Reid comes home...or to MaMa's!!

Well...I am all packed for the weekend and my two are napping so I thought I'd update the blog before we left!  Since Reid decided to enter this world a month early...his house is still under construction!  They hopefully will be done completely by Sunday and will be able to start moving stuff back in by Monday afternoon!  That's the plan anyway!!  So, for the time being Reid, Alison, & Nick are staying at MaMa & PaPa's!  They didn't get to come home until today because little Reid's jaundice levels were high and he had to stay under the lights for way too long.  It was pitiful watching him just lay there and bake and not be able to pick him up.  Thankfully he won't remember that sad time but his aunt Marcie will.  So, here are our coming home pictures!!

My dad made a sign just like this when we brought Emma & Evan to their house for the first time only it just said Welcome to PaPa's house.  My mom added MaMa's to it though before we got there.  So...it's become a tradition with our family.  Little Laney had a sign and now Baby Reid has a sign.  

My wreath may get some use after all.  It never made it to the hospital...but that's okay too!

Momma and her sweet newborn! 

Daddy and his sweet little fella!

And another momma with her sweet pea!  She slept through the whole coming home!  

One more of Reid...he slept through most of the coming home too!

And of course...we had to take some pictures together.  Laney looks so much bigger than Reid to only be about 4 pounds bigger.  How cute are these two???  I am a little partial though...since they are my niece and nephew!  

Sweet Baby Reid

Sweet little Laney!

Laney saying...I'm here!

Look how tiny he is!

And all the Reid girls with their babies! Seems like mine were just the small yesterday!  

So, everyone is home and doing good!  We are loving these sweet little ones!  

Happy Friday!!  

An Unexpected Surprise...

As most of you know...little Reid made his grand appearance on Monday...exactly one month before his due date! When my phone rang at 5:00 Monday morning and I saw it was my mom...my first reaction was, "what's wrong with daddy?" Alison and baby Reid never entered my mind! However they were at the hospital. Alison had started hurting at 11:00 Sunday night! I'd seen her just a few hours earlier and she was fine! So anyway...she was having contractions and they gave her medicine to slow them down but since she was 35 weeks they weren't stopping the process! About 8:30 I headed on to the hospital...I wasn't doing anything productive at work anyway! They checked her again at 9:00 and she was 4 cm. At 11:00 she was 6-7cm. She was moving right along and we knew that baby would be here shortly! At 1:45 she was 9.5 cm and they planned to start pushing at 2:30. Little did we know that would be the longest toughest four hours we'd ever witness! Granted we were in the hall...but we could hear everything going on! Even I was starting to get mad at them for telling her she had to keep going! I don't see how she did what she did for as long as she did it! Everyone in that room said they'd never seen anyone work as hard as she did! She gets a true trooper award! So, he was born at 6:28 weighing 5 lbs. 14oz. and is absolutely perfect! He looks just like what I'd imagined he'd look like! Dark skin and a head full of dark hair! Him & sweet little Laney could be twins! Our family is so blessed to have welcomed two healthy happy babies in less than two months! Oh how the Reid clan is growing!! So, here are a few pictures of our sweet little fella! Aunt Marcie loves him to pieces!

A quick picture during the waiting game!!

He's here!!  Alison hates this picture but I love it!  Isn't he precious???  He was brand new here!!

And now he's all clean and his skin is getting it's color!

Look at all that hair!  You can tell here how little he is!  The preemie diaper looks huge! 

Aunt Katie found him some preemie outfits!

Such a sweet little face!

And one picture with his proud momma and proud aunt Marcie!

All I can say is that God is still in the miracle working business.  You can't witness the birth of a child and not believe in miracles!  Welcome to the world sweet little Reid!!  We love you!!

Just a little treatsie...or Tweetsie should I say...

I know my title is corny but it's cute!  Can you guess where we are going next weekend??  That's right...we're going to the Tweetsie Railroad!  Have you ever heard of it??  I hadn't!  But we found us a neat little cabin in Boone, NC to rent for the weekend and it's right near the Tweetsie Railroad theme park.  I think it will be a great place to take Emma & Evan. They have amusement rides, a chair lift you ride up to miner's mountain where you pan for gold, deer park zoo, and of course a train you get to ride.  They even have restaurants and a funnel cake factory!  The Saturday that we will be there they will have a dog show...which Evan will LOVE!! They also have live shows but since they are western shows and probably will have guns...I don't see us watching that!  There is a lot more to do according to the map on their website...but I will go into detail more once we've been!  I'm excited!  But as for this weekend...we just hung around Greenwood and did a lot of celebrating!  Saturday night we celebrated Baby Laney one more time with Matt & Katie's friends.  They had a couple baby shower and dinner at Jason & Elizabeth's.  Then, today...we celebrated Baby Reid again.  We hosted a shower for Alison and Baby Reid at Katie's house.  Life is going to be so dull now that all these parties are over!!  Who am I kidding...life with two newborns is never dull!  Trust me...I know!! :)  I didn't take a single picture of either event.  Well...I did at Alison's shower but they were with her camera!  We decorated with gray & blue because those are the colors she's using in Reid's room.  I did buy her some blocks to decorate with and I do have a picture of those.

Next time...I will just make these myself and save a lot of money! I did make her a wreath for her door as well...but I don't have a picture of it.  And of course I have a picture of all the burp cloths I made Alison. 

How cute are theses?  

Too bad I didn't have this monogram machine when my kiddos were babies!!  So, I know you are wondering how the home improvement projects are going??  Well...the kitchen floor is FINALLY finished.  Grouting all that tile took us forever.  Well...it went a lot faster once Matt showed us a better way of doing it!  Doesn't the finished product look great??

Now...we just have to get our shoe molding back down.  I have come up with a project I am going to tackle.  I wanted a old cabinet in my kitchen that I could distress or antique the colors I am wanting it.  So...I found what I think will work at a local store...Granny Said Keep It.  I am not a fan of this place because it just mainly just junk...but I'm going to try my hand at being super crafty!  I'm not sure when I'll attempt this but you might see pictures if it turns out like I hope it will!  Emma & Evan's new bedding for their toddler rooms has been ordered and that change will be taking place once it gets here!  And...Evan has used the potty one more time since my last post and he did that at school!  So, he knows how to do this...he just doesn't want too.  We are still working on it though.  Emma is still doing great!  Well...that was our weekend!  Hope yours was great!  Have a good week and come back for a Tweetsie update!

Saturday Fun!

This post is going to be short and sweet!  I am one tired momma!  We have been going since 8:00 this morning.  Let me first share a picture of my princess and knight from last night!

They had such a good time.  They painted fingernails (for the girls), has races down the halls, ate supper, make a princess hat & a shield, watched a movie and had popcorn & pretzels.  That was as much as they told me about anyway!  We had a good time out by ourselves too.  We went out for supper and then to the BBQ festival with Katie & Matt.  I finally got my funnel cake!  Today we headed back out there with E&E.  It was SO HOT!!!  We got there about 10:45 and walked around for a little while.  We got us some BBQ and then headed home.  It wasn't worth it to me to stay out there in that heat.  Plus, my little pale skinned children were getting red!  So, we headed home for what was hopefully going to be an early nap time.  We had planned to grout the floors while they slept.  Well...neither of them went to sleep.  So, after about an hour...we decided to go ahead and play outside.  Here are the few pictures I took of the afternoon!

              

 Slip & slide fun!!  

  

And some more fun!  Emma thought Evan needed a push!

          

They love the water gun swords they got from Friday night!  Even the big boy joined in playing with them.  Evan thought it was fun to squirt Daddy until Daddy fought back!

We had eaten supper and had baths by 7:15 and they were both OUT by 7:30.  So...they were tired!  That was out fun Saturday!  Hope yours was great!!

He was just teasing...

Well, I am sure you are wondering what this post is going to be about!!  You'll never believe it but Evan used the potty like a big boy the other night!!  We were so proud of him and praised him.  He was very proud of himself too but after that he hasn't gone since.  He was just kidding when he said he was going to start using the big boy potty! :)  I am not really stressing the issue but just continuing to encourage him to go and letting him sit on the potty.  He'll get the hang of it soon!  Or at least I hope he does!!  This week at school they were learning about music.  There were the pictures I got of Emma & Evan on Wednesday.

Then Thursday...they had a band or musicians come play for the kids and this was the picture I got.  Remember this was before the music even started!! 

Obviously my kids don't like loud noises or anything that looks like it could make a loud noise!  When I asked Evan about the music at school...he told me he liked the drums.  Sorry son...you aren't getting drums anytime soon!  Katie is wanting to do some thing with E&E this summer and she started this week but planting some flowers.  After school and lunch on Thursday...she took them outside to plant some flowers.  Here are the pictures she took and sent me.  

  

Planting the flowers...

 And watering the final products!

She even bought and decorated them their own watering can!  They had to lay down for naptime and she had to leave...but not before making them a little snack for after naptime!!

Since they didn't lay down until 3:00 it was almost 6:00 when Evan got up...so snack time came after supper and we went outside to enjoy this snack.  They were too sure about the worms.  They didn't mind playing with them but wouldn't dare taste them.  They were shocked when I ate a worm.  They enjoyed their treat though!!

                 

Tonight South Main is having a Parent's Night Out from 6-9.  We are supposed to drop the kids off dressed as princesses and knights.  Where was I going to find a princess & knight outfit in July??  Angela of course.  She has everything!  So, Evan is all set with a sword, shield, & hat.  Then I went to Wal-Mart and got Emma  Sophia princess dress.  So, we are ready for tonight.  I'll have to share pictures on the next blog update!  We are hoping to get us BBQ tomorrow and I've promised E&E to get the slip and slide back out.  So...we will have a busy Saturday in addition to finishing grouting our floors.  I think this was the reason we said we'd never do tile again!  It is a long messy process!!  I also think I've picked out the stuff I want for Evan's room.  I think we are going with navy blue & green!  Etsy has a lot of cute navy & green stuff!  Emma's isn't going to be as easy because her new bedding has to match her existing curtains.  We'll figure it out though.  Happy Friday!!

Happy Birthday America!!

Well...this past weekend we celebrated July 4th!  We needed to go back to work yesterday to just get some rest.  We worked, played, ate a lot, and just enjoyed some time off!  Oh yeah...and I think it is safe to say...Emma is POTTY TRAINED!! :)  She poops and pee pee's in the potty like a champ!  One week, two accidents and that was all it took!  I am terrified of how long it is going to take Evan because Emma was WAY too easy!  He is at least showing a little interest now.  I think watching Emma go and get praise for it has started to affect him.  This coming weekend is going to be "Get Evan Potty-trained weekend"!  Anyway...back to our celebrating.  Well...we spent more time working on the floors than we did celebrating.  However...the floors are almost finished. Had Lowe's had the grout I wanted in stock, we would be finished.  But we found out yesterday that Snead has it...so Justin is going to start working on it tonight.  This isn't the finished project but it gives you an idea of what it looks like.

                    

Didn't Justin do a great job??  He is for sure a handy man!  I'm debating on painting the walls.  I bought some paint a couple months back when I had planned to carry the hardwoods through the kitchen.  But since our plans changed...I haven't ever painted.  But...I already have the paint if I decide to tackle that! :)  Of course...our little helpers were right by our sides all weekend.  You can only imagine how fun it is to remodel with two year olds!!  

Here they are taking a little cucumber break.  These kids LOVE some cucumbers.  A guy at work has a garden and apparently this year his cucumbers are doing great...because he brings us in a bag full every few days.  No complaining though!  Nothing beats fresh veggies.  I would like to tackle a garden next year but who am I kidding.  I am not the gardening type!  I buy flowers that are pretty hardy and I don't have to do much too them other than water them...which Justin does for me.  Anyway...back to the 4th.  Katie & Matt came over for supper and swimming on the actual 4th. We enjoyed spending some time with Baby Laney!  E&E love her and talk about her constantly!!

                   

How sweet are these pictures?? She's such a cutie pie!!

 Saturday, we headed to Greenwood early for breakfast and to run by Lowe's and get more boards.  It was such a beautiful morning with great temperatures and Justin reminded me quite often that he could be in the woods working on food plots!  We worked on the floor that afternoon and headed over to Katie's to celebrate the 4th with friends. Katie had set up some water things for the kids to play on.  Emma & Evan love stuff like that.  I really hope we can make it to the water park this summer.  It's on our to-do list!!  I was looking back through the pictures I took on my phone and the only ones I have of Evan are video's.  Katie took some on her phone but I don't have those yet. So, that's why I don't have any pictures of Evan from the night on the blog!  After we ate supper and played a little more in the water...Katie brought out the sparklers.  Emma is still not a fan of any kind of fireworks.  Friday night while we were swimming...our neighbors began to shoot some and it scared her to death.  We came inside and watched a huge firework production on TV that night and she loved them.  I seriously think it's the noise that she doesn't like.  Here are the only two pictures I took from the night.  

It looks like it's raining in the first picture but it's just the sun.  The food was delicious and of course the decorations were cute too!  Katie loves a party just like I do!  

And my sweet girl sporting her pony tail!  She refuses to let me pull her hair back.  It is a difficult task anyway because her hair is so fine!  I bribed her with going to see Baby Laney though and she let me pull it up!  She looked precious!!

So, that was pretty much our weekend.  We are looking forward to the BBQ festival this weekend.  I love barbecue!!  Alison also has her first baby shower Sunday at church.  Time for Baby Reid is getting closer and closer.  In some other exciting news...after we finish the kitchen floor project, I then going to start working on making Emma & Evan's room more suitable for a toddler rather than a baby.  They still sleep in their cribs.  I've caught Evan twice now trying to climb over.  So...the time has come.  I think making it to 2 years and 7 months in a crib is pretty good.  We may never sleep again...but that will be okay too.  I have come up with a master plan to add on a Jack & Jill bathroom and two walk-in closets to their end of our house.  Justin gets tired of my ideas but if any of you have ever seen our hall bathroom it is TINY!!  I'm so thankful to have two bathrooms but that is going to be a nightmare when Emma & Evan are both trying to get ready in the mornings.  It won't matter for a while but once they start caring more about their appearance and make-up and all of that...this tiny bathroom just isn't going to cut it!!  Justin isn't still fully on board with my idea just yet but he was helping me figure out how to do the roof line over the weekend...so that doesn't sound like a complete NO to me!! That of course will be a few years down the road!  Anyway...I have got to go fold some clothes before my sweeties get up from their nap!  Hope you all are having a good week! :)

Potty Training...101

Well this post will mainly be about Emma & her potty training experience so far.  We still haven't started working with Evan.  Twice he has told me he wanted to pee pee in the potty but once we get in there he says "I can't pee pee in the potty"!.  At least he's honest. I plan to work with him once Emma gets this down and I'm not having to watch her constantly anymore.  So, how is she doing???  Today is our 4th full day of potty training and she has had NO accidents today.  Last time I updated...it was Monday.  So, let me start with Tuesday.  Janice kept E&E Tuesday morning.  Emma has a bad habit of dancing around and crying wanting you to hold her when she needs to go to the bathroom. She sat in Janice's lap most of the morning.  It was 11:30 and she still hadn't gone to the bathroom.  Her pull-up was dry when she got up that morning...so it had been 13 hours with not going to the bathroom.  She was holding it in...so Janice put her on a diaper and she wet it like crazy.  My mom did the same thing for her that afternoon.  They felt bad for her when she'd start all her crying.  I told them if they would get her to go in the bathroom she would eventually go and be proud of herself.  So, once we got home and started taking her every time she started dancing around...she was back to going like her regular self.  The same type thing happened Wednesday.  So, today Justin and I were home with her.  Since I had to work this morning...I told Justin as soon as she woke up to take her to the potty and to put her panties on her.  He called me about 9:00 asking where her panties were that she was dancing around the kitchen wanting him to hold her.  I immediately told him to take her to the potty. About 10 minutes later I got another call but this time it was Emma telling me she had gone to the potty. She was so proud of herself.  She went one more time before they met me for lunch at 12:00.  We went to Lowe's to get the rest of our flooring supplies and to Chili's for lunch.  I tried to get  to try to go while we were at Chili's and she said she didn't need to go.  She had on big girl panties the whole time.  I was a little nervous about that...but she did well.  As soon as we got home she told me she needed to potty and went twice before nap time.   I did put a pull-up on her at nap time just in case she wet herself but she woke up crying telling me she needed to do potty.  Her pull-up was still dry.  We went out to Justin's parents for supper tonight.  They had a good many people over.  I did put a pull-up on Emma because I knew she would be busy playing and I figured she'd forget about going to the potty...but three times she came up to me telling me she needed to go and we went!  So...it is still early but she is doing so well!  She even got a prize from MaMa for going.  She loves to put diapers on her babies and the number 5 diapers are a little big for the baby doll so get got a whole new package of preemie diapers and wipes for her baby.  She is in heaven with that!!  I remember loving getting diapers for my babies too!  Evan is going to get a new fishing pole whenever he decides to start using the potty.  So, it is going much better than we expected!  I'm just hoping once Evan decides that he is ready that it will go this smoothly!  So, how is the new kitchen floor coming??  Well, at the end of Day 1...we have half of the old floor torn up and the new board put down.  We plan to start early tomorrow working on installing the new flooring.  Justin thought it would be a good idea to only do half at a time.  So...hopefully tomorrow goes better than today.  Putting that new board down has taken forever!!  Also...some of the things I ordered for Emma & Evan's birthday party came today!  I have started making a Party Stash in the closet!  I'm so excited about it!!  Anyway...be sure to come back and see how the potty training process is going!  Happy 4th everyone!!