Grandma Visit

At the end of February, we traveled to Nebo for Jaina's first birthday party.  We had a great time, but all in all, it was a pretty chaotic weekend... long drives, a lot crammed into very little time, both Holly and me having to be on a very regimented schedule, Tyler and Sawyer having a "sleepover", etc..  On the way home, Jason looked at me and said "I can't do this again any time soon."

Problem: we were planning on visiting Jamesville in March.
Solution: invite Grandma to visit us instead!

I'm absolutely horrible about taking pictures when people visit (especially my family).  So here is a mostly-pictureless rundown of the weekend.

Friday: 
Mom was already at our house when I got off work.  We caught up with each other before everyone else got home, and then there was lots of playing with grandkids that occurred.  One of the many things Mama has missed since Daddy passed is grilled food (my dad was king of the grill), so Jason grilled us steaks and I made real baked potatoes (no microwave for us tonight!).  We stuffed ourselves and called it an early night.

Saturday:
Jason left for some early-morning photography while Mom and I played with the kiddos.  We all ran a few errands together, then went to the Leesville community library.  We ended up stumbling into a "kids hour" (that was thankfully only 15 minutes!).  Tyler had a great time listening to stories, singing songs, etc.

After that, we visited Duck Donuts to treat Grandma to its deliciousness (she was a fan!) and headed back home for lunch.  While Tyler napped, I did too (oops!) and woke up to find Grandma on the deck having some quality Holly time.  I think the pictures say it all...

Saturday night, we went out to a sushi restaurant (my mom likes sushi, who knew?) and had a really great (and really yummy) time.

Sunday:
We couldn't quite get ready in time for early church, but we made it to the 11:00 service a little out of breath, but present at least.  About five minutes into service I made a startling realization -- I had left Holly's bottle on high in the warmer.  That meant 1) Holly was bottleless at church and 2) that bottle was going to be ruined by the time we got home from church.  Now, without getting into too many details, let's just say that it takes a lot of effort to make one bottle, so I was upset about the prospect of that hard work going to waste.  So Jason decided to drive home (we had driven two vehicles) to turn off the milk.  If Holly got hungry (which was a pretty strong likelihood), I would feed her the "old fashioned" way.  Which, she did.  So, I did.  Which meant I left Mom in service by herself while I went to take care of Holly.  We got back just in time to hear the last hymn.  Kind of a crazy church service for the Selfs, but I think we rolled with the punches fairly well!  After church and after lunch, Mom got on the road.  The weekend was far too short for me, but I think we all had a really good time.

Family Time

1) Being a family of four is tough.  #adults = #kids = chaos most of the time
2) I'm thankful every day for Jason and his level of involvement with our family.  I know there are a lot of single parents or parents who have to do the majority of the parenting on their own while the other is a bystander, and I do not have that.  Jason is amazing!
3) Most of our outings involve a (hopefully) sleepy Holly and all hands on deck to keep Tyler in check.  Which means Jason and I are on defense the majority of the time and leaving said outing feeling... well, feeling exhausted!
4) We occasionally have outings that are thoroughly enjoyable for the whole family.  They're rare, but wonderful.
5) Before I go any farther, let me be clear.  I love my family.  I love my kids.  I've been pretty vocal about difficulties these past few months, but please know there are just as many (if not more) moments of smiling and commenting to Jason how happy I am with our family.  Please do not read #1-3 up there as me being ungrateful or having any regrets.  Just telling it like it is, honestly.

Recently, we had an absolutely lovely day playing outside in our backyard (the day of baseball).  Here are a few more pictures from that day.

The many faces of Holly:

I promise, she WAS having a good time!

I have a leaf.

Once Tyler got tired of playing baseball, he switched over to playing swings and slide.  Gotta love the hat hair!

I even got a moment of peace to take a Selfie with Jason.

And then Jason grabbed the camera from me to capture this moment:

Self, Family of Four.  Making it work since 2015.

Siblings

Several people have asked how Tyler acts around Holly.

1) Most of the time it's the "Tyler show" and Holly is mostly ignored.
2) If too much attention is directed towards Holly, he will start acting up to get attention.
3) He shows a general love for and interest in his little sister.

Things Tyler likes about Holly:
~When she kicks her blanket off.  This, according to him, is "hilarious"
~Giving her night-night "gentle" kisses
~Comforting her when she's crying, especially when they're in the backseat together.  "It's ok, Holly, you don't need to cry.  We're almost home."
~Telling us to turn down the music and/or tv when Holly is sleeping (though he forgets three seconds later and decides to whoop and holler!)
~Giving her toys to play with (aka, plopping them down on her!) and giving her her pacifier (can almost do this without poking out her eye).
~"New" toys (aka, his old baby toys) that are in the living room
~When Holly wears "no pants"... how silly!

We have some room to grow, but I think he's accepted her into our family.

Holly's reaction to Tyler:
1) Mostly ignores
2) Looks of terror.  Let's just say, Tyler hasn't quite mastered the "be careful around your sister" command.
3) General interest.  She loves watching him eat and listening to him/watching him on the video monitor (btw, how did we go so long without a video monitor?  love it!)  Big brother is awesome, and he is (hopefully!) showing her how to be a "big kid."

Candids

Disclaimer:  These photos are awful.  Out of focus, messy background, poor lighting.  But that's kinda the point.  Just wanted to inform you that I know these are bad photos before you proceed.

People have asked what it's like being a family of four now.  This kinda helps give you a glimpse of our daily life.  Holly was in a particularly good mood, so I wanted to get some pictures of Jason with both the kids.  This is what I got...

At first, Tyler seemed game.
Me: "Oh, let's get that blanket out of the way."

Tyler decided to help.  Daddy and Holly just kept doing what they were doing.

Tyler "helping" by throwing all the pillows in the floor.

Everyone (well, except for Holly) distracted by the tv

At this point, Tyler was totally over the "let me take your picture" thing

...and proceeded to jump on the couch, which he knows isn't allowed (that's half the fun, though, right?)

*sigh*  Guess I'll have to try again later for a family photo

Holly's First Day of School

Holly's first day of school was on January 25.  We were lucky enough to get Tyler's old teacher/classroom, so we were definitely at ease with the transition.  It was a hectic morning, but I convinced everyone to sit still for a moment so I could take a few photos.

I promise Holly was excited.  She just happened to be hungry/cranky for the photos.

A little unsure about the whole ordeal:

Cousin Love

It's January.  No better time to blog about August, right?

After Tyler's birthday party in August (Jason took pictures of that, so none here, sorry), the Selfs stayed the night.   That meant that Tyler and Sawyer got some play time.  It's clear now that they're going to be lifelong friends.  Since then, Tyler talks about Sawyer on a regular basis.  He asks when Sawyer is coming to visit.  He tells me Sawyer is his best friend.  The last time he came to visit, Tyler tried to leave with him!

Here's a snapshot of about five minutes of them playing back in August.  Also, Tyler had to wear orange that day once he saw Sawyer dressed.

Twinning Preggos

When my sister Kara and I were in high school/early years of college, we would occasionally get mistaken for twins.  We're 2.5 years apart, but at the time, we shared a wardrobe and had very similar hairstyles.  We look quite different from each other now, but we do share something very special in common -- we're both pregnant!

Kara is due 9 days before me.  When she visited the other day, we couldn't resist taking some belly photos together.

Yes, we both happen to own the same maternity shirt.  When I saw she was wearing hers, I put mine on for a photo.

...and back to the shirt I was actually wearing that day

"Yeah, don't touch my belly"

"Whoa!  There's a baby in there!"

and one with Mom 

Big Weekend

We basically do nothing.  Ok, not nothing nothing, but we're not very socially-active people.  Last weekend was quite an adventure for us!

On Friday, Mom, Kara, and Addison came to Raleigh for a visit.  Tyler was ecstatic, especially when I told him we were going to Pullen Park.

Addison really wanted to ride the boats.  Tyler really wanted to ride the train.  We did both.

There were several camps at Pullen that day, so we had to wait several trips of the carousel before it was our turn.  Tyler was slowly melting down, especially when he'd see a little kid get on the lion (which was the animal he wanted to ride).  He didn't get to ride the lion, but Grandma made the horse seem just as cool by making excited neighing and snorting sounds (which explains the "raspberries" Tyler is making in some of the pictures).

Afterwards, we cooled down with popsicles.

We ate lunch (yes, after eating popsicles, judge all you want), played some at my house, the kiddos (sorta) took naps, and the adults talked baby stuff (my sister Kara is pregnant, too).  It was a great day!





The next morning, we woke up early and headed to Charlotte for an IKEA trip, looking for nursery furniture for Baby Sister and birthday presents for Tyler.  Jill and Jodi met up with us there and did a fantastic job of entertaining Tyler while Jason and I made purchasing decisions and assisting Jason with heavy lifting since I'm no good to him right now.  I didn't want to be "that person" with a full-fledged camera in a store, so forgive these phone-quality photos.

Thanks to Jill and Jodi for capturing their own pictures of him, too.

Though Tyler says his favorite part of IKEA were the "meatboooooolllllls" (who can blame him?), he also mentions Jill and Jodi and has asked multiple times since then to go back.

We drove back that evening, and Tyler was eagerly ready for bed.  Poor guy!  He had done a lot of walking (and running!) around the store and was exhausted!

Sunday morning, we went to church, came home for an early lunch and nap time so that we could go to my cousin Riley's 2nd birthday party (yes, she's only a few weeks older than Tyler).  It was a great chance to catch up with family, eat some yummy food, and see my cousin Adam's new house (he hosted).  I didn't even bring my camera that day, but my aunt Carol took a family picture for us.  It's not often we get a photo of all three Selfs together, so I was very excited.

Phew!  What a weekend!  I'm utterly exhausted, but very happy I got to see so much of my family and have great days with them!