William at 9 Months

I cannot believe that my "baby" and last baby is already 3/4 of a year old. In just two and a half short months, he's going to be a year old. Where has time gone?! Why is it going by so quickly? I'm ready for Baby #3, but Grant has assured me that we are done having children, so William is our last baby. It's probably best for the sake of our house, our car, our dog, our finances, our relationship and our sanity. We love our little guys, but they keep us on our toes, constantly!!

Milestones:

• Weighs 19 pounds & 7 ounces; 28.5 inches long
• William isn't a great eater, and he refuses all baby food. He actually refuses anything that you have to feed him. He loves to pick up foods and eat them, and he's doing very well with his pincher grasp. He's loving puffs right now, and he'd like to eat those for every meal.
• He is still only breastfeeding, and he's not had any formula at this point. I'm running low on my frozen milk stores though, so we'll see how far I can make it!

• He's doing great with his sippy cup, and he picks it up consistently and drinks both breastmilk and water from his cup. 
• You are wearing Size 4 diapers, and 12 month or 12-18 month clothes, as well as, some 9 month clothes depending on the brand.
• William is crawling, pulling up on everything, climbing and walking along while holding on to something. I was really hoping that we'd have a bit longer before he mastered all of those items. He's into everything. I walked into the Master Bathroom the other day, and he'd climbed up on the ledge, and he'd turned the water on in our bathroom.

• He's so far not received any bruises that I know of, because he's extremely careful. Weston was all over the place, and he had all kinds of bumps and bruises. William slowly eases himself down after he's pulled up on something. It's bizarre!
• He does get bruises regularly though, because he has a big brother who continues to sit on him, knock him over, close coolers on his fingers, etc.
• He chooses his favorite toys based on what Weston is playing with...as you can imagine, this is not fun and frustrates Weston!

• William is babbling constantly, and he's said 'dada' but he's no closer to saying 'mama' than Weston was at his age. :(
• He's getting really good at clapping and waving, and I can't  believe he's becoming so much fun and interacting with us so much. It's such a fun age! 
• You still only have two teeth. We were hoping that more would've made their appearance, so we are patiently waiting for some to arrive.

Staying Organized as a Full Time Mom, Wife & Employee

So, I've had a couple of people ask him how I stay organized as a full-time working mom, and I want to start this post off by saying that most of the time, I'm not organized at all. I feel so unorganized in day to day life, and I never feel like I get it all accomplished. More often than not, I feel/know that I'm failing at something. I often feel like I'm not good enough, because I can't keep it all together.

Here's how I "attempt" to stay organized...

• Our week starts on Sunday, so every Sunday during nap time, I sit down and write out our menu for the week including breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as, snacks. I also make sure that I get a copy of the lunch menu from daycare for the week, so that I can pack food for the boys, if they don't like or I don't like what's being served.
  
• After nap, William and I usually go to the grocery store, and I prep food for the week. I cut up veggies, make muffins for grab and go snacks and breakfasts, etc.
  
• I set out clothes for the boys every single night before we all go to bed, so if I'm getting ready, Grant can dress them for the day.
  
• I do one load of laundry everyday, so I typically fold the load from the night before, and I wash and put the new load in the dryer. Yes, I have to refresh our clothes, but it's worth it. I don't have to wait for the load to finish before heading to bed.
  
• I have a lot of help...Grant is great, and he's a huge help to me around the house. He washes all of our dishes and cleans up after dinner. He bathes the boys every night, and he gets Weston to bed. If Weston wakes up in the middle of the night, Grant tends to him. Grant gets both kids up in the morning, and he feds them breakfast while I get ready in mostly peace and quiet. ;)
  
• I schedule everything, and I write our schedule on a big board every week including both our weekly menu and any appointments or after work obligations.
  
• I prepare bags, bottles and lunches the night before. I always make William's bottles the night before, as well as, fix lunches the night before, so we can just grab them and head out the door in the morning.
  
• If I know that dinner is going to take some time to prepare, and I haven't already done it, I use my lunch break to run home (2 miles down the road), and prep for dinner. 

It may sound like I have it all together, but I feel like I don't get it all done in a number of areas...

• Work - I often have to leave early due to a sick child or arrive late, because we couldn't get out the door. I rarely can work in the evenings, and I often get that request, but my family is more important to me. This is an area where I often feel like I'm not doing a good job.
  
• Health & Fitness - I want to work out...I do, but William still wakes up in the night, and since he's our last baby, I'm not in a hurry to get him to sleep all night, so I'm tired in the morning. I don't have much spare time between work and home, so I don't get to do this as often as I need or want to. 
  
• Grant - We have been working to have a great relationship and spend that important time together, but it's SO easy to slip. It's so easy to be so busy and the hustle and bustle of life, and it just gets away from you. It's gotten away from us this week, and we need to reign ourselves in a bit and focus on one another.
  
• Housework - I want to keep a clean house, and my house is very clean and organized. I pick up toys and wipe down counters every night, but I don't dust as often as I should, clean the bathrooms nearly enough or mop the floor regularly. I want to, and I try, but it's just one of the things we let go to an extent to spend more QT with our kids.

That's our schedule...I hope it helps someone out there with organization. I'm totally OCD, and so some of this is difficult for me, and I'm never perfect, but we are trying. :) 

A Day at the Harvey Household

One day last week, I had to work late, but I chose to go pick up the kids and come home, then work from home briefly since I knew it would only last about a half hour or so. Grant met me at home, so he could entertain the boys while I was working. He took some photos of the boys playing together and emailed them to me afterwards. I love these boys, and it's SO awesome to see them playing together and interacting!

Working at the work bench and with their tools is a regular event in the evenings at our house! Love it!

Air Conditioning in a Pinch

We returned home from vacation on a Sunday afternoon, and we attempted to turn our air conditioning on, so our house would cool off after we'd had it on "hold" while we were out of town. Nothing...our air conditioner would not turn on! In south GA, in June, it's hot! Without air conditioning, it's miserable. We called the AC guys in town, since we know them on a personal level, since our air conditioning as gone out four times this year, and it's only June. No one called us back...

We suffered through the afternoon and evening, and they came first thing on Monday. They told us that our fan was bad, and it needed replacing, but that meant ordering a part that wouldn't be in until Friday or the following Monday. Seriously?!

Needless to say, we've been trying to suffer through it, but it's been miserable when our house is 84 degrees inside. Both kids have been sleeping without pajama's, and we borrowed a window unit from a friend. We've been running our fans on high and praying that the part comes in sooner than anticipated.

However, if you come to our house right now, you'll probably see coolers of ice and freezer packs sitting all over the house. Last night, we had at least one cooler full of ice in every room that someone sleeps in, and we had two in the master bedroom.

Here's a quick glance of our "air conditioning in a pinch"...

Potty Boot Camp AKA 3 Day Potty Training

A friend of mine is constantly posting and talking about "3 Day Potty Training" on Facebook. She has two little boys, and they were both potty trained earlier than most boys and both via this method. So, I asked her about it, and she sent me all of the information. I quickly read through the information and I decided to do it with Weston when I knew he would be out of daycare for almost two weeks.

We started on a Friday, and I took the day off work. Friday was a mess, and he had many accidents, but we didn't look back. We threw away all of the diapers in the house, temporarily, then I got them back out later for William to use. ;)

He has done great, and I would recommend this method to anyone; however, don't think that they are going to be completely trained in three days. Weston is still having trouble with doing #2 in the potty, because he doesn't want to sit there and go. He is doing great with #1, and he can hold it almost always even during night and nap. Also, he was out of daycare for almost two weeks...on his first day back, he had five accidents, yes, FIVE.

I was not anticipating that it would be so bad, because he'd been home and doing so well, but it was bad. I didn't even pack enough clothes and underwear for him, because I never imagined it would be so terrible. Since the first day, he hasn't had any pee accidents, but he has had a poop accident. I hope we can get him to figure that out soon. Any suggestions?

Big Boy in his Underwear! :)

A Best Friend

Today, I want to give a shout out to the person that growing up, I never thought I would call my best friend...my sister, Amanda.

Growing up, we had our fair share of arguments and disagreements. We had different interests, and we were two years apart. I thought she was a 'baby', and I don't know what she thought of me. I can clearly remember us being so mad at one another one time that I told my parents that I wanted her or myself to move out.

We made it through those middle/high school years, and I went on to college, and I honestly didn't think much about our friendship during those years. I had my friends at school, I dated, and I didn't come home frequently. She was doing the same...graduating from high school, attending college and making new friends. We spent our holidays together, and we were cordial, but we didn't have much of a 'relationship'.

Fast forward to now, and we are the best of friends. I talk to my sister at least a couple of times a week, but more often than not, daily, even if it's just via text or email and not a phone call. No matter what happens and how I'm feeling, I know that I can rely on her to pick me up when I'm down and listen to me I need her. She was there for the birth of both Weston and William, though she didn't quite make it for William's arrival, but she was there shortly afterward. As soon as we told her that I was in labor with William, she hoped in the car and headed to Athens from Augusta, so she could be there. That meant more to me than I can ever express!!

This week has been a trying and very tough week in more ways than one, and I just wanted to take the time today to thank my sister for being my best friend. I love you, Amanda!

What happened?!

I was all over it, blogging that is, and I had planned to get back into the swing of things and blog regularly, as well as, schedule blog posts. I did great for oh, about a week, then life got in the way. So, here I go again...I'm going to make an attempt at keeping up with blogging more regularly and try to make it part of my everyday life. It's something I truly enjoy...

So, what have we been up to lately...
May

• We celebrated our 3rd Anniversary...it fell on a Wednesday, so we didn't get to go out mid-week, but we did get to spend the evening together, and we were grateful for three years and two awesome little boys.
  
• We spent a very busy Mother's Day weekend back home with family...
• William ran his first high fever (104) over the weekend
• Grant spoke at his Alma mater's Forestry school graduation, the University of Georgia Warnell School of Forestry, as the 2011 Distinguished Young Alumnus
• Attended the wedding celebration for a friend of Grant's that he grew up with
• Attended the dedication of one of my very closest friends baby, Giles, who was born in January
• Ran in a 5K with my whole family...Dad, Uncle, Sister, Brother in Law, Cousin and Husband
  
• Attended UGA Day in the Golden Isles
• Attended membership classes as a precursor to becoming apart of the new church family that we've gained here in our new home
  
• Grant and I spent the weekend out of town at his best friends wedding while my mother, aka Gram, came down to stay with the boys
  
• Spent Memorial Day weekend with my parents and sister and brother in law in St. Augustine, as well as, had a sick little boy over the weekend. 
• Celebrated the birthdays of Grant, Gramps and myself

June

•  Spent another long weekend back home with family...
• Both Weston and William got to stay with our favorite daycare provider, Ms. Mary
• Weston had a follow-up ENT appointment
• Weston got sick with a high fever and no other symptoms on the second evening we were there and was fine within 24 hours
• We did POTTY Boot Camp and spent three full days at home and didn't leave the house...it was a bit tough! :)
  
• Weston spent a full week in St. Augustine with my parents, and Grant and I came down mid-week
  
• We attended the Cannington Family Reunion that occurs every other year for a long weekend
• Our air conditioning went out for the 4th time this year...hence the photo below. William says "It's hot!" 
• Celebrated the birthdays of Aunt Amanda and Gram

And that brings us to this week...it's been crazy busy, but I'm going to try to update much more regularly. :)