Memorial day weekend-8 months

Happy 8 months old, boys! In celebration, we headed south to St. Simons for some fun in the sun. Thankfully for us, the weather was overcast most of the weekend, so the temperature was perfect! Here are the boys in their bathing suits. Crawling in the sand was only a semi-thumbs up...though, playing with Uncle John's beer bottle got two thumbs up!!!
NAPTIME! Who couldn't sleep after a ride in the BOB, the fresh cool breeze and sound of the ocean crashing into the sand?
Here are the boys relaxing on Granny and Poppy's couch. It is a miracle that they were sitting still because they are into everything. Both boys are crawling. Turner is furniture walking, pulling himself from sit to stand and from standing to sitting. Taylor can get from sit to stand with his big, strong arm muscles, but falls backwards when trying to get back down. Thankfully Granny and Poppy had plenty of toys to entertain us!!
Sitting with momma after a meal. We are still taking 6 oz. bottles of breast milk/formula. Go mommy on your pumping! It is a shocker that I am still producing. It is dedication on my part to still pump 4 times a day, but totally worth it!! Pureed foods are being eaten twice a day, puffs even more than that and water provided on occasion out of sippy cups!! All foods made by mom were well accepted minus the spinach....guess spinach has way too much fiber because mommy had to pick us up from school from being "sick" with diarrhea after a spinach lunch. Lesson learned the hard way, even though the three of us had a fabulous afternoon together!!!
Daddy and Taylor snuggle on Granny's couch.
Taylor is loved by Havens, while Cousin Sunny hides from the camera!
Cousins Havens, Rush and Sunny let us play with their toys.
Mommy gets love from Turner. Turner loves to hang on and climb on his mommy. Poor guy has started separation anxiety. I go to the bathroom, he cries. I pick up Taylor, he cries. I drop him off at school, he cries. What can I say, " Turner loves his mommy!!!" He is constantly chewing on something. His four front molars are coming in. When he smiles, he looks like a precious rabbit!!! Stuffing puffs into his mouth by his little hands sometimes makes him gag because he puts too much in there!!
Taylor still loves his pacifier, although it is used mostly for fussy times, nap times, and bedtime. Taylor has really become more independent. He is more active, less fussy and a very content infant. He has his front molars and another one on the side coming in. He likes to play with his puffs, but still struggles with hand-mouth combo for self feeding. He babbles a lot and I swear has said "dada" on occassion, despite mommy working hard with the boys on "mama". SHOCKER!!!

Taylor doing the lawnmower dance as we sit outside for some Sunday afternoon fun! Margarita's, good music and singing by our friends, Sally and Jay (Parents of 5 boys--and one set of twins!), and great company with Aunt Eliza and Uncle John!!!
Turner was less impressed by the sights, but behaved great with Aunt Eliza.

Top 3 Highlights of the trip:
1. Date night with daddy at Coastal Kitchen
2. Sleeping in , thanks to daddy and Poppy!!!
3. Saturday afternoon walk with Aunt Eliza--I am so blessed to LOVE my sister-in-law like a sister!!

Top 3 Disasters of the trip:
1. Mommy forgot the boy's sleep machine.
2. Mommy forgot the boy's sleep machine.
3. Did i mention...I forgot the white noise/sleep machine so the boys screamed for over an hour each night trying to get to sleep.
** Oh yeah, and the NUMBER 1 DISASTER: Turner's blowout that woke him up at 4 am on Sunday am with diarrhea. Who knows what caused it? Poor buddy. After changing 4 diapers in 15 minutes, he was wide awake, happy and ready to play! As he happily played, I tried to stay enthusiastic! Thanks to Poppy who relieved me at 6 am so i could go back to sleep!!!

Sunset Beach Fun

BT, the boys and I headed to Sunset for a quick visit. What a fun time! Here is BT (aka Daddy, Ralphie, Ben) hanging with our niece, Savannah! Savannah is so precious and what a fun time we had. Being around this golden child did make Ben and I think, " maybe a third for a girl?". That second passed quickly and we both agreed that our two handsome boys are more than plenty!!
Turner and Taylor destroying Boo and Gan's beach house...note the spoons in their hands and the placemat on the floor. Wonder who drug that there? Do make note of the chaos in the future pictures! Now that they are both crawling, there is DOUBLE trouble!!
" HELP! We are trapped!!!" This saving grace allowed us to eat dinner for a quick 10 minute break!!!
Taylor watching the boats go by!!!
Turner used the dining room chairs as his personal playground!
Taylor trying to imitate his big brother...
How did that plate re-appear? Remember how Taylor fixated on the plate at last week's Chuck-E-Cheese party....well, we got smart and are now carrying paperplates in the diaper bag. Here is Ben trying to feed Taylor, Taylor obsessing over eating the plate and Izzy (our friend's dogs) hoping for a dropping!

Nanny Yoshino (Boo's mom), Taylor and Mommy---hope Mommy looks as good as Nanny at 84!
Boo and Turner...
Nanny with Taylor and Mommy with Turner....the boys were giggling at daddy!!
Still giggling at daddy....wish you could see their 4 teeth!!! Two on the bottom and two more up top!
Boo, JOHN 5 and Baby Savannah...how we love our cousins!!!
The boy's first trip to the beach. Man, I got a workout trying to push "BOB" and the boys through the sand. Note to self: TAKE DADDY TO THE BEACH WITH YOU!!! We went to walk but didn't make it far. Poor John 5 wanted to play in the sand, the water and just play. I had to remind my sister, Carrie, it would be like putting us in a candy store with free samples but saying "you can't have any!". As you can see, Turner was less than impressed with the ocean breezes!!!
SNACKTIME! Turner was enjoying his new portable highchair. I think these two highchairs are going to be my new best purchase! They are so easy to put together and the boys seemed to like it!!!
Nanny and Turner
Aunt Caroline, Savannah and John 5!
Sweet Savannah--we have no idea where she got her length but LOVE it!!!
Oh, Mommy is in love again.... "Aunt Liz" (AKA: mommy) with Sweet Savannah!!
Note the laughter in Boo's face. John 5 was under the blanket and had this trash can over his head to scare Ben!!
Aunt Caroline, Savannah and JOHN5.... We love you guys! Let's get together sooner than later!!!

Small Dark and Handsome

We are the proud parents to a furniture walker who has problem solved how to go from standing back down to the floor. Yes, my friends. He goes from holding on to dropping one hand until it touches the floor, then brings the other hand down. Our Turner is on the go!!
Notice. Sweet Taylor is barely awake from his nap and busy bee Turner is about to go as the camera goes flash.
Now, do tell me! Don't those eyes just melt your heart! Taylor is starting the swimmer's crawl...give us some days my friends and we might have photos or a video to prove it!!!

Saturday's Festivities: Every day should be this good.

This photo makes me laugh so hard. We were at our friend Easton's third birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. Needless to say, we enjoyed visiting with our friends, eating pizza and birthday cake between video games and the boys enjoyed the sights from the Baby Bjorn's. Here is Turner trying so hard to get the ball from daddy while they played basketball. Twice, he did manage to get it as Ben went to throw it and it landed on the floor. Taylor enjoyed helping mommy play Skeet Ball...no photos of myself, obviously!
Taylor and mommy...Taylor obsessed over this plate all afternoon!
Taylor enjoyed his ride with Barney, until he dropped his plate, then he almost fell off the ride. Thank goodness for seatbelts!!!
Turner and Taylor posing for a quick photo while daddy unloaded the car from the party.
Now, another photo with Mommy. As you can see, Taylor is not happy because Turner stole his pacifier.
It was too pretty of a day to be inside , so outside we were. Daddy made us this picnic with all of the boy's favorite toys. The boy's loved having Guinnie so close and loved listening to the birds chirp and seeing the trees sway in the wind.
But, the highlight was when daddy started blowing off the driveway.
And when our neighbor Sterling came to play with us.
As you can see, Turner was not too interested in a visit from our neighbor, Ashley. The sound of the rake against the pavement by daddy was much more interesting to Turner!
Another highlight of our Saturday was visiting with our Aunt Heather from Atlanta. Thank you, Aunt Heather, for our new toys and Bulldog stuff....GO DAWGS!!! And the cupcake...whoops, what cupcake as Ben might say? :) Mommy and daddy enjoyed catching up with Heather and enjoying a night out on the town while Boo and Gan babysat. 7 hours.....they are saints!!!
PS- We normally do not dress Taylor like a total red neck. A Blowout caused his shirt to be ruined and mommy was tired of changing outfits.
Turner showing off his two, perfectly straight bottom teeth...two top molars are coming in!!!
SNACKTIME! AKA, mom needs a 5 minute break. The boys are finally in love with Puffs...Strawberry, banana, peach-mango, blueberry. They will eat them all!!!
Taylor trying to show off his teeth. He too has the top two molars coming in. Funny thing, his upper left one has already broken skin and it is Turner's upper right one that has broken skin. These boy's are so different...even with their teeth!!!!
Turner Slade--Mr. Busy has started doing the side to side furniture walk between his toys. Watch out, everybody! He'll be running by you in no time!!!

** In conclusion, I feel I should give a scenario of how bad last week was for this mommy. No complaints, just so you all will understand why Saturday was so, so good!!!

Monday-Mommy was called at 4:30pm to be told that Taylor was running a fever. Thus could not go to school on Tuesday (24 hr. fever free policy)
Tuesday-Turner went to school because he was fine and Taylor staying with mommy; we played, he napped and went to the peditrician's office. Two hours later, we left and were picking up meds for a bilateral ear infection. Dr. approved him to return on Thurs.
Wed- Mommy woke up at 2 am and was nauseated and vomiting. Daddy got both boy's ready, dropped Turner off at school and stayed home with Taylor because mommy was too sick. Poor daddy.
Thursday- Mommy had a migraine and terrible sore throat. Daddy got boy's ready and dropped them off at school. Mommy laid in bed and went to her doctor, who diagnosed her with strep throat. Who knew that nausea and vomiting could be because of strep? Poor daddy held the fort down for another night.
Friday- Mommy was still not able to swallow without pain. She dropped the boy's off because daddy had an early am meeting. As you arrives home at 8:10, she gets a call that Turner is sick, hysterical crying and uncontrollable. Mommy's thoughts: " You have to be freakin kidding me!!!" Mommy drives back downtown to get Turner and arrives to find her "uncontrollable cryer" sleeping peacefully. Fearful to wake him, mommy goes to Gan and Boo's and lays on their couch for over 2 1/2 hours. (It's real close to the school.) Mommy then goes to pick them up at 11. Thankfully, Boo can come help her take care of them. Once we got home Turner was happy, laughing and into everything. Bottom line, I think he pulled a fast one on all of us because there was nothing sick about him.

**ADDENDUM- A special thanks to Boo and Gan for babysitting so Mommy and daddy could go to Christine and Aaron's wedding festivities!! They did an awesome job (as if i was worried), even though for the second time while sitting, they thought they had lost one of the hounds. Last time, it was Georgia, this time it was our beloved Guinnie. Funny thing, Guinnie was fine--fast asleep on his upstairs dog bed, hidden behind our ironing station. Poor Gan was about to drive around the neighborhood looking for him when Boo found Guinnie.

Happy Mother's Day!

The boys and their teacher's gave me this award on Friday. How sweet. I cried. It might have been because I was feeling crummy (story to follow), but the thought really brightened my day! Those handsome boys are just too sweet.
My love bugs.....their 1st school photo!!! Love how Taylor is smiling and Turner is giving the "serious" look. That was so typical for them a few weeks ago!!! We are ordering lots but had to take a photo for everyone to see!!!
Turner--7 months school photo!!
Taylor-- 7 months old school photo

Happy Mother's Day to everyone! I plan on spending it by sleeping in, going to brunch with my sweet hubby and beautiful sons. Can't wait!!!