Happy Birthday, Lane!

Today is Lane's 36th birthday--Happy Birthday to you, Lane!

Yesterday L's parents came up to visit. After church we went to Panera Bread for lunch then Grammy & Bobba kept the kids while Lane and I went out for a little while. We didn't have any set plans for the afternoon, so somehow we ended up at the Clinton Presidential Library. It's been open for about five years now, and we've been saying we should go so we finally made it there. It's very nice and interesting.

Here's another picture of the building where Lane and I met (mentioned in post yesterday).

Fountains in front of the library.

Lane--one day away from being 36...and his younger wife. :)
We had a fun day together!
Poor Crosby had one of his rare fussy days yesterday. He had a tummy ache and just didn't feel well at all. He was worn out when we got home. Here he is taking a little nap on Grammy's shoulder.
We then celebrated with birthday cake. Lane requested chocolate with cream cheese icing. Rhett and Alexee arranged a few candles, and sang Happy Birthday to him.
Lane/Daddy: Hope you have a great day! We love you so much!

Children's museum and more

Lane didn't have to work this weekend, so it has been great having time with him. Yesterday we left the house early and took the kids to get donuts for breakfast. From there, we went to a local children's museum. We'd never been there before--it was really neat! I think Rhett & Alexee enjoyed it, and Crosby was content in the stroller.

Here's Lane working on the puzzle map of Arkansas:

Rhett & Alexee sitting beside the finished map:

This was the entrance to the play area for children age 6 and under. They liked the sleeping dragon who could open his eyes. Alexee was scared of him at first, but then decided he was fun.

Inside the play area they had lots of cool things--like a ship to climb on and slide from:
and a lighthouse to climb up in with horns to sound at the top:
Outside was an old tractor to climb on. I like this picture of Alexee wrapping her arm around her brother (or was she trying to wrestle him away from the steering wheel so she could have a turn?).
I took this from the car window as we were going to find a parking place. This building (behind the parking deck) is significant because that's where Lane and I met! We were both working for a public accounting firm on the 19th floor. That seems like such a long time ago (fall 1999)...and now we're driving by it to take our three kids to the museum!
After the museum, we went to the Old State House, which is very interesting.
Then we walked a short distance to a hotel to see the ducks in the lobby and ride the cool glass elevators!

A fun Thursday

We have had a really fun day. Rhett being in Kindergarten, or "KG" as he called it tonight, has made things seem so different around here in many ways. Somehow him starting school has made Alexee seem a lot more "grown-up", almost overnight. She's the big kid during the day now, and it seems like she's changing so fast. She did turn 2 1/2 this month, and I think there's such a BIG difference between age 2 and age 3, so maybe that's part of it. Anyway, Alexee had her first official playdate invitation--without big brother--today. My friend Kristy (we used to work together in public accounting) invited us to her house to play. Her older daughter is in school, and her younger is A's age. Another accounting friend, Madelynn, came with her little boy. I hadn't seen them in a really long time, and it was great to get to catch up while the kids played. Thanks so much for having us over, Kristy--I hope we can get together again soon!

Garrett, Alexee and Lindsey found lots of fun stuff to play with:

Crosby slept through most of the visit, but he did wake up long enough to meet everyone. It was so cute how much Lindsey liked him!

Alexee was impressed with their pet hermit crabs! (Please look through the glass coffee table and notice Alexee's sandals...she put them on herself and refused to listen when I told her they'd be more comfortable if she'd switch them to the right feet. She also wanted to wear this tiny baby bow in her hair.) :)
Rhett has had two non-sticker days this week due to some issues with talking in class. I felt sure this would be a problem at the beginning of the year because this boy NEVER stops talking at home--Lane says he feels sure he probably talks in his sleep. Hopefully he'll get the hang of the KG rules soon and realize that he can't talk quite as much there. He had a really good day today, and he did receive a sticker on his daily chart. I was so relieved, mostly because I was afraid he was getting discouraged. He's been so excited about school, but this morning on the way he quietly said, "I wish it was Friday". He seemed fine after school today, which made me feel better. He was assigned some sort of room helper duty today, which I think might have helped him stay focused. So after school we celebrated with a cupcake stop at the bakery:

Then we met Ali, Lawson and Maylee at a neat park near their house. This park offers much more than just swings and a slide...it has a pond with ducks and geese, lots of rocks to throw in the water, an old boat to climb on, etc. Ali and I were talking about how being there reminded us of our childhoods--we both grew up in the country and spent a lot of time by the water skipping rocks, catching crawdads, etc. The kids were so hot and tired, but they enjoyed every second of it.

Throwing bread to the ducks:

Throwing rocks:

Standing on the boat:
Standing on a tree stump, after trying to count the rings to determine its age:
Another friend, William, showed up just as we were leaving. Isn't he a cutie!? Hopefully he can get in on the rock-throwing/duck-feeding action next time!

5 months old

What a wonderful five months it's been!

Rhett & Alexee kissing on Crosby after school today:

Crosby not wanting his picture made:

This was Rhett's little seersucker golf outfit, one of my favorites.

Still not wanting to be photographed.
A little more relaxed. Watching me get the kids' dinner ready:
Oh this sweet face! What a joy!
Lane rarely gets to have lunch with us now that he's on hospital rotations, but today was a pleasant surprise! We met him at Panera Bread.
5 Months Old:

--Rolled over back to front and front to back, both within the last week.

--Sitting up, though wobbly.

--No teeth yet, but I don't think it will be long. I think I can feel one on the bottom--maybe we'll be able to see it soon.

--Starting to grab everything that's close by--hair, jewelry, etc.

--Still nursing. No cereal or baby food yet. I think I'll wait one more month (the pediatrician gave us a 4-6 month window, and I'm in no hurry).

--Still not sleeping through the night, but I know he can do it because he's done it three times. Probably mostly my fault because I have a hard time letting him "cry it out". It's easier just to feed him so that everyone can go back to sleep faster!

--Size 2 diaper, mostly 3-6 month clothes.

--Squeals and laughs out loud a lot.

--Liking "tummy time" more now--can hold head up great and look around.

--Likes the exersaucer and the Bumbo seat. Still likes the bouncy seat and swing, too.

--Doesn't sleep in his little sleeping bag/sleep sack any more. It was getting too short and starting to frustrate him I think.

New routine

Rhett is adjusting very well to his new Kindergarten routine. He gets up bright and early and comes downstairs to watch cartoons and get dressed. He has a new chore chart, so he has even been doing some of those--such as feeding Bogart and taking out the kitchen trash. Wish I was a morning person like him! He continues to be excited about going to school (I realize this was only day 4), and he has no complaints other than the wait for me to pick him up in carpool line. He seems confident about all the new things involved with school, which I'm thankful for. I told him on the way to school today that Miss J sent a note home encouraging students to memorize their student ID# because they'd only get to wear their number necklaces for two more weeks. I said, "We'll work on memorizing that." He then told me his ID number. I laughed and said, "Guess that's done." I'm so anxious to pick him up each afternoon and hear about his day. It's so good to see his sweet face when I arrive. He's always excited to open up his backpack and start showing me things right there in line! I keep telling him that it's a really busy place and I have to pay extra close attention to my driving to make sure I don't hit someone.

This picture was made (with my phone--so not the best) Friday morning. He actually did say that he was still sleepy that morning and wished he could rest in his comfy bed just a little longer.

I have to wake Alexee up every morning. She's used to sleeping until about 7:30, and I have to say she's not at all loving this new routine that she's been forced into. I've been getting her down for a nap earlier due to the early pick-up line, but I've had to wake her up then, too, and she does NOT wake up in a good mood.

Exhibit A: (Thursday when I woke her up from nap) :(

Exhibit B: (Friday when I woke her up from nap)
My sister was actually there visiting Friday and she tried to hold Alexee and comfort her, but Alexee just hit her. Crosby, however, just sort of goes with the flow. He was getting really sleepy snuggled up with Aunt Kala.

******

Saturday morning Lane had to work, and the kids and I went to the church so that I could attend the volunteer training for the upcoming church year. After I picked them up from their childcare rooms they wanted to look at the fish pond. The weather on Saturday was PERFECT. It didn't feel like an Arkansas August day at all.
So we came home and decided to lunch outside on the grass. I had a glass of iced tea, but a hammock (and two trees to attach it to) would have been nice! The kids were a little bit stressed out about ants at first, but I finally convinced them to relax and just enjoy being outside. While they were worrying about ants attacking our picnic, Bogart snatched most of their food. I think he ate an entire turkey and cheese sandwich, several Cheetos and maybe a fruit snack or two.
Hiding from the camera.
Rhett thought it was funny that I said Bogart should definitely get dessert because he ate a good lunch.
On Sunday I went back to volunteering in the church cafe, which was fun. I've been on "maternity leave" since March, so it was good to see everyone. So Crosby went to the nursery for the first time. :( He did fine. He slept through the first service (in his car seat), then I went to feed him between services. I got paged during the very last song of second service, but the nursery workers said he wasn't too upset, they just didn't want me to visit too long because he was starting to get fussy. It was sad to leave him in the nursery for some reason. If Lane has to work on Sundays this fall, I might sneak back into the newborn care room with Crosby and pretend he's tiny again. I wish I could keep him this size for a looong time--he's so sweet and cuddly and fun.

Sunday afternoon we went to our neighbor's birthday party. The kids had a blast running, climbing, bouncing and eating cake and ice cream. Happy 5th Birthday to Nate! He's such a cute little boy--he and Rhett have a lot of fun playing together.