A day on the boat

Sunday we decided it was a great day to go out on the boat...a little cloudy, not 100 degrees and Sunday is always less crowded than Saturday. Kaisley has not been on the boat yet, but at 5 months, we thought she was ready....



Mommy & Kaisley



She really enjoyed herself! ;)



Brookston loved watching the other boats!!!



Something about a boat, always puts the kiddos to sleep!!!



This was his nap for the day!



So this was just tooooo cute! The boy loves monkeys!



I couldn't resist!

First time with cereal

Here are a few pictures of Kaisley's first time eating Rice Cereal. She was 5 months exactly, so this was on Tuesday....

"First Bite"

"Okay, not too bad"

"Whoa, what was that?"

"Here it comes again!"

"What's going on?"

"I think I'm done!!"

Kaisley has now eaten rice cereal 3 times and I must say, last night was very cute. She was pretty excited, eating a little better, and trying to help me get the spoon in her mouth!

And here, Brookston shared a toy with Kaisley...he's such a sweet big brother!

Visitor, Wildlife, swimming, and more

"Aunt Cama" (as Brookston has nicknamed her) came to visit us for a week. We took an excursion on a "wagon train" (again, Brookston's wording) to visit and feed some animals, enjoyed a BEAUTIFUL day in New Orleans, and just did our normal weekly playdates, like swimming. Here are some pictures from the last week or so.

Aunt Cama made Kaisley a bunny out of Great Grandma's wedding dress - Wow! (She also made Brookston a bear when he was young, out of Great Grandma's fur coat)

Brookston wanted his turn in the exersaucer...have at it buddy!!!!

Enjoying wildlife

The "Wagon Train"

Daddy feeding the camel

Brookston feeding the animals

Aunt Cama feeding the "cup stealer", as they called them...the cup stealer did not get Aunt Cama's cup, but did get my cup!! Good thing they give extras!

Zeberas...no touching them though!

We spent lots of time with these guys....so beautiful and would eat right out of your hand!!

Ewwwww!!!!!

Daddy and Kaisley in New Orleans

Brookston swimming with friends (thanks for the picture Katherine!)

Kaisley is 5 MONTHS OLD!!!! Wow, where has time gone?!?!

Flying alone with 2 kids!

Some called me brave, some called me stupid....I called it, SUCCESS!!!

I traveled from New Orleans (which was about an hour drive from us in Baton Rouge) to Raleigh, North Carolina to visit my parents. It was just me and the kids and I must say, it went pretty well!

The flight up there Kaisley had a couple moments where she was "THAT BABY" that was crying, but Brookston was amazingly well behaved...thanks to the Delta cookies and milk/juice from a big boy cup (which he never uses, it's always a sippy)!

The flight home, Kaisley did a little better, Brookston was a little worse...but overall, SUCCESS!!!

Some highlights from our trip to visit Nana (currently being called Nina) and Papa:



Nana and Brookston planting flowers to watch them grow



Nana, Papa, and Brookston heading to the Children's Museum



Nana and Brooskton enjoying the museum activities



Brookston made his very own drum and hat



He found the other drums much more entertaining though...



There were drums everywhere...



And tons of other musical instruments!



These were "peas and carrots"



And planting veggies in the garden!



Sweet Kaisley and her face painting



Beautiful baby...please excuse the snotty nose!



Water play...Brookston's favorite!

Then we found a great kids place called "Planet Child"







And last was a visit with my 2 friend's from college, Laura and Lian. I got to finally meet baby Evan and introduce them to Kaisley!

Sweet Relief

I'm hoping not to jinx myself...but the last 2 days of naps and last night were MUCH better with Kaisley! On the 4th, she fell asleep in her high chair (above)...so we left her there....for 2 1/2 hours! I certainly wasn't going to move her! It was the first time this week she didn't cry for at least an hour when going to sleep! Ever since that nap...she's been doing better! We got 9 1/2 hours out of her last night!!!!

I guess it was just shots...but oh boy, how much do I NOT want to take her in for her 6 month shots! 1 1/2 months away and I'm already dreading it!

After our redneck party we had a pretty low key weekend, but here are a few highlights:



Mommy and the kids swimming (Kaisley was not a fan!)

We went to visit Mike the Tiger on LSU's campus. Brookston KNEW it was LSU and pointed out everything that was purple and gold, LSU or a Tiger! SO CUTE! We sort of got to see him...he was sleeping behind some bushes. He must hang out there a lot as it looked like they thinned the bushes along the fence to get a little view of his face while sleeping.



Daddy & Kaisley



Mommy & Brookston

Non stop crying!!!!

Can anyone help?

Kaisley seems to be crying ALL of the time these days!!! Is it still her shots? She had them on Tuesday. Last time she got a fever and her sleep schedule totally changed. At 2 months she was sleeping about 8-10 hours. Then she went down to 5-6, sometimes 7...it took us a month to get her back to 8-10. Now, at 4 months, no fever, but at night she's only sleeping like 3 hours at a time, waking up, crying and miserable. And this time, she doesn't want to go back to sleep! Every time we try to put her to sleep, she cries for sometimes over an hour...she's miserable and so am I! Night time is awful, but now so is nap time!!!! :(

I've tried altering her nap times, night times, eating times.
She's swaddled, so I've tried to unswaddle (that goes even worse as her arms and legs kick NON stop).

I'm about to lose my mind....I seriously spend like 6 hours a day holding a crying baby trying to get her to go to sleep...I know she's exhausted....I sure am!

Can anyone following help???

Last weekend, before it's this weekend

Before it's the 4th of July weekend and we take part in more fun (we're just not sure what that fun is yet), I thought I better post about all of the fun we had LAST weekend!!!

It was water weekend!!!!

Any of my local friends know that Brookston wouldn't be around water without a cup or bucket!

See, here's the bucket!!!!

He loved washing the car with daddy!

This is just for fun, so you can see the chunky thighs...don't you LOVE EM!

A few tid bits:

1. Kaisley rolled for the first time on Sunday, from back to front.
2. Brookston started to get both of his top 2 year molars.
3. And hello, his bottom 2 year molars are all the way through...mommy had NO clue it happened, not to mention came all the way through
4. This weekend we have a "redneck" party...you've gotta see pictures from this, I cannot even imagine how funny we will look!

Happy 4th of July everyone!