Ready for Cereal!

Baby Drew had his first taste of rice cereal tonight...and you would have thought it was filet mignon by his reaction! He has definitely been fussy lately....all the drooling made us think it was a tooth, but then the last few days he has just wanted to eat constantly. It finally got to the point where he is easily up over 40 ounces of milk a day, so I took that as the final cue that he is ready for something more. Daddy saved the day and brought cereal home with him, and Drew couldn't get enough of it! He didn't even try to spit any of it out, and he went to bed sooo easily tonight! Let's just hope this does the trick!

A rare moment....

We caught a rare moment on camera today--Chloe was actually willing to smile for the camera and even hold Baby Drew.....for all of about 5 seconds. Luckily we were able to quickly take this picture before the moment was gone. As soon as we took the picture Chloe told me to get "it" off of her (meaning Baby Drew, of course), and as soon as I picked him up, he spit up all over me. That in turn sent Chloe into laughing hysterics, almost as if she knew she were setting me up!

"He Wants Me"

We're not 100% sure, but the past few days Drew has been showing the symptoms of getting his first tooth--fussiness, waking up at night, drooling, really stinky diapers, etc.--so needless to say it has been a rough few days for all of us. After a very fussy afternoon today we went for a jog in the stroller which usually puts Drew right to sleep, but of course not today. After stopping to put his passy in or comfort him for what seemed like 100 times, Chloe looked at me said, "It's OK, Mommy. He wants me." And then she held his hand until he fell asleep. It was honestly the most touching moment I've witnessed since Drew was born--I don't know if it was the selflessness of her act (because you see, she had to give up her thumb hand to hold his hand), or the fact that she wanted to help me out because I was so frustrated...but either way, it was one of those moments when you forget about the crying, the lack of sleep, and all the frustration, and you think to yourself....this is worth it.

Painted Pumpkins!

Here is a picture of Chloe showing off her "little" pumpkin and Drew's "baby" pumpkin that she painted the other night. As excited as she was to go and pick out the pumpkins, she was even MORE excited to paint them! I was amazed at how much fun she had doing it. I think what made her enjoy it more was that she did it completely by herself, which is her latest thing. She has to do everything for herself. We're finding that it's much harder sometimes to let her try things on her own verses stepping in to help, especially when it comes to messy things! But that's why I set her up outside, with lots of paper towels and newspapers, and before Daddy got home! :) And the fact that I needed to nurse Drew right when she got started pretty much ensured that she had free reign! I personally think the pumpkins are true works of art...don't you?!

Daddy Days

Our babysitter's annual vacation began literally 3 days after I started back to work (how's that for timing!!) so Daddy stepped up and took some time off to stay home with the kids. It actually made the transition into full-time daycare a little easier for Baby Drew I think, and I know that the kids have loved all their Daddy time!! They had a special lunch with Gramps, trips to the park, and even a successful "number 2" on the potty for Chloe (I have to hand it to Brian...he waited in the bathroom with her for 20 minutes until she did it, but the wait paid off!). Each day Drew is able to do more and more things, and we are reliving the "fun baby days" (what we call months 3-9) all over again. Here are some pictures of Daddy with Baby Drew and Baby Drew taking his first ride in Chloe's swing in the backyard. Of course we loved every minute when Chloe was a baby, but now that we realize just how fast those days pass, I think that makes us cherish it even more with Drew. And although he'd never admit it, I think Brian is a bit worn out from his time at home, and may even be looking forward (gasp!) to going back to the office!

Pumpkin Patch!

We took Chloe and Drew to the "pumpkin patch" over the weekend--we couldn't believe how excited Chloe was when we told her about it. She talked about it all week long until it was time to go. Little did she realize that we were just going to a big farm that had a bunch of pumpkins to choose from, not the actual pumpkin patch (maybe we'll do that next year when we are a little more brave!). In any case, she was thrilled to pick out her own pumpkin. She even picked out a baby pumpkin for Baby Drew. We're going to decorate them later this week so stay tuned for pictures of Chloe's artwork!

Drew's Baptism

Here are some pictures from Drew's baptism this past Sunday! Drew did very well at church (minus a small crying outburst right before the ceremony!) and during the baptism....he even smiled at the priest when he was giving us instructions. Chloe is now a huge fan of going to church because she got a sucker during mass (my way to bribe her into being quiet!). Every morning since the baptism she says, "we're going to church today! get sucker!". I guess that's what happens when you break out the special treat--we'll never be able to go to church without suckers again! After the baptism we had a really nice afternoon back at our house with family--thanks to everyone who was able to make it, especially Julie & Adam! Drew is lucky to have such wonderful God-parents. And for those of you interested in seeing how much Drew looks like Chloe at his age, the first picture is of Chloe on her baptism. (I wanted to make it the last picture but I'm not skilled enough yet at this blog thing to get it in the right position!) I suppose it helps that they were both wearing the same gown!.

Zoo Visit

We took the kids to the zoo this afternoon along with Julie & Adam, who are in town for the weekend from Iowa for Drew's baptism tomorrow. We had a great time seeing all the animals, or at least as many as we could fit in before the zoo closed. I think Chloe's favorite were the elephants (as you can tell by the very serious look on her face in one of the pictures as she was watching an elephant walk towards her!), but if you ask her she says that the lions were her favorite...probably because they were the farthest away from her I'm guessing! We had a great day with Julie & Adam and I know Chloe & Drew did too!

The Final Countdown

This is my last week at home with Baby Drew before I go back to work, and so I've been doing my best to make every last minute count. It's truly amazing how fast the time has gone by, especially now that we're starting to really figure each other out and have a lot of fun. It is incredible to look back at how far we've come in just 12 short weeks! Drew is over 12 pounds now, sleeps through the night, and has the most amazing baby smile (it's just like his Daddy's in case you can't tell!). Of course it will be hard to go back next week, but we'll make the most of it and keep this crazy family circus going!

Painting Project Complete!

Thanks to Brian and his dad, our biggest fall project is now behind us! They put a fresh coat (make that 2 coats!) of paint around the entire house, and it looks great! It was a lot of hard work, and we could never have done it without Tom's help and Cheryl's help with the kids. Thanks again!!

Almost...Almost...Got It!!!

Baby Drew has been on a mission this past week to find his thumb, and I think he is finally starting to figure it out. He made the loudest 'smacking' noises I've ever heard from a baby this week as he was trying out all his fingers until he could find one that fit just right. So today, with Chloe (aka. the "Thumb Master") cheering him on, we watched Baby Drew finally find his thumb! And for those of you familar with Chloe's attachment to her Buddy (her burp cloth), you'll notice that Drew has a firm hold on his the whole time he is working on his thumb. I honestly don't know if it's because he sees Chloe doing it or if it really is genetic, but it is amazing to me how they both have the same mannerisms already!

Chloe's FIRST Haircut

Chloe went to the salon with me today for her first haircut...ever. I have been a nervous-nelly when it comes to getting her hair cut because I have always loved her curls and I was so afraid that cutting them off would mean they would be gone for good! Brian even teased that Chloe would end up looking like one of those ladies with hair down to the floor and 25 cats! But all turned out well, besides Chloe being a little nervous about the cape (because she couldn't see where her hands went!) and I think her hair looks even better now--here are some before, during, and after pictures. She even got a cute braid in her hair (along with several suckers!) before we left, so she was as happy as could be!

Nana visit

Nana came to visit for the day to help me out while Brian was out of town, and we had a great time! We went to the park, McDonald's for lunch, and Chloe got her nails painted in the afternoon by Nana. Chloe even got new pj's before the visit was over, so she was in heaven! And I was so thrilled to have the kids bathed and ready for bed with the kitchen already cleaned up after dinner! Thanks for my sanity, Nana!

9 to 5!!

I am so happy to report that Baby Drew (as his big sister has affectionately named him) slept from 9pm to 5am last night, by far the best solid stretch of sleep he has had so far! Actually, he slept longer than that one night during the blackout, but we had left him in his carseat because he fell asleep there instead of his crib, so we aren't counting that. It's been somewhat of a challenge for us to get Drew to fall asleep (and stay asleep) in his crib, so I think we are finally making some progress. And another trick we learned during the blackout--Drew actually prefers the dark....the darker the better...so no more nightlight! And we won't tell him this when he's older, but we've been using Chloe's pink wearable blanket at night since he likes to be so warm. It makes Brian cringe, but it works!!

The lights are back on!

After almost 54 hours of darkness, the lights came back on at our house last night. We could hear the kids next door screaming with excitement, and we were certainly relieved to have the blackout behind us. We were really lucky not to have any storm damage and it definitely could have been a lot of worse. But I'm so happy that we don't have to give the kids their baths in the dark and try to potty train Chloe in a dark bathroom (YIKES!!) anymore!

5 Years Already??

Brian and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on Saturday night (before the lights went out!!) with a wonderful "date night". Thanks to Tom & Cheryl, who were willing to take over the circus for us for the night, we had a great dinner and night out just the 2 of us. We even worked in the yard together in the afternoon, something that is quite rare in our "divide and conquer" lifestyle. It's hard to believe that it's been 5 years already...but we've been very blessed to have so many great memories already. And, just for the day, it was so nice to just be a couple again.

Mommy's Helper

Chloe helped me do some fall planting tonight, and this is a picture of her showing off her gloves "just like Mommy's". Ok, so I didn't have any kid-sized gardening gloves, so I had to improvise!

WHO-DEY!

Today was the official beginning to what could be quite a long season for Bengals fans, and even the littlest fans had trouble getting excited about the game today in the Harves household! Unfortunately this is the best expression I could get out of Drew in his Bengals outfit--and in case you can't quite tell, that is spit-up all down the front of his shirt! I guess he was as disgusted with the game as his Daddy was!

Sand is icky!

This morning I took Chloe & Drew to the park near our house while Brian worked on the latest home improvement project. We actually planned ahead for once and brought the sand toys to play with. Chloe certainly loves playing in the sand...that is, for the first 5 seconds until it gets in her shoes! She had her crocs on today with no socks which made it even worse--she spent the whole time she was in the sand trying to get it out of her shoes, which was a no-win situation since it got in her shoes each time she took a step! It reminded me of the family vacation we took to Myrtle Beach when I was a kid and Julie kept washing her feet off in the ocean to get rid of the sand, only to get back to the towel covered in sand again! Maybe it's genetic....

This Thumb Doesn't Taste Good....

Chloe has sucked her thumb since she was 10 weeks old, but she didn't develop a preference for a specific thumb until somewhat recently. Now, she exclusively sucks her left thumb and holds her "buddy" (i.e. a burp cloth) in her right hand, with the tag up close to her nose. That creates a problem when she is coming down the stairs and has to hold the railing with her left hand. I told her today to just suck her other thumb instead, so she tried it and then made an icky face and said "This thumb doesn't taste any good!"