Everett's Special Day

Since Hampton has joined our family, Everett has had to share the attention with his young brother.....which is a good thing. But I must say, sometimes I long for more one-on-one time with him. So, for his birthday (a week early) we decided to take him somewhere special and let the day be all about him. This is a tradition we decided long ago that we would do for our children. We want to make a huge deal out of birthdays. It is a day all about them and they can choose what they want to do for that day. Since Everett is still too young to vocalize this, we decided for him. We left Hampton behind with his Gigi and went to Greenville, SC to the zoo. I think we all had a great time!

Everett pointing to an elephant. It was the first animal we saw as we walked in. Everett was so excited.
He may be approaching age two, but he is still hanging on to his sweet baby face. He still has his chipmunk cheeks that I love to kiss and squeeze!

Gazing at the turtles.

I didn't really think it was that warm, but Everett was so red in the cheeks. He must be hot-natured like his Dada.

He had only one "time-out" while we were there. Other than that, he listened very well and held my hand when we let him walk.

After the zoo we went and had lunch at Red Robin. This blue balloon entertained Everett the entire time.

Everett with all his paraphernalia.

It was so fun for Eric and I to take Everett on a special trip. This one-on-one time with him is now harder to come by, so it is even more special. I loved that I wasn't distracted and could hear all of what he had to say and could give him my undivided attention. We had a sweet reunion with Hampton when we got home. Everett that evening hugged "Hanton" and said "I wuv you." Oh Everett! You do know how to melt your Mama's heart!

Waiting for Dada

This is where Everett runs every afternoon when I announce that his "Dada" is on his way home. We usually snack while we wait!

Morning Excursion

Today I got brave again and took the boys out. I always debate if it is worth it, but Everett usually enjoys going out and the alternative would be to stay inside on another gorgeous day. So I decided to go for it. Here was our mood right before we left...... Hampton is just along for the ride. Although, he doesn't ever seem to enjoy the ride. I thought most babies like the car, but this one usually screams!

So we went to Biltmore Park to this really amazing new toy store. Everett in awe of these toy soldiers in front. What I liked about this kind of toy store was that there was mostly educational and high quality (hard to find) toys. We then made one more stop at a posh, upscale baby store called Bon Bebe (way too expensive for me....consignment please?) and then headed home. On the way home I stopped and got Everett and I McDonalds for lunch. We don't usually do fast food, so this was a special, non-healthy (except for the apple slices) kind of treat.

Everett with his new ball-take note of his mood again. We are working on this diligently. It's rough being an almost 2 year old!

Bedroom Edition

Welcome to another home tour! This is the bedroom edition. All of our bedrooms are on the 3rd floor of the house. Here is the guest:
I love this room. It is cozy and warm. As you can see, Hampton's bassinet is in here. He moved on to Phase II. In other words, he got kicked out of our room (he is such a loud sleeper) and now resides in the guest room until he is ready to move into the nursery with Everett. It has worked out well and when we have company we just wheel him back into our bedroom.

My Aunt Jenny helped me put together this arrangement and I just love it.

A little television nuzzled in the bookcase-something Eric constructed a while back.

I use our guest room as a retreat sometimes as well. Before Hampton moved in this room, I would occasionally sleep in our guest just to feel like I was "getting away." It was so nice!

Here is the nursery-the crib is ready for Hampton to move on in! The boys' bedding is from Pottery Barn Kids and the sheets match! I love it! The artwork above the crib is from Everett's previous nursery.

This arrangement on the wall is another thing my Aunt Jenny helped me put together. The clock says Hampton Hotel. The picture of Everett is from a painting project he did, which is displayed under the clock. You probably can't tell, but there is paint all over his face. My plan is to add canvas artwork of Hampton's hand prints.

This is where my big almost 2 year old and tiny 2 month old both get their diapers changed.

A cute little bookcase-Everett loves to pull all the books off the shelves and must know it drives me crazy!

Now let's go down the hall.......

to the master bedroom. My inspiration for our room came from a Pottery Barn catalog (can you tell I am a Pottery Barn fan!?!) entitled "Farm House Collection." I wanted the room to be a place of escape-calm and serene. The wall color is a blue, which I think goes well with the burgundy that is added into the room.
I have gotten a lot of use out of this glider.

Prior to working on our bedroom, I had wanted new furniture, but I actually think our old furniture really works.

As we were working on this room, I kept whipping out that catalog for ideas. It turned out just as I had imagined!

This is the view into our bathroom. One day I want to change out that light fixture between the his and her closets for a silver or weathered white chandelier.

Our bathroom. It has the best view in the entire house!

Another First

Saturday I had another first-I mowed the lawn for the very first time. I unfortunately do not have a picture to document the experience-you'll just have to take my word for it. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. While I was mowing, Eric worked the weed eater. It was quite the bonding experience. I look forward to many more a Saturday that we can do this together. There was just something so rewarding about it. The lawn looked shaggy and now looks nice once again.

A Day in the Life

I really am writing this post for memory purposes. I thought it would be really fun to look back one day and read about how our schedule was way back when. I like to run our household like a well-oiled machine and I believe we are getting there. I don't say one of the boys is doing something consistently unless they have been doing it for at least a week. For some reason that is my time frame. So this schedule has been consistent for about a week and a half now.

Hampton usually wakes up about 6:30/7am. I feed him and then we go downstairs to get breakfast ready for Everett and I. Then about 7/7:30 Everett wakes up. Everett and I then will eat breakfast together while Hampton swings nearby. Afterward we then all go down to the playroom where we camp out for awhile. Everett usually will watch a program in the morning. These days he is really into Elmo, Calliou, or Barney. Hampton is into discovering his hands or staring at his brother cross-eyed. At about 9 Hampton is then sent upstairs for a catnap. He naps from 9-10. I like the 9-10 hour because it gives me a chance to spend one-on-one play time with Everett. At about 10 Hampton gets up and eats again. From 10-11 both boys are up and "playing." I then try my hardest to encourage Everett to clean-up all his toys and then we go back upstairs where he "helps" me put Hampton down for a nap. At 11 Everett eats his lunch and then at 11:30 he goes down for his nap. 11:30-2:00 is a sweet part of my day. Both boys nap and I eat lunch, clean some part of the house, shower, nap occasionally, blog, catch-up on emails or phone calls, etc. It took a lot of work to coordinate this part of the day, but it has been so worth it! Then at about 2 Hampton wakes up and eats. At about 2:30 Ev wakes up and has a snack. Then Everett plays once again. From 2-5 Hampton is in and out of sleep, but for the most part we (especially Ev) can keep him up. Unless he has to work late, we can usually can count on Eric getting home around 4:30/5. Around 5 Hampton will grab another hour catnap. We usually eat dinner during the 5-6 hour while Hampton sleeps. If it is a bath night, both boys will get a bath. Hampton goes down about 7 and then Everett goes down a half hour later. By 7:30 both boys are in bed and Eric and I have time alone together. We usually watch television or a movie or just chat. Hampton will wake up again around midnight and then about 4:30 to nurse again before the whole day begins again. I haven't ventured out much alone with the boys. The schedule is going so well that I hate to mess it up yet. Sometimes when Eric gets home I will jet out to run an errand or two. The weekends the schedule sometimes gets moved around as well and especially on Sunday when we are at church all morning. Overall are days are about the same and at this point, I like it that way. When we were living in Louisville I always wanted to get out. Now that I have a house, I always want to stay at home. Even Everett will request to go home occasionally when we are out and about. That makes me so happy that he loves his home. It has been such a blessing to be at home more with the babies and finally life is being to feel "normal" again.

Spring Bunny

Look how sweet my little bunny is. Much to Eric's chagrin, Everett donned this cute little outfit today.

And look at this guy....he'd rather be the way he came into this world-naked!