Recycling :)

The best thing about having same sex children is being able to re-use all the clothes & toys from the first child. I pulled out ALL of Tuff's clothes from when he was younger before Gunner was born. I went through everything and pulled out all the things I wanted Gunner to be able to wear too. I love being able to take pictures of Gunner in those same outfits and compare them to the pictures I have of Tuff in them. This morning I pulled out Tuff's "My 1st Halloween" onesie and put it on Gunner for the day. Along with Tuff's Halloween socks. Here is the some pictures of both boys in the same onesie...

Tuff on left, Gunner on right.

OH.MY.GOSH.

I never realized how much they look alike until I compared these! Look at that chin, mouth AND nose.

It's ALL the same.

Amazing!!!

And here is one of them both with mommy.

Gunner wasn't really "having it" this morning but we did the best we could....

[you can click on them to make them bigger]

I really am in shock of how much they look alike in these pictures. It's hard to remember Tuff being Gunner's age so that makes it hard for us to remember if Gunner looks like Tuff, then.

What do ya'll think?

I know one thing, their personalities are SO much different. That's one thing I can't forget about Tuff because he STILL has the same personality now that he did when he was Gunner's age. He didn't smile for the camera then and he still doesn't now. Actually, he hardly ever smiled alot when he was Gunner's age. Gunner, on the other hand, smiles all the time. It's amazing how you can tell what kind of personality he has already at 2 months old. I took a little photo shoot of him this morning while I was getting ready for work because he was so happy! He always sits in his bouncy up on the bathroom counter while I get ready for work in the mornings. He'll just kick and smile and coo at me the whole time. It's one of my favorite times of the day!!!! And the best way to start my day, for sure!!! :)

Couldn't yall just eat him up? :)

I've really been enjoying Tuff's "work" he brings home from school every day. I look foward to picking him up and opening his folder to see what kind of cute crafts he did throughout his day. Last night I opened his folder to my favorite craft yet!!! Check it out...

The spiders legs are Tuff's fingers. How stinkin cute is that? I'm SO proud of our big boy!!! I think he's really starting to like "school."

Happy Hump Day, Friends!!!

We are PROUD!!!

Our nephew Dalton was named player of the week this week. (He plays football for our local High School.) Below is Dalton's picture and the words they wrote on http://www.cannoncourier.com/.

"Congratulations to Dalton Ryan, who has been chosen as the First National Bank Player of the Week for his accomplishments Friday night against Meigs County.

Each week First National Bank will reward a player with their own souvenir football as a keepsake for exceptional play on the field.

Pictured are Dalton Ryan and Judy Spry, representing First National Bank."

Congratulations Dalty!

Uncle Jordan, Aunt Ashley, Tuff and Gunner are SO proud of you.

Keep up the HARD work!

We love you!!!!

Footed PJ's = LOVE

I don't know about yall but one of my favorite things about this time of the year is footed PJs. I just LOVE my boys in their footed PJs. I love Tuff's reaction every year when I pull them out for the first time. He seems to be AMAZED at the fact that his foot is actually in them. This is the first year he's actually wanted me to take them off after I put them on. Sunday night I put them on him and the first thing out of his mouth was "I don't want it." Ha. The good thing is he hasn't figured out how to take them off his self... yet! I'll probably be pretty sad when Tuff out grows the footed PJs stage. The good thing is, I'll have sweet Gunner in them for a while. I snapped a few pictures of Tuff in his footed PJs last night before bed.

He was being stubborn and not wanting his picture taken at first.

Still being a little shy about it here...

He eventually warmed up...

Can't you tell?

I sure could eat up that sweet lil smile! :)

Happy Tuesday, Friends!



Welcome to the family sweet Kirby!

As I mentioned in Friday's post, our family was waiting on the arrival of another sweet baby boy. Here is my cousin Christy with her family shortly before becoming a family of 4.

Christy went in around noon for her scheduled c-section. At 12:58 pm, Kirby Dewayne Luke was born.

Weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz.

How much more perfect could he be?

Big Brother was PROUD!!!

And by the looks of it, so was Daddy!!!

He is, by far, one of the most beautiful babies I've ever seen!

I LOVE his sweet blond hair all over his head and face :)

Congratulations to you and your family Christy!!! I love you all so much and wish more than anything I couldve been there to welcome Kirby on his birthday! Can't wait to get our 2 babes together for the first time!!! Most of all, I can't wait to be able to smooch on each others babes together. :)

It's Friday and it's a random bullet kind of post...

• I will be leaving work in one hour and heading to the DR with BOTH boys. Both boys and by myself. (Please say a little prayer for me) Since yesterday, Tuffy has took a turn for the worst. Poor guy. I hate seeing him so miserable. While we're at the DR, they suggested going ahead and bringing Gunner Bunner along so they could check out his rash... that he STILL has from his virus. Praying my babies are better soon!!!
• My oh so wonderful cousin was taken back 20 minutes ago to have her 2nd little one, via c-section. Praying everything goes smoothly for her and baby Kirby and wishing like crazy I was there to meet him on his birthday. (They live in FL)

I LOVE YOU Christy!

(This is Christy and Jason)

• My sister and her family got WONDERFUL news yesterday... Their EP (Emigration permits) were submitted. This was one of the final steps in bringing the twins home! Praise the Lord! Can't wait to love and smooch all over their sweet, sweet cheeks! If you would like to read more about their EP submission, click HERE.
• We finally got a bigger vehicle (05' nissan pathfinder) and it has been a pain in our butts since the day we drove it off the lot. Ugh. 4 weeks ago today and we are still working with the dealership on fixing it properly. I'll be glad when it's fixed!!! It's been exhausting, to say the least.
• I hated leaving my boys and coming back to work on Monday but honestly, this week has flown by. I'm convinced it's because I have 2 babies at home keeping me extra busy! :) I wouldn't have it any other way!
• Tuff's school will be going to the pumpkin patch on October the 25th and I can't wait! You would think I'm one of the kids getting to go, since I'm just as excited! :)
• I'm starting to realize October is a popular month for birthdays and anniversaries. I have a friend (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BENJAMIN!!!!) and a niece (HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYDNEY!!!!) celebrating birthdays today. Along with a NEW cousin being born. I also know someone else having a baby today. My 2 aunt's & cousin (I mentioned above) celebrate October birthdays. Hubby will be turning another year older on the 19th. We met and started dating years and years ago on the 18th. And let's not forget, our wedding anniversary this past Sunday. See... just typing all that was exhausting. Haha.
• And lastly, IT'S FRIDAY YA'LL!!!!!!!!! Who isn't happy about that?!?!?!?!

HAVE A WONDERFUL WEEKEND, Friends!!!!

Trial & Error with a newborn

A little update on Gunner...

You'd think since I already have a 2 year old that I would remember all things newborn. Well, I don't. Actually, I hardly remember anything about Tuff's NB days. Sad I know. But I'm SO busy with my 2 year old and 7 week old that I don't have time to remember that far back. And most of the time, I'm too tired to even try.

I know I've mentioned in my last few posts that Gunner had been dealing with a stomach virus recently. Well, let me go into a little more detail about that. The poor babes was miserable for 9 days. YES friends! 9 DAYS of steady vomiting, diarrhea and rash! All we did was wash clothes, wash him and lysol everything. It was horrible. Stomach viruses usually lasts somewhere between 24-48 hours with an adult or child but not with an infant. Around day 7 you better believe this mama was calling the DR back asking "What in the world is the deal? Is it normal for this to last this long?" Well his answer was yes and he told me to keep doing just what we were doing. We were ALL relieved when he finally got better. I'm sure his little tummy was most relieved. So about a day or two before his virus was gone he started getting a runny/stuffy nose. (Tuff has been dealing with this too, for going on 3 weeks now.) All I could think was "Geez, he can't catch a break." Well this was last Thursday. A week later, he STILL has the runny/stuffy nose. I've been keeping it flushed with saline and sucked out as much as possible and I've been putting him in the bathroom when we take showers for the steam. It seems to be drying up some but I'll be SO glad when it completely dries up. We all know it's not fun trying to sleep with a stuffed up nose.

So where am I getting at with all this? This is where my "trial and error" title comes in to play. Before Gunner got this stomach virus he was eating 4 ounces of milk every 4 hours. While he was sick, DR said not to give him any more than 2 ounces per feeding hoping that would help him keep some of it down. So we did what we were told. Well every since he's been better we've been back to 4 ounces per feeding. But lately he's been acting like he's starving by 2.5-3 hours and he's been extra fussy. We just knew he couldn't still be hungry... We both (Jordan and I) thought 4 ounces was alot for his age. Well I finally decided to use my ole trusty friend google yesterday to see what other moms were saying. Once I got done googling "how much a 7 week old baby should eat," I had my answer. We were starving the poor guy! Haha. About 95% of every website I went to said 7 week old babies are eating anywhere between 5 and 6 ounces every 3-4 hours, IF NOT more! WOW! I had also been adding a little bit of rice cereal to his bottle before bed time at night and that wasn't helping him sleep either (this worked charms with Tuff when he was this little). So I also found out while googling yesterday that I wasn't putting enough cereal in his bottle. I was putting 1/2 tsp and they say to add 1 tsp for every ounce..... SO, last night at Gunner's bed time bottle (which was earlier than usual because he was STARVING at 6:30) I made him 5 ounces with 1 tbsp of cereal mixed in. THE CHILD SLEPT UNTIL 1:30 THIS MORNING!!!!! That was 7 hours of sleep without a bottle. At 1:30 I made him a 6 ounce bottle with only milk and he sucked it right down and went right back to sleep until 6:30 this morning. WOOOO HOOOO!!!!! I got 8 hours of sleep last night. I think that's the first time I've had 8 hours of sleep since I was 5-6 months pregnant with him. I've never felt SO good. :) :) :) Now all I have to do is get his night time bottle a little later than 6:30 pm and we'll be set!!!

After his night of rest and having a full belly, he was all smiles this morning. Here is a picture of our sweet happy boy this morning.

Sweet boy.

I could just eat him up!!!

It's ALL about Trial & Error!

Happy Thursday friends!

Hometown Homecoming Parade :)

Last Friday was my last day of maternity leave. Luckily, I was off to be able to take Tuff to the Homecoming parade in our hometown. (Last year I was working so MeMe and Pa took him.) We met up with mom and Ada, and with Baba and Jace. I got some pretty sweet pictures of the babes.

Snackin' waiting on the parade to start 

Sweetie pie, Ada

Ada was a little scared of the loud noises. You can tell in this picture.

Jace

The Band

The football float with cousin Dalty.

(He is the first one from the left)

Watching the "tractors"

Posing with MeMe

Proud of his "bat" he got from cousin Dalty

Cousins ;)

And just for fun, here is a picture of Tuff from LAST year's parade.

Our little boy is growing SO fast. Before we know it, Gunner will be this big.

We had a really nice day. We got home and both boys had naps. Later that night MeMe came over to watch the boys while Jordan and I attended the football game. It was too cold for both babies. Tuff had fun with MeMe and poor little Gunner screamed almost the entire time we were gone. He was nearing the end of a terrible stomach virus and I think he just didn't feel good. I am SO glad that he's over that virus. Now we're dealing with a runny/stopped up nose. Poor buddy can't catch a break! And neither can mama :)

Gettin' close to the weekend!!!

Happy Hump Day!