Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2 Months!

On Christmas Eve's eve, RL was two months old. I'd taken him in for his well-check on Monday since it was Christmas week, and that day he weighed in at 13 pounds, 12 ounces, so I am sure by Christmas he was over 14 pounds. His weight put him in the 90th percentile and he was in the 75th for height. He is getting so round and is just a chunk of cuteness! He's really studying faces, discovering his hands, and interacting more with sweet little coos. He flashed lots of smiles (truly some of his first) at many family members during our Christmas visits. Talk about a sweet gift!

Bathtime! He has really started to like this much more than he did those first few weeks...


He's gaining on Pooh!




Looking very serious...maybe he's pondering being 2 months old...


and realizing it's alot of fun!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Merry Christmas!

No Santa picture this year...but Daddy's lap is way better, anyway!



We wish all our family and friends a very special Christmas celebration filled with much joy and the peace of Christ!

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Makes me so happy...

Two quick things:

Yesterday RL smiled at me, really, for the first time! He just looked me in the eyes and that little sweet smile lit his face up like a light! He held it for about 10 seconds, and since then seems a bit unsure of how to do it again...but no doubt he'll be flashing them like a champ by Christmas. So just another way our days will be merry and bright!

This morning AG shared the sweetest idea with me. She said, "I was thinking that when LL and I get older, we can go to college at the same place and meet a family with two brothers about the same age and we can marry them on the same day and have our party after the wedding at your house." (We've been talking about weddings this week because AG and LL are going with us to one Saturday night, and she knows T and I had our reception at my parents' house). I hope, even if this doesn't happen, that they'll stay close enough as they grow up to at least think it's a fun idea!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Up on the Housetop

AG's Christmas solo yesterday...

Our Growing Boy

For weeks lots of people have been commenting on how big RL is getting, and I've agreed that I think so, too. It was not until this week that we weighed him again and I actually realized just how true it is...he is now 7.5 weeks old, and today he tipped the scales at 13 pounds, 3 ounces. In comparison, AG weighed 12 pounds, 12 ounces at 4.5 months! We've never had such a big "little" baby. Just one of the early differences about boys, so I hear...I guess all those middle of the night meals have their results! I love his expression here...wonder what he's thinking! Lots of people have been commenting lately that RL looks like SJ. What do you think?


And here's how he shocked me last week...rolling over 3 times in one day! The third time I got it on video, so check it out if you are patient :) (and don't mind seeing a half-dressed baby! I'm not sure why I didn't have a shirt on him for such a major event:)

The Girls

A quick update on the girls...

We've been staying home alot, missing most of our usual activities due to a mild but persistent case of the sniffles that we've passed around since Thanksgiving. It's also been very rainy for the last week or so, so playing outside hasn't even been an option most days. The girls have been pretty good at making the most of these days anyway, getting creative inside and coming up with lots of different games with interesting roles for each to play. Not surprisingly, they often pretend to be moms and other kids we know, storekeepers, chefs, or characters from Narnia or Little House on the Prairie. One day they made stages out of blankets and pillows and did a concert:



SJ with her new haircut and the inflatable microphone she got as a prize from the hair place




Even though it can be trying to stay in so much, they come up with ways to have fun and never fail to make me laugh everyday. I'm thankful to have three little indoor sunshines on these dreary weather days!

Weekend before last it snowed a little on Friday night, and we woke up to a little bit of icy snow on the ground the next morning. They lasted a few minutes before deciding they'd rather come in for hot chocolate!

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Thanksgiving Weekend Fun

After our Thanksgiving day celebration, the fun continued through the weekend with a few other special avtivities. On Friday morning I awoke to a quiet, seemingly empty house and then discovered AG and LL in the backyard with T, playing in the frost! It's not as much fun as the snow we got last December, but we make the most of whatever wintery white groundcover we get down here!

(We actually got a bit of real snow this weekend, but I haven't uploaded that photo yet...just one because the snow was pretty icy by the morning and the girls didn't last long out there!)

We spent part of Friday morning at the zoo...the highlight of our visit was seeing the new baby rhino, just a few months old and pretty cute for a rhino!


After the zoo, we headed out to a tree farm to pick out and cut our own Christmas tree! AG scouted out the scene as all 6 of us tromped through the "forest"...


while LL's complete attention was focused on gathering "ferns" to make soup with when we got home (imagination at work! Let her know if you need a good recipe for fern soup!)


We decided on the tree for us and T got to work sawing.


Timber! Ready to load it up and take it home!


Family photo at the forest's edge on our way out


Saturday was my birthday, and although T and the girls cooked breakfast and gave me some gifts early, RL gave me what I consider my first gift of the day...a night with only one middle-of-the-night wake up call! It was wonderful to get a four hour and three hour stretch of sleep on the same night. I was hopeful that it was the beginning of something good sleepwise, but that night and every night since he's been back to his snacking every few hours. However, he did take his first bottle later that day with absolutely no fussing (another gift!)...


We hung out at home most of the day and watched our team win the Egg Bowl...another fun "treat"! That night we went out to eat at Chili's...always a winner with the girls! It was sweet to celebrate the blessing of another year with my favorite people...our first meal out as a family of 6. (In this pic, RL is asleep behind the blanket!)