Look who is 5 months old!

JackJack turned 5 months old yesterday! He has been in our lives for 22 weeks...154 days...3696 hours...and we feel like has ALWAYS been with us. Not a day goes by that I do not thank the Lord for blessing us with our 3rd child. You still drink about 3-6 ounces at a time, with 2 tablespoons of cereal in your bottle with your "just before bed" feeding. You are in 3-9 month clothing, depending on the brand and are still in a size 2 diaper. You love to put everything in your mouth, especially your fingers. You love to snuggle up to your soft, bamboo blankies when you are tired and rarely cry. You are in awe of your brothers and watch their every move. You are spending less time in your swing and bouncy, and are instead loving your Jumperoo and to "stand" on our lap, while we hold your little hands...


We have tried to introduce cereal by spoon, but you have not lost your tongue reflex yet...You sleep most nights from 7pm - 7am, occasionally waking up for a bottle around 5am. You roll over both ways and love to play with all of your toys.

We love you so much sweet Jack...Our family is now complete!

Jack's latest stats

Sweet Jack has had a cold for almost 2 weeks, nothing serious, just a nagging cough...so I finally decided to take him to the Dr. to get it checked out. Turns out to be nothing more than a cold, thank God. Chest sounds perfect and his ears look perfect as well. Just lots of mucus in his throat that he obviously cannot clear just yet. Little man has continued to smile and giggle and you would not even know he was sick if he didn't have that darn cough! Anyways, they weighed him, and I was shocked!

Back on 10/6, for his 4 month well check and shots, he weighed 15 lbs, 1 oz.. Less than 3 weeks later, the little bugger now weighs in at a whopping 16 lbs, 9 ozs!!! Needless to say, he does not miss a meal, or a snack or even a nibble!! hehe

Mini Vacation:

Daddy and Uncle Scotty had their quarterly Performax meeting, and this time, the "Harrell franchises" were the city hosts! The group decided to meet out at the resort, so we (me & the boys and Allie & Caden...Grammie and Pop's even joined in for about 24 hours!) tagged along. (This is where Todd and I were married, so it was special having all of our boys along with us this time.) What a treat to only travel 30 minutes and feel far away from home...Here are a few pics from our adventures:

We spent TONS of time outdoors, especially on the enourmous all wood playground:


There was a Brewfest going on, which meant lots of people and outdoor music! The boys had a blast dancing with the band...Shake your groove thang' baby! Thank goodness the band finally took a break, as the boys would have danced all night long!




We sure enjoyed our condo and its spectacular outdoor space and panoramic views! Great for bubbles...


All in all, the weekend was wonderful, memories were made and family time was spent:






PS. Notice B's googles made a re-appearance?? He even slept in them again.......

School Apple Festival

A few more Apple Festival pics from school!
An excerpt copied and pasted from the school website:Last Friday was our Apple Festival. We would like to thank the parents for sending in apples. The kids were so excited, they made special hats to wear and picked apples right from the tree. We turned the outside that day into a classroom outdoor. Everyone took part in story time, science experiments, art and other apple theme activities. The highlight of the day was making homemade apple sauce. They peeled and cut their own apples, placed them in a crockpot and let the apples cook through naptime, to enjoy at snack time.

Thank you teachers for all of the pictures!!

Alzheimer's walk and fall hats!

This year, we were a sponser for the Alzheimer's Association Alzheimer's Walk! Click here for a blast from the past:  Alz Walk 2008  What a great way to honor those living with the disease, those passed on from the disease and those caring for someone with Alzheimer's:





***side note...we actually made it about 50 feet into the walk, when Brody started melting down, Wade got mulch in his sneaker, Jack started to get restless and a wheel on the wagon fell off...Todd continued on and the rest of us secretly snuck off into the bushes to turn back around. Hey, at least we were there!

A few pics of the boys in their homemade hats! They had an apple festival at school last week and made fall hats at Nana and Gator's house.

Jack sporting his hilarious hat and new teeth!!


Wade was so proud!


B -man did. not. want. to. wear. his. hat. But,I still managed to get a little smile out of him though...hehehe

Slime baby!

Looking for a fun and easy project to do with your kids? Make slime! I found this recipe on Pinterest, my latest addiction..., purchased the ingredients and viola!

Mix 1 cup of water with 1 teaspoon of Borax, set aside.
Mix 1/2 cup of water, 4oz. of Elmers glue and food coloring until blended.

Mix Borax solution and glue solution= slime! Drain remaining water and enjoy...




During their nap, I decided to make a variety of colors! They had a blast and were blown away that they made slime. Jack even got in some texture time!

Over it.

Although life is fantastic and we are incredibly blessed with our 3 boys, 2 of them are giving us a run for our money. This is, by far, is the hardest stage, in my opinion, raising twins. They are constantly wrestling, running, smashing into furniture, climbing the walls, jumping on the beds…it’s like they have this new found energy and have all of the sudden started the dreaded terrible 3’s. Now don’t get me wrong, they are still sweet and caring and lovable, but boy do they have strong opinions these days. They are testing every boundary, crossing every line set forth in front of them, and smirking along the way. And I feel horrible because I seem to get frustrated so easily, but it is so hard when you have TWO 3 year olds constantly testing your patience. They feed off of each other with everything! It is a battle getting dressed, taking a bath, eating dinner, brushing teeth, going to bed…..uugghhh!!! I pride myself on being even keeled with my kiddos and it kills me that I have such short patience these days. It breaks my heart into a million pieces…I am in no way naïve and I have been warned about kids turning 3, but sheesh! I guess I can just be thankful that we don’t have triplets…………….ha! (Feel better now that I got that off of my chest!!)

Last Weekend:

Last week, Todd headed out to CA for a quick business trip and that meant just Momma and all 3 kiddos. They were actually extremely well behaved! Friday night, we had the Hipsh gals over for chicken nuggets and some good old fashioned hill rollin'...


They invited us to the soccer fields the next day to watch Campbell, Grayson and Noah play soccer(we never found Will's team!). So, me and the boys loaded up in the car and headed on out to the fields. While there, the boys played soccer with Mr. Mike, Miss Monica, Sean, Cooper, Cailey and Maddox. It was a CPS kinda Saturday! I observed that B and W like to tackle each other each and everytime they came within a foot of one another.

Soccer boys...not football.

And Jack, smiled and cooed the entire time, of course. Happiest baby ever!


Jack David at 4 months old...incredibly happy, cooing and discovering his little voice and all of the noises that he can make...LOVES bathtime, wakes up smiling every single morning...is rolling over from tummy to back and sometimes back to tummy...loves his Jumperoo, to suck on his fingers and play with his feet...he loves to be outside, to stand up while holding our fingers and adores his big brothers...






And Wade and Brody just adore him as well! They really, really do...


And, this year, we let them pick out their Halloween costumes all by themselves! (Well, with a little directing and encouraging. Todd wanted them to be a cop and robber combo...) and we let them try them on last night...so cute! Introducing Cowboy Wade and Fire Fighter Brody:


We are going to eliminate the axe, and instead, give this to B on Halloween:


Not quite sure yet of Baby J's costume...soon though!

Happy Friday!

Questions...

Asked by Mom, answered by the boys, at 3 years and 2 months old:

Me: What is your most favorite food?
Wade: Quesadillas
Brody: Rice and Crackers

Me: What is your most favorite color?
Wade: Orange!
Brody: Red and Orange and Yellow.

Me: What do you want to be when you grow up?
Wade: A Baseball Player!
Brody: Me too...a Baseball Player!

Me: What is your most favorite book?
Wade: That one where we have to find all of the hidden stuff and things.
Right Brody? (He pronounces Brody as Row-die...always has...it's so cute!)
Brody: Yes. The one with the stickers? Let me think about it Mom.
(Silence for about 15 seconds while he taps his pointer finger to his chin...) Yes. The hidden one.

Me: What is your most favorite song?
Wade: ABCD and Umi Zoomi
Brody: ABCD and Bumble Bee. And twinkle.

Me: What is your most favorite movie?
Wade: Lion King and Diego
Brody: Nemo and Umi Zoomi

Me: What is your most favorite drink?
Wade: Red juice and water
Brody: Milk

Me: Who is your best friend?
Wade: McLaren and Sean
Brody: Bryce and Gabby

Me: How old is Mommy?
Wade: Big like 10
Brody: Tall

Me: How old is Daddy?
Wade: 49-80. (That is all one word: fortynineeighty.)
Brody: The Tallest

Me: What is your most favorite thing to do?
Wade: Play puzzles and march and run and hit the ball to Dad.
Brody: Basketball and coloring and hit the ball to Dad.

3 year stats and 4 month stats!

JackJack at 4 months:
15 lbs 1 oz/ 25 3/4 inches long
He is meeting all of his milestones and is in the 75th percentile for height and 50th percentile for weight. Go, Jack, Go.

Fun to compare:Boys at 4 months:
Wade: 13lbs 6oz/ 24 3/4 inches long
Brody: 15lbs 3oz/ 24 3/4 inches long

You can tell they are brothers!


And the boys at their 3 year check up, just a month late...
Wade: 40 lbs/ 40 inches tall Above 95th percentile in both
Brody: 38 lbs/ 38 inches tall 75th percentile for height and 95th for weight

They answered all of Dr. Keefe's questions on que...meeting all developmental milestones and very healthy! Wade's tubes are starting to fall out...which we expected as it has been over a year since they were inserted. Neither one cried when they received their flu shot...talk about impressive! Wade just said, "Ow!" and Brody did not make a peep! The only thing we need to work on with them is encouraging them to get completely dressed on their own and learn to button.

I cannot believe how fast time is flying............

We have picked up a large amount of clients at work, so I have been slammed and mentally exhausted, so when the kiddos go to bed, the last thing I want to do is work on my blog. So I didn't, but I am back. Hello!!

Since my last post, we have....

Introduced cereal to a cute little guy...Ha!


Built a fort that brought us endless hours of entertainment...


Spent time with Nana...and tasted our very first caramel apple!


Spent time with Grammie and Pop's (and Mommy and Daddy had a kiddo free night!)


Played in the sprinkler water at dusk in the driveway...boys will be boys I guess...


Made our very own pizza...They had a blast!




The finished product...and we didn't forget about baby J!
Top Left: Wade methodically placed each pepperoni perfectly in place and arranged his cheese and sauce just so.

Top Right: Brody spread all of his toppings all over the pizza, no rhyme or reason to placement.


Enjoyed life...




Goofed off at Bass Pro...


And saw our very first movie at the movie theater! The Lion King...They did WAY better than expected. Well, we did not really know what to expect, as it was 3D, but they did awesome!

Sweet boy finally does it....

He slept through the night...just like old times. Thank God. Thank you ALL for the advice...the emails came a pouring in. When a women asks for help from her fellow Moms...they deliver. Thank you.

What finally worked was not pacifing him everytime he woke up. We created a bad habit and had to fix it. He re-learned to self sooth very quickly and both Momma and babe are finally getting a good nights rest. WOOOOHOOOO!!!!!!!