Picture Time

I was folding clothes last night in our bedroom, and started looking at the 3, 6, 9, and 12 month photos we have of each girl on our wall.  Then, it crossed my mind... Parker is 3 months old!  Whoops... have to get a photo taken of him!  (poor 3rd child, I promise I will be better!)

So, I called this AM and, luckily, they had an open appointment at 5:50 PM today.  So, we headed over there to try to get: a) a cute picture of Parker for his 3 month shot and b) a cute picture of the three kiddos together.  I figured b) would be difficult, but the place I take them is SO inexpensive and you get a gazillion pictures with your package, that it really couldn't hurt to try.

So, as I thought, b) was difficult.  Taylor was the toughest to control (shocker!), and Parker finally had enough and was screaming in the last few pictures taken.  The one we selected is kind of reminiscent of how the kiddos are anyways.  There were a few cute pictures of Parker, but we chose the one below, mainly because he had a hint of a smile and you could see most of his face. 

After pictures, we ate dinner out as a family and treated ourselves to frozen yogurt (nothing like eating cold yogurt when it is 35 degrees outside).

Enjoy!

Training- week 12

Sunday, 12/23-

• Activity: elliptical machine
• Time: 20 minutes
• Distance: 1.39 miles
• Calories burned: 207 

Monday, 12/24:

• Activity: Hip Hop Abs (Total Body Burn)
• Time: 20 minutes 

and a variety of exercises, including sit-ups, push-ups, and squats.

Wednesday, 12/26:

• Activity: jogging
• Time: 34:45 minutes
• Distance: 3.11 miles
• Average Pace: 11:10 minutes/mile
• Calories burned: 441

Ok, so, this whole "getting old" thing... or "3rd pregnancy" recovery thing is hitting me hard.  The last time I ran (last week), I had terrible hip pain following the run.  The pain subsided more each day that passed.  I waited to run again for almost a week, which I did this past Wednesday.  My hip was fine while I was running, for the most part, but was hurting even worse when I stopped.  I could hardly put pressure on it!  I could hardly move, walk, go up stairs, carry a child, etc., and the heating pad/ibuprofen didn't help.  I went to the doctor the next day, and was diagnosed with tendinitis in my right hip.  The doc said that, often times after a woman has a baby, her ligaments/tendons in her hips are very loose from the pregnancy hormones.  This can lead to tendinitis more easily.  I'm supposed to not exercise for 10 days... well, at least, not to run.  She said I could walk after about a week.

I'm taking steroids to help heal the tendinitis and was given muscle relaxers (which didn't help), so hopefully this will heal itself soon.  I'm telling you, my recovery from this pregnancy has been much more rough!  And I'm frustrated, because I feel like in 10 days I will lose what I've built up so far.  Grrr!

3 months!

Parker is 3 months old!!

He has changed a lot lately, including filling out his skinny little frame a bit.  His legs are starting to get rolls in them.  More to squeeze!  Other accomplishments include:

• Probably the most notable accomplishment... SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!  I'm talking, ~7:30 PM to 5:30 AM.  His little internal alarm clock is crazy... he consistently gets up between 5:15 and 5:30 on his own.
• Giggling.
• Sucking his thumb.  We are 3 for 3 with having thumbsuckers. 
• Kicking his feet/putting pressure on things with his feet.
• Getting his first and second sickness... ear infection and bronchiolitis :(  He had to be on antibiotics for the first time, as well as breathing treatments.
• Sitting in Santa's lap! 
• Celebrating his first Christmas.
• Moving into 3-6 month clothing.
• Sleeping in his crib!
• Some nights, he ends up laying 180 degrees from the direction we put him down in.
• His head is holding itself up much better.
• Drinking 6 oz. of milk per bottle. 
• Imitating what we do- making noises, laughing, and sticking out his tongue.
• Trying out the Bumbo chair... head is still too wobbly.  But, he seems to really like sitting up straight, so this may be a hit in about a month!
• Meeting his Great Aunt Katherine, who lives in FL.
• Being absolutely the sweetest little baby.  (I'm not biased or anything...)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to you!  I hope you had a great day of celebration with family.  I surely did.  I am so thankful for all of my blessings.

We've kind of had 3 days of celebrating.  On Sunday, we all ventured up to my parents' house in north GA to eat a late lunch/early dinner (linner?).  My brother and his fam came in from Nashville... my sister and her fam from Gainesville.  An added bonus was that my cousin and her hubby stopped by on their way back to Greenville, SC from Atlanta!  So good to see them.

Some uncle-nephew bonding time.

Sydney reading to Olivia and Madeline.

Mischevious Taylor... what is she up to here?

My sweet little man.

Present time!  (just one... though, I think that turned into just two.  They are pretty convincing.)

Parker loves his Grandmom!

Madeline got some pretty duct tape for Christmas... I think she put it to good use!

Christmas Eve was a welcomed bum-around-the-house day.  In fact, we bummed so much, that we were in a hurry to get things done before church!  Church was at 4 and we didn't leave the house until 4 (doh!), but luckily it's only about 8 minutes away, so we didn't miss too much.  It was a beautiful, candlelight service with gorgeous music.  Afterwards, we did our annual Christmas Eve dinner at our neighbor's house.  Yummy food and great company.

I'm sure, in the blink of an eye, this will be her coming down the stairs for prom.

Sweet sisters.

Sprinkling the "reindeer food" Sydney made at school.

Leaving Santa his milk and cookies.



Christmas morning started pretty early, a little after 6.  The girls were very excited to see that Santa had come, and they played with their toys by the fireplace for a while. Sydney put together, took apart, and put together again a puzzle.  Stephen and I made breakfast, and then we moved onto the tree!

We walked the toy aisles at Walmart several weeks ago, and I told her to pick out one item she can ask Santa for.  Out of ALL the items she could pick from (including the $200 dollhouses I rushed her past), she wanted a Dora guitar. 

Anything else in there?

Parker's not too sure about this.

Once we got things settled down, Parker fed, and things packed up, we headed up to my parents' house again!  We got there, ate a brunch, and then the present-fest began.  It was a madhouse.  With 6 grandkids 9 and under, you can probably imagine.  Lots of fun and great memories were made! 

Parker couldn't get enough of his uncle!

3/5 of the fam.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Baby, it's cold outside

Winter seems to have come in with a bang!  Either that, or I'm getting older and my body isn't tolerating the cold very well.  Regardless, Stephen and I have been looking forward to having a long holiday weekend together with the kids, with Saturday having no plans whatsoever!  I planned some activities to keep the girls entertained inside, because we really didn't venture outside too much.

Friday night, the girls and I did our annual gingerbread house, which is starting to be a tradition.  I guess our family is still so new that traditions haven't had the time to prove themselves.  But, we'll call this a tradition for now.  Taylor got into it this year, too.  (Though, all they really wanted to do was eat the gumdrops.)

Parker just observed.  Soon, Parker, soon.

The final product.  Amazing.

 

Saturday- again, the day we had NO plans (and boy was I excited!)- started off a little later than normal.  Stephen woke to feed Parker at 5:30 AM and the girls sleepily came into our bed, but we all stayed in it until 7:30.  These days, that is sleeping in for us!  I had a lot of things I wanted to get done, and some Christmasy activities I had for the girls.  On top of that, we decided to start potty-training Taylor.  Today.  So, the timer was set for every 15 minutes, so whatever we were doing, everything stopped for her to go potty.  (I won't digress on this topic, but here are some stats: her success rate was about 10%, and we used up approximately 75% of the lysol wipes in our house.)  But, it was a really good day- of course, it had its ups and downs with two rambunctious toddlers who are BFFs one minute and fighting the next (oh, sisters...), but it was a nice family-bonding day.

 

Painting ornaments.  In bathing suits, what else?



Sweet Parker.

 

Helping me make gingerbread cookies, something I've never attempted before.

The final product. 

Hanging around the tree.  After these smiles were full out tackles on the rug.

Training- Week 11

Sunday, 12/16:

• Activity: Hip Hop Abs DVD (Total Body Burn)
• Time: 20 minutes

Monday, 12/17:

Activity: Jogging

3.07  miles

31:15  minutes

Average pace: 10:18 minutes/mile

Location: Treadmill

Calories burned: 459

Tuesday. 12/18:

Activity: Jogging

.98 miles

10:32 minutes

Average pace: 10:47 minutes/mile

Location:  Neighborhood

Calories burned: 138

Friday, 12/21:

Activity: Jogging

2.21 miles

22:00 minutes

Average pace: 9:57 minutes/mile

Location: Treadmill

Calories burned: 325

Saturday, 12/22:

**A mixture of exercises for about 20 minutes (sit-ups, squats, push-ups, arm exercises).

 

Here comes Santa Claus...

... and there goes two little girls running as fast as they can away from that bearded man!

We've had two attempts to get pictures taken with Santa this year.  We were 0 for 2 with having happy (girl) campers.

Poor Taylor was literally shaking.

Parker did well, though!

Shhh... they didn't know Santa was behind them.  Notice how Sydney is doing a little Austen Powers finger action.  Hmmm?

One grandparent of a kid in Sydney's class was so sweet and got a Santa to come to her class, plus bought them pizza!  I warned her teacher that Sydney was typically terrified of Santa.  When I picked Sydney up, her teacher told me that Sydney wasn't one bit terrified of Santa.  (peer pressure!  awesome!)  She said she sat in his lap and talked to him and everything.  This is a big step, people!  The only "okay" picture we have of Sydney and Santa was when she was 3 months old.

I don't have pictures yet of Sydney in his lap, but here are some fun pictures of her class with Santa.