First off, sorry for not keeping the site up to date recently. Life has been extremely busy for all of us. I’ll start with an update on the website.. As you can see, there is a new design. What you may not notice is that I have changed the software the runs the photo gallery. You will hopefully notice some improvement on the loading speed of the images in the new gallery.

Paige

Paige continues to improve on her communication skills every day. She holds very mature conversations with others and loves to talk on the phone. She likes to tell her Mommy that “When I am a Mommy I will…” and then say whatever it is that Mommy does that she doesn’t get to do or like to do. (When I am a Mommy I will like my vegetables, or I will be able to drive) Hope told Paige on day that Paige was “pushing her buttons.” Paige looked at Hope very confused and said “Mommy I’m not pushing any buttons.” Some things are still lost on her, however it ends up being quite funny anyway. Paige is learning her days of the week by associating what happens on each day. Tuesday is trash day, Wednesday is water day (at school) Friday is candy day (at the end of the school day, each child gets a piece of candy).

Peyton

Peyton has grown beyond all belief. It is hard to believe that he is only 16 months old with as big as he is. He will pass his sister in size before too much longer. He is now running everywhere and full of energy. He is able to jump, and has a pretty good vocabulary for someone of his age. He will always let you know when he is hungry, or if something is “mine!”

Hope & Chris

Hope is branching out with her skills at work. During the month of May, instead of working on the burn service she worked on the trauma service at ORMC and this month she is working on the ICU team. This will make her a more rounded provider, which is never a bad thing.

I have transfered stations, and now no longer work on the same shift. I now work on the east side of town, which is a little bit of a drive for me, but only having to do it twice a week, it isn’t too bad. I am also now a Paramedic with the fire department.

Peyton and I spent the day together.. He doesn’t seem to be feeling well, so the day didn’t go as well as I had hoped, however, he did take two steps for me this afternoon! He seemed just as supprised as I was.

Today is Hope’s long awaited hernia surgery. Both Paige and Peyton know that something is going on, but neither of them understand what. I took tomorrow off to stay home and take care of Hope and the kids. I’ll do another update after the surgery.

This week was very boring. Peyton continues to grow and get stronger overall. He slept in his own room and bed for the first time. He seems to prefer the bed to the pack and play in mommy’s bedroom. He is still not sleeping through the night Paigie continues to add to her repertoire of songs. She has developed a love for Barney the purple dinosaur that I can do without. Paigie and Peyton now interact in the back seat. She loves to make him laugh. He tries to talk with her in their secret language. We are preparing for Father’s Day. We hid daddy’s present at the house and hope he doesn’t find it. Mommy continues to experiment in the kitchen…mostly good. Daddy is very busy with school, clinicals, and his new job. Mommy has been having some health problems recently and I am finally going to see a doctor to get checked out. I will keep you informed…see you next week.

Well I am so late I make no excuses at this point. I have however been spending lots of quality time with my babies. Instead of doing three separate blogs I decided to make one big blog. Peyton has changed a lot over the three weeks since I have written anything. He is truly reacting to his environment. He enjoys his showers now. He has started squealing with delight in the shower to the water. He has gone from holding objects with two hands without using his thumbs to using his whole hands now to grab things. We are working on sitting up unsupported. He still needs a bit of work in that department. He has chosen how to get from point A to point B. He likes scooting. He scoots backwards and forwards pretty well. He has also taken to exploring his bed and I always wonder where I will find him after naptime. Now he mouths as he watches us eat…it is really cute. He seems to really want everything that we are eating. Mean mommy is going to try to hold out until 5 and a half months before solids. He is still acting like he is teething and enjoys sucking on his bottom lip. It’s cute when he does it because he looks like a geriatric when they take their dentures out. Peyton is officially 4 months now and he went for his 4 months pictures with mommy. They are adorable of course. He has also taken his first nap in his bed. He seemed to enjoy his bed. First thing he did of course we prove to mommy he needs bumpers for the rails. Mommy also bought him a jumper. He likes his jumper at school so much that we decided that he should have one at home as well. His babble is adorable. Sometimes it is a lot of squealing other times his just kind of continuously consonant noises.

Paigie got to give her second bottle to Peyton. She really likes interacting with Peyton and they amuse each other well. Paige has lost about a pound with the swim lessons and how active she is at school. Her face is changing into a girls face instead of a baby face. She is growing so fast. She loves to sing nursery rhymes with mommy as we drive to and from school together. She requests songs from her toddler CD rather firmly. It’s cute because she still has her toddler speak and I am her best interpreter. She likes to be a big girl and help mommy around the house. We finally cleaned the backyard nicely and she was a big help picking up rocks and throwing them in the pool. Her swim lessons have finally ended. I say finally because they were painful to our schedule. She does really well. She flips to her back and instead of floating swims on her back to the side then flips again and gets out. I didn’t thing we would make it to the stage we did back at the beginning. I must admit she impressed me. Paigie continues to grow and shows how well she understands her environment. Then she expresses these things very clearly. We had a lizard in the office about a week ago. Paigie was nicknamed Paige the lulu hunter. She calls lizards lulu. She started tearing her toys apart to get to it and I asked her if I could help. She says “Lulu hiding!” We found it, trapped it and took it outside. She thought that was cool. Paigie also has a fascination with airplanes, helicopters, fire trucks and school buses; Basically anything transportation. She yells with joy whenever she sees them and we talk about the parts of the vehicles and the colors.

Mommy has been busy too. I had to take a few classes over the last few weeks that I am required to stay current and I procrastinated as always. Daddy started at his new fire station since he was officially promoted to engineer. It is a lot busier then he was used to at station 70. He doesn’t get as much sleep as he was before. It is just another transition for us. We had a great time at the beach for Memorial Day. Mommy and babies drove to Ormond over to Nana and Papa’s condo. Chris had to work unfortunately. Paigie enjoyed digging in the sand with her cousin Abbie. She seemed to have a great time for many hours while Peyton slept on the beach under an umbrella. Memaw and Papa came to visit while they were in town for a wedding. I was happy they were able to see the kids because they grow so fast. Now we are planning for Fathers’ day and I thing we have some good ideas of how to surprise daddy. Well goodbye for now…talk to you next week.

Paigie started swim classes this week. Technically they are anti drowning classes. She screams the whole time. She screams from when we put her in the swimsuit until we lay her on the towels after the ten minute lesson. The instructors name is Hope…kinda weird…and she says that the screaming is very normal. The classes seem to be taking all of her energy. She wakes up exhausted and in a bad mood. She goes to bed now so early. She basically showers after her swim lesson, eats and then goes to bed Monday through Friday. This weekend was miserable for everyone involved. Her bad behavior hit a new high (or low). On Saturday she took a four hour nap after sleeping in that morning. We only got the basics done this weekend instead of trying to take her to an aircraft museum like we planned. She has a real love of everything aeronautical. I can’t wait until these classes are over. I am sure she feels the same way.

Peyton is now three months and has ended his 3 month growth spurt. For almost two weeks he was eating 50% more milk than he had been. He is such a big boy. He went for his three month pictures and they are adorable. I promise we will post professional pictures soon. He rolled over again and daddy missed it by a second. He looked away and there he went. He is trying to stay upright while sitting now…I think he is still several weeks away from that milestone.

Daddy is done with his spring semester and gets this next week off. I think he could use some personal time. We could both use some mommy/daddy time. See you next week.

Well another week has come and gone.  Mommy survived her first call weekend since being back at work.  I went into the hospital at 4ish and made it home before most everyone got up.  Sunday morning Peyton woke up wanting his mommy to find a daddy instead.  He didn’t seem thrilled by this.  With mommy working the weekend, there was no trip to the park due to exhaustion.  We had a good week though.  Peyton continues to deal with some cold symptoms because of daycare.  He is a great baby.  He rolled over this week for the first time.  He likes to rest on his elbows in bellytime and next thing you know he was belly up!  He was quite shocked!  So I put him back on his belly and flop…belly up again.  He was quite impressed and so was mommy.  Paigie is doing a great job with potty training.  She starts her rescue swim lessons this week.  Mommy is excited and scared.  Her sentence structure is impressive!  She makes nice observations and can get them out clearly.  She has grown so much since we started this new school. 

Nana and Papa came to visit this weekend.  Paigie played with papa and nana had lots of time with Peyton.  Mommy made a southern style dinner that was well received.  Basically it was a restful and enjoyable day.  They are going to North Carolina again for a few months.  Peyton and Paigie will be so big when they come back.  They will be missed.

Another week another sick child…yeah!  Paigie has not been feeling well; Snotty and lots of scary sounding coughs and fever.  Otherwise it has been just another week.  A week without drama can be good.  Peyton is huge.  He now weighs 14.2 pounds according to the bathroom scale.  This puts him at over 100% for weigh and about the same for length.  He looks so much older than his age.  He is so alert and strong!  He is definitely not a baby baby any more.  He still offers easy smiles and loves being with the family.  Chris got the pool heater working and we are looking forward to using the pool.  Paige is going to start rescue swim lessons probably next week.  That will be hard to watch but very important for her and mommy.  I can’t wait to set up the play set for her on the new grass.  I hope she likes it.  We went to Lake Eola again this weekend.  This time we met Angela and her pretty baby Ashlyn.  It was too hot to enjoy so we ended up going to lunch kind of early.  Gotta love Florida…too hot on an April morning to play outside.  Angela’s husband Matt joined us for lunch as well.  Then everyone (including mommy) had a nice long nap.  It was a good day.  Chris is finishing up his spring semester and not looking forward to the summer session.  I can’t wait until summer is over because daddy will be around a lot more. Hope everyone has a great week…talk to you soon. 

It’s been a while since I have posted, so I figured I’d say something. Peyton is doing wonderful. He is growing very fast. He loves smiling and just spending time with his family. Paige is doing great. Now that she is back in school her vocabulary is expanding extremely quickly. I picked the kids up from school yesterday and got to spend a little bit of time with them, which I really enjoyed.

I have been extremely busy with school, which has been really stressing me out. Yesterday was the only time I got to spend with Paige all week since she goes to bed so early. Peyton on the other hand, I can spend time with after class since he seems to be up until about 9 right now. Between classes, clinicals and work, I feel like I don’t have any time to study, and then trying to spend time with Hope, it is all quickly becoming too much.

Today I added 26 new pictures to the photo gallery. That’s all that I have for now.

 Chris was on spring break this week.  He was nice enough to deal with the contractors/laborers to get the remaining projects done around the house.  So the backyard is looking really great!  In about two weeks we will be able to have Paige and Peyton’s new play set anchored where it is supposed to be.  That should give Paige something to do while mommy focused on giving Peyton the time he needs too.  We never did find any playgrounds worth the drive on the new side of town.  I think we will stick to Lake Eola on the weekends to feed the birds and enjoy the playground.  Daddy also finally got the septic people to bring more dirt and sodded the area.  Basically everything is looking pretty nice.

Peyton is feeling a lot better.  No more ear pain but he has a cough that mommy and daddy don’t like.  He is changing his schedule weekly and mommy is trying to keep up.  He is sleeping longer stints through the night but wakes up very hungry!  Overall a joy with his big smiles.  He is pushing up and holding his head and shoulders up for several minutes while in tummy time.  He is so strong.  Paige is getting into a little trouble a school.  She is expressing herself in some physical ways that result in time outs.  Two year olds have a way about them.  She loves to sing and amazes mommy at her repertoire.  Basically we are blessed.  Hope everyone has a great week…talk to you soon.