Thursday, January 31, 2013

Collin & Carter get their FIRST haircut!

My boys are about 8.5 months old, and yes, their hair is getting long.  Collin has these random long blond pieces on the top of his head, and he has little wispies hanging over his ears.  Carter has this long tuft of hair on the top of his head and it hangs down making him look like he's an 80 year old man!
We decided it was time to have their first hair cuts :)

We waited until Callie was well past 2.5 years old...but she's a girl!  These guys don't need long hair!  Nice short, boy hair is perfect!  They look absolutely adorable (I may be a little biased)...

Collin was first up :)  He did not like having his hair squirted with water, but he took it like a champ :)


He sat like such a big boy the whole time!  He watched Holly as she cut his little baby hairs.  He played with her scarf and flirted :)


Collin's first little snips of hair...so sweet, small and precious!



For the life of me, I cannot get these pictures to upload the correct way - I've tried it all, but they are too cute not to post :)



Collin with Holly!  He was so happy and he looks like such a big boy now :)  No more straggly little hairs!


Carter was up next!  He was so bouncy and happy!  He's our little "Happy Hopper"...just keeps moving and grooving!  Daddy was taking pictures (and no offense to dad) so there aren't as many zoomed in photos!




Going after that tuft of hair - time for removal :)


I love his expressions in these photos!  I wonder what he's thinking here :)



He loved playing and eating Holly's comb!  He only threw one on the floor too, which I thought wasn't too bad :)


What a little flirt!  He was hamming it up for us - he loves Holly!  He looks just like his daddy now...spitting image :)  Sure is a cutie!

Holly helping Carter walk to his car seat :)


Holly did an amazing job with Collin & Carter's first hair cuts!  The boys were both so well behaved!  No tears, fits or spit ups :)  I can't believe my baby boys are old enough to have their hair cuts already!


Monday, January 28, 2013

Garbage Truck City

Callie LOVES her garbage truck, so tonight, I drew up a few houses with a road on a large piece of paper.  Callie colored in each house a different color.  Then she colored in her road.
 

Next we picked out a few pieces of legos that matched the house colors.  Callie drove her garbage truck around her new city picking up garbage and dropping off the pieces at the right houses.

 
 
Before we knew it, every house was labeled with a different Princesses name and all of her princesses were out with their garbage!  This fun little project that we made turned into an all evening play mat full of wonderful imaginative play and creativity!  The Princesses were visiting each other's homes, the garbage truck (driven by Aladdin) was making plenty of stops!  We even matched all of their dresses to the right house!  What a fun night :)
 



And if you are wondering about Callie's outfit choice...every day when she gets home from daycare, she strips down so she can put on a different dress up outfit!  Since Ariel wears her bikini top and her tail (and Callie doesn't have a bikini top - only one pieces as of right now)...she wears her swim suit with her mermaid tail!  Yup - miss creative!



Collin & Carter: 8 Month Update

This month has gone so quickly - I can't believe they are eight months.  I also believe I start every "monthly update" post the same way...but in all serioussness, I was pinning ideas on Pinterest for their first birthday!  I absolutely cannot believe that time is almost here.  On the good side, that means that they are that much closer to being done with formula and onto whole milk!  They are that much closer to walking and owning this house!  That much closer to being little boys - boys who play in the mud, pee outside and wrestle over everything!  Our lives may seem crazy now, but they are only going to get more crazy!
My favorite is whenever we go out with all three kids - which is quite often!  People always say to us, "This must be so much work I can't believe you have them all out!"  Really though, it's not a lot of work.  Maybe it's because we are so used to it, maybe it is because we are rockstar parents, or maybe it is because we just have really well behaved kids - they make it easy to go out :)

Here is our attempt at an 8 month photo of both boys!  Typical, Collin rolling around and Carter throwing himself back while making his "duck" face :)



Eight Month Update

Food - Last month I mentioned that the boys were eating us out of house and home - well, I was wrong...NOW they are :)  These two knuckleheads eat SO MUCH FOOD!  They have been eating Mommy Made Vegetables & Gerber made fruit!  I have been using the Gerber plastic containers to store the processed food I have been making.  Turns out, they go through A LOT.  They are still drinking several bottles a day, but these are growing boys and they like to eat!  And it just seems like way more, because there's two boys drinking :)

Sleep -  I am beyond excited to report that the boys are sleeping through the night...BOTH boys!  Of course Collin would start this right before we leave for our Disney Vacation - give Grandma Lynn & Gramma & Grampa Shellum a nice break :)  Collin sleeps in his room and Carter sleeps in the pack n play in the living room!  We tried putting them together in the same room; however they wake each other up so we keep them in different rooms until they are consistently sleeping through the night.

As for mom and dad - we're almost more tired trying to play catch up!  It's amazing how weird it feels now that we can sleep through the night as well!



 

Collin all smiles for his eight month photo shoot :)  Then he wanted to eat the sign - because that is what he does :)  Eats EVERYTHING!

Clothes - Both Collin & Carter are wearing size 9 Month clothes!  I think we'll be moving into 12 month pretty soon, but for now, these fit great!  I did buy a couple 12 month onsies recently, so we'll see when they start wearing them.  It'll probably be sooner rather than later, because I want to see how cute they look in them :) 

The amount of laundry we go through is utterly insane.  We have no time to do laundry during the week, so by the time the weekend comes, I have AT LEAST 5-6 loads to finish...sometimes it looks like our living room threw up clean clothes as that is my "canvas" for folding laundry.  I have to do it when the kids are asleep though, because Collin tends to crawl right on top of everything to get a few kisses from mommy :)

Weight - Right before the boys turned 8 months, they were in for an appointment.  They were both almost at the 19 lbs. mark.  I can honestly say that they are still coming in weighing the same amount...which is crazy if you ever hold them :)  Carter feels so much heavier than Collin does.

Height - I am unsure at this moment :)  They're getting long!

Carter is such a happy baby
 
 
I love this - I caught this picture mid sneeze!  I love his sweet little face!  Bless you, Carter :)
 



Diapers - SO MANY DIAPERS!  Both boys are still in size 3 diapers.  I bought Target brand Up & Up for daycare, and I think we are going to start using those during the day and wearing Pampers at night...it's so expensive.

Health - Knock on wood, but we have been healthy for a good month now :)  Their teeth are coming in, causing pain, but cutting at least!  They are growing, eating a ton, gaining weight and meeting milestones!  Collin doesn't talk as much as Carter, but Carter doesn't crawl like Collin.  I'm not trying to compare, but sometimes when you have two you wonder why one of them does one thing and the other hasn't yet...they're each their own person, so in their own time they will master their own skills :)
 

Fun Facts - Collin crawls ALL over the place.  He pulls himself up to standing position and walks along objects.  He knows what he wants and will crawl over to it and whine!  Then when you walk closer to him, he smiles and start clapping because he gets excited for the toys :)  He eats very well and very quickly.  He enjoys sleeping on his side and stomach and cuddles with his blankie.  He LOVES giving mommy kisses and snuggling mom!  There is no doubt about it, Collin is a mommy's boy :)
Carter is rolling everywhere!  If he sees something he wants, he will roll across the living room to get to it.  He likes to have his feet up against something and kicks it.  He talks ALL THE TIME - he says Dadadadadada none-stop and will scream in this high pitch voice because he thinks he's funny!  He will seriously start laughing whenever he does it...Personally, the high pitch scream phase can go away :)  He loves his blankie and he loves rubbing it against his face.  He sleeps on his side or back, but his blankie is nuzzled up near his face - freaks me out, but it is knitted with holes, so that eases the worry.

Both boys LOVE their big sister, Callie :)  They smile, laugh, talk and get really excited whenever she is around!  They sure are lucky to have her!

Sunday, January 20, 2013

Finger Paining Fun!

Our Masterpieces wall was in desperate need of some new artwork!  I decided it was time to pull out the finger paints and get some Valentine's artwork up on the wall :)

Collin was first up - we stripped him down to his diaper and let him have at it!  He loved it :)  His sweet little hands slid across the paper!  Callie chose which words went to which child!  Collin got to pain "Hugs" - which is very fitting for him, considering he loves to give hugs :)





It was bath night as well, so he went straight to the tub after this event :)  He did paint the entire thing, but we stopped snapping pictures after this one!

Callie was up next - and she insisted on stripped down to her underwear as well ;)  Hey why not :)  She chose the word "Love"!




She's an old pro at painting, so she got right to work and was finished in no time!

Carter was up last!  He was given the word "Kiss"!  He went right to town and really enjoyed waving his hands through the paint back and forth!  I turned his paper around really quickly for him, because he was painting so quickly.




He was, by far, the most messy!  But man did he love it :)


After all of the kids had their baths, and their signs were dry, I peeled off the painters tape and revealed their beautiful artwork that is now displayed on our "Masterpieces" wall :)  They did such a wonderful job!!!

My Dancing Princess

Callie ABSOLUTELY LOVES dance class!  She talks about it all the time, she talks about her teacher, Miss Ashley anytime we talk about dance - and wants to know what she is doing all the time and where she lives (I've come up with some pretty creative answers!)

On Sunday, January 13th Callie participated in the Just for Kix, Winter Dance Show!  She looks so beautiful all dressed up in her dance uniform!  She gets to excited for it too :)


When we first arrived, Callie was very worried about Miss Ashley and where she was.  Callie doesn't realize that she is also the dance coach to other age groups :)  We found her and my big girl was ready to sit on her own with her dance friends :)

 L-R: Clara, Ella, Callie, Audrina, Ella, Kylen (there were a few more that showed up after I snapped this picture).

Callie and her best friend, Ella!  These two girls are two peas in a pod :)  They are absolutely adorable together, and seriously both so cute :)  They each have baby brothers too!  It's fun to get together with our kids, because they're all the same age :)  We're lucky to have good friends (Love you Karol & Brady)!!


Lexi is also in dance -and can you believe it...3rd grade!  She was in my kindergarten class when I was pregnant with Callie...now that is crazy :)  I love these two pictures of the girls!!!


This is during the dance show - we were sitting in the parent section while Callie was with her class :)  BIG GIRL!  If you look under the Teacher's white paper, you can see Callie's head!


The boys waiting to watch their sisters!  Grafton (Ella's brother) and Collin & Carter!


THEY'RE NEXT!!!!


Audrina leading us out :) Audrina, Ella, Callie, Aubrey, Ella, Kylen & Clara


 The whole gang :)  Waving to the audience...about 200-300 people?!  That's insane that little girls this age can do this on their own :)  Man was I proud of Callie!  Yes, I cried!


Here's the dance video:
Pay special attention to Callie at one point when she "looks down" at the baby penguin, but forgets to look back up :)  She was really looking for him!  So cute!!!


Callie sitting with her proud daddy after her performance!


Lexi dancing :)


Father-Daughter dance!  Derrick was such a great sport, and did a great job!


Attempting to get some pictures of Callie with her brothers afterwards!  Haha!

I'M FREE!!


Family photo :)  This is almost impossible to capture with the boys now as their attention span is super quick and they are curious about EVERYTHING :)  I love my family!!  I am so so so proud of Callie!



My beautiful children :)


Callie with her dance teacher, Miss Ashley!!!  We love Miss Ashley!  Thank you for doing such a wonderful job with our daughter :)


Callie was so excited to see Jessica!


YEAH :)  Lisa & Ava came to watch Callie perform :) She was so excited to see them there!!!  What great friends we have (We love you guys so much, thank you for supporting Callie!!!)

Callie and Lexi after the performance :)  Callie received roses from her brothers!!  How sweet!


My little dancer...I'm sorry, but I just think she is the prettiest little thing :)


Brady dancing with Ella & Callie!


The girls with their coach, Miss Ashley!!!


I wanted to attempt some pictures in front of the "Just for Kix" dance sign...this was a little challenging as Callie was super jacked up from her performance!  I don't blame her, she did an amazing job :)




 Haha - she was a wee bit excited about dance here!



 Non stop dancing from this girl!  She's quite the performer!


Callie, we are so incredibly proud of you!  You have been working so hard in dance class and you performed in front of so many people!  You did a great job and we couldn't be more proud of you!  Keep working hard sweetie :)  We love you very much!