Catch Up!

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since my last post. There is so much to catch up on that I'm not even really sure where to begin...warning, this is going to be a long one!

Halloween:

Emma Kate and Easton went as a princess and a frog prince this year for Halloween, and they were quite the pair! She loved being the center of attention and liked it even better once she realized she got "treats" everywhere we went...the girl LOVES candy!

Las Vegas:

I decided to surprise Brice for his 30th birthday with a trip (it's not until December 7th, but since December is so crazy we went a little early). I gave him three different options of where we could be going but told him that he wouldn't know where until we showed up at the airport. Well, anyone that knows me, knows that I'm NOT very good at keeping secrets. I was dying to tell him where we were going! A couple of weeks before the trip I ended up spilling the beans, but I was still able to surprise him with a few other fun things during the trip. :)

We stayed at the Trump International and it was absolutely beautiful. It was originally built to be condos, so it didn't have a casino in it, but we didn't really care because we really don't gamble anyway. Each room had it's own kitchen, sitting area and a gigantic bathroom! The only downfall of the hotel was that it was on the far north end of the strip and it was quite a walk to get anywhere, but other than that it was perfect, besides we needed to do a little walking with all that we ate while we were there!

The first day we were there I surprised Brice and took him to Bobby Flay's restaurant Mesa Grill. Brice loves watching Bobby Flay on the Food Network and his burger definitely didn't disappoint! (And his coconut layer cake didn't either!! :)) Afterwards we walked down to New York, New York and road the roller coaster. I had ridden it before when my sister got married in Vegas 6 years ago, but wow, I didn't remember it being so scary! I think I'm getting old because I screamed the entire time! And later that afternoon we went to the movies. Yes, we went to the movies in Vegas, haha! Anyone that knows my husband well won't be all that surprised. We went to see 2012, the movie wasn't all that great but several scenes take place in Vegas, so that was kind of neat!

The next day we got up and went downtown. Everyone told us that if we were going to gamble, that we needed to go downtown to do it because they had $5 blackjack tables. Well, after losing about $50 I convinced Brice that shopping at the outlet mall would be much more productive! :) I was so surprised he actually agreed! After shopping we went to eat a late lunch at Margaritaville, which was such a fun atmosphere. And then we headed over to the Mirage for the Beatles show Love. This was our first experience seeing a show in Vegas so we had no idea what to expect. The show was really good but we decided that whoever created it must have been tripped out on drugs because it was kind of "out there"! However, the music was great!

Saturday we did more sightseeing and of course eating! We watched the water show at the Bellagio, the Volcano at the Mirage and the Sirens of TI at Treasure Island. And by Sunday we were SOOO ready to be home and love on our babies! We had a great time just hanging out by ourselves and REALLY appreciate my parents for taking such good care of Emma Kate and Easton while we were gone (I don't think they got too spoiled!)

Thanksgiving:

We were with Brice's side of the family for Thanksgiving this year so we packed up and headed to the big city (aka Lazbuddie) on Wednesday evening and then Thursday we drove to Hereford to spend the day with Brice's grandparents, aunt and uncle and cousins. It was so much fun meeting Slade and Lindsey's precious new baby Knox, it definitely made me realize how BIG my baby is! And, I was a bad mom that day and didn't take a single picture of Easton's first Thanksgiving. :(

Funny story - Emma Kate was in entertaining mode in Hereford and pretty much kept us laughing all day. During lunch someone asked her, "So Emma Kate, what do you do?" and without skipping a beat she looked up and said "Time out!" Haha, and yes, she had spent quite a bit of time in time out that morning! :)

Christmas Decorating:

Friday we started decorating the house for Christmas and it was so much fun seeing Emma Kate's eyes light up as she saw the tree for the first time! She LOVES the lights and is constantly asking to go outside to see them. Also, we put up a tree in her room for the first time this year and she just thinks that is too cool, in fact every night before bed she has to tell her tree "night, night"...too cute!

The Pumpkin and Milestones

We finally got around to decorating Emma Kate's pumpkin this morning (since Halloween is tomorrow and all!). We opted for mess free decorating this year, but I think she still had lots of fun!!

Cheese! (In her FAVORITE pj's...we seriously can't get her out of them some days - thanks Ashley!)

Helping mom out

So proud of her creation!!

Just a fun picture of my precious babies!

Now for the milestones - Emma Kate's hair is FINALLY long enough to clip a bow into, and it's just about the cutest thing! However, she has become so accustomed to wearing a headband that she immediately insists that I place the bow back on the headband! Haha. Silly girl. Also, as you can see in the picture below, in the last couple of months she has gotten a mouth full of teeth!

This week has also been full of milestones for Mr. Easton as well. He has really started moving around...several times I have found him completely off the blanket or activity mat he is playing on. And this morning he rolled over from his tummy to his back for the first time! Also, he sat up (if you call it that, it was actually more like a tripod) long enough for me to snap a picture. The second picture is of EK sitting up for the first time...she's about 2 weeks older than Easton in this picture. I forgot how chunky she was!

Update

First of all, thank you so much for all the advice and encouraging words regarding Easton. It's so encouraging to hear what others have done in similar situations and to know that I'm not the only one going through sleepless nights!! I ended up taking him to the doctor last Monday because I was convinced that with all the crying there must be something wrong (like an ear infection or something) but everything checked out ok, so Dr. Gray decided to increase his reflux medication in hopes that that is what was causing him so much discomfort. This definitely hasn't been a "cure all" but he does seem to be less fussy the last few days. And a huge praise, he's been taking a bottle much better the last couple of days as well! I have been putting the activity mat up on my bed (away from big sister!) and laying him on it while feeding him and he's actually taken several whole bottles, yay! I'm still holding my breath, because I know we're not completely over the hump yet, but we're definitely making strides. Oh yeah, and I ended up going back to the Born Free bottles (same ones EK took)...so strange how my children are so picky when it comes to the bottle! :)

It's been forever since I've actually updated on what's going on with us, so I decided to do so in pictures. Brice's new job has kept us all really busy (really just Brice, but it seems like we're busier now too!), but we've been able to do some really fun things in the last couple of months and Brice is really enjoying the spontaneity that each day holds!

We have a monkey on our hands!

And a little mommy!

He's stylin'! (and wondering why I'm constantly taking his picture! :))

Remembering on September 11th.

Freezing at the Corn Maize!

Cute little pumpkins!!

Best buddies!

The mini maize! (she loved it!)

At the Pumpkin Patch

"What is this stuff, mommy?"

"You mean I really get to take one home?!"

"Hmm...which one do I like?"

"I spotted it!!"

It was a little "hebby" so she had to get a wagon...

(stay tuned for pictures of what she turned her punkin into!)

Getting ready for bed...

A BIG squeeze before mommy and daddy left!

Help, please...

We have been trying to teach Emma Kate to say "help, please" instead of having a melt down/throwing a fit when she can't do something, but lately it seems as if I am the one that needs to be reminded of this lesson. Recently there have been several times where I just want to sit down and throw a major fit, and to be honest I have been feeling extremely inadequate these days. I want so badly for my blog to be uplifting and a fun way to look back at all the exciting milestones in Emma Kate and Easton's life, but right now I just feel a little bogged down with the struggles of parenting.

So....I have decided to say "help, please" and see if any of you have any advice to help us out. It seems as if Easton has quite the strong will and is now refusing to take a bottle altogether. Emma Kate went through this so when Easton started resisting the bottle I thought no big deal - I'll just do what I did with Emma Kate, be patient and try as many different bottles as possible until he finds one he likes. Well, we have now tried: born free, avent, breast flow, adiri, nuby, and nuk all with no avail! It's not that I am ready to quit nursing, but we're going out of town in November for 4 days and for my mom's sanity I'm pretty sure she would appreciate if he was taking a bottle by then! :) The other major thing we have been struggling with lately is sleep. I know that we were so fortunate with Emma Kate that she was sleeping through the night by about 8 week, but I thought surely by 4 1/2 months Easton would be. But unfortunately it seems to be getting worse every night. He's gone from waking up once maybe twice to eat to waking up every 30-45 minutes with maybe a 2 hour stretch somewhere in there. We stopped using the Nap Nanny and tried just laying him flat in his crib which worked for a little while, but then after a few days he was back to waking up all the time. And we used to be able to use the swing as a last resort, but that hasn't even been working here lately. :( We have been toying with the idea of doing the cry it out method, but we still swaddle and I'm not sure if that would work since he would probably work himself out of the swaddle if we let him cry. And my other concern with this is that EK is an extremely light sleeper so I'm afraid then we would just have two babies awake in the middle of the night!

Ok, enough of my ranting...but honestly any suggestions are welcome! :)

And I guess I will leave you on a happy note. I took this video the other night during bath time. I can't help but think my baby girl is SO smart! :)