Tummy Trouble in Tyler

A couple of weekends ago, we met my sister and her family in Tyler.

The original plan was to go to the zoo.... but seeing that it would be raining and cold, we opted for an indoor venue.

Elizabeth found a children's science museum that was perfect for our day.... well, it could have been perfect.

I thought it was strange that Henry didn't want any snacks in the car.

About 20 minutes outside of Tyler, Henry started to complain of a stomach ache.

About 5 minutes from the museum, Henry said his throat hurt, then immediately lost his breakfast.

What a mess!

Fortunately, I was bringing a tub of clothes for cousin Liam and was able to get a change for Henry... although the fit was little small.

We continued onto the museum, and since Henry was feeling better, let the kids play for a little while.

Madeline, H, and Sarah Grace producing a newscast.

Little Emma

The museum wasn't the fanciest place, but was perfect for our kids.

Sarah Grace

After being there for about 45 mins, Henry laid down and said he didn't feel good again. I immediately scooped him up and ran him to the bathroom... running over a couple of people.

Luckily, he didn't get sick there.

But that was our cue that it was time to head back.

Said our goodbyes to my family and headed to a nearby Walmart.

Poor fellow- he was miserable.

At Walmart, we purchased a car seat (his was not usable. Tom wanted to leave it on the curb, but I wouldn't let him... and we got to enjoy the presence of it for 2 hours in close quarters), a change of clothes, a bucket, and some more burp cloths (we used all the ones we had for clean up).

Then headed home.

We spent more time in the parking lot of Walmart than we did with my family.

Thank goodness for the bucket- came in handy on our drive back.

And unfortunately, Margaret had just fallen asleep, with my nursing cover on her head, when we had to pull over.

What a trip.

Simon 2 months

Our little guy turned 2 months on the 17th.

Thanks Jenny B, who reminded me that day :)

I've decided to stick to white onesies and/or just a diaper for his monthly pictures. Lets me remember his rolls :).... and much easier.

Simon's sweet personality has really started to show this month with his smiles and cooing.

Sleep is going better. At the end of this month, he finally reached sleeping a 6 hour stretch at night. Too bad the stretch begins anytime between 6 and 8 pm, which still leaves me to get up 2 times at night. I have to remind myself to be very thankful for this progress... it could be a lot worse.

He's gotten pretty good at putting himself to sleep in his crib. The problem during his naps is that about 80% of the time (who am I kidding- 95% of the time... ha.), he wakes up after 45 mins to an hour. When he does this, I've started putting him in the swing and he tends to fall back asleep until it's time to feed him again.

Loves laying on his playmat, kicking his legs, and watching the musical star light up.

"OOO, Gross!" you might think... but hey! this is my life. The kid still spits up like a champ.... even though every now and then, he takes a day off.

2 month check up stats-

12 lbs 11 ounces

23 1/2 inches

Shots were a doozie... made him feel horrible.

Hopefully that won't happen again with his 4 month shots.... seeing that we'll be leaving to drive to DC that same day.

And I've made some "progress" on his room.

Ordered some curtains and a crib skirt... curtains still need to be hung... hence why Simon is laying on them in this pic.

And the kiddos did some art work for above his bed.... still needs to be framed and hung. Slow and steady wins the race, right?

Videos

Here are some random videos (some are pretty old).

I realized that Blogger was working with me, so I went with it.

Saved the best for last.

Henry loves music. This little guitar has been one of his favorite toys. Thinking about upgrading him for his birthday. Smashmouth's "Allstar" is his favorite song and he's made up some interesting lyrics.

We love jamming to Coldplay's "Fix You". He gets so serious.

Pig Races from Margaret's party

On Christmas Night, cousin Evie danced to "Feliz Navidad". She had performed it at her school's Christmas program and wanted to show the family. I guess Margaret thought everyone was going to have a turn because she stood up and was ready for the spot light.

I really wish our little ragamuffin would ham it up for the camera.

She kept saying "I don't like it."

Sweet smiles from Simon

Henry and Margaret Gray meeting Simon

Our Valentine's Day

We started our Valentine's celebration with some baking.

The kids and I made sugar cookies for their teachers at church.

I let H and M ice the cookies and I actually liked how they turned out.

Much easier than trying to make them perfect.

The Monday before Valentine's Day, we played with our friends over at the Warminski's.

Kids made Valentines (except for Henry... he was NOT feeling the love),

enjoyed a show,

loved on our dear friend Witt (and his sis Helen), who were in town from Minnesota,

and ate a Valentine's lunch.

They also exchanged Valentines.

Brinley gave them "Orange you glad we're friends?" treats.

I let Henry and Margaret eat some of the Tic Tacs that came in their bags.

After about 2 mins, I took them back:

Henry's on the left. MG's on the right. How did she eat them so fast without choking ?!?!

The actual VDay, Tom woke up and got breakfast started.

Then surprised me by taking the day off.

Not only did I enjoy my extra time with my sweet Valentine, it allowed me to go to Henry's class party by myself and actually help out.

That night, Tom grilled some steaks. (Or as Henry kept calling them "mistakes")

My little loves watching their daddy.

PatPat and PawPaw stopped by and brought dessert and balloons.

Then we tried to have a romantic dinner.

Candles didn't last long. Apparently Big Brother is still scarred from his Christmas Eve run in with hot wax and doesn't trust anything on fire.

I'll end this post with our little princess lovin' on her card from my mom.

Loved spending this "holiday" with our sweet friends and family.

Valentine's Family Photos

I wanted to take some Valentine pics of our family.

I envisioned us sitting on our bed (that I've had since middle school... one day I guess we'll get a new one...ha) and using my handy dandy camera remote (thanks Jenny B!) and taking a casual picture.

Finding a time when the kids were all awake and not crying, Tom was home,and I looked decent was pretty difficult.

I had just finished feeding Simon and told Tom to get the kids inside. The sun was going down and I didn't want it to be too dark. I threw some clothes at Tom to put on the kids (Henry was very close to having a meltdown cause he wasn't able to wear his Josh Hamilton tee), threw some clothes on myself (even though my pants wouldn't button and my shirt was too short), twisted my dirty bangs back, and threw on some makeup... Ta-Dah- we were ready.

It was pretty crazy. I was sweating from wrangling Henry (he kept running off). Margaret kept laying down or sucking her fingers.

Candy was used in the end.

Wished the lighting had been better, but we got some good ones, nonetheless.

Here are my top 500 ones. :)

One of my favorites- very accurately depicts our life right now.

But wouldn't trade it for a bigillion dollars. Love my family.

Just remembered that we got a good self timer Valentine family photo last year... maybe we'll make it a tradition.