Patrick- 3 1/2 Years

Patrick is getting to be so big.  I cannot believe his vocabulary and everything he is able to pick up on!

His teacher asked to speak with me when I picked him up last week. I was a little worried about what she would say, but she wanted to talk to me about how bright Patrick is. She said that every time they write numbers or a word up on the board that Patrick immediately shouts out the answer.  She said they had to start asking him to give his other friends a chance to figure it out, since some of the other children are still learning their letters and numbers. He also has the most stars on his sharing chart which he is so excited about. Definitely a few proud mom moments recently!

He knows how to spell his name, knows all his letters, knows his numbers, knows the days of the week and so much more that I am sure I am failing to mention.

Every night before we go to bed (and most mornings) he wants to review what day is tomorrow. He always gets upset when it's a school day and not a "stay at home night."  Saturday's are definitely his favorite day. He tells me almost every morning that he is going to miss me until Saturday.  He has such a sweet little heart!  His favorite school day is Friday. On Friday's each child gets to bring a toy that starts with the letter of the week and they get to share it with their friends. Patrick loves to search through our house exploring which toys start with the letter of the week in preparation for Friday.

I asked Patrick to pick out his bedtime book and he ran to Michael's bedside table and picked up the Sports Illustrated. He is starting to notice everything Michael and I do and had noticed that daddy had been reading it earlier. So cute!

Patrick really loves his bedtime routine and it is really cute. He always asks to pick out three books to read (because he is three :) ) and then we say our prayers and I lay with him for a few minutes. The prayer he says is absolutely precious. He normally belts out the prayer, but he knew I was recording him this night so he was a little more shy. You can't tell very well in the recording, but he says "kank you" for thank you and "aww man" for amen. It is so darn cute! I had to record it, because I know he is about to be able to pronounce it correctly, so I wanted to remember the sweet baby voice he has.

We are still working hard on potty training. Patrick has never had a #2 accident, but frequently has #1 accidents. He is perfectly capable of going potty, but plays so hard that he is so focused and forgets. He still wears a diaper for nap time and bed time. The past week,his diaper has been dry at school after nap time, so I think we are getting close for nap. I don't see us giving up the night time diaper any time soon though!

We still struggle with Patrick's eating. I think it will definitely be something we work on for a long long time. He loves fruit and bread and that is pretty much all he eats. We are still working hard in food therapy, so I know we will continue to improve. His waist is so small that I cannot find pants that fit him in length and waist. Poor thing is constantly pulling up his pants because they are so big on him. We can get away with it in the summer because he can just wear really short shorts, but not so much in the winter. We aren't quite to the age where he can figure out how to unbuckle a belt yet to go to the bathroom, so unfortunately that is not an option. Apparently they don't make extra long pants for a 12-18 month sized 3 1/2 year old. Maybe I will invent it :)

Patrick and Peyton are starting to play much better together. Peyton is a little rough with some of Patrick's toys since his motor skills haven't developed fully enough for him to be able to play with all of the toys, which really frustrates Patrick. Although you can tell Patrick really does try and teach him and play with him.

Patrick and his cousin Harper are at great ages and have really started playing well together. Patrick frequently asks if he can have his cousin Harper over to play.

He loves driving his car with Harper

Exploring a fire truck together

Sweet little boys reading books together

Patrick has grown up so much in the past 6 months I can hardly stand it! I cannot imagine how much he will grow in the next 6 months! So proud of you Patrick. Love you!

Peyton- 18 Months

My precious little Peyton is 18 months old!

This little guy is a firecracker!  He has so much energy and hates to sit still. He loves to help mom and gets so excited when I ask him to help.  He especially loves to help out with the dogs. If I fill the dogs food bowls without him or before he wakes up, he throws an enormous fit. Its the one thing he really loves to do right after he wakes up. He also loves to let the dogs in and out.

He loves the outdoors and would play outside all day! He knows how to open doors as long as it is unbolted. He will frequently just open our back door on pretty days and wander around our back yard (it's fenced in so he cannot get out). It is one of the things I really like about our new house. At our old house, he might have easily fallen in the pool if I let him wander outside.

Little guy loves to give hugs! If Patrick is ever crying and really upset he runs over to give Patrick a big hug and pats him on the back. It is so cute. He adores his big brother and has to know where Pat Pat is at all times. 

Peyton loves his brother and wants to do everything that big brother does

At his 18 month check-up he weighed 18 pounds, 5 ounces (70%), was 33 and 1/4 inches (77%) and his head circumference was also 77%. He is wearing all the clothes that big brothers wears now. They can share pretty much all clothes.

He is still a great napper and very consistent. He is pretty flexible about when he goes down for a nap, and consistently sleeps for 2 to 2.5 hours. Definitely different from his big brother at this age.  He also goes down great for naps and at night. He prefers to be rocked and sung two songs and then goes in his crib and puts himself to sleep. He still frequently wakes up in the middle of the night, probably about two times a week. After he wakes up in the middle of the night, he is very difficult to get back down.

He is very jealous of me and I am a little nervous for when the new baby comes. If I ever give Michael or Patrick a hug he freaks out and runs over and hits whoever is giving me a hug and climbs right in the middle.

Peyton has gotten a little more picky with his food this month. He still is a pretty good eater, but definitely getting more picky. He used to try everything and now is a little nervous to try things.  His three favorite things to eat and the food that he begs for constantly are waffles, yogurt, and juice boxes. He refuses to drink any milk, which is the exact opposite of Patrick.

He is doing well at school but still cries at drop off every morning. The teachers always sing his praises for how happy he is all day long. Here is a little picture the teachers put together of his class visiting the pumpkins.


He is still working on talking and doesn't say that many words yet. But I can tell that full out talking is just around the corner.

This little guy is such a sweet little boy and adds such a fun dynamic to our family. Peyton, I am really enjoying watching you learn and grow. I love you!

Gentry's Farm

We headed to Gentry's Farm today and had a blast.  We went after Patrick's baseball class, right during nap time.  The boys fell asleep on the way there and slept for about 30 minutes.  I was pretty nervous that the trip to Gentry's would be a flop after the small nap, but they both had so much fun!  

They immediately ran to the slides, which they both loved. Patrick especially loved the "shake shake bridge."

They were mesmerized by the chickens

Patrick thought it was really funny when one of them said cock-a-doodle-doo

Next we headed to the small maze, that had a large slide and a little tunnel to climb through. Patrick ran through the maze about 20 times. He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. It was really funny!  To give you an idea of how much running that actually is, the maze took a good 4-5 minutes for him to run through each time and he is quite the little speed demon. Can you see how rosy his cheeks are after running through it so fast?!?

The line for the infamous Gentry's farm pictures was too long when we arrived. So, we tried to take a picture on the way out, but the boys were both pretty hot and tired from running for the 3 hours we were there. At least we attempted....maybe next year i'll get all three boys to look at the camera and smile simultaneously (haha, yeah right :) )

I think Patrick would have stayed all day if we would have let him. He had so much fun!  In fact, he cried half the way home because he wanted to stay so badly.  Luckily I had Halloween stickers in the car so he could decorate his pumpkin he picked out.

Ice Cream Date

Last Friday the little boys and I went to get their flu shots. Patrick was so sweet to the nurse and was introducing himself and telling her all about himself and Peyton. But then he figured out what was going on and the poor thing cried like crazy! So an ice cream date was definitely necessary after the shots!  

Still a little upset over the shots

Those curls....I just love them!

Once Patrick cheered up a little, he insisted we move outside

Sweet little boy

"Look mom I have a spoon mustache!"

Both the boys didn't sleep well that night, so I am guessing it made them a little sore! Poor little guys!

Ghouls at Grassmere

Last weekend the boys and I went to Ghouls at Grassmere, which is at the Nashville Zoo.  The boys had a blast!  They really loved trick-or-treating and they were so excited about their treats that they didn't want to do any of the other activities. We did convince Peyton try the carousel, which he hated.  He made a terrible face the whole time. So after the carousel we just let them sit in the stroller and strolled around. Maybe next year we will try some of the activities before the trick-or-treating.

These are terrible pictures, but the boys were just having so much fun I couldn't get them excited about taking a picture for mom!

Patrick said that if they had to take a picture then it needed to be with the blow up spider.  Haha

Eating their treats and looking around at all the lights

Baby #3 is a.....

We found out what baby Mulloy #3 was this week. I had been trying to convince Michael for a few weeks that we shouldn't find out and should have this one be a surprise.  But, he told me a couple days before our ultrasound that he just couldn't wait!  So we decided to have a little last minute reveal party with our families.  

Michael and I both planned to take Monday off for the ultrasound, so we put together a quick little dinner party.

The boys "helped" me put together the chalkboard and the candy

Michael and I did not find out the gender of the baby at the ultrasound. We looked away during the gender determination part so it didn't ruin the surprise. I really thought it was a girl the whole time!  But at the end of the ultrasound the tech slipped and said boy once, so I had a good feeling after that little slip that we would be seeing blue balloons!

I dropped off the box and the ultrasound picture with my mom.  She was in charge of filling up the box with either pink or blue balloons!

It had been storming for the past two weeks but the rain lightened up for a few hours to allow us to do our little gender drop box.  Michael did a great job hanging it!

Ready to find out! 

The blue confetti came out first!

Patrick did a little happy dance

And then the sea of blue...

Another sweet little baby boy for this family!

Patrick and Peyton with their cousin Harper, who also has a little brother due in February.  Five little grandsons on the Mulloy side under the age of 4.  Will be crazy and oh so much fun at the same time!

The rest of the night we put on some music and the boys danced around with all the balloons.  It was so fun!  It was really cute to see the excitement on the little boys faces.  

Can't wait to have another precious little boy to love on!  

Frozen on Ice

We took Patrick to see Frozen on Ice last weekend and he loved it!  Michael bought tickets months ago, so we were literally on the ice!  We were so close you could probably reach out and touch the skaters.

Patrick had such a great time he didn't want to get up for intermission. He kept asking when the show would be back on so he could see Olaf. I think we all had a blast watching frozen on ice!

We went to the 6:30pm show on Sunday night. We thought that was a little too late for Peyton so he skipped out on this one.  Peyton got to play with Big and Allie all night, so I know he loved the one-on-one attention!  And I loved the little date night with my big boy!  Definitely going to be harder to do things individually with the boys once the new baby comes, so I am trying to take full advantage!

Michael's Big UT Weekend

Michael went to UT Accounting Day for work and then stayed for the Florida game

Before the game Michael got to tour the UT facilities

And then he got field passes to watch the game.  I am pretty sure he was in heaven.

Patrick, Peyton and I had a great weekend.  We played the whole weekend and it was really fun.  This is what my sweet little buddies and I did at night.  And yes, Peyton has food on his face (typical!) ha!

Glad Michael got to have a fun weekend at UT.  He has been working hard and deserved it!

Three Little Minions

My two precious little boys have a big announcement!

My first little minion...

and my second little minion...

and the third little minion coming February 2015!

Can you tell how excited they are?!?

Patrick's favorite song is "Happy" that plays in the movie Despicable Me.  So Michael saw this shirt with three little minions and thought it was perfect!  And Peyton thinks it's really cool to match his big brother!

I am a little late on this announcement, considering I am already halfway through at a little over 19 weeks!  Although I am super excited to be welcoming another precious baby to our family, I was a little  shocked at first! We found out we were pregnant the week after we moved out of our house.  We were homeless and living with Michael's family.  It was a little stressful to say the least!  

Since then we have moved into our new house (very slowly) and are still getting a little organized! It was not easy moving into a new house while newly pregnant and not feeling great, with two small kids, two big four accounting jobs during the fall (busiest time of the year for corporate accountants)!  Yikes!!

I have felt better with each pregnancy I have had, which is great!  With Patrick I was so sick and threw up all the time, barely ate and was miserable for the first four months. With Peyton I felt better and wasn't as sick, but still felt nauseous for the first four months. With this precious little baby, I have felt sick in the early mornings and late nights, but during the day most the time I feel fine!  I have only gotten sick a couple of times, so that has been a huge blessing this time.  I am mostly just so so tired with this baby....still!  I thought that would pass, but since I am halfway and still so tired I think its around to stay.    

I am used to being able to function on very little sleep, but have had a tough time doing that during this pregnancy without feeling sick.  It has been a huge adjustment for me!  I normally get things done after Patrick goes to bed between 9 and 9:30. For the past few months I have only worked when I needed to and have done no housework after the kids go to bed.  Inevitably this means our house is always a mess and the laundry and dishes are piled up all the time!  I better get used to it, because adding another little one probably won't make the house any cleaner!

Having said that, I am so excited to have three little ones so close in age! Patrick and Peyton adore each other. I love it when they run to each other's rooms in the morning with the biggest smiles yelling for the other one.  They also do this after school each day and it warms my heart each time!  That's not to say that they don't fight like cats and dogs too, but those precious moments between the two of them make up for all the fighting over toys.

It has been really fun to see Patrick excited about the baby, since he was too young to understand with Peyton.  He has told all of his friends and teachers that he is going to have a little sister named Sally. Hopefully we don't disappoint him!

Here are a few more pictures from our little photo shoot.  I mean aren't they the cutest!?!?  I just love them!

SO excited to be welcoming another precious baby to this family! It might be a little crazy at times, but it will definitely never be boring!  Can't wait for all the beautiful memories with these kids to come!