Bye, Bye Baby Room!

Well, the nursery is officially closed. Cole and Logan are now sharing a room and Logan's room is cleaned out and locked so he can forget it was ever his first little space before the baby gets here. I am the most worried about Logan when Roewyn (tentative name, do you like it?) gets here because he is very attached to things (his bed, his mom, etc.) and I don't want him to feel displaced.

We started putting the boys in the same room last week at night, but did not attempt it at nap time. Cole has had trouble napping lately and I didn't want it to mess up Logan. After talking to several moms, I have come to the conclusion that it is not abnormal for Cole to be done with naps. (Insert me crying here.)

So...Cole now spends his "quiet time" in the playroom and Logan is on his own in the boys room. Today is not going that well, but I didn't really expect it to. I think Logan finally fell asleep (after an hour and a half) and Cole is not wanting to stay in the play room for his quiet time (but trust me, little Cole, you want to give your momma a little break!!!). I didn't expect for it to go well today, so it really is fine. I'll keep you posted though!

Ice Day

I thought it was high time for my to reenter the blog-o-sphere. I will do it slowly as to not scare myself off from further posts.

Today was an icy day (as most of yall already know!). My kids LOVE eating the icicles. (They're clean, right?) So this morning we went out and had a feast.

Victory!

Yes! He took a nap today. Two days of no T.V. and he slept like a little angel.

T.V. is his very favorite thing. Each day he did not take a nap there was a sign on the T.V. that said "No Nap=No T.V." For a non-reader he could tell me what that sign said quickly!

In other news, I am constantly amazed at how different my two boys are.

Cole has always hated sleep; Logan reaches for the bed when I go to put him down. Cole tries to sweep and mop and cries and yells because he can't move the broom and mop the way he wants, Logan, on the other hand, picks up the broom and patiently moves it and is just so happy to hold the broom and pretend he is helping.

Logan is way more aggressive than Cole was at this age--he will give his cousin Brady a toy just so he can take it away. And today Logan did something that I always thought Cole might do, but thankfully never did...put his toys in the toilet.

This is not good. Especially because there is also a potty trained toddler here that doesn't always flush---so Thomas the Tank Engine and his friend Percy went swimming in a nice yellow lake.

Here is Logan taking something from Brady.

Logan wants the car, but Cole wants to share.

Well...Shucks!

Because this is a family blog, I will refrain from using stronger language, but man, I'm being tried as a parent lately.

My little Cole does not want to nap anymore! He is three. I am not ready for this!

Out of the past five days, he has only napped twice. There are tears (and not by Cole), frustration and my spanking hand is tired.

I am starting to think he is done with napping. Fellow bloggers, is this possible? I feel like there should have been a warning letter from the government or church or school or sombody when he turned three.

Because I haven't blogged in a while, I will post some pictures of my little rebel and his brother.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Brady (my nephew) spends the day with us while his mommy is dentisting...


More to come soon. I won't take a break anymore, so keep checking.

In the meantime...do your kids still take naps?

Cole's 3rd Birthday!

My firstborn is 3! I can't believe what a big boy he is!

We were out of town during his birthday weekend, so we had an impromtu party in Arkansas with family. We had a cake (made by Zach), and his cousins and PapaLee and LynnLynn got to celebrate with him.

We traveled on his actual birthday, so when we got home he got to pick out a special dessert at the store. Bri and Nick (his aunt and uncle) stopped by to give him a present...

Logan has gotten quite good at enjoying birthdays!

Logan's 1st Birthday

Logan turned one on June 12, 2008. It was a great first birthday! We had a little family party. Both sets of grandparents were able to come as well as Logan's aunts, uncles and cousins.
Logan LOVES pizza! So, his first birthday was a pizza themed party. We all had a great time!

Logan eating pizza.

Even his cake was a pizza.
The family singing to Logan.
Logan enjoying his cake.
The family: Cole, Daddy, Mommy and Logan.

Get Ready!

I have not disappeared from the blog-isphere completely!--I just took a bit of a hiatus. I thought I should catch you up on what has been going on lately.

We have been:

Celebrating!

Logan turned ONE!!!

Here is a picture of his special breakfast.

(More on this later--it deserves a special one.)

Hanging out.

We have enjoyed our friends this summer. Cole is really started to have friends that he asks for by name.

Learning to enjoying each other.

Reading together.

Visiting family.

Here are the boys with cousin Hannah.

As cute as ever!

Doing a triathlon!

Here is mom and her friend Kathleen waiting to start the swim.

Biking!
Running!
Swimming for the boys!

Here is Cole.

And Logan!

The last two pictures sum up a lot. Cole is cautious. Especially around water. Logan jumps right in--he doesn't know that he she be afraid of some things. Maybe it is the birth order thing? Logan has a great mentor (Cole) that has already taught him so much.

In other news:

• I (Lauren) had my neurology appointment today (follow up for the Bell's Palsy/temporary face paralysis). Things look pretty good--although she said my eye was still a little saggy. I have a follow up brain and neck scan scheduled on Friday.
• We got a lot of work done on our front flower beds. Our house is actually starting to look like we are doing things on purpose.
• We bought a boat. Yup. It is 20 ft. long and cost $500 (so you can imagine the condition it is in). It is Zach's project for the next year (or two, or three, or ten...)

Hope this brings you back up to speed. And I promise to try and not let it go so long between posts again!

Vacation Highlights

Among other things, one of the reasons I have been behind in blogging lately is that we took a family vacation.

We left home and stopped in Louisiana to spend the night on the way there and on the way back to break up the trip. When we got to Destin, we camped for three nights and then stayed in a hotel the last night. The kids were great (except when it was our own fault for completely wearing them out and not leaving time for a nap).

This is us gassing up and pulling out of Louisiana on Saturday. The kids are still smiling...they are not old enough to ask "are we there yet?"--but they are old enough to think it.

Here is the beautiful beach. We had so much fun! (On a side note: Beware of the spray-on sun screen--it is very easy to miss places--all of us had some funny shaped sunburn at a random spot on our body.)

This was my favorite thing we saw while we were there. The dolphin jumps up and takes the fish out of her mouth. I can't believe the height and accuracy.

This was a picture while we were on the dolphin cruise. The little girl is the daughter of the woman taking the picture!

We were all exhausted after camping and driving and just vacationing in general. I don't know that we have fully recovered yet. The week after our vacation was exciting too! (See Dr. Bri blog.)

We had a great time! It was our first family vacation (and Zach and my first vacation since our honeymoon six years ago). More pictures and details are forthcoming!

Dr. Bri

Tonight my sister-in-law and best friend graduated from dental school. We now have a dentist in the family!

The ceremony was in the symphony center. We were very high up!

Here is Dr. Bri and me.

Charlette, Dr. Bri and Nick

Fred, Dr. Bri and Vicki (Bri's parents)

We are so excited for Bri. She has worked for long years! She was recognized for being on the Dean's list. I know she is going to be a GREAT dentist. She starts in July--so I can soon recommend a great dentist if anybody needs one!

Pictures from Abilene!

We went out to Mom and Bill's land. Cole had a blast. It is such a fun place for boys (little or big, I'd imagine). Cole loved the tractor and Meemaw was brave and agile enough to climb up there with him at his request.

Bill and Cole were checking out the tires of the tractor. They were so big that Cole was scared sitting on top of it.

At Mimi and Poppa's house, Logan made himself at home. We had to baby proof quickly and hold things down so Logan didn't not them over. Cole helped us baby proof by finding all of the candy for us.

Cole and Poppa had a great time playing with the hose. Cole got the hose and tried to fill up the bird bath, then decided it was more fun to try and spray Poppa. Watching all of this was one of the funniest parts of the entire trip.

About 30 seconds from when this picture was taken, Cole tried to use the hose for more mischievous purposes...

We met my one of my best friend's from high school at the mall. Her three kids and my two had a great time playing on the indoor playgroup.

Here are more pictures of Cole in the tractor.

Logan loved being held my Mimi. She had to take her glasses off because Logan kept trying to take them off of her face (probably to put them in his mouth).
And here is Poppa out at the land, he was watching Cole and helping Meemaw get down from the tractor.

We had such a fun time and can't wait to go back again. Zach was sad when I showed him the pictures. He said it looked like we had so much fun and he wished he could have been there too!