My Kids with Santa

Part of the fun at Avery's 4th birthday party was a visit from Santa (aka Jim Woodrick)! The kids were thrilled and it was so cute to hear what they wanted. Alivia asked for "a training wheel bike" and Will asked for "a candy cane" after he saw that Santa was giving them out to the kids. Tee hee! John was fascinated with Santa's beard and had a handful of it after his visit with him.

Will is THREE!

Will turned three on Sunday. We decided to have a zoo theme and took him to the Austin Zoo with Alivia after dropping off Baby John to snooze the morning away with my folks. It was a little chilly, but we had a great few hours at the "Zoo." It put the name in quotes because it is actually a sanctuary for rescued exotic animals that people cannot or will not take care of. Some favorite activities were feeding the goats and llamas and riding the train. The kids were so tired they slept hard on the way home and we left them in the truck another 30 minutes to continue sleeping after we pulled into the driveway. Will woke up very, very sad after he had pee peed in his pants while sitting in his car seat in Daddy's truck.

Matt had a brisket cooking all day on his Big Green Egg and we had family come over for some BBQ, cheese grits and roasted broccoli for dinner. The meal was finished off with a cake from Sam's Club.

On to presents. . . as I told Will who each present was from, he would then take the present to them, thinking it was their turn to open a gift. So cute. I think he is in Christmas mode and could not believe that all of the gifts were actually for him! He got some great loot and we have enjoyed having some new diversions around here!

Here are some thoughts about my precious boy:

He loves me more than anyone else in the world right now. Sigh. I LOVE that. He will stop what he is doing at times to simply come snuggle in my arms or give me a hug. He calls for "Mommy to put me down" every night and negotiates with Alivia to have me put him down while Daddy will put Alivia down. He loves glowsticks right now and we open up a new pack for him every day. Thank goodness we can get them for $1 at the Dollar Store down the street. He still can talk up a storm and seems so much older than he is because of his incredible vocabulary. He is just starting to grow into his body although I find that I often have to hold his hand while we walk up and down stairs when he wants to walk on the curb. He knows how to taunt his sister like no one else, but also can play with her so well, too. He loves for me to rock him every night. We read 2 books and then I sing: Michael Row the Boat Ashore, Jesus Loves Me, Amazing Grace and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He still loves to nap, but often this will cause him to go to bed really late and leads to many encores after we tuck him into bed around 7:30. It may mean that naps may be ending soon - sniff sniff. He is still in a crib with the sides down but can easily sleep in a big boy bed anytime we need him to. I am still really stressing that he is not allowed out of the bed without asking permission. So far, so good. Will can eat! Matt commented this morning that his 3-year old ate as much as he did for breakfast. He will eat a large bowl of oatmeal, grapefruit and glass of OJ and often asks for more! He is just learning the art of making people laugh and revels in it.

Will, my life is fuller with you in it. I love you my sweet boy.

Look Who's Sitting Up!

Here is the first picture of John sitting! I came home from work and Nanny Alva had him sitting like this in the living room. He is 7 1/2 months old.

Thanksgiving Weekend 2010

We had a full and fun Thanksgiving weekend. Here are the highlights:

Wednesday night - we ate with the family at my parent's house and had traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Yummm. I supplied the green bean casserole.

Thursday AM - Matt left with my dad to go hunting in South Texas. He shot a 9-point buck with his bow and was thrilled.
Thursday afternoon - Mom and I took the kids to our holiday family gathering. The kids were so good. I looked like super-mom. They listened to everything I said and looked so cute.
Friday morning - I worked until around 1:30, Mom watched the kids.

Friday afternoon - Mom and I ran errands with the kids in tow. At one point my Mom said "This is total chaos." And I asked, "Good chaos or bad chaos?" Thankfully she said, "Good chaos."
Friday evening - I got out all my Christmas decorations and put them up!
Saturday afternoon - Matt returned from hunting - YAY! It was so great to see him.
Sunday morning - Church
Sunday afternoon - We hosted a shower for Uncle PRip and Aunt Kristen for their baby boy (?Charlie) due in early January.

As I reflect back on the weekend, I am so thankful for family and the fact that I live close to my Mom and Dad. They provide so much support and love to my family. Thanks Mimi and Grandpa. I love you both.

Dear John,

Thank you so very much for the gift of sleeping through the night. You are so thoughtful to remember us during this time in our lives. Because of your gift, I am starting to remember how to hold a full adult conversation, I have more energy and a little bit more patience. Your gift is one that your Dad and I appreciate dearly.

We love you!

Love,

Mom

John 6-7 months

I realized I forgot to post anything about John's 6-month appointment with Dr. Dawson. He passed with flying colors. Here are his stats: Height 25.5 in (25%), Weight 18 lbs 3 oz (50-75%), and Head 25% percentile. He got three shots and hardly cried. Even the nurse was amazed.

Right now we are giving him 2 solid meals - usually morning and bedtime. He loves eating solids and usually eats them without any problems. He is not too sure about peaches - I think they may be too tart for him. We are still going strong with nursing and he usually nurses 7am, 11 am, 2-3 pm, 7 pm and 11 pm. He has given us the gift of uninterrupted sleep twice this past week (it was heaven!) but most of the time he gets up once or twice and Matt has to go put his pasci in. I have at least stopped feeding him at night after his twilight feed at 11 pm.

He is the happiest baby I know. My other kids were happy, but he is even happier if that is possible. Even when I awaken him from a dead sleep, the moment he opens his eyes he will great me with the most gorgeous smile. We just let him start using the johnny jump-up and he loves it. He is incredibly strong and always tries to "buck" backwards when you are holding him or trying to burp him. He is so hard to burp! Some of the few times he cries is when he has gas because I was not able to burp him a few hours before.

He watches Alivia and Will with such adoration and longs to join them already. He is starting to get up on all fours as he prepares to start crawling. I am definitely NOT ready for that and if we can get him through this period without having a few scary close calls with choking I will be so happy. I have already told Alivia and Will about the importance of keeping small objects off the carpet, but I still find random objects scattered all over the place.

I still wonder if he will be keeping those beautiful baby blue eyes that he has. I hope I never forget the glorious way he smells. I can just kiss his sweet cheeks and smell his hair all day long. I love you John. You are a blessing to my life and to our family.

I also posted pics of Alivia (2nd to last pic) and Will (last pic) at about 7 months for comparison!

Halloween 2010

Halloween was on a Sunday night this year which was kinda nice. We went over to PT/Em's for pizza with Mimi and Grandpa. PRip and KRip also joined us. They are about 7 months preggo with their baby boy.

Alivia decided she wanted to be "Word Girl." She is a character on a PBS show of the same name. But what is so funny is that she has never watched that show with me. Maybe she watches it with Nanny Alva? Anyway, she was adament that she wanted to be Word Girl. But she kept telling everyone she was "Super Girl." So maybe even she was a little confused about it all.

Will told me he wanted to be a pumpkin. I got him an adorable and simple costume knowing that he might balk at the last minute - which he did. Oh well, at least I got him to wear the pumpkin t-shirt. This is probably the last year that he won't want to be some sort of shoot-em-up character.

And John. Well, John was just along for the ride. We went to about 5 houses before he pooped out and fell asleep in the stroller and we headed home.

I managed to carve a kitty pumpkin. Matt took a cool shot of our front door. While we were out trick or treating I just left a bowl of candy.