Impromptu Trip to Wisconsin

We made a quick, last minute trip to Wisconsin. My paternal grandfather passed away and I decided to go to the funeral. In addition, my brother would be there and I haven't seen him in a long time. We found really cheap tickets to Minneapolis so I brought Ashton with me. Tanner is attached to me so he came too.

We set out bright and early on Wednesday for an 8am flight. Flight went wonderful as Tanner slept for half of it and then was nice the other half. The flight didn't scare me; the three hour drive is what intimidated me. Also, lugging around two carseats, a stroller, and a few bags was tricky. We got the rental car and hit the road. The kids did pretty well on the drive and we made it to my parent's home.

Ashton loves and adores Nana and Papa. She couldn't wait to arrive. We spent lots of time with family, which was great. We drove over for the funeral on Saturday and spent most of the day with my brother. My sister and her husband drove with me so I didn't have to drive 3 hours alone again.

While we were in town, my step-sister and her family stayed at my parent's home too. It was a full house filled with laughter and kids playing nicely. I love seeing Ashton interact with her cousins. My cousin, Amy, came over one night and Ashton ran her ragged playing some sort of monster-tag game. Another night, we went to visit my cousin, Lisa, who has a 10 year old daughter. Ashton walked right into their house and played very well with Megan.

All in all, it was a great trip. I am exhausted as both kids woke up at least twice every night. Tanner ended up in my bed most nights and Ashton joined me a few nights too.

Here's the trip in pictures.

My siblings and I.

Visited Great-Grandma. I got a picture of her holding Tanner but it was really blurry. Good thing we'll be back in 6 weeks.

Visited the new children's museum in Wausau. They had this car track thing that Ashton loved.

Ashton was introduced to a tablet.

Playing monster with Amy

My sister and brother-in-law with my kids and Rindy's.

My parent's ponds have tons of tadpoles so Ashton begged my mom to catch some every day.

Took the boat out for a ride. The kids loved it too.

Playing at the children's place at the Minneapolis airport. Ashton mooched off everyone else to ride the rides. I didn't have any coins... poor kid.

Our return flight didn't leave until 8pm. She was exhausted too. Tanner slept the entire flight and Ashton fell asleep the last hour.

The children's museum had this for tummy time. Tanner was willing to stay on his tummy for a long time.

Megan and Ashton selfie.

We can't wait to go back in six weeks for our planned trip!

4 Months Old

Four months already! It's going so quickly! A third of the way to a year!

Weight: 18 lbs 14 oz

Height: 26 inches
99th percentile for both weight and height. Another big kid in our family!


Clothing Size: 6-9 month clothing! Cloth diapers add some extra bulk but he is also just a big boy.

Daily Schedule: Tanner wakes up between 8 and 8:30 in the morning. Then he takes 3-4 naps throughout the day. He's following his sister's footsteps and taking 45 minute naps again! Ugh... sometimes I can get him to sleep longer if I hold him during Ashton's nap. He goes down to sleep very easily, which is the opposite of Ashton. He goes to bed about 7 or 8 at night. Most nights he wakes up around 2 and 5 for a quick snack.

Special Outings: The beach and zoo

Firsts: Rolling both ways now, first time with a babysitter- our awesome babysitter watched both kids for us! It was wonderful!

Sibling love: They like to play peek-a-boo together. Ashton also tries to calm him down if he's fussy and I can't get to him right away. She'll repeat what I say such as, "It's okay Tanner. She'll be right back buddy." She cares about him a lot!

Perfect onesie! Daddy's little linebacker.

Enjoying the swings together.

LOVES bath time.

All dressed up for church one morning.

I love pictures of him sleeping so soundly. Ashton never did this!

Peek-A-Boo

One of the rare moments that my kids are "playing" together!

Mother's Day

We had a pretty low-key Mother's Day. The best part was this video made by Joseph and Ashton. I love my kids!

Turnaround and Grandparent Visit

Roughly once a year, Joseph has something at work called a turnaround. This means one chemical plant shuts everything down, makes some changes/adjustments, and then starts everything back up again. This process takes several weeks. During this time, everyone, including engineers, is on shift work and covering weekends. Ugh... Joseph leaves around 5:15am and gets home about 6:30pm most days. This next week, he has the night shift so will be gone 5:15pm to 6:30am. We're hopeful it will be done by then. Thankfully, Ashton and Tanner have slept in during this time so I can get some sleep and make the long days go by faster. I've tried to do fun things with the kids like go to the zoo and visit some fun parks. I braved Houston yesterday and went to the zoo with some friends and did our shopping at Sam's Club. I was exhausted. The kids were well-behaved though so that was nice. We also ordered our playground so Ashton helps me at night to put that together. I think we have five steps done and about 100 to go...

During all of this, Joseph's parents came to visit for two days. Joseph was able to change shifts with a co-worker so he could be home for some of their visit. Ashton loved seeing Grandpa and Grandma again. She begged for Grandpa to read stories and sing songs before bed with her. They went to the crocodile encounter place again too.

This girl has no fear!

Loves the carousel. Tanner did too as it put him to sleep!

3 Months Old

Weight: About 16-17 pounds

Height: About 25 inches


Clothing Size: 3-6 month clothing and sometimes it's a tight fit. Using cloth diapers really makes them tight but when he wears a disposable, he's fine.

Daily Schedule: Tanner wakes up between 7 and 8 in the morning. Then he takes 3-4 naps throughout the day. Sometimes, they are 45 minute naps and sometimes I get lucky and he sleeps longer. He goes down to sleep very easily, which is the opposite of Ashton. He goes to bed about 7 or 8 at night. Most nights he wakes up around 4am for a quick snack. He eats about every 2.5-3 hours during the day. Pretty typical schedule so far.

Special Outings: Visited Daddy's work for lunch

Firsts: First time swimming. He's rolling over more. That's about it. Oh and I guess lots of cooing lately.

Sibling love: Ashton enjoys finding toys for Tanner to play with and she likes helping with "Tanner Tummy Time." When she finds him a toy, she tries to put it in his hand.

 

 

 

He loved the pool.

Ashton tries to see how long she can balance toys on his head.

Cloth diapers are back.

St. Patrick's Day

Love his big smiles.

Easter 2016

We had a wonderful Easter this year. I started doing some tot school activities with Ashton during the Easter week and she talks about it constantly. It was a good week to kickstart that since there were lots of activities related to Easter in the community. By the end of the week, she would tell me that Jesus was resurrected on Easter. At least something stuck! We had a great Easter dinner with some friends and Ashton is all egg-hunted out. Holidays are more exciting now that she's into them more.

Ready for the Richwood egg hunt

Getting her face painted. She sat so still.

Using giant tweezers to move pom poms to eggs based on their color. She loves it.

She used her scissors to cut pieces of tissue paper and placed them on the contact paper egg.

My Tot-School board

Ready for the Lake Jackson Easter egg hunt

She dressed herself this day. Shorts, raincoat (it was NOT raining), and tennis shoes...

Easter outfits. I have been waiting to do this since the start of my pregnancy with Tanner. Many more matching holidays to come in the future.