Home Depot Kids Workshop

We finally made it to a building workshop this weekend.  We always have games on Saturdays and never seem to be able to make it to Lowe's or Home Depot anymore.  But yesterday I took all three (in the rain) to Home Depot to build and paint a sled.

Rylan only hit my thumb once.  Luckily it was on the hand that I'm still dealing with numbness from the pregnancy carpal tunnel so it didn't hurt too much :)

This guy spent 50% of our time there screaming and 50% sleeping.  The music and pounding hammers drowned him out most of the time.

Testing

Testing out the camera on my new phone (Galaxy S5) this morning with this cutie pie ...

Silly Faces

Papa Mike and his grandkids ...

2 Months Old

Grayson is 2 months old today.

"WHAT?!?!?!?" ...

He's doing great.  Even if he is our fussiest baby.

We are starting to figure out how to handle Grayson's fussiness (sometimes).  As I've mention, when he's awake during the day, he's usually crying or we are having to hold him and bounce him just right so that he isn't screaming.  But I'm starting to figure out the occasional times when I can put Grayson in his bouncer, let him cry for 5 minutes, and he'll fall asleep.  I'm also finding the time when I can put him on his playmat and he'll be content for 10 minutes.  At least this time around, I know the fussiness will eventually end and it doesn't bother me as much.

I haven't really figured out the spitting up.  There just isn't a solution I've found for that.  Grayson usually goes through a few outfits and several bibs a day.  Spitting up is an understatement.  I'm honestly surprised Grayson is gaining so much weight!

Grayson is starting to smile a little easier (though he doesn't share many with us yet).  He's also cooing more (I love that sound!).

I finally ran out of size 1 diapers and Grayson is happy to be in size 2s.  He's also growing out of his 3 month sized clothes (even the new ones that haven't shrunk so much because the other boys wore them).  I need to pull out the 6 and 9 month sized stuff this week.

Grayson will kind of take a paci.  But I usually have to hold it in for him.  Occasionally he'll fall asleep with one while in his bouncer or carseat and it'll stay in.  He never uses one at night.

Grayson is still sleeping in the bed with me.  But he's sleeping so amazingly and it's the only time I get to cuddle with him that I just can't move him yet.  He's gone 6 hours between feedings a few nights.  Typically though he'll get up in the 1 o'clock hour and 4 or 5 o'clock hour.  But he always falls asleep on me eating so he's never up for long.  If I want to stay sane with all of Grayson's daytime fussiness, I need to keep getting sleep!

Life with three kids is great and I couldn't imagine not having Grayson!  I love, love, love this guy.

Sweet Friends

I am so lucky to have found the most amazing group of friends here in Nashville.  We all have kids around the same ages (most of us have at least 3 kids), everyone is a runner or super athletic (we all motivate each other), and we all are up for getting all our kids together and trying just about anything to keep it interesting.  These ladies are awesome mamas and the kindest friends.

Suzy and I share a birthday - January 1st.  A group of the ladies took us out to lunch yesterday.  This is such a busy time of year and it was so sweet of them to do this for us!

Missy brought along a cookie cake ...

And Suzy and I both got a bunch of little gifts.

Love you guys!!!

Opryland

I think we finally figured out the best day to visit Opryland!  We go every Christmas season to walk around the hotel and see the lights.  But since the hotel is next to Opry Mills, there is a ridiculous amount of traffic.  The cars usually back up for a mile just on the highway and then it takes forever to get into the parking lot.

My mom was supposed to fly in on December 23rd.  Unfortunately her flight got canceled and she didn't arrive until Christmas Eve.  She got in around 5pm so we headed straight to Opryland after picking her up.

There was no traffic at all (even though Opry Mills was still open).  It was so nice!

This year there were giant nutcrackers with directions on how to get to different attractions.  Rylan is obsessed with nutcrackers and has to pick up every single one he sees in stores.  I like Carter copying this nutcracker's arms.

I think Carter is copying the middle snowman and Rylan is making himself a carrot nose.

The biggest Christmas tree I've ever seen ...

Huge poinsettia tree ...

The lights are everywhere and so pretty!

An attempt at a photo of the five of us!

Kissy Face

Grayson made this face all the time when he was just born.  It's getting rare now to get his "kissy face" but I wanted to make sure I got a picture before he stops!

Rylan's Fall Party

I have so many old pictures still to post from the last couple of months.  Grayson is occasionally sleeping (instead of screaming) after the big boys go to bed so I'm getting a little time to catch up on things, like blogging.

So, here are some pictures from Rylan's fall party!  It was October 30th, the same day as Carter's field trip to Lucky Ladd Farms.  As soon as the kindergarteners got on the buses, I raced over to the preschool.  I only missed the first 15 minutes of Rylan's party, which is when they made a craft.

Next the kids played games.  One was "toss the bean bag in the bucket".  Rylan was really good at this (especially compared to his classmates).

I didn't really understand the other game.  It seemed like "pin the tail on the donkey" with a spider and spiderweb, but I don't think there was a specific place the spider was supposed to go.

The snack was dirt and worms (puddling with cookie crumbles and gummy worms) and oranges made to look like pumpkins.  Rylan didn't want to eat either.

And last, one of the moms read a couple of Halloween books.

Rylan with his best friend from his first year at preschool (Radnor).  I love how they are sitting the exact same way!

Rylan has also become really good friends with Caleb (who was also in his class two years ago).

Before leaving the kids also got goody bags!

I'm so glad I was able to make it to Rylan's party!  I would hated to miss it!

Carter's Speech

We have Carter's annual IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting in January.  This will be Carter's 3 year anniversary so we will be discussing if Carter will remain eligible for services.  I have no idea if he will.  His speech has improved tremendously over the last few years but there are still sounds and words he struggles with.  I believe he'd still benefit from therapy though I know he doesn't get as much assistance as he used to.  He now only gets 30 minutes a week and there are at least 2 other kids with him in his session.  So far Carter hasn't complained at all about being pulled from his classroom for his session.

I received Carter's first quarter progress report with his report card a couple of months ago but never posted about it.  Below are his current objectives and progress.

Objective 1: Carter will carryover /s/ and /z/ into conversational speech as observed in 3 3-minute speech samples with at least 90% accuracy.

•  Current %: 75
• Status: Some progress made.
• Status Narrative: Although this objective was previously met, Carter benefits from verbal reminders to use his /s/ sound appropriately during conversational speech.  I am continuing to work on this goal.

Objective 2: Carter will eliminate the phonological process of gliding (produce /l/ and /l/ blends) in isolation, syllables, and words with at least 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

• Current %: 80
• Status: Objective has been met.
• Status Narrative: Mastered.

Objective 3: Carter will articulate /l/ and /l/ blends in phrases/sentences with 80% accuracy in 4/5 opportunities.

• Current %: 80
• Status: Objective has been met.
• Status Narrative: Mastered.

Objective 4: Carter will generalize /l/ and /l/ blends into structured conversational speech as observed with 80% accuracy in 3 3-minute speech samples.

• Current %: 70
• Status: Some progress made.
• Status Narrative: We are continuing to work on Carter's /l/ blends in conversation speech.  He is doing great!

Elf on the Shelf Friday

I have to say that Mr. Elf was a little less creative and last minute with all his overnight fun this year.  But he still managed to do something every night and never forgot (barely!).

On Saturday I had to go to the grocery store before my dad and Jan arrived.  Mr. Elf decided to help me out with my shopping list ...

On Saturday night / Sunday morning, Mr. Elf must have done something to upset some of our army guys.

We caught Mr. Elf and Spiderman playing Go Fish on Monday morning.

On Tuesday morning we found Mr. Elf stuck inside of Carter's gingerbread house!

He still had some sugar on his face (as well as my eyeliner from the previous week that he's still having trouble removing!).

On Wednesday morning Mr. Elf was all caught up in one of our rubberband bracelet looms.  He's obviously not very good at making them!

Mr. Elf went home that night.  See you next year, Mr. Elf!!!