Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Happy Birthday Carson & Taylor!

Carson & Taylor turned 1 year old on October 20th. Suzy, Stu, & the babies came to Texas for Mike & Caitlin's wedding, so they threw a birthday party while the family was all together. Suzy outdid herself planning every creative detail of the western-themed party. From cowboy boots for the babies, hay bales & saddles for photos, animal-shaped balloons, "hamburger" cupcakes, & tons more... we had a blast!


Suzy & Taylor

Wampa & Carson (in his cow-print chaps!)

Great Grandpa Jay with baby Miller

Aunt Lori & Collins

Cowboy Casen taking a ride on Ranger

Aww... poor Taylor was NOT loving the saddles :(

Casen & Collins checking things out...

Giddy up!!





Wampa & Taylor

Gram & Wampa with all 5 of their grandbabies!

Haha! Check out Collins - our little trick rider!

Great Grandpa Jay & Great Aunt Judy joined the party!

We borrowed Carson's & Taylor's Elmo & Big Bird dolls to keep the kids calm while we took some pics. Hey, whatever works!

My Uncle Gordy & Aunt Marsha were able to come. It was so great to see them & get to introduce them to the babies!

Cousins - Lori, Peter, Suzy (with Carson), Mike (with Miller), & Michelle
It was fun to visit with Peter & his family - we don't get to see them very often.

Uncle Mike meets Miller.

Before we left Houston, we were able to meet up with Michelle's college roommate, Laura, her husband Michael, & their daughter, Rebekah. Always great to hang out with good friends!

Monday, November 19, 2012

Sports Fans

Calling all sports fans!! Casen & Collins love to throw balls - they even roll or throw them to each other on occasion. Bryan never showed Casen how to "pitch", but one day he just started winding up to throw all by himself! We think he must be copying the baseball players he's seen on TV - how cute!!
Pitching practice with Casen. Of course, Collins tries to imitate her brother & tucks the ball up under her chin before she throws now :)


My parents have a basketball hoop for the kids to play with at their house. Casen did a great job of putting the ball in the hoop. He is so proud of himself - I love watching his excitement as he claps for himself!


Collins makes us laugh!!! This is her version of baby bball...
She may not be tall enough to make a basket, but she's a force to be reckoned with!

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Miller's 6 Week Well Check

I took Miller to see Doctor KAE for her 6 week well check appointment on October 30th. 
She's getting SO big!! She weighed 10.2 lbs & measured 22 in long. She got her 1st big round of shots & handled them really well with only a little fussiness & slight fever for a couple of days afterwards.
 Miller barely fits on the scale - what a big girl!
"Mom, I have a question... do I really have to get shots today??"

 Sleepy girl

 Mommy & Miller with Dr. KAE

 Miller often smiles in her sleep. I love those precious sweet dream smiles!



 She is really strong & loves to lift her head to look around. It won't be long before she's watching every move Case & Lainey make!

Lucky Mommy!

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Things Are Changing...

Miller is almost 4 weeks old. Wow! That's hard to believe. Time is flying by & her looks have already changed so much. She is filling out & growing out of her newborn clothes already.
We spend a lot of time protecting her from 2 very active toddlers. Case & Lainey like to "share" things by tossing them into Miller's pack n play. They are very sweet to give her lots of kisses, but they give almost as many slaps on the head. We've implemented "time-out" for discipline & so far it seems to help.

Bryan watching the game with the Cowboys' newest fan.

Holding Daddy's finger... so sweet!

Casen has been especially intrigued by Miller since she was born. He loves to check on her & if he hears her cry or sees her in the room, he says her name. I love when Casen says her name - his "Miller" sounds more like "Mmm...laaa!"

Casen is talking a lot more now. He loves watching Sesame Street with "Elmo" & "Cookie", says "bir" when he wants to play Angry Birds, refers to Collins as "Lainey" or "Coll-Coll", & even tells his sister "no" on occasion. Collins is still slow with her speech development, so I'm planning to resume her speech therapy once I work up enough guts to get all 3 kids out by myself.

We went to a friend's garage sale recently & picked up a pair of tricycles for Casen & Collins. Collins can't quite reach the pedals on hers, so she's catching a ride with Case! She picked up the fleece camo hat at the sale too & wore it all morning!


We took the kids to Turtle Creek in Dallas & Bryan went with them to feed the ducks. Case & Lainey ate most of the bread themselves, but Bryan made sure the ducks got a little too!

Case & Lainey with their handsome daddy :)


Casen & Collins taking a snack break on the kitchen floor.

Sleepy Case in bed & trying to wake up while snuggling with his stuffed iguana.

Don't let Casen's sleepy face fool you... he is a wild man!!
Apparently he wanted a book during nap time one day, so he scaled the bookshelf to get one. He got stuck halfway up the shelf & couldn't figure out how to get down. Too bad for him, his mommy made him stay there for an extra 15 seconds so she could snap a picture! :)


We were going to start potty training once things got settled at home, but Casen decided that he is ready now. Here we go... add one more item to the to-do list!


So far, Case has tee-teed in the potty 3 times. Yay! It's a challenge to try to catch him every time it looks like he needs to go. One day I was nursing Miller when he decided to take off his diaper in the living room. Of course, he ended up tee-teeing on the floor - but no big deal. Then, when he came around the corner & told me "mess", I knew something was up. Yep, he'd pooped on the kitchen floor! Oh well, nothing a little antibacterial spray can't handle!

Collins usually comes into the bathroom & sits on the potty chair while we read books. We thought she wasn't ready to potty train yet, but then this afternoon she went to the bathroom door all by herself.  When I took her in to try to go, she actually tee-teed on the potty!! What a big girl! She's a sneaky little thing & sometimes really surprises me with her skills.

 
"Tee-tee on the potty... check! I've got this, mom - what else do you want me to do?"

My sensitive little man - snuggling up with one of Lainey's baby dolls.

My little clown - when I handed her a baby doll to snuggle, she promptly threw it down & bent over to do a somersault!

We went to Dallas recently to visit Bryan's family. I heard noises coming from their room while the babies were supposed to be napping. I assumed Casen was climbing out of his pack n play, but was surprised to find that we have another escape artist on our hands! Like I said, she's sneaky...

We transitioned Collins' crib to a toddler bed when we got home. She was so excited to have a big girl bed!!