halloween play date

Last week we had a festive play date at my friend Amber's house. She had all kinds of activities set up for the kids- cookie decorating, spooky door hangers, and much much more. Sadly, I can't even think of them all because Jake didn't get past the cookie decorating! This was the first activity, and after this all Jake wanted to do was play with all of Garry's toys. I wasn't sure if Jake would wear his costume so I dressed him and Sam in their Halloween outfits from Grammy and Grandpa just in case. The costumes never came out of the bag:) It was a great morning, and Jake fell fast asleep as soon as we pulled out of their driveway. Thanks, Amber!

Jake and Noah decorating cookies.

Corrie decorating her mini pumpkin.

Noah and Jake playing in the kitchen.

Eating lunch at the big boys table:)

The nursing couch- all three of us needed to feed our wee ones at the same time:)

Amber, me, and Sara

brotherly love

3 weeks

wedding

Our good friends Jeremy and Karissa, both in Mark's residency class, got married on Sunday in Asheville at The Farm. It was gorgeous weather and the changing leaves looked beautiful. Everything went perfectly! Mark and I were both in the wedding, so we relied heavily on our friends for help with Jake and Sam.

Thank you to Chelsea and Chip for keeping Jake occupied during the rehearsal, Elizabeth (Jeremy's sister) for snuggling Sam and keeping him content during the rehearsal, Leigh and Chris for watching Jake as he ran around playing during the wedding and reception until we were finished with wedding party duties, and finally Sara and Gerry for loving on Sam during the wedding and changing him into warmer clothes as the sun went down and it got much cooler during the reception. We could not have made it through the weekend without all of your help! We knew they were in good hands and didn't have to worry about whether or not they were okay while we were busy. Thank you! We love our residency family!

This was the first time we've traveled and stayed overnight somewhere since Jake's been sleeping in a big boy bed. He will not sleep in a pack 'n play anymore, so we weren't sure how the weekend was going to go. We wedged a mattress between our bed and the wall and lined it with pillows. Jake did fantastic! He stayed in this bed and slept through the night like a champ even with baby Sam close by waking up every 2-3 hours! It was a fun, busy weekend, but everything went as smoothly as it could have with an 18 month old and two week old! We are so blessed.

We don't have many pictures to share because we were so busy with the kids and wedding party duties. Hopefully I'll be able to post some from the official photographer's proofs when they come in. It was definitely a gorgeous venue!

Jake's bed at the cottage we stayed in at The Farm.

Jake with Jeremy, the groom, at the church service Sunday morning. Jake loves Jeremy and actually cried at the reception when Jeremy stopped holding/dancing with him to dance with Karissa, his bride! Too funny!

Jake's favorite part of the wedding- the rolls. Actually, it probably was a tie between the rolls and cake:)

Jake loved the stick the kabobs were on. We thought he might try some of the food on the stick, but no. He just wanted to hold the kabob stick! 

All dressed up.

My big boys:)

sky top orchard

Saturday morning we headed up to Asheville to meet up with the wedding goers at Sky Top Orchards in nearby Hendersonville. The weather was beautiful and Jake enjoyed all of the pumpkins and apples, or "papples" as he can now say:) We walked around the property, fed goats, sheep, and ducks, sampled different varieties of apples (Jake liked them all!) and fresh apple doughnuts, and just enjoyed the gorgeous day. It was great to see some of our out-of-town friends and catch up. All in all, it was a fantastic morning outing before the rehearsal that evening.

Family photo in front of the Sky Top Orchard sign.

Feeding the goats. Jake had no fear. He walked right up and let them eat out of his hand.

Jake loved all the apples on the ground. He started saying "papple" for apple while we were there:)

Feeding the ducks with Daddy and Mr. Terry. We tried to get them to come out of the water, but to no avail.

Jake found this little bridge and had a great time running back and forth on it!

Petting the sheep. He kept saying "baa baa" when he saw them.

Checking out all the pumpkins.

He wanted to pick one up, but they were all too big for him.

They had this great big pumpkin slide that all the kids were waiting in line to go down. Jake got up there and started go down but changed his mind:)

jake vs. the coffee table

And the winner is... the coffee table! On Friday just after Nana left, Jake fell and hit his eye on the coffee table. Immediately it swelled up, and I knew he was going to have his first black eye. He's already had three nosebleeds so it's only appropriate that he adds a black eye to his growing list of injuries. He's definitely all boy! Luckily the crying only lasted while I had him pinned down to hold ice to his eye. As soon as I let go the tears stopped, and he was ready to have lunch. Unfortunately this was the weekend we went to Asheville for our friends' wedding that Mark and I were both in (more posts on this later). I say this only because we had hoped to get a good family picture since we'd be all dressed up. Oh well, we'll never forget this black eye!

Day One

Day Two

Day Three

Day Four

2 weeks

Long fingers.

Snuggled up in his horse towel after his bath.

Sam and his proud big brother:)

He LOVES his fingers. He actually got his thumb in the other day!

Such a sweet yawn.

Just like his brother, Sam manages to get his arms out of the swaddle. He likes it this way.

Completely relaxed (and showing off that red hair).

2 week checkup

Sam had his two week checkup today with Dr. Danny, and everything looked great. He's gained almost a pound since we left the hospital! He weighed 8 lbs 15 oz, which put him in the 85th percentile. He was perfectly stretched out so they got a very accurate length measurement. He was 22 1/2 inches, which is the 99th percentile. Needless to say, we think he was really longer than 20 3/4 inches at birth because we highly doubt that he grew almost 2 inches in two weeks! This was his lucky appointment because he didn't have to get any shots; he'll get some at every other appointment until he's two years old:)

Stretching:)

Snuggling with Daddy and waiting for Dr. Danny.

Dr. Danny listening to Sam.

nanny

Well, my mom has a new name. She chose Nana, and my older nephews call her this. Jake, however, has dubbed her Nanny. I'm not sure if it's because he calls bananas "nanas" or if it's because everyone else's name ends in an"e" sound (i.e. Mommy, Daddy, Baby). If I call her Nana, he says, "Nanny" and then looks right at her. Regardless, it's Nanny for Jake!

Nanny reading with her little boys.

18 month checkup

Jake had his 18 month appointment today with Dr. Danny. Everything looked great, and Jake is developing right on track. He weighed 24 pounds 15 ounces, which put him in the 38th percentile. He gained 4 pounds over the past three months, and I think one of those pounds was over the last two weeks! He is now 33 inches tall, which puts him in the 72nd percentile. He grew two inches over the last three months, but I think it was all in his torso. He is in 12 month pants but 2T shirts:) He only had to get one shot, and the tears quickly went away when I pulled out a banana and some peanut butter crackers. All in all, he was a trooper and loved that he got to visit his daddy's work.

emerald farms

Before Sam arrived, while Grammy was here helping, we all took an afternoon trip to Emerald Farms here in Greenwood. We had heard they had goats and trains and was free! Sounded like a good outing for Jake:) He LOVES trains! They had a little train for people to ride around the property, and he and Daddy climbed aboard. He wasn't so sure at first, but by the end he was having a grand time. They even had a train table for kids to play with inside their store. We definitely stopped for a while and let Jake play with the "choo choos" as he calls them. Jake was also able to feed the goats, which he enjoyed. All in all a fun place to go here in Greenwood. I'm sure we'll visit again.

The goats were so excited to see the food that they climbed up on the door in excitement!

Feeding the goats.

 Playing with the "choo choos."

There was a conductor's hat for sale, and Jake wanted to try it on- he loves hats!

All aboard!

Leaving the train station.

Returning to the station. The ride is over:(