Alex the little Diva

So this is what Alex did when he realized that I didn't bring his black dressy shoes to Cleveland for the wedding. Back story - he wasn't ever going to go to the wedding, but was slightly devastated to learn this when we were getting ready on Saturday at the hotel. We decided that he could go to the church ceremony part of the wedding, but being the bad mom that I am, I did not really pack dressy clothes for him. This is just an example of what I deal with on a daily basis trying to dress this kid... I don't physically have a girl, but God gave me a Drama Queen.

Thanksgiving - we are so thankful!

Krista is an awesome hostess - the table looked great!


Me, mom & Krista - we don't look like we cooked all day do we?

He really doesn't look sick does he? Notice how wet his little shirt was from all the drool...

Mimi and her boys! Drew gnawing her hand off, Alex was actually good for this one and Evan using his sock as a sword.

From left to right: Becca with Leah, Alex, Grammy B, Me with Drew, Tim with Alex, Matt with Lilly (I think) and Lauren with Diana (I think). This is Tim's grandma with all six of her great-grandkids and three of her grandkids - so sweet!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend! On Thursday I woke up early and ran the Thanksgiving Day 10K Race with Uncle Michael (after a night of like 2 hours of sleep thanks to my little angel -see previous post). Had to burn some extra calories so I can eat what I wanted to at my sister's Thanksgiving Day dinner! This year my side of the family and Michael's parents all came to Krista and Michael's house for the feast. I made the turkey - which was a first for me! Krista said I just had to try Alton Brown's method for brining and cooking the turkey and I will have to admit - it turned out excellent! I had also got a Turducken from Fresh Market that was fun and delicious! And, as if we didn't have enough meat, my mom brought a ham - hey, why not? Krista is an awesome cook and made all the sides and some of the desserts, so we had yummy stuffing, cauliflower gratin, my favorite brussels and of course, my grandma's famous sweet potato casserole! To top it off, for dessert, we had pies, apple cake and a smores cake - all so good!

That was the good part of the day... The bad part of the day and the night before, was that Drew was so sick! He had so much snot and droll and a horrible cough (I self-diagnosed him as having croup). He was good all day and didn't act too bothered by his symptoms, but screamed the entire drive home! After trying to get him to go down and him gagging for 5 minutes on snotty crud, I decided to take him to the hospital. The doctor's office or urgent care were obviously not open on Thanksgiving Day and we had to leave early Friday morning for Cleveland to attend the fabulous wedding of Travis and Lauren. Mom and I headed to Children's hospital ER around 10pm and were home by midnight. They never said it was croup, but did give him the steroid that helps clear it up, since there are no severe side effects... He was fine within a day or two, but I just didn't want to get to Cleveland and him be worse. Maybe I over re-acted by taking him to the ER, just a little, but oh well...

The rest of the weekend was so much fun! Even though it wasn't how we normally spend the holiday weekend, we got to spend it with family and friends! We even fit in a visit with Tim's Grammy B on Saturday and his college roommate, Mike on Sunday! It was all worth the 6 hour car ride in the rain on Sunday afternoon (normally a 4 hour drive). Best part of that drive was learning that Alex can pee in a coffee cup if he has to (traffic was horrible)! He thought he was so big...

Evan's Hair Disaster

Well, it happened and on my watch... Dang. While I was on the phone, for like five minutes, Alex somehow managed to convince Evan that cutting his hair was a good idea. It was awful. Evan walked up to me and said, "Look mom, my hair" and handed me a wad of his hair. I was so mad... In the madness, I didn't realize that Alex had also cut his own hair. Lesson learned, no more craft scissors, or should I say, no more unsupervised craft scissors. The best part was watching Tim try to break them when he got home because he was so mad - hehe... Tim took him to get it fixed and it actually looks really cute - he looks years older!

Triple Bath Night

So I finally decided Drew was old enough to take the plunge with his older brothers! He was a little scared at first, but I think he liked being in there with his brothers!

Four Months Old

I decided to take the 4 month pictures in his Jumperoo since he LOVES it these days!


Love his little face!


Evan is constantly touching him - I am constantly telling him not to, he always responds, "I just want to kiss him" - in his little Evan voice. I have to admit as much as I hate him putting his grimy hands all over Drew - he is pretty persistent and cute, so I give him points for that...


Look mom! I am four months old! I thought it was interesting how he saw me put the 4 month sticker on the wall and then kept turning around to look at it!

Okay, so like I said before, we have been busy... These pictures were actually taken around 4 1/2 months, but he was still this cute at just 4 months! Drew has been a complete monster since a little before 4 months hit. I am really beside myself at night and nap time with his sleep or lack thereof. Alex and Evan must have been super easy because both of them would just lay down and sleep through the night by 4 months. Drew is a very light sleeper or easily disturbed and anyone that has visited our house knows that between the crazy dog, barking and running up and down the hallway, Evan's loud mouth and Alex's whining - it is NEVER quiet here. I can't have a conversation with Tim until the kids are in bed, so trying to put the baby down before they go to bed is almost impossible. Anyway, every night it is a production to get him to sleep and then he stays asleep for about 45 minutes before he awakes again and needs his pacifier or to be held again. We have tried lots of tricks, but he is pretty stubborn. I have even let him cry it out for awhile and I think he would literally cry all night... Most nights he wakes up every 1 to 2 hours. I refuse to feed him at night before 4am - I know better than to start this habit. Before 4 months, he was sleeping from 8am to 4 or 5am straight, with no issues. I am sure this is just a phase (let's all pray) but I am over it. His 4 month appointment was pretty routine, just a couple shots and weight/height check. He had dropped from 75% to 55% in weight. He was doing well with height at around 85%. He was right at the same height as Alex and Evan at this age, however, he was a full pound less than the boys! Since the visit, we have started giving the boy more food! He has had peaches, pears, bananas, apples and sweet potatoes mixed in with his cereal. Secretly I was hoping it would help him sleep better, but it has not. He is plumping up though, so that is good :) The boys continue to be full of energy and are keeping me on my toes. I recently found out my sabbatical leave is extended until March 3rd, so I will continue to enjoy every second with them (although most of the time I am ready to pull my hair out) - I wouldn't want to miss a thing!

Breaking news (since I am typing this on 12/7 and post dating it)!!! I just put Drew down for the night and it was the easiest it has been in a long time! I sang two songs to him that my poppy sang to me when I was a little girl (Jesus Loves Me and Jesus Loves the Little Children) - I am sure that did the trick! Let's all say a prayer that he is moving on to the next stage and starts sleeping better! I am not asking for him to not wake up at all, just to keep it to one to two times a night!

Somerset Visit

Tim had to travel to Germany in November, so we went to Somerset to hang out with Mimi, Papaw, BB and Poppy. The boys had a good time and we got to visit a lot with Poppy, which is important to us! Granny got the boys a sticker book and they decorated Drew. Alex was also really into his legos for the weekend - he built this truck and we sent this picture to Tim in Germany (Alex and Tim spend a lot of time with legos these days).

Random Pictures from my phone...

Proud big brothers - they are always begging me to hold him. This was one morning while I was attempting to get ready and they were supposed to be getting ready for school.


Alex holding Drew, who looks as big as him!

Cute little Drew (this is Tim's favorite shirt on him)!

Picnic at our favorite park - Krista's park. Really it is called Ault park, but happens to be right by Krista's house...

Evan's cheese face.

Alex was into pretzels and ranch at this time - it was a snack they had a school. Before this - he hated pretzels. He is already being influenced by his peers!

The jedi costumes I scored for $6.99 each after Halloween for them to play in!

Alex with his monste rteeth!

These pictures aren't the best quality - but I do catch some cute ones on my phone from time to time :) Most of these were taken at the end of October/beginning of November.

November Days

We were so fortunate to be able to spend so many days outside this fall! I took a few pictures of the boys in the back yard, while Tim was raking leaves. The picture of me and Drew was taken by Mr. Alex, with my "big" camera - he is a budding photographer!

I wish I could say I have taken more pictures outside for November, but we so busy with various things and Tim has been so busy at work, we must have left the camera at home most days... I really don't know where November even went - I have blinked and it is gone!

Halloween 2011

This picture is just to give you guys an idea of the mass chaos that comes to our house... It is this packed the full two hours. We ran out of candy at the end and I bought 6 bags from Sams. Tim was only giving one piece each too - but Evan was a little more generous!


Baby Yoda sitting in his new Bumbo (thanks to Ariel).

Baby Yoda and Mommy

The boys handing out candy with Hans Solo and Uncle Michael.

Didn't know you could pick your nose with a Tootsie Roll pop - learn something new everyday.

The boys of Floral - Jonathan, Paxton, Connor, Evan & Alex. Alex refused to get in the group for a picture - just a peach, he is...

The boys leaving a neighbors house...

The boys with our next door neighbors - they are the best!

Cute when they want to be. I had to bribe them to get in this picture - I wasn't going to take them around to get candy until they sat still for this one. On take one of this picture, we realized that Evan had stepped in a cow patty sized dog poo - disgusting...

They love Baby Yoda.

An attempt at a neighborhood kid picture - some were missing and my lens wasn't the right one for getting everybody in there... Crazy just 5 years ago - none of these little monsters existed :)

Darth Vadar - so serious.

Fueling up before they head out...

Halloween was fun this year! You have all seen the costumes, they were cute as ever, but THANK GOD Halloween is over. The day started off with tons of fun as we had to get the costumes on for school. I had to call Tim in order to properly dress Evan. Then as we were rushing around getting ready for the neighborhood Halloween party, someone "misplaced" part of Evan's costume. We looked everywhere for it, then it ended up being right in front of us - Tim swears he looked for it where I ultimately found it - right...

We started the evening at a party at our neighbors house. It was a potluck dinner with tons of good food. She had cute games and treats for the kids too! I took the boys around to a few of our neighbors houses and they really did great this year saying, "treak or treat" and going up to the doors by themselves. They also enjoyed handing out candy with Tim and Michael the rest of the night. I found a great Han Solo costume for Tim - he looked hilarious - but the boys loved it!

I was feeling under the weather, so I just kinda hung around inside with Drew to get him through his fussy time... We had a couple meltdowns this morning, probably due to the overdose of sugar - like I said, I am so over Halloween for this year :) Alex on the other hand, asked me if we could do Halloween again tonight. Ummm, no.