Growing Like Weeds

I took Rane and Pierson to the pediatrician this morning for their well baby visits, Pierson's 1-month and Rane's 2-year. I didn't realize it was a big deal to take two kids at the same time for a check-up until I received several, "Good luck with that," and "I did that once and will never do it again," comments but my theory was a one-stop-shop! I am happy to report that both kids did just fine and it was easy. When I took Pierson in for a weight check a week after she was born she weighed 5 lbs 12 oz, which was a little over 3 weeks ago. I was thrilled to see 8 lb 4 oz on the scale this morning! She also grew 3 inches since birth! That's my girl! Spencer and I can both be patted on the back for making it our mission to fatten this baby up before this visit today! She is in the 25th percentile for weight and 50th for height and head. All three of our kids seem to follow this pattern thanks to a tall, thin father! Rane is such a big boy weighing in at 26 pounds! He's in the 30th percentile, which I believe is the highest percentile he's ever been in for weight! ha! He's also 35 inches tall. Ella-Ann is, I believe, around 43 inches so he's gaining on her quickly. Both kids received shots as well but it wasn't a big deal, especially with a promise of a sucker afterward for Rane.

We are very blessed to have healthy, growing children and I am reminded of that even more so now that Pierson is here and is the picture of good health for a newborn!

I took these pictures yesterday before church because I coordinated their outfits and they looked so cute! Of course the pictures aren't great but I don't expect much with 3 now!

She Finally Made It

When my parents came down the night that Pierson was born the plan was for them to leave when I got home from the hospital, Spencer would stay home for a week and then my Mom would come down to help me for a few days. Well with sickness and bad weather both here and in Kentucky my Mom wasn't able to come down until this week. It was the first time she actually got to cuddle with Pierson because when I was in the hospital my Mom had caught my horrible illness while they were down for Christmas so when she did hold her she had on a mask.

We were thrilled to finally have her down for a visit this week! She arrived Monday afternoon and the kids were so excited to see her. They played and played together, read a ton of books, cuddled and played outside. While Ella-Ann was at school we hit the mall, Whole Foods for the early bird special (as usual) and Trader Joe's. Last night we all went to our favorite Thai restaurant for some really, really good sushi, sashimi and seafood (cooked for Mom!). It was great having her here and we were sad to see her go this morning.

I love Rane in his Chicago Bears shirt! I normally dislike the kids wearing any sports attire but do make an exception for this adorable vintage shirt (Spencer has a similar one and I gave them to the boys for Christmas because it's Spencer's favorite team) and a few St. Louis Cardinals t-shirts! I am learning to give in...give me more time, I know I have a little boy!

Sweet little girl is growing! She looks huge in this picture and the one below but she's not that large!

See....she does smile! Not a great picture because I was on the floor looking up at her when she just randomly smiled and I had the camera in hand but at least you get the idea!

I hate that there are very few pictures of me with the kids, especially when they are so small so I told Spencer to take one the other day. Such is the life of the behind-the-scenes blogger!

A Family Outing

A Christmas present that my parents always give us each year is either annual passes to the aquarium or the zoo. We have been at the zoo for two years now so we thought this year we'd make the switch back to the aquarium since they have some new exhibits and it's our last year in Atlanta. We finally made it downtown to go to the aquarium yesterday afternoon. Ella-Ann came bursting through the doors of the school at 2:15 when we picked her up! She was so excited! This was the first time Rane had been so Spencer and I were looking forward to his constant "Wook Mommy! Wook Daddy!!!!" He is easily excited so we knew it would be a treat to take him! Spencer mentioned to me while we were there that the last time we were at the aquarium we just had one kid...now we are a family of five!

We had a blast while there and both kids enjoyed all the amazing sights. Rane walked the entire time and did a great job keeping up with us and not throwing a tantrum (except when leaving). He loved the person dressed up as a penguin the most and did his little happy dance when he was up close and personal with him! Too funny! They have added quite a few things since we were there 2 years ago and we had such a good time. Although I will not attempt to make such an outing all by myself with all three kids!

I put Rane in his shark shirt for the occasion! You cannot tell, but the letters are neon orange and every time he looks down at his shirt he tries to pick them off!

In awe!

Ella-Ann was afraid of the huge fish!

Lets not forget Sweet P!

We were the only people watching the otters when the trainers brought out new toys for them so we got to watch them play really close to the glass. The kids went crazy!

Yes a random picture that I had to include! My sweet friend, Emily, sent us blue chocolate covered strawberries when Rane was born and kindly sent beautiful pink ones for Pierson's birth! They were so so so good! Spencer and I made sure Ella-Ann never saw them...I know, we are selfish parents and kept them all to ourselves! Who wouldn't???

A New Normal

We are getting used to a new member of our family these days and settling into our new normal. Since we had so much snow and ice last week Spencer was home again all week to help me with the kids, which was awesome and totally unexpected. My mom was supposed to head down to help me since Spencer would be back at work but obviously that couldn't happen because of the weather. I literally did not step my big toe outside my door from Sunday afternoon until Friday...FRIDAY! We parked our van at the bottom of our driveway (we live on a hill for those of you who haven't been to my house before) but that really didn't matter since our street was a solid sheet of ice for a week. Spencer attempted to go to work on Thursday, got stuck in ice, abandoned the car and ended up walking home. That was day 4 of the snow/ice. Craziness...just crazy! I was so happy to go to Publix on Friday afternoon! I liked it so much I went again on Saturday! Thankfully I had Pierson to keep me busy all week and I didn't mind too much staying in.

So today we are back to a normal day...horray! I have been looking forward to Ella-Ann being back at school, Rane being in PMO two days a week and just doing our normal activities and errands. Now I have Pierson to tote along but she's no trouble. Today was my first day by myself all day and I kid you not I sat down to feed myself, nurse and drive. I was chatting with my friend, Megan, on Sunday about life with 3 kids. She had her third baby in November so we are in the same boat right now. She told me she found herself running from task to task while at home and rarely sat down. Well that was me today. We live in a small house and it doesn't take long to get from one end to the other but I was still literally running from end to end all day. There seems to always be something to do now, someone needs to be fed, dressed, changed, bathed, etc. It is nuts right now but I actually like being busy so it is good for me. I hate sitting still for long but I do have to admit being so busy while sleep deprived is another story! It's exhausting!

Pierson is doing great. She is gaining weight and plumping up...sort of! She still has her cute little chicken legs! We were having to feed her every 2 hours, at night too but I refused to get up that often so it was every 3, once we brought her home from the hospital because her weight had dropped too low. Now she is eating every 2-2.5 hours during the day and will go for one 3 to 4-hour stretch at night...not all nights but most of the time. Thankfully my sweet husband gets up one of the times and feeds her a bottle. That really helps me to not be a complete walking zombie! Pierson is sleeping in our room, which is no fun but we have no choice, and she sometimes keeps us awake with her whining and grunts. She may be evicted soon but we don't know where else she'd go in this house!

Ella-Ann and Rane have adjusted so well to having Pierson around. Today I had to take Pierson to Egleston Children's Hospital for a renal ultrasound because of the 2-vessel cord and my low amniotic fluid (kidneys are fine, by the way) and when I got home Rane comes on a dead sprint to the door and a big smile stretched across his face while screaming "Mommy!!! Baby!!! Mommy! Baby! Hi Baby! Hi Baby!!" As soon as I sat the car seat down he was kissing her head. He is one sweet boy. Both of them are in love with her and want to be around her and help me out as much as they can. As soon as I say Pierson needs a new diaper I have both of them vying for the chance to get the diaper and wipes out for me and then I have an audience of 2 who's heads get in the way and I cannot even see to change the baby's diaper! They are all about seeing that poop! :)

I don't have any new pictures of Pierson because she has a serious case of baby acne and is not exactly Miss Photogenic at the moment so I will snap some soon as soon as it goes away. Currently she looks like a 16 year old boy!

I will leave you with this photo, though....

Last night Spencer and Rane were at Ella-Ann's beauty shop! In this picture Ella-Ann is filing Rane's nails! She loves getting out her play makeup, hair and nail stuff and taking care of the boys and I. I don't know if Spencer would readily admit it, but I think he enjoys having Ella-Ann brush his hair, do his nails and put eye shadow on! It really does feel so good! This is what we did all last week....get beautified by Ella-Ann!

Snowed In....

'till who knows when! To say Atlanta is shut down is an understatement. We received close to 8 inches of snow with a good layer of ice on top on Sunday night and throughout the morning on Monday. No one is on the road and if you are you are either in a ditch, stuck in non-moving traffic for well over a day or are walking. I am so thankful I stocked up at the grocery and we have a very warm house to relax in so all is well with us. I am enjoying my little family an extra little bit since Spencer is not at work and Ella-Ann is not in school. The kids have enjoyed playing outside with Spencer both today and yesterday. Spencer is quite the trooper Daddy because he has hauled these kids around on that ice, dragged them up and down the driveway too many times to count and played and played in the snow with them! All the while Pierson and I relax in the warm house! Of course we do not own heavy duty snow attire, nor sleds for that matter, so the kids have made do with rain gear and lots of layering underneath!

This would be snow covering the car inside the carport!

Rane is so SO funny! Yesterday morning Spencer took Ella-Ann outside to just check it all out first and before I knew it Rane had his pajamas unzipped, dropped to the floor and was watching them at the front door! He was more than ready to play in the snow! Ella-Ann was torturing him in this picture!

It doesn't show but Rane loves the snow and was livid to come inside!

Notice that Rane doesn't even break through the ice....he just scoots!

Birthday Pictures

Here are some pictures from Rane's birthday party last Sunday with the grandparents and from today with just our family. Spencer and I were going to give Rane a tricycle for his birthday but Spencer found a better gift...a glider bike. It doesn't have pedals or training wheels so we shouldn't have to put training wheels on his bike when he gets older because this teaches balance. At first he will push it along with his feet and once he gets older and gets a sense of balance he can put his feet up on the pegs and gliiiiiide! We also gave him his first baseball set, or whatever you call it!

As soon as we put the cake in front of him his hands were in it!

We were singing "Happy Birthday" to him in this picture and he was loving the attention!

He decided to ditch the fork and use Grover instead!

Celebration #2 today....

Death by chocolate cake that Ella-Ann and I made yesterday. Yum!

Ella-Ann wanted in on those star candles!

Not a great picture but it captures how happy Rane was on his glider bike!

Well I couldn't end the post without some more pictures of Pierson!

Her hands are so tiny, especially when next to Spencer's hands!

Happy 2nd Birthday Rane!

Today Rane turns 2! Wow, time has flown this past year! I cannot get over the fact that Sweet Baby Rane is now 2 years old. Even though we have a new baby Rane will always be my "Baby Rane." I have always called him that and I was called "Baby Kate" forever, even affectionately as an adult at times, so like me the name has just stuck with him. He is still soooooo sweet loving. I thought having a boy my cuddles were over but that is not the case with Rane. He is extremely loving and usually (sometimes now he will protest) very willing to dish out lots of hugs (now getting tighter and stronger!) and kisses to all of us. As soon as he saw Pierson in the hospital he wanted to get his hands on her and give her a big kiss! He has just included her as a normal part of his life and on his own kisses and hugs her before his nap and bed time. He is such a sweetie!

Rane is certainly, thus far, our ham of the family. He's the superstar! He loves attention and will grab it whenever he can, especially around our families. He is also very funny. He doesn't try to be funny, he just is in his mannerisms and in the things he says/does. We laugh at him all the time. Most of the time he just has to raise his shoulders to his ears and smile really big and he's already got us smiling and laughing.

He is also a very social child. He can claim responsibility for bringing Ella-Ann out of her shell. He has never met a stranger and always, always yells "HELLO!" and "BYE-BYE!!!!" when we are going in and leaving stores. He will chat it up with anybody and everybody and I know he lifts people's spirits when they see his sweet smiling face while waving hello to them in the grocery line. I love pushing him around in a cart at the grocery because it's like social hour for him. He wants to talk to everyone and he usually does!

Rane is also very curious and always has been...now he's just getting into more and more stuff because he's more agile and taller...smarter too! Yesterday Ella-Ann and I went to the Farmer's Market and my phone rang from Spencer while in the car on the way home. I answered it and heard "Hi Mommy!" Of course I tried talking with him a bit and asked, "Does Daddy know you have his phone?" His response, "Yesss." He kept saying "Hi Mommy!" over and over so I asked him to put Daddy on the phone, which he did not. I finally hung up and he called me back! When I got home Spencer had fallen asleep on the couch so I asked him if he knew Rane had his phone and called me. "No he did not," was Spencer's answer to my question. The boy actually managed to figure out Spencer's touch-screen phone, unlock it AND push a few buttons to dial my number....twice! Honestly that is typical Rane behavior. We have always had to keep a third eye on him!

Ella-Ann and Rane now play together most of the time, which is wonderful. They "fight" often as well, but I know that comes with the territory, especially since they are 3 years apart in age. Rane loves to play with her and sometimes gets a little too rough. Yesterday he walked up behind her and tackled her to the ground! He is much stronger than her now and can easily take her down! I guess I will always be getting used to having a little boy in the house!

We had a birthday celebration for him last Sunday when I got home from the hospital since both sets of grandparents were here for Pierson's arrival. I told them in advance that we would be having a little party for him so everyone brought presents and I got a Sesame Street cake (Rane loves Grover and Elmo even though he doesn't watch TV) from Publix. He loved having everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him and was all smiles. He dove into his huge piece of cake and used the Grover figure that was on his cake as a utensil. He was a mess but loved every minute of it! Yesterday Ella-Ann and I made his birthday cake for today during nap time. When we get home from church we will have cake and he will open his presents from Spencer and I. I will post pictures of both parties later.

Happy Birthday Rane! We love you sweet boy!