My first day...

My first day alone with both kiddos went suprisingly well! I was EXHAUSTED by the end of the day, but we made it through!!! Now I am three weeks in on being by myself with them all day and we are *slowly* getting into a routine. I mean yes we are lucky if we make it out of the house by 11, or if I am showered and dressed for the day but we are making it. I know things only get easier so I am just trying to enjoy this crazy phase right now!

A few pictures from my first day alone!

Kade watched a little Mickey... 

While Ella hung out in the swing.

Then we all got dressed to go meet our friends at Milestone to play

All loaded up, my backseat is full!!

Ella played on her mat while Kade napped.

After naps, we busted out our new ride to go for a nice long walk.

At the end of our walk we stopped by the park and stayed until daddy got home.

It was a long fun day with my babies!!

First day of school!

Kade's first day of PDO was on September 6th. Bryan was still off for baby vacation so we all took him on his first day. It was emotional and Kade cried a lot in his first day. We really haven't ever left him with anyone other than our parents so he is very attached to us. When we picked him up I peeked in the window and Ms. Donna was holding him and he was crying. It broke my heart. They said he loved art so they let him color a lot of the day :) On Thursday, drop off was ever harder because he knew what was going to happen. But at the end of the day when I picked him up they said he cried for about 5 minutes and then had a great day. By the end following week they told me he didn't just have a good day, he had FUN! It made me so happy to hear. Dropping him off in the mornings is still a bit sad, but he hasn't cried the past few times. He wants to then so I have to get really excited about seeing his teacher and friends and all is well! I am so happy and proud of my big boy!!!

Meet the teacher

I have lots to catch up on because a lot of fun thing have been happening around here!

On September1st, Kade had his meet the teacher night at school. His teacher is Ms. Donna and she is wonderful! His class has 6 two year olds, one teacher, and one assistant. Ms. Donna had the room all decorated in a baseball/Texas Ranger theme. It was so cute! Everyday on the way to school Kade says, "Goin' to school to see Ms Donna!" She is so great with him!!

Ella- Newborn photos

I took a few pictures of Ella when she was just 5 days old. I want to take a few more posed shots, but I have been exhausted and I really love how these turned out so I am in no rush :) Simple snapshots will have to do for now! I already ordered her birth announcements and I can't wait for them to come in so I can see how they turned out!

Ella Claire

Baby vacation

Bryan was off work for about a week and a half for what we like to call "baby vacation." It was SO wonderful having him here. He helped out so much! I realized the day he went back to work how helpful he had been with Kade. I was a little sad when he had to go back, but I was also really ready to starting getting back into a routine. We did a whole lot of nothing while he was off and it was wonderful. Ella had here weight check up and we were relieved to find out she was gaining her weight back. (She wasn't eating much so I was worried that maybe she wasn't gaining like she was suppose to.) We just enjoyed lazy morning and days at home. We also FINALLY welcomed cooler weather. Not much cooler, but we finally got a nice break from the 100+ degree temps we had been seeing all summer long. I took SO MANY pictures our first week home, I am in love with my family and adding Ella brings a whole new dynamic to us. I can't wait to see her personality come out. Right now she is so calm and quiet (for the most part) and so different than Kade was as a newborn. Kade cried. A lot. He wasn't ever too satisfied, so having Ella be so quiet and content is very new to us!

Kade calls the boppy pillow, the bumpy pillow and wants to lay on it all the time. SO cute!

Kristen stopped by one afternoon to meet Ella and brought us a yummy casserole!

One morning it was about 65 degrees out so we played outside ALL morning long!

One night Kade asked us if he could lay down and have him, "blues," and "bear" be "wrapped up" like Ella. So we did and he thought it was so funny!

Oh how I love these two little people more than ANYTHING!

Hospital Stay

Ella was born at 10:50am on a Saturday and we were finally discharged on Monday around 5pm. We were so happy to be heading home and having our family all back together! Meme had been staying with Kade at our house while we were in the hospital, and we can't thank her enough for all her help! Also, my parents were such a huge help as well. They watched Kade while Meme was driving into town and took such great care of our little guy. My mom also had us a HUGE and delicious meal waiting for us when we got home from the hospital. I LOVE our families!! We had lots of visitors come meet Ella, but I was terrible about taking pictures of them! Here are some pictures from our 2 day stay at the hospital, which my husband described as the worst "staycation" possible. (In his words: Crappy food, lack of sleep, people waking you up at all hours, uncomfortable beds, view of the air conditioner and roof, and super expensive....at least we got a cute little girl out of it!)