May, so far

Excuse the randomness of this post.

Snuggles on our bed on a Saturday morning

We hosted our first get together of our church friends.

Where we were blessed to meet Titus, fresh in from Uganda, and surprised with Brycen's announcement! What is so special about this picture to me, is that almost exactly one year ago we took a picture of all the kids. At that get together, Jason and Chelsea announced they were pregnant with Leighton, and days later we found out we were pregnant, and Shane and Kasi has just begun the adoption process. So in one year, three more babies and one more on the way!

Odd picture, I know, but if you look closely on the pink blanket you can see Delaney's first knot. I actually had to comb a knot out of the back of her hair!

First bath together. Carter wasn't too fond of sharing his space, and Delaney was a little confused about sitting in the seat.

I'll have to dig out a picture of me from my mom's house, but as soon as I took this I was shocked at how much it looks like my baby pictures. Everyone always says how much she looks like Christiaan, and she does, but she definitely resembles me at that age a LOT!

We spent a Saturday visiting my aunt Shannon and cousins, and I went out to see Brooke. The kids had a blast with my cousins.

Carter kept Chloe busy

OCD tendencies at their finest.  Let me explain....there is a game Carter plays on the iPad where you earn "stickers" for winning games. I was playing it with him one day, and when he won a sticker, he immediately had to arrange it in the appropriate place.  Seriously?? He is a hot mess in so many areas of his life, but every now and then some little quirk pops up like this. No clue where he gets that. :)

Mother's day with my Grandma and mom/GranPam.  I have a 5 generation picture taken in this same house when I was not much older than Delaney.

I walked into our room the other night and found this set up. I have absolutely no idea what was going on in his head. He is very much into his imagination these days....tonight we had to avoid a certain area of the kitchen because it was a smoky forest that he had yet to dig out of.....

Yesterday we went to Micah and Aly's to help get some things done and ready for Jackson. Delaney had a nice little perch on Aly's belly.

I finally gave up on the crib hardware ever turning up and was able to find a very helpful company to order the replacement parts for. So we finally put the crib together last night, although I am still far from ready for Delaney to be in there at night! She did take an almost 3 hour nap in there today though, so I hope that is a good sign of how well she will do when I am ready for that transition.

A girl I was friends with in high school has a baby girl a few weeks younger than D, and her husband is also Mexican so her kids are half Hispanic. I saw a picture of her sweet baby girl wearing this outfit, and snagged it for our little Mexi baby too!  I remember wearing these dresses when I was little!

And thanks to the oppressing heat and humidity, we have already had our first play time in the sprinkler! 

Bluebonnets and a baby shower

A couple Sundays ago my mom and I attempted to take the kids' pictures in the bluebonnets.  Which is not so very easy when you are talking about photographing a very active 3 year old, and a 3 1/2 month old that can't sit up yet. We did get a few decent ones, and maybe next year will be a bit easier. 

 

 

He fell over while squatting down to pose, and in true Carter fashion he hammed it up and started "steamrovering" as he calls it. I was begging him to get up, before the bluebonnet police showed up and ticketed us for brazenly demolishing protected flowers. Who monitors that, anyways??

Mom fail....forgot the baby's hairbow...

Yes I am aware of the shadow, but the poor girl couldn't open her eyes

And somewhere amongst these bluebonnets lies that cute tie. It fell off while he was running around, and although Mom and I searched for it, the dang thing just so happens to be the exact color as this field of flowers, and at some point we decided it was worth the $7 loss to just leave it. Except that he keeps asking for it.

He refused to take a picture with me....

Last weekend we had Aly's shower at C3.  We went with a baseball theme, and it turned out cute! It was so fun seeing all her gifts for Jackson. Can't wait for him to get here!

Drink table

Food table and clothesline of stuff for Jackson

Mom helped me make the diaper cake, and she did and awesome job



Yes, my son is wearing cowboy boots with shorts and a baseball t-shirts. Pick your battles.

Four Months

Last Monday (the 22nd) we went for D's four month check up and shots.  We had just been there about 3 weeks prior to that, when one night she randomly started running a temp pushing 102. Since Carter was battling allergy-induced sinus issues, I was concerned that maybe she caught something if he was actually contagious. Its so hard to tell at that age what is going on, and Carter had never had any illnesses or fevers that young.  Dr. Waw checked her out and decided that she had something viral, and she actually didn't even run fever for 24 hours. But better safe than sorry!

Anyways, at that appointment, Delaney weighed about 12 1/2 lbs, so I was shocked when at her check-up she weighed 13 lb 12 oz! Holy cow almost 14 pounds! That put her in the 48th percentile for weight, and at 24 1/4 in long she's in the 45th percentile for height.  But her head circumference....girlfriend is growing into her Webb head and has jumped up to the 85th percentile!

Of course, everything else checked out perfectly, and the doctor was impressed with her neck strength, despite the fact that she refuses to stay on her tummy during tummy time. I honestly don't even try anymore, because she almost immediately rolls over to her back! She prefers to sit upright in her Jumperoo or Bumbo seat anyways, so I figure that is enough practice.

The biggest surprise was that Dr. Waw told me that her two bottom middle teeth are close to coming through! Thank goodness that I had made the decision the day before to start weaning to formula! I knew she was teething, because she had been drooling and chewing on her hands, but I figured it would still be awhile before we saw actual teeth. As of today, they have still not cut through, but they are definitely giving her fits. And her monthly bear picture was tricky since all she wanted to do was chew on her hands.

Some milestones for this month include:
-doing a lot of "talking," especially to my Grandpa
-starting to use the Jumperoo
-first night(s) away from Mommy when we went on our anniversary trip
-grabbing for things, including food we are eating
-starting on half breastmilk half formula, and she's about to need to move up to the bigger bottles since she seems to want more than 4.5 oz most feedings
-growing out of a lot of 3 month clothes, but still too little for most of her 6 month clothes
-still waking up once a night to eat, but we are starting to try to soothe her back to sleep with a binky instead, because I think she only eats for comfort at that point

At her check up

Thank God for Moby wraps. Sometimes this is the only way anything gets done.

No smiles this month. But she still looks cute!

Trying to hold her bottle

GranPam made her another tutu

First Easter. She is wearing another of my dresses

Wrapped up after bathtime

Ready for spring!

A rare moment of successful tummy time

What you looking at?

This kid

It's no secret that three has been challenging. We have our good days and bad days, and days where I want to curl up in the fetal position and call my mommy to come make it all better. No one can figure out what makes this kid tick, and that is making disciplining hard. But in spite of all the challenges, he still makes us laugh constantly.

 

He's figured out how to take selfies with my iPhone

Telling his Kitty Washer goodbye. We left our "feral" barn cat at the barn, and poor Carter is still not over it. Too bad Daddy is more of the "the only good cat is a dead cat" camp, or we'd have a cat person on our hands.



When Christiaan tried to mow our yard, Carter had to help. I say tried, because the mower apparently needs some tuning up, after the winter, and we have since just paid neighborhood kids to mow. I love this picture because my mom has pictures of my dad and brother doing the same thing.

I don't remember where we had to go this day, but he got himself dressed in this get up and was quite proud of himself.

On a date with Mommy. I took him to Nicklerama, which is like Chuck E Cheese for poor folks, and he could seriously have stayed all day. He begged me to do this thing that is one of those ride type deals, complete with air blown at you and shaking seats. He chose the jet plane version, and after about 30 seconds I bailed because I thought I was going to lose my lunch, and he thought it was freaking hilarious.

Reminiscent of Jack, he created what he called a cheesecake. Complete with Froot Loops, turkey, cheese, carrots, and probably other stuff. EW.

 This is Chandler's guinea pig. Hilarious.

Underwear on the head is always funny

Looking cute before church

He went out back to catch bugs, but when I checked on him I found him hopping across the porch with the net over his face. I am praying that his behavior changes, so that I don't have to see this face on a security camera but under pantyhose instead of the net.

The jury is still out on who is responsible to teaching him the terminology of "popo."  We seriously have no clue where he learned it, or why he would know they will give you a ticket for not paying for your food.

Again, underwear on your head is ALWAYS funny

I made the mistake of leaving my pump bag in the backseat where he could get to it, and he played with the parts.  He kept saying "Thank you Mommy for my new rocket ships!!" Umm, no son.

We've added an element of independence with three....at Chipotle he snagged an available table so that he could eat alone.

In the throes of a massive hissy fit at church. I tried to catch the giant angry lip sticking out, but every time I looked at him he did this.

We are also on the verge of being able to claim potty training success. I don't want to count my chickens, but the amount of accidents are becoming fewer and far between.  And just as I figured he would, he pooped in the potty one day, and all the sudden he does it every day! We got bold and put him in undies during the day a few weeks ago, but he would hold the poop until he got a Pull-up on at night.  But now I guess he realizes how much easier it is, and prefers to use a toilet like a three year old should be.

Not that you care about Carter's bathroom habits, but truly this blog is going to take the place of the baby book or journaling that we all know I will never do.