Christmas with the Carlile's

Our Christmas fun always begins on Christmas Eve. We had my sister and her family over for french dip sandwiches and present exchange (it randomly occurred that we had their name and they had ours). They gave us these awesome moustache mugs with hot chocolate and marshmallows! They are great. Then we had the opening of the pajamas. I gave up trying to make my own, I had to face reality that I suck at making pajamas.A little story reading before bed. After Santa had arrived...Tyler could have opened his Tidmouth Sheds and been done. He would have been happy to just have that and nothing else. We had to convince him to try and open everything else.Abraham on the other hand, was an old pro. He was so happy about everything and wanted to show each gift to everyone. It was really fun to watch him.The boys were thrilled that they got their own package of juice that they could drink whenever they wanted. Isn't it the simplest things in life? I love this picture because I think Tyler looks like a rock star.Abraham decided Tyler was moving too slow and needed some help.Then came the removal of toys from boxes and the exploration of new toys. Abraham really wanted this Imaginext space station. He lucked out that "Santa" found it on clearance 6 months ago!It was really fun this year to watch the boys give each other gifts. Abraham was so excited to give Tyler his Thomas books. Isn't it fun to see them just as excited about giving as receiving? My very talented mother made the boys these awesome hooded towels. Tyler couldn't wait to take a bath and try his out!Rex slept through most of the festivities of the morning. When he woke up the other boys were more than happy to open his presents for him. Biter biscuits, yum!This is what my mom made for Ken (she made them for all the men). He LOVED it and wore it around all morning. It's the Christmas mugger!Later in the day Abraham told me he was doing a project and not to look. He was working on it for quite awhile. When he was finally done and I could look, our tree had been redecorated. The picture really doesn't do it justice. He'd put almost any present he possibly could on the tree. The Justice League of America, Thomas Trains, play tools, and Imaginext characters...it was too funny.

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the time we were able to spend as a family. We hope that our friends and family had a happy holidays as well!

Christmas Happenings

Putting up the Christmas decorations! I love how excited Abraham is in this picture.

I decided to not stress out about decorating the tree this year and just let the kids have fun. Everyone had more fun that way.

We took a lot of pictures of the three of them together. Trust me that this one is the best. We also had a family from our ward over to decorate Gingerbread (okay, they are made of graham crackers) Houses. Everyone had a lot of fun decorating and eating.
The difference between Tyler and Abraham's houses makes me laugh. Tyler ate his fill of candy instead of decorating and ended up with a very empty house.
When I told Abraham it was almost time to finish he began dumping candy on his house by the handfuls. He wanted as much on there as he could possibly manage.
Merry Christmas!! (a Christmas morning post is coming....)

Happy 4 Months Rex!

Our sweet, chubby boy is 4 months old! After looking at the following pictures you won't be surprised to hear that he is 96% for weight and height!

He is so happy and mellow. He is content 95% of the time.
He is still sleeping well and has taken to solids like a champion!

At his last eye appointment his right eye wasn't doing as well as they'd like so we are still patching for 4 hours a day. We had our first experience with losing his contact and miraculously finding it (go Tami!!).

Someday he will hate me for this picture, but oh how I love his cute chubbiness!
What a blessing Rex is in our home!

Christmas came early at my house!!

So, I've had a basic Kitchen Aid for a long time now, but in the last few months since I've been making all our bread my little guy just wasn't hacking it (and it started smoking every time I used it to knead my dough!). So, I looked through Black Friday ads, found a smoking deal (online even!) and my new 6 qt, 600 watt RED mixer arrived last night. I'm off to bake!!!

Carlile Boys

I thought it was time to compare baby pictures of these boys of mine. Here are all 3 of their 3 month pictures.
Abraham: All I have to say it look at that hair!!! Holy cow he had a lot of hair and big, huge eyes.
Tyler: Less hair and less chubb!

Rex: a pretty good combination, I think. He definitely leans towards Tyler with his hair and eyes, but there is a lot of Abraham there too.

So, what do you think? I think in the end all 3 will have a unique look different from the others.

Happy 3 Months Rex!!

I know it is totally cliche, but I can't believe my baby is 3 months old! Rex is such a sweet tempered and mild mannered boy. He rarely cries and only does when something is really wrong. He's sleeping 8-10 hours at night with a 2-3 hour nap in the morning and 2 - 1 hour naps in the afternoon. He's started smiling all the time and his brothers love to make him smile. Actually his brothers love him to death, they are constantly all over him and smother him with hugs and kisses. He is a spitter and goes through numerous bibs and burp cloths everyday. He is very determined to be a thumb sucker, but we are trying our best to get him on a pacifier instead.I posted the next picture because you can get a good look at his eyes. Since his surgery his pupils are always dilated differently and it is kinda funky looking.
It wouldn't be right to not post a patch picture since he wears it for 4 hours a day. We patch his good eye so his bad eye will become strong. We've seen him start tracking and his eyes move together much more often. He's gone from 9 drops a day down to 2. The contact is a bit of a struggle. We have to remove it once a week to soak overnight. The first time I had to do it I failed and had to go back to Duke for a tutorial. Now I've done it twice at home and basically I still suck, but I'm working on it. It takes me a few tries to get out, but has taken me almost an hour each time to get it back in. Rex is such a trooper through it all. We head back to his doctor on Dec 6th to see how his eye is doing.

We love you Rexy!! Happy 3 Months!

Wilmington Day Trip

When Ken's parents were here we decided to take a day trip to the coast to Wilmington, North Carolina. We told Abraham and Tyler that we had four special suprises for them. The first stop: The beach! Abraham has begged us to take him to the beach and he LOVED it! He would have happily stayed there all day playing in the sand.

Tyler wasn't as big of a fan. He didn't like the sand or the wind. He did venture out some though.
I like this picture because I think it looks like Grandma Carlile is taking a nice jog along the shore.
Suprise number 2: The aquarium!!
Abraham and Tyler were both in HEAVEN! They loved all the fish and sea creatures and were fascinated! They'll never be satisfied with the fish department at Wal-Mart again!Tyler was brave enough to touch the crab and sting ray in the petting tank. Abraham wanted nothing to do with it.I thought this crab bore a striking resemblance to Ken.

Not sure what is going through Abraham's mind when he posed here. We all loved the big shark tank though.

Rex woke up for a few minutes at the end and enjoyed the lights and movement in the tanks.

We took probably 10 pictures at this spot, trying to get a decent shot. It didn't happen. This is the best we got!

At the outdoor play area.

Our third stop was a ferry ride! It was a perfect temperature and the 35 minute ride was great. Tyler throwing a huge tantrum when it was time to get in the van and drive off the boat wasn't so great.

Our last stop was a maritime museum, which unfortunately was closed. Just down the street was this pier though, so we stopped there for a few minutes. Tyler had fallen asleep in the car and Rex needed to eat, so we stayed in the car and Ken ventured out with Abraham and his parents.

Muscles!!

Abraham loved finding sand again! He would have once again been content to stay here for hours playing in the sand. I guess we need to plan a better beach visit for him next summer.

We had such a wonderful day together as a family!