Our Last Hound Dog Run

Every year the kids school does a fundraiser and this is our last one here.  I have to say its been my favorite so far.  Nice to end on a high.  I volunteered to make cupcakes for the bake sale and a cake for the cake walk and forgot I would be teaching preschool that day so I missed Devin's turn to run.  I felt bad but we made sure and went to family night in the evening to make up for it.  It was a really busy day but so much fun.  I did realize next time I bring baked goods to a bake sale I shouldn't volunteer to help sell them.  It's really prideful for me to say but it killed me to see the cupcakes I made get passed over for rice krispy treats and slice and bake cookies.  Oh well I really just need to suck it up and get over myself.  Alright lets get onto the good stuff, pictures.

Super cute right?  I'd want that over a slice of prepackaged cookie dough.  Sorry, I really need to let it go!

Caroline running with her best friend from school Arushi, I'm well aware I"m probably spelling that wrong but I tried my best!

Caroline with Arushi and her teacher Mrs. Neese.  We really love her teacher this year.  

And the cake walk cake.

Of course I had to make sure to get a few in of the boys.  

Devin even had a turn pushing George around.

Here is the big group of kids we spent most of the night with. It was so much fun to see Caroline run around with her friends, jump in the bounce house, get her hair sprayed a different color, paint pumpkins and just have a great time.  Hopefully they'll remember this night for a while and think all nights were like this growing up.  It was a pretty magical night.  

George at 2 months

Little Georgie had his 2 month check up earlier this week.  He is one healthy baby!  He weighed in at 13 lbs and 14 oz and 22 1/2 in long.  So 95% for weight and 35% for height I think. I've got one chunky baby, and I couldn't be happier.  He on the other hand was quite upset about his shots.  He cried ALL DAY LONG.  Yes I know he is the best baby ever so this was a long day.  I'm not exaggerating either.  I did manage to nurse him to sleep a few times but if he was awake he was screaming. So Shawn came to my rescue and gave him a dose of Tylenol and benadryl that let him take a good nap.  He was the happiest baby after some sleep and pain relief.  Poor guy.  Thank goodness we don't have to do that for another 2 months!  He looks way bigger than he is but I love my chunky baby!

Happy 2 months you sweet, sweet, boy!

Grandma and Grandpa Reed come for George's Blessing

Last weekend we blessed George in our home.  It was probably the most low key blessing we have ever done but it was still wonderful and special just the same.  Grandma and Grandpa Reed were able to come into town for the weekend so we were also able to have fun with them.   In true Reed fashion we started off the trip with a lack of communication and when Shawn went to the airport to pick them up he learned that they had taken a cab to our house instead.  Oops!  My dad and I may have forgotten to communicate our plans to each other, sorry Shawn!  We still had lots of fun the rest of the weekend though.  We finally made sure they tried hot chicken, went to the pedestrian bridge, cheered Graham at his soccer game, Grandpa spoke to Caroline's class about Brasil, listened to conference, and of course bless George.

The boys made sure to play flip over tickle monster with Grandpa before he left, and read Little Black a Pony.

This is what George did most of the weekend. 

Playing at Cumberland Park.

Giving Grandma snuggles before she left.

Shawn even enjoyed the park!

George loved talking to Grandma and Grandpa.

Devin climbing at the park.

Grandpa talking about Brasil.  It was really fun, Caroline's class had just finished a project about the country.

Grandma and Grandpa getting in on the fun.

Caroline was the only one to reach the top. Go Caroline!

Trying to get a decent picture wasn't easy!

Grandpa playing with George.

Grandpa and Grandma with George.

I know this is mean but I have ZERO pictures of Graham and Devin in this blessing outfit so I made sure to get one of George in it.  I"m terrible I know.

My handsome boys.  I loved hearing the sweet blessing that was given.  What stood out most to me is that George came to our family to fill our house with love and bring us closer together.  He's a pretty special baby, and has definitely done that! We love you George!

The Lees come to town

Holy cow I have been a terrible blogger!  Two in September?  Really?  I stink, but I will try and be better however I'm not sure I will ever be as frequent as I used to be.  At least people are giving me things to blog about! Ashley and Adam came to visit us almost two weeks ago and we had so much fun with them!  The kids had never meet Adam and Ashley hadn't meet George yet, so it was fun to get the cousins together.  It was really great having Ashely here and helping me clean up, make dinner and have adult conversations with, I loved it.  Even with all the fun we had I wasn't able to keep it together the entire time and had a meltdown while she was here, so she had the special opportunity to see me in full crazy mode.  I'm sure that was the highlight of her visit. Despite my insanity we were able to take a walk in Edwin Warner, go to Loveless Cafe, walk the pedestrian bridge, go to soccer practice, get hot chicken, to got Cheekwood, and eat birthday cake.  If you haven't noticed, we ate really good food.  It was so great.  We loved having Ashley and Adam and can't wait to be in Dallas with them next year!

Cousins meeting for the first time.

Adam giving George a foot five.  

Ashley enjoyed the slide but Adam was unimpressed.  He thought chewing on his binky was way cooler.

At the Cumberland River Park, love this place!

And on the pedestrian bridge, love this place too!

Waiting to be seated at Loveless Cafe.  A 30 minute wait on a Monday?  Not cool people!

Adam loved the biscuits.

And thanks to Ashley's pass to the Dallas arboretum she even got us into Cheekwood for free!  

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And after 11 years of not getting a birthday cake Ashley finally got one, and LIKED it even!  I was very happy, she's picky. 

And one last shot of all the cousins.  It may not look like it in the picture but Adam really did like playing with the kids.  As long as they didn't get right in his face like Graham tends to do. He did love watching the boys do flips and even tried talking to George a few times.  It was adorable!  Less than a year and he and George will be hanging out all the time becoming best buddies.  Can't wait! Thanks for coming Ashely and Adam! 

1 Month

I survived the first month with 4 kids!  I'll be honest though it hasn't been too bad.  Yes I've had my meltdowns, just see the last post, but as George gets bigger and I healed up things have calmed down a lot.  Last night (I know Ashely will hate me for this) George slept from 9:30 to 3 am.  It was so nice to get a nice solid chunk of sleep at night!  I'm a much more pleasant person when I've had a good night sleep.  The kids still adore their new little brother and love to give him kisses and constantly touch him so it can be a little overwhelming at times for me because I feel like I"m being mauled by kids all day but I'll live. At his 2 week check up George had already gained 1 1/2 pounds and I'm quite confident he's packed on at least another pound.  I have a feeling he's going to rival Devin in size.  That's fine by me, I love me a chunky baby!  In other kiddo news Devin can now tie his shoes all by himself and is right on track with reading.  I got his AR reading range from his teacher yesterday and sure enough I'm not failing him as a mother.  Phew!  So things are going well over here, at least for now.  Ashely is visiting in a week so hopefully I'll have more to post about soon!

 It doesn't really save us any time in the morning but it sure makes him feel good about himself. 

Graham showing off his ability to fall asleep in odd positions.

And George of course just because he's so stinking cute!

First Meltdown

It happened I had my first meltdown post baby.  I guess that's not entirely true.  When George's umbilical cord started falling off after just 6 days and looked pretty nasty I may have started to cry.  I may have cried again when George ate too much and threw up almost his entire meal all over me and I had a flashback to when Caroline did that after EVERY feeding and ended up needing surgery, and I was convinced for a moment George would have the same problem.  Luckily Shawn was home both times and quickly came to my rescue and talked me off of the figurative ledge I was about of jump off of.  Yesterday Shawn was not home, so when I was helping Devin with his homework and was sad because he is not nearly as good at reading as Caroline was at his age and I thought I had failed him as a mother and then quickly spiraled out of control into a mess of sobbing and tears.  The bad mom thoughts then turned into frustration that I'm 30 lbs overweight, still sore from giving birth, and just about anything else I could stress about I did.  So when I texted Shawn that I had failed Devin as a mother he called me back seconds later to fix me.  It was good to hear that all of this was probably just stemming from the raging hormones, and lack of good sleep I've been experiencing lately.  So Shawn put Caroline in charge of the boys and I got to lay down and watch a few shows and Shawn brought dinner home for me.  He's my hero, he works a lot but always pulls though when I need him.  I felt much better by the time he got home and got to see that Caroline had made the boys write superhero books.  That also made me realize maybe that I've at least done an ok job with Caroline.  That girl is a superstar and I don't know what I would do without her some days.  Anyways I'm sure this is the first of may crazy meltdowns to come in the next few months but its good to know I have a sweet hubby and kids to pull me out of them.  So sit back and enjoy the fact that while sometimes I may appear relaxed and calm, I'm actually a whole lot of crazy these days!

He's too cute not to show off!  Love this little guy!