Busy Girls

The girls have been busy bees this month. They fill every spare minute between schoolwork and outings with whatever their imaginations dream up.

LL got a new bike for Christmas and rode around the block the first time she got on it. She and AG love to go for rides, and the last time T took them out for one, he had to run to keep up with them! Definitely time to get his bike going again!


SJ is in a phase of what I think of often as "extreme cuteness." Just a month away from being 2.5, she says and does things that just strike me as funny and precious all the time. And her cuddle factor is through the roof!

Snuggle bunny in her rabbit robe


One of many dress-up designs that are all her own...


Getting a little TLC from her daddy

3 Months with RL

Yesterday marked three months since RL joined us! Hard to believe, in some ways! His first two months were a whirlwind composed of the normal newborn round-the-clock routine which was sweet, fun, and exhausting all at once! The holidays brought a perfectly timed opportunity to get out and about, visit friends and family, and cap off our break from school and any sort of daily routine. After our trip, we came home to welcome the new year and I felt a renewed hope that routine was at least possible! RL has been quite agreeable as we've attempted to get back into doing school each weekday, running errands, and gradually adding in other fun things to our schedule. Here's the latest scoop on our little guy:

His smile just gets easier and brighter each day, it seems!


He usually goes down for naps and bedtime awake, but some evenings he falls asleep with us. We love these chances to enjoy some sleepy snuggle time!


The biggest news is that just this week he started sleeping through the night! Suddenly he went from waking up once or twice every night to sleeping 8+ hours 4 nights in a row! Woohoo!


3 months!


Happy at bathtime


The official 3 month weight check: 15 lbs, .5 oz!


Still loving the swing


He's getting more and more expressive with his little coos and has started rewarding our silliness with some precious laughs! We are so thankful for our little prince!

RL's Baptism

The first Sunday of the year was extra special for us as we celebrated RL's baptism. We were very glad that his Nana, Grandpa, Gran, and PopPop were able to join us that day. It also happened to be the first time AG took the Lord's supper, and she was really excited to have tham there for this special occasion, too. We are humbled and grateful to see how God is faithfully drawing our children into greater understanding of who He is and what He has done for us as His children!





RL wore the special gown made by Mimi and worn by several of his great-aunts, great-uncle, cousins, Uncle Matthew, T, and his biggest sister, AG.

Friends

While we were visiting T's parents, I was able to see some of my dearest friends from college that I hadn't seen for years. It was so good to catch up!

One afternoon my roommate from MSU, H, and her husband came to see us and later we met our other two apartment-mates, K and C, and our honorary "sister" Jess (one of my best friends since high school) for dinner. T and I took the girls along and they had SUCH a good time...I think they would have stayed and played with their "aunts" all night if they could have! These are such special "girls" who were a huge blessing to me back then, and I am so grateful our friendships continue and I have the pleasure of getting to see my girls get to know them, too!

G, H, T, and me. This was the first time we'd met G...he and H are a wonderful couple with an amazing story!


SJ and LL with J and C


AG and LL cutting up with K


All the girls


The next night I met Jess (she is my "constant"...overlaps with both groups!), Jules, and Em (friends who go back even a few more years...)for dinner and loved getting to catch up with them too!

Last Stop of the Christmas '09 Tour

We finished up our Christmas travels with three nights at Nana and Grandpa's house. We all had a fun time...see for yourself!

Out for a chilly afternoon walk...


Nana got the special treatment at AG and LL's beauty shop...


and Nana also got some sweet smiles from RL.


RL hung out with Grandpa, too.


RL and his proud big sister, LL

Our "Christmas Morning" at Home

Backtracking a bit...

We opened gifts here at home on December 23, the day before we headed out to visit all our family. Here are a few photos of the fun.

(This one with RL was actually a day or so earlier. He's not in any of the others because he was still sleeping, and at 2 months, it seemed that was more important than waking him up to watch us open his gifts :)

Southern Perspective

Even though it's colder here than it's been in almost 40 years, this may be the only white powder we see this winter:





We can't complain! Not even this little sweetie...

;)

Christmas Day

On Christmas day we spent the morning with T's family, then came back by our house for a short stop before heading to my parents' house for another family gathering that evening. SJ skipped her nap on the drive because we'd forgotten to give her her lovies and didn't know exactly where we'd packed them (turns out they were right behind my seat the whole time, but we didn't know that til we got there!), but she was busy with this baby doll most of the drive, anyway. I caught her in this serious moment on the drive. Maybe she's asking the baby why it has no clothes on in the middle of winter.


We got there about 4:00, anticipating the visit with my aunt, uncles, and two cousins, their wives, and two cute little cousins. The visit started normally enough, with the girls wasting no time pulling out the familiar toys and Gran having some cuddle time with sleepy RL...


Things took a bit of an unexpected turn when SJ tripped and smacked her forehead on the edge of the coffee table, leaving a deep cut that required a trip to the ER and 5stitches. T and PopPop took her and thankfully were back home a few hours later. T said SJ did surprisingly well with the whole thing, just saying, "I don't like that". There were a couple of nurses there who were trying to make conversation to distract her, and since it was Christmas night, they were asking the obvious questions like, "Did Santa come see you?" and "Did you get some presents today?" Since we'd not even mentioned Santa this year and we'd opened gifts the few days before (and were planning to open more later that evening), SJ's honest answer to both questions was "No." They probably thought this was the most deprived little girl ever! This was our first experience with serious bleeding, taking a child to the ER, and stitches...so that it occurred on Christmas night only made it more memorable! Here's SJ the next day while "Dr. Daddy" took care of her...

We got the stitches out the day we got back home and thankfully now it's almost totally healed.

Sleepy Santa baby


The girls and RL with Gran, PopPop, and Uncle David (this was post-ER visit! SJ was able to come home and still have a great evening!)


SJ and PopPop clapping to a Christmas tune


T, RL, SJ and I went out to visit my friend H and her family in their brand new house. It was so good to see them!


The next day we went to church with my parents. Look what the girls got after the children's time...mmmmm!

Christmas Eve

A few more Christmas eve memories...

Our girls had such fun with their cousins.


All the girls with Mimi and PawPaw


Our gang


Watching Christmas movies after opening gifts


SJ sporting her new Saints shirt from Nanoo and Uncle Bill

His First Christmas

Our Christmas holiday travels took us to three different stops where we got to visit with lots of family and friends, and little RL handled all the going like a champ. Here are some photos of him on our first stop: our traditional Christmas Eve gathering to celebrate with T's grandparents, parents, brother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. As you can see, there was no shortage of arms to hold RL, and he was generous with his sweet smiles (truly some of his first) at many of his admirers!











RLPs 1, 2, 3, and 4 on Christmas morning


More to come!