Last minute Cincinnati Trip

Last week I got a call from my mom that her best friend's mother passed away.  We grew up with their family and they really have been like our second family.  We spend Christmas eve with their family every year, so I was heart broken to hear that "mamoo" was no longer with us.  Because of this, I decided to take a last minute trip home to attend the funeral and be there for my mom.  This was very brave of me because this was my first road trip with the boys by myself.  Surprisingly, both boys behaved!  We took off after Harrison's school on Thursday & managed to drive 5.5 hrs before Davis woke up!

While the circumstances behind the trip were not the best, I was very excited to get home to show off baby Davis to my family.  It was also nice to have so much help with the boys from my parents, my sister and my cousins!  Lance has had a grueling work schedule lately and it has been hard on all of us.  It was a nice break for myself and for the boys to get so much extra attention!  It felt like a "relaxing" week, well, as relaxing it can be with 2 kids! :) 

My parents had been in CA for a work convention so we actually beat them to the house. They had delayed flights and didn't end up getting back until Friday afternoon, so Saturday was our first day to really get to do anything.

On Saturday, my mom and sister had to work a Shaklee event so Harrison, Davis, my dad and I went down for Duck Boat tour.  I'm not sure if anyone has heard of this, but it was so much fun!  A company bought a bunch of these vehicles from WWII, fixed them up, and they now do tours of cities around the country.  The vehicles can drive on land, but transform into a boat and can also drive on the water.  The tour starts driving through the downtown streets, then they drive you into the water for about 30 minutes and they finish the tour back on land.  It was so much fun and Harrison had a blast.  He wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but once he realized the boat wasn't going to sink, he was fine.  He kept telling everyone that the boat fell in the water! ha ha!  We finished the morning with lunch at Arthurs...yumm!

My Aunts and cousins came over that evening to meet Davis and we had fun just catching up and playing with the kids at my parents house.  I didn't get my camera out until after my Aunt Nancy had left, so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with her, but here is Aunt Carol with Davis.

Harrison was so tired from our big day so he had no problems falling asleep that night.  This picture was so funny that I had to post it.  I went up to check on Harrison about 30 min after he went to sleep and this is how I found him...sound asleep with his legs hanging off the bed

My biggest feat for the week, was finding a swing for Davis.  I have been wanting to buy one because while Davis is a great sleeper, when he is awake, he wants to be held the entire time.  He has not been a fan of the baby papasan chair that we have, so I needed to try something else.  He won't stay in it for too long, but 10-15 min here and there, has been a big help!  This has been a big adjustment for me b/c Harrison always loved to lay down so he could stretch and kick around.

Davis hanging with his grandmommy...

The boys and I relaxing on the couch...

Davis has been starting to be more alert lately when he's awake.  He will occasionally lock eyes with you and this past week, he even smiled at me a few times!  One of my new goals lately has been to try to catch his smile on camera, which is proving to be harder than I thought!  Here is the closest that I've come...

On Sunday night we headed to Pompilios for dinner.  Its one of our favorite Italian restaurants in Cincinnati, and incidentally, where Rain Man was filmed!  Here are Liz & Ben with Harrison.  Harrison just loves Ben, so poor guy, gets stuck entertaining him when he is around!

There was a long wait, but thankfully they have bocce ball courts out back where Harrison could run around.  It was pretty out back so we got the boys pose with grandmommy & grandddaddy...

After dinner, when we were walking out to the cars, we got quite a surprise...there was a blimp in the sky!  This was, by far, the highlight of Harrison's trip.  I think this was his first time to see a blimp and he will be talking about this for months to come!  Here are Harrison and granddaddy looking at the blimp...

The next morning, I wanted to head to the Gap Outlet, so my dad took Harrison down to our little local airport where they keep the blimp when its not flying.  They headed down first thing in the morning and got to look at the blimp and watch planes take off and land.  Harrison had so much fun, and I think my dad has been having so much fun doing all the "boy" things that he never got to do with his girls! :)

My mom bought Davis the cutest little hat...here is the little man showing it off...

The other really cute thing that highlighted the week for me, was that my dad got to put Harrison to bed each night.  For some reason, if I am there, he never lets my parents put him to bed, but this trip was a little different.  My dad would give him a bath and then climb in bed and tell him a story.  His story was always about a little boy and his family and the adventures that they had that day (basically, he would go through Harrison's day from start to finish, in story form).  Harrison would hang on every word he would say, it was so cute!  I never had really close relationships with my grandparents so I love watching Harrison have so much fun with his!

Here are my cousins Emily & Sam with Harrison & Davis.  Poor Emily was around all week, so she was my big helper with the boys...whether she liked it or not! :)  Thank you so much Emily!!

On Tuesday evening we went back down to Lunkin Airport to have dinner. You can sit outside and watch the planes land, so you know Harrison loved it!  The best part was that the blimp was there!  It was the perfect night to eat there...mid 70's with a breeze.  A nice change of pace from the nasty hot weather in Atlanta!  Here are a few pictures from the evening.

The blimp!

Harrison and graddaddy having fun watching planes & helicopters land...

I love this one...

Harrison and his granddaddy were buddies all week and had so much fun.  We were so sad to leave and hope to make it back soon!

We got back last night and we had to be sure to call Granddaddy to get our bedtime story...

We hated to leave, but Harrison was so excited to see his daddy.  He ran outside when he heard the garage door open and wouldn't let Lance out of his sight until he went to bed!

First Day of School!

Its a big day in the Randolph household...today is Harrison's first day of preschool!  Over the past few days, we have been trying to prepare him by talking about all of the fun things that he is going to get to do at school since he is a big boy now.  He got up much earlier than normal this morning, which was actually good, because I was able to get him ready & fed without having to rush.  We talked all morning about the cool playground at school and the cars & racetracks in his classroom.  As you can see in the picture, he was so proud of his school backpack and excited to go!

The school has a car line that they encourage you use because it is easier to get kids out of cars and away from mom when they are in the car seat, as opposed to holding your hand in front of the classroom (and easier for mom when you have a 1 month old in the car as well!) We pulled up and Harrison seemed to be okay...until the teacher's assistant opened the car door to pull him out.  The tears started pouring and he was trying to climb to the center of the car, as far away from the door as possible.  Thankfully the assistant was very quick, grabbed him up, shut the door and ran off with him towards the school.  It kind of reminded me of ripping a band-aid off.  The quicker the better!  I'm hoping when I pick him up in a little bit, he will be smiling!  I can only imagine what it must be like for the teachers this first week or two of school!  Expect an update soon for the results of afternoon pickup!  I feel like such a rookie though, I realized after I dropped him off, that my # that is supposed to be displayed in my car window for pick-up, is still in Harrison's backpack!  oops!  Hopefully I will get it right by Thursday!

Sunday Funday at the lake

Prior to having kids, when Oakley was our "baby", we used to take her swimming up at Lake Allatoona all the time.  Since having 2 kids, poor Oakley has only been a few times.  It was a nice day and slightly "cooler" so we decided to take a last minute trip back to the lake.  Harrison was so excited and wanted to jump right in with Oakley.  I'm not sure that its the cleanest lake, but I felt better when a bunch of triathalon swimmers jumped in right by us and took off for a 2 mile swim!
Since Oakley hasn't been swimming in a while, it was a little sad to see how quickly she tired out today!  She used to go and go, never slowing down and today, after about 15 minutes, you could see her tiring out.  Of course, that didn't stop her though.  She still has a fierce need to chase a tennis ball if there is one in sight!
Before we headed out this morning, we tried to explain to Harrison what a lake was, but I'm not sure that he really understood.  Once we found our spot and Harrison saw the water, he kept saying "a lot of water!"  He wasn't afraid of it, like he is at the ocean, but he stood back just watching Lance for the first few minutes...

Of course it didn't take long for him to warm up and want to play!

Watch out Oakley, Harrison looks like he is up to something!

Throw it again dad, throw it again!!

I sometimes forget how pretty it is in Georgia!

I loved this one...

...and this one too!

Here is Davis chillin at the lake

Worn out from a fun day!  If I could have safely leaned over the backseat, you would have also seen Oakley passed out in the back!

Happy 1 month birthday Davis!

It is so hard to believe that Davis is already 1 month old!  It is also hard to believe that I have completely lost my mind and am 2 days late in posting this!  Hopefully next month I will be posting this on time!  I took a few pictures to capture his "cuteness" at the one month mark!  I wish I would have been better about remembering to do this with Harrison!

Here is Harrison trying to be my big "helper", which translates to him making me a nervous wreck by jumping around and falling as close to Davis as possible without actually hitting him.  Yikes!  I know he is really just trying to help but he does not know his own strength!

I love this surprised look, Harrison used to make this same expression all the time.  I will try to find a picture of Harrison like this to post!

Look at those little cheekers! 

Davis is always trying to climb when you are holding him.  I thought his little feet looked so cute here, they were worthy of  picture!

This, of course, was right before a big smile....those are the hardest to capture at this stage!  I am a mom on a mission though, I WILL get one soon!  He is posing with his favorite lovie...thanks Aunt Teresa!

more visitors...

Over the past few weeks, we have been having fun introducing Davis to many of our family and friends.  I have to admit that I haven't been the best at remembering to get out my camera to capture the moments (can you tell this is our 2nd baby?!?!).  Since the last time I posted, Davis has had his 2 week appt.  He weighed 8 lbs 1.8 oz so he passed his birth weight!  Woohoo!  I can tell that he is growing b/c a few of his newborn outfits are already getting a little snug in the length.  He's a string bean like his brother, but I am finding a few differences between the two.  The main difference is that Davis ALWAYS wants to be held!  He loves falling asleep in your arms and with so many visitors, he gets to do that a lot.  I have to admit that I have also been enjoying one on one time with Davis and letting him fall asleep on my chest during the day.  I'm pretty sure this is our last baby, so I'm just soaking in every minute!  He is such a sweet, happy baby, but he definitely likes his sleep...and unfortunately he likes to sleep during the day.  I have been trying to keep him awake more during the day, but he isn't a big fan of me keeping him awake when he wants to sleep, although I can't really blame him!

Below are a few pictures of some milestones we have reached and also a few pictures of our recent visitors...

...He found it!!!  I think this is the only time that he has been able to get his thumb in his mouth, but that was much earlier than Harrison.  (if you can't tell, I just can't help but to always compare the two!  I know I should stop that before I give them both a complex!!)

My good friend Camila came to town for a quick work trip and managed to squeeze in about an hour to stop by to meet Davis.

Here is a picture of Davis' first bath in his little bath tub.  He was so relaxed, I couldn't get him to move a muscle....well, he was either really relaxed or totally freaked out and paralyzed!

Harrison had so much fun playing w/ my parents while they were in town.  Here are Harrison & grandmommy having a jam session with our old keyboard from when I was younger!

...this is the life...

The Randolph's family friend Doris & Julie New stopped by for a visit from SC.  They were in town visiting family, and this was actually their first time to meet Harrison as well!

My sister & her family were on vacation when Davis was born, so they came over for a few days last week to visit.  The boys were so excited to meet Davis and we got some cute pics of them.  Harrison looks up to his cousins and had so much fun running around with them.
Here are Julie & Trey with Davis...

Here is Jack holding Davis...he was so curious the whole trip about how Davis was eating.  Pretty funny!

Our next visitors were Lance's grandmother and Aunt "Dot Dot".  We figured out that Lance's grandmother now has 10 great grandkids!

Here is Davis sound asleep on his tummy.  I know it is a big no-no to let them sleep this way, but everytime I put him down for some "tummy-time" he always falls asleep like this and he looks so comfy that I don't want to wake him!

I thought this one was pretty funny.  I had been doing laundry (my life story now!) and Harrison loves to play with our laundry baskets.  This entertained him for almost an hour!!

...yet again, Davis boycotting "tummy time"

Our little man is here!

While it felt like the last 4 weeks of pregnancy would never end, alas, Davis Wesley Randolph finally decided to enter the world and join our family!  I will give you all a so-called "short" version of Davis' grand arrival:
I was so over being pregnant throughout the month of June, however, Davis was very respectful of our families' busy schedules and waited to make his arrival until all grandparents could be present.  June was a very busy month for our families with weddings, my dad's retirement, vacations, etc, so I was nervous that Davis would come and my family wouldn't be able to come see him right away.  Since my dad retired on June 30th, my parents decided to drive down to Atlanta on July 3rd and planned on staying until I had Davis.  I told my parents to try to get here in time so that we could take Harrison to the Kennesaw fireworks(Ours were held on the 3rd instead of the 4th).  They made it by lunchtime so I cleaned up the house all morning, then we just hung out, made an all-American 4th of July dinner (burgers, fries & salad), then met up with our friends, Jay & Megan, to take the kids to see the fireworks. We walked to the park so we didn't have to deal with parking and by the end of the night by lower back was killing me...way worse than usual.  I decided it was because I probably pushed myself a little too hard that day.  I have had back pain throughout the entire pregnancy, but this was much worse than normal.  We came home and my mom tried to help relieve the pain by rolling tennis balls over my back.  Within a few minutes of this the contractions started with a vengance!  When I had Harrison, they started out as just a dull pain, but this time around they began at full-force.  I have been so worried that I wouldn't know if I was in labor this time since I've had so many braxton-hicks contractions, but that worry went right out the window once the real-deal began!  After 30 minutes the contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart so I called the Dr and we headed to the hospital.  Once I got the epidural (which felt like an eternity!), I was much more comfortable and basically just waited until the nurse said it was go time.  To skip the gruesome details, Davis was born at 9:44 am on July 4th.  He weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and was 22 inches long.

Davis has been such a sweet baby, sleeping and eating ALOT.  We have had a roller coaster of a week as I have had a more difficult time feeding Davis, but I think we are over the hump and on the right track now.  My parents have been such a huge help this past week, playing with Harrison, doing laundry, cooking and cleaning and I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do once the leave!  I am just going to put up a bunch of pictures from the past week so you all can see our little man...
Here is Davis with his daddy right after he was born.  He came much quicker than we anticipated and Lance was in the middle of a shower when it was go time, thus the disheveled look!

Davis with his very proud mommy & daddy...

Nurse Holly, aka, Grandmommy Koeppe, was kind enough to come to the hospital with Lance and I when I went into labor.  It was so comforting knowing that I had an extra set of eyes there to make sure that all was going well.  She was a labor & delivery nurse for 16 yrs so I felt very relaxed having her there to help!  Here she is with her 4th grandson...

We called Lance's parents when we headed to the hospital.  They were afraid they would miss the delivery if they didn't head up to Northside right away, so they waited patiently all night in the hospital waiting room.  These are some lucky little boys to have such dedicated grandparents!!

my dad was on Harrison duty all night, so they headed up to the hospital in the morning.  Harrison was so sweet with his new brother and always wants to give him hugs and kisses. 

This looks like one proud grandddaddy!

 

Finally, a picture with his eyes open!

We think that Davis looks so much like Harrison when he was born.  Here are pictures of each of the

boys so you can see the comparison:

 

Davis

Harrison

On our way home...let the reality of having 2 kids begin!

Here is a picture from Davis' first bath.  I couldn't believe how relaxed he was - Harrison was screaming bloody murder when we gave him his first bath, but Davis was just so calm the entire time. 

Aunt Liz hanging out with her nephews...sorry for the 2 1/2 yr old with no pants - still working on potty training!

Davis is so funny, he always has his little feet turned in.  I think he looks like a little tree frog!

Last two pictures...is that not the sweetest face you've ever seen??  Maybe I'm a little biased! :)  I will do my best to keep posting as the weeks go on!