Life lately

So we haven't been doing anything exciting in the last month so it's been hard to find things to make a blog post. ( I do need to finish E's 3 year letter post but I want to cry every time so I haven't finished it yet and I also need to do what we actually did for her birthday..ugh I'm so behind) So here's a couple of pics thrown together to show how life has been in the month of September at the our house.

Someone is starting to like his chair for a few minutes

 I'm explaining to him that waking up at 4 and thinking it's time to have a long conversation with mommy is not socially acceptable...haha he doesn't care =)

E at her dance class. 

Playtime with our bus

We started homeschool preschool this month. It's going well. We do about an hour to 90 minutes of school about 2-3 days a week. She is enjoying it. 

Aren't they just adorable? 

There is an air show that happens every September that we can see the Blue Angels from our backyard. So Jason and E had fun watching it both Saturday and Sunday afternoon that weekend. 

 Fun park play time on a cool September morning

3 months!

Dear J,
You are 3 months old!! You are such a bright light to our family and we are so thankful for you!


You still make your own schedule every day. You will wake up between 6:30-7:30 in the morning and go to bed between 7-8 each night. You will get at least one nap in the morning, a long nap while E is sleeping, and then maybe a short nap before dinner but usually that one is hit or miss. I have figured out that you will take a good nap in the morning if you are worn in my wrap. I put you in it and within 5 minutes you are out! I love my snuggle time with you and I think you enjoy it too. =). You eat 2 1/2 -3 hours during the day and will wake up most of the time 2 times each night for feedings. At least 3-4 days a week, you think that after the 2nd feeding that its talk time and will start cooing and smiling at me. I try to tell you that its bedtime but you just smile back. It's a good thing you're cute. You'll eventually go back to sleep after about 30-45 minutes on those nights. Your reflux is still bad at night so we still hold you for the majority of the night.

You love to be outside and you love to be held. Although sometimes you will want to have some time by yourself and will get fussy when being held and if I put you down on the floor you will be content for a few a bit. That is completely different from the way your sister was. You LOVE your sister. You give her the biggest smiles and watch and follow her when she is in the room.

You give the cutest biggest smiles. You are quite the charmer. You almost lunge forward when I'm holding you, and you are smiling at someone (especially girls) you little flirt you. You do these really big open smiles that are almost a silent laugh and it is so cute. You "talk" all the time. You want your voice to be heard. You will coo and hum back and forth with your sister and it is so precious. You also have this high pitched scream that you do also with your talking. It is a happy scream and you do it a lot when you are playing on the floor. You always have your hands in your mouth and are starting to put large objects like blankets and stuffed animals in your mouth. You can grab the toys on your play gym really well by yourself. You are not a big fan of the car seat still and pretty much scream the whole time you are in it.

You weigh unofficially about 13 1/2 pounds per our scale. You wear size 1 diapers. You are still a little small for our cloth diapers because of your skinny legs but hoping we can start using them soon. You wear some 0-3 but mostly 3 month size clothes.

You are such a sweet happy boy my little one. We love you so much.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great and relaxing Labor Day weekend. I've been anticipating this weekend since we booked the cabin in April. We and some of our friends with their kids rented a cabin in Broken Bow, OK. The cabins are in the national park right outside the town. We left on Friday night and got there really late and stayed until Monday morning. It was a perfect weekend getaway.

This was E in the bedroom with us. We rented a 3 bedroom and our friends had the two bedrooms downstairs for their kids and themselves, and we had the master bedroom upstairs. It was big enough to fit both an air mattress and J's pack and play in it.

She was so excited to sleep on her air mattress that night. 

On Saturday morning, we went exploring around the national park. We were kind of limited since we have a 3 month old, but we did stop on a look out and hike down to the lake so that E could put her feet in the water for a few minutes.

We came back for naps and this little cutie slept really well =). 

We grilled out that night with the grill on the property. The kids played out on the wrap around patio while we waited for the food to be ready. They hunted for pine cones and played with toy airplanes. 

She was so so proud of her pinecones. A few of them made their way back home with us.

The next day after breakfast, we went to the cute little train that goes through the national park. The ride is only about 10-15 minutes long. The kids really enjoyed it, and we got to see some wildlife really close to the train. 

E was sitting with us before the train ride started, but then quickly decided she wanted to sit with her friend instead. Sigh..it's already started...

This deer was so close to the train. They didn't even seem phased by it.

This little guy didn't know what to think of it all. 

They had a drawing at the end of the train ride and E's ticket won! She won some cotton candy, but she didn't really want to try it. So we enjoyed some for her and got rid of the rest.

While our friends went hiking with their kids, we decided to take E on a paddle boat. She had been asking to go on the lake since we got there so we thought why not??

She enjoyed doing it so much and my momma heart stood on the deck and tried not to panic =).

We went back to the cabin for naps and hung out for the rest of the afternoon. After dinner that night, we started a fire in the fire pit and roasted some marshmellows and had smores. It was E's first experience with them and she loved them!!

Smores make people happy!

The next morning we loaded up and went home. We enjoyed this place so much, and we have already talked about going back again for weekend getaways in the future. If you don't live far from this area, I would definitely put this on your list of things to do!

E's Birthday Party

We celebrated E's birthday a couple weekends ago at a splash park in a nearby town. It was Cinderella themed - chosen by the birthday girl. It was a perfect warm (read: hot) morning that was perfect to play in the water!

Ready for her party in her Cinderella swimsuit

This cake was a labor of love. The layers kept collapsing on me the night before and I was for sure it was going to be one big crumbly mess when I opened the refrigerator door the next morning. It wasn't that bad, but it had collapsed enough that you could see Cinderella's underwear. Oh well. The birthday girl was happy, and that is all that matters.

Singing Happy Birthday to my sweet girl

Blowing out the candles 

My sweet 3 year old

She stopped for a few minutes to open a few presents, but she was too busy playing to want to open presents at the time.

She had so much fun at her party, and we are so thankful for all the people who came out to celebrate. She is still talking about her party several weeks later so I know it was good. 

One month and two months

Doubling up...sigh..2nd child syndrome..

Dear J,
You are one month old today!! How can one month have already come and gone? The days go by so quickly and I'm trying to soak them up as much as possible. You fit right in to our little family and we are so excited that you are here with us.

You don't really have a schedule. You hate to nap during the day. Hate it. I'm lucky if I can get you to nap for an hour during the day. For the most part though, you are happy so at least you are a happy tired baby =). You eat every 1 to 2 1/2 hours during the day and every 3-4 hours during the night. You have acid reflux just like your sister. I have taken out dairy from your diet, and so I am hoping that will help. However, the reflux is pretty bad at night so your daddy and I take turns holding you at night. You will fuss a little bit during the day because we can tell that your tummy is hurting but honestly you are pretty happy. For the most part you are a content little baby except for the whole not taking naps thing. If you nap, you sleep for maybe 20-30 minutes at a time.

You had your tongue tie fixed at 5 days old. We went to an ENT who did it and you started breastfeeding so much better! It was pretty painful for mommy up until then but then once you had it cut, it was so much better for both of us. You only eat from one side for most feedings just like your sister. You really like to gum me though so that kind of hurts. We are trying to work through that.

You tolerate tummy time pretty well. You came out of the womb lifting your head up so well so you can already hold your head up when on your tummy and you are getting your arms underneath you pretty well. You are strong, little boy. When we hold you up at our shoulders, you will pop that head up and try to look at us. It makes my heart melt. You love to be outside. If you get fussy we just take you outside and you immediately calm down. We have spent several nights at bedtime walking you up and down the sidewalk in front of our house to calm you down and eventually you will fall asleep. We even have done it in them middle of the night too.

You have had several visitors this month. Nana (my mom) stayed with us for 2 weeks after you were born to help out and you loved being held by her. Nana and Papa (Jason's dad and stepmom)  were also here for your birth and you got to meet them. My dad, your papa, also came down with your Uncle John one weekend as well to meet you. You've met our next door neighbors Margaret and Trey and their two kids. Lots of people want to see you!!







Firsts include: first bath, first doctor's visit, first grocery trip with your sister, first Target trip, and first church service. You had your very first outing at 3 days old because your sister had a dance recital. You slept the entire time in your ring sling except for a feeding. You are about 10 pounds and about 21-22 inches long. You were size newborn diapers. We haven't started cloth diapers yet because your bottom area is so tiny that the diapers are just too big! You were newborn size clothes. I have put in some 0-3 month clothes but some are still baggy.

Your sister just adores you. She wants to hold you all the time and you enjoy her as well. I can't wait to see how your relationship grows.

We love you so much J.


Love, Mommy and Daddy

Dear J,
You are 2 months old!! We are so thankful for you sweet boy!

You still don't have much of a schedule. You will wake up between 6-7:30 in the morning and then sometimes will take naps in the morning. If you do they are about 30 minutes long. I can get a longer nap from you during E's nap as long as I am holding you. You are still a happy baby for the most part. You still feed every 1-2 1/2 hours during the day and 3-4 hours at night although sometimes we can get a good 6 hour stretch between 7 and 1AM some nights. We still have to hold you at night because of your reflux.  You feed really well when we are out and about and don't fuss when underneath the cover to feed which helps us during outings (thanks so much for that). Your reflux is still pretty bad at night but during the day doesn't seem to bother you much. You have seen a chiropractor a couple of times and dairy has been out of your diet so that has been helpful.

You still love being outside and enjoy being out when its not too hot. You love your sister and will calm down when she talks to you. It is so cute. In fact, you will only take a pacifier from her. You spit  it out for me every time. Ha! You had your first bottle this month since Mommy had to have an emergency appendectomy and couldn't feed you for 30 hours. You took it like a champ and was kind of mad to have to feed from me after the 30 hours was up but we settled back into our routine just fine.

You started smiling at us at 5-6 weeks. We love it. You smile with your whole face and it just brightens our day. E loves it when you smile at her and you give them to her all the time. You can roll from your tummy to back pretty consistently. You are great at tummy time, and you can hold your head up really well and push up on your arms. You are starting to bat at objects. You really like the toys that are on the play mat gym and will stare at them forever and try to reach for them. You have found your hands and like to put them in your mouth. You have started to coo and make sounds at us and will "talk" all the time. You have a lot to say. =) You are a pretty happy baby but when you get mad, you will start out fussy and if I don't get to you in a proper amount of time you will do this scream/cough that is pretty dramatic.

You weigh 12 pounds and are 23 inches long. You still can wear some newborn outfits but are in 0-3 months and 3 month clothing. You are pretty long so you need bigger clothing to fit and button on your bottom. Speaking of bottom, you don't really have one so I have a difficult time putting shorts on you because they just fall off. Haha!So you wear a lot of onesies and rompers. You wear size 1 diapers. 

You had some more firsts and some more visitors this month. Your great grandmother and Jason's mom (MawMaw) came to visit you over 4th of July weekend. You met your great Aunt Holyn and Uncle Guy too. You had your first road trip to visit family in Colorado. You met your great Aunt Barbara and your great Aunt Julia plus some cousins. You did pretty well in the 12+ hours we were in the car. You absolutely HATE the car seat and make it well known that you hate it,  but we survived the road trip.

 We are so thankful for you sweet boy. So glad you are a part of our family.

Love, Mommy and Daddy