absolute chaos...

Things here are going great...
although they're reminiscent of a crazy ass whirl wind of absolute chaos.

This darling boy wants to be held ALL the time...
which makes caring for the needs of everyone else an understated challenge, or in other words : nearly impossible.

Simply put... 2 boys, 1 baby and a dog is a whole lot to juggle all by yourself on a good day... so doing it on less than 4 hours of sleep when the older boys are pushing every boundary imaginable while competing for any and all of your focus and attention, while the dog is scratching at the door to go out and the baby is well on his way to going superfly is... well, proving to be a taxing experience. In short : 3 is a whole lot crazier than 2!! Thankfully, day 2 of my solo mission (my Mom left this past weekend) went much smoother than the disaster that was day 1. And with any luck, we'll have ironed out a new and workable (for everyone - me included) schedule by the end of this week. Least ways, I hope so anyway ;)

One Week...

our darling boy is ONE week old!

He's doing so beautifully...
already back up to his birth weight and
is easily sleeping in four hour increments - Woot!

we can't get over how much Gareth looks like Henry did as a baby!
Will have to get some old photos of H-man posted for comparison :)

Welcome, Welcome...

our latest little bundle of pure joy!

Gareth Wilson Young
7 lbs 2 oz
20 inches
July 5th, 2011

The boys are all settling in wonderfully,
with barely a wrinkle in our everyday routines :)

Flynn wasn't being very cooperative with photos...
but did manage to get this fabulous photo of Henry, Gramma Wilson and Baby Gareth.

hot, hot, hot...

Our weather here has been pretty wild as of late. We've been experiencing some crazy ass storms... like 6 hours of thunder, lightening, torrential downpours and winds that sound like they're about to remove the roof. It's strange to look outside at 11 PM when it looks like it's 2 in the afternoon... really weird. Most days are already above 90 degrees ... and it's barely June! Last week we had a few days with temps of 97 ... which only sounds extreme... don't forget to add in the relative humidity and dew point levels too :) Yowza! To say we're all dreaming of coastal tides, ocean breezes and swimming pools would be considered a gross understatement - ha!

Classic Flynner...

This boy is something else. He'll be starting speech therapy soon... since he's still not talking. I totally don't get what's up with these boys of mine. We all know they didn't get that "quiet" gene from me - hahaha! Thankfully he's on right on track for everything else (and actually ahead in lots of areas). He's now in the 90th percentile for BOTH weight and height...
Mr. Chunko ;)
He laughs so easily and loves to tease!
What a little pistol... we all simply adore him ♥

Of course this last one is such a classic Flynner expression...

love, love, love it!!

More Folly...

Shamefully, we didn't take hardly any photos while on our trip to Folly Beach. In the end I didn't want to take such an expensive piece of gear down to the beach and then feel obligated to watch over it like a hawk the entire time. And sure... I'd fret a bit about someone walking off with it... but in all honesty, I'd worry a whole helluva lot more about Flynn destroying it during a 30 second window where I wasn't paying close enough attention.

I've really got to pick up a nice little point and shoot to carry along for just such occasions. Any suggestions? Anyone? Anyone?

Here are a few random pictures...

Big Bear Hugs!

Dolphin Watch from our room!
You'll probably have to click on the photos to pull up the larger picture in order to see him better. Far away... but Very cool :)

The P snuck this one in while he was back at the room to let Evai go potty... right after I had been crying about not getting any photos... hahaha!

Henry and I are completely stoked to go back. We had such a fabulous time. Next time I'd like to rent a condo or a house though - something with a kitchen so that we can eat in more. That was about the only downer for the whole trip was eating out for every meal and getting the boys to successfully eat enough to not be cranky later on. They're both too easily distracted when we're out. So here's to planning the next trip!

Folly Beach

We just got back from here!

this was our amazing view from our room !
Fun! Fun! Fun!

Believe it or not... I took these shots at like 8 am...
not a lot of early risers on Folly!

We've been wanting to get over to the coast for ages now... but something always seems to come up at the last minute and delay our plans. So this past weekend we finally decided that come hell or high water we were going to pack up the boys and head over to the barrier island of Folly Beach. The hotel was right on the water and although the room was quite small, it had been recently updated and was pet friendly - so Evai got to go with us - she and the boys were so thrilled ;) We really had a fantastic time! The boys took to the water like little sea creatures... with no fear whatsoever! Actually, H-man was so completely fearless in the surf that it made The P and I a tad bit nervous!

We spent nearly every waking moment on the beach... simply enjoying the crazy warm water, digging for sand crabs, hunting for shells and getting our feet buried in the sand.

The P and I were both so thrilled when Hen declared that he wanted to learn how to swim. Something he's been less than enthusiastic about until now. It was a wonderful surprise for him to declare his willingness completely on his own. So I'll be looking into how to fit swim lessons in for the boys this summer around art safari, summer camp and the new baby ;)

Like Father, Like Son

I've got a sneaking suspicion that Patrick's obsessive love affair with all things cars... just might be genetic. H-Man is simply crazy about his car collection... hmmm... coincidence? I think Not!

I love'em because they're small and easily stored. Of course he's been collecting these for a couple of years now... and with the next two boys sure to follow suit... the easily stored concept might go right out the window. So eventually we may require an 18 wheeled car hauler to move the entire collection we're sure to amass for all three (ahem-Four) boys... hahaha!

Belated 2nd Birthday...

Happy 2nd Birthday Flynn!

We tried like crazy to get Flynn to wear a party hat... but much like his Mama, he was having none of that... and who could blame him - hahaha :)

It's pretty hard to believe that this little guy just isn't so little anymore. He turned 2 on March 24th... a date that as shameless as it is to admit, I can't ever seem to remember. I always think his Birthday is on the 23rd... Like a Complete and Total Loser. But anyhow, no one would ever know our baby boy was a month premature and often never made it onto his own growth chart... he was always such a lil' peanut :) Nope. Those days are long gone... he's now in the 90th percentile in height and the 60th percentile in weight among his fellow 2 year olds. And to think we ever worried about his milk protein allergy and all of his perpetual projectile vomiting. Which goes a long way to help us not be too concerned about the fact that he still isn't talking yet. Sure he chatters a lot and we're certain at times that we "think" we hear him say something... but overall, no real language, just Flynner speak.

But even without words...
these two don't have a bit of trouble communicating.

It is such a joy to see how close these sweet boys are and how much they adore each other. Even Birthday celebrations and the opening of presents are more fun when your big brother lends a hand... least ways for now ;)

Flynn so enjoyed opening all his presents.
The abundance of oooohs and Ohs and Wows were just too cute!

The big tractor was an extra special gift from Henry.
He was sooo very excited for Flynner to open it so he could show him how everything worked :)

Belated 5th Birthday...

So I'm not completely sure how this happened??!
But our darling little H-Man turned 5 back in February.
(and I'm only 2 1/2 months late in sharing the photos)

I think the year of transition from 4 to 5 was really huge for our little guy. We saw him change more substantially during this past year than we ever would have expected. He over came so many big hurdles... like difficulties with transition and his fear/anxiousness around strangers. Of course, that's not to say there aren't a few hiccups in the road once in a while, but the difference overall is astounding. Who would have ever dreamed that our very shy, sweet lil' guy with the year long speech delay would blossom into such chattering social butterfly. We are so very proud of him... now if we could only conquer all the Whining!!?? Someone please tell me they out grow this sooooooon...

Matchy Matchy.
Sometime back around Christmas... Henry decided that it was a really big deal for him and Flynner to (in his words) "be on the same team". So now on occasion we buy them matching shirts or otherwise dress them in similar colors... ??? I'm not sure how or why this started, but on the days they are paired up to "match" it simply puts H over the moon :) He's always super excited about it and his joy is absolutely infectious.

Ahem... I'm such a great Mom, aren't I??
Notice how I ran out of Birthday gift wrap...
and (not so slyly) used some we had left over from Christmas??
Classy, right?!
Of course... none of us cared...
but I'm fairly certain that such I won't get away with such
complete and total lameness in the future.

Easter 2011

Egg wands are for sissies.




Here are a few shots of the Boyz working on their egg dying skillz.
Henry couldn't get them in and out of the dye baths fast enough and Flynn...

Well, Flynn hucked a few around and cracked some skulls/shells
then abruptly decided he'd had quite enough ;)

Hola!

Here are a couple of shots from Halloween 2010. This was the first year that Henry really "got" the concept of everything and was actually excited to dress up. He wanted to be a bat... but all we could find was a Batman costume... about 4 sizes too big. He was thrilled and with a few clever alterations we got it to work pretty well. He loved it and ran around telling everyone we saw "I'm the Bat. Man!!" Which is somewhat hysterical... since I'm not 100% sure that he knows who Batman is (Spiderman, yes. Batman, not so much.) I think in his head it's just a bat who looks like a man... or vice versa.
This photo of Hen just kills me...
he looks so grown up and SO much like Patrick!

Flynner was a sweet little elephant and was less than enthusiastic about all the freaks in costumes. He was totally content to just chill in the stroller and avoid all eye contact.

These sweet boys... they really couldn't be any more different!! Not only do they not look anything alike... their personalities are polar opposites as well ;)

I can hardly believe that Henry will be 5 next week with Flynn turning 2 next month! It's so crazy!