First haircut

Life is good and crazy and going okay. Layne had her first haircut today - we got tired of cousin It living with us :) Pictures are out of order but I don't really care :)

Easter pictures

Okay so I haven't updated in, I don't know, months or so. But here are a few pictures from Easter today. Quick backstory. We were in NC all week this week and suppoesd to come home last night. Our flight from Raleigh to Baltimore (our connection) was delayed 2.5 hours. We missed our connection. Southwest put us up in the Westin but only if we flew to Baltimore, not rebooked in Raleigh. So we hauled the kids onto the plane at 8:15 last night, got into the Westin and got into bed at 11. Yup. 11. With two kids, a stroller, three carryons, two carseats, two suitcases and golf clubs. Awesome. 6:30 am wakeup, 9:25 flight out this morning. Home, no food for easter dinner, tired cranky kids. Threw them in bed for naps (told Nolan easter bunny only came to sleeping kids houses) and then made them put their clothes on for fifteen minutes of photos and the egg hunt we hastily threw together. No easter dinner, no mass, just a really boring crappy Easter. But we were home. And together. And the kids looked super cute. Thank goodness I got Layne's dress on clearance last year and Diane had bought Nolan the shirt and I had the pants left over. If I had spent $$ on outfits I would have been annoyed... So this is what no planning, and fifteen minutes gets. Semi awake and grumpy kids, one blurred picture together, back messy steps, blech. But they're still cute!

One year of Four

One year ago today we became a family of four. In fact, as I am typing this (Monday night) I am remembering going to bed at 9:30 with very strong but very irregular contractions thinking I would NEVER have the baby. I was due on the 30th, I was just impatient. The next two hours would have more very painful but very irregular contractions which would annoy me greatly. Then from 11:30-1 they would get a little more regular and then from 1-2 am, BAM, the contractions went from 7 to 6 to 5 minutes apart. By the time I woke Matt up a little after two and we got to the hospital at 2:45 they were approximately 2.5 minutes apart lasting one minute and I could neither breathe nor walk or even move through them. I remember when we walked (haltingly and bent over) into the ER everyone was very excited because Matt was a resident at the hospital and they all knew him from his consult visits for the OB-Gyn department. I remember for some reason refusing the wheelchair they offered and insisting on walking until I had another mind-numbing contraction then I ceased caring and they got me right into a wheelchair! Not surprisingly when we got upstairs I was 6cm and 100% then fully dilated within 30 minutes. They thankfully got my epidural in quickly after we got there (yeah, you drug-free women are my HEROES, seriously) and let me labor down (for those birthing newbies, that means they let the contractions move the baby down into the birth canal and into delivery position). Then less than three hours after walking in, with two sets of pushes out came our beautiful baby girl. I still remember Matt telling me that it was a girl and being SO surprised. Anyone who knows his family and the sheer number of boys he has in it would never have thought we would have a girl. She didn't have a name for the first hour or so. With Nolan we had known weeks ahead of time. But with Layne, we had it down to Charlotte or Layne and decided after we saw her.

So now it's been one whole year. One year of being the mommy to a little girl. One year of having two children. One year being a family of four. One year where we no longer outnumber the kids. One. Year. And I am left trying to figure out where the time went. It has been a complete whirlwind. I look at this beautiful precious 23 lb 31 inch tall baby girl and wonder what happened to my newborn?? My life has become even better since she arrived in it. I thought it was good with Nolan. Its even better with Nolan AND Layne. I am as completely in love with her a year later as I was the day she was born.

I have learned how to change a girl's diaper. I have figured out that no-slippy-clippies are the only way to go. I have learned that onesies go under the tights if there are bloomers and over if there aren't. I've learned that tights are really annoying to put on babies. I've finally gotten pink in my house. I've learned to coordinate that pink with just about every other color in the world. I've learned that, unlike with Nolan, I actually am SUPPOSED to coordinate the outfits. I've learned that while I thought I couldn't possibly love a second child as much as I did my first, that it was possible. I have learned that though I thought our life as a family was complete when there were three of us, it wasn't even close. I have learned a lot in a year. And my life is a million times better for all that I have learned.

I love you my precious, sweet baby girl. You are a true delight. Your laughter makes my heart sing and your smile melts me. Happy, happy first birthday.

The past year in my favorite photos. And no, I did not take the first photo. I am not THAT ambitious of a photographer :) This was taken by Matt about 20 seconds after she came out.

Layne is walking!!

Basically, Christmas morning Layne decided she could walk. She had taken four or five steps at a time before but on Christmas she decided she'd just up and walk across the room. In the three days since then she has gotten even better at it. Scares me what shell be able to do soon!! The best way to get her to walk is to have Natalie (our cat) nearby. Layne is obsessed with her and will follow / stalk her whenever she sees her :)



Tomorrow is her first birthday and I promise I will put something up for it...hopefully :)

New Layne photos

Our friend's one year old has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. My friend knit her two gorgeous hats at my request so when they arrived today I threw one on Layne to make sure they'd fit since her head is bigger than, well, everyone's :)

Pictures!

Okay, so I am putting new pictures up. I promise. I will try and update at least once every week or two. I was giving a babysitter a reference to look at pictures and realized how long it had been. Oops!!

So. Layne is almost 10 months old. Insane. She was 22 lbs at her last appointment and 30 inches long. Yup. Super baby. She is on the move now, having learned to scoot on her bottom with one leg in front and one behind. She still has just one tooth, the others are apparently waiting to come in on their own sweet time. She is also pulling up on things and will walk clear across the room is you hold her hands. We've decided she probably isn't going to crawl because she'll just skip right to walking. She is becoming more demanding, and definitely testing out her voice with random shrieks. However she is still SO sweet and SO happy and SO relaxed. And she adooooores Nolan. Totally. She says "nananan" and "dada" and "mama". But mainly "nananan" especially if Nolan isn't around. When we go to get him up from naps, or if I talk about going to pick him up from school she breaks out in huge grins and claps and squeals. Let's see. She is clapping, she can do "all-done" (raising her arms) and "more" (tapping her hands together). She still has completely out of control crazy hair and I love it! Her favorite thing to do now is to scoot over to the doors to the toyroom (sunporch) open them up and then just perch on the edge so that her feet are hanging over the step into the toyroom. Then she'll get bold and wiggle herself down. I'd say about 75% of the time this results in her getting in there and 25% of the time she faceplants. :) We have a LOT of that going on recently, but no major injuries.

Recent photos:






















Nolan is doing great. He turned four years old on Sept 5 and we had a lovely Lightning McQueen birthday party in the back yard, complete with a bakery bought egg-free cake. Yay! He is in school three days a week for three hours each day. I wih it was more but it's a nice break for me and for him. He has lots of new friends in his class, his closest ones are Seamus and Mac. They do all sorts of crafts and read books, play outside, have fun. He is as smart as ever, reading nonstop, doing simple adding and subtracting, it's a bit crazy. I'd write more but I hear Layne waking up upstairs and it's almost time to go pick up the boy :)

And some photos of Nolan (yes there are many more of Layne. But she sits and smiles. He runs away and yells at me to stop taking his photo. Or gives me these godawful fake smiles):





I don't remember if I put this one on here...