Nora Kate at 5 Months

Nora Kate is 5 months old!  This has been a wonderful month for our sweet girl!  She has been super happy and seems to REALLY enjoy watching her brothers play...and LOVES it when they interact with her!  She has started "playing" more this month too!  She loves to hold little toys and turn them in her hands just looking at them.  Her brothers have learned this and enjoy giving her "baby toys" to play with-especially Carter who will usually pile about 10 toys in front of her! 

She LOVES to sit up in her Bumbo seat and watch everything going on around her.  I know she will be sitting up on her own before long, because she is very strong!  I sit her up on the floor in front of me and she can stay upright for several seconds before beginning to lean.

Nora Kate has also started enjoying time in her exersaucer this month too!  More entertaining than all of the bright colored toys on the exersaucer, are her wild brothers which she can see best from her exersaucer, and I think this is why she enjoys this toy so much! 

She still likes to relax in her swing, which is wonderful because the boys didn't care too much about their swings by month 5!  She likes tummy time as she can hold herself up even better.  We still have to time tummy time just right though, at least an hour after a feeding or she will spit up without question.  Speaking of spitting up, I had hoped she would have outgrown this already, but she still spits up several times a day.  She is also the most drooly 5 month old we have ever had!  We constantly keep a bib on her to keep her clothes dry from all the drool! (Thankfully we were given lots of cute bibs as baby gifts!!)

Nora Kate is definitely in the round stage-round legs, round tummy, round little face-and I just love it!  We don't have an official weight for this month as there was no check-up or doctor's visit, but she has obviously grown!

We started introducing her some foods this month.  She did rice cereal like a champ and quickly learned to eat from the spoon!  Then we tried oatmeal cereal which she also enjoys.  When we tried banana she started spitting up A LOT more!  (We were also feeding her food twice a day, noon and night.)  I'm not sure if it was the banana or that we were feeding her too much (quantity), but I backed off, and the spitting up is back down to its normal amount.  Now she's only getting "food" at bedtime and no banana just oatmeal cereal mixed with milk.  This week I plan to introduce some sweet potato, and see how that goes.  Maybe I just rushed her? The first 3 nights we started giving her cereal at bedtime, SHE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!  But now we're back to her going to bed around 8 or 8:15, waking once during the night around 2:30 (but sometimes not until 4:30!), then waking around 6am, and going back to sleep until 8am!  Really this only involves getting up one time during the night because I stay up after her 6am feeding, so this is fantastic!

I've been attempting to get her on a nap schedule for during the day, but Nora Kate is not a great sleeper during the day.  (This is SO opposite from her brothers who napped great and slept poorly during the night!)  I much prefer getting rest at night, than getting chores accomplished during the day!  :)  The schedule she sometimes does (so I've been working to get her on it EVERY day), is a short nap around 10:15/10:30, another short nap around 2, and one more short nape around 5.  All of these are super short naps though....as in 20 minutes!  The other day she napped for 45 minutes, and I was amazed!  She's just not a napper!  Hopefully this will change as she gets older though!

Nora Kate has started doing a lot more "baby talk" this month, making sweet and loud sounds!  I love to hear her sweet voice.

It's hard to believe that as I type this Nora Kate is 5 months old and just a year ago we hadn't even shared the news that we were expecting her with family and friends yet....but it's already nearly impossible to remember what life felt like before she was a part of our family.  We love our precious baby girl!!    

 

Sweet siblings.

Carter 21 months.  Nora Kate 5 months.  Dawson 4.5 years.

There's our girl! :)

Nora Kate at 5 months!

Nora Kate 5 months.

"See? I want to sit up on my own even though you propped me up in this chair!?"

First bites off a spoon!

Rice cereal mixed with milk...yummm!

This is how rested our sweet girl looked after sleeping through the night for the first time!!!

First bites of banana!

Carter at 21 Months

Our precious Carter is already 21 months which is unbelievably close to TWO!  Carter is one of the happiest little kids I think I've ever seen!  He is usually always smiling, singing, and dancing.  It is not uncommon for him to be playing and just start singing while he plays.  We love his sweet singing voice!  He picks up on tunes and words to songs very quickly!  We have started working on singing his ABCs, and he is picking it up very well! 

Quite possibly the reason Carter is always so happy is that he ALWAYS has someone to play with!  His favorite playmate being his big brother!  Carter wants and tries to play and do everything Dawson does, and usually he does very well for a 1 year old doing 4 year old activities!  :)  Dawson is good to be patient with him, and he gets SO excited when Carter does something exactly as he has shown him.  At this point Dawson will usually say, "I showed Carter how to do it, AND HE DID IT!!!  I taught him!"  Dawson is a great big brother to him.  Carter loves to play rowdy with Dawson, but is equally happy when Dawson gets a book and "reads" to him!  Sometimes after Dawson reads to Carter he will come smile and whisper to me, "Carter thinks I can read all the words."  And I'm pretty sure Dawson is right, there is nothing Carter thinks Dawson can't do!  When Dawson is at school, Carter sadly asks about him.  Carter also enjoys being a big brother.  He is SO sweet with Nora Kate!  When he wakes up in the mornings he asks where she is first thing, "Baby, night night?"  He is constantly kissing, hugging, and patting her (sometimes I have to force him to give her a little space!).  Carter will randomly give her baby toys, burp cloths, and pacis!  He DOES not like it when she cries here lately though.  He covers his ears, gets a serious look, and says, "Baby, LOUD!  Baby cry!"  Lucky for Carter, Nora Kate is usually a happy camper!  He has started calling her by her name part of the time now (after 5 months!) and not just calling her baby all the time.  He says her name, "Norrrrr KATE!" with all the emphasis on the Kate. 

Carter is stringing together more and more words to make sentences.  We are constantly impressed by his vocabulary.  There is no possible way to write out all the words he uses like I used to do though! 

Carter loves to read/be read to, and he is loving sound books right now (the ones with the buttons that make noises) and any other books that have animals or trains. 

Speaking of trains, Carter LOVES trains right now!!  One of his very favorite things to play with in the playroom is the train table.  Most of Carter's playtime this month has been centered around trains, building track, and making them go. We have a few trains with batteries that go on their own, and as soon as the batteries die Carter understands.  He takes the train to John and tells him, "Train Go Batteries!" 

Carter loves to give hugs and kisses and snuggle up on my lap (which I, of course, just love)!  Possibly Carter's very favorite thing to do is make people laugh!  Carter will do something he sees as silly and look around until someone smiles or laughs, then he will continue looking at that person while doing it over and over.  He's a people pleaser.  :)

I could go on and on about Carter, but I think I've recorded enough for his 21 month milestone.  For the stats, we have had no official weight done at the doctor's office since his 18 month check up, however, I did have him stand on our bathroom scale this week.  On our home scale he weighed 31 pounds (which I think is relatively accurate).  We love our sweet little boy so very much!

 

Monthly sibling photo!

Carter couldn't even stop singing long enough for me to take pictures!  :)

Oh, I'm not sure that I've ever mentioned that Carter has wavy hair which can be seen in these pictures!  It requires taming on most days, and I think it is time for another little trim...but there's just something so sweet-to me-about his soft little curls!

Carter 21 months

One more sibling picture.

Carter 21 months, Nora Kate 5 months, Dawson 4.5 years

December 2013

December 2013 came and went in a whirlwind it seemed!  December is the busiest month of the entire year for John at work, but we managed to cram a lot of activities and fun into the month along with a little (much needed) at home play time.

 

The day after Thanksgiving (really this was November, but I saved it for this post since it was Christmas related), we visited the Fantasy of Trees with our friends the Myers!  As I mentioned last December, John and I both always went to this growing up and I danced there each year.  Last year we were excited to take the boys for the first time, and this year we were just as excited to take the boys AND Nora Kate AND go with our friends! 

 

Our family on the carousel at the Fantasy of Trees. 

(This was the kids' first chance to all three wear their matching Christmas shirts I made them, although it's hard to see in the picture!)

Dawson and his friend Colt had so much fun together at the Fantasy of Trees!

 

Nora Kate was excited to go to the Fantasy of Trees.

(I made her hairbow from the tutu of one of my old dance costumes that I wore in the Fantasy of Trees one year.) :)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we started decorating for Christmas!

The boys were SO excited about the big tree and their little tree!

Then they discovered they could both fit in the Christmas tree box, and they decided this was the most fun thing to do!  :)

Boys in Christmas attire.

 

Dawson LOVED getting an Advent gift each day of December.  Here he is opening his first one!

Carter quickly learned to be excited about tearing into the Advent gifts.  Here he is opening his first one!  (It was good practice for Christmas, because he knew just how to open those gifts by the time Christmas rolled around!)

Our Christmas tree!

This year Dawson's new ornament was a soccer ball since he started soccer for the first time this year! :)

Carter picked out this owl ornament at the store, and he absolutely loved it!  Owls are one of his favorite animals to point out and one of the first animals he learned the sound they say, so we decided since he picked it that it could be his ornament for the year.  Turns out he LOVED having it on the tree too!  He would go look at it, talk about it, point it out.  So sweet!

Last year we got these "D" & "C" ornaments for the boys, and this year I was SO excited to find a very similar "N" for Nora Kate!

More Christmas décor.

(Carter liked to point out Baby Jesus)

When I was younger and danced in the Nutcracker, my parents started giving me Nutcrackers at Christmas.  When John and I got married we started picking out one each Christmas too...needless to say, we now have A LOT of Nutcrackers!  Now our favorite thing to do is to try to find different looking ones!  I try not to put them all in the same place just lined up, so we had Nutcrackers in every room of the house.  The golfing Nutcracker sat on John's desk. :)

More Christmas decor.

Carter loved going around pointing to the Nutcrackers, and calling them "crackers!"

We hung our Christmas kissing ball that we got in 2009 in Ft. Lauderdale in the foyer this year.

I was excited to put our tree in the front of the house this year so it could be seen from outside!

We put the kid's little tree in the living room.

It was perfect because they could undecorated and redecorate it as many times as they wanted!

I really enjoyed our mantel decorations this year.  I kept looking at all FIVE stockings and thinking how blessed we are.  So thankful for our sweet kids.  Hard to believe that Christmas 2011 we only had 3 stockings, 2012 we had 4, and 2013 we have 5!

The boys and I did A LOT of baking in December!!

This was always their favorite part...licking the dough, batter, frosting, whatever! (don't worry, I didn't let them do this with any of the treats we shared with others!)

We made a gingerbread Christmas tree.

Our friends the Myers had a really fun Christmas party, and were so kind to plan it on the Saturday John was off in December!  They had a huge turnout!  Look at all these friends Dawson and Carter had to play with!!  The kids and John and I had a great time!

 

Sunday, December 8th we had Carter and Nora Kate baptized!  We were still visiting churches when Carter was born, so we still had not had him baptized.  Dawson was, of course, baptized in Alabama at Asbury in September 2009.  It was special to be able to baptize Carter and Nora Kate on the same day.  It was a rainy and cold Sunday morning, but it was perfect!  They were baptized by Dr. Russell at our church Fairview United Methodist.  The church was so pretty, all decorated for Christmas!  After the service, some family and friends came over for lunch!

After the baptism our friends the Myers came over for lunch.

Nora Kate, Mom, and I at our house after the baptisms.

All the family members who attended Carter and Nora Kate's baptisms.

With Lolly and Pop

With Nana and Grandad

Carter in his suit for his baptism.

(He has a cummerbund, but he kept putting his shirt over it...like in this picture) 

The suit had tails!

Sweet Carter in his baptism suit.

The beautiful and delicious cake Nana and Aunt Emily made!

Carter and Nora Kate's baptisms.

 

I decided to make Nora Kate's baptism gown, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Nora Kate in her baptism gown.

Nora Kate in her baptism gown.

 

At the lunch we had at our house after the baptisms, Dawson, Colt and Haley decided to put on a little show for us!  It was pretty entertaining!  Only wish I had gotten some better pictures! :)

We went on several rides in December to look at Christmas lights.  Dawson liked for me to ride in the back of the van and share a hot chocolate with him while we looked at the lights. :)

(He looks sick in this picture, but I think the camera flash was rough on him since it was completely dark when I took this.) :)

Carter loved looking at lights too!

Dawson's 1st or 2nd Christmas, my parents gave Dawson his Elmo stocking.  It sings and moves-right up Carter's alley.  Well, Carter absolutely loved this stocking this year!  So sweet!

Everyone sporting their Christmas pajamas!

(Dawson and Carter's pajamas match, although I had to cut the cute feet out of Dawson and sew cuffs on them because his feet were too big for these new 5T pajamas!)  He was still excited to have matching Christmas pajamas with a reindeer on them!

 

Had to share this picture, because after I took the good one above and was about to put the camera down, Carter leaned over and hugged Nora Kate.  No one told him to do this, he just did it!  He does this all the time.  She's lucky to have two sweet brothers!

Dawson and I made several ornaments this year!  Here he is making a cool sun catcher type of ornament!

We made several Gingerbread houses.

LOVE this picture.  Perfectly captures Carter's love for Dawson.

Dawson's telling Carter what to do while Carter looks lovingly on.

Our gingerbread village.

My friend Abbey made this adorable penguin hat for Nora Kate and mailed it to us!!  Penguins are our sorority's animal (so this is perfect for this little Sigma Kappa legacy!), and I think it's perfect that this one has blue eyes just like Nora Kate!  Thanks, Abbey!

One evening we drove to Shadracks Drive-thru Christmas lights.

We had a great time!

Carter was super excited to get to ride on my lap through part of the lights and John's lap for the rest!

Dawson also was happy to ride in the frontseat with me!

After driving through Shadracks, we got out and found this giant Santa.

Carter LOVED it!  Funny boy!

Nora Kate dozing in some Christmas attire.

I wanted to make a few gifts this year.  The kid's second cousin (I think that's right...my cousin's son), Corbin, LOVES wearing ties, so I made this for him from Dawson, Carter, and Nora Kate.

I made this infinity scarf for my cousin that we drew names with for Christmas day.  I loved the orange and white chevron and was wishing I had made one for myself, then I opened my presents from my parents...and they had bought and orange and white chevron infinity scarf for me!  Perfect!

A couple more gifts we made this year.  As part of the gift for Dawson's teachers, we made these tumblers with their names on them!

We baked and decorated cookies for our neighbors, the two directors of Dawson's preschool, and the two teachers in Dawson's class.  We had fun making these!!

In the boxes of cookies for his teachers, we decided to make a cookie to place at the top of the stack to say who they were from!

Tumblers and cookies ready to go for Dawson's teachers!

This picture is out of order, but I just love this!

This is a great example of Carter's carefree, easygoing nature!  He's hilarious...all the time!

Here he is, no pants, just shirt and diaper, weedeater in one hand, leaf blower in the other hand, singing loudly! :)

Dawson wanted to give all his school friends a Christmas gift!  We gave them these cups filled with candy canes, candy, and playdough!

Dawson's class with Santa!

Dawson's last day of school before Christmas break he had a Christmas program!  He was so excited for this he could barely wait.  (More on this in a minute...because these pictures are out of order!) 

Christmas day (photos out of order) at Lolly and Pop's house!

Christmas Day at Lolly and Pop's house!  Carter was really excited, despite this face!  (This is also a great picture of the busy board Pop made to put on the end of the workbench they got the boys!)

Dawson and Carter both LOVE their new work bench!  The vice is the favorite part!

John and Dawson Christmas Day!

 

Nora Kate's Great Aunt Phyllis was more than happy to hold her for a while!!

Christmas Day with my Mamaw.

Our family on Christmas Day 2013!

On Christmas day my brother took this picture of Dawson I absolutely love!

Lolly and Pop with their Grandkids on Christmas Day 2013.

(We're back in order now, so back to Dawson's Christmas program.)  He was SO excited about it, and he did a great job!

The program was really sweet, and I loved watching his sweet face smile and sing the whole time.

Sweet Dawson's first school program!

Santa Dawson and Elf Carter delivered the Christmas goodies we baked to our neighbors in the John Deere Gator, of course!

Front view before delivering cookies!

Carter wearing some Christmas pajamas.

Carter

One morning we went over to make Christmas cookies with Nana!!

The boys were excited to see the Chickfila cow dressed as Santa at the mall.  Carter couldn't get enough, and he kept asking for "More cow" after he left!

We also saw Santa this month!  Santa was awesome!  He got down and played ball with Carter.  He talked to Dawson about how his reindeer like carrots, and how his favorite cookies are Oreos (so we left out Oreos and carrots on Christmas Eve!).  He was GREAT!!

One morning the boys left on their pajamas and put on aprons for a little more baking.  We made Oreo balls dipped in white chocolate.  Their favorite part is pictured here...smashing the oreos!  They're banging them with spoons to break them.

The kids on Christmas Eve night.

Left to right:  Carter, Haley, Ashton, Corbin, Dawson, and Nora Kate.

They had a lot of fun playing together!!

Christmas Eve brunch with John's family.  Carter was thrilled to tear into some gifts!

Dawson was excited to begin unwrapping too!

Nora Kate enjoyed some time with her Aunt Emily!

Dawson and Hailey helped each other open some gifts!

Daddy and Nora Kate on her first Christmas Eve!

Cousins! Carter, Dawson, and Hailey!

The kids with Nana and Grandad on Christmas Eve!

Dawson's gifts.

Carter's gifts.

Nora Kate's gifts. 

Christmas morning!

Even though the kids got in bed super late on Christmas Eve, they were still up bright at early to open gifts!  We did stockings first!

 

Dawson saw this big box, and said, "I KNOW this is a typewriter!  Typewriters come in big boxes like this!"  (A typewriter and legos were the two things he asked for this year.  Waaay back in April he saw a typewriter in a book by PD Eastman, and he has wanted one ever since.  We tried to talk him out of it because we were afraid he would be disappointed.)  He was SO excited with the typewriter!  He loves to type on it, and thinks it is so cool! 

So excited with his typewriter!

Opening gifts Christmas morning!

Nora Kate sat in her Bumbo and watched the Christmas morning action.  We helped her open her gifts, of course!

Carter loves this bowling set!  Our hardwood floors are perfect for this toy!

Carter and John checking out some gifts!

Check out this cute hat we got Carter!  HE LOVES IT!

The Christmas morning aftermath!

 

The two things Dawson asked for this year were a typewriter and Legos, and he was so excited to get both!  Carter, of course, is too little to ask for anything.  Dawson suggested that Carter would want games.  Sure enough, Santa listened.  :)  Nora Kate was happy with her onesies and teething rings and baby toys.  The kids and I got John some new clothes, a photo frame for his new office with 4 5x7s (one for space for a picture each kid and one for a family picture) along with some coffee, candy, to go coffee mugs and an air compressor.  I told John he got the award for giving the best gift, because my favorite gift from him was a new string of pearls!  He said it was because Nora Kate would need to be given my old pair (that John gave me when we were dating & that I wore on our wedding day-among many, many other times) when she gets older.  Love it!

 

Now on to more Christmas pictures....

 

The boys playing with their workbench at Lolly and Pop's house.

Nora Kate in a dress I wore my first Christmas!

Nora Kate in something else I wore my first Christmas.

We loved all the wonderful Christmas cards we got this year!  Dawson and Carter REALLY enjoyed looking at all of them over and over!

 

We had a wonderful December, and we hope everyone else had a Merry Christmas.  Happy New Year!!!