Baby Blake is 3-months-old!

Our little fella turned 1/4-of-a-year-old on Wednesday! Here is our monthly-tie pic to commemorate:

No exact measurements this month, but Big Blake weighs in at about 17 pounds and is over 27 inches long! He's up to size 3 diapers thanks to his belly circumference, and he's almost maxing out 3-6 month clothes already!



The biggest milestone this month is his better sleeping at night. And he's napping better in his crib. He is just a light sleeper, so if there is any noise around, he usually wakes up (which does not go hand-in-hand with a LOUD older brother :-( At night, he will usually go about 6-7 hours straight (unless he's going through a growth spurt), but he sometimes goes to bed as early as 7. After that initial feeding, he's up every three hours. In about a month we will start letting him cry it out and see where that gets us. I hope it works itself out before then, because we can tell he ain't going hungry by the looks of his size :-)

Blake seems to be so alert these days. I could just watch him learn all day long!!

He had another blocked tear duct several weeks back, and he's going to have seasonal allergy problems like Mommy & Jameston :-( He had his first fever this week, luckily only a low-grade one...it is so hard when they are sick!

Mr. Blake is full of expressions and is SO smiley! I caught some great ones one morning while big bro was still sleeping. His bug-eyed-look cracks me up :-)

I started back to work this month at 2 & 1/2 days a week, so he is at the same "school" Jameston is at on those days. The first week was rough (we had bottle and napping issues), but he's doing much better now. We love his teachers, and he seems to as well. Here's a pic that Ms. Allyson sent of our slobbering little boy one morning:

He's still spitting up quite a bit, just depends on the day. And, like I said, he's busy slobbering/blowing bubbles, too! We'll see if he gets teeth as early as JW did (4 months). I am thinking it will be soon since he's been doing more of this lately:



He's grabbing at everything and holding on! Mainly my hair :-) No, but he grabs at his blanket, paci, rattles, links, etc., and he's really into staring at his hands as of late.

We love his gummy smiles!! He is always willing to flash a smile to just about anyone and will definitely smile if Jameston is around! He watches his big brother whenever he's in view!

Just this past week he started to GIGGLE when I tickle his neck and it is OH-SO-CUTE! He has even laughed in his sleep!!

The boy LOVES bath time and could stay/kick in there all night! Again, he especially loves it if big brother is in there with him!

As I have reported, our boys are pretty fond of each other, and if Blake is not around (still sleeping or napping), Jameston wants to know where he is. And JW likes to be a big helper, and does things like help me change him, get him out of his crib (well, he stands by my side) and console him when he's crying. I have overheard him call Blake, "Little fella" or "Sweetie," like I do. Melts.my.heart!

And he is just that...a sweet baby. Blake is very laid-back, as I am sure a lot of second-borns are!

He is still eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, but can go longer if he is bottle-fed. He likes to snack otherwise!

What he likes: his mobile, looking in mirrors, kicking in his bouncer and the bathtub, us singing to him, and (thanks to all of the traveling we did about a month ago) he is now a big fan of his paci! One thing that can make him upset really quickly: getting changed. He hates having a onesie or shirt pulled over him!

He is looking more and more like Jameston did as a baby, but one difference is their eyes. Both have beautiful blues, but Blake has bigger eyes. To compare Jameston at this age, click here!

We are so in love with our baby boy! Happy 3-month birthday, Baby Blake!!

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Jameston's jargon (and behavior)

Thought I'd blog not only about Jameston's latest noteworthy sayings but also about his (unfortunately) not-so-noteworthy behavior. To say he's been well-behaved since his baby brother arrived would be a bold-faced lie. Seriously. The hardest part about the last few months has not been the sleepless nights or adjusting to caring for two kids, etc. It surprisingly has been big brother's behavior!

But I feel he has turned the corner (thank you, Lord!), and we are getting back on track. Looking back I don't know if there was any other way we could have prepared JW for the transition...we read books, we talked a lot about how the baby would cry and need Mommy and Daddy, etc. He seemed ready, but I know little ones do not fully understand the changes that will take place. He has not been resentful toward Blake at all, thank goodness! But he sure has been resentful toward his Momma :-( And we made sure he got a lot of attention from others (Daddy was home a lot in the beginning, and any visitors made sure to dote on him before making their way to Blake).

Bad behavior seemed to coincide with times when I was busy feeding, changing, or tending to Blake. And resulting bad behaviors included Jameston hitting (not hard), yelling, or spitting at me (oh.my.). I was not prepared for that at all. We knew he would be doing things to get attention, but where oh where did he learn those things?! Ah, it was rough! And many a'tears were shed (mainly by me after I would tuck him in at night and wonder what we could have done differently). But, alas! Parenting ain't easy. Change is hard on everyone, so I would have been surprised if he fell into the new role without a hitch.

Anyway, enough about that...we are optimistic these days! Now onto what he's been saying as of late:

We were at Aldi's the other day for a quick grocery trip, and when we walked in, there was a Spanish-speaking couple right past the entrance. He said, "Mommy, they are talking in Spanish. I don't know what they're saying."

When we were driving to church on Sunday, he asked, "Is ridiculous a nice word or a mean word?"

Lately, he will start his sentences with "So," 

or "Actually," or "We're going do this."

And I guess he's learned that if he wants to get a word in edge-wise now with a little brother in the house, he needs to be more succinct. Now he says, "Thanks" instead of "thank you" and calls us "Mom" and "Dad"

While we were listening to a CD in the car one day last week, Jameston said, "One day I'm going to sing in there (the radio) and play guitar, piano, and drums. When I'm bigger." The kid loves him some music!

Oh, and with this latest parenting adventure, he has learned the following from us and often says them to us:"You know better than that." or "I'm disappointed in you." This kid is exhausting sometimes. No, a lot of the time :-)
Finally, we were leaving a birthday party last weekend, and there was a city truck picking up compost from one of the neighbor's yards. Jameston, in a serious voice, asked me, "Why are they working on Saturday?" What?! Didn't know he knew his days of the week already...I think he knew Daddy was at home, so he was curious as to why are others were working on Daddy's day off. Never a dull moment!

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Over the mountain and through the woods...

We were out of town the last three weekends of June. Be prepared to be photo bombed!

First up, we traveled to Austin to see Brett's cousin and his family, who have been doing mission work in Ireland the last two years. This was our first trip with Blake, and we left on a Friday. A Texas road trip is not one without a stop at Dairy Queen, right? Jameston loved his DQ blizzard (this trying-to-eat-dairy-free momma sure wished they served lactose-free or soy icecream)!

Unfortunately, he got carsick not one hour after the above picture, and the blizzard ended up all over his shirt. Poor fella! He's inherited that carsickness from me :-( Here he is without a shirt, to cool off, and sporting his X-marks-the-spot band-aids on the boo-boo he got two nights before...the boy had a rough week!

One we arrived, Jameston got to play with Ashlyn, who is exactly one month younger than him. They met when they were babies here in October 2009,

and really hit it off this time!

Mr. Blake loved spending time with Papa!

Ashlyn and JW had fun playing in the sand,

(While Daddy and Blake relaxed in the hammock)

riding the scooter,

dancing on the porch

singing,

playing the piano,

playing ring-around-the-rosie with Jacob,

and hamming it up with all of the other second cousins who made it for the weekend!

GiGi, who now, at 93, has 21 great-grandchildren. Posing with her six children

We had a great time while we were in Austin! Next up, we headed to Wichita Falls to see my sister and her family before I started back to work. To say that Jameston and Apsen had a great time would put it mildly. Case in point:

Even Blake had fun :-)

Aspen was very observant about the baby and wanted to be around him a lot. She got in some good practice, which is great since she will become a big sister in October or November, depending on when her little sister decides to arrive!

All three kiddos (Blake had fun, I think :-)

Cousin time is the best!

Story time with Aunt Lynnlee

The next day we hit up the playground before it got too hot

While in the Falls, Blake enjoyed his time with his auntie,

and we met up with my cousin, April, and her boys, and two of my friends from high school (but I forgot to take pictures...mommy fail)

Headed home and fast asleep...

Both boys traveled great! I was worried, since I was traveling solo while Brett was working in Florida

The last weekend of June we went to the mountains in New Mexico, but we made a stop in Plainview to see Brett's grandparents. Four generations of Winters' boys:

Blake with Brett's grandma, Memaw. She's the most amazing person I know!

Here she was with Jameston in December of 2009

The next morning we drove the remainder of the drive...it was raining when we arrived. Such a nice break from the HOT weather in Dallas!

One morning, it was in the upper 40's!

The kids made quick friends again with Autumn and Kalyn, who we saw last at Christmas

The first morning, Will Ed and I took the kids on a hike (about three miles round-trip)

It was full of great scenery,

A lot of discovery for the kiddos

and even some fit-throwing as we approached nap time! But we made it to our destination :-)

One of my favorite pictures of the trip: Ruby and Jameston leading the pack back to the cabin

Back at the cabin, we had fun doing nothing! It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle of life (and technology) and relax!

Blake lived up to his onesie caption with two blow-outs one night in his pj's...makes for a memorable time when you are traveling with limited luggage!

Cousins dancin'!

Brett enjoying some Blake time

The kids enjoyed the pool at Aunt Karen's and Uncle Dub's house!

All the kids loved on their newest cousin!

We loaded up and headed back on Saturday. Here are my road-trip partners and our set up:

I would pump, give Blake a bottle, and then we would stop to burp him...time-saver on the road, especially when we traveled 2,000 + miles!

We had a blast seeing family over the three weekends,

but we were ready to get home after all of the traveling. Looking forward to our trip to the beach in August!