Catch-Up

It's been while since I've sat down to write.  We've been doing a lot of nothing lately.  Trying to adjust to our new routine and get back in the swing of things.  I didn't do so hot on my August Goals but I did get a few things done.  I'll do a post later today with my September Goals.  I feel like that really helped keep me on track. Here are a few things we've been up to over the past two weeks.

My sister was in town last weekend and she gave Barrett a cookie after church.  I let him eat it in the car and I think he enjoyed it. Barrett got another haircut.  He did so good.  His little face is pitiful but he sat so still for Amy.
Here's the after.
We've been busy at work making gameday shirts.  This was the only picture I got of Barrett Friday in his team colors.   Saturday morning we were up bright and early.  We made cookies for our little football party later that day.  I let Barrett like the beater.  He was a fan.  I also bribed him to say "Roll Tide"  He'll say "Tide" sometimes when prompted.  It's pretty cute and his daddy is in denial.  

We went to Emory's 1st birthday party Saturday morning before football.  We wore our team colors.  I love this picture Natalie snapped of us.  

Another one of my sweet boy at the party.  He was so good.  

We came home and watched football with some friends.  It was a fun day.

Mother's Day Out has been going really great.  Barrett still cries when they get him out of the car but his teachers tell me he is fine as soon as they get in the door.  They also tell me he is so good.  At first I just thought they told everyone that but every teacher that has put him in the car says that he is just so good and so sweet.  Makes me happy to know that he's doing good. 

We've got a lot of fun lined up for September and I'm looking forward to it.  I'm ready for the cooler weather for sure!

Photo Catch-up

It was brought to my attention this week that I haven't blogged in nearly two weeks and even though my parents live 10 minutes away from us they need pictures of the grandson on the blog  ;)  .  We've had an unexpected busy couple of weeks at work, that combined with Patrick's shift change leaves me exhausted and crawling into bed around 8:30 every night.  I don't really think that's normal but it is what it is.  So here is our last couple of weeks in pictures from the iphone.

At Barrett's 9 month check up, Dr. Farr gave us the okay to start table food.  I'm pretty sure a chocolate chip cookie was not what he had in mind.  We can thank Grampy Steven for that.

This is what Patrick comes home to most nights.  Ally curled up, with her head on his pillow and body all cozy under the covers.

This little booger was supposed to be taking a nap the other day and when I looked on the monitor he was sitting up.  He'd never sat himself up before.  He only did it in his crib for a while but now he does it all the time.

We've had some beautiful weather around here lately.  We sit out on the deck in the afternoons and Barrett loves it.  He hasn't had much interaction with our big dogs, (which makes me incredibly sad because Gracie was so good with my niece Ava, I know she'd love him.)  Ally did not like them being so close to the baby.  She growled and barked at them.  Barrett just laughed!

So cute!

Another day on the deck.

He will wave (to himself mostly) but not on command.

We've started sharing our lunch with him and he thinks he is big stuff.  It's pretty cute.  This day Chloe was there and she has two little brothers so she knows all about babies dropping food.

I bought this hat before I even knew if Barrett was a boy or girl.  (It has the cutest little detachable bow if we ever have a girl).  I put it on him and almost died from the cuteness!

He hasn't been crazy about table food, he mostly just holds it in his hands.  We had Chinese one night and gave him a piece of the sweet and sour chicken without the red sauce and he gobbled it up. (Although now that I look at this picture I think was of the doughnut he had for breakfast. We eat really healthy around here.)

I was in the kitchen one afternoon and I didn't hear him, when I went to check on him he had not only found his toy box but dumped everything out of it.

He was so proud.

Then he pulled the blinds away from the window. I guess he needed to see outside.

The next day he found Ally's toy box.

He didn't nap at all one day.  So here he is at 6:30pm.  I love those sweet lips.

Friday we wore our pumpkin outfit and it is adorable.  (And I still love love love that dresser, I love the fact that it was my great grandmother's even more)

This is what one load of garbage looks like from a busy week of sign making.  It is probably the least "green" process ever.  This was maybe half of the garbage one the floor of my office.

I think that covers the last two weeks.  Hopefully I'll be back to regular posting this week.  We've got a trip to the pumpkin patch planned for this week and it's Patrick's last week on 2nd shift this rotation. WooHoo!  

Five on Friday

{One}

I don't want to wish the time away but I'm so ready for football season.  I love knowing what my weekend plans are for the next 12 weeks.  I'm also ready for Barrett to wear the sweet outfits I've picked up for him.

{Two}

Patrick's on second shift this month.  It's only been 5 days but Barrett is already sick of me.  Patrick usually entertains him in the afternoons and I miss him.  One day we went to Target just to get out of the house after work.  Barrett sat in the buggy for the first time.  He's still a bit small but it worked. 

{Three}

Patrick's birthday is coming up this month.  I have no idea what to get him.  He is the hardest person to buy for. Ugh.

{Four}

Patrick and I love love love Big Brother.  We've been watching it for the last few years.  This year the people are just mean.  I don't remember a season where the houseguests were so hateful to each other.  It's kinda sad but I can't stop watching.  There's really no one in the house I'm rooting for but I need to know how it all works out and who wins. 

{Five}

I've been trying to plan ahead.  Again I don't want to wish the time away but I want to be prepared.  I want to enjoy the holidays and not be stressed so I've been trying to iron out some plans for Barrett's 1st birthday party.  I've got a theme and date, hopefully all the other details will fall into place.  I also got his Halloween costume today.  I'd been looking at them and someone was selling the one I wanted for really cheap so I had to go ahead get it.  It's so cute!

SO happy its the weekend.  Trying to soak up these last few weeks of summer. 

Brain dump

Random thoughts for the week

Patrick has been on day shift since Barrett was 8 weeks old.  He's having to rotate to second shift next week and I am not looking forward to it.  He'll work from 2:00 in the afternoon till 10:00 at night and I hate it.  I've gotten so used to him being here in the afternoons to entertain Barrett when he's in his fussy time.  We'll make it but it won't be fun.

For years my sister and I have wanted to go to the American Girl store for our birthday.  Well this year is our year.  We're going this weekend and I'm so excited.  I dug Molly and Samantha out to get them looking their best for the occasion.  I'm sure people will think we are nuts bringing our 20 year old dolls to brunch, I don't really care though.
Over a year ago we took a little trip to IKEA and I bought a bunch of picture frames for $50 and I was thrilled with my purchase but never did anything with them.  I knew I wanted them for either this long hall or going down our stairs.  We settled on the long hall and Patrick got to work. Now I just need to put some pictures in them.
I usually dress Barrett like a total baby.  My mom bought these cute shorts and collared shirt for him for Easter and he's just now able to wear them. (They're size 6 month but still a little big)  I thought he looked so cute but I still love for him to look like a baby because he's got his whole life to wear collared shirts.  He's not going to wear a bubble for long. (Please ignore how good I look) This is Barrett's newest face.  We call it his "old man face".  It's hilarious.  He does it all the time. It cracks me up!   In other news, Patrick and I (more so me, Patrick can't quit the Dew.) have removed soda and fried foods from our diet.  It was getting out of hand the number of French fries I was eating on a daily basis and it needed to stop.  I'm more of an all or nothing kind of person.  I struggle with moderation so elimination was my best bet.  It's sad, I miss my fries, but it's for the better.

Last week's Fun

{I meant to post this Friday, as you can tell that didn't happen.  Here it is now.}

Friday morning I got up and started getting ready for work.  I noticed that Ally was acting weird but didn't think much of it.  Well after I watched her I realized she was sick, stomach issues.  Now I'm not one to rush to the vet so I was on the fence about taking her in.  The only reason I did was because it was Friday and I didn't want to have to make a trip to the ER vet if it got worse.  Turns out she had a virus.  She was pretty pitiful.  She got some meds and a shot and we were sent on our way.

I had to take Barrett with me.  I feel like I deserve an award of some sort of award.  He did pretty good.  He even slept a little in his carseat.

Friday night we went to the Kreider's house for a cook out.  I love getting together with our tailgate group outside of tailgates.  Barrett was up way past his bedtime but he did alright.

I took this picture one day last week of my boys napping.  I love it.

I guess that's all for this round of randomness.  

Photo Dump

We are in the thick of "sign season" at work.  So here are a few pictures until I have time to write a real post.

Sweet boy was still tired before work one morning. We are really working on having him put himself to sleep instead of being rocked. II  (which I still so sometimes, I can't help it.  If we've learned anything this week, it's rock you baby to sleep if you want.  You're not guaranteed tomorrow)  I think it's paying off.  He fell asleep on the table at work. So far, he's doing pretty well.  As long as I put him down before he's overtired he usually only cries for a few minutes. This is his set up at the office.  Not to bad if you ask me.  He's got an ipad to watch Mickey Mouse.  I also take my boppy pillow to prop him up some.  Ally doesn't really stay in it with him. Sunday, my mom hosted Bunko at her house and she wanted me to hang around so the ladies could see the baby.  Barrett was so good but he couldn't stay awake another minute. Yesterday Barrett had some company at the office.  Keegan came for lunch and wanted to watch Mickey.  Barrett was so excited to have a buddy in the pack n play.  He just laughed and smiled at Keegan.  It was pretty sweet!  Keegan is getting a baby brother in August and we can't wait.  I have a feeling these boys and going to have a blast growing up together!

14 weeks

I couldn't think of a better title, forgive me.  We've had a great week. The weather started pretty crappy and turned beautiful just in time for the weekend.  Barrett is 14 weeks old this week.  It doesn't seem as old to me if you say 14 weeks instead of 3 and a half months.  :'(  He's growing so fast.  He started the week with a bang and started rolling tummy to back on Monday.  He did it several times in a row and I was able to record it but he hasn't been real interested in doing it since then. 

I love this picture.  We were relaxing on the deck one afternoon. He looks so cute in his sunglasses from the Easter bunny! We got to go to dinner with some of our good (childless by choice) friends.  I was so nervous that he was going to be fussy and reinforce that they'd made the right decision to not have kids, but he was so good.  We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and he was mesmorized by all tht TVs.  He barely made a peep.  At one point Tony looked over and said, "He hasn't made a peep, I kinda forgot he was even here!".  He's been sleeping so good.  Now that I've typed that you'll be up every hour tonight.  He's been sleeping mostly 10 straight hours, there have been a couple nights he's woken up but he usually goes right back down. Ally gets so jealous when Patrick gets in the floor and plays with him.  She doesn't mind to much when I'm down there but she hates Barrett getting Patrick's attention.  She always brings toys to them for someone to throw.    We've been so busy at work but he's doing great.  He just hangs out.  We started letting him cry it out for nap time and he's doing great.  The first time he cried about 20 minutes but it's getting less and less each time.  Sometimes he doesn't cry at all, most of the time he'll cry anywhere from 5-10 minutes and then be out.  I'm so thankful I can just put him in his crib and let him sleep! It's been a great week, we're looking forward to another week of great weather.

Weekly Random Picture post

First of all, the swelling in my ankle finally went down Thursday.  Now, I'm just peeling like a snake. 

 Ally got a haircut.  She's a fan of the shorter do. Friday, baby Elise turned 6 months old.  I can't believe she's already half a year old.  She is so sweet and so fun.  Girl has good taste too, she was trying to get my diamonds and pearls the whole time I held her. Ally found a spot on my throw pillow.  She managed to curl her whole body on it while I did house work.  It was pretty cute. That's pretty much all that's been going on lately.  My nephew Drew turned 12 years old last week.  He's taller than I am and just the sweetest most handsome young man.  I can't believe he's almost a teenager. Yikes! Right now I'm watching the finale of the Bachelor.  I already know who he picks and honestly I'm just ready for this season to be over.  Ben has been the most boring bachelor.  I'm looking forward to Emily as the Bachelorette.