In His Steps: December 2012

Aiden:

You are five months old now, sweet boy! I can't believe how much you have grown! You weigh 13 pounds 9 ounces. You are still in a size two diaper. You wear 0-3 month clothes and they fit you with just a little room to spare. It won't be long before you are moving up to a bigger size. You did wear your first 3-6 month pajamas on December 31st. They fit you pretty well. You are such a smiley baby. You have a HUGE smile that reminds me a lot of your sister. You crinkle your nose a lot. Your eyes are still blue, but more of a grayish-blue color. On certain days, your eyes look green. You love to be on your tummy. You think you are pretty big stuff, holding your head up high and looking around. You are super nosey, so you look at everything. If there is a noise, you are looking around to find it. This has made breast feeding a little more difficult because you are too busy wanting to look around! Breast feeding is still going pretty well though. When you have formula, you eat 6 ounces! You are a growing boy indeed. You are sleeping the nights and will usually sleep longer than Barrett. We feed you for the last time between 9-10pm and you wake somewhere between 7-8am. This makes Mommy super proud of you. You love tags and flaps. When you are surrounded by toys, if you can find the tag, you will sit there and play with that instead. You get really excited when I come to your crib first thing in the morning. You will kick your feet and wave your hands all over with joy. I am usually greeted with a big smile, although not every morning, because sometimes you think you may starve. You have the biggest pouty lip I have ever seen in my life! You use it when you get your feelings hurt. This is usually when you get put down sooner than you'd like (Barrett has to eat too, you know?!) or if a loud noise scares you. I promise if you don't suck that lip back in, you will be tripping over it soon. It is ridiculous and I super love it. You love to lay on your tummy and watch Barrett play. You will just stare at him, smile and coo. It is so sweet. You can hold your head up way better and longer than your brother. You love to stand up, whether in your johnny jump up that Santa bought you, or while someone is holding you in their lap. You love to make noise. You are constantly making some sort of sound. You can now find and grasp the toys on your play mat and the ones on the bouncer. Your hand-eye coordination is getting so good. Once you grab a toy, you make a face, saying, "Now what?" You haven't put the toys in your mouth just yet. You can roll over from your tummy to your back and usually do this when you wake up from a nap. You haven't rolled over from your back to your tummy yet. During the day, you wake up and eat, play for about two hours and then lay down for about a two hour nap. Then, you wake up and do it all over again. I really like this schedule. You had your first Christmas. You must have been very good this year. Some of mommy's favorite items: new sheets, your first Bible, johnny jump up, a cute school bus for riding, and lots of bath soaps and lotions. I love your little personality. You are sweet, you are cute, you are loved.

Awake, holding head high and happy!

12/19/12

"My Grandma Knows Santa" pj's

12/13/12

Playing on your new play mat from Grams and Grumps!

12/24/12

Your new bus! This will be fun this summer!

12/25/12

Barrett:
You are five months old, sweet boy! I can't believe how much you have grown! You weigh 14 pounds 5 ounces. You are almost a whole pound heavier than Aiden. This is why you have the nickname "Bear Boy." You are still in a size two diaper. You still wear 0-3 month clothes and they fit you perfectly. It won't be long before you are moving up into a bigger size. You did wear your first 3-6 month jammies on December 31st. They fit you pretty well. You are such a smiley baby. You have the cutest smile, which takes up your whole face, and is a little crooked. You grin from ear to ear. Your eyes are VERY blue. You take after your mommy, although your eyes are much lighter than mine. You love to lay on your back and play with the toys hanging above you. You kick your feet and wave your arms as fast as you can. You are still breast feeding well and would probably do it all day long if I would let you. You love to eat! You will go four hours in between feedings, but not one minute longer. Poor bear boy, so starved! When you have formula, you eat 6 ounces. You are a growing boy indeed. You are sleeping the nights, but if someone is going to wake up, it is going to be you. We feed you for the last time between 9-10pm and you wake somewhere between 6:30-7:30am. This makes Mommy super proud of you. You love the monkey toy that plays music when you touch it. You got it for Christmas in your stocking, and you love to bump it to make it play. You get really excited when I come to your crib first thing in the morning. You will kick your feet and wave your hands all over with joy. I am usually greeted with a big smile, although not every morning, because sometimes you think you may starve. Your cry is still a depressing one, full of pity and poor me. Anytime you cry, I feel like the world may just end. I always say, "poor bear-da-boy," sometimes it helps, sometimes...not so much. You love to watch your brother play and move. You give him sweet smiles and try to reach out and touch him. Every once and a while, Aiden will scare you with a loud noise that he is making, and you get your feelings hurt. You are getting better at holding your head up, but you are still SUPER lazy. You would much rather lounge around and cuddle or sleep. I love that you are a cuddle bug. Natalee and Aiden are too busy for cuddling, so we just hang out in the recliner and rock on some days. On December 21st, you started sucking your thumb. Natalee sucks her thumb too. I am not sure if you are always going to do it, or if it was just a fluke. You always make spit bubbles and then you will suck it back in (such a boy!). This is your favorite noise to make. While Aiden "growls and yells" when he talks, you "coo and sing." Such polite manners. You can now find and grasp the toys on your play mat and the ones on the bouncer. Your hand-eye coordination is getting so good. Once you grab a toy, you usually get really excited. You haven't put the toys in your mouth just yet. You can roll over from your tummy to your back (first time on December 7th) and usually do this when you wake up from a nap. You have also rolled over from your back to your tummy a couple times. You roll (tummy to back) much more than Aiden does. During the day, you wake up and eat, play for about two hours and then lay down for about a two hour nap. Then, you wake up and do it all over again. I really like this schedule. You had your first Christmas. You must have been very good this year. Some of mommy's favorite items: new sheets, your first Bible, johnny jump up, a cute lion for riding, and lots of bath soaps and lotions. I love your little personality. You are sweet, you are cute, you are loved.

Sucking your thumb!

12/21/12

Barrett Burrito

12/11/12

Smiling with your Grammie

12/24/12

On your new lion! This will be so much fun this summer!

12/25/12

Natalee:
You love being a big sister. You always copy what mommy says to the babies. For example, "Good morning Bear boy," which you then repeat...or "stinky booty," which you think is hilarious to say. You still don't interact much with the babies, but you love to be in their nursery when I am feeding them. You will run and get me anything I need (diapers, bottles, burp rags), you are such a good helper. You love to touch their heads and mommy is constantly telling you not to do that. You turned three years old on December 29th. There wasn't much celebrating as you had to be taken to the doctor to find out that you had strep. We spent the day watching movies and trying to rest. Daddy did bring you a cupcake home from the bakery though, which you later threw up. Poor sweet girl. You are learning your letters so well. You can spell your name and the word 'spell.' You recognize most of the letters and are always excited when you find the letter 'N'. You say, "There's my letter N mommy!" You are so smart. You can count to twenty. You can sing any song. Your memory is amazing. You sang "Away in a Manger" at the Christmas Eve service at First Christian Church in Dalhart, TX this year. Mommy and Daddy were SO proud of you. You are fully potty trained (have been for a long while now), but now you also sleep the nights in panties too. NO more diapers! You are such a bossy little thing. You WILL make sure that your point gets across. We are working on teaching you the meaning of "interrupting" and "talking back." You love to read books and have a lot of your books memorized. Mommy cannot skip over parts or summarize because you know that I am not saying the right words. You love anything princess. You must have been a really good girl this year because Santa brought you a dress up center! You also got a Cinderella castle, princess musical books, new sheets, hair styling kit (curling iron, blow dryer...all pretend) and a Cinderella Barbie. You ran into the living room on Christmas morning and exclaimed, "Look!! Santa brought me JUST what I wanted!" That Santa...he's pretty awesome. Every day since, you wake up and immediately put on one of the items out of your dress up center. Mommy loves your imagination. You are starting to play board games and do it all by yourself! You are just getting so big. You love chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese. You eat ALL fruit. You love most vegetables. The tomatoes must be from "Grumps garden." Even when they aren't, we tell you they are so you will eat them. Silly girl. You love grape juice and taking your vitamins. You remind me everyday. You moved up to the three year old class at Boys Ranch, although now that mommy is more used to have three children and getting more sleep at nights now, you are only going one time every other week. You love to go though. You got a swing set from your Grams and Grumps for your birthday. We still haven't had her party due to sickness, so she still doesn't know yet! Mommy and Daddy can't wait to set it up in our backyard. You are going to love it! It will be so much fun to have in our backyard this spring/summer. You are the cutest girl I know and amaze me and crack me up every. SINGLE. day. I love watching you grow, although I wish it would slow down. I love your little personality. You are sweet, you are cute, you are loved.

On your 3rd birthday! Fever running, rosey-cheeked, strep having little girl!

12/29/12

Playing the princess matching game with daddy.

12/31/12

Mommy rocking her 2 year old for the last time.

12/28/12

Little Mermaid dress up!

12/24/12

Tiana dress up!

12/24/12

Right after you sang "Away in a Manger!"

12/24/12

Cinderella Doctor

1/4/13

Snow White has arrived!

12/31/12

Cinderella

12/24/12

Princess Castle

12/30/12

Mommy:

I am finally adjusted to life with three children. I am really starting to enjoy all of the little things a lot more. With the babies eating every four hours now, I feel like I do more than just "feed a baby" all day. I am loving all of their personalities and am really trying to soak this all in. There are still days when I just run around, going crazy, all day long, but those are fewer and fewer. I love all the moments that I get to have with my children and wouldn't trade any of it for anything (not even sleep)! Being a stay at home mom is the BEST job in the whole world. I love staying in pajamas and bathing my babies at 3 in the afternoon. I love cuddling with Natalee while watching a movie on the kindle in my bed, first thing in the morning. I love not missing a moment or mile stone. I feel so blessed to have the three cutest kids in the world. Man, I am lucky. I am so grateful that God chose me to be a mom. I may take too many pictures and I may write way too much, but I know that this is only a glimpse of what my life is like right now and one day I will love that I did "too much." We had a great Christmas. I got a new crock pot and a new lap top! Jeremy got a fire pit and a waffle maker. We got a lot of great gifts and cannot wait to use them all. We plan on getting our backyard re-done and ready for three little munchkins to have a place to play. I am really hoping to put up a privacy fence and get our yard leveled with new grass planted. A girl can dream, right? I am loving motherhood, even the hard days. I am so thankful. My cup runs over.

Grumps and Grams with an arm full of grandkids!

12/24/12

Our first Christmas as a family of five!

12/24/12

Natalee doing the best she could with 2 grumpy Santas!

12/24/12

My boys. 5 months old.

12/30/12

Papa with a few of his great-grandchildren.

I hope your Christmas was a blessed one! Here's to more memories, more laughter and less weight in 2013!

Krystole

I took my sweet baby girl to "The Nutcracker" this year. Jeremy got a hold of some free tickets through his work, which was awesome, because I really wanted to take her, but we didn't have the money to do it. Yay God! Anyway, Jeremy told me about the freebies and then I was super stoked. I had a feeling Natalee would love it. She will be three on the 29th of this month, so I was a little nervous that she wouldn't sit through the whole thing. Boy was I wrong! She was sad when it was over! I loved the date that I got to take with the cutest girl on the planet! She picked out a pink glittered ballerina ornament for our tree, with a little help from mommy. She originally was pointing to a ballerina ornament that had on a blue dress (like Cinderella), but when mommy saw the price tag on it, I quickly picked up the pink ballerina ($4) and spun the string she was hanging on around and told Natalee, "Look! This one dances!" She fell in love. Tricky, right? This was my first trip to The Nutcracker...or any ballet for that matter! We got dressed up in our Sunday best to start our fun mommy/daughter date. When we first arrived, there were TONS of ornaments sitting out on huge display tables. There were ballerinas, king mice, nutcrackers, swans...and the list could go on. The ballet lasted about three hours, I think, and my little ballerina loved every minute of it. She sat on my lap and watched in wonder as the girls danced around. She yelled to them, "Watch out, there's the King Mouse!" and we got several giggles from the rows ahead of us. She talked about the ballet for three days straight! She plays with the ornament she picked out (it's plastic). It is one of her favorite things for the moment. She tells everyone, "You must be very careful. She's breakable. You have to be responsible." I guess she has heard those words a time or two. I loved having this moment in time with her. I hope to be able to take her every year as a special mommy/daughter tradition.