October!

We started the month with brithday parties every day of every weekend. The children in Harrison's class all have birthdays within 2 months of each other! I think we went to Pump it up 4 times in 2 weeks - such a fun and easy place for a birthday party. Harrison is loving his class this year. And, I am loving the Moms! We have a standing playdate on Wednesdays at the park, and next week we are off to The Tasting Room for a Mommy Wine Night! Love these fun girls! Harrison still loves his Vivi and Bella, but his 2 new BEST BUDS are John and Ryan. I initiated a sticker chart to ease the bedtime chaos (in a winey voice: "one more story, one more book, please rub my back, one more snack, i need to tee tee, i need water, i need to kiss baby clark good night, i'm scared... " i mean the list goes on and on...). Anyways, I had very low expectations that the sticker chart would work, but lo and behold, when I told him 3 stickers=having a friend over to play, he was asleep in 5 minutes!!! So, we've had some fun playdates with his 2 best buddies. If I have to hear: "When is my birthday party?" one more time though... ! Harrison has NO concept of birthday parties only happening once a year. Seriously, how do you explain "calendar time" that to a 3 year old?!

Clark has been a trooper through it all. Harrison has been sweet enough to pass along every sniffle and sneeze to Clark... the poor baby just can't catch a break. I tried to start him on solids a few weeks ago again, but he HATES cereal, so I broke the rules and started "real food" at 5 1/2 months. He loves bananas and sweet potatoes and took the first 2 hour nap ever today after a big breakfast! Usually his naps are 30-45 min, which just kills me. Harrison was an amazing napper. I lived for that 1.5 hours to catch up on housework, etc. I have made it a point to be home for morning naps for Clark, and hopefully with the addition of solids, they will lengthen. Keep your fingers crossed.

We have had such a fun October - 5 good friends had babies in ONE week. So much celebrating on the baby end. Several showers, several wine nights, several fabulous date nights, and several pounds heavier!!! :) Lawsy, why is losing baby weight so hard with #2!?!



Drawing out their faces

Pretty good for a 3 year old!? :)

Scary pumpkins and delicious roasted pumpkin seeds - a first for David and now he's hooked!

Orange day at school, so of course Baby Clark had to participate!

This child loves tools!

Roasting marshmellows! Harrison: "Mom, this is the best campout ever!"

The new cereal dispenser from Gran and Grandaddy(in red) is a huge hit and ensures that Harrison has a big breakfast with lots of milk!

David: "Pumpkin seeds, I will find you!" We LOVE roasted pumpkin seeds at the Slye household! :)

Oh, my sweet boys. I just can't get enough of them. (well, until 5 o'clock, then i've had plenty! LOL) Harrison and Clark are still smitten with each other. Clark has been sitting up unassisted for 2-3 weeks. He barely even falls over anymore - such a strong, lean, and long little guy! He's going through some tough separation anxiety with me - I am unable to walk more than 5 feet away without him letting me know that he doesn't like it. I secretly love this and cherish that my boys are "mamas boys" in many ways because I know in 5 years, their needs will change and cuddling might be a pasttime. (sniffle, sniffle) But for now, Harrison still crawls in my lap and lets me snuggle with him all the time, and I enjoy EVERY minute of it (even if he is faking a hurt toe: "mama, my foot's toe hurts" or better yet, today it was: "my, my, um, my (looking around), my SOCK hurts.")

Harrison Turns THREE!!!

Today, I took Harrison to get his haircut and almost got extremely emotional in the Cool Cuts for Kids. As he was sitting in the little race car, with the cape tight around his neck, I saw my baby-faced 1 year old getting his hair trimmed. I truly cannot believe that he is now THREE. My baby. Since Clark has been born, it's been a whirlwind, and now I see what people mean by time flying by. It needs to slow down!

For Harrison’s 3rd birthday, we had a family dinner on Friday night the 30th, then a big birthday party at Noah’s Ark on Sunday afternoon the 2nd. Twenty-five of his closest friends came to celebrate with him! David and I could not have pulled off the party without the help from our parents. His parents watched Clark and mine served the pizza! Thank goodness we had 2 lifeguards to watch Harrison! :)



Ben and Harry - two of Harrison's favorite buddies!

sweet "baby clark" (Harrison says his name so fast that it ends up sounding like "babeclark" - I am afraid this name might stick!)

Baby Clark met a girl at the party!

Staring down her Dad

To Infinity and Beyond!!!

Our pizza helpers!

Noah's Ark! Such a fun place to rent!

We seriously could not have entertained 60ppl if they had not helped so much!

Harrison's new tent from Gran and Grandaddy!

Gran and Grandaddy brought the birdhouse Harrison made, and animals kept "appearing" in it all weekend long.....

Getting ready to blow candles out - they are each other's favorite people - so much love between them!

The grandaddys and HP

"no girls allowed!"

Buzz Lightyear sleeping bag!

The dang guitar - all Harrison talked about was wanting a guitar for his birthday. I couldn't find the exact one that his friend Jed has, so I bought him this one.... Well, this guitar requires headphones!!! OMGaaa! At least I had headphones for him, but he was so disappointed. No wonder it was on sale for $15! Maybe Santa will bring a better one!

Pure love for Papa

Harrison's famous "mocking" pose when we are disciplining him.... he knows that it always makes us laugh.

Clark's Baptism

We had a wonderful baptism for Clark in the chapel at St. Martin's Episcopal Church Saturday the 1st. Harry was able to participate in the baptism even though he is not an Episcopal priest, so that was very special. Clark wore the same dress that Harrison did. It was a dress my Mom made for my family and she has hand sewn each boys' baptism date and name into the bottom of the inside. It's so special and I look forward to passing it along to their children one day.

Clark was wonderful during and after the baptism. His new reflux meds are helping so much, but big brother keeps passing along his preschool viruses to Clark and me, so we're building up our immunity in the Slye household!