Giggle Box

Hayes is such a smiley face. He loves to grin at us all day. When I drop Sam off at school all of the ladies love to come over to the car and look in at him. If he is sleeping they oooh and ahhhh over him sleeping. If he is awake they say hello and oooh and ahhh over the big grins he gives them. This morning I got him out of bed and turned his lamp on as I was laying him on the changing table. The lamp isn’t bright but it was a big contrast to the dark room so he had his eyes squeezed closed. Even while he was trying to get his eyes adjusted to the light he had the biggest grin. It was too funny!

This week he actually started laughing at us. I got this video of him giggling the other day. The video isn’t great but you can hear him getting so excited. That same night Reese was doing something silly and he started laughing at her. It was the sweetest sound. I don’t think Reese or Sam laughed until closer to four months old so we were surprised to get these giggles from Hayes. It shouldn’t be surprising that he is laughing though since he smiles so big. When he smiles it looks like he could break out in a laugh at any time. Reese and Sam also didn’t have all of the crazy entertainment around that Hayes is blessed to have.

Bowling

Over the weekend Reese went bowling with the elementary school age kids at our church. This was her first time bowling and she was so excited! We dropped her off and she didn’t even turn back. They cosmic bowled, listened to music, had pizza, and had lots of fun. When I came to pick her up they had just turned the lights back on. When it was her turn to bowl, this is what I saw…

The smallest ball they had was eight pounds so it was a little too heavy for the little ones. They did have the bumpers up though so she had a decent score. She had a blast and I think we will have to try this as a family soon.

Ten More Years?!?

In just over ten years, this picture will be taken again with these two girls driving away for the first time by themselves. While I was chatting with my friend Anna, Hallie and Reese climbed in the car to stay warm. We couldn’t help but look ahead at what this picture will look like down the road. Hopefully this car will make it that long and it will be the same car in the picture too. Ha!

Friends

Last Saturday Hayes and I went to visit with Adrienne and her kids. I hadn’t seen them since Emme was born. We spent a couple of hours there and had a sweet time. I think Emme looks just like her mommy!

It is so fun to see our babies together. I can’t wait to watch these two grow up together.

12 weeks

Hayes is twelve weeks old today!!



- Posted from my iPhone

A Lil Fat

This is a conversation with Reese over the weekend. We were discussing a place we had been a couple of years ago. I couldn't remember what she was trying to tell me.

Reese: "Remember, Mommy, it was when you were skinny?"

Me: After recovering from the shock. "Well what am I now?"

Reese: "A lil fat."

Nice! Honestly, we don't use the word fat in our house. I just try to avoid it at all costs. If we are talking about that topic, I always stick with healthy and unhealthy. I made that decision when Reese was a baby. I want to always encourage healthy habits and never want to throw out the word fat with her. I struggle with my own self image every day and I want to try so hard to keep her from that. I never want her to feel "a lil fat". If she is in a place where she feels unhealthy I want her to have the tools to get back to a healthy place. Society is so hard on girls/women. I want to be her safe place and cheerleader.


- Posted from my iPhone

Sweet Sammy

He is so good at entertaining himself. He loves his new castle.

I love when he wears vest. How cute?

This is what I wake up to every.single.morning. How sweet is he?

He figured out how to climb in Hayes’ crib. This is what he does while I am feeding Hayes. The only problem is he can’t get himself back out. Well, he probably could but he won’t even try.

More Hayes

From day one Hayes has not really like a pacifier. I still try to give it to him to avoid this…

However, I think he is going to eventually totally shun the pacifier in favor of his fingers.

And just because this is cute!!

An Equal?

A while back we were talking to some friends about a man they knew. He was a college football coach and was bigger than life to his family. When his five year old daughter drew a picture of their family, her dad was a bright sunshine figure that took up the whole page. That one picture told a lot about their family.

I would love to know what a psychologist would say about this picture that Reese drew of our family. I think it is very telling as to what she thinks her role is in our family. I think she truly believes she is my equal. She is always throwing out, “Why do you get to do that and I don’t?”. Don’t most kids save that for when they are older?  Oh how I love her and her sassiness.

A Helping Hand

Over the weekend, Lance replaced our shower door. We have hated the door that was there since the day we moved in to our house. Finally seven years later we made the step to replace it. Sam was very intrigued by what Lance was doing and loved watching him. He got his hammer from his new tool bench and came up to help.

A Series of Hayes

Hayes has days where he is super smiley and it is easy to get him to grin. This was me trying to get some cute pictures of him smiling.

He is so sweet!

Sleeping Sam

For months now Sam has been coming in to our room and getting in our bed in the middle of the night. Each night at bed time I tell him to stay in his own bed and he says "I can't!". While still pregnant I would take him back to his bed because there just wasn't enough room to be comfortable. Since having Hayes I just let him stay because I am too tired to take him back to his room. Most nights he just climbs right over me and snuggles in. If he does wake me up he will say, "Can I snuggle for five minutes?". Last night I was more towards the middle of the bed than normal. When he came in our room I guess he noticed that and just climbed in the bed. I didn't even know he was there until 2:00 when he fell out of the bed and hit his head on the night stand and instantly started screaming. Tonight I went in to his room to check on him and to turn off his flashlight. I saw something on the floor next to the bed as I was walking up to it. I used my foot to try to slide it out of the way and realized it was Sam. He was on the floor, about half way under his bed, asleep. I have no idea what he was doing. I know he didn't fall out because his bed rail was still up. I guess when he says "I can't" about staying in his bed, he really means it.


- Posted from my iPhone

Random Thoughts

I have a lot of little things I want to remember so this post is just random.

*Last week I had a quick errand to do at the mall. We got there just before 10:00 so none of the stores were open yet. The Disney Store looked like it was open so we were going to go in there to kill some time. When we walked up the girls asked if Reese and Sam wanted to help open the store. Reese jumped at the chance; Sam hid behind my leg. It was so cute. They did several different things before I thought to take pictures/video. Reese loved helping!

*Last Friday we went to Mellow Mushroom with some friends. The kids had a lot of fun together and we enjoyed the adult conversation.

*The other day we decided to pull the high chair out for Hayes to be able to sit at the table with us. I don’t think he knew what to think.

*Monday the kids were out of school so we decided to go to the zoo for one last day of fun. It was a chilly day so not many people were there. The kids were so good and enjoyed getting to run around a bit.

*Reese loves to write us notes all the time. There are always sweet little messages lying around the house. And so there is no confusion, coke=cook.

*Our winter break was nice because everyone enjoyed a little bit of sleeping in. However, I think we were all ready for our normal routine to start back again. I can’t believe we are already through Reese’s first half of kindergarten. That is just crazy to me!!

*I took Hayes to the gym for the first time. They told me he wasn’t allowed to come back until he was three months old…”company policy”.  Apparently something magical happens at three months that I don’t know about. I am pretty annoyed by this!!

Hayes’ Two Month Well Visit

Today Hayes had his two month well visit with our pediatrician. He did a great job. You would never have known we were concerned about his weight gain a month ago!

Weight: 14 pounds, 1 oz (84%)
Height: 24 inches (85%)
Head: 15.5 inches (53%)

He gained FOUR pounds in one month.

The comparison to Sam’s stats at this age is too funny. Sam weighed 12 pounds, 13 ounces and he was 23.25” long. His head was just a quarter inch smaller. Sam at two months…

And the comparison to Reese surprises me. She weighed 13 pounds, 7 ounces and was 23.75” long. I don’t have the size of Reese’s head handy. Reese at two months…

I am so happy we are back on track with weight gain!

Fibber

Reese got the game Fibber for Christmas. The kids think it is so silly and Reese has enjoyed playing it.

Sam just likes to wear the glasses and make his nose grow.

It is a cute and fun little game. However, Lance and I seem to be the ones who loose because Reese doesn’t go out on a limb and call anyone out on being a fibber.

Sammy Words

Sam says some of the silliest things and I don't want to forget them.


"Salanga"-Lasagna
"Hiccing-up"-Hiccuping
"Gorilla bar"- Granola bar


When he sings his ABC's, he thinks C is C's. "ABC'sDEFG..."


He says "gaved" instead of give..."Can you gaved me that?". He does that with several words. I never correct him because it is so cute. That is probably why Reese still makes those kinds of mistakes. Lance is much better at correcting their silly words.

I am sure there are so many more!

- Posted from my iPhone

Two Months Old

Today Hayes is two months old. Where has the time gone?

I love that we have his chair with his name on it. I am going to try to get his monthly pictures in this chair.

At two months old:
*he has moved in to size two diapers
*Still in 0-3 month clothes but some of them are getting a little snug…I bet he will be moving up soon
*went to church for the first time on Dec. 23rd and did great
*eats every three hours and is finally being more efficient when eating. It usually takes him around twenty minutes to get in a full feeding.
*at night he usually eats for the last time around 9:00 and then is asleep around 10:00. Most nights he wakes up in the two o’clock hour to eat…last night he didn’t wake up until 4:15…if he goes that long he is ready to eat immediately and can’t wait
*Reese can get the most smiles from him. When she sings “Sweet Baby Boy”, he will stop crying and grin at her.
*In the morning he is pretty social. He will coo and smile for us a good bit.
*He loves to nap in the swing and in our arms still.
*We go next week for his check up so I will find out how long he is and how much he weighs.