Labor Day

We had a great weekend. It was our first vacation with our family. It was relaxing and there was no schedule or plan. Exactly what we needed.

On the way, my sweet husband stopped at my FAVORITE place to get BBQ, Big O's. It was so very good! It's been a long time since I've had a chance to indulge. Yum-O!!

We met 3 other couples at the Vacation spot and just had a great time. The boys hunted birds, fished, and chatted while the girls chatted, and swam and watched the kiddos.

The sunrises were so pretty coming up over the stock-tank. It was such a nice view to wake up to each morning.

Cady had a wonderful time playing with her Uncle Chad. He let her drive which made her day!

Wyatt had a good time being held by everyone and hanging out outside.

We even got to see a brand new baby calf that was tiny! Cady and Chandler really enjoyed giving the baby hugs and kisses. :)

There was also a little pool that we were able to swim in. Wyatt LOVED the water. He cried when I finally took him out.

This is my very favorite picture!!!

Thankfully she thought it was funny.

We were able to stay 2 nights and then we headed home on Sunday.

Monday, Grandma and PawPaw came over for a visit.  It was such a good day!

First, PawPaw and our neighbors helped us bring the new climber home.

And then we put it all back together.

Cady had fun pushing Wyatt in the swing while she patiently waited to play on her new toy.

When it was all finished Cady and Grandma played, and played, and played...

Grandma brought some pocket change and helped Cady put it into the piggy banks. Right now Cady doesn't understand the difference between the silver coins and the copper coins so it all comes out pretty fair. I'm sure when she gets that figured out we will have to help her remember to put some of the silver ones in Wyatt's piggy to.

PawPaw and Cady finished up the night playing peek-a-boo with Grandma. They hid under the sheep pelt...

and then Grandma would find them!

It was such a great weekend!

Day by Day

We're taking it day by day here.

We are heading out on our first family vaca this weekend. Jake and I and our littles, along with three other couples, and one other little, are headed out to a quiet, relaxing house in the middle of nowhere. It kind of reminds me of the vacations that my family took when I was little...kind of. I think it will make some good memories.

Cady's Birthday is right around the corner, so we are beginning preparations for that. Next week she starts back to school. I'm a little nervous how potty training will go while she's there. She has been doing such a good job and I just don't want to mess it up! I keep trying to remind myself that there are not very many 5 year olds that aren't potty trained, so I know ONE DAY we will totally get it. 

I'm really excited to have just a little time for me and Wyatt. He is such a sweet little boy! Something that's not so great is that he seems to only like his mommy right now. Daddy is okay sometimes, but usually it's momma. I'm sure one on one time is really going to help that, but that's okay. We'll just have to figure out a way for him to spend a little more time away from his momma, so he knows that he's going to be okay when I'm not there. 

 Aunt Jamie came over and spent the night with us one night last week. It was great fun! Cady was SO excited!

Jamie tried to explain to Cady that Baby Krease was in her belly. Cadence would then point to her own belly and say "Kease!" It has taken about a week, but I think that she finally understands that Baby Krease is ONLY in Aunt Jamie's belly.

Jamie and Chad came over later in the week to have dinner with us. Cady had SUCH a great time doing things with her Uncle Chad... 

like spitting in the grass... 

and riding horses in her room.

(notice Uncle Chad DID NOT get the big horse) 

And this little guy, is still going and going! He is ALL over the place, and has recently discovered Cady's little potty in the bathroom...This is bad, bad, bad! It's not that easy to just close the door when I'm trying to convince Cady to go to the potty as soon as she feel she needs to go. When Cady finds him trying to go into the bathroom she grabs him by the feet and drags him out. It's so funny!

In other news, God has really been blessing our family. Jake did a little engineering side job a few months ago and put the money he made into the savings for a new TV. We were finally able to get one that fits our living room a little better. We were also given another little climber from some neighbors that are moving. It's a little bigger than the last one, so just perfect! God is so good! He has also blessed us with a really great couple that we are now really good friends with. They are strong believers, which makes our friendship even that much more special (Something I have been praying for since we moved here).

In other, other news, my sister is now blogging. You can check it out here: http://whatthepalmer.blogspot.com/ 

I would recommend that you read about "The Crazy Lady" on her profile at the right side of her page before you read her blog... you know just in case! :)

Much love, and I'll talk to you all again soon!



Life...

We've been living a busy life here. Maybe it's not really that busy, but it seems that it is. Maybe my children are just coming to a point where they need me more of the day.

Wyatt is sleeping a lot less during the day; he is already down to only 2 naps. One good morning nap, and one shorter afternoon nap. For the last 10 days or so he has slept all through the night. A REAL night, not what pediatricians consider a night. We have been putting him down about 9 p.m. and he has been sleeping until 5:30 or 6 a.m. when he eats, and then usually sleeps until 7:30 or so. What a blessing. He is crawling all over the place now; only it's not a traditional crawl, it's an army crawl. From what I have read, some children crawl this way until they walk, while others eventually learn to crawl traditionally. I guess only time will tell. He eats like no baby I have ever seen. 2 containers of food in the morning for breakfast and 2 at night for supper, he has one bottle of milk in the afternoon and then he is still nursing 5 times a day. No wonder that he is wearing 12month clothes and headed into 18 month soon. Since he has been on the go he hasn't been gaining quite as fast. He still doesn't have any teeth, but that doesn't stop him from attempting to eat everything he touches.

Cadence is...well getting ever closer to being 2. In her attitude she has been there for a while now, but it gets better every day! She is such a sweetie, when she's not giving her momma attitude, and she is SO funny! We are almost totally potty trained!! We are still having a little trouble when we put a diaper on for a car ride (for some reason she thinks that means she can just go whenever) and when she is really engrossed in something. Currently she is calling me "Cole" (as in Ni-cole) instead of "Mommy" or "Momma". I think it is because when other children come to our house, they all call me "Nicole" and so it would only make since for her to also.

3 weeks ago we went to a couples shower for our nephew, Krease, who will be arriving in October. Then we also attended my nephew, Lane's, birthday party. He turned 4 at the beginning of August. He is heading to preschool this year! SO BIG!! It's wild how things change so quickly!

2 weeks ago Jake and I took a weekend trip down to the Rowdy Float Trip to watch our friends, Ben Morris and the Great American Boxcar Chorus, play. We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone and listening to some great Texas Country Music. It was my first time leaving Wyatt for an over-night trip so I was nervous, but of course he was fine.

Last weekend Amber, my sister, and I (along with 5 children) loaded up and headed to Abilene to do a little shopping. It was CRAZY! We managed to cram 2 double strollers in my car, along with all our kids and their junk. Then we bought stuff and made the kids hold it on the way home...just kidding (kind of).

This weekend a friend and I threw a baby shower for my Sis-in-law. We are very excited to be welcoming Baby Krease into the Hamilton family! Only about 9 weeks now and we will be officially meeting.

It was tons of fun to put together. Here are a few pictures of the day.

We did all kinds of fun things, like make Jamie answer impossible questions. My favorite part was where we got each guest to write down a wish for Krease. I think it's special because someday when he is older he can look back and see that even this far back there were people thinking about him; hoping and dreaming for his future.

And that brings us to today...Jake just got home a few hours ago. He and his dad went to a wedding reception close to Houston. They drove down yesterday and then back today. We have been to Academy and WalMart hunting for pool floaties for our kiddos for a swim date that we have this week...we didn't find any. Oh well. Jake is home, Cady is whining because she wants juice, and Wyatt is attacking the cup Jake is trying to make for Cady. All I can do is smile and think,"Thank you, Jesus, for the blessing of family." :) 

Being a Potty Mouth

There are a lot of potty words going on here in the Hamilton House... No, no. Not THOSE kind of potty words. Like, ACTUAL potty words. Are you following me here?

For the last little while we have really been working on potty training with Cady. She did really great at first, then we had a horrible day or two, and now she's doing really good again (thankfully!).

It makes me laugh to think of all the words I say to Cady during the day. I mean the sentences that come out of my mouth, I'm sure are offensive to some, but what can I do?

 - "Cady where does pee pee go? That's right in the potty."
 - "That's gross, don't touch that"
 - "Mommy will put it in the potty!"
 - "Can you push?"
 - "toot!"
 - "Yes, daddy goes in the potty too!"

Then there are whole conversations while we are "practicing" in public. The important thing is that we are getting there, and it's too late to change my mind. We just try to keep it light and remember that bathroom humor is indeed funny!

We're still here!

There has been a lot going on here at the Hamilton House. It's has been CRAZY!!! Things do seem to be slowing down some and I am so glad (and tired!).

We had some friends over to play...

Wyatt has decided that he is a big boy and can sit however he wants in the bouncy chair.

He is sitting up all by himself. He LOVES outside

Then we had more friends over for a few days.

Cady now thinks it's funny to mess with W. Here she is putting grass in his hair...

We ate watermelon with our cousins who stayed with us and played for a few days.

We ate it in the grass,

and did silly things to our cousins.

Wyatt got to try some too :)

As you can see, he loved it!

We ran down the slide (which I'm sure wasn't all that safe, but oh so fun!)

and jumped down the slide.

We laid around and were happy to be together!

Cady is now Mrs. Independent. She is learning how to dress herself. She is having a little trouble in the pic above because, well, that's a shirt.

On the 8th of this month W started army crawling. He doesn't go very far yet, but he is now ON THE MOVE!

We had W's 6 month appointment last Tuesday where we learned:

- he weighs 19 lbs 5 oz.

and

- he is 26 & 1/2 inches tall.

So he is in the 80th percentile for weight and the 60th percentile in height.

We are also able to start having table foods and a little milk.

Currently we are trying to bottle break this little guy, because the only thing he wants to eat from is ME, and that makes it REALLY difficult to ever go anywhere for more than 2 hours.

Do you know what this is??? I bet you do!

We are officially working on it. I wasn't planning on starting for a while, but suddenly it was just time. All of Cady's animals and dolls have been going pee pee and poo poo on the potty for quite sometime now. So our water bill has already been going up with all the extra flushing. Then Monday morning Cady started telling me when she needed to go. Of coarse I had only ordered this potty on Sunday, so it wasn't here yet. We used the big potty for the first few days and then this little guy arrived on Friday. So we had been doing without it. Then Cady saw it on Friday and knew exactly what it was...so now we're using it. Is that going backwards??? Oh well. The BIG news is that we have gone from using an 80 count box of diapers every 5 days to one every 10 days. Cha-ching!

Today

Today,

My sweet, sweet, sweet little boy

turns 6 months old.

Over these months

he has grown and changed a lot!

We love him SO much!

And, thank Jesus for allowing him to be ours.

We can't wait to see

what the next 6 months will bring!

Like this morning he ate his first Froot Loop :)

Happy 6 month Birthday, I-Y!

"American soldiers dont fight because

they hate what's in front of them.

They fight because they love what's behind them."

Happy 4th of July everyone!