Monday, October 29, 2012

Blake Everett is 6-months-old!


Cannot believe baby Blake is halfway to 1! Here he is posing in his fancy tie :-)




This month has proven that they just get more fun by the month, as his personality is really coming to light! 

We went in to the pediatrician on his actual half-birthday, and his stats are: 92% for head (45.7cm), 97% for weight (21 lb., 13 oz.), and >99% for height (30 inches). Someone will be moving to the convertible carseat really soon :-) He wears 6-9 month clothes (but they are getting short), size 2-3 shoe, and he just moved up to size 4 diaper.

Blake, also known as our "Little Bandito" around here, still has no teeth yet, but the ridges are there (and have been), and he's been extra cranky the last week...so I feel one (or two) should peek through any.minute.now. Although he's lacking teeth, he doesn't shortchange in the drool department!




Overnight, it seems, Blake went from halfway rolling to rolling both ways and across the room if we're not careful! He rolled tummy to back last, and most nights he ends up on his tummy to sleep. He's proud of himself!




Those dimples are irresistible! He has the best expressions :-) He is also perching on all fours, not rocking necessarily but really looking up high, and he is sitting on his own, albeit a little wobbly.




He is still chugging along with solids, only veggies and fruits mixed with rice or oatmeal, two to three times a day. His faves are sweet potatoes and bananas, can you blame him? Will try pureed meats soon. He also likes to chew on his spoon after he is done eating...He is nursing or taking a 6-7 ounce bottle now closer to every 4 hours during the day now that he has some solids to sustain him...


He WAS sleeping well at night, but then he got sick (cold and two ear infections, one in each ear) and was congested for almost two weeks. Couldn't breathe well to nurse well, you know how it goes. Right now he is waking up more at night, but only still eating only once at night. 


Jameston didn't sleep through the night until 7-months-old, and baby brother may be following in his footsteps. SOME days he takes 2-3 naps, maybe two longs ones (1-2 hours) and a short cat nap either early or late afternoon, depending on if we are out and about. OTHER days he is fine with two short (< one hour) naps---unpredictable!  




"What, you mean I'm supposed to sleep at night and nap during the day?"



The boy has discovered tags of any kind, and they, along with his socks or anything he can get his hands on, go into his mouth! He GRABS at everything within his reach, so watch out! He also loves his mesh football, teething feeder (with ice), and Sophi the giraffe.


But his favorite thing in the whole wide world? Definitely his big brother! Oh man, he lights up when Jameston is around and seems to try to listen so intently and like he wants to talk to him all day long. Love. Speaking of speaking, he started saying, "Dadada," and "Yayaya." If he is anything like big bro, he's got a lot to say!



His other current faves are: bathtime (he lights up when he hears the water running), Peekaboo (he flashes his cute grin and kicks up a storm), dogs (he's mesmerized), his lovie, feel and touch books, glowworm, textures, Johnny JumpUp and Jumperoo (the boy has FOUND his feet!), and 




chewing on anything, but mainly his hands,




feet, 




see a common theme?




Some quirks about Blake at this age: his hair has a flip-up curl sometimes (he's so hip), 




his nails grow at lightning speed, he cries when he has something removed from his grip and when he is ready for the bath and I don't have him undressed yet, and he has the most sensitive skin and rosacea it appears. Love this boy and his chubby (red) cheeks!




Baby Blake is such a joy and we fall more and more in love with him by the minute. Our family is so blessed by this little fella!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Balloon Festival!

Three weekends ago we headed out to the annual Plano Balloon Festival! I have tons of pictures on my camera, but it may take even longer for me to post this...so here are some from my phone :-)

Taking it all in!
Lift off!
Bean bag toss:
What Blake thought of it all...

JW had his first taste of root beer there. And he loved it! Surprised? :-) It was more about the ice I think...

Piggy-back ride on our way to the car

Baby Blake in the backpack:

Got a glimpse of the balloon glow on our way out. Awesome!

Stay tuned...I just may finally get around to posting the prettier pics from our dSLR once I upload them to your Mac!

Saturday, October 13, 2012

First movie!

For Jameston's 3rd birthday, we thought it would be fun for him to see a movie for the first time. We went to a matinee on a weekday, and my sister kept Blake for me. We saw "Finding Nemo" in 3-D, and we had a grand ole time!


Date with Mommy!


He was captivated (so was I, as it was only my 2nd 3-D movie to see)!


He did great and made it through the entire movie! And he asked about 100 questions :-) I think we'll implement going to the movies to our list of incentives. It was so fun to treat our big boy!


Instagram/Diptic summary for the scrapbook:


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Friday, October 12, 2012

1st Day

September was a big month for our little guys! Jameston started in his new classroom at "school." He loves it there, and really loves his friends and new teachers!
And, at the beginning of September, Baby Blake started in the nursery at church on Sunday mornings, since I'm teaching this quarter. He's made it every Sunday but two since then, having to miss those for naps :-)

No matter how hard we try to stop it, our boys are growing up!

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Mornings

I love mornings, especially the ones I get to spend at home with these two rug rats:



I love the calmness (usually) of this time, before we hit the ground running for the day. Brett takes them to school on the mornings I work, and he cherishes their "guy time" so much as well! He sent me this picture on Monday morning:
We are so blessed!

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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Lately

I've been:

Cuddling a teething baby who also his first ear infection last week :-(
Playing new board games with our 3-year-old, who received them for his birthday. We've found out that he's pretty competitive and not quite patient enough some days to finish a full game
Enjoying these smiles (that make my heart melt)!
Going to the chiropractor again, due to all of these bags we Moms have to lug around, especially days the boys go to daycare and I go to work (where my nickname is "Bag Lady.")
Noticing how big Jameston seems lately. I can never get enough of watching my guys play
Starting solids with Blake. So fun (and so messy)!
Anxiously awaiting the arrival of my next niece, Josie, who should be here any.day.now (Blake is excited to :-)
Anticipating when our boys will get to play together (right now it is fun to watch Jameston entertain Blake, and Blake watch and adore everything Jameston does :-)
Loving life!

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Tuesday, October 9, 2012

First bites

We started Blake on rice cereal two weekends ago! I was planning on getting around to it sooner rather than later, but I had not been able to keep up with his necessary intake over the last month or so (I was taking more out of the frozen stash of milk than I had expected)...so we decided it was time!

It was messy, and more of it ended up on his bib than in his mouth...
But he seemed to like it! He seems to prefer oatmeal to rice cereal, like Jameston did.
And he's getting better at keeping it contained :-)
And some days he'd rather chew on his bib for teething relief :-)
We've introduced avocado and banana thus far, and he actually looks for the next bite before he's finished eating each time!
So proud of our solid-foods eater!

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Tuesday, October 2, 2012

3!

 Our oldest boy turned three on September 20th! CANNOT BELIEVE IT. It seems like it was just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and learning how to be his parents...goodness.


Especially now that we have him a little brother, Jameston seems like such a BIG BOY these days! He's growing like a weed and he continues to floor us us with his burgeoning language and personality :-)


We understand everything he says, and it is just amazing to me some of the conversations we have. One night last week he said to me "I want to get married with you." I just melt. I'll write another "Jameston's Jargon" soon because this post will be quite long!



STATS: 39 3/4 inches (90th%), 34.6 lbs. (75%)
Shoe size 9 1/2 to 10, Pants: 2T for waste, 3T for length
He is (generally) a very happy, outgoing little boy! Always willing to engage in antics with familiar people, and quick to warm up to new friends. And he is constantly flashing his gummy grin :-)
It truly is amazing how much they learn and know at this age! Right now he is really into doing everything by himself. Mr. Independent likes to get dressed himself (still having trouble with the shirt), put on his shoes himself, brush his teeth himself, go potty himself, and more things I'm sure that are not coming to mind. And he's been DIAPER-FREE (daytime AND nighttime since early April, so around age 2 1/2)! The night-time feat was quite a shocker to us, so we have a'many pull-ups awaiting Blake's turn :-) So proud of him!

At this age, JW loves:
Stories: from scripted ones in books, made up ones that he tells us and wants us to tell him, it doesn't matter. He likes to hear stories all.day.long. I think we have a future author on our hands! He asks when we are going to a new place, "Do they have books there?"  


Music: he loves dancing, playing all sorts of instruments in the air (new ones recently added to his repertoire are bongos, saxophone and trumpet)

Animals: Any animal, really. We have toy animals, books about animals, and we got a zoo membership to keep his interest going. He also have about 15 stuffed animals in bed...and will get upset if one of the members of his entourage has fallen off the bed.

Outdoors and Water: all boy! It is hard to get him back inside some days. We didn't do swim lessons this summer, but he did improve his boldness in the pool...it's on the agenda for next summer for sure!

To Clean/Organize: he still shows his OCD tendencies and cleans up his mess (woohoo!) without any resistance. He also likes helping me fold and put up clothes (not in the neatest fashion, but hey). He's quite a great lil helper when he wants to be!





    Of course, we think he's brilliant!
He: counts to 20; recognizes all uppercase letters and their sounds (we are still working on lowercase letter and number recognition)colors, animals, and most shapes; breaks up words into syllables (so we talk about what letter those syllables start with according to what sound they make); knows relational and time concepts (middle/end, near/far, tomorrow/yesterday); has a GREAT memory for names, lyrics, books of the first half of the New Testament, and "big life events" (remembers all the details of his first dentist trip 10 months ago, I was floored!); is quite ambidextrous (eats, draws, "writes" right-handed, but can throw the ball better with his left hand)!

    Things I want to remember about our big boy at this age:
Jameston is such a a great big brother! He loves Blake SO, so much and is quick to cheer little brother up, entertain him, or love on him. He calls him "little fella" or "little buddy." I mean, I am so in love!

He's gotta have him a nap! He did revolt there for a day or two after Blake was born, but that was short-lived. Boy needs his rest! He will still take a 2-3 hour one after lunch, and I'm still clinging on to those naps :-)

He's kinda a klutz! He comes by it honestly from his Mommy...but he's tough and usually gets right up and brushes himself off. Then he's back to whatever daredevil stunt he was up to!

(Maybe I don't want to remember this...) He pees outside quite a bit. And I don't mind...our backyard is right by the kitchen/playroom, so it's convenient, especially if I am tending to Blake or preparing a meal. Brett said the other day, "What if he's 15-years-old and still wanting to do that?" Ha!

JW is our little politician. He compliments everyone (and wants you to say "thank you.") The other day, he was with Brett at Home Depot and told a lady he liked her purple hat. Made her day! The only problem is that he does this sometimes when he's in trouble, in true politician form I'd say! He's (usually) got great manners and remembers to say "Thanks" and "You're welcome" even when he's in a hurry or excited

He's currently obsessed with chapstick!

He's got a southern accent, really notable in his "like" and "bye's"

He sticks out his tongue when concentrating.

JW likes to be wrapped up "like a burrito" at night these days. He will sometimes call out in the middle of the night for us to come back in there to tuck him in again. We are slowing working on this...any suggestions?!

His bedtime routine takes about 30 minutes! We read a story or two (depending on his behavior that day), tell a story, talk about what we did that day, and say our prayer. Then he wants to snuggle...I need to relish those moments (and not get stuck on what chores I need do)!

Jameston LOVES to make people laugh, especially Blake. He will often talk in nonsense sentences to see who is listening. He's kind of a ham!

 
Lately he's on a car kick and wants to know that make and model of every car we drive or walk by :-)
 
And the boy always puts his sunglasses on upside down...no matter how many times we flip them around. True Jameston fashion!










I feel like I need to write a little bit about his favorite things at the age of three:
  • Books: he doesn't have a go-to favorite anymore, but he still loves hearing about David and Goliath, the Berenstain Bears, the Get-Along-Gang, and Charlie the Ranch Dog. Really, he is interested in all books, but mainly any from a collection we have from when Brett was young OR from Blake's baby book collection (he has a reading nook in Blake's nursery :-)
  • Food: hot dogs and pizza hands down, fave veggie is broccoli, fave fruits are avocados and any berry, fave snacks are fruit snacks or pretzels with Nutella, and his usual breakfast is a cereal bar, banana and yogurt. He is also like his Momma and loves chips, tortilla chips the most
  • He's not a fan of crafts. We hear this from his school and church teachers, although he'll do some activities at home. He currently tolerates watercolors and drawing :-)
  • TV/DVDs: we don't watch TV except for the news in the morning and sports on the weekends while he's up, so he doesn't have a favorite TV show right now. But he's got a few DVD favorites for sure! They are Toy Story, The Lion King, Cars, and Up
  • Music: like I said, he loves music! We are thinking about getting him a guitar for Christmas :-) He loves to often sing, "I'm in the Lord's Army," "This is the Day," "Jesus Loves Me," "I'm Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee," "Pop Goes the Weasel," and "I've Been Working on the Railroad," and some non-traditional favorites of his are "Sic 'Em on a Chicken" by Zac Brown Band and Mumford and Sons' "The Stone." We have music playing all day!
  • Sports: Baseball, soccer in the backyard and wrestling with Daddy
  • He loves puzzles! He does not grow tired of them, although he may get frustrated, he keeps at it

We are blessed by and so thankful for our big 3-year-old! He has taught us so much in just three years, and we cannot wait to watch as he continues to grow into the little person God created him to be. 
We love you so much, Jameston Wade!