Month by Month: 2

Month 2

 

What a doll!

All smiles, all the time for this guy......well, on a good day.  This month was a little rough.  A sudden onset of some coughing and respiratory issues sent us to the urgent care, and  resulted in breathing treatments for weeks.  The doctor diagnosed you as showing "asthmatic tendencies", whatever that means, but we knew you would shoot through and be back to sweet little you in no time.  Indeed, you did it!

 

Now, don't do that again!

Somewhere between month 2 and 3, you lost your  little neck.  We sent out a search party and finally located it underneath a few sweet wittle layers of yummy chunky monkey baby rolls.  Man, I love munching on those!   Your legs, tummy and arms never disappoint me for a full meal, either!

You continue to be the most awesome sleeper.  It warms my heart to put you to bed still awake and watch you on the monitor as you toss and turn and smile and coo and then finally close your heavy eyes and sigh big sighs and FINALLY...sleep.

You usually go down at 7:30 PM and sleep until around 5:30.  Then, after a quick meal, you sleep for few more hours.  Thanks for that.  I like it.

You were definitely more temperamental this month.  You really wanted us to know when you were happy and when you were not so much happy.  You also started this cute little coo, coo, coo thing you do as we sing the ABC song.  You do it over and over for the whole song.  We all love hearing you sing. 

And now, a new segment in our month to month posts.  Each year, daddy writes a letter to your sister.  He has done this since she was a baby, so I decided for him that he should do something similar for you.  I make a lot of decisions for him.  It is in my job description.

A word from your pop.

Hello Seth,

So many memories in month 2.  What I know the most is my baby labeled 2 ate my baby labeled 0 !   You know how to eat!  I actually renamed you Urlacher this month (unofficially).  The doctor said you were "thick," which has stuck.   I can't help smiling because that's what you do . . . smile. Smiles and giggles are a constant. You also are a champion bubble maker and an expert at knowing when the car is approaching a stop sign.   Sleep has become consistent and I can't wait to come home each day to have you spend some time talking to me.  I love you son, you and Kaelan are my greatest gifts.

Love,

Daddy

As in past months, we continue to give you new nicknames.  "Bubba Bubbles" for your awesome bubble making skills.  "Sugie", "Chunk Monkey", but best of all is "Seff".  Your sister has always had a sweet little lisp, and with her two front teeth being loose, this really intensifies that lisp.  The "th" in your name is just not an easy task, thus you are "Seffy".  This may be the one that sticks, buddy. 

Where the Wildflowers Grow

Bluebonnets were hard to come by this year.  Not the abundance of last year.   I resorted to throwing the kids in a patch behind our house to get the token shots for this year.  Okay, I did not throw them.....though you would think I did judging Seth's reaction to his first wildflower shoot.

Bless her sweet little heart!  She was so patient with him and kept whispering and singing "It's okay, flowers aren't poisonous and they don't bite" to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star".   Precious.

 

This little girl is seriously an angel.  Even if she drove me nuts asking me 467 times if she could please, please, please just pick one bluebonnet.  We told her no and that it was against the law.  She told us it was worth doing hard time to just pick one bluebonnet, but we still refused to let her.  I guess that whole scare her with jail tactic parenting didn't work out too well for us, eh?

And this one?  Well, he is an angel too, but don't let that cute little face fool you.  He danced a little on the dark side during this photo shoot and made me crazy.  Thankfully, he did not ingest any flowers, as did his sister during her first wildflower picture shoot.

Yes,  he is picking a bluebonnet.  Don't turn him in.  He is too young and would never survive the big house. 



The Boy Loves His Mama

Hey, Mama. I just wanted to tell you that I think you are awesome. You are doing a pretty swell job with this whole raising me stuff. Really.



What's that? Am I angry about that whole dropping me on my noggin thing? No, no, no....that's all water under the bridge. You are doing super.

See these big, giant hands mama? Someday they are going to catch the winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, and when they do, I will turn to the camera and point those long fingers to God above and then to you and then to my heart. It will be classic.

What's that you say? Someone already did that one? Darn....I will think of something special between now and then. Just you wait, mama. It will be good.

Athough, thinking about the future kind of saddens me. I hate to think of moving away from you, mama. You do such a fine job of feeding me, cuddling me, wiping my bum. How will I ever survive without you?

What? I HAVE to be out of the house by the time I turn 29? But why, mama?
Who came up with this rule?
Man, I feel like I might need to spit up.

Next thing I know you are gonna tell me someday I will have to clean out my nose without the little magic boogie sucker. Scary.

Month by Month 1

MONTH 1

Good-bye birdie legs....hello baby rolls!   I loves some little baby rolls!  Well, this month they aren't quite there yet, but at least there is a little more meat on them compared to last month.  Your wee cheeks filled out, too.  But that was not my favorite change in you.  The best thing to come in month 1 is the smile.  The real smile.  Not those things they call "gassy smiles"....which, by the way, I totally think are genuine dream smiles and not just a release of air.  That's just my two cents.

Those gummy grins are enough to win over  mom and dad make us want to buy you your first car.   Remember that in 17 years.  You can whip out the grinning pictures and pretty much get anything.

 They just melted us.

You made your opinions heard much more this month!  

That is a nice way of saying you were a bit fussy.  This came on pretty quickly, so I knew something must not be right.  Sure enough, the doctor said you had some reflux and he fixed you right up with some medicine to help that. 

Much better.....

Your sleep patterns were awesome.( I just want to be one of those parents who says that for once.)

  I won't be one of those who lies and says, "he sleeps all through the night and has since we brought him home from the hospital".    Don't all new moms just want to slap someone when they say that?  Maybe that is just me.

Anyhow, you are a trooper about sleep.  Usually, you just wake up once at 2:30 am and then not again until 6:30 am.  Thanks for that.

Naps?  Well, we will just leave on a positive note.......

Favorite memory of MONTH 1

Tough to name one.  I would have to say just getting to finally show you off to others.  After being quarantined for a few weeks to keep our immune systems in check, we had several visitors come to meet the man.   I felt like Mary in the stable calling for all to come and see my miracle. 

P.S.  Your sister is probably going to tell you this, so I will confess it now.  YES, I dropped you on your head this month (well, sort of).  YES, we took you to the hospital. (Actually, it was even more overkill than that.  I called an ambulance and they said your were fine, but I STILL took you to the hospital.) and NO there was nothing wrong with you.   So, don't let her try and use that "your mama must have dropped you on your head" line on you in the future.   

Month by Month 0

Your mom is  a little late in posting these.  Get used to it, kid.  You will probably be late to many days of school and baseball games because of her.  She is her mother's daughter.   
I read the other day that Elizabeth Taylor had specific orders for her funeral to start 15 minutes later than it was supposed to.  She just wanted to make sure she was indeed late to her own funeral as many told her she would be throughout her life. 
That's your mom.
Better late than never.

0 MONTHS

Lots of exciting things in your official 0 month. 

When we brought you home, you weighed in just over 6 lbs.   Just like your big sister, you lost quite a bit after birth, but this time we were not going to let the doctor's freak us out and make us take you to the doctor every day for a week.  We just told them we weren't concerned, and knew you would pack the pounds back on.   And you did.  

Those little bird legs did not stick around for too long.  In fact, we called you "little bird" for those first few weeks because each time we stripped you down to change your clothes, you looked like  a little bird who had fallen from the nest. 

Your hairline was just too funny.  None on top, and a party of dark hairiness all over the back.  The best thing though, was the fuzzy little hair patches on your shoulders and ears!   Kaelan and I would giggle as we took the baby brush and styled them.   This gave you the name "monkey baby" for a short while.

There is a story to your birth, and it was all so magical and wonderful.  I haven't found the time and words to put it into a blog.  I probably won't.  Instead I will document it in a more private manner  for you to read someday. 
I will tell you that the very moment I met you, all I could think of was the tax reduction for the following year.  I'm just joking!
The first time I saw you, you felt completely familiar.  I know why that was so.  I had seen you many, many times in my dreams.  And that is the truth.

Favorite memory of MONTH 0
So many, but I would have to say it was the first time sister saw you.  I still get goose bumps just thinking about it.

Potpourri

I have a camera, and I am not afraid to use it.  And that is a problem.  Well, it is part of the problem.  Really, the real problem is that I have all these awesomely great pictures, but I do absolutely nothing with them. 

In my next life, I am going to have  a huge room built with fancy storage for all the scrapbooking supplies and gadgets  a gal could dream of.  I will never have to clean it up and worry about little children coming in my special room and eating my expensive scrapbooking stickers or cutting their hair with my super cool decor scissors, because you see, my secret room will not be child accessible!  My special room will come equipped with a computer that just downloads my pictures through mindwaves.....I will just give a little Bewitched nose wiggle, and walla!   All the photos will be magically downloaded. 

I will also have all the free time in the world to sit and blog and blog and blog about all the wonderful things that happen in my life!  I will blog until there is nothing about me that my readers will not know.  My favorite toilet paper?  You will know it.  The color of my dentist's eyes?   Memorized by heart. 

It is going to be awesome!  Just you wait!

For now, here are some random photos I found and figured I better do something with before my kid finds the camera and "accidentally"  puts peanut butter in the battery compartment. 

We recently took our annual trek downtown to the FUMP festival.   We love this festivity!  They have tons of arts and crafts for the kids, and the headliners are always really great bands.  This year they had another of Kaelan's favorites, "Trout Fishing in America". 

After the show, we took our mandatory Capitol building shots.  

 

Kaelan insisted we do our secret spy pose.  This is what the director came up with.

At the end of February, we celebrated dad's 25th birthday.  Okay, maybe not his 25th, but that is as how many candles came in the box, so we will go with 25.

For weeks and weeks, dad had whined that he did not get to go see the new Harry Potter flick.   Every single time someone started talking about the movie, his lip would go into the pout position and I would have to hear about how "No one took him to see the movie".   THAT'S BECAUSE THEY WERE BUSY DOING OTHER THINGS LIKE FINISHING GROWING A BABY AND GIVING BIRTH!

Did that sound bitter?

Anyhow, we decided to give him his Harry Potter fill, and surprise him with his favorite meal, Krystal burgers and a HP themed party.

Doug's cousins and aunt drove the 60 miles to Killeen and set up our HP party at a corner table in the Krystal.  You see, there are no Krystals anywhere in our area, so we made the long haul for our greasy fix. 

After church, Kaelan blindfolded dad and we kept him that way for the whole drive to Killeen.  You should have seen his eyes when he opened them!  Classic!  Even better was the reaction to our HP fan club table.   The people in there thought we were cer-ti-fiable!   Doug was given his magic wand upon arrival which raised some eyebrows.  You will meet some strange folks in a Krystal Burger joint.  I think we made the top 10 craziest list that day!

Kaelan wrote this sweet message all by herself for her dad. 

The title is potpourri folks.  Get ready for more randomness.

St. Patty's Day!  They are just too cute not to post these.

Don't you just love the way he looks at her?  He is so in love!

Lastly in today's edition of potpourri are some  photos I took of Kaelan a few weekends ago at Main Event.  She went there with some visiting family members and decided to conquer the rock wall with her 11 year old cousin, Alyssa. 

The last time she attempted this feat, she made it up about 5 feet and declared, "DONE!". 

Let's just say we got our money's worth this time.   And a free cardiac scare!

OY VEY!

Fear not!  I have enough pictures to fill 1,000 potpourri posts. I am sure there will be more in the future!

Until next time.....this will tide you over.

Hookie

Paw-Paw, Grandma and Ty came for a visit, so we decided to let Kaelan stay home from preschool so she could hang with them.
When Paw-Paw came back from a little excursion to find Kaelan still home, here is the conversation that followed.

Paw-Paw:  Kaelan, are you playing hookie today?
Kaelan:  No, Paw-Paw.  I am not playing hookie (although she pronounced it ho-key....with a long o).  I know how to ice skate, but I  can't play ho-key.

Cute, eh?
Well, I thought it was.  So much so that I tried to text this little story to some friends. 
Word to the wise, hookie changes to "hooker"  with auto correct.   Yeah, now imagine my confused friends' responses.