Here comes Santa Claus...

This Sunday Santa visited our house early. Since we will be in Bossier for Christmas, we decided we would celebrate with Peyton a little early. It was definitely more fun this year than last year, but we learned a valuable lesson. Do not give Peyton a truck, train or vehicle of any kind before he opens his other presents! Once he saw his train set, he was uninterested in opening anything else...which is good because that was his big present and after 3 hours of assembly last night, we both joked that if he hated it, we'd never get him another present! ha! I was quite proud of us, though, for putting this thing together in only 3 hours. Yes I said "only" because I'm very certain you have to be an engineer of some sort to put the actual train together. I'm still not sure we got it totally right, but it's irrelevant now....Peyton finds it amusing to take it apart anyways. Oh well, he's having fun right! Brad and I had a blast doing this project together and I think that was the point anyways. We don't get much time to do things together and if we have to find that time by putting together toys, then so be it. Peyton did enjoy many of his other presents....like the $2 John Deer Tractor or the $3 truck. Thank goodness he liked the toys and not the boxes though! He also got his first golf clubs....he and daddy spent the afternoon working on the basics....I'm not sure who was teaching who though. Anyways, enjoy the pictures that follow. Hope everyone has a fantabulous Christmas! Look for more pictures soon!

This pic was for fun....look at those curls!

Mommy and Daddy having fun putting together the train!

Daddy putting together the train

The Train Set completed!

Mommy reads instructions the best!

Peyton loves his train!

The Wonderfulness of Peyton

With Peyton sitting in my lap as I type this, I think back to how incredible this last year has been. It has only been a short year ago that we were celebrating Peyton sleeping through the night in his own room. Now we celebrate walking and talking...it's amazing how much a year brings. On that note, I think I have not updated on all the cool things Peyton is doing these days. He now weighs in at a whopping 23 pounds and is 30 1/2 inches long. Yes he's still petite, but he doesn't know that. Yesterday he flew face first off the front step...ending in tears and a few nice scrapes on his face....he cried for all of a few seconds and then ran off to play something else. He's all boy! Here are a few words Peyton can say:
*Momma
*Dada and sometimes Daddy
*Pepper (it's still Bob)
*Maw
*Paw
*Nana
*Pop
*Ball (it's still Bawwwlll)
*Abby (Ab-Ab)
*Nite Nite
*School
*Out
*No
*More
*Hello
*Nose
*Eye
*He attempts to say cookie and lawn mower

Peyton can walk, wave bye bye, pull out all the Tupperware, dance and climb! He also can make a piggy noise when asked "what does a pig say" and pants like a dog when asked "what does Pepper say". So cute!

On that note I'll leave you with a video of Peyton dancing and playing with his Dad. Turn up your speakers...Peyton rocks out to Elvis Christmas music!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Safe and Sound!

Peyton playing in the waiting room

Mom and Peyton in our "room". Peyton just had some happy medicine

Peyton after his happy medicinePeyton and Dad putting ornaments on the tree

Peyton is such a trooper! All went well this morning and it so was not a big deal. His only issue was waking up...he cried for about 20 minutes straight and then off and on the whole way home. We were told to expect that though. The outpatient center was wonderful and everyone was really nice...we even saw the Dr. that delivered Peyton as well as my anesthesiologist for my c-section. It was like a family reunion! The whole surgery took all of 7 minutes and we were home before 9:00 a.m. We thought Peyton was going to spend the day sleeping....so wrong! We managed to get the Christmas tree up, but we certainly accomplish all we thought. He did go to bed early which was great...I hope tomorrow will be a day less fussy! Thanks for all the phone calls and emails....we appreciate it!

1st haircut and little blue tubes

Peyton officially got his first haircut yesterday! It broke my heart to cut his beautiful hair, but he got his mother's crazy curls and it was more than I could handle. He was such a big boy and there were no tears! yea!

Daddy and Peyton pre-haircut....notice Peyton's big smile :-)

Miss Erin and Peyton....he loves her to death and obviously thinks he's "the man"

Tada!! All done...look at those curls!!

With Thanksgiving over and Christmas approaching we have decided that now is the time for Peyton to get his tubes. For those that don't know, Peyton has been fighting ear infections since June. Most recently he has had one for over a month. He has been a trooper with the pain, but this last one has given him a really hard time. After mis-diagnosis at two quick cares and tons of antibiotics later, our pediatrician suggested taking him to an Ear, Nose and Throat Dr. last week. With cold season just getting started, he suggested that we go ahead and get tubes for Peyton's ears :-( We go in tomorrow at 6:30 a.m and I am a disaster!! The surgery itself will only take 15 minutes, but I would have to think that I wouldn't be a normal Mom if I didn't worry. I'm looking forward to this being relief for Peyton and definitley fewer ear infections for him. Say a prayer for us as we get up at the crack of dawn and take our little man into surgery. I will update hopefully tomorrow night!!

Family fun and a football game

What a fun weekend! This Saturday we met up with Brad's family in Baton Rouge for the LSU vs LA Tech football game. It was a blast! Needless to say the guys went to the game and the girls (plus one boy!) did what we do best....shop! We had a blast with the kiddos at the mall and they both did wonderfully. Nana got a lot more pictures than I did so I will post those as soon as I get them. One thing we discovered on this trip is that Peyton is so not ready for a little brother or sister. He so doesn't get that babies are not toys and are not for hitting and rolling on. Thankfully Abby escaped with no injuries...Christmas should be interesting...hopefully Abby will fight back by then! ha! He also would get extremely jealous if Brad or I held Abby for too long....at least we knows he loves us! On Sunday we decided to go to LSU and take our family picture for our Christmas card. We also got some cute pics of the babies....I wont share the family ones (you'll have to wait till Christmas) but here are some sweet ones of the kids..enjoy!

Happy Halloween!!

Hope your Halloween was as fun as ours! Peyton dressed up as a Toucan this year and actually kept the costume on for more than 2 minutes. We took him to a few of the neighbors for "trick or treating" and then sat on the porch and handed out candy. It was such fun! Peyton was definitely more interested in leading Daddy to the basketball goal to play "bawwll" though. He is his father's son! A new tradition we started this year is making chocolate chip cookies together for Halloween. Since Peyton can't really have candy I struggled to come up with a treat for him....we settled on homemade cookies. He thoroughly enjoyed it as the pictures will show. So now Halloween is over and the countdown is on....55 days until Christmas!

Wanna play ball daddy?

Yummy cookies!!!

Our little punkin!

What a fun day!! My Mom decided last minute to come down for a visit and I think we officially wore her out. This morning the family got up and decided that the pumpkin patch was a must. So at 10 a.m. we headed out for the 30 minute drive to the country. It was well worth it and will be even better when Peyton is a little older. This place was fabulous...it had tree swings, picnic areas, photo ops, hayrides, corn mazes and most importantly, pumpkin picking. It cost $6 a person but that included a pumpkin for each person! What a deal. We brought Peyton's tiny wagon he pushes so that he could load his pumpkin and boy am I glad we did! He pushed his little wagon all the way from the car to the pumpkin patch and cried every time we'd pick him up to give him a break. We ended up putting him in the wagon and his poor dad had to push this tiny wagon around just so he wouldn't cry!! He LOVED pushing his wagon through the pumpkin patch and enjoyed helping picking out pumpkins. I have a TON of sweet pictures. After the 45 minutes at the pumpkin patch, we drove back into town for lunch at Sweet Peppers. Peyton entertained us as usual and we ate a yummy lunch....as usual! After that we thought for sure Peyton would be ready for a nap. We got home and put him down for a nap with no luck. Mom and I did a little shopping and unfortunately Peyton stayed up and played with Dad. He finally went down at 4:00p.m. Not sure what that was all about, but he should sleep great tonight with visions of dancing pumpkins in his head! I think we are officially ready for fall now and can't wait for Halloween. I leave you with a few pictures of our fun day, but I must warn you....it's pumpkin overload!!!

Oops!

So I wrote on the lost post to check out Peyton's new teeth and then I didn't actually post the picture. So here it is...sorry guys! By the way....please leave me comments on the new layout....I was over ruled by the "boys" and had to settle on the Cowboy layout....let me know how hard or easy it is to read!

Is it over yet?

What a week. For those who don't know this last weekend was suppose to be a relaxing fun weekend for Mom......if only. Last Thursday morning we were awakened by the sound of....you guessed it....Peyton vomiting. He continued every 45 minutes for the next 4 hours. All I can say to that is Brad and I work great as a team when vomit and a 14 month old is involved. I found myself in a panic when Brad left for work for the fear of what happens if he does it again....I have no help. Like expected, he did it again 2 more times and surprisingly I managed on my own. After much debate and several calls to our mothers, we decided that Brad was a big boy and could handle the sick baby on his own. I could still go for my fun girls weekend to Jackson. I headed out Friday evening so excited to spend time with my best friend and no worries that Brad would not be able to handle it....after all, he took care of us after my c-section. Friday night, Meredith and I had a great dinner at Bonefish and we made our plan of action for our day of shopping on Saturday. We settled in for a full, uninterrupted nights sleep....we thought. At 4:45 a.m my cell phone rings. After finally realizing that Justin Timberlake was not actually in our room singing "I'm bringing sexy back" I answered the phone. It was Brad and now he is sick too. While I felt really bad for him I couldn't help wonder why he felt the need to call at 4:45 a.m. After all the baby was still asleep and there was certainly nothing I could do 2 hours away. 3 phone calls later and what felt like no sleep, we decided that Brad would live and a friend of mine came to the house and sat with Peyton while Brad got some rest....thank God for Erin!!! I managed to get my girls weekend in...not totally stress free but fun despite. Sunday morning on my way home Brad informed me that Peyton started running a fever Saturday night. WHAT? I thought he was well!! When I got home I felt like I had walked into the morgue....Brad was layed out on the floor in the playroom and Peyton was starring at him like "you think YOU got problems?". After a long night and a fever that reached 104, we managed to get an appt. at the Dr. on Monday. So what's the verdict? An ear infection. So now we're all healing and Peyton actually got to go to Mom's Day Out today. I guess thats what I get for taking a weekend for myself. If this was a test I think we all passed with flying colors and I think Brad and I both can feel more confident in being good parents. Its hard to have the confidence to make it through these things on your own.....when your support system is 5 hours away. But after this weekend, I think we can make it through most anything and I thank God everyday that he gave me a husband who loves me enough to cowboy up and make it through a difficult weekend just so I can have break. He's the best. To end this post I'll leave you with a few fun pictures of Peyton....please notice that he has 2 new teeth on top and 2 more on the way...no he's still not walking.

With this curly hair, I cannot deny this child!

Ok so here's the story with this picture. Tonight I was doing some laundry and turned around and realized Peyton was missing. I could hear him laughing on the other side of the house so I knew he was into something. I grabbed my camera and went searching. I found him in his bathroom unrolling toilet paper....I managed to catch him in the act with the "Oh no! Who did this?" look. Thank goodness Daddy gets our toilet paper for free!!

Carrot Top

No Peyton's hair is not turning red....but it is growing carrots! Tonight he thought it would be fun to throw his carrots at dinner. Not a behavior we usually encourage, but he managed to land one right on top of his head and we couldn't resist the picture.

This week we resumed Mothers Day Out after missing a week and a day. He started the week off not good, though. Somehow he managed to bust his lip at the end of the day....a lot of tears, but he was ok. On Thursday his Dad picked him up from school...he was so excited to see Daddy in the middle of the day. Here is a picture from Thursday...doesn't he look handsome?!!!

And finally we end the week with lots of fun and work. The family spent the day Saturday doing yard work. Brad and I planted a few new flowers and cleaned up the flower beds. It looks so nice and unfortunately I don't have pictures yet...maybe tomorrow. Peyton pitched in by watering the concrete. He LOVED playing on the driveway with the water hose. We may have looked like your typical redneck family, but it kept him busy and we got our work done! His new thing is drinking out of the hose. I guess he's just a typical boy. He also managed to bust his lip yet again last night...how you ask? On the steering wheel of the Expedition. He loves to stand in your lap and help you "drive" into the garage and for some reason he got overly excited last night and bounced his mouth right on the steering wheel. A lot of blood and a lot of tears (by both of us!) but Mommy and Baby are fine. :-)We all played and worked so hard Saturday that Peyton was in bed by 7:50 and we were in bed by 10:00...early for those of you who know us. Sunday was a more relaxing day. Peyton enjoyed playing with his friends in the church nursery and we just fiddled around the house. It was wonderful! I leave you with a picture of Peyton dressed so sweet for church this morning.

Baby Steps

Whew! What a week! Peyton and I have spent the last week in Bossier with Maw and Paw while Daddy was in Alabama for work. We're finally home and settled....and exhausted! Lots happened while we were in Bossier (unfortunately for Daddy!). Peyton learned how to clap and officially took three consecutive steps on his own!! He managed to do that for like 3 days in a row, but now that we're home he's totally regressed. Oh well...guess he's saving it for dad. Peyton also got an attachment for Paw and his lawnmower. Yes sir...my son's gonna be a yard man! He LOVED riding on the lawnmower with Paw and would cry if you took him off. Paw went through a whole tank of gas while we were home...we owe you Paw! He also enjoyed riding in his new power wheel that Maw and Paw bought for him....which we ended up bring home with us and take a ride in everyday. Cody (my friend Meredith's husband) took Peyton for his very first four wheeler ride, too. And yes you guessed it....Peyton loved it. I think the theme for the week was "lets ride". Peyton is also now saying "pepper" as opposed to Bob....well it's more like bob-bob, but you get the picture. I'm amazed at how much he's developed just in the last week and it breaks my heart because I know now that he will be a big boy before we know it. He loves to tell "stories" now and I only wish I knew what he was saying....whatever it is he seems to think he's hilarious! Today he started something really new....he tries to do the hand motions to Itsy bitsy spider. I can only assume he's learning this at school because I have never tried to teach it to him. Once I realized what he was doing, I did the motions too and he tried so hard to do it all. One thing he has down for sure is "down came the rain". He holds his hands up so high and wiggles his fingers...so cute! I'm sure I'm forgetting lots of new things, but I'm tired and must catch up on sleep. I'll leave you with a few new pics.

Peyton riding with Cody

Peyton with part of his Toucan costume on (he wouldn't take it off!)

How sweet is this? His little feet were hanging out of the crib!