Happy 4th of July

Well the youngest of the Sweet Tea babies is now 4 months, which means that at this time last year we were all anxiously preparing for the sweet little lives we’re taking care of now! Isaac had his 4 month checkup on Monday and it went much smoother than his 2 month appointment.

Isaac is a sturdy, but healthy young baby! He’s 17 lbs, 4 oz and 25 ½ inches. The best news we got from the doctor is that his head has completely evened out on its own and he won’t be needing any baby helmet. It was such a relief to hear that news. His immunizations went fine, but I am curious to know if you all have problems with your babies’ potty habits the few days after their shots? It seems like for the 3-4 days after the shots, Isaac has difficulty actually going number 2 (sorry…TMI.) When he finally does go, its with a lot of effort. It always goes back to normal after a few days, but I was curious if any one else has had issues. I read somewhere that immunizations can affect the absorption of iron which in turn can make it harder to poo. Alright, that’s enough with the potty talk.

We also had a family photo shoot this past weekend. It was part of Adam’s first Father’s Day gift. Thanks to Melissa, we got hooked up with Wendy Freeman who despite having to deal with a moody and very hot baby (it was 95 in Charlotte that day,) got some great shots of our family. I’ve posted my favorite so far. We’ll get back the rest of the proofs in a few weeks, and I can’t wait to see how they all turned out.

I just can’t believe how fast these 4 months have gone by! Isaac has started sitting up better, and scooting around the floor like an inch worm. We also had our first big car trip. My friend Jessie and I braved a 12 hour car trip to Memphis a few weeks ago. Isaac did great, except for when his car seat heated up too much. I’m definitely glad we did the trip before Isaac wants to get out and crawl or walk. We probably will fly next time we try to take that long of a trip.

Well, hopefully, we can get all these babies together before too long! I’d be happy to host everyone here at our house for an evening. We should look at our calendars and see when would work for us all!

Happy 4th of July! ~Andrea

photos and such

So ladies, I was curious what your method of saving all these precious memories would be. I am not what you would call a very crafty person at all, but I wanted something special to document my pregnancy, birth and life of Andrew. I made a scrapbook once for my sister's wedding(bachelorette party, dress shopping, etc.) and I swore that I would never do it again...at least not with scissors and glue. Anyways, we have taken a few photo shoots along with personal photos up until this point and I was thinking it was a shame to just have them floating around in my lab top. So I started looking into photo book options. I have gotten a few emails for trail books, and I have never taken the opportunity to look any further into it...I know I am a dummy head because they were free trails. SO last night I started putting one together. It isn't complete, but I am really happy with they way it has turned out so far. I would love any suggestions on different sites to you or different placements of pictures. It took a few hours to get to here, but for the price and the effort I am a happy camper. My hope is to do this with all our milestones, so one for our wedding pictures. This one is my maternity pictures. One for his newborn shots, one for the photo shoot we just had, and the last one to be of his first year of life. After that point I just want to do these yearly...

http://www2.snapfish.com/snapfish/projectshareewelcome/l=9595152007/p=377301277902443131/g=34858327/cobrandOid=1000/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPBKlink/

mel

So we had Andrew's 6 month photo shoot a little late...but boy am I glad we did. Andrew was so perfect Saturday, but he is always good outside. We got started early, and this is one of the first shots we took. After several shots downtown we packed him up and headed to Freedom Park. He fell asleep on the way there, but after we got him changed his expression was classic "Andrew" in awe and dumbfounded all at the same time! I loved the way our sneak peak came out and I am dying to see more. I love Wendy Freeman Photography! Moving on...Andrew is 29 inches long, and we have one more inch to go before we change car seats. He has been enjoying the pool this summer, and so have Joey and I, there is nothing quite like cooling off after a long walk first thing in the morning. In fact yesterday we took him out there with Joey's mom, who came to visit Sunday along with his sister, and Andrew actually fell asleep in his float! We had one very tired baby. He has come along way in the past 7.5 months. He isn't nearly as cranky, he is taking scheduled naps, and he is even beginning to play hardcore with toys. Still nothing in his mouth, but yesterday he picked up a sippy cup and tried to bite it so there is a lot of promise there!

I hope summer is treating you all well, and I cannot wait to hear more about what your little ones are up to for the Forth of July! We are headed to the mountains for a good old fashion cookout with family after we celebrate 4 years of married bliss on July 1st! Man life is good!!!

More Drop Side Cribs Recalled

http://www.wsbtv.com/money/24018439/detail.html

--Amanda

5 months! (2 weeks ago!)

I am so bad at posting these pictures on time! But at least I take them on the right day!

So many updates!

As you can see from the picture, Hadley and Molly had their first beach trip last weekend! It was great to get them together again since both of them have grown so much! The sun shade Emily bought was awesome! I think we are actually going to buy one of our own for our back yard since we don't have any shade in our yard. Hadley and Molly actually ended up with the same swimsuit--not intentional, but it was cute!

Hadley is almost 6 months now. She started daycare a about a week and a half ago, and so far so good. She loves being able to watch the other babies, and her teachers are great. She is so exhausted when she gets home that we have had to move dinner and bedtime earlier because if we don't get her fed in time she falls asleep in the middle of dinner. She has also weathered her first stomach virus and cold, and although I hated to see her sick, the world did not end like I was sure it would. The good part about that is that everyone tells me she will not get sick when she starts school because she will have built up immunities from daycare.

In the last day or two, she has learned that she can roll over to get to things that she can't reach when she is just laying on her back. So, now she rolls over both ways, and she rolls over and over and over again until she gets to the toy she wants. Having a blanket on the floor is pointless now because she does not stay on it. I am still trying to get her to sit up on her own, but she is not the least bit interested in sitting still. I sit her down in front of me, and she immediately reaches forward to try to get to her toys, falls over and starts rolling around. I think she might actually crawl before she sits. And here I was thinking I still had a few more months before baby proofing would become necessary.

Hadley also has her first tooth coming through on the bottom! I had no idea I would get so excited over a tooth! We have been feeding her oatmeal, but are going to start introducing veggies this weekend. We were going to start earlier, but decided to put it off because of travel plans. Have any of you talked to your pediatricians about how much you should feed them when you start solids? She really acts like she prefers to eat oatmeal with a spoon these days over formula from a bottle. But I don't know how much to give her. I've heard from some people that solids are not a substitute for formula and that you should still offer the same amount of formula to them when they are eating baby foods, but since we started giving Hadley oatmeal, she has stopped drinking as much formula at each sitting. We give her oatmeal plus a 4 oz. bottle in the morning and at night and then 6 oz. bottles at the three feedings in between. But at the in between feedings she is sometimes only eating 4 oz now, whereas before she was downing 6 oz. at every single feeding and sometimes eating 8 or 9 oz. at a feeding. Anyone have any insight on this? Part of the problem might be the fact that she is teething.

--Amanda

Air Travel with Baby

Hadley had her first plane ride a couple of weekends ago. We flew from Atlanta, GA to Raleigh, NC. It was about a 1 1/2 hour flight, and I can tell you that flying was a LOT easier and more comfortable than the 7 hour drive we had on the way back (we flew one way and Tom met us in NC later in the week, so we drove back with him).

I packed very light and was able to pack mine and Hadley's clothes and toiletries in a large bag that we checked and then I had a small carry-on suitcase with Hadleys bottles and toys in it and also carried her diaper bag on. Getting through security was not too bad--it took about 30 min.--which is a good day in Atlanta. We did get to skip ahead of people and go through the special assistance lane since I had a stroller. I strolled her through in her carseat and the snap n' go stroller. I did have to take her out of the carseat and put the carseat and the stroller through the x-ray machine and then I carried her through with me. The only glitch was that they didn't bother to tell me I was going to have to take her out until I got ready to walk through--so I held a few people up behind me. I packed a small can of formula in my diaper bag and left it unopened until we got through security because I did not want them to have to inspect it (I've heard they have to stick a piece of paper in it if it is already mixed). Then I bought a couple bottles of water after we got through security to mix it. I took a whole small can of formula even though we only had an hour flight just in case we got stuck on the runway or something.

Once I got to the gate, they gate checked the stroller. I actually was able to get my seat for free with points, so we went ahead and bought a seat for her and it was not very expensive. I liked having her in her own seat. I was able to buckle the carseat into the seat on the plane. We had plenty of room and I didn't have to worry about her getting hurt if there was turbulence. The carseat is also familiar to her, so she was comfortable. She only cried a little bit when we were descending, and once the wheels hit the runway, she zonked out.

We had to do without some of the gear we would normally have--we didn't have the Bumbo, exersaucer, bathtub, etc. Luckily, my mom had a pack n' play and a bathtub at her house. I also bought formula, diapers and wipes once we got there, so I did not have to pack those. All-in-all, it was a good experience. Oh, and I found out you can FedEx stuff in advance to your destination as well. Depending on what you send, it is sometimes cheaper than checking extra luggage.

--Amanda

Tipping the scale...

Well, we started out as 2 families in North Carolina and 3 families in Georgia. Todd and I decided that now was the time to tip the scale in favor of good ol' NC! We are moving back!!!

Todd got a final, official offer with Lowe's Home Improvement as a Marketing Specialist. He starts in just 2 weeks!!!! (June 14th) That means we are moving to Mooresville!!!!

Todd will probably move into my parents' basement the weekend before he starts and Molly and I will stay in Athens for a week or two before we move. We're headed through M'ville to look at apartments tomorrow on our way to Chapel Hill for a wedding.

I know Amanda and Greer have both said they are willing to drive up to NC for a get-together so let's make that happen!!!!

So excited!
Emily

Growing up too fast

I wasn’t prepared or ready for this yet!!! About 2 weeks ago, Isaac started drooling beyond belief. I just thought it was normal, and I’ve been told by the dentist that I have an abnormally high amount of saliva, so maybe that got passed on. The more I’m talking to people, and the more I’m reading and seeing the signs in Isaac, I actually think he’s teething at only 3 months!! AHHH! I was not prepared to start dealing with this phase so early. Everyone who has seen Isaac has told me the same thing. He has this cough because he has so much drool, he’ll get fussy when he tries to drink his bottle (I think because of the pressure of sucking,) and he wants to chew and gnaw on EVERYTHING! He has actually given himself a hickey on his wrist from biting and sucking on it so hard at night. We had to put on sock on it to help it heal. Unfortunately, Isaac is too young for baby orajel, and his mouth is still too small for traditional teething rings. We found a cool pacifier ( http://amzn.com/B001ET5U2E) that is supposed to help, so we’ve ordered that and we’re also letting him chew on his lambie (soothie blanket.) Right now he loves having his upper gums massaged by the baby toothbrush, so that’s what we’re doing half way through his bottles to make him feel better. I guess maybe its his top teeth that are coming first. I heard that it can be either his tops or bottoms that come first, and that it can take about month for them actually to cut through. We moved up to the stage 2 nipples so he doesn’t have to suck as hard to get his food. I guess we’ll see what happens! ~ Andrea