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!

Happy Halloween, umm, Thanksgiving?

We loved having Grandpa and Grandma Carlile here for Halloween. I especially loved the help with sewing costumes. Our family theme: The First Thanksgiving.

The boys and I went Trunk or Treating while Ken & Grandpa passed out candy and Grandma held the baby.Our cutest little corn on the cob, a pirate would have just been too obvious. Confessi on: Ken and I wore thesme costumes to a party when we were dating.
Abraham wanted to be a zombie. We told him he could be a Indian Warrior Zombie and then he was cool with it.
Two Awesome Pilgrims
What Thanksgiving is complete without a turkey? I don't know if anyone could eat a turkey that cute though!Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Abraham!!

We weren't sure how Abraham's birthday would play out this year, since it was the day after Rex's surgery. Since the operation went so well, we kept our plans and headed to the North Carolina Transportation museum. We went there last year for his birthday and had the best time and so we went again. Unfortunately since we'd been there last year they decided to start charging admission. Bummer! Although admission included a train ride, which was a huge hit.

Anyone who knows Tyler can hear him, "choo choo"as they look at this picture. He was thrilled. You might be thinking "Why didn't they go there for Tyler's birthday since he is SO crazy for trains?". We were thinking the same thing. Both boys were in heaven though.
Rex woke up for a few minutes on the train. He was wide eyed until it started moving, then he was sound asleep once again. Photo op!
All the boys (except Rex :-) We were lucky to have Grandma and Grandpa Carlile there with us.
This is the face we get when we ask Tyler to smile. I think it is really super cute.
Abraham really loved this construction corner at the museum and spent quite a bit of time there.
Ken and I were there too! It is easy to forget to get pictures of yourself.
Look at that smile. He's gotten so big and is such a sweet boy.
This is how Rex spent most of the day. He was still feeling the affects of the surgery anesthesia and spent pretty much the whole time sleeping.

Brother love.

They had some Halloween decorations up. The kids were okay with these skeletons.

The little wolf man we saw in another room? They weren't so okay with him.

We don't have many pictures with all five of us so we had to take advantage of the opportunity.

This was the drive home. Everybody sleeping. Ken and I thought it was pretty funny.

When we got home, we'd set up his presents in a backroom filled with balloons. He was so thrilled to go running back there. My favorite part was how much he let his brother in on the presents and how kind and sharing he was. I don't think Tyler even realized that none of the gifts were for him.

Grandma and Grandpa Red sent him this really awesome quiet book. We wish they could have been there with us too!

This was the morning after, playing with all the spoils. What a wonderful day he had.

We are so grateful to have Abraham in our family. He keeps us on our toes and keeps us laughing. Happy Birthday, we love you!