Rodeo Time

For the 5th year in a row now we went to the livestock show and carnival.  Five years ago Kevin and I went when I was VERY pregnant with Nolan.  Even though we weren't going to a show that year I still wanted to go so that I could have some rodeo food.  Every year I get fried pickles from Sudie's.  They start out so yummy but after about half a basket I have had my fill.  I know there are so many other yummy foods but that is the only time of the year that I have them.



Nolan was on Spring Break this past weekend so Kevin took Tuesday off of work so that we could go.  We decided to send Grant to daycare so that we didn't have to worry about his schedule at all.  We got there pretty early because the power was going to be off at the house for a few hours.  We were able to walk through the livestock.  There was a lot of movement with the cows.  Nolan held his nose like a city boy.  Henry was a little more open to interacting with the animals.

Next stop was to climb on all of the tractors.  Nolan was so nice to even let a little boy climb on one with him.





Henry did a pony ride and the petting zoo.  Once again, city boy wasn't interested!  Nolan was excited to see the Rodeo mascot though and gave him some high fives.  This is where Henry was not comfortable...he doesn't trust a man in costume!





After a fair amount of walking around inside we went outside for lunch.  The boys had declared that they wanted pizza!  After lunch we watched a little animal show, did a "life on the farm" thing, watched some pig racing and mutton busting and finally finished up the day with a few carnival rides and snow cones.  Fun day!  We said that maybe next year we would get tickets for an actual show so that the boys could see the rodeo competition.

9 Months

Grant is 9 months old!  My baby almost isn't a baby anymore!  He is getting into everything.  He crawls and pulls up on a lot of things.  He isn't trying to cruise though and doesn't try to walk if you hold his hands.  He is starting to enjoy food with more texture.  We have tried puffs, yogurt melts, beans, pasta, carrots, lima beans and green beans.  I have given him a few little bites of meat but he seems to have a more difficult time with that.

He has moved up to Infant B, which is for the more mobile babies.  We hear how much food envy he has.  If another baby is eating he wants to eat too.  He is also known for trying to steal pacifiers.

He is generally pretty happy.  There are times that all he wants is to be held though.  His brothers make him laugh and the cats fur is fun to pull.  He still doesn't sleep solidly through the night but he does go to bed very easily.

He had his 9-month appointment on Tuesday.  He is doing well.  Meeting all of his milestones.  He is my biggest baby at 9 months weighing in at a whopping 19lb 9oz!  I like to say that he carries his weight in his thighs.  Nothing cuter than a chunky thigh (only on a baby of course!)  He still only has his bottom 2 teeth but I can see the marking of some up top.  Dr. CS said it looks like 4 are about to come in!





Grant @9 months
Weight:  19lb 9oz (50%)
Height: 28 1/2" (51%)
Head:  46cm (80%)

Henry
Weight:  18lbs 6oz 12%
Height:  28 3/4" 75%
Head:  46cm 75%

Nolan
Weight:  18lb 12oz 23%
Height:  28" 49%
Head:  46cm 75%

**I wrote this a week ago but hadn't posted yet.  Since that time he got in one top tooth.  He loves to grind them together, which I hate!  He is also self feeding a lot more.  I left the room for a minute and when I came back in he had gotten a hold of one of Henry's french toast sticks!  He has also been sleeping pretty well and actually did 12 hours with no waking up the other night.  Of course the next night he had to go and wake up 3 times, 2 of which also woke Henry.  Oh well, baby steps!

Henry is 3!!

Henry is 3!  For weeks we have been talking about his birthday and what type of party he wanted.  It was always the same, “a minion party.”  From looking at Pinterest I saw some minion cupcakes that looked easy enough to make.  I also found a minion pinata and Kevin bought some minion wall decals.  His party was pretty low key.  All of the family that was in town and two sets of neighbors came.  Luckily the weather was nice so all of the kids played on the swing set.  We also just got a nugget tray from Chick-fil-a.  Easy, fun, party.   The minion love message got out so he received two small figurines, a fart gun, and a stuffed minion.  He also received a few fun “home livin” items.  He got a pizza set, a chef costume, and a sub sandwich set.  That night we went to Lupe Tortilla for dinner.  We thought it might be kind of festive and fun.  The boys enjoyed playing in the sandbox before dinner, but were pretty worn down and not hungry by the time the food arrived.

On Tuesday we went to the doctor for his 3-year checkup.  All is well with him.  Luckily no shots were needed so he got off easily.     He is 33lbs (65%) and 37” (40%). 

Like I started with Nolan at the age of 3 I asked Henry the same 20 questions.  He was kind of hard to get the answers out of.  Some came easily but others took multiple times to get an answer.

1. What is your favorite color? Yellow

2. What is your favorite toy? Buzz Lightyear

3. What is your favorite fruit? Banana

4. What is your favorite tv show? Bubble Guppies and UP

5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? hot dogs, chips, applesauce 

6. What is your favorite outfit? Choo choo

7. What is your favorite game? Home Living

8. What is your favorite snack? goldfish and fruities

9. What is your favorite animal? Lion

10. What is your favorite song? ABC's

11. What is your favorite book? Going on a Bear Hunt

12. Who is your best friend? Carolina and Ben

13. What is your favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play with cars, ride motorcycle, backyard

15. What is your favorite drink? water and milk

16. What is your favorite holiday? he didn't want to answer

17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Baa Baa's, puppy, and teddy bear

18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cold french toast sticks

19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? hot dog and mac&cheese

20. What do you want to be when you grow up? Minion! construction worker

2 of 12

The shortest month of the year is almost over.  The year is just chugging along.  We are about to get into all the birthdays in our brood.  Henry is up first just a little over a week away.  He wants a "minions" birthday party.  We will probably just have family over.  I am going to attempt some minion cupcakes though and we will have a few other minion touches.  Henry has moved up to the "3's" at daycare and is doing well there.  Drop offs are going well again.  He is still fun to spend my Tuesday and Thursdays with.  We have gone to story time the past 2 weeks now so that is a fun activity.  He can be mischievous though so I have learned that I can't really leave him alone for any length of time!  For some reason he has been waking up during the night or waking up for the day really early.  Hopefully that will pass soon.



Nolan is doing well.  We have moments of bad attitude that we have to deal with but luckily each bout doesn't last too long.  Last week there was a fun run at school where the kids ran as many laps of the track as they could in a set amount of time...I think it was a little less than an hour.  Nolan ran 20 laps, which is 2 miles!  I went during my lunch and watched him run a few.  We were very proud of how well he did.  He was exhausted that night though which led to some bad behavior!  He starts t-ball soon.  He has been telling us that he doesn't want to play, but the past few days he has been really into playing baseball.  I think he is coming around!



Finally, Mr. G!  He is now crawling!  About a week and a half ago he was really getting close and I said "I bet he will be crawling by Tuesday" and he was!  He started out very slowly but now, a week later, he is really getting around.  He has also pulled into the standing position several times.  Hopefully he won't be an early walker, crawling is bad enough!  Wish I could say that he is now sleeping through the night but that would be a lie.  Still about the same as it has been.  We really don't like any of the kids to sleep in the bed with us, but this morning Grant woke around 4:30 so we brought him to the bed and a few minutes later Henry was standing by the bed awake (G probably woke him up).  So there they were sleeping between us.  Sometimes you do what you have to to get a few more Z's!

1 of 12

One month of 2014 has already come and gone.  January was a little quiet with the end of the holidays.  One big change is that I have gone to working just 3 days a week.  Henry stays home with me on Tuesday/Thursday.  So far he has been a good sport about tagging along with me on a lot of errands.  My goal is to not just sit at home and watch TV.  Luckily he is a good little player and we haven't had a whole lot of that...yet!  At first Nolan was bummed that he didn't get to stay home too, but now he is just excited that he is a "car rider" two days a week.  I have actually been parking and walking up to the school to get him.  The very first day I was set to pick him up I realized just how bad the carpool line was.  I might keep Grant home some days but so far i have been sending him for shorter days.  It is nice to have our weekends free.  I get grocery shopping and laundry done during the week now.

The weather has also been pretty crazy.  All of the boys were home two different days due to ice.  Both ended up being mostly a non event though.  In between the crazy weather we will get a few gorgeous days.  We took advantage one day and went to the zoo and had a picnic in the park after.  Kevin even took Nolan and Henry on a paddle boat ride!  We have also been playing on the play set a lot more.  Henry can climb the rock wall and finally likes to go down the slide.  Grant loves to go in the swing too.  We also went to snow day in Nanna and Poppie's neighborhood.









Nolan is currently obsessed with all things Star Wars,  I have zero interest or knowledge about all of that, but luckily Kevin is an expert.  He is also still pretty crazy about football and ice hockey and often makes us play those with him.  We think he might be about to grow because he has been eating a lot lately.  He still is pretty picky but we are starting to require that he at least try everything on his plate or there will be no "special speacial".  It is working for the most part.  We just signed him up for T-ball so that will be coming this March!



Henry is just a good, happy guy lately.  He is now potty trained!  He is doing pretty well with it.  He is having some accidents but most happen right at the potty.  He also threw away his beloved paci (that might have been in December) and has done so well with that too!  He loves to play "home living".  He has some play food, a grocery cart, some plates, bowls, etc. and just got a small kitchen.  He had a little winter program at school and has been singing his snowman song a lot.  The biggest negative of having him home 2 days a week is that it has made drop off on M/W/F very hard.  He wants to stay home every day.



Grant is doing well too.  He turned 7 months and got 2 teeth.  He is eating pretty well but still has issues with some texture.  Sleep hasn't been the best.  He goes back to sleep easily but does wake up about 3x's a night right now.  I am afraid to jinx it but I think we are starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.  He hasn't learned how to crawl but he does really try.  He also looks like he might learn how to pull up before too long. Everything goes directly into his mouth.  He smiles and laughs a lot but I think some separation anxiety is starting to creep in.

Christmas 2013

Another Christmas has come and gone.  Nolan had a better grasp of Santa this year and would ask questions about if he knew what he was doing, how he gets the presents, etc.  We tried not to use Santa as a threat too much but would when extreme attitudes called for it!

We saw Santa two times.  Once at daycare and once at the realtor's office.  Henry was scared at first but then warmed up and said "he's not scary!"We didn't get a good picture at the realtor's because Nolan came down with a fever that afternoon and how no interest in getting his picture taken!




Nolan wanted red Power Ranger stuff and a football helmet with a chin strap.  Henry wanted a police car.  Grant couldn't tell us but we had a feeling he wanted an Anywhere Chair.  Mommy and Daddy wanted a Kindle.  Luckily we were all good this year and Santa brought us what we wanted.  Nolan and Henry also each got a new bike! Nolan is in love with his football helmet and wears it as often as he can.



On Christmas eve we went to church with the whole Neville clan and then over to the Laird's for some cocktails because they weren't going to be able to get together on Christmas day.  After that we did our cookies for Santa and put on the boys matching PJ's.  Henry ate a cookie and drank Santa's milk for the second year in a row.  We read "The Night Before Christmas" and tucked in the boys.  Grant was the first up at around 6 and then big brothers woke up around 6:30. We went downstairs to check out the loot.




Later than morning the Brock clan came over for brunch and more presents.  The boys showed off their new bikes.  Finally that evening we went to Nanna and Poppies for dinner and one more round of presents.  These boys aren't spoiled or anything!

6 months

Grant is 6 months!  Well, really 6 1/2 months now.  He was originally scheduled for his 6 month check up the day after his 6 month birthday but that turned into a sick visit instead.  Nolan had been sick for a few days and then Kevin was diagnosed with the flu then the day Grant turned 6 months he ran his first low fever and just looked like he wasn't feeling the greatest.  When I told Dr. CS that Kevin had the flu she decided to do a flu test on G.  The 10-minute test came back positive within 30 seconds.  We were given a prescription for tamiflu and told to reschedule his well check up for 2 weeks later.  Ironically the day he was diagnosed with the flu was the day he was supposed to get his flu shot. Thankfully he handled the flu like a champ and was back to himself in no time.



At the appointment I did ask about the fact that he hated solids.  She said it was 99% likely because of the texture.  She said to let him get over the flu and then to try again and each day try until he got upset.  We did wait about 7-10 days and when we tried again he did pretty well!  I had planned to make his food like I did with Henry, and did make a few things, but for now we are mainly doing store bought purees until he gets used to everything.  Last night he ate the most he has ever had.  He ate a full container (had only been eating about half) of sweet potatoes and then finished up with about half a container of squash.  He seems to like the orange veggies so far but wasn't a fan of peas when I tried that!

I also mentioned the fact that he had no interest in standing.  He would lock his legs from time to time but for the most part had spaghetti legs when you would try to stand him up.  She tried and saw what I was talking about but wasn't too concerned.  She said we would reevaluate at 9 months if he still had no interest.  She said it wasn't an indication of when a child would walk.  Well, the very next day I was showing Nanna how he didn't like to stand and what do you know he stood.  From that point on every time you would try to stand him up he would!  I guess he just needed to hear that we wanted him to stand!

He is fully sitting now and has been for a few weeks.  Every once and a while he might topple over but we don't put pillows around him or anything.  He is also babbling a lot more.  He likes to say dada!



He still lights up whenever he sees his big brothers.  Overnight sleeping still isn't the greatest.  We get spoiled some nights and think that he is starting to sleep better but then the next night it is back to 2 or more wakings.  I can handle one but don't like more than that!  He is a decent napper though which is nice. He is still working on his first teeth.  They look like they are just under the surface and he chews and drools on everything but so far nothing.

Everyone comments on what a chill baby he is.  He really is.  He does have his moments when he gets upset and he likes to be held but he really is a happy guy!



When we went back for his official 6 month check up all looked good!  He had a bit of a growth spurt and had gained over a pound and grew almost an inch in a little less than 3 weeks!  He had the best time sitting on the exam table and eating the paper while we waited on the doctor.  Sitting in his diaper I realized just how chunky he had become!

Grant @6 months (12/12/13):
Height: 26.25" (34%)
Weight: 16lb (22%)
Head:  44cm (72%)

Grant @6 months (12/31/13):
Height: 27" (49%)
Weight: 17lb 2oz (32%)
Head:  44-1/2cm (73%)

Henry @6 months:
Height: 27-1/4" (75%)
Weight: 16lb 4oz (25%)
Head:  44-1/2 cm (75%)

Nolan @6 months:
Height: 27-1/4" (75%)
Weight: 16lb 1oz (25%)
Head:  43.5cm (48%)