The Palmer Rambler: Winter is coming

Well, the weather this month shot us quickly into the winter spirit with an intense cold blast, and then right back to fall with temperatures and beautiful weather! Our family is enjoying our time together, and it's wonderful to watch all 3 grow!

Overall, we had good attitudes and fun playing together this month with, and between the boys, with only the normal amount of arguing over toys, etc. Toward the end of the month, there was a bit more attitude, fightings and overall chaos...it must have to do with all the fuss with travel and holiday hype.

Drew started out the month with a 'mild' version of croup, keeping him home several days from school and laying low. The picture above was one of the first days he didn't feel well..Daddy made a tent for the boys to keep them entertained and Drew ended up passing out right before dinner...poor little boy! He rebounded well, and enjoyed the extra days at home with toys and Mommy and Kate. He did a pretty good job keeping his space from Kate to keep her from catching the virus (which thankfully God protected her and us from!) but we was so sad to not be able to kiss and snuggle her!

The boys were highly entertained and occupied by Duplos this month...building larger and creative structures! Daddy is especially enjoying this time together with his boys, sharing some of his favorite past-times with his own boys!

Drew has learned the game of dodgeball at school and has wanted to play more at home as well. We've had to reign him in several times to not play in the house and not to throw so hard at such close range, but it's fun to have another game to play!

Drew's school had a Chick Fil A fundraiser night and he was SO excited to go and see his friends. The kids did have a good time, we ended up eating with cousin Taron and Kate did great, just chilling in her car seat most of the time, which is pretty impressive since she usually wants to be in the Moby Wrap at that time of the evening, so we were grateful for a rare night out going so well.

Noah had his last Soccer Shots class for the fall this month, and has been doing well with school and not having accidents at school. (He saves that for home...which is better than have day old gross laundry I guess). One day he'll get there...but we are not in the mood to make it happen! We don't want to be the only ones putting effort into it, right?!

There was one day home with Kate and Noah when the weather was just perfect! The three of us went for a nice walk and Noah did a wonderful job staying close by and we enjoyed a nice game of I Spy...it was a favorite day for Mommy for sure!

Noah has been quite the pill at bedtime, getting out of his bed and room over and over, causing trouble, making excuses, just on and on. And he's shown an incredible stubborn and defiant side during this process, basically staring us down and daring us to take more toys away! Oh my!

He still loves playing with little figures of all kinds...cars, TMNT, Lego figures, and now the Nativity set figures that are out...I find these toys all over the place. He loves to collect them all and hoard them in some form of a container of sorts and then play with them and then add more to his collection. So every few days I have to break it all up and put it back in "it's spot" and let him start over because it starts to be slightly compulsive and too heavy to carry!

Oh, our sweet baby Kate...she is just precious! She has been such a good baby overall and we all just love her! She is more and more animated, with so many BIG smiles! She has started to laugh and giggle this month as well, which we of course love to hear! She is becoming more content and calm in the evenings - still requiring lots of loving from Mommy, but goes longer periods being able to play in her bouncer, which she is liking more and more as well. She's even starting to grab onto the toys hanging randomly, and will grasp onto anything nearby that catches her hand.

She continues to love her bath time, and kicks and splashes even more now...it's one of Mommy's favorite things to do with her too...to see her so happy!

We started Kate's sleep training this month and she did great! The first day we started was the day of her 2 month appointment where she got 4 shots, so she was really sleepy all day and drifted off really easily. (Side note on the shots, she cried as expected during the shots, which were done really quickly. Mommy was right there at her side and went to pick her up as soon as they were over, but she calmed down before Mommy could get her hands in the right place to pick her up! She was amazing!) The next few days, there was a bit more crying involved, but never more than 10-15 minutes, and never too severe, unlike with the boys. The sleepy shots day threw her off of her sleeping through the night, so we had to work a bit harder there, but she's pretty consistently sleeping from 10-6, which is fantastic!

pre-sleep training dozing

She is getting bigger, wearing size 3 month clothes, size 2 diapers, weight 12.5 lbs. and about 23.5 inches. She's got some good thigh rolls going and it's too stinking cute!

She's growing so big because she eats all the time during the day! Still eating every 2-2 1/2 hours, and lots of days closer to 2! That is a very short time frame to eat, play and sleep! But we'll take it if that's what she needs to sleep through the night for sure! She is starting to stretch it more to 2 1/2 hours during the day, so that's nice. I don't mind it as much while I'm home with her, but once I go back to work, it will be hard to keep up with from a pumping supply stand point!

She still loves to be held and just lights up when you are face to face with her! Once she recognizes she's got someone else's attention, it just makes her day! She loves physical contact, and gets excited with lots of kisses and snuggling on her face and neck. She likes to be swaddled and held tight - she's pretty happy and drifts off to sleep pretty easily when in the Moby or Bobby slings!

There are lots more baby sounds, noises, coos and such coming from her these days as well - all such loverly sounds to hear! Love those baby noises!

She likes her bouncer more now thankfully, like I said. And she also really likes her playmat with the arch toys above her. There's a toy right on top that is a star with a face that lights up and sometimes makes music (it's 5 years old and a short in the wire, so the music doesn't always work! Drew and Noah try to help by shaking it harder! Nice!). Well, she just loves that face lighting up at her - so sweet!

She's got great head control, and it's obvious she can see further away now, recognizing a face from a bit more afar. She's learning to make spit bubbles too, and really likes to do that. I feel like the left shoulder of my clothes is constantly wet from her bubbles!

She is certainly moving her arms and legs around more and more, and has found her hands! So the sucking on hands has begun. She's already gagged herself, getting a long finger stuck in there once!

And one more thing about our Kate...she LOVES to get her diaper change, and even her clothes! Matthew has made jokes that she just likes to get naked, and maybe so, but I think she likes the attention she gets during the process! She's just a happy, social girl!

This was Mommy's baptism gown as a baby...awww!

We were able to go to a good friend's birthday party this month...Kate's first birthday party to attend! It was an adorable cowboy and cowgirl themed party, and the kids of course had a great time, and Kate did really well being passed around to several friends! They all came home with a stick horse and they were a big hit...no pictures though because for whatever reason, the boys were stripped down to their underwear and cowboy hats only, galloping around! Pretty funny!

Post-party: wiped out!

Uncle Kevin was in town for a week for work and was able to come over a few evenings, which we all really enjoyed. Of course, the boys had the best time...never fails that it all comes down to wrestling and horse play! So much fun!

We started our Christmas decorating the weekend before Thanksgiving since we would be in Nashville and didn't want it going up too late. Drew was a great help on a day he got home early from school and helped Daddy with lots of outdoor work and hanging Christmas lights. We got the two Christmas trees up and lit and everything else out of the boxes from the garage before we left...to be continued when we came home! The boys were excited about the concept, but less inclined to actually help with the process..oh well! The first day we worked on it, we only got the first layer of branches on the tree and then gave up for the night. Noah kept asking and coming out of bed to see if we had "fixed the tree" and wanted to know where the star was! Kate was a big fan of the lights on the tree, especially the ones that 'move'!