And Then There Were Four

But first there were seven!  Our good friends came down from freezing New York City to a mildly winterish Orlando for a long weekend.  Their two kids Claire (3) and James (12 mos) were the perfect treat for Palmer.  They provided boundless entertainment.  We spent a lot of time in the playroom, a little at the pool (we might've been a little aggressive in that venture), enjoyed ice cream and great dinners.  It's always special to have friends come and stay. Seven people in one house is a lot of action which is just how we like it.

Claire was a show stopper all weekend

Palmer was capitvated

They shared fruit and a show

Claire did her best to wrangle the boys all weekend

James crashed Palmer's nightly tub.  Palmer wasn't too sure what he thought of that.

James had a blast as he does in everything he goes for

 And then we were left with just the four of us.  Wait, four?  Pete, Heather, Palmer and that little sweet baby bean growing in my belly.  Palmer's going to be a big brother in August 2014.  Six short months away!  At first, Palmer was like...

You did what?

But then he was like...Playmate for life! Yay!

We are pumped to be growing the Doyle household.  A new year, a new adventure.  We don't know how to sit back and take in our current situation.  And to be honest, being a stay at home to one, just one, can be...well...boring.  Of course the boss is demanding, you put in long hours, and the job requirements can be stressful at times (how many times can you sing "Wheels on the Bus"in a row before being deemed mentally incapacitated?) but there's a lot of time where it's just Palmer and I and we need a little spice.  Sure we schedule the play dates, hit My Gym, we can kill an hour no problem at Whole Foods, but there's a certain something missing.  I'm pretty sure it's this little nugget in my belly.  I will definitely miss my naps...oh, how I will miss my naps...but for the big picture we need this little one in our lives.  I'm looking forward to a little mayhem, a little "holy cow how do I nurse a baby and play puppet show with my toddler?!" It's fun mayhem.  It's exciting.  It sounds absolutely divine.  Now talk to me when we are in about week 6 with Doyle Deux and remind me how divine I thought this all sounded.  

Pregnancy has been similar to Palmer's run.  Exhaustion and headaches.  That's been the name of the game.  Lots of hot baths and naps to make my way through this portion of pregnancy.  Trying to enjoy my special time with Palmer while it's just the two of us during the day.  He is like a little sponge learning right now which makes the days a lot of fun.  He loves to repeat words we are saying...even some not so polite ones that start with sh....ugh...I swear I said "shoot" but when he says it, it's not quite the same.  We hit up a new play date partner, Charlie, today.  She was a gracious host and let us invade her pink palace of a room and play with all her toys.

Palmer loved the piano (thanks Monique for catching this!)

The princess castle was a hit

Anything with a door to peek through is great fun

A little solo by my little artist

We even got to practice giving the baby some juice.  

All of these fun girl toys (even a makeup compact, baby stroller and a retro kitchen) were all right by this little guy.  He is secure enough in his manhood to not worry about anyone's perception of him playing with dolls.  I mean, have you seen the man's golf swing?