Beautiful Fall Day at the Zoo

My cousin Trisha was in town for a conference so she was nice enough to join the kiddos and I at the zoo.  It was a beautiful day and we got to see a lot of animals and enjoy some gorgeous fall weather.  We started the day off by catching the last 1/2 of the bird show.  The kiddos both got to hand a dollar to the raven in support of bird conservation.  We then headed over to see the monkeys, tigers, koalas and other animals along that path.  The tiger was making some vocalizitions, half roar half chuff (I learned that from Wild Kratts) and the kiddos didn’t like it one bit so we got out of there.We also got to check out the creepy crawlies in the bug room.  There are a lot of bugs in Texas and some of them are not good…so I took the opportunity to study the bad poisonous bugs for our own safety.  Like most kiddos Thomas and Elin love bugs but I am so afraid of the ones that can hurt them so I have had a in general “No touching Texas bugs” policy with them.  It is working about 50% of the time. 

Then we headed to the elephants and giraffes stopping to grab lunch.  The kiddos love feeding the giraffes and it is honestly one of the coolest things I have experienced as well.   William woke up when we sat down for lunch, had his lunch, and then was ready to do the zoo!  He looked around at all the animals and even got up close and personal with a giraffe…what a lucky 3 month old!

We took a break to let the kiddos legs rest and get a few pictures and then we were on for a long trek back to see the cheetah experience.  One of the favorite episodes of Wild Kratts is the on on cheetahs, so I thought the cheetah experience would be cool for them to see…and I wanted to see it too.  The cheetah and his black lab “brother” are about a year old and it is one of handful of cheetah/dog pairings in zoos.  They do it as to help the cheetah’s become ambassadors for the other cheetahs in the wild as the labs help show the cheetah that being around people is ok.  We watched them and listened to their story for a bit before Elin and William got too tired and we needed to sneak away.  Then it was time for the dreaded ride home…dreaded because William refuses to enjoy his car rides…big boo!  We made it home in one piece after several stops to calm him down.  The positive was that both Thomas and Elin got naps in after a big zoo adventure! 

Dallas Stars Game

Mike got some tickets for the Stars game against the Kings so off we went!   Some looked at us like we were half crazy bringing our 3 little kiddos to the game, but they were in awe and really did great with their listening ears on!   Thomas and Elin were in awe watching the guys skate!  William was awake for the first 5 minutes before he snoozed most of the time.  The buzzer was a little loud for Elin but a few cotton balls later she was a happy camper.  Aside from the game their next favorite thing was the roasted nuts and popcorn treats!  The biggest surprise of the night was that Mike and I actually got to watch 2 periods of hockey and didn’t need to wrangle the kiddos to do so…it was a win for everyone.  Thomas keeps asking when we are going back…so we will have to see what we can do to help him out!

Park Day

The kiddos and I went on a park hunt before Thomas had his second dentist appointment (a second opinion on his cavity being filled and the need for surgery to remove his tooth).   We headed closer to his dentist’s office and then found a great new park to explore.  The kiddos loved the climbing wall…especially Elin my itty bitty rock climber!  Later that night we met some friends at the park and William tried out the big boy swing.  He loved it and thought he was pretty cool as well.  Loving the cooler fall days and being able to get outside without sweating or too many layers just yet!

Halloween 2014

The kiddos and I started Halloween day off with some spooky shows and breakfast.  Then it was time to start crafting…I had a list of things I wanted to make, but always forget how long one thing takes.  So we got a couple crafts done and then changed for our lion walk before lunch.  After lunch it was naptime and W and I snuck away for a few errands.  When we got home Halloween was in full swing.  We attempted William in the pumpkin like we had in years prior with Thomas and Elin…he hated every single miserable second.  In fact I am certain that he thought it was the worst thing that has ever happened to him.  After we gave up on that, Thomas and Elin Mike and I carved pumpkins.Then it was time for a quick dinner and TRICK OR TREATING!  The kiddos were so excited to go this year.  We had been reading books, watching shows, talking about trick or treating and maybe just maybe they both remembered a bit from last year.  Thomas for sure did, Elin might have?  We took our family photo out front again and again had a lot to piece through to get a good one…This year Thomas was originally going to be Bumblebee the Transformer from Rescue Bots, but then he decided he wanted to be a farmer.  Elin, along with many other little girls out there was Elsa or “Frozen Girl.”  William started the day off in what Elin called his Pumpkin Patch outfit and ended up being a cross between a farmer and a scarecrow. We met up with a group of neighbors and the kiddos ran door to door as we made our way to the neighborhoods block party.  Once we arrived at the block party it was mass chaos. There were bounce houses, a scary Halloween movie playing, a haunted house and trunk trick or treating to be had.  After trying to survive there for a bit we ended up over at the pumpkin painting and then called it a night.  We trick or treated back home and then the kiddos got to check out their candy haul.  After they got to fill their belly with some of their sugary treats we all headed to bed.  At some point when we were sleeping the switch witch came to our house.  We didn’t get a note or anything but she left a couple of Lego toys and a few candy treats, but the rest she took with her.  The kiddos were pleasantly surprised with how “nice the witch was” to leave them some candy and a toy.   What a great and safe Halloween night! 

William is 3 Months Old

William turned 3 months old while the kiddos and I were in Minnesota on vacation.  William continues to be a pretty chill lil guy who loves smile and hang out.  He thinks his big brother and little sister are pretty great to be around and when they are in the room they are typically trying to play with him, do belly time, hold him, or are kissing on him.  It can get overwhelming for Mike and I as we try to keep the little guy safe from all the love!

He has really started to become more of a wiggler this month.  He loves to lay and kick his feet and wiggle around.  He is rocking his tummy time and can hold his head up with his chest off the ground for longer and longer periods of time.  He has had a few tummy to back roll overs, but is not yet a total roller.  He also inch worms his way around when he is on his belly with his strong legs, it won’t be long before he’s going places. 

He loves to smile and is quite the flirt.  I am not going to lie, when he is awake it is hard to get much else done other than to hang out with him and smile and “talk.”  He is cooing back and forth with us more and more.  His sweet coos and ahhs are music to my ears.  He also has several distinct cries for different things and my favorite are his hungry cry which has a bit of a “maahhhh” to it or his sad cry which he gets a huge pouty lip.  The first usually means he’s hungry and the second is if he is totally offended.  At this point he still thinks I am pretty great and when I smile he will flash me the biggest gummy smile he can.  They are so stinking cute!  I will be honest I don’t remember T and E being this smiley, but I am sure they could have!

He is still doing a great job eating and seems to be getting both longer and heavier. He eats between every 2 to 3 hours and then cluster feeds many nights eating every 15-45 minutes a few times.  He then goes to bed and sometimes wakes 1-2 times sometimes 3 or 4 to eat, just depends I guess.  There have been a few nights when he even has slept 7 ish hours…I am not going to complain about that one!  He eats and goes back to sleep so at this point I am pretty happy with that.  He does have reflux and is taking medication for it which seems to be helping his tummy discomfort.  After a little trial and error and cutting out milk and creams, I am now completely dairy free and that has made a huge change in his spitting up, gas and overall comfort. 

He is starting to have a somewhat predictable schedule waking in the morning between 7 and 8.  He then sleeps about 45 minutes to an hour and fifteen minutes after awake time.  If our schedule allows he will then take a long couple hour nap, if it doesn’t he will take a couple shorter naps and then will generally sleep in a wrap while we are out and about.  If we are at home he is taking either a long morning or afternoon nap and a few shorter ones in the day.  So really when I write it out he isn’t in a pattern pattern yet, but I can somewhat predict what his schedule will look like based on his/our day.

We don’t have a doctor appointment this month.  So no official height or weight although he is quickly outgrowing his size 1 diapers and his 0-3 month clothes.   

Storybrook Ranch, Fire Safety Town and a birthday Celebration…a very busy Tuesday!

We started out the day with our adventure at Storybrook Ranch.  We did this last year just after moving to Texas and wanted to check it out again.  The kiddos again had a blast playing in the bounce houses and running through the hay maze. Elin loved spending time with the ponies.  She wasn’t afraid of them at all and she was eager to ride on one.  Trying to teach her to be careful around them was a huge task and thankfully these ponies were very well mannered.  She’s such a fearless little thing!  After the kids got their fill of the ponies and animals we hopped on a wagon ride and headed back to the 1800s.  The ranch’s historic “dry bones town” has buildings from all over that they hand picked and had delivered to the town to preserve them.  In our quick tour we stopped into the jail house, the doctors office, the barber shop, the black smiths shed and the fire station.  There was so much more to see and explore  but time ran out!   We found a live praying mantis on the blacksmiths workbench.  It was so cool and very neat to see in the “wild.”  I hope to someday have one of these critters in my garden!After we were at the town we stopped back at the pumpkin patch for a few pictures and then headed out.  We got a decent picture of the kiddos and I still can’t believe I have 3 kiddos when I look at the picture of myself with them, crazy and amazing all at the same time!

After a quick hour at home and a recharge and refill of our waters we were headed up to Fire Safety Town for Grahm’s birthday.  The little boys were pretty excited and I was very proud of how well Thomas listened and answered the questions.  He was so eager to learn and tell the fire fighter what he knew about fire safety.  Elin did a pretty good job for not having a nap and paid attention as well as an over tired 2 year old could!  She loved driving the big fire truck at the end of the tour.    After we finished the tour we headed over to a park for cupcakes and some playtime to finish off Grahm’s birthday celebration.

It was a busy and extremely fun day!  On our way home I risked a complete melt down and took the 3 kids out to dinner.  Elin wasn’t going to make it home in the car awake and we were just about to the time when if she goes to sleep she could sleep til the next morning…so we stopped in and grabbed a quick bite successfully before heading home.  As expected Elin fell asleep at 6 in the car and slept til the next morning at 7:30, it was a busy day!! 

Grandpa Jeff is in Town

Grandpa Jeff had a few meetings in Dallas so he came down a day early to spend some time with us and meet William.  He got in on Sunday afternoon about lunch time and after some lunch and a little football he and Mike took the big kids to the sports store.Then it was time to come home and head to the park for some JLBBA (Jeff Laschen Baseball Academy).  Thomas had a blast and just as he was getting tired, Elin got attacked by fire ants.  They had crawled into the wagon and as she sat to get a drink of water they started to bite her.  We got the ants off her as quickly as possible and and a few bites later, she was ant free and we were headed home.  Fire ants are a new bad thing around here….their bites feel like a quick needle poke and then they get blisters and really itchy.  We have been luck to avoid them for the most part and hope to continue this trend.

When we got home we had 2 very tired kiddos on our hands.  We got them in and out of the shower and then Grandpa read them a few books before Elin went to bed.  Then Thomas got to go in the backyard again and play with Grandpa and have dinner with us before he went to bed.  It was a fast few hours but we got lots of things jammed in with Grandpa. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Tuesday night Elin was already asleep by the time Grandpa got home from his work dinner.  Thomas was exhausted too so he and Grandpa did a few animal calls on his iPad and then a couple books and then it was bedtime.  It was a quick trip for Grandpa, but we will see him in a few more days when we head to Minnesota.

Botanic Gardens

Our friends, Grandma Debbie and her daughter Shelby, met us at the Arboretum to check out the Children’s Garden and the fall Pumpkin/Gourd area.  We spent the morning exploring the Children’s Garden.  The kids had a great time playing in all the water features as it was in the low 90s.  Then we grabbed a bite to eat and checked out the pumpkins before heading home.  It was a fun morning with Deb and Shelby.