Next time back up

Katrina taught me a tough lesson- Vance? Not so much. Ha!

3 months!

Vance celebrated his 3 month birthday last weekend. He was doing his two favorite things when I was snapping pictures- talking and smiling. I think he's going to give Abbi Kate (and me) a run for her money. We might just be in trouble....

...and my hands were very small.

"This is to remind you
When I am very tall,
That once I was quite little
And my hands were very small."

I busted out the watercolors this week in desperation to entertain Abbi Kate and Liam, and in the process, decided we'd make these cute little momentos. I went back and added the poem above after they were done. I'm pretty sure that I'll be bawling my eyes out in a few years looking at them.

Love my kiddos!

Pre-K Graduate and Awesome Big Sister

Abbi Kate's end of the year program was last week and afterward it was time for refreshments and play time. Once she saw Liam, she grabbed him and introduced him to all of her friends, and was generally pretty awesome with him, helping him keep up as they ran around.

This was AK's first week off of school and we're already going stir-crazy. Our plans for tomorrow include playing outside in the water and walking to our neighborhood tot-lot. My aim is to wear her and Liam out, without completely exhausting myself in the process.

She's signed up for Gymnastics 1x/week, but that doesn't begin until the middle of June. Liam starts speech therapy 2x week, and then summer camps aren't until the end of July. Ahhh!

Vance had his 2 month check up last week, and he's TINY! His official 2 month weight is a whopping 8 lbs. 3 oz. and keeps him at the 5th percentile (I know!), where he was at birth.

I'm exclusively breastfeeding, but Liam was exclusively breastfed at this point and both he and Abbi Kate weighed 11 lbs at their 2 month appointment. Vance has, however, finally grown out of his newborn outfits. So, he's growing... slowly!

No concerns from the doctor yet, so let's keep our fingers crossed he keeps growing. I hope to breastfeed for as long as possible (but at the very least, the first 6 months).

In other news, I ventured back to the gym today. That was painful- any good sports bra recommendations are appreciated. Ha!

bribery.

Liam is FINALLY potty trained- and trust me, it was no small feat. He's been going to the potty off and on since this time LAST YEAR, but we were never consistent with enforcing it and so, he'd cooperate when he felt like it and vice versa. With AK we just went a few days without diapers and had a few stickers handy and BAM, she was trained. We avoided bribery with Liam in the beginning because we knew he knew what he was doing, and could do it and didn't care if he did it or not. Yea, bribery won out. Just a few days of these bad boys and for 3 weeks now we've had a day/night trained little man! Yay, Liam!

Tea Party

A few days ago, Abbi Kate and Liam invited me upstairs to a "birthday party" they threw for me. I tried to explain that mommy doesn't have a birthday until September, and that I was in no need to rush things, but they insisted. They had moved a toy box out and put a blanket over it to make a table, and they'd even invited a few of their "friends"... So much fun!

8 weeks!

Vance is growing, growing, growing. So much so that he's FINALLY getting too big for his newborn clothes. Ha!

It's still early, but at this point he's looking like he'll be another blue eyed child. Shawn has hazel eyes, that at first glance appear to be solid brown, but have an olive green center. So, naturally, I thought I'd have these brown eyed (possibly tan?) kiddos. But nope. Although AK's eyes are a bit hazel in their own way (blue with flecks of yellow making them a different color blue than my own or Liam's), all my kiddos have blue eyes thus far. I know 8 weeks is early, so I'm still holding out for brown or a brown/green hazel. Don't get me wrong, I love my blue eyed babes, but a little brown would be fun too!

Picture Day!

Abbi Kate had picture day for her tap & jazz class she's been taking this year. She looked super cute even though I was nervous about getting her dressed for it. I played sports growing up, and rarely manage make-up on myself, so putting the lipstick and eyeshadow on her, and lathering gel in her short hair so that it would go into a "high ballet bun" was an interesting feat. But I survived, and as usual, she looked absolutely adorable.

Visitors.

Shawn's parents came for a week last week, and Mike (Shawn's first cousin) drove down and stayed for a night. We had a blast talking and catching up. We hadn't seen Mike since the fall and we haven't been to Tupelo since last summer. While his parents were here he and his Dad repaired and/or replaced two doors. I now have a back door I don't have to hit with my hip to close and a nice, new front door. We have hit a problem though- replacing the original moulding. As it turns out, not only is it an antique, but it's art deco and we can't find it anywhere around here (but we're keeping an eye on the local Habitat for Humanity Re-store)... and when we've found it online? $300 to frame a door! Yikes!

Happy Easter!

The Easter Bunny came to see Abbi Kate and Liam on Sunday, and the living room still hasn't recovered. Vance spent the day sleeping, eating and pooping- but overall I'd say he thought it was a fun day too, even though he didn't get any candy.

5 weeks.

Guess who's 5 weeks old?

I keep trying to soak in every moment with Vance, knowing he's absolutely positively my last child. Knowing how quickly time flies, I occasionally panic when I think of Abbi Kate going off to Kindergarten in the fall and am confused to find myself the mom of an almost-six-year-old along with an almost-three-year-old.

How did my babies grow up so fast?

I don't know, but I want to take in every moment. I will reference this, I promise, when Abbi Kate and Liam are screaming at the top of their lungs, arguing with one another.

I have such a love/hate relationship with the thought of them growing up. On one hand, they all continuously amaze me with their developing personalities and each day brings on a new level of hilarity. It's so exciting seeing the world through their eyes as they grow and learn new things. On the other hand, especially after having such a rough year in 2010, there are days where I just want to hold them, hug them, kiss them, and stay in a moment forever.

Today, Abbi Kate informed me that she is marrying a classmate of hers- Ian. She told me that when they get married, they'll have a blue and purple car, and that everyone will "absolutely LOVE it!"

Right now, she has a really good friend in her class, Nell. Nell actually only lives a few blocks away and has a sister, Sam, who is Liam's age. Abbi Kate loves her play dates with Nell, and it's fun to see Sam and Liam play.

As Liam chased everyone around the yard last week, with the girls running and screaming, I wondered how the dynamics will change once Vance can get in on the action. Will Abbi Kate be able to coerce them both into playing "babies" or "be-YUTI-shop" or will Liam have a partner in crime to terrorize Abbi Kate (something he loves to do at the most inopportune times, if you're AK)?

I suppose we'll find out soon enough...

Vance!

So, since my last post, I had a baby!

Vance Mills Richardson
6 lbs. 6 oz., 19" long

Introducing: Phoebe

It's been incredibly difficult to get a picture of Phoebe because she usually appears on camera to be a black blob. Phoebe is a 10 week old Cockapoo and Abbi Kate absolutely adores her. I think the only time they're separated at all is at night. Oh, and my son of few words, Liam, calls her "Pee-bee", which is the cutest thing ever.

Would You Like Some Mud With That?

After lunch, we went back outside. After, of course, we changed out of our nice outfits. Abbi Kate and Liam helped Papa and Daddy with the fence. They also made quite a few mud-holes to play in.

As you can see, Liam is dressed in his Star Wars shirt, a diaper and sandles. Abbi Kate is in an outfit picked out entirely on her own- a St. Patrick's t-shirt and yellow gingham shorts.

They're both napping right now, but suffice it to say we had to have a mid-day bath. Who knew mud could be so much fun?

Attack of the Matching Outfits...

As per our yearly torturous tradition, the kiddos were dressed in matching outfits today. In fact, Liam looks proper and sweet. But don't be fooled. When it was time to come back inside for lunch, he literally took a handful of my hair in protest.

Easter Baskets.

Every year I try not to go overboard, but I've found that much harder now that there are two kiddos to buy for. You would think it would be easier, since in theory you'd be sticking to a budget, but the tricky part lies in making sure that each basket or stocking, etc.. looks equal to the other. And there goes the budget!

With that in mind, I still think I did well this year...

It should be noted that Liam's favorite thing in the world right now is to kick a ball in the back yard. He has even tried to kick a baseball he found out there (presumably belonging to the little boy next door.) Abbi Kate, on the other hand, is always easy to buy for- she loves to read and all things "girly"...

Busy, Busy.

It's been an exhausting couple of days- and even that's putting it lightly. Shawn and his dad have been hard at work putting up a new fence in the back yard. The posts were set yesterday and the sun came out to dry the concrete. Today they've been hard at work putting up the boards and it's really coming together.

Meanwhile, Nana and I have been busy keeping the kids busy and we've managed to end every day just as exhausted as the boys. I'm not sure why since every day hasn't been too out of the ordinary for a typical day with the kiddos, but without fail Shawn and I have gone to sleep right after tucking Abbi Kate and Liam in at night. Abbi Kate hasn't even been using her usual 20 excuses to come downstairs and delay the inevitable bed time, so the kids have been just as exhausted.

And what have we done?

Well, Friday was spent running errands. On Saturday we went to an Easter Egg Hunt at a Presbyterian church a few blocks away. Liam found a ton of eggs, while Abbi Kate (not nearly as aggressive) collected her fair share. The SWEETEST thing was that she brought an egg with a sticker to the egg hunt with her for the sole purpose of gifting to someone. Needless to say, everyone there was talking about the sweet little girl that brought a gift for someone else. Liam may be my little hooligan, but Abbi Kate is my sweet little girl with the big heart.

Here she is presenting her gift to one of the egg-hunt organizers at the church.

I'll save the other pictures for the next post, but here are some more from Saturday!

Hello Sunshine.

Well, we finally got haircuts this past week. And by "we", I mean Abbi Kate and Liam. I have to scan the picture of them sitting in their chairs disguised as firetrucks and taxis. Liam was unimpressed, by the way.

Apart from that, we've spent the week trying to enjoy as much of the beautiful weather as possible.

Before:

After:

I also didn't realize it until getting her hair cut that she has apparently been cutting her hair when doing craft projects with her scissors. awesome.

Hair Talk

We're all very much in need of a haircut. Liam's hair is out of control. I've personally given him trims in the past because I'm just not sure how well he will sit down for a proper haircut. We don't call him our "little hooligan" and our "tiny viking" for nothing, yanno.

Shawn is in need of a cut too. I cut his hair as well, but he likes his hair long so it doesn't get cut very often. Luckily for Shawn, his hair is not as thick as Liam's is (though he would argue he'd rather have thick hair). The poor child has really thick hair and lots of it, and combined with his large forehead (courtesy of me, thankyouverymuch), well, he's beginning to look like he's wearing a football helmet made of hair. Apologies to Liam for talking so much about his massive amounts of hair and his pronounced forehead, but I speak the truth.

As for me and Abbi Kate, our hair is just getting longer and longer. So, we're in needs of trims ourselves.