2 months old already!

Can you believe that my little baby is 2 months old already? It has gone WAY too fast. Just looking back over the last 3 1/2 years, it blows my mind. Peyton was 7 weeks old when I went back to work. It just goes to show that you do what you have to do! It was difficult then, but I couldn't even imagine taking Brady to a daycare now (and Peyton went to a great one...so that isn't the case). I am very blessed to have the opportunity to stay at home with my kids and I have been reminded of that a lot recently just by the interactions I have been having with the kids. It has been great!

Brady is changing so much, so fast! He is already starting to lose that infant cry. His cry is still cute, but it is a lot more deliberate and includes a pouty lip at times and even tears. He is sleeping better (not through the night...not even close, but better!). I usually get one 4 hour span between feedings and then he is back to every 2 hours. I am trying to get better at going to bed when he does, but I am still working on that! He is getting so much more alert! He is focusing so much on the people around him and smiling SO big and it is intentional now! It is one of the best things that I get to see all day! Another one is how the kids are with him. They are both still doing so well, but it has been changing.

Peyton has become a "little mommy". When he cries, she tries to put his pacifier in his mouth and says, "Mommy, I got it!". It is like she is telling me, "Don't worry, I am here." And she isn't shoving it in his mouth either. She is gently placing it in his mouth and wiggling it a little bit so that he will latch on and calm down. She is a very observant little girl and learn that from watching James and I! hahaha

Gavin loves to talk to Brady and gets this soft high pitched voice when he does it! He also loves to gently touch Brady's cheek. It is really sweet!

They both still tell anyone who even looks in Brady's direction, "That is Brady James."

So, here are the new stats:

Weight: 12 lbs 4 oz (50th %)

Length: 24 3/4 inches. (97th %) who would have ever though a child of mine would be in the 97th% for length/height!;) We'll just see if he stays that way.

Peyton had a check up for her ears so she was weighed as well. Since it looked like so much fun, Gavin wanted to get on the scales too! Peyton is now a whopping 29 lbs...and Gavin 29.5! He has to stay one up on her. He is however about 2 inches shorter than she is.

Enjoy some new pictures as well!

Brady loves to kick his legs. He is so happy just laying on the floor! (like the carpet in the background? This was at Great Gpa Payne's house)

This was Brady all bundled up, sleeping away while we watched the Parade of the Bands at the Pumpkin Show. There were 24 bands that marched in the parade. It made me miss watching Highland's band perfomances when Brittney was in them!

One of my favorite faces! That pursed lip "O". He does it a lot when he is excited.

It is so hard to capture his real smiles on camera...but we got it! Look at those cheeks and that double chin!

The Pumpkin Show

So, The Pumpkin Show started on Tuesday for the locals and went until Saturday. There are different events and parades every day. The ones that we like to catch are the giant pumpkin weigh-in, the Little Miss Pumpkin Show parade, and the parade of the bands. What we do the rest of the time is just wander and look at the craft tents, let the kids ride some rides and stuff ourselves with al of the delicious fair goodness! In addition to all of the normal fair foods (such as elephant ears, funnel cakes, fried veggies, fried candy bars, fried Twinkies, and cotton candy, they have an unreal amount of items made out of pumpkin! There is pumpkin ice cream, whoopie pies (which are like moon pies made out of pumpkin bread and icing in the middle), pumpkin pie, fried pumpkin blossoms, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin donuts, pumpkin funnel cakes, pumpkin spice cappuccinos, pumpkin canolis, pumpkin burgers, pumpkin chili, and pumpkin buckeyes.

We packed the toddlers in the wagon and strolled Brady through the masses in the stroller and actually went to the Pumpkin show 3 days in a row! (James and I went on Saturday by ourselves and rode the ferris wheel and enjoyed a pumpkin funnel cake together. It was nice not having to share it with the kids! Hahaha, thank you Jack and Kathy!)

The kids really enjoyed everything there was to see and were incredibly well behaved! Peyton’s favorite was the parade of the bands. There were 24 bands that marched in the parade! She told us that she wants to be in a band when she grows up and she also wants to be a princess! All of the area wide fair queens and their attendants were in the parades as well. Peyton was waving at all of them. She even blew a kiss to one of the girls and the girl caught it against her chest and mouthed “Thank You” to Peyton. That made her day! I think Gavin really liked the drums and watching all of the people around him! Brady did great, sleeping the days away in the stroller. All in all, it was a great week. Even the weather couldn’t keep us down. It was in the high 70’s, low 80’s Tues and Wed and then plummeted to the mid 60’s even sometime in the mid 50’s. We just bundled everyone up and kept going.

We had a great vacation and enjoyed the time with family.

So, enjoy the pictures.

The winning pumpkin. Peyton liked the crowns.

The Star Spangled Banner was being played by one of the bands.


The only ride that Peyton would go on! She rode this same one last year and she remembered it. We tried to get her to go on the carousel and another one, but when she came to this one she said, "This is IT! I love it." Gavin really wanted a motorcycle, but there weren't any left!

Gavin did this to his hat himself! I thought it was too cute. This was while we were watching the parade of the bands.

Peyton waving at the princesses (Area festival/fair queens and their attendants)

There was a Presbytyrian church that was ringing the bells one day and after they were done, they let the kids come up and try and ring them. Both of them really liked this part!

Gavin riding the pony the first day. He wasn't totally excited, but did it anyway. Peyton would have anything to do with it!

Gavin riding the pony on Day 3.

Peyton riding the pony for the first time ever! She was so excited to get on it and really enjoyed the ride. I guess we just had to let her do it in her own timing.

Peyton says that this is one of her favorites, but if you click on this picture and look at her face closer...you might beg to differ. She looks terrified. Funny enough though, she went down another time BY HERSELF. Nana was sitting in the middle and Peyton and Gavin were on each side of her on their own potato sack. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of that one because the camera died. The look of horror on Peyton's face was even better! ;)

Gavin giving Brady lessons.

Our week away!

We just got back from a week vacation in Ohio. I know, Ohio isn’t your normal vacation spot, but there are some great things going on in Ohio in the fall and we visited James’ family while we were there, so the “hotel” was free!

We started out our trip last Sunday in Northern Ohio, visiting James’ grandparents and aunts and uncles. We hadn’t seen them since last fall and they were really happy to see us. Both of the kids really enjoyed playing with their Great Grandpa Payne. He is 85 and just a little guy, but loves kids so much! When we first got there, Peyton said, “Are you my grandpa?” and when he told her yes, she said “Mama, he said he’s my grandpa!” with a very high pitched, excited voice! James’ Aunt Marlene and her husband Buddy were in town from Virginia, so it was really nice getting to see her while we were there as well. Buddy was really nice and let the kids chase him around the house. ;) James’ Aunt Selina and Uncle Emerson were nice enough to take us out for pizza and got the synchronized show of taking toddlers to dinner. That was quite comical! They soon realized why we said that we don’t go out to eat often! Hahaha We were also able to visit with a dear friend, A.B. (Anna Baker) She had been a long time adopted member to the Abels family. She is now married, so I call her ABT (Anna Baker Turner). She has a little boy who will be 2 soon. We had a very short visit with her, but at least we were able to see her!

Here are some pictures of their time in Amherst.

Tuesday, we headed south to Circleville. That is where James’ mom and dad live. This is where the big events were. We started off Tuesday afternoon with an apple cider slushy and some light hiking around Ash Cave and got some great pictures of the kids! Circleville has a HUGE festival every year called The Pumpkin Show. This year was the 102nd event. This thing is huge! Circleville is a very small town but by Saturday, there are about 400,000 people that come in for this. We were fortunate enough to be blessed with a parking pass by someone who lives right by the festivities downtown and were allowed to park in her driveway, as opposed to parking miles away and walking or paying anywhere from $5-$10 per day in parking fees…Thank you Caroline!

Here are some pictures from Ash Cave

Anyone notice that my kids can't keep their eyes open in group pictures...only pictures by themselves?

I don't want to over do it...(I am pushing it with this one...) so the rest of the pictures and description of the Pumpkin Show will be posted tomorrow!

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