Field of Flags

We visited the field of flags today.  It is an amazing memorial set up at the Kennesaw Mountain Memorial Battlefield.  It is only up for a week.  The Kiwanis club placed 3000 flags in the field in memorial of the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  I did my best to capture the beauty of it.  I wish I had a better camera and a better eye for pictures. 

 We got to the field around noon and I had packed a picnic lunch for us.  We ran through the flags and then found a nice shady spot under a tree just at the edge of the flags.  Sitting down and taking in all the flags as far as you can see in every direction was amazing, and so sad as I was reminded for the reason the flags were there. 

Caleb was too excited to see all the people and dogs and flags that he didn't eat much, so we ran through the flags for a while longer.  It was getting late and we needed to get home for nap time so we walked to the car to discover that I no longer had my keys.  With Micah in the ergo on my chest I put Caleb on my hip and went back to the field.  As we retraced our steps I became overwhelmed with the absurdity of finding my keys. I am in a huge field with 3000 flags attempting to retrace my steps to find my keys.  I was giving up and trying to think who I could call to pick us up when I returned to the tree where we ate lunch and TA DA there were my keys.  True elation was felt at this happy sight

Mommy's keys!!

See Micah was there too.  This is after we found our keys.  We had been there for almost 2 hours at this point.  Someone was ready to leave.

Leaving the field.

Playing in the dirt

As the weather is cooling off, we have been playing outside more and more.  After we had the trees removed and the stumps ground there were large piles of "dirt" left.  Chris and Caleb moved the piles into the pine island.  Most days Caleb runs outside and plays in the "dirt" and tells me about the chainsaws and the dump truck that dumped out the dirt. 

 
Caleb using shovel trying to help his Daddy.

Look how long his hair is.  Oh I miss it.  Chris and I have a different opinion on what is the ideal length of his hair but since Chris is the barber in the family he wins.

While I'm here I'll post some more pictures that I have.

From our baking adventure.

Notice the muffin batter on his legs.  The boy is messy, and I love it.  I have no idea how to take a picture and not have the light look so crazy.  It makes me think that a fancy camera would be worth it.

 The boy loves a good muffin. So I have been trying out different recipes.  This week we have pumpkin chocolate chip.  Not sure what recipe to try next week, maybe an apple bran muffin.

Look at this fatty.  He is a little chunkster,but  not too many rolls.  He seems so much larger than Caleb was.  I love this sweet calm boy.

At our party last week a friend took some picture with her nice camera and I finally have a picture of me and Micah.  First one since his birth.

Caleb giving his little brother kisses

Go Jackets!

This phrase has been repeated many a times in our house. Our little man is so proud.  Last Thursday (well actually 2 Thursdays ago) Tech played in the first game of this season and Chris and Caleb went to the game.  It was a busy night down town with games at the Dome and Turner Field in addition to the Tech game, so they boys rode MARTA. 

The boys returned home at 10:15 and Caleb was wide awake.  Did you hear that, my boy who usually goes to sleep at 7:30 went to sleep three hours late.  The next day was a bit rough.  Apparently Chris and Caleb shared a coke which made him a little hyper.  

If you ask Caleb about football he responds, Go Jackets!  Followed by Yellow Jackets!.  It is amazing how much he can learn in one night. 

6 weeks old

Micah is 6 weeks old.  I can't believe it.  I haven't posted any stats about it him so I figured this could be an all about Micah post.

weight: 12 lbs 5 oz

sleeping:  like a champ.  He takes two naps a day for sure and cat naps in his car seat or bouncer at other times.  He usually sleeps after his second feeding of the morning around 8:30 and naps during Caleb's nap at 1:30.  During these naps he sleeps until I wake him up for his next feeding.  He goes to bed around 8 and sleeps until 6 (I know I am super lucky)

Feeding:  He eats anywhere between 2 and 3 hours.  His second feeding of the day is usually 2 hours or 2.5 hours after his first.  The rest of the day is typically 2.5 to 3 hours.  Sometimes it needs to be 2 hours so we can run some errands, and sometimes I forget and it turns in to 3.5 hours.  Ooops, I'm not a stickler to a schedule.  Still breastfeeding exclusively.  I never got the hang of the dream feed with Caleb but with Micah it is textbook. I can pick him up out of bed change his diaper and feed him without ever waking him, it is wonderful.  We do this at 10 just before I go to bed.

Temperament: So easy going, and quiet.  Micah rarely cries, but he does grunt especially when sleeping. He has started smiling when I give him some face time.  Sadly this doesn't happen that much since Caleb is a bit louder and demands my attention often.

Favorite time of the day: I love my mornings with Micah.  We wake up at 6 and I feed him then fix myself some coffee and breakfast. We watch some tv together and sometimes read.  I usually have time to clean the kitchen and do part of my bible study (that is my goal) before Caleb wakes up.  This week I have had time to feed Micah a second time and put him down for a nap before getting Caleb out of bed.  I am completely spoiled.

Funny Mardis family fact, all of our names have 5 letters.  Yep these are the random things I think of while feeding.  I was looking for patterns and similarities, and there are more than I thought.  The boys and I have two vowels in our names.

Later, we are off to the first Tech home game of the season.  Hopefully I will have pictures to follow.

Stay at Home Mom

Yep, that is me.  This week I really feel like I can claim my new job title. 

Cleaned my kitchen cabinets (the outside) for the first time in almost two years (22 months to be exact)

Looked over our spending from the month and adjusted our budget and realized I need to actually follow this budget

Found some financial advice books that are now on my reading list (which I am actually getting through - see next item)

I only took one nap this week during family nap time and instead spent my time reading, cleaning, laundry and budget planning

Currently reading a book that my mentor and friend suggested we do a book study with our honors class and I used my pregnancy brain as an excuse to not do.  The book is Outliers and so far it is a fun read, with much enlightenment but also some crazy leaps .

Cooked dinner every night this week, starting from scratch and using left overs from the night before

Packed snacks for the car and used them to avoid mid morning/lunch time crisis while running errands

Let Caleb help me make dinner, messier than normal but fun.  And we baked muffins (a hybrid of morning glory muffins and zucchini bread)

Took both boys to the doctor (Micah and I have a cold), it was crazy but we did it

Planning for a fun party with friends this weekend, and I'm super excited to have people over but I'm not stressing about the house or food being perfect. I think having a second child has freed me from the idea of trying to do everything perfectly.  Okay that was a bit of a stretch. I am still worried the house won't be clean enough but I am less motivated to do something about it.

Chris cut Caleb's hair and I didn't recognize him when I went to get him in the morning

Working on teaching Caleb his numbers. We have one, two down pat but he does not seem to like to say three.  Usually I say three and he responds "four".  Not there yet but working on it

We have been playing outside in the yard/dirt in the evenings before dinner.  I'm so appreciating the cooler weather.  I can't wait for the fall.

I am trying to teach Caleb his colors but so far they are just words with no meaning.  I ask him what color something is and he responds before he looks at the item, usually saying blue maybe red and sometimes he says yellow.  My favorite is when he says bluered.  Yep he says blue immediately followed by red.  Most things in our house are either blue, red or brown.

Caleb and I changed the sheets on two beds.  I'm trying to do more household chores with him awake in hopes that he will help me and begin to enjoy the activities. Plus it makes the time go by faster when we are doing something, but the task takes twice as long to complete.

We sat at the table and colored together.

Me and the boys went to Walmart, not going there again any time soon, I missed my kind bag boys who notice that you literally have your hands full and actually load your bags and return the cart for you can.  Micah was wide awake so I put him in the sleepy wrap and Caleb sat in the cart.  M was awake for most of the trip, but C was the issue.  I didn't realize how close to or past lunch time it was and C didn't understand why he couldn't eat any of the food we were purchasing (for example: pizza dough).  Caleb was not fun to be around and I was the mom of "that kid" at the store.

Micah is an angle and is along for the ride, not complaining and only demanding more attention when hungry.

We made a play date and then canceled it because we have a cold.

If you read this entire list, Bravo.  It is the product of my scattered thoughts over the week.  I am hoping to actually post more often, maybe it will happen this time.

On another note, my mother in law is still in the hospital (she has either been at the hospital or a rehab facility for the last five weeks), if you think about it pray for her to regain enough strength to get home.

My sweet boy at 5 weeks old.  The halo is the sun light coming in the window.

Helping Daddy move the piles of "dirt" left from grinding down the tree stumps