Chaos and zoo trips

It feels like life has been slightly chaotic recently.  There have been several factors really.

We have been on several trips this month that, although extremely fun and well worth it, made the kids think they should no longer sleep through the night.  Sleep is overrated.

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Little man is growing increasingly mobile and although he cannot crawl forward (his favorite is to crawl backwards), he can get anywhere he wants.  Time to baby proof...again.  I feel like we've let our guard down for, I don't know, a couple of very short, liberating months.  Back at it again.

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Little man is no longer our super laid back, go-with-the-flow child.  He has developed oh so strong opinions and when he gets anything taken away from him or he is forced to do anything he is not in the mood for (think changing his clothes, etc), he lets out an extremely loud, ear shattering cry and flings himself backwards.  It's lovely.  Is this the beginning of fits?

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Miss E is still learning the concept of sharing and loves taking toys from others (especially if they are hers and if the other child looks like they are having fun).  This combined with the point above makes for a very ugly combo.

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Miss E is a little monkey and has been easily climbing in and out of her crib for weeks/months which really makes you rethink bedtime/naptime.  She also has felt particularly feisty lately in pushing boundaries, hitting, and climbing AND jumping off of anything she can find.

Needless to say, we're a little tired and really tired of screaming.

Although it has been crazy, we were very thankful for the opportunity to go on several trips recently, once to see my family and then last weekend to St. Louis to meet up with our BFFs from Oklahoma.  Although the weekend started a little rocky (we had to take Miss E to the ER because she was having a really hard time breathing), we ended up having such an amazing time.  We rented a little house so we could all stay together.  In my books, staying in a house is ALWAYS better than staying in a hotel with small children.  The house was, ummm...interesting, but it met our needs.

The kids enjoyed watching shows together.  How sad is it that this is the only picture I have of all 3 kids together?  Probably because it's the only time they're not moving.

We supported the SOONERS!  It was so fun to be able to watch OU/TEXAS with Sooner fans...especially since we won.  We also got to eat yummy Italian at a restaurant in the Hill district.

We treasured our evening adult time.  Unfortunately again, this is the only picture we got of us 4.  Probably because we were chasing after kids so much of the time.

The highlight of the trip was our trip to the zoo.  It was awesome and FREE!!

Watching for animals with NoNo.

Love this pic!

They thought this peacock (aka peahock to Elliott) was amazing!

Watching flamingos.

Train ride around the zoo.

 And in case you wanted to know some of the animals we saw, here they are...

 Penguins (my favorite),

 Multiple bears,

 Flamingos,

 and last but not least, the peahock...I mean peacock.

Friends and climbing

We had some good friends from Oklahoma visit us in September and I'm just getting around to posting pictures.  Can you say behind?  Anna and I have been friends for a long time (think I was her camp counselor when I was a sophomore in college), and I treasure her friendship.  They visited us a year ago and we were both pregnant.

Had to bring back the awkward belly touching pic.  Love it.

This time we got to hang out with our sweet little babies.  They are 2 weeks apart.

We also tried to get some pictures with all 3 kids.  Not easy.

Love Mason's face in this one.

Eyes closed.

"Cheese!"

And a pic of the kids with their amazing daddies!

Future couple?  We'll see. :)

It was such a wonderful visit even though we didn't really do anything exciting.  The weather was cold and rainy so our plans to go apple picking fell through so instead we went to the mall.  Good trade, right?  We feel so blessed that they would take time out of their busy schedule to visit us two years in a row!  Can we go ahead and plan a trip for next year?

 On a different note, we've got a little climber on our hands in this one.  If you remember back to several months ago, she climbed out of her crib once or twice.  She now climbs out of her crib every single nap or bedtime.  She has come into our room several times during the middle of the night when she wet through her pjs, but she usually just comes into our room in the morning (6am...but at least it's morning).  I know it's past time time for a toddler bed, but these types of decisions take me a long time to figure out all the details.  I might over think them.

I think we have a plan, we just need to find a free weekend.  Any words of wisdom on putting on the transition to a toddler bed?  I'm not as concerned about night but more nap times.

9 Month Update

Wow...I have seriously fallen behind on the whole blogging front.  So much to do, so little time.  We have been busy lately with friends visiting and trips to Texas, but before I posted those updates, I wanted to get in our little guy's 9 month update (just 1.5 weeks late).

The older he gets, the months seem to fly by even faster than before.  Is that even possible?  Here's a few facts on Mason.

Wearing 6-12 or 12 month clothing.  I'm frantically trying to stock up on winter clothes as the temperature continues to drop here.  I feel excited that it's fall but slightly terrified that fall leads to winter and winter is going to be REALLY cold.

Wearing size 4 diapers.  We've stayed stable at 4s for quite some time which has been nice, but I expect it won't be terribly long before we transition to 5s.

 He finally moved down to nursing 4 times a day which is fabulous for me.  His last feeding is around 7pm and first feeding around 7am.  He has really struggled sleeping consistently through the night (unlike his sister).  We were on a really good sprint of all night sleeping IN the same room as Elliott...then we went on vacation.  When we were on vacation, he was waking up once, sometimes even twice a night.  Now we're trying to undo the damage that has been done, and let me tell you, it's not fun.  The funny thing about when he wakes up in the middle of the night lately is he doesn't act like he wants to nurse, just snuggle.  I pick him up and his head immediately goes down on my shoulder.  How can you resist that?  Several times I've brought him into bed with us, and he falls asleep laying on my chest (after flipping and flopping his head a little).  E NEVER would do this.  Such a sweet snuggling little guy.

 He is eating solids 3 times a day and will eat basically anything I'll give him.  He has recently mastered the art of eating puffs and he LOVES it!  I'm thinking I really need to introduce more finger foods.  He is eating 8oz/bottle when I'm working.  Yeah, definitely going through my frozen stock pretty quickly.  Definitely can't keep up with pumping, and frankly, I'm really sick of pumping.

 His top 2 teeth are officially in!  He's been cutting one of the top teeth for what seems like forever, but it is now peeking through.  Top teeth always look so big. :)

He started clapping this month which is SO stinking cute!

He's not crawling yet but is definitely starting to look more interested in crawling (rocking on all fours), and he can scoot quite a few places on his bottom.  He especially likes scooting on our hardwood floors.  He's not a huge fan of being on his tummy but LOVES to sit and play with toys.

He still LOVES to watch Elliott and basically thinks everything she does is hilarious.  It gives my heart tremendous joy to see them interacting, and I'm sure it will just get better.

He loves to be thrown in the air, hung upside down, and basically rough housed.  Typical boy.

Lately I can tell he is starting to have more stranger anxiety.  He doesn't reach for me, but I can see in his eyes he typically wants his mama to hold him.  If someone else is him, he watches me (unless he decides to start crying).  So cute.

He's still really grabby and can reach things that seem impossible to get.    We've learned to be careful with anything that is hot or we don't want him to touch.

He still is super ticklish.  My favorite spots to tickle him are his neck and hips.  Love his little laughter.

We're thankful for each and every day we have with our precious little guy!