to head to work when Carter stood up and lost everything he'd eaten.

I was super dumb and kept giving in to Carter as he asked me for food the rest of the day. Every time he threw it up. But between throwing up, Carter was acting normal, jumping around and playing. I blame my stupidity of feeding him on feeling terrible myself and not being able to handle any whining. After throwing up on the hardwood and all over his crib and carpet during his nap, Carter managed to hit a bucket every other time! Our new carpet is broken in now!

Carter made it through the night without waking up or getting sick. He said he felt fine this morning so I was letting him drink water since his diaper overnight was completely dry. Unfortunately that didn't stay down. I finally got smarter though. I didn't let Carter get off the couch most of the rest of the day. Do you know how hard it is to keep a 3 year old still? Even one that feels bad?


I did let him eat but just a very, very small amount once an hour. I still am not feeling great, but am a lot better than yesterday. Apparently I'm thinking a lot clearer!

Carter continued to improve all day and tonight seemed back to normal.

Unfortunately Brian now has it. He slept until noon and has been suffering the rest of the day. Hopefully he's better by tomorrow because he really needs to get back to work.

So my best guess of where we picked this up is the pediatrician's office. Rylan and I were there on Thursday morning for his 18 month checkup. I sanitized us both a dozen times while we were there, but I don't think it helped.

Hopefully the kids and I will be 100% tomorrow too. We need to scope out Targets tomorrow because the big January toy clearance should be on Thursday and I need to stock up!

Predators Game

Brian's company has a box at Bridgestone Arena, where the Nashville Predators play hockey. Jason, Brian's boss, got the box for a few of his direct reports and their families for the game Thursday night.

It was awesome having so much room with the boys and letting them run around some. They did amazing and made it until the end of the game which finished up around 9:30 pm. We had all sorts of food and beverages and a great view of the game. Unfortunately the Predators lost, but we aren't diehard fans so we still enjoyed the game. Both boys watched the game and cheered when other people were.








Hopefully this will become an annual tradition!

Forget You

Carter's favorite song is the "Chicken Song", as he calls it. It is actually a version of Cee Lo Green's "Forget You" in which all the words are replaced with clucking. Carter saw this a few times on Disney and it's a commercial for the new Muppet's movie. It's a little weird to me that they would use a song which originally is called "F___ You" to promote a children's movie.

Anyway, here are the boys dancing to "Forget You" today (I had to split it up into a few videos since Blogger won't let me post such a large file) ...