I'm a little behind when it comes to posting pictures.  I don't see that improving any time soon, but here are a couple of her monthly shots that I'm behind on. 

Three Months for Elliana! 05/12

Four Months for Elliana! 06/12

Look who's in the bumbo seat!

Two Months

It's already been a few weeks since Elliana turned two months, but I felt the need to post the picture here and document it anyway.  Pretty soon, I'll post her 3 month picture.  At her two month appointment, she weighed in at 12lbs 3oz, 23" long, and her head was 39.5cm.  She is in the 75th percentile for everything.  Yay!

I'd say she's doing pretty well, except for the fact that she only poops once every few days.  She seems to be pretty miserable by day 2 or 3, but there really seems like there isn't much I can do about it.  I've tried giving her prune juice and an abdominal massage but I haven't seen any improvement.  During the nights when she has pooped, she tends to sleep a little better.  But if it's been more than a day, we're up soothing her several times a night, not including her feedings.  I just keep telling myself that she will outgrow this and it will get better. Meanwhile, I'm tired.

Peyton's First Goal

Those of you who keep up with us Harrells know that Peyton is playing soccer this Spring.  This is his first time playing, and he still has a lot to learn about playing soccer.  He and his daddy have been practicing in our backyard but I think he gets intimidated on the field during a game with all of the other kids. He's not real aggressive in going after the ball.  Some of the other kids have
 obviously played before and are a lot more agile and score a lot more.  Peyton usually makes it halfway through the game before he starts losing interest, in part due to his lack of attention span, and the other due to his frustration when he hasn't scored a goal.  We just kept encouraging him to go after the ball and run fast.  So yesterday morning he was out on the field for a game.  One of the more dominant players was sitting out so I knew if he was going to have any chance of kicking the ball, much less scoring, this would be it.  The opportunity arose for him to kick it in the goal and sure enough he did!  Luckily, Patrick had the video camera rolling, so you can kind of see it here.  Use your imagination and jump up and down with the camera so you can get the full effect.  While you can clearly hear me cheering for Peyton, I think Patrick was a little excited too and had a little trouble keeping the camera still.

 

Easter Weekend Fun!

We had a great Easter weekend! Patrick's parents were visiting and we had lots of fun! There were multiple Easter Egg Hunts and a trip to the zoo before they left. The Easter Bunny made a stop at our house and filled the kids' baskets with gifts and candy! For more pictures, check out our Flickr Page.

The Big 4!

I can't believe Peyton was born 4 years ago! Life sure has been interesting with him, and I can't believe how quickly time has gone. Seems like just yesterday that I spent 3.5 hours trying to push him out and then spent the next 3 months trying to get him to stop screaming.

We celebrated his birthday this past weekend with a small party that was supposed to be at the playground where all of the kids could run around and wear themselves out. But for a few short hours on Saturday morning, Mother Nature decided it should rain down on our little patch of North Carolina right in the middle of party time. Did I mention the rest of the weekend was beautiful? So, we moved the party to our house and I was immediately grateful that we lived in a much bigger place that could accommodate the party animals. But the question was what to do with all of the kids. Then I saw a side of Patrick that I didn't know existed: Kids Party Extraordinaire!

He led the kids in the Hokey Pokey (you can see Elliana taking part as well):




And the chicken dance:



He also did a story time with them, which they loved. And a pinata, which was apparently made of steel.

We finished the festivities with food and cake, and I think all the kids had a great time!

For his actual birthday, I let him stay home from school for the day with me. We had a day of fun, with a trip to the library and the observation park at the airport. Then I took him to lunch at the General Aviation Terminal cafe, where we could sit and watch all of the private planes come and go. We even got to see the Hurricanes Hockey team plane as the players boarded it for a trip away. Of course Peyton expressed his desire to ride on one, but I explained to him that those were fancy planes and we needed to have a lot of money to ride on one. He asked if we had a lot of money and I told him no. Then came the question, "Why don't we have a lot of money?" Oh, it must be nice to be a kid and be so naive. We finished the afternoon off with a nap and soccer practice.

As he opened his birthday cards from family that night, a bunch of bills came pouring out of one. To him, the denomination didn't matter - it just mattered that there was a lot of them. He suddenly exclaimed, "Look, Mom! A lot of money! Now we can ride on the fancy airplane!" I tried to explain that it wasn't quite enough, but he wasn't buying it. According to him, there was a lot of money in that birthday card of his - enough to buy him a ticket on the fancy airplane. I hope he always dreams big.....

Peyton's First Soccer Game

It's no secret that Patrick and I aren't athletes. We're band nerds through and through. But we have this big energetic kid that somehow needs to get his energy out, so we signed him up for soccer this Spring. He had his first game this past weekend. Its hysterical to watch these kids play soccer. Some are clearly better than others. Peyton falls in this "others" category at the moment. Not to say that he won't be good one day, but he still has a lot to learn about the rules and purpose of the game. And while Patrick and I may not play sports, we do enjoy watching them.

But apparently we watch a little too much football - it looks as though Peyton thinks this soccer game involves tackling:



And maybe a little too much basketball. Here is Peyton on defense: