Farm Visit

We decided to take a last minute trip to the farm last weekend, and the boys did awesome!  I think Paul and I were worried about the drive and how the boys would handle being in their car seats for a 7+ hour tip.  We made sure to get them out of their seats a few times for extended periods, and that seemed to do the trick.  Granted, our trips turned into 10 hour trips, but 10 peaceful hours are a whole lot easier than 7 crazy hours. :)

We were glad Nana was able to spend more time with the boys (she and Mr. Jim came to visit us in Dallas a few weeks ago)!  There are no pictures of her and Henry because Henry has some serious stranger danger!  He would wave at her across the room, but we couldn't get him to actually get close and spend any quality time with her.  Kids can be so weird!

  Henry loved, loved, loved the tractors, though he couldn't quite press all the buttons and pull all the levers on the larger one...

 One of the few shots where Henry actually looked at the camera while he was saying, "Cheese!"  Typically, he says it while looking in the opposite direction. Ha!

 This tractor was more Henry's size.  He could actually climb up here on his own and cause a ruckus.

 Here, Henry was yelling at the fire ant beds.  The farm was overtaken with fire ants this trip, and we quickly had to teach Henry that fire ants are bad and that they bite.  This lesson involved us wagging our fingers and saying, "No, no, no!", which resulted in Henry stopping at every single fire ant bed he spotted and saying "No, no, no!"

 This is him after doing a face plant into some mud.  Fortunately, we had no real injuries on this trip.  When we were kids, there was always someone who seemed to need stitches....

 Teaching my tentative child the joys of frosting from the can as I made Mama a cake for her birthday.  It sure is hard to beat a Duncan Hines cake!  He warmed up to the frosting quite quickly, but only after checking it out first.

 Henry has only shown signs of jealousy with Walter when my Mom holds him.  He has to run over every now and then to make sure she hasn't forgotten about him.

 Since a trip to the creek is probably the equivalent of a 4 mile walk for Henry, we decided to give him (and his escorts) a lift after he was halfway there.

 It was a last minute decision to head down there, so I did not wear my boots.  I hired a sherpa to take me from sandbar to sandbar. :)

 These are my people.  Only missing my siblings and Lauren - wish they could've made it!

 Love our family of four!

 Happy birthday, Mama!

 Henry was not scared of the creek one bit - can you tell from his pants?!?  Time to get this child some swimming lessons!

 Solution to cold wet pants: LOSE THE PANTS!!

 It finally warmed up the last day we were there (what's up with it getting into the 30s in May?), so we took full advantage!  These two look like they could get in some trouble together.

 Kiddo loves hoses and water.  Cheap entertainment - especially when the water comes from a well and you don't have to worry about a water bill!

 

So glad Henry enjoyed the farm.  Walter didn't seem to mind, but then again, he pretty much seems to be okay with whatever it is we're doing.

Be still my heart.  I always wonder what these two talk about when they wander off on their own like this....

2 Months!

While I'm way behind and have failed to post many adventures over the last few weeks, I did want to share my littlest one's latest monthly pics and stats. 

This Mama is proud to say that Walter is growing and growing! When he turned 8 weeks old, Paul and I felt like we suddenly looked down and had a sturdy little baby on our hands. His 2 month stats are:

Weight: 12 lbs, 2 oz. - 42% (improving!)

Height: 23.3 in. - 58% (improving!)

Head: 16 in. - 87% (still disproportionately large!)

I always refer to this little guy as our rockstar.  He is just awesome.  He has the sweetest disposition, and seems relaxed most [95%] of the time.  He rarely gets upset, and when he does, it's because he's hungry, tired, or he's just been given a shot and wants to be held.  All of these are pretty easy fixes!  

And despite my earlier lectures, he keeps rolling from front to back.  Generally, I don't think he's a fan of being on his tummy.  But sometimes he doesn't seem to mind....

But when he's not falling asleep on his tummy, he's screaming and flailing his legs until he gets himself on his back.

And compared to Henry, he has fantastic neck control.  I haven't picked up a single baby book with Walter, and have forgotten absolutely everything.  I'm winging it with this one (fingers crossed he comes out okay). I cannot remember how old babies are when they get in the Bumbo, but I decided to give it a shot and see what he thought.

 

It didn't take long to get a huge grin out of him!  

Since his line of vision tends to be from a propped up or laying down position, he really took advantage of being able to actually move his neck and see all over.  He is not quite ready to be put in the Bumbo for more than a few minutes, but he definitely seemed to enjoy this form of neck exercises more than tummy time.  

At this point, the only thing we really need to work with him on is putting himself to sleep.  Since my oldest child did not want to be held or rocked when he got tired, we were always able to just put him down and let him go to sleep without so much as a peep from him.  This guy puts up more of a fight, and does prefer to be held and rocked by me while I'm standing.  He likes being rocked in the chair sometimes, but seems to prefer that I do all the work.  I still can't complain since he goes to sleep in about 2 minutes and then lets me put him down, but my pediatrician told me we should start making him "soothe himself."  Easier said than done.  Maybe we'll wait until after my maternity leave is over.  I think maternity leave is a time for spoiling babies, right Mamas?!?

 

And I'm sad to say that I only have about two and a half weeks left with this little one before I head back to work.  I'm terrified of how much busier life is going to seem with two little ones and a job, but I keep reminding myself that women do it every day. Here's hoping most women are as put together as they seem and that I can manage some type of normalcy/organization/calmness in our household.  We'll see how that goes!

Living in the 'burbs

While the commute can be a beating, Paul and I truly love living in the suburbs.  There's so much fun stuff to do, and most importantly, most of it is free!  On Saturday, we took full advantage - we started with the Art Walk in McKinney (where it appears I didn't take a single picture).  Henry loved being out and about, but was out cold within minutes of being loaded in the car.  

We pushed on, though, and decided to enjoy eating outside.  Walter enjoyed the weather as much as we did!

Henry woke up without a fight, and loved eating outside while watching the other children play in the fountain/splash park.

We didn't really come prepared, but I decided to strip him down to shorts and a diaper.  We figured we could take him home sporting a diaper if he got really soaked.

While he looks really brave here, running towards the water, he did NOT like it once he got wet with freezing cold water.  He came running back at a full sprint.  I could not stop laughing!

 

After a full morning, we went home so Henry could get a good nap.  Turns out all three of my boys got a nice afternoon nap in...

After naptime, we decided we needed a froyo date.  Fortunately for Henry, there's froyo right across the parking lot from a play village.  What little boy doesn't want to eat ice cream and then go play on a caboose?!?

Surprise, surprise - Walter slept through the entire ordeal. :)

And just to give a brief update on both my boys, Mr. Walter has exceeded 4 hours of sleep TWICE so far this week. Hallelujah!!  Sunday night, we got 5.5 hours out of him, and last night, we got 6 hours and 20 minutes!!!!!  He may have gone a little longer, but I got up to check on him when he coughed.  While I was up, I decided to go ahead and feed him so I didn't climb in bed only to be woken up right as I entered a new REM cycle (selfish, I know).  So proud of this little guy!!  His Mama may start to feel more like a human before long!

Our current excitement with Henry is his new love for the word, "No!" He's been shaking his head yes and no for months, but just started saying "No!" on Thursday.  Poor kid decided to let me know he'd learned the word last Thursday when I asked him to go to the bathroom so we could get his bath.  Telling his Mama "No!" and walking the opposite direction did not turn out like I think he imagined it would.  I've now spent the last 5 days trying to teach him "No sir" and "No ma'am" - I'll let you know when that finally catches on.

1 Month!

Walter was 1 month old last week. I cannot believe it.

 He was not a fan of his rocker. At least not when he's sitting in it on his own.

Beginning last week, he finally started to wake up for longer stretches.  So far, he's incredibly content and doesn't have many demands.  If he's crying, I know he's hungry, his stomach is upset, or he's tired and needs a pacifier so he can go to sleep. Fortunately, these are issues that can easily be solved pretty quickly!  He doesn't have any "tricks" yet, but he did accidentally roll over on Saturday when he got highly agitated during tummy time.  I tried to explain to him that he's too young to be rolling over, and it seems he listened since he hasn't done it again. And yesterday, as I was getting ready to take him to the doctor, I got my first legit smile out of him.  Of course, I immediately teared up.  There's nothing like getting eye contact and a huge toothless grin from your child.  So sweet!

Walter's 1 month stats are:

Weight: 9 lbs 4 oz. - 22%

Height: 21.5 in. - 36%

Head: 15.3 in. - 86%

Summary - my child has a disproportionately large head.  Here he is after I finally got him to calm down post-shot.

And only because I can't have a blog post without my oldest, here are a few pictures of the boys after church on Sunday.  Henry was exceptionally excited and crazy, so we couldn't get one without Paul in the picture playing referee! :)

Allergic.

Yesterday was a day for baking. There were a few bananas that were past the eating point (Paul and I won't eat a banana unless they're slightly green), so banana bread was in order. And while the mixer was out, why not make some chocolate chip cookies? Henry helped me dump in ingredients and was fascinated by the mixer. 

 

He's not an adventurous eater, so I wasn't sure of he would even try cookie dough on the spatula.

Kid didn't even hesitate. It's like he could sense the deliciousness....

As you can see, I didn't give him much.  This is a good thing because within minutes, the poor kid was scratching his hands and eyes. It appears, like his mother when she was a child, Henry is allergic to raw eggs. Whoops!  I could always eat things where the eggs were cooked, but give me any kind of batter, cream pies, etc., and I was miserable for hours.  I mean, seriously, look at his right eye. Poor kid!

So the baby has been on Tylenol and Advil all week for his fever, and once he's finally better, I'm drugging him up with Benadryl.  That stuff is amazing!  Within 30 minutes, he was running around and was no longer swollen.  Granted, he was way off balance and went to bed super early, but his swelling and itching disappeared.  I'm so glad to live in the 21st century and have access to all our medications - they're miraculous!!

 

Walter wasn't phased by all the excitement.  In fact, he seemed to find it exhausting. :)

Here's hoping my youngest didn't inherit my allergy genes......

Blessed.

Sometimes, I think we expect our hearts to feel full when everything in the world is going right.  A lot of times, however, I've found that those moments pass and I realize later that I forgot to stop for a second and soak everything in.  Or I was more concerned about every hair being in place, not running one second late, etc.  

Today has not been a day where everything is going right.  Henry is sick, sick, sick.  He has a fever that has seemed to go down to normal for maybe 1 total hour in the past 24.  After the Tylenol has kicked in (and his fever drops at least a few degrees), that child still manages to have a smile slapped on his face.  Even if he is supine on the couch with his favorite stuffed animal watching "Melmo" on the DVR.  The only thing he has not been a big fan of is Walter having any of my attention - that makes feeding times a bit challenging.  Walter seemed to pick up on this, and decided today was a fantastic day to start cluster feeding in the afternoon while Paul was still at work. Figures. :)  

But I am not complaining - this is my dream job.  And it's a tough one.  Days like today make law school, the bar exam, research, motion practice, etc. seem easy.  Those things have an end date.  Those things may nag you a little in your sleep, but they certainly don't scream at you from a nearby cradle.  Or through a monitor that has little red lights screaming at your sleepy eyes as well.  Those things also tend to come with Rules, Blue Books, learned traits/habits, and guidance from a partner, as opposed to tantrums, inconsolable sobbing without any logic, or attempts at communication that you just can't understand no matter how hard you try.  Those things also give you at least a minute or two here and there to use the restroom in peace.  But there is no way I'd trade a single, difficult second for the two littlest loves of my life.

And then there's the big love of my life. He got about 7 hours of interrupted sleep (see reference to the cradle and monitor above), but got himself out the door for work by 6:45 am.  He also managed to look quite handsome.  When I texted him at 2:00 that Walter chose today to be particularly hungry, he got himself home before 4:00 to help me out.  He had plans to run, but Henry's fever started to spike right as he was getting ready to put on his shoes and strap Henry in the jogging stroller.  So what does a father do when his workout plans get foiled?

 So Mama snuck downstairs for some peace with this guy. 

So despite some difficult moments, today I've felt especially blessed.  Blessed to have two beautiful children.  Blessed to have an infant that only cries when he's hungry and only sometimes fusses when his stomach cramps up.  Blessed to have a toddler that can manage to smile, laugh, and race me to the front door, even when he's running a fever.  And especially blessed to have a husband that loves his children as much as I do.