(Little) Lady in Red

Red is Grammy's favorite color, and I must admit I like it quite a bit myself. There's nothing exciting about this post, except that Adison is wearing a cute red outfit given to her by some good friends. She even has soft, furry, matching booties.

Poinsetta Paradise

Emily, Mom and I went to the opening of a local Nursery's annual poinsetta sale. It was just beautiful! It just puts you in the mood for christmas, and I didn't escape without buying two poinsettas, a Moravian star that lights up, and a small, pre-lit christmas tree for Cole & Adison's room.

It was a fun morning of girl-talk and coffee (thank to mom) and the only thing that would have made it better was if Chris and Carine could have been there too. :)

Mark It.

2:01pm

Mark that time and make a note that, miraculously, both my babies are asleep at the same time.
I can still hardly believe I am a mother of two. I'm sure all the mothers of 3, 4, and 5 are laughing at me right now. But that's fine. I find myself enjoying more of the little things with Adison. I was never one to stare into Cole's face for hours in awe. I loved him as a baby, no doubt, but I just wasn't that fluffy type of mama. I do find myself enjoying her moments more, though. And I look forward to her growing up so I can see what kind of personality she will have and I can't wait for her to be old enough to interact with Cole and see how they play together.

Aside from being 2 and bossy, Cole has been a fantastic big brother. He is eager to help, like getting her diaper and informing when Adison is crying and that I should go get her. :) Even on the rough days, there's nothing I'd rather be doing right now. Well, almost nothing.... :)

A Closer Look

I haven't been able to get that many good close-ups of Adison, so here's one for you.

Kitchen Redo

We needed some new countertops in our kitchen, and it just so happens the brand of counters we ordered offered a free sink with it. Well, we can't have a pretty sink with an old faucet, and for that matter why don't we replace that ugly and loud dishwasher that doesn't really clean the dishes? You get the idea....

So here's our mini kitchen makover. I forgot to take a before picture; so the wow-factor is significantly diminised. But the countertops were all white before and this new color really warms up the kitchn. The dishwasher is humming quietly as I type this. :)

Focus

It's time for a doggy post since the blog makes reference to them. Our younger dog, Irbe, may not be the brightest light on the tree, but I will tell you one thing he knows how to focus. This picture is a view of him staring intently on a ball just out of view. He will bring his ball to you, drop it and stare a burning hole into it until you pick it up and throw it for him. Cole has really taken to bossing the dogs around pretty good and has started giving them a little shove and tell them to "go on!" and the dogs are just champs about it. They usually give us a sad but obediant look "Am I really taking instructions from a 2-year-old?" Welcome to my world, doggies....

Adison One month Old

One Month Old


One Week Old




Actually almost 5 weeks now! She continues to just pork up and round out. She was 6 pounds 7 ounces last week, and I imagine she's going to be 7 by the end of the week. I included a picture of her at one week to see the difference. She's wearing a 0-3 month outfit (provided by my very good friend "aunt" Dana!) and it's still loose on her, but she's about to start fitting into all the adorable things that are hanging in her closet. :)

Breaking The Law

There was a time, believe it or not, that we let these two large, smelly, snoring dogs sleep on the bed. I can hardly believe it myself, actually. I used to get the raw end of the deal. I'd wake up with dog paws in my bag and hugging the edge of the bed while Kevin, Bou and Irbe slept happily away. Well, we decided when we moved 2 years ago: new house, new rules. One of these was 'No Doggies on the Bed'.

Kevin takes pleasure in bending those rules from time to time, and he decided to call both dogs onto the bed one night. They know it's wrong, because you have to literally beg them to jump up. But when they get there, it's like fast-setting cement: good luck getting them off. I captured this momentary lapse in judgement the other day. I made them get down only minutes after Kevin called them up. I like how both dogs refuse to look at me taking a picture.....obviously they are ridden with guilt.

Trick Or Treat

Cole was excited about Halloween this year. Why? Because he is now very aware not only of what "chocolate" is, but also that he likes it very much. Here is our friend, Lizzie (A Fairy) at the house before we hit the streets. Kevin kept raiding Cole's bag for the good stuff practically moments after he got it. But Cole still managed to get plenty of chocolate and other candy. He had a blast as an elephant.

Pumpkin Carving

We picked out three great pumpkins at the Farmers market this year. On pumpkin-carving night, Cole set up with his markers to color his pumpkin and Kevin got his tools out for carving. I didn't have much energy for it, so my pumpkin sat embarassingly un-decorated on our front porch. But the boys had a blast and here are some pictures of the action. Note the face Cole is making, I asked him to smile for the camera.

First Bath

Here is Adison's first bath. She wasn't really crazy about it and I don't blame her. You don't really get to sit in the nice warm water unter you are a few months old. I'm sorry I don't have a new picture of her, but she is growing like a weed. She weighed in at 6 pounds 7 ounces this week, which is up from 5 lbs 11 oz last week.

We have found she likes music and singing, and it seems to calm her when she is fussy, particularly when Daddy sings it.

Adison One Week Old

Here she is at one week old with her little Doggy friend. I leave the naming of it up to Kevin, as he is the one who named Cole's small stuffed Elephant "elly". So for now it's just boring old doggy.

I am stealing an idea from another Blogging friend of mine (Brandy & Sarala!!) and decided it would be fun to chart a little of her growth against her doggy friend. Since she started her little life on the smaller side, it will be neat to see how quickly she catches up. So here she is against her friend and every week or so I'll post another picture of them and we'll watch Doggy begin to look smaller and smaller!

P.S. Thanks to Aunt Jenny for the super, super adorable knit outfit she is wearing. Adison will be wearing this until it absolutely will not fit anymore. It's our favorite!!

And Then there were FOUR!

We joyfully announce the arrival of Adison Margaret Marie Spillman on October 12, at 3:08pm in the afternoon. Our little girl weighed in at 4 pounds 12 ounces. She arrived early via C-section and spent a little time in the hospital after her arrival, but we are thankfully home now and getting settled in!

We are thrilled and Cole is already a huge helper and wonderful brother. He keeps saying, "he's a good baby!" (we're working on the he/she thing......) and "it's a tiny little baby!" :)

One of My Favorite Things

Yesterday for the first time since Cole started Preschool, I didn't have any appointments or errands to do. So I stopped and got myself a Mocha and a muffin at Starbuck's and came home to read my bible. 10:00 is one of my favorite times of the day, which may sound silly. But it's still got a lot of morning light and it's quiet and with no one in the house but me and two doggies, I was able to sit at the table and read with no schedule to keep.

It's Back!

Hockey Season officially started on Wednesday and Kevin and I went to opening night for the Hurricanes. It was an extra special game since they were raising the Stanley Cup Champions banner. The Stanley Cup, Conn Smythe, Prince of Wales and....I think the Selke trophy were also on dislplay in the arena. We lost the game 3-2 in a shoot-out against Buffalo (boo!), so that was the only downer of the night. Kevin and I aren't getting season tickets for the first time in quite awhile, just because with a new baby in the mix, we just wouldn't be going to as many games. We're still planning on going to one a month.

Just Chilling Out

Cole decided yesterday that he wanted to wear his sunglasses when we were getting dressed. It's funny because he hasn't worn them in a long time and they were stuffed in his closet so I'm not sure what made him decide he needed them. When I was getting ready and he sat down to watch his video, he refused to take them off. :)

C-O-L-E spells "Cole"

We captured a little something surprising on video this past weekend. Cole wrote out his name for the first time. Now Kevin is really the Teacher in the family, and has been spelling out important words like "Cole, Mama, Daddy, Irbe and Bou" for awhile now. Cole knew what they were purely by memorization. He learned how to do an "E" a few weeks ago. And the "L" came easily after that. Anyway, I'm blabbing on but to one day I hear him in his playroom at his table saying "spells Cole!" So I come in and look at his little paper, and call Kevin and tell him his son has just written his name, alone, without any prompting.

We captured a repeat on video and sometime soon I'll figure out how to do those video posts on blogger. But until now, here's a picture of him with his little masterpiece, and a close up.

We're trying not to put too much stock into it.....but that's pretty impressive for 2 1/2, right?

Baby Bedding

While I'm not completely done, I dont' have the patience to wait until the finished product to post my latest venture. I'm making a bumper for the crib in a fabric that matches the room and I'm halfway there. I went ahead and put it on the crib to see how it looked and it's fun to see something take shape! This was a great and easy project I bought forever ago where the bumper pad inserts are pre-cut and ready for you to basically just cut some rectangles out and sew around them. It's taken a little time to measure all the pieces since it doesn't come with a pattern, but I'm pretty happy with the results. The little pink bows add a girly touch to the crib without over-doing it. I have the same fabric in a 'boy' pattern of blue and green that I'll use to make a pillow case for Cole's "blue bed" as we call it. I still have a few more finishing touches planned for the room, so maybe I can hold out now until it's all done before I post again. :)

Four Eyes

Here we have Cole with his first take-home craft from Preschool. He calls it "for eyes", which is funny since 'four eyes' also applies. He wore it all around his neck this morning and then got a few good laughs at himself looking at me through his little binoculars.

He seems to be enjoying preschool more and more. I think he's always liked his teachers, Ashley and Kim as he asks about them the minute I pick him up to take him home, "Where's Miss Ash-eh-ley" (he says her name in 3 sylables). Some days, however he's reluctant to go ("all done school today"), and sometimes when I pick him up and ask him about school he refuses to talk about it. I think it's just a busy morning twice a week and he's probably ready to just let down on the way home.

Drop off time had been a bit traumatic, but we are finding a little system that works for us. We pray either before we leave the house or in the car on the way about his day at school outloud together, and then he's reminded that when I pick him up, there will be a Chocolate Milk waiting in his little cup holder in his car seat for him.

What's really interesting is that each day he mentions another one of the kids in his class, and so far he hasn't mentioned the same kid twice. So either these other 2 year olds are actually befriending each other, or they are bothering each other. :) The moms of the class are getting together next week after we all drop the kids off and I look forward to meeting them. Honestly I'm just happy to go through the year anonymous, but it's good for me to step outside the comfort zone and really get to know other mothers in his class.

All in all I think it's a great thing for Cole, and for me, although the adjustment has been harder than I anticipated. I figured 3 hours free twice a week would be party-time but I find I miss my little boy and wish I could be a fly on the wall, watching him interact with others in a social environment without his mother around. But the time before baby has been valuable and will be even more so after her arrival.

Lunch with the Stanley Cup Champions

We were very fortunate again this year to be invited by one of Kevin's chemical suppliers to the annual "We Love the Hurricanes Luncheon". Last year we went and had a blast and were surprised when Debbie invited us to attend again. We sat with Ray Whitney, who was a real nice guy and we heard lots about his summer in his home town of Edmonton, his adjustment to Raleigh, his hockey history and then a lengthy college football conversation with some other guys at the table at which point I zoned out. :)

He is playing at the first exhibition game tonight and left early so we didn't get a picture with him, but we did nab Eric Staal and grap a photo with him. He really is tall. We also said hello to Frank Kaberle, who we sat with last year and absolutely loved. He will be sidelined most likely all of this season after surgery and was wearing this arm brace that looked incredibly uncomfortable. So while we're sad we wont' see him on the ice, it was nice to see him in person. Obviously he's not going to remember we sat with him, but several of us at the table last year said hello at the same time and mentioned it and he was so gracious and warm. A great guy.

My only complaint is that the Stanley Cup was not there. I was really hoping this would be my chance to see it up close and not have to wait in line with thousands of other people at the Caniac Carnival in a few weekends....bummer.