Frank + Lacey = Hadley??

After 7.5 months of biting my tongue when someone says Hadley looks nothing like me, I discovered some pictures that I wanted to share. My family all thinks she looks like me, but some friends and a few strangers seem to think I just gave birth to her and she has none of me in her. Or people will tell me they don't know who she looks like. And I beg to differ.... Take a look for yourself and let me know what YOU think when you see the pictures. Keep in mind that the baby pictures of Frank and I are of different ages and not Hadleys exact age right now:

Frank:


Me (Lacey):


Hadley:


So does she look more like her Daddy?

Or her Mommy??

Laptop Lunches

Hip Hip Hooray- I found something I L-O-V-E today (well actually not today..but it rhymed- I'm a nerd...I know)!! I am so excited about my newest find. I recently got the kids Laptop lunches. I first heard of them two years ago when I was taking a homeopathy class. I wanted to buy them then...but didn't want to shell out the money without seeing them first. I like to see things before buying. Then I saw them on the front a Green Baby Book and I thought, "Oh those are those lunchboxes I was wanting last year." Then this past month I saw them in Parents Magazine and I decide it was time to take a chance and buy them. So, I took the plunge and ordered three lunchboxes and three extra inserts. Keeping my fingers crossed that they were as good as the reviews. And guess what- they are!! So we have only used them for a week, but I must say I already love them. And they are earth friendly and BPA free to boot!
The idea behind this bento lunchbox is to create fun, practical food containers that promote better nutrition and waste reduction. It eliminates the need for plastic bags, plastic utensils, and snack packs which are typically unhealthy. The design is genious with the individual food containers. It makes it so easy to pack leftovers from the previous night’s dinner and also to add a variety of foods so that my kids can get the most nutrition from their lunches. And there are lids too so I can make sure that foods don’t mix. There is even a tiny little container and lid for sauces, dressings, dips, etc. And the best part is that my kids LOVE it!! Gavin and Ellie were so excited! I love that they help me make the choices for each compartment in their lunch. I love that their lunch looks appealing, fun, and colorful! And I never thought I'd see the day that my kids would get EXCITED about eating broccoli for lunch! Seriously...are these my kids??

CORD
Many of you know my brother Cord is a talented musician. He is a singer and songwriter for his band called, CORD. Growing up in a musical family, he learned to play the guitar at an early age and formed his own band in college. He has been working hard to get to where he is today and is about to release a NEW album that is awesome. (I know because being his sister I got to hear a rough version of it!) Anyway, this past weekend he was invited to fly out to Los Angeles for Dr. Jane Goodall's Day of Peace Celebration at Griffith Park hosted by Pierce Brosnan. My brother Cord played with Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters who has helped him a lot and has become good friends with. My sister Kelly was lucky enough to get to go and join him in LA this last week and took lots of pictures. I had her send them to me so I could share in this post. She was so excited to meet Daryl Hannah, Pierce, Gwene Steffani, and Gavin Rossdale who sang after my brother. They had a great weekend. I am so excited that my brother is seeing his dreams come true. Our family is so proud of him. Check out his site http://www.cordmusic.com/ and I will let you know when he starts touring again and plays locally.

Bye-Bye Baby Wheels

We were sitting inside playing games when I had a brilliant idea. I asked Gavin, "Want to ride your bike with no training wheels?" He said maybe for real quick but then he wanted to go to the park. I could tell he was nervous. Well, after finding a wrench and taking the wheels off, I ran with him about five times up the street. Hadley and Ellie sat on the driveway cheering him on. And then I let go...and guess what...he rode his bike for the first time without training wheels on his own. He was so proud of himself, and I was so proud of him. He quickly forgot about the park and just wanted to keep riding his bike. Daddy if your reading this- he is VERY ANXIOUS to show you what he can do when you get home!!
Way to go Gavmo!!

7 MONTHS

Our sweet baby girl is growing and changing too quickly before our eyes. She has learned a lot this last month. She discovered her voice and will babble throughout the day, "Hi," "Dada" and "Mama." She learned to go from laying down to sitting up, and on her 7 month birthday she crawled for the first time. She is also trying to pull up but hasn't yet been successful- but she is close. She still wakes up three times a night. (We are so ready to have a child that sleeps!) And she must go to sleep with her paci and crochet blanket. She LOVES her toys and could play on the floor for hours. She loves baby dolls and soft animals. She loves to feed herself food. She is always grabbing for our food and gets mad when we won't give it to her. We give her puffs, chopped up soft fruits and veggies and she feeds herself(half ends up on the floor so it's more of an attempt). If we try to help she screams.I think we have another very independent little lady on our hands- God help us!!! Here are a few pics of our growing little Momma who at 6.5 months was 15lbs. 3oz and 26.25 inches long!

y-IKES

Well, we survived!! I was up all night-yep not a wink of sleep the night of the storm. I was doing fine until around 2am when I saw tornado's flying around downtown Houston and I knew they were coming straight for our area. After that I was a mess and my stomach was turning. I got to watch it all happen as my electricity didn't go out until around 6am when the eye came through us. It may have only been a category 2 storm but it did WAY more damage than your typical cat 2 as I am sure you have all seen. Luckily we just lost our fence in three spots. We thought we were going to flood at one point but we didn't. The pool flooded and was making it's way up our foundation. Frank was out in the backyard trying not to blow over and shoveling water out of our pool. Meanwhile another part of our fence was buckling in the wind and about to snap...I was screaming "Get inside." Things settled down around 10am and the water from the creek behind our house and the water in front of our house slowly went back down.

For the last Five days it's been what I've been calling "glorified camping." With no power, that means no a/c, no lights so we go to bed early, spending all day outside and sleeping as a family every night. Luckily a cold front pushed through the second day but that first night was awfully hot. Hadley got a really bad heat rash that lasted a few days. She looked miserable- poor girl! We got a generator yesterday and as luck would have it, as soon as we buy one we get our electricity back. We are not complaining though as they told us it could be up to 4 weeks without electricity. Good Golly Miss Molly that would have been awful. We are lucky to be up and running but there are MANY people who still don't have power in our area. Probably most people in our town.

Gas stations are slowly opening but you must wait in a LONG line, some lines take hours to get gas. Grocery stores have no perishable goods. So no chicken, turkey, milk..nothing that has to stay cool. Everywhere was out of ice which was a necessity when we didn't have a fridge to try and keep some of things we had in a cooler. We were running out of batteries with no where open to buy any. Not good when your relying on a flashlight to get you around the house at night. Life was definitely different. Who knew that when the power came back on I would be so excited to run the dishwasher and washing machine. Our house is starting to smell a little less musty and we are trying to get things back to somewhat normal. Grocery lines are so long right now...people wait outside to get in and I really don't want to put the kids through all that again. Grocery stores close at 6 so by the time Frank gets home from work, it's too late to go. Soooo tomorrow I need some food and my neighbor and I are going to swap kids for awhile so we can battle the grocery without kids.

Anyway, it was a little stressful but actually kind of fun. We had a really good time with all of our neighbors. It was definitely a "bonding" experience. Rob and Tracy you guys are awesome- thanks for letting us hook a line to the RV and for hanging out nonstop the last few days. It's been fun!

Here are a few pictures from before and after the storm:

Our side yard before the storm:

From Hurricane Ike

And After:

From Hurricane Ike

Our Street before:

From Hurricane Ike

And After:

From Hurricane Ike

Picture from our front porch before:

From Hurricane Ike

And after:

From Hurricane Ike

Backyard fence before:

From Hurricane Ike

And After:

From Hurricane Ike

From Hurricane Ike

Our park across the street before:

From Hurricane Ike

Our Park After:

From Hurricane Ike

From Hurricane Ike

From Hurricane Ike

The sky a few hours before Ike found us:

From Hurricane Ike

Hunkering down and watching Ike travel towards us on the news:

From Hurricane Ike

Frank shoveling water out of the pool:

From Hurricane Ike

A few days later the first restaurant opens in a neighboring town- Chick fil a! It was worth the drive for some good food.

From Hurricane Ike

Kids loving playing in a/c at chick fil a:

From Hurricane Ike

Daddy's Home and I Survived

Frank was lucky enough to go on another trip this past week. He went to Big Sky, Montana on a fly fishing trip. They had guides who helped him learn how to fly fish and he had a blast. He caught a bunch of rainbow trout and was very proud of his 19 1/2 inch fish.

From Frank's Flyfishing Trip

Meanwhile I was home with the kiddos. We had a great week but I was ready for Frank to come home. I kept us busy. With the start of school that helped...but with hurricane Ike on his way..that made for an interesting day yesterday. I got up and realized it was indeed coming our way and we needed food, water, flashlights, and gas. So I thought I'd go early before everyone else and get the needed supplies. I get all three kids dressed and promise breakfast after a "quick" trip to the store. We had to park in the chick-fil-a parking lot because there were no spaces at our local Kroger. After cruising through the packed store with all three kids we found a nice spot in line in the freezer section. 1.5 hours later, 2 hours after entering the store we checked out. Seriously..it was a mess. I did make a friend in line. LOL. The lady behind me had her kids also and we took turns watching each others kids as we'd run to find something we forgot. So after getting all our supplies I got the kids some breakfast and then went to find gas. Four gas stations later I found some but then again waited in a long line that was wrapped around the outside of the station. Frank made it in after a nice, LONG five day vacation last night. (Notice I am not jealous at all that it would be virtually impossible for me to have a FIVE day vacation...much less a vacation with three little kids at home...no not jealous at all that he's had three fun trips since Hadley has been born...nope, not me, not jealous a bit!)
Thankfully he came last night because he wouldn't have made it in today. We are watching the non stop news of Ike. We are hoping it isn't too bad. I pretty much have us all ready, just need Frank to get the patio furniture in today. The kids are really excited to have a big slumber party with Mommy and Daddy tonight. I wonder if they'll think sleeping in the pantry will be fun??? Hope all of you who are choosing to stay like us, don't get any damage.

Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It's Back to School We Go...

The kids had their first day back at preschool today. It's hard to believe Ellie is in the 3 year old class and Gavin is in PRE-K. Pre-K?? Seriously...how did that happen?? The kids were super excited to go to school today. They eagerly dressed themselves, ate their breakfast and we were ready an hour before we had to leave- when does that happen?? We got to school in plenty of time to take some pictures and then they went into their classrooms. Ellie kept kissing me over and over again...Gavin is now officially off limits to kissing at school. He asked before we left if he could kiss me at home before going to school? Whaa...(Gasp!) It broke my heart. I asked him if he was embarrassed and he said, YES. I just couldn't not kiss him before leaving so when we were the only ones in the class for a second, I sneaked one on his cheek. Thankfully my heart wasn't competely broken as Ellie was running out of her room after me, "One more kiss Mommy. One for you and one for Hads!"
I saw some of the moms crying as I was leaving and I had flashbacks of last year dropping Ellie off for the first time. This year I was chuckling inside thinking, "Been there, done that, over that..." But as lunchtime rolled around and I was making lunch for myself and no one else and eating in a quiet house (Hadley was napping) I was kind of sad. I all of the sudden missed the chaos I've been complaining about. And then it hit me that this is my last year to have Gavin home at all during the week. How will I ever survive Kindergarten next year? I'm not sure I will.

From First day of school

From First day of school

From First day of school

From First day of school

From First day of school

Busy...Busy..and Exhausted..

Man the last week and a half has been a whirl wind. Last weekend we were so excited to finally have a weekend where we had NOTHING to do. As our luck would have it, the hurricane came and Frank had to work all weekend...so it wasn't much of a weekend for any of us. The kids and I just did the usual weekday stuff. It is so hard to keep them constantly entertained and that is what they want. I feel like lately they just follow me around all day and do not know how to do anything without me.
The highlight of my weekend was my girlfriend Toni was in Canton and was kind enough to pick up a dollhouse bookshelf for me that I have been wanting since I found out Hadley was a girl. I was so excited to get it and have spent the last few days priming, painting, and antiquing it. I am so excited to have it done and in Hadley's room. I think her room is finally finished. She's only 6 months old...about time, right?? Especially considering Gav and Ellie's rooms were done months before they arrived. I guess with the third everything takes a little longer.
Hadley hasn't been sleeping the last week and a half..really the last two weeks. (Who are we kidding..the kid has only slept through the night a handful of times-but she was doing better.) We realized quickly she was getting her first tooth and man was she miserable. We just happened to find Gavin and Ellie's first teeth after they popped up..they were easy teethers for the most part...well not sweet Hadley. She was miserable and wanted us ALL to know. She's been waking every few hours and when I took her to her six month appointment this week (again late...she's 6.5 months now) I was also informed that she has a double ear infection. That is probably part of the reason she's been so miserable. So on top of two new teeth, no sleep...her ears hurt also- poor girl. And for those of you wondering at 6.5 months she is 15lbs. 3oz and 26.25 inches long. She is two ounces bigger than Ellie at this age and 1/2 an inch longer. I'm pretty sure she's going to be another little tiny thing.
Other news this week- Ellie started Hip Hop. She is taking it with her friends and loves it so far. The dance school only offered night classes and when we said we preferred a day class they made one just for us. So Ellie and her three little friends are the only girls in the class. They will have a winter performance that I'm sure you'll see lots of pictures of.
Gavin and Ellie also had meet the teacher this week and I must say I am super excited about this year. Gavin has one of my former students' moms and Ellie has Gavin's teacher from last year. I can tell already it is going to be a great year. They will finally start school on Monday. I think we are officially the last preschool to start.
Anyway, that is a recap of our week. It's been busy. I am exhausted and I am feeling like Momma is in need of a little break and some sleep. Maybe someday soon..... I'll definitely let you know when and if that ever happens. ;0)