Goodbye HOT September...Hello Beautiful FALL!

September was a month of lots of adjustments, especially for Mommy. Going back to work was hard on a multitude of levels; the hardest being there is truly no down time for me except my drive to and from work where my time is filled by shoveling lunch as a drive to work and making phone calls as I drive home. The babes have adjusted fine as they only miss me for about 45 minutes or so, so it's great for them because they still have their mommy, but get to spend quality time with either Daddy, Nonnie, or Grammie. Ryan's heavy overtime load is hopefully a thing of the past now as we revive from our move, addition of a new child, and lack of income from me. We are excited to have Daddy home more on the weekends now! Clayton and Chloe are busy, busy, busy! They started pre school practice again with Miss Karla and are truly flourishing. They've gotten so much more independent and do really well during circle time. They still go to swimming lessons twice a month with Miss Cerra and are both doing so well. Today, they started sports camp through the city and did fantastic. I was a little worried my tuition for Chloe would result in her picking flowers the entire half hour, but she did really well. Chloe wasn't the best or fastest, but tried hard and didn't give up on any of the tasks asked of her. Mommy was very proud of her! Clayton on the other hand earned the name "soccer star" from his coach. He was the first at everything--definitely his Daddy's boy!
Clayton's News:

• He's talking in sentences--our favorites are: "I like that," "Can't see it," and "I'm here." 
• Clay now wants just about everything, which is where the sentence "I like that" comes into play!
• He's all boy--climbing up and jumping off everything.
• Clay understands being tired and body parts like his head or tummy hurting. When he's tired he tells us his eyes hurt and that he's tired. 
• He likes to give hugs and kisses and tell you he loves you on his terms; not when you ask him to!
• Clayton loves watching Cars, Toy Story, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, the Handy Manny Fireman special and Fireman Sam.

Chloe's News:

• She's talking in phrases--our favorites are: "my turn" which she says all the time, it means that she wants to do it, "my do" and "watch this"
• Chloe can undress herself completely, which is both a blessing and a curse! It's great when she needs to go potty, but not so great when she just gets the urge to strip!
• She says her name so adorably--Rather than Chloe she says Cody
• Chloe loves pushing her dolly around in her stroller and giving her a bottle, burping her, etc.' however, she gets so frustrated when she can't sit Dollly in her stroller in the "perfect" way or buckle her seatbelt. 
• She loves giving hugs and kisses and saying I love you; she especially loves showering Easton and her cousin Jett with love.
• Chloe is starting to watch TV a little bit more. Her favorite is Fireman Sam.

Here's some pictures from our fun...

Spending time with family

Having fun with their new chalkboards

Playing soccer with the new balls ("no Roxi, no!") and goal that Daddy bought 

All ready for their first day of pre school practice

One happy boy, ready for his own chair!

Painting party!

Contact paper art project

Sassy girl!

Little heartbreaker!

Backyard photo shoot with my monkeys!

Happy 6 Month Birthday to our Little Man!

Easton is 6 months big! He continues to be the unexpected miracle we are so thankful for. God's plan for sweet little Easton James to be ours was definitely a surprise, but thank God for His plan because it was and is PERFECT! This has been a busy month for Easton full of developmental changes. Here's his news...

• Easton is a rolling machine. He rolls every direction, all over the place. Placing him on a nice clean blanket with some toys is now officially a thing of the past as he always travels clear across the room often running into walls or pieces of furniture which frustrates him and makes Mommy quite nervous!
• He is making a plethora of sounds (Mommy is working heavily on "mama!"). His infamous growl is still our favorite sound of his and in the past few days he has started a high pitched squeal. It almost sounds like he's going to cry, but ends up being a series of high pitched "happy" sounds!
• Easton started solid food about one week before his 6 month birthday. I'm so happy that I chose to wait until 6 months with both Clayton and Chloe and Easton because my babies were ready to eat solids at that point. The first dinner of organic whole wheat oatmeal was funny. Easton's faces were hysterical especially since all he has known is his "mommy's milk." The second day, though, Easton was opening his mouth for the spoon! After about 3 days of cereal, we introduced carrots and avocado. I'm making all of his food like I did for the babes. I really don't think it's a whole lot cheaper, but for me it just makes the most sense. He loves carrots, avocado, zucchini and yams! Easton dives his face into the spoon and eats about 2 ounce servings...one hungry boy! He's having lunch and dinner right now and will start breakfast next week. There's a lot of opinions about the value of infant cereals, which typically I serve for breakfast mixed with some fruit. I'm not sure what I'll be doing now; Mommy's got to research some more! 
• Now that Easton is sitting in a high chair, we are giving him a sippy cup with water. He actually takes about a sip or two out of it and then throws it, but he's getting it. I need to go to Babies R Us and get him the Tommee Tippee sippy cups. He's been a stinker with bottles and those did the trick, so maybe TT sippy cups will prevail too! 
• Easton busted out of his 6 month jammies and onesies and is now in 9 month apparel. He is just getting so big. I am having a tough time with this. He's such a good baby; I just want to bottle him up! 
• He takes a paci (thank the Lord Jesus!).
• He went through a roller coaster with his sleeping the past 2 months due to a cold and then reaction to a vaccine or roseola. The doctor now thinks Easton had roseola; I'm still on the fence because the irony of the fever starting 4 hours after the vaccine is just too perfect. Now, though, Easton goes to sleep at 7 (he dropped his third nap, but barely makes it to 7 now). Dinner time is definitely difficult with his new schedule as Easton needs to eat, be bathed, nursed, and put to bed in that hour as well. Manageable when Ryan is home; super hard when he's working. I wake Easton at 9:30 to feed him once more. He typically starts stirring about 4 hours later. I just help him get to either his tummy or back, put his paci in, give him his blankie, turn on his soother, and don't hear from him again until between 5 and 7. 
• Easton loves his blankies! He was a swaddled baby and while isn't swaddled any more, his security item is his blanket. It doesn't matter what blanket at this point, but he loves to hold the blankie close to his face and often gets himself all wrapped up in his Aiden and Anais blankets. 
• He likes to play in his exersaucer; is growing less fond of the beloved swing; is aware of Roxi; loves to touch and pull everything especially Mommy and Chloe's hair; loves when Daddy tickles his hands with his stubbly beard; likes attention from his brother and sissy; and still keeps his eyes locked on his mommy at all times!
• Easton can sit, but is still pretty wobbly, so you can't leave him unattended. He's also starting to work on crawling, but has a ways to go! 
• He is 26 1/4 inches tall (47%--jumped 25% since his 4 month check) and 17 pounds 13 ounces. Easton and Clayton nearly have the same stats; Clayton was just 1/4 inch taller. They are definitely brothers!

Here's some pictures from our sweet Easton's very busy month of growth, development, smiles, and lots of love...

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