Halloween 2014 and Weekend Family Fun

I need to do a random update post, maybe tomorrow, but for now it's time to recap our crazy Halloween weekend! My brother and Marla came up for the long weekend and my Aunt and cousin came down from NY. I'm not even sure everyone knows that some of my cousins from NY that were in NC moved down to GA back in April/May. Luckily they had room for them to stay at their place since we already had my sister's gang at our house. Pic with everyone is further down in this post.

 

With so much going on I decided to take half day at work on Halloween. I rushed to the store to get some more food for our gatherings and when the kids woke up from naps it was a quick pumpkin carving extravaganza! 

 

All Max wanted to do was use his tools to carve and open it up. Once it was open he thought it was gross. He doesn't like mess. I got that spiderman set to stick in the pumpkin half off at Kroger so I thought that would do just fine for our last minute carving.

 

 Hadley wore her smock (eating cover) to get dirty.

 

She was pretty excited about the whole thing, too!

 

A few of our crew.

 

I wanted to look back at our Halloween and see how big Colette was so I threw her at my brother for some photos. It was such a big help having more hands so I could do a lot of cooking and they could pass Coco around (everyone has nicknamed Colette that). We made yummy mummy hotdogs and had appetizers for our early dinner. Of course we (Karen and Aunt Jan) made pumpkin rice krispy treats for our dessert. I was too busy to take pics of them. The weather was going to be taking a turn for very cold and we thought it was going to hold out for trick or treating but it got cold right during it all. So much wind! 

 

Next it was costume time! Max was spider man this year. He had expressed interest in being a robot or a super hero and I couldn't find a robot costume or have time to make one so I picked this one up at the store one day.  He then wore it that day for the rest of the afternoon. Any costume that he will actually wear is a winner in my book! He loved it. He was shooting his spider webs in this photo.

Colette was a kitty cat to match her cousin Hadley. She had to stay behind as it was getting really cold.

 

 Hadley decided our graveyard was the place to be and posed for her photos in there!

Cousins! 

 More cousins! Kinsley came over to trick or treat with us. David borrowed our neighbors wagon and had the task of pulling them up and down the hilly streets. At this point they just wanted lollipops and to be pulled around.

After we got back I put Colette to bed and then brought Max over to his buddy Chase's house. They were all getting over sicknesses so we wanted to stop over since they didn't do a lot of trick or treating. Super heros! The guys had a bon fire outside. I went and made a few smores and called it a night. It started getting really windy and rainy so they had to put the fire out around 10.

 

Saturday we had the extended family in on my moms side so this is one of the whole group! It was very fun to catch up with everyone.

 

Family pic.

 

Colette got to meet her cousin Cole (Coleman) who is 6 weeks older than her. They live in Charlotte now so not too far. 

They were just so cute rolling and talking to each other on the floor. Colette is looking pretty serious here, but she was having a good time.

 

Here is a shot of all of cousin kids. It's all complicated as I'm actually 2nd cousins with all of them. Since my mom is the youngest it makes everything complicated, nevertheless it was fun having lots of extended family and cousins in town this past weekend!

Happy Halloween!

 

Happy Halloween!! This is a picture of Max from last year. I mean he seriously couldn't get any cuter! That was the last year of us picking out his costume. I am still shocked we got him to wear it including the head piece and the feet. Nothing like a little peer pressure from the rest of the kids in the neighborhood. This year he will be a super hero (Spider man) and Colette will be a kitty like her cousin Hadley. Pics to come on Monday!

The Best Milk Storage Solution Out There!

Before I went back to work I pumped extra milk at night before bed and after the first feeding every morning for about a month and a half. I am so glad I did because I don't have to worry about going to an appointment, not pumping enough at work or even a date night. I know I have a little stash in the freezer for baby girl. There isn't a ton in there and I am depleting it as the days go on, but I hope it'll last till 6 months.

I know the trick of freezing your milk flat to store it better so I've been doing that. David also used some old formula containers he had saved from Max (David's a container hoarder if you weren't aware).

I have been putting them in there to keep them together and trying to arrange by date. I was so excited when Whitney from Fairhaven Health reached out to see if I would review some of their products. It's like she was looking into my freezer and knew I needed some help! Have you guys heard of this company? They are seriously awesome. Their mission is to develop products designed to safely and naturally promote fertility, pregnancy wellness, and breastfeeding success.

  She sent me The Milkies "Save and Store" bundle.  My favorite part is the freezer organization system. The concept and design is brilliant! You can lay your milk bag on top of the easy freeze metal tray and when it's frozen slip it into the top IN spot. The oldest milk comes out the OUT spot on the bottom so there is no guess work on which order to use the milk.

The lighting is horrible around my freezer so this will have to do to show you, but I am loving it! Just make sure you use the top freeze tray as some of my milk was a little too fat to fit through the opening. If it doesn't fit, don't force it, one of my bags had a leak in it from me shoving. I wasn't able to try the milk-savers as I don't leak much from the side not feeding anymore. This would have been great for the first 2-3 months as you have a lot of milk just coming out everywhere (sorry TMI). You can use any freezer bags with this system, I use the medela ones. She also sent me a supplement called Nursing Blend, which contains your full postnatal support, plus it has an added herbal component to help increase the quality and quantity that you produce.I haven't tried it long enough to comment, but I will when I have!
**Update** I am loving the supplement. I take it twice while I am at work to help with milk production and now I don't have to worry about getting my 4 ounces out per session. 

Colette approves! Check out Fairhaven Health. They have so much great advice, articles and products.

Colette is 4 months old

My pretty princess is 4 months old already!

Stats-

Height: 24" (39%)

Weight: 14 lbs 12.5 oz (72%)

Head Circ.: 15 3/4 (23%)

She's slimmed down on the percentages, but still growing nicely. I mean look at those rolls still!

Personality- She is just the happiest baby on the block for sure! She is always coooing, talking back to us and smiling. Such a difference between when Max was her age. I was just reading back on his 4 month post and he always had to be doing something and we can just leave baby girl on the floor and she is happy talking or eating her hands.

Developments- Her hands are always in her mouth. She will put your fingers in her mouth and bite down pretty hard. Lots of drool. She is getting really good at grabbing at toys and pulling them to her mouth. She loves her feet too!

 

She also rolls still from back to front all the time. She enjoys tummy time and just looking all around. 

Sleeping- Right around the 4 month mark she was beginning to regress on sleeping. She went from waking up 1 time a night to 2 even when swaddled. I read about this and it really is a thing. I decided I would take away the swaddle since she was waking up with or without it. We went with a zipadeezip squirrel suit I like to call it (mom found it on shark tank). The concept is that the startle reflux isn't that noticeable because their arms don't fly up with the range of motion it allows.

She gets up for the day around 7-7:30am and takes swing naps during the day still. She then gets one last cat nap around 6-6:30pm then when she gets up she gets some oatmeal cereal, a bath and bedtime around 7:30/8pm. Then she is up twice on a bad night and once on a good night. She's just so cute and I still like the night time feedings so I'm not in a rush right now to try CIO. She goes down so easily after that it's ok. 

Eating- She is eating around 4 ounces each feeding with 3 pumped bottles of breast milk while I am at work. She takes a bottle really well and no issues going back and forth. She eats around 7/7:30, 10am, 1pm, 4pm, 7:30pm and middle night feedings. She loves the oatmeal as you can see above. Most of it ends up outside of her mouth, but she still opens and makes noises indicating more.

I'll have to compare Max's first cereal pics for you. One major difference is that Colette has officially lost any blue in her eyes! Our Max was as blue as blue could be!

Randoms-

-We moved to size 3 diapers recently (honest company). I have to use pampers 12 hour night dry diapers at night because she drinks so much she's wetting out of them.

-She's wearing mostly 3-6 month clothing. 3 month is very snug. 

-Her eyes are more hazel than brown

-Although Max had darker hair at this point, her eyebrows are way darker than his was so I think she will be keeping the dark features (there's still hope for her looking like one of us!)

-She loves her bath and it's so funny to watch her move her legs so fast.

-Max still is the best big bro ever. Lots of kisses are being given and he's very patient with her.

David's Aunt Linda Comes For a Visit

David's Aunt Linda came into town from the Chicago area this past week to visit and for a work convention. We're so glad she was able to come see us and have dinner. Thanks to Cora and Frank for bringing the dinner! Darrin, Stacey and the kids came over to visit also (you can see Austin peeking his head out over in the top of the pic). David took some candid photos and I saw him snapping them so I posed.

Colette enjoyed some time eating her hands and bouncing around.

Max was being bribed to eat veggies by watching tv (as usual).

Sister photo! Aren't they just the cutest?!

Colette decided to freak out during the photo, but she's still cute.

David had issues getting the camera lighting correct, but at least we have a few photos!

Max was being shy and wouldn't take a photo until they both pretended (well you can see who was pretending and who was really doing it) to pick their nose.

Thanks for visiting and always reading my blog, Aunt Linda! Hope to see you again really soon!

Jacksonville Beach Trip 2014

Back in August we took a weekend trip to visit my brother and sister in-law at their place on Jacksonville Beach.

It was the hottest days they've had all summer with temperatures approaching the 100 degree mark. There was absolutely no breeze. My sister gave us her beach tent to use for Colette, but with no breeze and no fan she was extremely uncomfortable. This is the only pic I have of her on the beach in her cute swim suit! She was a bit over 2 month old here. She is normally so go with the flow that we knew she couldn't stay when she got so fussy.

Luckily there were so many of us that we could rotate who stayed up at the condo with Colette and the others played all day with Max at the beach and the pool. Of course Colette had to wear everything flamingo!

Max had a BLAST at the beach. He finally loved the sand, the pool and even wanted to go in the ocean (when someone was holding him).

We also went to the museum one day to get out of the heat. Max loves to explore and touch everything!

We even got to stop by my friend Jessica and Jasons to visit with them and see their beautiful kiddos. Max had fun playing with Olivia. Poor Colette had a massive poop explosion and her mama didn't bring extra clothes, at least her diaper is cute.

Max's favorite part was jumping into the pool!

Gigi, Max and my brother enjoying the water. I just realized that Marla and me aren't in any photos, picture fail.

Not sure if Max is waving or what. We had lots of fun watching dolphins and some sharks from his balcony most mornings, too!

Max and his shadow!

I mean how adorable is he with his hat on?! I think he was trying to get the sea gulls to move from his spot.

MOOOOOOOOOVE.

In the mornings down the middle of the beach was a smaller water area that Max loved to play with. He enjoyed the beach toys Marla got for him and would dig and try to make sand castles.

He was seriously occupied for hours, he was at the perfect age. We just need our little gal to get a little bigger before they can both enjoy it.

We had a lot of fun watching Max at the beach, thanks for letting us stay Chris and Marla!