PHOTOSHOOT of the Weber Great Grandchildren

I wanted to get pictures of all of the great grandchildren just for Grandma to have... and since, as of now, no one else is pregnant. So, we set up a sad little photoshoot in Grandms' big room. 

Charlotte Marie - Great Grandchild #1

Adam Wayne - Great Grandchild #3 (he and Charlotte are a year apart)

All four kiddos. Perfect right?

These were the best ones :)

Love this one. Mary looks hilarious all by herself, Wayne is HYSTERICAL, Kyla is giving Melia the look a teenager gives her mom, and Sawyer looks a bit cock eyed.

Cheese!!!

Sibling love.

One of the "nice" pictures Kyla allowed us to take of her and Charlotte.

Another try... Charlotte had ripped Kyla's bow off and sat it next to her on the bench.

Love this one. Check out the drool factory!!

Can you believe that they are exactly a year apart from each other????

My handsome boy.... Great Grandchild #4

Grandma and her boys.

Great Grandma and her newest babies.

They are crazy about her.

Love it.

Kyla Margaret - Great Grandchild #2

Love this picture. He is so sweet.

I need to find the pictures Melia took on her camera. I will add those too... probably to a different post. But she got some good ones... as good as you can get with 4 kids under 2 in the late afternoon.

A Full Day At Grandma's House

Happy Hump Day :)

We got up and spent the day at Grandma Ann's house. Charlotte woke up ready to go. Mom had brought donuts with us from Peoria for breakfast the next day. Charlotte was in heaven.

Uncle Jim came in to see us like he does every morning that we are there. It completely cracked us up when Charlotte went and got a book out of her toy bag and took it to him to read to her.

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

Jake came out to Grandma's until he needed to go back to school. Charlotte was so happy to see "Jeeks."

Mary was O-U-T. Poor girl works night shift. Been here. Done that from 2003-2011.

Bath time in the ducky tub!!! Charlotte loves that she still gets to use this at Grandma's house. 

She thinks Mary is so funny.

I LOVE THIS ONE OF HER. She is so pretty.

Our handsome little man. 

Sweet baby Wayne with his Grandma Kat

Kyla Margaret was not a fan of Charlotte. We did a photoshoot of the four great grandchildren (crazy to think 2 years ago there was a single great grandchild). Afterwards, the two girls were playing but Kyla was having nothing to do with Charlotte. She was not wanting Charlotte up in her space.

Charlotte giving Kyla her nervous laugh. Kyla is giving her the death look here.

Love this sweet little face. Aunt Didi was getting her last minute snuggles in before she headed home to catch up on some much needed sleep.

Grandma Millie and Grandpa Redeye stopped by on their way home from the cancer doctor in St. Louis. It was so good to see them! We got pictures of them with the kids but they are on mom's camera. Mine was dead so I was charging it while they were here. They didn't stay long bc Grandma had had a very long day and she wasn't feeling well... completely understandable. She looked so good though...and Grandpa looked fabulous in a pair of red suspenders. Loved them!

Wayne loved the rubber duck bath too!!!

Check out his mowhawk!

Our sweet baby boy taking a much needed nap.

So, Mary and I ran into town to get some pizza for dinner. We then realized that there wasn't enough pizza (in our heads) for everyone, so we ordered more and went back and got it. As we were walking into the pizza place for the second time, there was a kitty sitting outside of it. Mary knelt down and starting petting it. The cat LITERALLY jumped into her arms. Well, the crazy cat lady in Mary kicked in. She petted the cat while Katie and I ran inside. She ended up bringing the cat home to Grandma's house. It was REALLY well behaved and absolutely gorgeous. It even liked Charlotte (most animals are freaked out by her.)

She. Loves. Jake.

No-Shave November Eric holding our sweet boy

Love this face.

Snuggles with Liss

The cat loved the kids and took a nap in the recliner. It was decided that this cat was NOT a stray. It had a home and Mary had stolen it. So, we took it back to town and dropped it off where we had found it. It went running off like it knew where it was going. SO FUNNY! I was laughing so hard. Mary, Mary, Mary. 

He/She was so beautiful... but you can't be the crazy cat lady that steals other people's cats.

After we got over the cat episode, we ate our weight in Alfonso's pizza and then headed to Aunt Kat's hot tub. It was fabulous. We loved it. 

Perfect day at Grandma's house.

Election Day

I wanted to come back to Illinois just for a break. It just so happened that we had had a rough few weeks with everyone in our little family of four having had bad colds. We had just gotten better and I was maxed out. I didn't feel well but as any mom of two babies knows, it doesn't matter how I feel. I have to continue to do my best for these two babes. I welcomed to planned break in Illinois...the timing couldn't have been any better. 

We got the idea for us to fly back bc my Aunt Diane was running in the election as the circuit clerk for Greene County. They had done quite a bit of campaigning and everyone in the family was extremely involved. That is how our family rolls. When one of us does something, we all do it. It's amazing and one of the things I miss most about being so far away. Everyone had gotten to help with the campaigning except for me. So, mom and I decided it would be awesome if we could surprise Aunt Diane and the rest of the family  by coming back for the election.

Only a few people knew we were coming. Mom, Mary, the kids and I loaded up on Tuesday morning and headed to Carrollton to see the fam. We ran a few errands on our way out of town. Charlotte was in meltdown mode so her and I were not meshing. But she ended up going to sleep so it was alright. 

We first stopped by Aunt Diane's work on our way through town. I had called her about 20 minutes before pretending to be in Georgia. I told her I was thinking of her and I would call throughout the evening to see how it was going. We showed up at her work. She saw us walk in and started crying. Both kids were wearing onesies that I had written "Vote For Didi" on. She was so happy :) As were we. She had NO IDEA we were coming!

We then headed out to Grandma Ann's house. When we walked in, she was so surprised. Her second surprise was that Charlotte went RIGHT TO HER. She got to hold her for awhile.

I LOVE THIS PICTURE. Charlotte just hanging out and hugging on Grandma.

She loves her Grandma Ann.

Everyone came out to Grandmas for an election party. We had food, family, friends, fun... the 4 basic "F's" (Alex was so sad and so jealous that he couldn't be there with us.)

Charlotte had no problem falling asleep in an awkward position. When you are tired, you are tired.

Dad had been in St. Louis so he ventured up after his meetings were over. He was so excited to see these crazy kids. It had been 2 months since he had seen them!

The lady of the hour finally showed up at the party!!

Charlotte talks about "Didi" all of the time. She loves her.

Aunt Bev and Uncle T came over to see us and hang out. Sawyer loved his snuggle and feeding time with Great Aunt Bess.

Blonde beauties.

Sawyer getting his Grizzle love on.

So, Charlotte is pretty allergic to peanut butter. It started when I gave her some cereal with peanut butter in it back in May and she threw it up within 5 minutes. I haven't given it to her since. Well, she was given a TINY piece of a peanut butter bar. Within 5 minutes, she was throwing up violently. When she was all done, I gave her some benadryl and she was out until about 11:30 pm. That happened at about 6:30 pm. I know she isn't supposed to have Benadryl yet but I didn't want to risk her having an anaphylactic reaction. I also got my epi pen out and put it in my pocket. She was fine though.

The final election results were in at about 10 pm and Didi ended up losing by about 400 votes. She lives in a Republican county (small town middle America) so for her to end up with almost half of the votes was completely impressive. I told her that in that area most people were voting to get our current President out of office so they weren't willing to vote for any democrats...family/friend or not.

Didi, Mary, Jake, and I drove around town and picked up all of the signs and threw them in her truck. She put up a good fight. She worked so hard for it and deserved to get it. Turns out it was probably a blessing in disguise. Regardless, we are so proud of you Didi. So glad I could be there with everyone.

When we got back to Grandma's house we sat around and talked and drank with Caleb and Melia. Melia, Caleb and Kyla were going to spend the night but Kyla had a MELTDOWN when they went to go to bed so they ended up having to leave and drive home. Melia said she fell asleep as soon as they got in the car. They weren't even out of Grandma's lane. 

It's Bird, It's A Plane, It's Charlotte and Sawyer!

Charlotte had her first airplane ride at the ripe old age of right at 4 months old. Sawyer had his first airplane ride just 3 days shy of being 3 months old. Crazy, right?? I didn't fly on an airplane for my first time until I was in 8th grade, I think. That was when they still served meals. We were so excited to fly. We were fighting over window seats. Turns out our seats were right over the wing soooooo that didn't work out so well. We didn't see crap. Perfect.

Our adventure began when I got up around 6:30 am. I got showered, got the kids changed, fed, and we were on our way to Atlanta. Mom had drive to the suburbs of Chicago the night before and stayed with her friend, Miss Debbie. She had to leave Chicago at 6 am CT. (Which meant she needed to be at the airport around 4:30... LONG DAY.) She got into Atlanta around 8:30 am and we pulled into the airport around 9:30-9:45 am. We met her on the curb outside of baggage and she jumped in the front seat. I didn't tell Charlotte where we were going until we were about 10 minutes from the airport. As I pulled up and stopped, mom was running up to the Tahoe and Charlotte looked out the window and screamed bloody murder and started yelling, "GIGI!!!" It was adorable. I have never seen her so excited.

So we parked the Tahoe in the parking deck and unloaded our three LARGE checked bags (2 big rolling suitcases, one LARGE military bag that went on my back and weighed 45 lbs), one book bag, one toy bag, one large purse, mom's carry on bag, one stroller, and two kids. It was a LONG walk to get to check-in...but we made it. We got through security without issues....just lots of sweating. Mom learned really quick how sweating it is when traveling with small kids. Lots of lifting, holding, unpacking, packing...lots of stuff, lots of hassle... BUT WE MADE IT.

We took the train underneath the airport to our terminal...which Charlotte loved. We got to our gate and got a quick snack. We sat across from some EXTREMELY rude people in the terminal. I wanted to spit on their shoes. I couldn't stand them. I almost sat right next to them on the plane just to irritate them.

Getting ready to board the airplane!!

Sleepy little boy...so excited for his first flight.

 Since we flew Southewest, we got to choose our seats. I always choose the very last row....that way we only have people in front and beside us and no one wants to sit in back so we might not get any partners. Turns out the flight was full so we were going to have to sit in separate rows bc you can not have 2 lap children in the same row (not enough oxygen masks). However, the last person on the plane was too large to fit in the only seat available between mom and this older man so we ended up getting our own row. It was fabulous.

So excited that we are on the airplane going to Gigi's house!

Almost time to lift off!

Charlotte was asleep before lift off as was Sawyer. So mom got a bit of a nap in. I was too anxious that one of them would wake up and scream or something so I couldn't sleep. But they both slept for an hour which got us almost to Chicago before they woke up.

Both kids were wide awake while we sat in the same area for 20 minutes waiting for  our gate to be open. They were really good though.

We got off of the plane, took a potty break, and headed to get our luggage. By the time we got to baggage claim, our luggage was circling. We got our bags, loaded up and headed out of the airport. We were sitting in fabulous suburban Chicago traffic by 2 pm CT. We headed to Target to get diapers, wipes, snacks, and formula and then headed to mom and dads.

We got to their house around 5:00 pm. Mary was ready for work so she sat and played with the kids. CHARLOTTE LOVES AUNT BARE. She gets soooo excited when she is around. She loves that she sits down and plays with her. She was so sad that she had to go to work. John brought dinner to the house and we just hung out and relaxed. Everyone fell asleep early. Charlotte slept with Gigi  (Papa was out of town) and Sawyer and I slept together.

It was a long day. I was stressed just bc I was worried one of them might get a little wild. But it went amazing. They were SO GOOD. Successful day.

Last Day With Daddy For A Week

On Friday, November 2, I took Sawyer to the doctor for some reflux issues. I had been trying to fix him myself but it just was not working out. He was still crying ALOT. He was miserable. He was in pain. It was time to have the doctor help bc I had done everything I could do for the time being. So, we went to the doctor. Turns out he had only gained 6 oz in the last month. She said this was "alarming". He went from the 50th% to around 4%. She could tell we needed some major changes.

So, we changed his formula with the option to add rice. We started him on medication (Zantac) with the option to decrease it if he gets better.We had other options if this stuff didn't work. So, we got some new formula and off we went :) I talked to my amazing second cousin, Robin, just by chance on that Sunday, Nov 4. She called while we were on our way to run errands and eat lunch. She gave me a zillion pointers to help him out. She had two babies with severe reflux. Here goes a bunch of trial and error...

We got up in the morning and were productive around the house. Charlotte and Sawyer got some naps in then we went into Columbus for lunch and last minute errands. It was a BEAUTIFUL DAY OUT so when we got home, Alex took the kids outside to play.

"I RUN" -say Charlotte

A happy little man (sometimes)

Here is our adopted little stray kitty...affectionately known as "Baby". She was going nuts bc there were people outside playing with her.

"Cheers" - says Charlotte.

It was a fabulous last day with Alex. We were heading to Atlanta in the morning so we could fly out to Illinois for a week. Charlotte was so excited for her week of attention, fun, and family time ahead!!!