Carigan's First Road Trip

We spent the weekend in Georgia visiting Mimi & Grandpa... Carigan gets a solid A- for car travel on her first road trip. She slept almost the whole time (it helped that we didn't leave until 6:30 p.m. on Friday and got in around 2 a.m. on Saturday) and the only time she cried the entire trip was (of course) when Mommy was trying to eat dinner! I fed the kids in the car and Michael ate and drove in peace, but Carigan came in right on cue when it was my turn to eat. So I attempted bites between continually turning around to attempt to force the binky-she's-never-taken in her mouth. But we made it!





Adventures in photographing 3 kids at once!





Are we having fun or WHAT? (Below) This one really shows their personalities... the mischievous one, the zen one, & the silly one!





We love Carigan, yes we do, We love Carigan, how 'bout YOU?!





Sunday evening we met up with my friend Whitney in Auburn. Whitney and I were roommates in college, and 10 years later she's still one of my very best friends. I had not seen her baby Hayes since last summer. Such a big boy!! The kid is SOLID. He weighs more than Anna Kate... possibly more than Wesley. He's all charm... so glad I got to give him a few good squeezes! (Below) Whitney & Carigan. Thanks for driving all the way from Birmingham to see us, Whit!





And Thank you, Mimi & Grandpa for a wonderful weekend!

Three Months Old!

Carigan is three months old today! This was her very first time to sit in her Bumbo... I've wanted to try her out in it for a couple of weeks now, but Michael and I are such dorks that we won't do any "firsts" with her unless we're both there to see it. It's always a whirlwind of dinner & dishes & baths & breaking up arguments & bedtime when Michael gets home, so we never got around to it until tonight. Carigan seemed to like the Bumbo, but Wesley and Anna Kate were putting on such a circus in the room at the time that we couldn't even get Carigan to look at us long enough to give us a decent smile! (Below) Watching her crazy siblings... we are SO in trouble when she's big enough to join in the mischief!





Here's Anna Kate on her 3 month birthday (October 12, 2007). You can put 'em in the same Bumbo on the same carpet and even put 'em in the same outfit, but it's not gonna make them look any more alike! Anna Kate could not have looked any more different! She did, however, resemble this little guy...



Wesley on his 3 month birthday (November 16, 2005). 3 kids, 3 months, 3 milestones. Luv'n every minute. (Okay, that was a lie... loving the vast majority of minutes!)

In Anna Kate's 3 month old post, I said that she had just begun to sleep through the night. But I said that I didn't trust it because Wesley had briefly slept through the night around 3 months old and then reverted back to night feedings, which continued until I weaned him. Well guess what... Anna Kate did the same thing. But my brain is deteriorating because until I looked up AK's 3 month blog post just now, I did not remember that either Wes or AK had ever slept through the night around this age. I thought Carigan was my sleeping-through-the-night superstar and I thought it would last forever. I have to say I'm a bit deflated now. Stupid blog posts... sometimes I prefer to live in ignorance!

I also said in that post that at 3 months, Wesley would stand up on my lap if I held his hands, but that Anna Kate just jumped if I tried to stand her on my lap and wouldn't lock her legs. Carigan will stand up on my lap. She may have even started earlier than Wesley. (That's just rambly mommy stuff for my memory's sake). Tomorrow we head to Georgia to visit Mimi and Grandpa... Carigan's very first road trip! (It's gotta be less painful than her first plane trip!). It's been awhile since I've nursed in the parking lot of a truck stop in the middle of the night. Looks like I'm about to get re-initiated!

We're so exciting we can hardly stand it

Nothing much going on in the Rogers house right now... we're enjoying a post-spring break/Easter lull. Lots of snuggling & hanging out in our jammies! Wesley and Carigan joining Anna Kate in her crib for a pre-bedtime cuddle:





Last Friday Wesley attended his first wedding - Q & U got married at his preschool. It was adorable. The minister wore a suit and officiated using mostly Q words. He made Q & U promise to never be separated... unless U was needed for another word.





All the boys dressed as quarterbacks & the girls dressed as queens. Miss Barbara's son (Q) and Miss Dawn's daughter (U) were great sports! (They're still licking the ring pops they exchanged). Wesley was very into it... I realized that he's never been to a wedding that he can remember. I think he's been to two weddings (Michael's brother's and my cousin Sarah's), but he was just a baby. (Below) My 'lil quarterback feeling inspired by the wedding!





Carigan always has a smile for Mommy. (Below) Do we have a thumbsucker on our hands?? I'd take it at this point, since Carigan flat-out refuses to take a binky (just like her sister... Wesley was my easiest baby because he loved his binky and it was an instant-fix for everything!). But I kind of doubt it, because I've only caught her with her thumb in her mouth twice, and it just lasted long enough for me to run and get the camera. She sucks on her fists more than anything. But the temporary thumb-sucking made for a cute picture anyway.





Anna Kate still loves her baby sister and has not shown any signs of jealousy. She has lost a great deal of her gentleness though... I think since Carigan doesn't look so delicate anymore, Anna Kate forgets that she has to be gentle. I have to watch AK more closely to make sure she doesn't squeeze Carigan too hard or bonk heads with her. (Below) Here's a flash-back to a couple of months ago... can't believe how much Carigan has grown!





I put Anna Kate down for a nap in my bed a few days ago, and I checked on her several times. The first few times I checked she was in the bed... the last time I checked she was on the floor at the foot of the bed. I guess she fell out of bed, but she is my super-light sleeper, so I'm shocked that she just curled up and went back to sleep! That's more something that Wesley would do.
I think it's probably time to graduate Anna Kate from a crib into a bed, because she always begs to sleep in Wesley's bed or Mommy's bed. Lately I've been letting her take naps in a bed, because she'll go right in there and go to sleep without fussing or dragging her feet. At night I still make her sleep in her crib, but it's much more difficult to get her to settle down. We have to go through an elaborate ritual of fluffing blankies and turning on lights and reading stories and bringing her drinks of water, etc. Her newest thing is making us leave the door open. I've always intended on keeping my kids in a crib until at least 3 (that's what's recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics and was the advice I got from some good moms before I had Wesley). They all say a child is best in a crib until 3 unless he or she is climbing out of the crib. Wesley never once tried to climb out of his crib, so we just graduated him after he turned 3. Anna Kate has climbed out of her crib with us standing there (when she's crying for us to hold her), but she doesn't climb out after we leave, even though she knows she can. The only thing holding me back from moving her out of her crib is the fact that she does fall out of beds. I need to buy another bed rail and give it a go, I guess. I just wasn't prepared for her to give up the crib this soon... when we tried to move Wesley to a bed he'd always end up calling out and asking us to put him back in his crib. He liked the security of it. I think Anna Kate may like her crib more than she realizes, but she's never been as good a sleeper as Wes and she likes to make it difficult on us!

Chunky Monkey

The first photo was taken January 30... the 2nd on April 7. What a difference two little months make!!

At her 1 week checkup, Carigan weighed 5 pounds, 13 ounces (she lost almost a pound after birth before she started to gain again), which put her in the 10%. At her 2 month checkup (the day this photo was taken), she weighed 11 pounds, 1.5 ounces. She almost doubled! That puts her in the 50% for weight now. Her head circumference went from 33.5 cm (15%) to 39cm (50%), so she's officially my first baby with a head proportional to her body! (Wesley's head was always bigger and Anna Kate's head measurements have always been off the charts!). Carigan is now 23 1/4 inches long, putting her in the 75%... she's grown 3 inches in two months! Wes & AK have never measured above average in height. Maybe one day Carigan will be taller than her big brother & sister!

Anna Kate overhead me calling Carigan a chunky monkey last week, and now every morning AK greets Carigan with, "Good morning, chunky monkey!"

Up from the gravy - a rose!

That's what my aunt thought everyone was singing when she was a little girl. I always think of it and smile when we sing that song. And we always sing that song on Easter. But what makes me smile the most is knowing that the tomb is empty and our Lord is risen!





Anna Kate finding her Easter basket. I told her to put her Easter basket out and that the Easter bunny would fill it with treats and then hide it for her to find. She was initially rather distressed about the Easter bunny hiding her basket... when we talked about it in the days leading up to Easter she'd say, "But I don't want the Easter bunny to hide my basket." Well, too bad AK! ... the Easter bunny has traditions to follow here! Luckily, he (she? have still never figured that one out) did not hide them too well and all baskets were found quickly. (Below) Wesley finding his basket





Carigan on her very first Easter morning with her first Easter basket. She's wearing the special sleeping gown that Auntie Whit got her!





Wesley posed with his new paints and asked me to take his picture. By the way, the bruise on his forehead is a shuffleboard injury from the beach resort... ah, those pesky shuffleboard injuries, don't ya hate 'em?

(Below) Whatever happened to the Doodlebops anyway?? It was one of Wesley's favorite show up until he was 3 1/2 or so and then it disappeared. He was excited the Easter bunny found Doodlebop books, but now he's asking to watch the show and I can't find it. Speaking of doodles and plops (I mean bops), Anna Kate is pooping in the potty!! The lightbulb went off and she went poopy in the potty for the very first time the very day that I wrote the blog post mentioning that she pooped in her panties every single day (March 30). And she hasn't had an accident since! I guess the lesson I've learned from this is that all it takes for my children to achieve theirs goals is for me to completely give up on them. Just kidding... but it is ironic that the day she figured it out was the very day I had bemoaned on the blog that she just wasn't getting it. So I guess you can say Anna Kate's 100% potty trained now! Actually, she still sleeps in a Pull-Up (which Wesley never had to do... he always woke up dry even before we started potty training with him), but I'm not worried about that right now. She still sleeps in a crib so she can't really get up and go at night anyway. She wakes up dry about a third of the time, but she often wakes up with a wet Pull-Up. I figure we have time to work on that (and besides, she'll quit night-time wetting cold turkey just as soon as I give up on her completely!) ;o)





Our traditional quick family snapshot on the church playground before the Easter potluck at church. (First time as a family of five though!). (Below) All my loves... am I one blessed chica or what??





My sweet girls





The Easter bunny even brought Mommy and Daddy a treat... the new paints he/she/it brought the kids so engrossed Wes that Michael & I both got to take a nap while Wesley painted & the girls napped! Woo-hoo! We had a wonderful Easter enjoying God's many gifts & reflecting on the promise of Heaven afforded us by an empty tomb. Up from the gravy - a rose!

Egg Hunt'n

Saturday was fish'n day for Daddy, but egg hunt'n day for the rest of us... thank goodness my mom was still here to help me wrangle my little hunters! Michael woke up early and headed to Clearwater Marina, and Mom and I took the kids to two Easter egg hunts. Our first egg hunt was at church... the little kids got to hunt on the church playground.





And he's off! ...Anna Kate's hunting method was more of the slow & steady variety. (Below) Rogers high, Rogers low... which Rogers will you know?? (Can you tell we've been reading a lot of Dr. Suess around here lately?!)





A bountiful harvest of candy! (Below) After the hunt, Miss Dana helped the kids make baby bunny buggies. (By the way, that's a shuffleboard injury on Wesley's forehead... Wes invented full-contact shuffleboard while at the beach!)





Love having Grandma on hand to hold Carigan! (Below) She loves it, too... big smiles for Grandma!





Anna Kate & Wesley with their best pal Isabella. (Below) Getting ready to head to our 2nd Easter egg hunt at the YMCA. Last year we arrived 5 minutes late to the church egg hunt, and it was pretty much over. I remembered having seen flyers about a hunt at the Y while working out, so we headed there and had a great time! Wesley remembered it well and was asking to go to the YMCA for their egg hunt.





Like last year, they had free hot dogs, cookies, & drinks, free games & crafts, a free egg hunt, and even jumpy houses! It was much less crowded this year and we enjoyed an extended afternoon with Miss Melissa & Isabella.





Wes, AK, and Isa all got their faces painted. Wesley thought that was just the coolest! We headed straight to Tampa from the Y to take Grandma to the airport (Dad & Corey drove home the day before... Mom had a leftover plane ticket from when she had booked a flight to come out for Carigan's birth and we ended up having to purchase her an earlier flight when my OB moved up my induction). We were sad to say good-bye to Grandma, but we're excited about our big family reunion at St. George Island in a couple of months!