Samuel Andrew at 6 months

Yesterday was Sam's half birthday (6 month). It is amazing to me how fast it has gone....and how long ago his endless screaming seems. When he was first born, I thought I would never make it here. People would say....it will get easier in about 6 months. This, to me, was not encouragement, but a death sentence. But slowly it got easier day by day and this morning I was sitting on the couch reading with both boys. Steven was laughing and pointing out things he knew and Sam was grabbing Steven's arm and the pages. As I looked at both of them joy filled my heart. I was truly happy and I felt blessed to be their mother. Blessed to be able to stay at home with them and watch them grow and incredibly aware that the days will feel slow but the years will fly.

What is Sam doing right now?....
*He is (for the most part) sleeping through the night. At least I don't have to feed him. I do have to put his pacifier in a few times tough.
*He is easting real food. He has eaten banana, sweet potato, avacado, and rice cereal. His eating at dinner time correlated 100% with him sleeping through the night.
*He is playing with toys and putting EVERYTHING in his mouth.
*He has two teeth! He did this even before Steven did, he got his first tooth a week or two ago and his second yesteray. Now he has both bottom front teeth.
*He is a nap avoider. He sleeps for 15-30 minutes and then wakes up crying....but today i let him cry for 45 minutes after his 15 minute sleep and he fell back asleep for (what is now) at least 30 minutes. Perservere Courtney....persevere.
*He is sitting up. He can sit by himself for quite a long time before he gets tired. Eventually (after 15-20 minutes) he will still topple over.
*He is super smiley. I never knew why everyone called Steven Edward "serious" until I had Sam. He is always smiling. From the first time he sees you in the morning until you give up on his nap and go to get him....he is all smiles.
*I haven't been to his 6 month doctor's appointment yet, but I know he is at least 20 pounds. Ridiculous. That is ahead of Steven Edward by at least 3 pounds. At his 4 month he was 19 which is 95% in terms of weight. We'll see how he pans out in a couple weeks.
*He is often the victim of his brother throwing toys at him or hugging him too hard....but he is quite a good sport about it. Steven Edward will tell me he threw the toy and that it hit him in the head...nice.


Steven Edward is pretty easily summed up; various forms of discipline daily as a result of attempted manipulation and "testing" boundaries while starring at you to see if you'll notice....and if you notice....if you'll do anything about it. Even in his disobedience he is still quite cute - which is lucky for him...because other wise he might be harder to love in his two-ness.

Alabama Wedding

This weekend we had the privilege of going to Steven's cousin's (Lucy Margaret) wedding in Montgomery. Here are some pictures from the events!

The boys had a great time at the hotel. Steven Edward must have run 20 laps around our floor. A picture of Lij playing, and here is Irby showing Sam the tow truck.

Walking to the rehearsal dinner

At the rehearsal dinner.

Steven, Irby, and George Edward had a blast running around at the bridal day luncheon!

All of the above pictures are taken at the luncheon.


Sam swinging at the park before the wedding

The wedding reception was held at Steven's Uncle's house. It was outdoor and the setting was beautiful!

We are blessed to have family that we enjoy so much.

I still love my children!

There was some doubt over the past few weeks. Day in and day out of tiredness....I had even started apologizing to my husband that my general personality of late was grumpy. And then both grandparents chipped in and gave... a night away.



The Breedloves gave us a gift certificate the The Historic Brookstown Inn for a night and my parents kept the boys. I was extremely nervous....and had been pumping for two weeks to store up enough milk for Sam.... but it all went so smoothly. My husband and I have only been on one date since living in Asheville - and that was only because a friend made me go the week before Sam was born. So needless to say we needed the time together. It had evidently become so aparent that my friends started offering to babysit for us to make it happen! It was so much fun, and an amazing part was that I missed my kids. It gave me enough distance to know that I do actually love them and, for the most part, enjoy what I'm doing. The room was bigger than our apartment in NYC - a junior sweet with two tvs and a pretend fireplace. Here is a picture of the lower floor, taken from the floor where the bed is.


We walked around Old Salem, spent time in the "arts district," had a nice dinner, and slept in! It was amazing. And I have to bring that back to memory as the boys tantrum and resettle to being at home after traveling to Nana and Poppie's (where macaroni and cheese is served upon command and Cars the movie is shown).

The pride of Winston Salem. Most downtowns seem laughable after living in Manhattan, but we had a great time exploring.

We did have an Egg Hunt before heading back to Asheville. Nana filled the eggs with pretzels and animal crackers to appease the parents.

And this was just a ridiculous picture I thought you may enjoy.

Day to Day

I wanted to quickly post to tell you that there are many things going on in my life that I don't get a chance to document here. It seems with two my life is a very different life then it was with one. Luckily the Lord gave me an amazing year of basic vacation in NYC before I dove into what is now my reality. I used to wonder why my mom only had two kids..... man oh man. My mother in law told me it never gets harder than two, even if you add more (I am skeptical of this). Somehow in God's mercy I am given the grace to make it through each day. And most days dinner is cooked and the house is usually picked up....just in time for me to crawl into bed and awake to a toddler who loves to destroy it again. All this to say, my blogging has definitely suffered from the birth of Sam. I am so thankful to live with the chaos of these wonderful boys, but unfortunately you don't get the benefit of me keeping you updated. And to think............some of my friends (who will go unnamed here) have a twitter. Ha!

Major milestones not mentioned-
Tarheel National Championship
Steven's 2 year doctors appt....quite funny if you ask me
His birthday dinner with friends
His new love of his life.......the train table
Sam sleeping through the night and therefore not during the day......

I'm sure there are many more, but I wanted to at least list a few. I will attempt to add pictures soon. We have two family events coming up so there should be lots to comment on!

You are impressed

Well, thank you Betty Crocker for the inspiration and directions! Here is Steven Edward's 2 year old birthday cake. After I finished I realized this may set me up for some late nights as the expectations grow! Happy Birthday Steven! I will post pictures of our dinner etc. later.

You too can do it! Here is a video of how to make your own!

Sam's Baptism Re-visited

Here are some pictures that I got from my parents from Sam's baptism. The ones of him getting his dress on made me feel like he was getting married.....and we were taking pictures of him getting dressed. Too funny.

Spring Break in Pictures

My sister and Melissa used to always laugh at me for having time to do things like post on a blog. I was a mother of one....and obviously I was just better at it then they were.....because I could always find time for myself. Then I had another. Now it has been two weeks since my last post. Enough said. Here are some pictures from my time with my families while Steven was chaperoning a trip in Europe. Other than Sam's refusal to sleep the time was lots of fun. Unfortunately for much of the trip I let other people take pictures for me.......so I don't have many from the week.

Our friends the Ropers came down from DC and we had a little NYC reunion with them and the Alexanders. We all had kids that didn't exist (at least externally) while we were in NYC. It was crazy!

Colleen and Sarah

Sarah and Jack

Avery and Mary putting on a show for us

I spent lots of good time with other friends and family in Chapel Hill....... no pictures later I headed to Greensboro where my family is.

We celebrated 3 birthdays that happened in two weeks....Steven Edward, Mom, and Brooke. It was really just my Nanny's excuse to bring a cake






We went to the NC Zoo in Asheboro during a break in the rain.





And we went to the science Center as well!

We dyed eggs. This is Steven in my dad's old shirt.

And we had an indoor toddler egg hunt