Update on our fall

We've been keeping very busy over here this fall!

The last weekend of October, I took the kids up to Hart Square for the annual festival.  We had a great time!  They did well on the drive, except for Lindley crying off and on for the HOUR AND A HALF we sat in traffic to get in the gate.  I certainly didn't blame her for that though.

It was fun to see Caden get to walk around and explore things this year, since he was just 9 months when we went last year.  He wandered everywhere & made friends with all he met.  He liked the sheep & goats & horses the best I think.

The kids got to sport their Halloween costumes a couple times - here we are at Hillary's neighborhood playgroup.  Lindley is a lion, and Caden is a skunk (both hand-me-down costumes from friends!).  By the time we got to actual Halloween night, I was too tired to put their costumes on again & go trick-or-treating, but we did go to some friends' house and sit in the driveway with a fire in the fire pit, passing out candy.

I love fall in North Carolina!  This was the view from our back door a couple weeks ago.

Wade has been working a lot - surprise, surprise.  Pre-season stuff for varsity basketball is busy in itself, combined with running another basketball league on the weekends, and of course his actual main job of assistant principal.  Now that basketball season has started, he has practice or games every day of the week, plus shootaround on Saturdays.  He doesn't get to see the kids much, so moments like this one are pretty special - when he was home one afternoon and just hung out with Caden for a little bit.

He sure does love his daddy!

Our sweet Lindley is already 3 months old!  She's finally getting less fussy and is giving me lots of smiles & even coos now.  She was sleeping 12 hours straight at night for two weeks...  the time change messed her up a little, and she's gotten back to about 10 hours now, which is still pretty good :). 

She's holding her head up well & loves to watch the high school basketball games when we go watch daddy coach.  I'm glad we're starting to get to a more fun stage with her - the newborn months are not my favorite at all.

I can't believe Thanksgiving is already next week, and then it'll be time to think about Christmas!  This time last year, Caden was still a baby, and I had no idea that our little girl was already growing and would be an irreplaceable part of our family by now.  I'm so thankful for the way God planned our family and gave us these sweet kids to raise.  They are truly a blessing!

Haircut

Just gave Caden a haircut tonight, all by myself!  I've been cutting it all by myself for the most part, but it's now getting a lot thicker (and he's certainly getting wigglier), so I was more nervous that I couldn't do a decent job.  But I sat him down with my iPod Touch and snipped away.  I'm pretty proud of the results!

In the bottom right picture, I had asked him to say "cheese" - he said "mooooo."  That's my silly boy!

Randoms from Lindley's first month

Well, somehow a whole month has gone by since my last post!  I guess that shouldn't be surprising with all that we have going on these days.  Wade is back in the swing of things at school, and the kids & I are settling into a routine I guess.  

I don't feel too overwhelmed with both of them most of the time, although it is tiring & sometimes the nonstop responsibility & neediness of an infant & toddler gets to me.  I find myself daydreaming of time alone, time before having kids, being able to just sit down & enjoy a meal, or do what you want when you want to do it, or spontaneously make plans with no need to take a million details into consideration, or exercise by myself, or of course, sleep through the night.

I know I'll look back on this time as a short season of chaos, so I try to just take it all in stride & enjoy as much of it as possible.  Lindley has become a little colicky in the past week or two, which is draining.  She pretty much cries from 8-11 p.m., and she's really never happy and awake at the same time.  I'm hopeful that it is mostly due to her age (5.5 weeks now) and she'll get happier in a few more weeks.

She had her first bath at 2 weeks after her umbilical cord fell off.  It's crazy how much she looks like Caden at this age, except for the dark hair.

I wouldn't say Caden is helpful, per se, but he's interested at least, and he does pretty well around her.  He likes to point out her foot & hand & eyes & belly button.

This was the first time he "held" her - I was surprised that he wanted to, but he did great.  Just sat still in the chair & looked at her sweetly for probably 10 minutes!

Sweet big brother!

I can't wait to see these two really interact & play together in a few months.

Fast forward a few weeks... we finally took some family pictures this weekend, so there is proof that the 4 of us really do belong together :).  I love the shot that I used for the new blog header, and I also got some cute ones of just me & my baby girl.

All in all, life is good.

First week home

We've had a great first week home from the hospital!  My recovery has been a breeze this time, so I have been able to get back into the swing of life very quickly, which is a huge blessing.  We were even able to make it to church - all 4 of us - the day after we got home.

This was my first solo outing with both kids... to Target, when Lindley was 6 days old.  I had to get newborn diapers & pacifiers that Lindley likes.  Hillary & the girls met me there for moral support :).  It went well though, other than the fact that there is literally no room in the cart with Caden in the front seat part & L's car seat taking up the entire basket.

Caden having a snack one day...  he's so BIG now, it seems!

A rare moment with eyes open.  Girl still sleeps 98% of the time :).

Can't believe I have TWO kids!

I can already tell these days are going to go by too fast.  I remember Caden's first couple months seeming like an eternity, and I'd have to say I didn't completely enjoy them, largely because of how much of a struggle nursing was.  That part is going so much better this time, and with practically zero recovery needed from labor/birth, and already being in the swing of the pace of life as a mother, things just seem so much more manageable this time.  I know this is only the first week and things will get hectic when Lindley actually wakes up, for instance, but I'm definitely enjoying it so far!

And here's my sweet boy in the laundry basket.  He has seemed to adjust very well so far (again, I realize Lindley hasn't "woken up" yet!).  Only a normal amount of tantrums, and I haven't noticed any jealousy.  He has a very passing interest in the baby... he'll say "baby" from time to time, and look at her & touch her feet, but really doesn't care too much beyond that.

All in all, we are very blessed with these two kiddos and can't wait to watch them grow up together & see them start to interact and (hopefully) become best buds!

Lindley is here!

On Thursday, August 2, 2012, at 12:50 p.m., Lindley Caroline Tapp made her grand entrance into the world!  She was 6 pounds, 14 ounces, and 20 inches long.

We are in love with this little girl already!

I was induced 2 days shy of my due date, and labor only took 4.5 hours from start to finish.  It was not painless by any means, but SO much better than labor & delivery with Caden.  It certainly helped that she was so small & my second baby :).

A few hours after she was born...  3 generations!  Her name, Lindley, comes from Linda, my mom's name.  And her middle name, Caroline, comes from my maternal grandmother, Carolyn, and Wade's maternal grandmother, Carol.

We came home from the hospital today (Saturday), and we're doing great so far!  More to come I'm sure.

Caden's ring bearer debut

This weekend, my cousin got married - congratulations David & Rebeca!

Caden was the ring bearer.  

This was the only non-blurry picture I got of him, but isn't he cute?!  

He and my two nieces (the flower girls - Madelyn, 3.5, and Riley, 1) made it all the way down the aisle eventually (thankfully!).  Hillary and I were kneeling at the front of the church, looking like idiots, trying to get them to come to us.  Madelyn did fine, of course, and Riley pretty much followed her big sister.  It was a long aisle, and Caden didn't see me until the last third of it, so he got a little distracted several times during the first part.  Once he saw me, he grinned and ran toward me - it was so cute.  All the guests clapped when they finally made it to the end of the aisle :).

It was a fun & busy weekend with all the family in town.  I'm pretty much exhausted now, and also pretty much over being a 9-month-pregnant single parent of a toddler.  Wade gets home this weekend.  I can't believe we're going to actually have another baby in the next month.

Remembering mom

4th of July tradition of visiting the cemetery

I can't believe it's been 4 years since we said goodbye to mom.  My sweet baby boy twirled and trotted and giggled around the cemetery today, full of life that I know mom would have loved to see.  I hate that I can't "remember" her as a grandmother, since she never got to be one - I just have to picture what it would have been like.

Even though he can be a frustrating toddler many a time, Caden has been showing more and more sweetness lately, which is so fun.  He'll wrap his arms around my neck and hug me tight, or just giggle and grin when I go in to get him in the morning or after a nap.  He'll crack himself up doing random stuff, or come and lay his head against my belly for a minute or two randomly.  I hope he stays that way when baby sister comes!