Fifteen Months

You should see a number 15 if you are not color deficient like me, if you are you probably see a number 17.

The Critters have been around for fifteen months now, I can hardly believe how fast time has gone. It seems just like yesterday that Rian and I were up at the NICU daily visiting them. Now the girls are both running around and Brother is fast on their heals, he is scooting around with the help of furniture. The Critters personalities have become very apparent and it is funny seeing each one express that personality.

Carson: She is the ringleader. She is the one that really chooses not to recognize the word "No." She is adventurous, but she is still timid in many ways. She is the most sensitive by a long shot. She can also melt your heart when she flashes one of her big 'ol CarCar grins. She is a garbage disposal when it comes to food, she hasn't met a food she won't eat. She is also the smallest but believe me she makes her presence known. Finally, she loves her "lovie" more than anything in this world, and lord help you if you give her the wrong one.

Hadley: She is the risk-taker, I believe that she has a little Evil Knievel in her. Hadley is also the whiner, not that its a bad thing, it is just how she chooses to communicate. Hadley tends to follow lockstep with what CarCar does, if CarCar takes a drink Hadley will follow. (It will be interesting to see if Hadley will take on the "big sister" mentality late on down the line. Hadley loves animals, but, and a big but, she likes to be the one to approach them. (It tends to scare her when the make the first move.) She has really curly blondish hair. I really think that Hadley will be able to get what ever she wants later in life when she flashes "the look." (She has the biggest blue eyes that apparently do not let you say no too often.)

Reese: He is the child that always does what he is supposed to. He has gotten much better at moving around and we think it is only a matter of time before he is walking. He has strawberry blond hair. We think he is left handed. He looooooooooooooves the ladies. I think he will be uber-protective of his sisters, even though they torment him. He loves to read (well look at books) and be read to. He loves his momma more than anything. He still uses a binky, but will be off of that soon. He loves his sleep. He is one of the sweetest little Critters that you will ever meet.

We had their fifteen month appointment of Friday and everything checked out well. Dr. Martin was very happy with their growth and development. They are apparently progressing as they should, albeit on their own growth scale. They only had to have two shots but they definitely let us know that they were not too happy about it. That displeasure only lasted until they got a Cake Shop cupcake.

Measurements:

Reese: 24.7 lbs, 32 inches

Hadley: 23.6lbs, 30.5 inches

CarCar: 20.1lbs, 30 inches

Bonus Picture - Rian and I were craving a chocolate milkshake after church last Sunday so we stopped by Steak and Shake. CarCar loved the hat that the waitress gave her.

Chris

Country Club

When Rian was a little girl she had what was known as the country club. It was her plastic swimming pool. Flash forward 29 years and the Critters now have their very own country club. They were a little sceptical about the name seeing as there were no lounge chairs or drinks with umbrellas in them. Once they got passed the fact that there was no pool side service they jumped right in and had a great time.

Here are a few pics:

The crew in the pool.

Hadster.

Hadster strolling around.

CarCar racing to get off of the hot concrete.

Chris

Me and the Boy

As I said in an earlier post the Boy and I headed home from Orlando on Wednesday. It was a guys only weekend. I got to be a single dad of a singleton child. I can tell you that my scheduling and preparation (especially food) was totally off. I guess it is harder than I thought to change your mindset from three children to one. I have honestly not had as much free time since the Critters were born. It does help that Brother is the model child.

On Thursday Brother got to meet a new crittersitter, Jordan. She and Brother appeared to have a great time. In the afternoon Brother got to have Aunt Donna all to himself. Friday morning Ms. Lane and Camp came over to play, and Aunt Donna came over in the afternoon again.

Brother has been wanting to see Despicable Me since we first saw the advertisement. We decided to head over to AMC to catch the 10:15am show. Let me tell you pre-noon tickets on Saturday and Sunday are a bargain at $4.75 for an adult. (Apparently it is the same price for any show Mon-Thurs.) I planned it perfectly, we wouldn't get into the theater too early, probably about a minute before showtime. Little did I know that there were 45 minutes of previews. It was absolutely ridiculous. Much to my surprise though, Brother sat attentively and watched over an hour of the movie. He decided that he had had enough of sitting still by that point. Brother was getting a little hungry and I had promised him that we could go to Dog Et All. I got my usual and Brother ordered the corn dog. He loved the hot dog portion but wasn't crazy about the corn dog coating. After a nap, a walk around Lake Ella, and a trip to Publix Brother decided to call it a day.

Brother's first movie.

Brother wanted to get out and stretch his legs at the theater.

Brother at Dog Et All.

Sunday we planned to go to FSU Fan Day at the Civic Center. While I am a rabid FSU fan, somehow Rian and I birthed an SEC (specifically a University of Tennessee) fan. Brother loves him some "Rocky Top" and Smokey. But Reese can appreciate certain aspect of FSU fandom, specifically the cheerleaders and the Golden Girls. We met Steve and his little guy Trey there and we proceeded to stand in line to meet Christian Ponder. While Reese was excited to meet him, he informed me that he was no Jim Bob Cooter. I had to agree with Brother that that was one of the most entertaining Quarterback names that I have ever heard. Reese got tired quickly of waiting in line so we decided to have a quick snack/juice break and walk around. We went and met Chief Osceola and Renegade and most importantly we met the cheerleaders and Golden Girls. Brother was in paradise, and he had his A-game on.

Brother was a little apprehensive around Chief Osceola.

But he was in his element with the cheerleaders. "Hey ladies!"

Not one to be short change himself, Reese decided to put the moves on the Golden Girls too.

Reese staring inappropriately at the brunette Golden Girl. What can you say though, he's a guy.

It was a great guys weekend but I can honestly say that I was ready for the craziness to return to my life with all of the girls coming home. I definitely missed them something fierce.

Chris

The Land Before Time

Mom, Dad, Abbey, and the Critters headed south to Orlando for a conference for Mom and a birthday for Dad. On Saturday we decided to head down to Disney to have lunch at T-Rex. I must say that Rian and I were a little concerned that the Critters may be overwhelmed by all of the moving dinosaurs and noise, but let me tell you they took it in stride, aside from one unfortunate incident which I will get to later. After a brief stint at Olivia's (Old Key West Resort) we headed down to Downtown Disney.

This lovely gent greeted you as you walked into the restaurant.

T-Rex is quite the impressive restaurant. Contained inside the restaurant is a Build-a-Dino workshop (think Build-a-Bear). As you can imagine Hadley was in heaven being surrounded by so many stuffed animal options. She made a b-line and chose her dino. Surprisingly she did not chose a lovable looking one, but a rather fierce red dinosaur with fangs. Hadley did not feel like following the Build-a-Dino protocol and would not relinquish her dinosaur so it could be stuffed. After I pried it out of her little hands we picked a sound box and put the heart in it. After having it stuffed Hadley once again snatched it and this time refused to give it up, this made paying for it somewhat of a challenge. Finally the lady behind the counter gave me a pair of scissors and I just cut the tag off. As you can imagine Hadley has a new best friend. Reese and CarCar chose smaller dino's that didn't need to be stuffed.

Hadley refusing to give up her dino.

You crazy people think you are gonna take this from me again, I'm outta here.

CarCar showing you here not too fierce Triceratops.

Brother's not fierce in the slightest Saber tooth Tiger.

As soon as we were done with the dino stuffing our table was ready. The inside of T-Rex is pretty freaking cool and we were seated in the "fire" room, right next to a huge animatronic Tyrannosaurus Rex. One of the neat things about the restaurant is that approximately every fifteen minutes there is a meteor shower and the whole restaurant is a blaze with activity. All of the dinosaurs are moving around and you can see the meteor shower on the ceiling.

This guy was right over our table.

Some of the dinos in the restaurant.

We decided to walk around after the first meteor shower with CarCar so we could get her picture taken with one of the dino's. We found a cutish looking one and sat CarCar down by it. As I was going to snap the picture the dino springs to life and moved its head, gently nudging CarCar. Well to CarCar this was a sign of aggression and a vicious attack and it sent her into hysterics. Rian and I had to take her over to the aquarium area to calm her down. We went back to the table to avoid any other dino attacks and had our lunch.

This was CarCar after the "attack."

We were heading to take a few more pictures when we noticed half of the staff in the restaurant was heading to our table. Rian rushed us back and when we arrived there was this huge smoking dessert tray for my birthday. After a rousing performance of "happy birthday" we dug into the dessert.

My birthday dessert.

Mom, Dad, and the girls in the 'ice room.'

We definitely got our fill of food at T-Rex. Naturally we decided that we would head out in the 115 degree heat to walk off the brownies and ice cream. After a few stores and a train ride we succumbed to the heat and headed home. Needless to say the Critters had a great time and can't wait to go back in October to go to the Magic Kingdom.

CarCar reminding everyone to keep hydrated.

Dad and Brother on the train.

Mom, Grandma B, and the girls on the train.

Chris

About a Boy.

Well it's just me and Brother this weekend. Just the guys, ah, the life of a pseudo-bachelor. I guess it's kind of like the movie above, aside from the fact that I don't look like Hugh Grant and Brother is actually my kid and didn't just start showing up at my door. Oh and the fact that I am not rich, and don't live in London. Hmm, maybe it's not too much like that movie but the post title sounds pretty good.

As I said I am living the life of a single dad of a singleton child this weekend. No wife, no female children in the house. Abbey is still here so I guess there is one female still in the house. Brother has made a few suggestions on what we should do this weekend. First, he will be attending his first feature length movie on Saturday, Despicable Me. He has been waiting patiently to see this. Then we will be off to Dog Et Al for some lunch, specifically a corn dog for Brother. (Don't worry we normally don't feed him stuff like that.) Sunday will be packed full of awesomeness too. It's FSU Fan Day and Brother wants to meet Christian Ponder, oh and he wants to see the FSU Cheerleaders too. After that we are heading over to Doak Campbell Stadium to watch the team practice. I figure after that the little guy will be ready for some good sleep. Rian and the sisters will be back that night and my days of being a singleton father will end.

As I said above there is no resemblance between me and Hugh Grant, but I have been told that I resemble Freddie Prinze, Jr. I know Rian is going to get a kick out of this. When we were in Ireland and after consuming a bit too much Mead, another American Couple seemed to think that I was Freddie Prinze, Jr. I had to burst their bubble and inform them that indeed I did not star in She's All That.

I know you all see the resemblance.

Chris