8 Months!!

Rhett turned 8 months yesterday. So many fun developments this month has brought!

 

 

Nicknames: Rhett-Rhett, Bub, Bubs, Bubby, Rhetty-Betty

 

Play: He claps and will mimic us clapping, he loves to growl, and gets excited if we will growl back and forth with him. He pats our back when holding him. Loves to chew on his feet and laughs when I try to pull them out of his mouth when changing his diaper.

 

 

Eating: Finally has started enjoying eating some pureed foods,  things with apples or bananas seem to be his favorites, eats twice a day and nurses every 3 hours or so.

Sleeping: Favorite positions, rolls to his right side or puts both hands behind his head like he's doing a sit up. He is napping 3 times a day. Sleeps some nights all the way through but most nights up once or twice.

Christmas 2013

Ava really enjoyed getting the tree and our other Christmas decor set up as we kicked off this month:

 

 

In Ryan's family there was always a rotation of which kid got to put the star on top of the tree throughout their growing up years. So we've continued that tradition with our kids and it was fun that Rhett got to rotate in this year:

 

Ava looked forward all month to her Christmas program at church. She asked me today when Christmas comes back next year if she can do the program again. We sang the songs before bed each night. I love getting to capture her seeing us in the crowd. Here she is "sleeping in heavenly peace":

 

For Christmas Eve and day we headed to B.A.

Ryan and I got to sneak away with Ava for a Christmas Eve movie to see Frozen in 3-D:

 

 

Of course one of the most memorable parts of this year, was that it was Rhett's first Christmas!

 

We headed back to OKC and this weekend we hosted Bell family Christmas at our house. Unfortunately my mom got sick and wasn't able to join all of us so was sad that she couldn't come with dad but besides that it was a good Christmas.

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed a family devotional time together Sunday morning. Ava was really into it, She is also really into dressing herself these days:

 

The cousins all together. We have two more due this summer,

so this bunch continues to grow and has lots of fun holidays together to come!

 

Rhett's crossing his fingers for a boy cousin in 2014. He's a bit out numbered among this crew.

November Catch up

In November we had a fun visit from the Lahmeyer Crew on their Thanksgiving travels.  Leo and Ryan were at deer camp so it was nice to have company at the house. We got our first snow and ice and is was pretty chilly but we had a pretty great time anyways.

 

We went to Ingrids German kitchen for brunch.

 

 

They had a life size gingerbread house and live music.

 

Ava would of stayed and danced all day. She was one of the one of the only non-senior citizens on the dance floor but that didn't bother her none. She and Q made friends with another little girl was there celebrating a mans 90 something birthday and they shared some of their chocolate cake with us. It was a pretty fun time at a pretty great place.

 



 

 

Daicia offered to take some pictures for us while she was here, the temps kept us indoors but the lighting in the play room worked out pretty well to do a little indoor shoot.

The natives were getting restless so we hit the mall on Sunday.

 



 

Rhett had us laughing with this hat, he kept smiling so big seeing himself in a mirror with it on.

 



7 months!

This boy turned 7 months during Thanksgiving week! As I reflect on this month,  it is such an a crazy thought that I didn't yet know this sweet face this time last year. In fact a year ago I was just starting to wrap my mind around the idea of  having a boy. To love someone this much, that I only met a short time ago, is so surreal in the best possible way.

 

He has mastered sitting up on his own which makes bath times easier on all of us as he has moved into the big bath for bath time. In 7 months he has slept through the night 3 times. He naps well during the day still taking 3 naps usually but nights this month have been pretty regressive with multiple wakings throughout the night.

 

He is starting to let me feed him by spoon some and is nursing about every 3 hours. While I know he can't yet purposely say "ma-ma" its one of the sounds he makes often and it's fun to pretend he knows what he's talking about.

 

Can't wait to celebrate his first Christmas with him!

A Brutiful Thanksgiving

We enjoyed celebrating the holidays as usual between our parents homes in Broken Arrow. We spent time with our families and friends that are like family, saw sweet cousins young and old, came to know exciting news of part of our family growing, worshiped in the church we grew up in, quietly each turned our thoughts to the empty seats at each families table of dear ones no longer with us, we watched some incredible plays in exciting games, discovered the deliciousness of a pumpkin roll, among other things.

 

We had the traditional after lunch leaf pile jumping.

 

 

 

Rhett was too little for jumping this year but that didn't damper his excitement at all about the whole deal.

 

We did our best to uphold other sacred traditions for this holiday like naps, naps and more naps. The kids are getting over colds and Rhett especially did not sleep well at all. Every night Ava would make an elaborate plan about where she wanted to sleep with her carefully made pallet on the floor and then she lasted .2 seconds before she gave that up and came to our room. So in our bed at Ryan's parents it ended up me, Ryan, Ava and Rory in a queen size bed with Rhett in the pack n' play next to it.  After feeding Rhett in the mornings I did get to sleep in a few times which was glorious and helped the nights even themselves out some but even with Rhett still up a lot last night boy was it good to sleep in our own beds.

 



 

 

We were also coming off an extended weekend of Ryan being out of town for his annual hunting trip when we left for Thanksgiving. The kids and I started colds while he was gone and to be honest I was pretty worn out. The truth about holidays during this season of family life is they are a lot more work than they use to be -Sometimes the sleep deprivation, the diaper changes, the outfit changes due to the diaper changes, bathing them, feeding them, clothing them, comforting them, loading them in the car, buckling them in the car, unloading them, unbuckling them, answering their questions, (I counted recently in one car ride, 27 questions from point A to point B) disciplining them, guiding them, playing with them, looking for  pacis, washing pacis,  making sure they brush their teeth, rocking them in the middle of the night and all other day to day parenting duties can and does get overwhelming and exhausting at times. I was definitely feeling it this week.  Even with all the work that comes with parenting young children they are of course among my greatest life blessings that I give thanks to our Heavenly Father for. I've had a great day home with them today, even with running some errands, I find things settling back in line and being more manageable. I don't have to look too far to appreciate having healthy, living children is a joy among joys. Holidays are for sure more work than they use to be but I also get to enjoy them in a richer and deeper way than ever before. When I start to get in that exhaustion funk of irritability, gratitudes seem to be the best remedy for my spirit when solid sleep is not readily available.

So Thanksgiving 2013, in the words of a favorite mommy blogger I read, you were "brutiful", part brutal - part beautiful and I am thankful for you because there will never be another one just like you and I know the hard parts will fade and the golden parts will stay. 

These Days

 

Dear Ava,

Rhett's not the only one having some exciting milestone developments these days. You have started to make drawings that look like things you say it does! Just last week you drew this and told me it was a sunshine and low and behold I did a double take, it does look like a sunshine!

 

 

You watched Wizard of Oz for the first time the other week too and you were a big fan. You have added it to your Christmas List and you ask me many days, do you think I will get that movie for Christmas? I debated about skipping some of the "scarier" parts but I ended up not and you did fine with all of it. You also recently watched parts of "castaway". I love that movie and I had recorded it when it was on TV the other day. You have asked to watch it again a few more times so we have watched parts of it a few times now. (I know the movie well enough we skipped lost of scenes that your not old enough for yet, a few gory scenes with injuries or when the plan actually crashed, etc)  I think that movie has some beautiful life lessons and I enjoyed talking with you about how he kept trying even when things were really hard like when he learned to make fire and when he made his boat and got over the waves to get off the island. We also talked about his feelings during different scenes. You were fascinated by all of the island scenes I let you watch and have been going around the house making pretend fires and saying "Wilson!" In both those movies we like to ask each other do you think they will find their way home again and the other one will answer, yes - I think they will and we cheer them on their journey. I love a good story in book or movie form its fun to share both those with you in new ways as you are getting bigger.

 

Your feelings run so deep and yet are also just below the surface these days. You learned in your pre-school about how leaves change colors and fall to the ground for winter. When we are driving in the car you will mourn this loss as you see the trees and say with such sadness in your voice "Mom I don't want the trees to loose their leaves."  "When will the leaves come back?"

 

The weather is changing but we've had a few nice days sprinkled in the mix. Last week on one of those perfect sunshine fall days we went to play at the park by Hefner Lake. After we played for a while we walked down near the water and watched the sail boats. I sat there holding your brother and watching you watch the boats, the sounds of little waves hitting the shore and it was such blissful and peace filled moment. I've been feeling alot lately that's its been hard to juggle work and a mom and wife and in the midst of days I feel like there aren't enough hours in the day and its crazy busy comes moments like these. I find myself craving more of them, more quiet, more calm, more simplicity. Being stretched to far leads to me being cranky and losing my patience. I am praying and taking to steps be intentional in seeking more balance these days. At each stage you keep helping me want to be a better person and strive to refine my weaker parts and I think its one of the hardest and best parts of being a parent. What a blessing you are these days and every day.

 



6 months!

Rhett turned six months old recently and went to his six month well baby visit. He dropped into the 30 something percentile on weight, weighing in at 16 lbs and 8 oz. He has some bowing to his legs that often works itself out over time so just keeping an eye on it but overall doing great.

 

 

Eating: He is still nursing every 3 hours or so. He has tried some cereal, bananas, sweet potatoes and applesauce this month. He didn't seem to love any of it and was kind of interested but not that into it just yet.

 

 

Sleeping: He moved to his own room in his crib. He's slept through the night multiple times, two nights even in a row but other nights still waking 1-3x to eat or get a paci and go back to sleep. He is taking 3 naps a day. We read a few books, rock and then lays down in his bed, he will usually now roll to his right side and drift off or his other favorite position is both hands above his head. He sometimes takes his paci out but cant figure out consistently how to get it back in. He goes to bed between 8 and 9 and then is up around 7:20 in the morning.

 

 Milestones: He has mastered rolling and now often finds his feet and puts them in his mouth. He loves to babble and of course still growls as his other favorite form of communication. I love when he will put both hands on the sides of my face and will pull himself in to squish his forehead to my face and then will smile with such delight.

 

Happy half birthday my dear boy. We love you so much and can't picture our family without you!

Halloween Happenings 2013

We made the rounds this year and by the time Halloween actually rolled around we were pretty Halloweened out. Ava had a long nap the day of so we ended up not going out but we had fun  celebrating at different local events throughout the month.

 

 

 

Ava was a fairy-princess-butterfly-ballerina this year. She loved doing "fairy" hair each time we would dress up and it was fun to watch her excitement each time she got to get in costume and got to wear her "sparkly" shoes. Her first event was going with Aunt Amy to Frontier City! Apparently there was a witch of some kind that had what Ava called "a not silly laugh" that scared her there. She talked about it often but overall had a great time.

We went to our church's trunk or treat and had lots of fun.



I am not sure we will always go with a "duo" theme but we went with a princess and a frog this year.
Have you ever seen a cuter Kermit?

 

We went one day to have lunch with daddy downtown and walked over to puumpkinville at the Myraid Gardens.

 Ava really enjoyed it, even stopping a few times in a rarity these days and said "mom take my picture!"

 

 

 

 

Last but not least we went to Story Book Forest at Arcadia. Ava and I went and met up with Izzy and her family there, we had intended to meet other friends but getting there late and having to wait 70 minutes in the car line to get in, we missed them. She really liked it but that car line was a bit brutal, not sure we will be back next year but if we do we will be much more strategic with timing.

 

 

My heart always smiles when they hold hands on their own accord.

So sweet these two and how they love each other!

 

 

So there it is Halloween 2013 is in the books!



A random assortment of lately...

This weekend Friday and Saturday were a bit rough, our first go round with both kids not feeling well and getting up every hour or other hour was a little brutal. I was feeling the mental and emotional strain that 6 months plus with not one night of a solid eight hours of sleep was taking. And then last night happened, a tear free good night and baby boy slept all night long!! I felt like a new person today and then tonight another easy bed time and feeling hopeful for more sleep in my future!

 

I love shadow pictures, such a great silhouette of the here and now.

She is a pro at keeping him entertained from me these days.
You know so I can concentrate on important tasks like picking out our fall nail color.

I love finding these things! Ava put her elephant down for a nap apparently in the office the other day (baby Oliver takes his naps on the days Ms. Laura is here).

I do some work from home on Mondays and Fridays, but its pretty hard to concentrate with this in the back ground.

Ava told me on this day that she was also just "doing some work from home". She also last week called one of my co-workers and I didn't realize it right away. They had a 2 and half minute conversation! I was cooking dinner and totally thought she was talking on her play phone. She was very upset when I cut the phone call short. My phone contacts are a little over populated with child therapists, so she has pretty good luck of the draw for finding a kid friendly, engaging person on the other end to talk too, new rule - she has to ask mommy before using my phone.