Father's Day

We had an amazing Father's Day yesterday! I took a ton of pictures... even though the boys really wanted nothing to do with their pictures getting taken for once. I think they are starting to get to that age now. Which makes me sad because I love doing pictures of them!

We spent the day with my parents at their house, and the boys had a blast! Camden is already asking when he can go back of course because he has his fleet of fire trucks at Grandma's house.

Ben in one of the many fire trucks. He parked it "back at the fire house"
Addie going to town on her handburgers which is one of her new favorite things to do!
Another handburger shot
Camden overcoming the fact that he hates water on his head/face. Thank god because bath time has been getting quite dramatic because of this!I love this picture because Addie is looking right back at Grandma. Priceless!

And then here she is deep in thought... More with Camden and the water. The only time I could really get pictures of him was when he truly wasn't paying attention to what I was doing with the camera!
Just another one of Addie I love!That pink thing in his hands is a Minnie Mouse alarm clock that hasn't worked in probably a decade. It was mine when I was in elementary school and the boys love the thing! I guess my parents REALLY got their money worth on that one!

I got him to look for this one because I told him he needs to show the "Fellas" at the fire house HIS fire trucks!

I love this one, although she had the sun in her eyes and was squinting a little bit!
Grandma and Addie again... I love her hair in this one. She certainly got my exotic bird hair as we call it in our house.And this is how Camden lined everything up in the backyard before we left for the day.
Ben was more interested in eating the toy camera than pretending he was taking pictures of me as I was taking pictures of him. LOL
Addie wasn't really amused about being on the grass even though she was on a blanket!

Grandpa and Addie
Daddy and Addie... Because Will hid from my camera ALL day too!

Addie & Ben's Check Ups!

First I will start off with Ben! He had his 2 year check up last Friday and it went great! He is 25 pounds and has grown 3 inches since he last check up in December. A huge gain, which I am not surprised about... pretty soon he will be passing Camden right by!

It was a little bit of a traumatic appointment though, so I am really glad Will was able to come with us. He had to have his finger pricked to check his iron levels, which I guess is pretty typical. On top of that he got his DTaP vaccine, one of the ones we have decided to have the kids get. And last, but probably the most traumatic, he had to get blood drawn to test for led. Apparently we did the same thing for Camden at his 2 year visit, but I didn't remember. I think it was more traumatic for me than him.

He also got about 6 stickers out of the deal. We really love our pediatrician, and I am so glad we found her right after Ben was born. We were happy with our old Pedi... although the office staff sucked! We were sad to go, but not sad to say goodbye to the office itself!



Then there was Addie's 6 week check up on Friday as well. She is growing like a weed! She was up to 7 pounds 14 ounces at that visit, and at 21 inches... Meaning she has grown an inch and a half, and gained over 2 pounds since birth, and she is gaining daily!

I am certainly again, excited that breastfeeding is going so well this time around. Even though she is a snacker I know she is getting everything she needs! She is also making huge hurdles with milestones like the length of time she is holding her head up, how she is following things and people with her eyes, and stuff like that. The pediatrician was surprised how long she could hold her head up on her own. (Dr. D also has a baby exactly one week older than Addie)

In the past week Addie has been staying up longer and becoming more aware of things going on around her for sure. She likes the baby carriers better than she did. I have been able to wear her in the Ergo as well as the Mei Tai this week for different things.

She is also starting to finally out grow her newborn clothes. Only a couple more wears out of a couple outfits, and then they are going to get packed away. I am going to be so sad to see some of them go since they are incredibly cute!

The Butterfly Project

Yesterday was the second annual Butterfly memorial release for The Shelton Butterfly project, a local charity near and dear to me that I have been involved with for two years. We had a lot of fun, and were incredibly happy that the sun came out!

I took a couple pictures with my phone, which I am going to use in this post because I haven't downloaded the ones from my camera yet. I will put those up later in the week.

Another side note I just want to mention... Camden was out in big boy underwear ALL DAY with not ONE accident! I am so proud!

Camden getting his face painted

He wanted to be a tiger!

Then Daddy had to get his done too!

Camden and Daddy with their cool face paint!

There was an animal rescue group there, and of course Will had to hang out with the Parrot!

We took the last couple butterfly's we had and brought them home to release in our backyard. After we released this one, it landed on Addie, and stayed long enough for me to actually get a picture of it. I guess we really did have angels among us yesterday!

Proud Mom!

This week has brought a ton of accomplishments for our boys becoming "big boys" and I couldn't be more happy!

First... The boys have been sleeping in their beds, all night long. No coming into my bed... no getting up 2-3 times a night, no issue staying in their bed... nothing!

This is a huge accomplishment for both boys. Ben because he has been used to sleeping in an enclosed area whether it is a crib, or playpen. Camden because he had no interest in leaving my bed at all, and it was becoming a nightmarish situation!

Second, we have officially finally rid Camden of diapers 100%! He had been using cloth diapers, and underwear for a couple weeks, but after an overnight trip to Grandma's house, we haven't had one single accident. I am beyond ecstatic because it has been a really long process with him. Most of the tricks that people suggested simply did not work.

I am planning on writing a long post about the process because it was so unique, but I am sure there are other mothers out there who had a child in the same exact position, and went through the same process the way we did. And when I say I tried everything... I tried everything short of duct taping him to the toilet all day.

It is weeks like this that the stress of motherhood truly meets the blessings mothers are given.

Lets hope this coming week will be as good!

It's HOT!

While we are all finally getting over being sick... we have now been hit with this insane heat wave... Yup, I was complaining when it was cold, and I will complain when it is 100 degrees outside.
Can't we just have like... 75-80 degrees and sunny?

Is that just too much to ask?

Anyways... The boys are keeping cool with my $15 water table I scored at Christmas time. I am so happy I kept it in the garage and didn't bring it out till this week!

We're Sick!

Well, I thought Addie was sick on top of the boys, but it looks like she is the only one who has escaped this seasonal cold which we are assuming came from the weather change at the start of the week.

It went from insanely hot, with the air conditioning on, to in the 70s with a beautiful breeze. Kinda messed us all up.

Anyways, I brought Addison to the pediatrician yesterday because I thought she was getting sick like the boys. With the boys I knew they would be fine, the little cold could run its course, and they didn't need to see the doctor... but because Addison is still so small I would rather be safe than sorry.

When they weighed her, I was shocked!

One day shy of 5 weeks old, she has almost gained TWO FULL POUNDS!
7 Pounds 10 ounces!

Breastfeeding is actually working great this time around. No weight issues, no allergy issues... NOTHING!

I am solely nourishing my daughter, and I am beyond relieved, as well as proud. Breastfeeding was such a bumpy road with the boys, especially Ben who had to fully stop by Addie's age... and now I am actually doing it!

I must say, it is a huge Mama ego boost!

Also, on Wednesday I gave our one size cloth diapers a try with Addie. I have a ton of cloth diapers for her and even the diapers that "start" at 7 pounds, are huge on her! Hell the diapers alone are as long as her!

She was also clearly irate!

Addie is One Month Old!

It seems like the first month of her life has gone by really fast too! Between all the events, and places we have been I am not really surprised at how quickly it went.

I did her one month photos yesterday, as quick as I could because she wasn't really happy about them. LOL

Addie enjoys the Beach Boys, Kenny Chesney, and Pitbull (Yes, the rapper/producer)

She is now a whole 7 pounds 6 ounces, up from 5 pounds 12 ounces at birth… Breast milk works wonders, at least this time around!

She sleeps better than either of our sons ever did! 4 to 5 hour stretches at night, sometimes even 6 hours which makes Mommy super happy, especially with a 2 year old that gets up earlier than most humans like to get up.

She loves the men in her life... as long as they aren't poking her in the eyes.

She is huge compared to how tiny she was a month ago already... Just seeing Camden hold her makes me realize how much she has grown.

She holds her head up for 5-15 seconds at a time, and tries to do it all the time. I have a feeling she is going to be sitting up, crawling, and doing everything a lot earlier than the boys did.



She still really isn't a fan of the camera... or her crib! LOL

She also loves her bouncer... If she isn't sleeping in one of our arms, or in my bed... this is her only other nap spot.

She isn't a huge fan of all the hats and head accessories I have for her, but I think she is starting to finally get used to them!

Lastly... She has Daddy wrapped right around her finger!