From a Lake to a Creek

We officially moved into our new house on February 22nd.  We love our new home, which is exactly what it felt like the first night we stayed in it.  A huge thanks to Nana, Papa T, Grandpa Bill, Chance, and Jaron for all of the help you contributed to making our move so painless!

Of course, the day before we closed on our house there was a winter storm in Madison County.  The snow kept coming and coming, then ice decided to make an appearance on top of the snow.  Bill and I both took the day off work to finish packing and the boys went to their sitter's.  We picked the boys up in the afternoon, in Bill's car because my SUV was hooked up to the trailer, and headed back to the house.  Wouldn't you know it?  Our car wouldn't make it up the hill due to the ice and snow!!  Seriously, we had lived at this house for 3 1/2 years and never once were stuck at the bottom of the hill.  Oh well, we met some neighbors and got some unexpected exercise.

Bill and I carried the boys up the hill in the snow.  What a workout!  The rest of the day was spent packing and playing.  We camped out on our mattress in the living room, since all of the furniture was packed.  What a disaster our house looked.

First day after being moved in!  Saturday, Bill and Nolan took full advantage of all the snow and our new backyard.  The snow was really bright, so Nolan wore Bill's sunglasses.  Nolan kept saying, "build house dada."  The ice prevented the building of a snowman, but Bill pulled Nolan around the yard on his sled.  Carter and I watched out of the window.

For some reason Nolan calls our new home, "nana's house", but Bill and I keep working with him.  Hopefully, he will realize it is his own soon.  Everyone having their own bedrooms and three toilets is amazing!!

Carter is 5 Months Old!

Carter turned 5 months old on February 19th!  My baby boy is growing up way too fast!  I measured and weighed Carter at home since he doesn't go back to the pediatrician until next month.  Carter weighed 16.5 pounds and measured 26.5 inches.  Not sure on how accurate these measurements are, but he's a growing boy.  Carter is already in 6-12 month clothes.  CHUNKY MONKEY!  Carter loves to be in the middle of all the commotion going on around him.  He likes to sit in his Bumbo and take it all in.  He is such a happy baby boy and definitely a mama's boy, which is the way I like it.

Since moving into our new house, Carter is now sleeping in his own room in his crib.  I forgot how much harder it is to have him in another room.  I have to soothe him before he starts to cry and wake Nolan up, feed him, put him back to bed, and then go back to my room.  It was definitely a lot easier when he was sleeping in our room.  One huge plus is he nurses, so no bottles have to be made!! :)  Also, now he can stretch out and sleep longer.

Carter's personality is really shining through.  He was a ham before, but now he has two bottom teeth and he knows how to smile with them!  With a dimple and big blue eyes this little boy is a heart breaker.

Having some fun at the new house!  Silly boy wants to play with Nolan and daddy so bad, but he can't hold his own quite yet.  Nolan and daddy will have their hands full once Carter is mobile.  Carter already tries to mimic Nolan when Nolan talks.  Carter will start grunting, flapping his arms, and trying to spit out a word.  Eventually, he starts to laugh and squeal in high pitches to get Nolan's attention.  Carter has figured out how to blow raspberries and thinks it is funny.  The first time he made this noise he scared himself and once he figured out the noise was coming from him, he hasn't stopped!

I love you baby boy!!  You're such a great addition to our family and I couldn't imagine a more perfect son.

Carter's First Valentine's Day!!

Today marks Carter's first Valentine's day!  Of course, I had to purchase shirts for both of the boys from Old Navy.  Carter's says "my first valentine's day" and Nolan's says "heart throb."  Since I bought the shirts for the boys to wear, I had to take pictures of them in their shirts.  I wanted to take pictures first thing in the morning, because Carter usually poops through his onesies at Stacy's and Nolan's food never seems to find his mouth when he eats.  Nolan wanted nothing to do with pictures this morning.  At least Carter was in a great mood!

Stacy had goodies for the boys when we arrived at her house this morning.  The kiddos were in full swing for Valentine's Day!

I arrived home at the same time as all of my boys after work today, which was such a great feeling.  Usually, I'm not home until about an hour after they have been at home.  While Nolan was showing me all of his valentine's he received at the sitters, Bill said he needed to run out to the car real quick.  He came back into the house with my favorite flowers, Tiger Lilies, a large box of chocolates, and a card!  My boys spoil me way too much.  Bill and I didn't discuss gifts this year, but I figured we needed to save as much money as possible since we are moving.  I felt so loved when he rounded the corner with the gifts in his arms.  This is why I love my husband so much, he never forgets the little things in life! I love you boo and I hope our boys grow up to be exactly like you!

However, Nolan is exactly like me in one aspect, which is he LOVES chocolate.  He was tearing the wrapping off of the box and saying "I want mommy's chocolate" before I was able to read the card.  I let him have one piece before dinner.  This put a huge smile on his face.

We finished dinner and hung out at home laying around.  Nolan and Carter had a sweet moment I was able to capture on camera.  Carter was sitting in his Bumbo and Nolan brought the iPad down next to Carter to show him how to play a game.  Nolan grabbed Carter's hand and held it for awhile.  This melted my heart!

 Carter showing off his wrestling moves.  Carter has been watching Nolan and Daddy wrestle and wanted in on the action!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nolan's 2 Year Well Visit

Nolan had his 2 year well visit completed today with Dr. Hulsen.  Since Nolan is now two years old, he only needs to have well visits completed once a year.  Nolan was weighed, measured, and vaccinated.  Nolan weighed in at 28 pounds, which places him in 45th percentile for weight and measured 35 3/4 inches tall, which places him in the 80th percentile for height.  I was concerned with Nolan's weight only being in the 45th percentile, but the pediatrician was not worried at all.  She said it is most likely Nolan's build, tall and lean.  As long as Nolan is eating his fruits and veggies, which he is, Dr. Hulsen sees no need for concern!

Nolan is a talking machine! From the time he wakes up until....well he even talks in his sleep sometimes.  I believe he has up to 6 or 7 words in one sentence now.  I recorded him in the car the other day while we were waiting.  He is such a character!  Also, the "why" questions began about a week ago.  Everything is "why mama or why dada?"

Along with talking, Nolan wants to go on the potty so bad!!  He is always running into the bathroom, ripping off his diaper, and yelling "I go pee", but he has already peed in his diaper.  At least we are getting somewhere.  He likes to wear his big boy undies over his diaper.

 Nolan wanted to know where the toilet paper went.  Bill replied, "It went with Nemo"  Now Nolan looks in the toilet for Nemo when he flushes the toilet.

 Coloring in his diaper/underwear

Nolan loves playing with trucks, blocks, and puzzles.  He really enjoys being read to.  The other night I showed him the blog book I printed from 2011.  Nolan really likes looking at pictures of himself when he was a baby.

With the house being in total chaos, Nolan has found a lot of his things that were in storage.  He found his "jacket" and he likes to wear it around the house.  He also found my typodont teeth from school and calls them "dinosaur teeth."  Nolan's imagination has come to life this past month.  He makes his toys interact with each other.  Bill and I lay in bed at night and listen to him make his bear and dinosaur talk to each other.  Occasionally, the snake makes it into the mix too.

Carter's 4 Month Well Visit

Carter had his 4 month well visit completed today by Dr. Hulsen.  Carter was weighed, measured, and received his vaccines.  Carter weighed in at 16.14 pounds, which places him in the 80th percentile for his weight and measured 25 3/4 inches long, which places him in the 80th percentile for his height.  My little chunky monkey is an eater!  The pediatrician said we can try oatmeal now to help keep him full through the night.  Since Nolan didn't have the greatest experience with cereal, I'm going to hold off for a little bit longer.  Carter doesn't seem to mind only nursing either.

Carter is such a sweet baby boy!  He has developed such a great personality already.  He sure knows how to put on the charm.  My little man is doing better at taking bottles for other people, but still prefers nursing.  Carter has had two of his baby teeth erupt has well.  I've not been bitten yet, but I anxiously await the chomp when he nurses.

Letters O and P have popped through the gums!

I cannot stop laughing at this picture!  Way too many captions could be made underneath this photo.

While I was taking pictures of Carter, Nolan came running out of the bathtub and sat down next to Carter.  These pictures are absolutely precious!

 This picture melts my heart! I love my boys! 

Taking a Break from Packing

I'm not sure how many of you know, but we have sold our house and we are moving....about ten minutes into town.  Our new house will have an Edwardsville address instead of Glen Carbon.  The house we found is perfect for our family and even has some room if we decide to add a few more Purcells to the mix later on.  We close in a couple of weeks, so we have been scrambling to pack and organize all of our stuff.  Nolan and Carter are finding old toys they didn't even know they had and have been playing with them.  It's almost like Christmas all over again!

Bill and I do not like to keep things lying around, so we have thrown away quite a bit and we are donating a lot more to Goodwill.  Nolan has been helping pack as well.  He likes to help me label the boxes.

 Ambidextrous? 

Lately our house has been a total disaster, so Nolan has been a crazy man running around all the boxes.  The other night, Bill and the boys were taking a break from packing and I decided to snap a few pictures.  Of course, Bill has to bust out the wrestling moves on Nolan.  I cannot wait until Nolan is big enough to take Bill down!!

Carter busted out his plank!!  Ever since Carter has been strong enough to hold his head up, when he is lifted into the air he will hold his body stiff as a board.  I couldn't take the picture fast enough to catch Carter perfectly straight, but these pictures are close enough.  Nolan wanted to do the plank too, but was too ticklish to stay straight.  Daddy was able to work out his arm muscles as well.

The Stye

As I posted before, Nolan has been battling several styes off and on for the past month on his left eyelids (both top and bottom).  At first the styes appeared as bumps and then went away.  The last two styes became so big he could not even open his eye.  Poor baby!

I took a picture to prove how big it was!

Both Nolan's pediatrician and everything I researched online said, "to let the stye pop on its own" and to "apply warm compresses to help the stye come to a head."  We did both at home.  Well, I was tired of Nolan having a droopy eyelid and people looking at me like I beat my child when I took him somewhere, so I decided to pop the stye at home.

Nolan had been taking antibiotics for about 5 days, so I felt good about the chances of a secondary infection not happening.  I felt barbaric in the way I held Nolan down on the ground and scraped the head of the pimple off, but as soon as I did it Nolan must have felt some relief.  There was a lot of blood and pus, but after Nolan calmed down he felt fine.  Bill even brought Nolan some powdered donuts home to make him happy!!

After popping the stye on the upper eyelid, another one formed on the lower eyelid a few days later.  This stye never became as big as the stye on the upper eyelid, but I did have to pop it as well.  He still has a little redness and God's band-aid (Bill's wording for a scab) on the lower lid, but he is slowly recovering.

Hopefully this stye business doesn't start to make a regular appearance with Nolan.  At least now I can see his big brown eyes again!!