The Boone Family

Yesterday was our first Christmas with two kids at our own home. We had Christmas Eve get together with the Grochowalski side and then we made the journey home to be able to wake up in our house Christmas morning. This idea was great in theory until Landon screamed the whole way home. As soon as we got off the turnpike Carter wailed and didn't go back to sleep until midnight. It was a great Christmas morning. Carter ripped off tiny little pieces of his wrapping paper and got bored easily. He unwrapped a train table and train set and wanted it opened right away. We had a great holiday with family. Carter's favorite gift was the bathtub crayons that he uses to make each bath a masterpiece. Landon's last well check up was on Wednesday and he weighs 15lbs 15oz and 25 inches. He is getting so big and smiley! We just started to give him rice cereal and he is loving it. Check out the clip above to see him eat! We also had a surprise visit from Denise the deer and she bro...

The snow has come to North Ridgeville! Yesterday Bob took Carter outside to play in the snow for the first time. We bundled him up and they headed outside. It was so funny to watch Carter walk around in his boots! He was so confused and he was walking like he was on stilts. When they came inside we enjoyed luke warm hot chocolate. I showed Carter how to add marshmallows to the liquid and then he didn't want to stop and the drink was more marshmallows than liquid. Landon's hair is crazy. It was long in the front and back but very thin on the top back part because of rubbing his head while laying down. Bob gave him a haircut and it looks great! He looks like he is ready to enlist in the army with his buzzcut. Carter's new favorite thing to do is to color. He begs to color almost every minute while we are home. The catch is that he doesn't want to color by himself; he wants you to color with him. For Christmas Santa had brought him many different things he can c...

This Halloween we had 2 boys to get dressed up and treat with. Carter was a lion which he hated every minute of and Landon was the cutest skunk I have ever seen. Bob and I went to our first costume party. I was Cleopatra and Bob was a hillbilly doctor. We had so much fun! This was also our first year to have treaters come to our house. Thank goodness I bought 200 pieces of candy because we had 3 kids stop by. Carter has started to enjoy and get better at feeding himself with a spoon. He loves to dip his food into anything and also drive his food like a car. Whatever gets him to eat, I will try! Landon is doing well. He is really smiling and laughing out loud now. He is still nursing and I am having a hard time keeping up with his appetite. I am pumping 4 times at school and I am literally going day by day. Today, however, I went to pump at school and realized that I forgot the suction cup part of the pump on the drying rack at home. Instant panic set in--i was unsure what...

What a beautiful day it was today. After school when we got home we headed out back to play. I grabbed a rake and started to rake a pile. Carter loved it! He was jumping in them. I put Landon's bouncer in the leaves so he could join in the fun. Then Carter decided he wanted to throw the leaves on Landon. I love these fall days when it is warm enough to let the boys play outside!

Bob's dad and stepmother are headed to Florida for the winter so we had "Thanksgiving" dinner up north this past weekend. The leaves are beginning to change colors. It was beautiful and the weather was great. Carter played outside for pretty much the whole day. He was a dirtball. He was so happy with being outside that he didn't even want to take his afternoon nap. He cried almost the whole way back to Bob's mom's house but when he fell asleep he was out!

Brother Love! Landon-10 weeks Carter-16 months The ever growing Boone family So the last post stated how Bob was leaving for LA and I would be with the boys by myself well...my how that changed. About 3 days before Bob left, I found out that my maternity leave sub got a full time position and they were going to hire another sub to finish out my leave. This did not sound like a good idea to me for 2 reasons. One the kids would have 3 different teachers within one year and 2 the parents would not appreciate that at all. So I decided to head back to school about a month sooner than I had planned. This really wasn't as bad as I thought. I had a helper each night that week to help me get the boys around for night time and getting out the door in the morning. (Thanks so much to all of them!) I really missed Bob that week! You forget how well teamwork works when half your team is missing. Going back to school I think was the best thing for all of us because now we have a routine...

He was so exhausted after playing outside non-stop for an hour and half. This you do not see very often-both boys out! I know the summer is winding down and we are looking forward to fall. I love fall with the cooler temperatures, falling leaves, sweaters/sweatshirts, etc. I can't wait to watch Carter jump in the leaves this year-we had to stage him in the leaves last year so I am sure it will be different this time. The boys are growing like crazy. Landon is starting to show a little personality. He grunts and fidgets when he is irritated. He still likes to nap during the day but is doing a little better at night. Last night he was only up twice to eat. He is such an active sleeper. I know that I have said that about Carter in the past but I think Landon is comparable. I think that is what keeps me up at night because I hear him. During the day he sleeps so sound and peacefully-darn. Carter is still loving being a big brother. He gives him kisses and just yesterday he hugged him. ...

Well, school has officially started and I have once again decided to stay home for awhile with the boys. I will return to teach on October 12 th . There are days that I enjoy every minute with them and then there are times that I think going back to school would be a vacation. They are only little once and not many people have this opportunity that I do so I just grin and bear it! Landon's one month checkup was on Friday and he now weighs 10lbs 10oz which is a weight gain of over 3 lbs in one month. He is 22 inches long. The doctor seemed to think that was great however I am worried that he is going to be our porker. Bob reminded me about how Carter gained a lot at first and then began to plateau a few months into it. He is an aggressive eater and the scale reflects that. He is still getting up at least 3 times to eat throughout the night. Carter has started to wake up in the middle of the night in a crying rage. We have let him cry it out but it never ends. After 30 minutes I th...

We are starting to let Carter eat with silverware all by himself. Check out the mess he has made. Wow, have we been enjoying the summer! Carter loves to be outside. Right after breakfast he will walk over to the back door and demand that we head outside to play. He runs around the yard, plays with chalk, climbs on the swing set, and frolics in the mulch. This past weekend we busted out the slip and slide that we had registered for on our wedding registry 6 years ago. Carter loved playing on it and Bob helped him slide down it. We had to pry him away from this to eat lunch. He is such an outdoor kid. Landon's umbilical cord fell off last week so we have been able to give him a real bath. He is not such a big fan of them but he is getting better. Landon's sleeping patterns are very crazy. One night will be great then the next night it is terrible. This kid loves to be warm. He wears socks, wrapped in a blanket and cuddled up next to your body. This coming weekend is ...

This past weekend our friends from college came to visit. (Amy and TJ Hammer) This was the first time they were getting to see Carter and Landon. They have two little girls Halley and Aubrey and Amy is pregnant and due in December. They came in on Saturday evening and we hung out and relaxed at the house. The girls played with Carter on the swing set and in the mini pool. On Sunday we went down to the park where the kids played on the playground and at the splash pad. It was so fun to see the kids and to catch up with old friends. We hope to visit them over the Christmas holiday to see their new arrival. Today is my first day all by myself with the two boys! Last night was very rough with Landon. He was up from 12:38-3:23am. Then he fell asleep in my arms from 3:48-4:27am. At 5:30am I brought him downstairs to let Bob catch some z's before work. Landon fell asleep and woke up to eat at 7:02 and Carter woke up at 7:04am. Let the circus begin. Carter laid down for a nap ...

These pics of Landon were too silly not to post. Sister Steph and her little guy Brady (he was smiling 2 minutes after this picture). Bob's sister Stephanie stopped through for a few hours on her way back to Connecticut. Her and her friend Laura had their little munchkins, Brady and Gordon, along with them. This worked out great since their kids are almost the exact same age as Carter. This was the first time Carter had met Brady and he seemed to enjoy playing in the ball pit with him (see the video below). Landon basically slept the entire time they were here. He wouldn't have slept if he would have known how much fun they were having!!!

Yesterday Carter would not take his afternoon nap so I knew the night might be rough. Carter fell asleep after bath time with his bottle in his mouth and Landon fell asleep around the same time. That was 9:45pm and that was a sign I needed to head to bed myself. Bob decided to have a man night out by the bonfire for about 2 hrs. He arrived around 12:30 and around 1:30 Landon was wide awake. Then right then Carter started wailing because he couldn't find his pacifier. So I went in and gave him the pacifier and he was freaking out. I brought him back to our room and tried to get him to sleep but every time he heard Landon make a noise he was awake. Right when we thought they were close to sleep a train came through and our windows were open so we heard the horn blow all six times. That was all we needed to have them both up. We went downstairs with both kids and gave Carter a bottle and fed Landon and they both settled down around 3:45am. We were exhausted by that time but...

Sorry we haven't blogged in a while this whole event is taking a while get used to. Since the delivery I had a huge headache. It was so painful in the front of my head. It only didn't hurt when I was laying down. The nurses thought I should get up and try to walk around the floor to help it. Let me tell you what, that so didn't help. It made me nauseous and light hurt my head. Finally on Sunday they decided to try a blood patch. A blood patch is where they do an epidural into the hole they first did the spinal tap and inject blood to create a clot that will take pressure away from my headache. I was so excited when we finally had this procedure done at 6:45pm on Sunday night. Immediately following the procedure I had to lay flat for 2 hrs straight to make sure the clot didn't more. I finally felt better around 9:30pm but I still was not to sit up straight. Monday morning I woke up and felt much better and Bob and I took our little man and headed home. It...

Look at that hair. He'll be rockin a mullet soon enough.