August 2013

Wow, it's hard to believe that August is over!  It seems like everything we were doing and had planned centered around August-Nora Kate's due date and Carter becoming a big brother, Dawson's first day of preschool and beginning of soccer.  But now that all of those things have happened, we're on to September and wondering what to do since we hadn't really planned anything past Nora Kate's due date! :)  It's actually really nice that we don't have much planned because this allows us to be at home as much as possible and attempt to find a routine around all of these changes.

We did have an awesome August, though!  I've already written about most of the big events from the month-Dawson's first day of preschool and soccer, Carter's first hair cut, and, of course, Nora Kate's birth-but we did a few more things in August that I don't want to have forgotten either!

 

 

 

 August 2nd we had a play date at the park with some friends!  It was perfect because Dawson's friend (Jay) who is about a week older than him was able to come along with his older brother and Carter's friend, Magnolia, who is a few weeks older than him came too.  So both boys had kids their age to play with!  The kids rode their bikes, we had snacks, and we took along Dawson and Carter's parachute to enjoy with friends.  It was a hot, hot day, but we were able to take advantage of the pavilion's shade and had fun doing the parachute there!

 

 

 The boys and I after church a week before Nora Kate's due date.

 

Dawson and Carter love to go to the park to ride their bikes!  We had a fun time at Sandy Springs with Dawson riding along the trails and John and I taking turns pushing Carter.

We rode to the playground at Sandy Springs so we could have some playtime!

 

 

Dawson and Carter have started really playing together pretty well.  I love to watch how sweet they are when they interact like this.  I was in the kitchen getting their lunch ready and was surprised not to have them both glued to my side in the kitchen, so I looked in the playroom to find them talking about and working on these tractors!  So sweet!

 

 

 

The Thursday before Nora Kate's due date, we met some friends at Gym Bugs to play for the morning!  I had been forever since I had taken the kids there, and Dawson AND Carter had a blast this time.  Everything there was the perfect size for Carter, and he loved it!!

 

We attended Olivia's first birthday pool party.

Dawson had a blast swimming with his Daddy and with his friend Charlie!

During John's time off from work after Nora Kate was born, we decided to take the kids to the zoo for the morning!  Carter crawled behind Dawson into the prairie dog tunnel for the first time! 

Carter loved playing in the mist, and he'd hold his hands out like this every time with this serious look on his face!

Driving the zoo safari truck.

Our first zoo outing with THREE kids!

Dawson loves the Wee Play area at the zoo.  He cooked us a lot of delicious pizza here!  :)

Dawson got really close to this gorilla who was eating pasta noodles by the glass!  This was the first time we had gotten this good of a view of the gorillas in this particular exhibit!

John took the boys to the duck pond one evening!

(For several days, Dawson was on a kick of wanting to wear this Hawaiian shirt EVERYDAY! So every night I washed it.  This particular day he decided to wear it with gym shorts! haha!)

I took the kids to visit their Great Mamaw at the end of August.  I plan to write more about this in Nora Kate's weekly update, but I wanted to go ahead and share the pictures of them with Mamaw now.

 

That wraps up August for us!  Although we don't have a lot planned for September, we do have a few exciting things-Emily's wedding and John's birthday are both in the second half of the month. 

 

 

Nora Kate is Two Weeks Old

It's hard to believe, but our precious Nora Kate is already two weeks old! 
Nora Kate has gotten to be a better sleeper this week.  She usually goes one long stretch that is 3 or 4 hours during the night and then will go a couple of 2 hour stretches after that.  She has improved on going back to sleep after eating, but there is usually still one feeding each night (around 4am usually) that she has trouble settling back down after.  Usually she settles down after this 4am feeding at first and then gets the hiccups and is wide awake.  Since John has been home we have been taking turns getting her to go back to sleep at this time, and honestly I think he has better luck than I do...maybe she just associates me with eating, and so she thinks if I have her she should get to eat?!  I'm not sure, but I'm so happy that her sleeping is improving!
Although we were not scheduled to take her back to the doctor until she was 1 month old, we had to take her Monday morning because we thought her umbilical cord was beginning to get infected!  Thankfully we were wrong, but her umbilical cord did need some attention.  Dr. Booher put silver nitrate on it to help it keep sealing off (because it kept bleeding) and healing.  He said sometimes this happens, but it really had John and I worried since we had not experienced anything like this with the boys.  The good news was that it wasn't infected!!  Of course, they weighed her while we were there and she had gained 6 ounces in 6 days!  She was up to 7 pounds 5 ounces.  Her umbilical cord should continue healing on its own, and we won't have to go back until the one month check up. 
This week our friends Alana and Colt came to visit, and Dawson had a blast getting to play with his friend while I enjoyed getting to visit with Alana.  Then on Saturday our friends the Grimms brought us dinner and met Nora Kate.  It was great to see them as well and introduce them to the kids!  Carter was a ham the whole time they were here and kept asking for them after they left!  Silly boy!  Sunday afternoon, Nora Kate attended her first party.  Our friend's daughter, Olivia, turned one, so we took Nora Kate to Olivia's first birthday party!
Monday morning we took Nora Kate to meet some of John's coworkers!  Then on Monday evening, Nora Kate attending her first sporting event-Dawson's soccer practice and scrimmage (pictures of this in the soccer blog post). 
Today (Wednesday) Nora Kate is TWO WEEKS OLD!  Unfortunately not only does that mean that time is passing way to quickly, it also meant that it was time for John to go back to work.  :(  John has barely taken any vacation since we moved to Tennessee, so he had a lot of time stored up.  We knew that he would need to help me a lot after Nora Kate was born especially since Carter still has to be lifted and carried so much, I didn't want to overdo it too early-especially since my recover has been going so well!  John took two full weeks of vacation, and it was AWESOME!  It was so nice to be able to relax and nap when I needed to and have his help day and night.  It was especially nice because it helped keep the boys entertained and happy while they got to enjoy some special time with Daddy.  It was also nice just to have the special time of the first weeks all at home as a family.  I'm very, very glad that the did, especially now because he found out that beginning next week he has to go back to working nights which we are all very, very disappointed about.  But I'm now even more grateful for these past couple of weeks he had off.  Although he went back to work today,  he is scheduled off a couple of more days before he fully starts back on Monday.  So far today, my first full day with the kids all by myself has gone well. 
It's unbelievable that Nora Kate is already two weeks old.  We are loving our precious newest addition to the family!

Nora Kate wide awake after a nap and eating!

Dawson helped with one of Nora Kate's baths this week.  He loved helping and was so sweet with her!

She still loves bathtime!

Sweet kisses from brother!

On Sunday we went to our friend, Olivia's first birthday party which was  pool party!  Of course, Nora Kate and I decided to watch from the side of the pool, but Dawson had fun swimming around.  (Carter spent some time with Lolly and Pop while we attended the party.)

Dawson swimming with Charlie at the party.

Nora Kate all dressed to attend her first party.  Thanks for inviting us to your party, Olivia! :)

Nora Kate dressed and ready for her first (of many) visits to the Knoxville Zoo.

Nora Kate's first visit to the Knoxville Zoo.

John and I took Dawson, Carter, and Nora Kate to the zoo when Nora Kate was 13 days old!  Our first zoo trip with THREE kids!

Carter has been really sweet with Nora Kate this week.  Here he is one day after nap with his paci, trying to give Nora Kate her paci too!

Nora Kate's birth was one of two births ran in the paper on Friday, August 23rd. 

I always think kids look so sweet in their pajamas.  So I wanted to get a picture of all three dressed for bed.  

Dawson Plays Soccer

This fall Dawson is old enough to play soccer.  We asked him if he was interested in playing soccer a while back, and he has been talking about it and looking forward to it ever since!  We took him to registration back in July, and we have gotten all of his gear (shin guards, soccer socks, soccer shorts, and cleats) over the past few weeks.  Last Christmas he got a soccer goal and ball, so we have been doing a little practicing in the backyard too.  He says his cleats help him run really fast!  :)

He is playing for AYSO in the munchkin group which is U5.  The way it is set up his team will meet each Monday night where they will practice for half of the time, and then the second half of the time they play their soccer game.  Monday was his first practice, and a lot of the time was spent organizing the teams and learning basics.  Then at the end they did a little scrimmage to practice.  The real games and practices start in two weeks.  There are 7 boys on Dawson's team, and they have two coaches!  Dawson wanted EVERYONE to come watch his first practice and game, so he had his own little fan section! :) John, Carter, Nora Kate, and I were there in addition to Nana, Grandad, Lolly, and Pop!

Dawson listened really well to his coaches, and he is learning about the game.  Watching four year olds play soccer for the first time is really entertaining! :) The biggest issue was that they all kept forgetting that they couldn't just pick the ball up! :) It was cute!

Dawson had a blast! And he's already been asking when he plays soccer again!

Carter and Nora Kate did great on the sidelines.  Luckily we packed lots of snacks for Carter because he  basically ate the entire time, haha!  Nora Kate napped the whole time until we got back in the van then she decided to wake up! 

I'm looking forward to practicing with Dawson some before his next practice and game and watching him play this season!

 

Look how big Dawson looks all dressed for soccer practice!

Action shot of Dawson kicking the ball!

I think he looks like a little soccer player! :)

The boys during the scrimmage with one of their coaches.

Carter enjoyed snacking most of the practice and game.  Here he is enjoying a fruit leather.  :)

Dawson's fan section.

The scrimmage.

 

For the U5 age group their jersey is a t-shirt.  Here he is in his munchkin jersey.

He's very proud of it.

Dawson's number.

Miss Nora Kate napped the entire practice and scrimmage.