Sweet siblings

This is the type of picture I usually get...

I'm sure her bow wasn't in right and he was just trying to fix it!

Naylor leaning in for a kiss.


PERFECT!!

Naylor giving her a sweet little pet;

she's looking at me like, "aren't you going to do something lady?".

Trying to get a picture of both Naylor and Lalon while they both look is becoming quite the fun new challenge... I try getting one almost daily and today had a decent return. Enjoy!

Snow Day!

Family shot! Lalon is under my coat... I promise I'm not pregnant or had that many cookies!

Naylor ready to roll.

Pretty snow!

Last night when we put Naylor to bed it had just begun snowing and this morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! I wanted to take him out this morning, but decided to wait until after his nap so that it'd be "warm". When he woke up, we all got bundled up and headed out. Thanks to Annie and Pa for the all-terrain wagon - it was perfect for snow mobiling! We saw Luke and played with him for a bit, but I think all the adults were more excited about it than the boys... which they were so layered up that they couldn't really move and were probably a little cold. After playing for a little bit we headed in and had some chicken and rice soup to warm up - yummy!

And I couldn't end this post without a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Gramma Whitley! I'm sure it's just a little bit colder up in Minnesota, not sure how she does it, brrrr!

Big Girl, Roly Poly, Playdates and New Friends!

Autumn Madisyn-Grace Bennett

Isla Sa-Rang Kim

Brooke Lee Parker with proud daddy Jeff

Over 3,000 sq feet in this house and this is where these two end up...

Luke giving Lalon a sweet hug this morning; he's going to be a great big brother!

Luke and Naylor playing this morning.

A smathering of catching up in this post...

Yesterday Lalon went to get her RSV booster shot and weighed in at 9 lbs 15.5 oz - WAHOO! She's now 13 weeks old and coming along just great. While we were at the doctor's office, she rolled over (front to back) for the first time. Actually, she did it two times last week, but I thought it was a fluke... apparently not! She's talking and smiling up a storm these days and loves to watch her big brother.

Naylor has been playing with Luke a lot this week - both Stacy and I have had busy weeks and have taken turns keeping the boys. They certainly love these play dates and I love them too because Naylor loves to play with Luke so much. Luke came over early this morning to play for the day as his mom drives up to Maryland to meet up with dad to look at a house for their big move coming up. We sure are going to miss them! Luke was pretty sweet with Lalon this morning giving her some sweet hugs; he's going to be a great big brother (Baby Fogg #2 due July 11th)! Naylor has gotten some new teeth recently too. He now has 8 in front (4 each on top and bottom) and he has 4 molars (one on top and bottom of each side); he loves to brush his teeth before bed!

And the last two weeks have been a baby boom for our friends!

• Jessie (Brian's cousin) welcomed Autumn Madisyn-Grace, Jan 15th, 4 lbs 3 oz and 17.25". Autumn had to stay a few extra days to bulk up, but everyone is home now and doing well.

• Han Song and April welcomed their baby girl, Isla Sa-Rang, Jan 19th at 6 lbs 14 oz, 20" big sister Mia looked so sweet in the pictures with her little sister!


• Jeff and Jennifer Parker welcomed their second daughter, Brooke Lee, Jan 23rd at 7 lbs 14oz and measuring 20.5" big sister Riley loves her little sister!


• Michael and Candice recently shared that Baby Markham will be arriving late August - she went to the dr last week and all looked good!

First Haircut

This morning we headed to Snip Its to get Naylor's hair cut for the very first time. I've been holding out because it seems like his hair has finally filled in! However, there were spots that definitely needed trimming up like his combover and his rat tail in the back.

He did great much better than the girl across the way; she was not happy! He kept leaning into the hairdresser every time she tried to make a cut - not sure if it tickled or if he just wanted her to get off of him...

Tonight Brian, Lalon and I are joining the gang for mexican to celebrate Michael Markham's birthday; Bailie from across the street is going to come babysit Naylor so that we don't mess up his bed time.

Pics of the haircut to come - at the moment I can't find the camera.

Mexican Lasagna

This isn't a picture of mine, but it's very similar in looks aside from the toppings...

A kind neighbor brought this dish to us after Lalon came home from the hospital and boy was it yummy! She shared the recipe and it is now in our top 10 dinners and Naylor loves it which makes it even better!

Mexican Lasagna

• 1 lb ground beef / turkey
• 1 can (15oz) black beans
• 1 can (10 oz) tomato sauce
• 1 can mexican corn (this tends to be a smaller can, maybe 8 or 10 oz size??)
• 1 can (4 oz) green chiles
• 1 pkg taco seasoning
• 1.5 c mexican cheese
• 4 large flour torillas
• cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400

• Combine canned ingredients and taco seasoning in a bowl
• Brown meat and add to wet ingredients
• Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray; I use a round casserole as it holds the tortillas nicely without having to cut / fold them.
• Place 1 tortilla bottom then spoon mixture and sprinkle with cheese.
• Continue layering and end with cheese.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes

Afternoon at Marbles

Brian and I took Naylor and Lalon downtown Raleigh to the Marbles Kid Museum today to meet up with Carson and Liz Swaringen. The boys had an awesome time and we had a lot of fun watching and chasing them around. Naylor definitely loved the water and the slide (but no waterslide!)... his laugh is the best thing in the world. We then did dinner out and he enjoyed his very first corndog. We headed home and up to his room to play for just a few minutes before bed. He was asleep within two minutes of putting him down; we had worn him out!

play date!

Today we hosted play date and the boys had tons of fun as usual. Looks like after everyone's nap we may meet up at the play ground later too if the weather continues to be so nice. Here's a cute picture Brian took of our boys

L-R: Luke, Noah, Hayden, Naylor; not pictured: Lalon who was so soundly sleeping in her crib.

Much better...

Today was much better and by this afternoon, Brian headed to the office and I was back at it with the kids. Naylor seemed pretty excited to be able to play with me again which made me feel good. He's the sweetest little boy in the world. And Lalon is getting Brian all wrapped up pretty quickly (and maybe me too). Tonight she was talking to him; it was pretty sweet.

Being sick is no fun!

Yesterday around lunch I suddenly wasn't feeling well... thought maybe it would pass, so I took a nap while the kids were napping, but then everyone was up and I was worse. Had to call Brian to come home from work, which was sign #1 that this was serious! Fever, chills and aches... lots of sleep last night and this morning was feeling a bit better.

Brian is anxious for me to get better, sounds like he prefers his day job! Until I'm better, I've been quarantined to the bedroom to hopefully not share the germs.

Doctor visit

This morning we went to see Dr. Artman for both Naylor and Lalon's routine checks; below are the results.

Naylor - 15 month check (return at 18 months)
3 shots including his 2nd dose of H1N1
22lbs, 14 oz - 25th percentile
30.5 inches tall - 25th percentile
48 cm head circumference - 75th percentile (he got that from Brian!)
got the A-Ok on all other fronts

Lalon - 2 month check (return at 4 months)
3 shots and 1 oral vaccine
8 lbs, 14.5 oz - 5th percentile
21.25 inches tall - 5th percentile
38 cm head circumference - 15th percentile
also was good on all other fronts

Dr. Artman was pleased with both of their progress and growth.

Happy New Year!

So the holidays came and went like a whirlwind of fun with family here, visiting family in Clinton, then New Year's and now we're almost half way through January! Needless to say life was fun, but chaotic and just this week have things started feeling like normal again...

We got tons of great gifts this Christmas, as did the children, way too much for everyone, but we love it all. Currently one of my favorite toys is one of Brian's gifts - the Flip video. It's easy, fast and just perfect for catching those little moments of Naylor being cute and funny. And best of all, I can upload / email them out in a flash!

Let's see, Naylor is continuing to be a great big brother and loves to love on little Lalon. He's become really sweet with her and likes to give her kisses before bed and has really sweet sing-songy conversations with her. He likes to try to climb into the bouncy chair with her too... that's interesting stuff! Just this week, Naylor has moved from two naps a day to one long nap. So far that seems to be going well, it was just a trying week for me because I couldn't predict if / when he would sleep and we all know how much I like to be in control of the situation!

Naylor has also been on a mission to destroy my really nice coffee table, so this week we got a train table which is now our living room coffee table. He loves it and I love that he isn't killing my nice one - maybe in a few years I'll be able to put it out again. His new trick is to lean forward on the tractor table (we actually changed the name to a tractor table as it currently houses 4 John Deere tractors and tons of farm animals) and once he leans far enough he can scoot on and sit up on it. I kept pulling him down, but found after about 40 times of that, that if you just let him climb up he quickly climbs back down... not sure that's the best answer, but not sure what else to do either!

We've been having lots of fun with our weekly play dates and all decided we're going to start doing them two times a week - the boys really love a change of atmosphere and playing with each other and the moms love having some adult conversations! :) Each time it gets more and more fun to see them interact with one another.

Lalon is still doing great; she's really a good baby - Brian and I have been twice blessed with good ones! She's sleeping about 7 hours at night still and has officially 'woken up'. She's smiling now (non gas related) and is holding her head up a lot more. Compared to Naylor at this age, she's kicking butt!

Brian and I got to enjoy a date this past Friday night, dinner out for sushi (haven't had it in almost 2 years!) and a movie. Our good friends JP and Laura came over to watch the kids (THANKS!!)... they once said they wanted children; I hope their experience with our two didn't make them change their minds!

We go tomorrow morning for Naylor's 15 month and Lalon's 2 month check-ups - looking forward to seeing how big they both have gotten. I'll keep you posted on their new stats and hope now that things are back to 'normal', I'll be able to post updates much more often.

Here's to another wonderful year!