Dear Little Stinker,

You are 8 MONTHS OLD!!  (Yes, I missed month 7, but I'll cover everything, I promise)  You are hilarious and so much fun to interact with right now.  I think this right here is my favorite baby age.  You are snuggly and lovey and easily amused.  The look you give me when I show up to get you from school is priceless and makes me feel like the greatest person in the world.

Some facts about YOU:
- You are still in size 3 diapers, size 12 month clothes (the shirts are a little baggy but you need the length).
- You are finally getting a little more hair, however it is still sparse and you definitely rock the random long patch on the top of your head and on the right side above your ear.  You are already a blondie.
- You crawl like a mad man.  You are super fast especially if you are targeting the dog food bowl.  You pull up to standing on everything and only need a fingertip to support yourself.  I think you will be walking very soon.
- You still nurse a LOT but we have successfully convinced you to eat real food.  Everything is still pureed except for puffs (which you just got the hang of).  Your favorite food is coconut yogurt.
- You still only have the 4 teeth but I think more are coming.
- You wave and it's the cutest thing ever.  You hold your arms up and move your hands like you're revving a motorcycle.
- When we tell you "no", you smile and shake your head back and forth.  Yes, it is a little sassy, but you're too young to get in trouble so we just laugh and try to get you to do it again.
- You love your sister and you two actually can play together now.  You especially like it when she plays in her kitchen because she lets you bang the pots and pans.
- You give those awesome open mouthed slobbery baby kisses.
- You still sing yourself to sleep.  I hope you never stop, even though it means you can't fall asleep during church.
- You still love water and are a dare devil in the bath.
- You promoted to the "Mobile Baby" class at school.  This is very bittersweet for both of us.  You get to play with bigger boy toys and have some more freedom, but you miss your teachers very very much and they miss you too.

Love you big boy!

Dear Little Peanut,

You are TWO AND A HALF YEARS OLD!!  Oh my word, Pumpkin, you are absolutely the most entertaining member of our family right now.  Your enthusiasm for life is contagious.  You are so smart and understand so much about life already.  I love watching you explore and marvel and push your boundaries.  You love us fiercely and are never afraid to show it.  You’re resilient and tenderhearted.  I love just spending time with you getting to know this little person that your dad and I made.  You are a piece of my heart and I couldn’t imagine a single day without you in it.

Some facts about YOU:

-        You are NOT potty trained yet.  Size 4 diapers (at night), size 2T-3T pull-ups (at school), and size 4 undies (at home).  You absolutely know the potty drill, have been successful many times, but do not WANT to go to the potty when there is something else more interesting holding your attention.  I believe this is why they say “wait until they’re ready”.  You’re too busy to be ready yet.

-        You wear size 2T shirts and shorts (shorts are still a little big).  You still wear size 18-24 dresses.  Size 6 shoes.

-        Your hair is getting long and curls at the end.  Since it’s summer it is white blonde and your skin is brown.  You have beautiful blue eyes that everyone comments on.

-        You still suck your thumb and I’m still not worried about it.

-        Your favorite breakfast food is porridge (oatmeal) with blueberries in it.  Your favorite dinner is chicken nuggets with ketchup (surprise surprise).  You still love avocados and can eat an entire one in one sitting. 

-        Your favorite thing to say: “Mommy whatcha doin?”  You also say “I love you, you’re my beeessstt friend!”, “I not want to!”, and “Mommy I need to hold you”.  Of course that’s not all you say…those are just the things I hear about 100 times a day.  You are VERY VERBAL.  Your vocabulary is fantastic (people are always commenting on it) and you enunciate very well.  You talk non-stop and I love it.  There is always something going on in that little mind.

-        You also sing all the time.  Right now your favorite song is the B-I-B-L-E.  You also make up songs pertaining to whatever activity we are doing at the moment. 

-        You know all of your letters and the sound each one makes.  You will be reading very soon…I just need to make time to work on it with you.

-        You love your little brother and are so sweet to him.  Most of the time.  Sometimes you can get a little rough, but I think you’re just over-enthused to have someone to play with at home.

-        You are shy when you are around someone unfamiliar.  You also get over it within about 10 minutes.

-        You are taking swim lessons and will hopefully be swimming by yourself by the end of summer.  So far you can go under water and jump in, but you are stubborn about kicking your legs.

-        You love your cousins and we just spent some time at the beach with them over the 4^th of July.  You think they are super cool.

-        You and the Stinker share a room now that Nana and Grandad stay with us during the week.  You still sleep with a noisemaker.  We do bath, pjs, stories, prayers, then bedtime.  You still need one of us to sit with you until you fall asleep, which takes forever right now.  You are starting to say your own night time prayer, which makes my heart so happy.  Last night it went “God is great, God is good…thank you Jesus for this day…Amen!”.

-        You and the Stinker have been sick a TON since you started school.  You’ve had strep a total of 3 times, a bacterial rash on your booty, several viruses, and a constant runny nose.  I hear it takes a year to get over it all, so let’s hope we make it!

-        You love your friends and your teachers at school.  I only hear good reports.  They say you are super sweet and kind.

-        You love ice cream day and water day the most at school.

-        You love to run.  I’m going to let you start running with me when you’re a little older, but for now you just run whenever you’re outside in a wide open space (and usually we have to chase after you!).

-        Sometimes you are not a very good listener.  This is the thing that gets you into trouble the most.  You completely tune us out when we are asking you to do something you don’t want to do.  We’re working on it.

-        You love playing in the sprinklers.  We put them on your little slide and on the trampoline to make a mini water park out in the back.

-        You wake up at least once every night.  You usually come into our room and climb into bed on my side.  Then your daddy takes you back to bed and end up falling asleep in there for the rest of the night.

-        You love being a “princess”.  Any time you are wearing something with ruffles you call it a princess dress. 

-        You are just now starting to talk about being scared of things.  You said you were scared of lions last night (probably because at school they had a big taxidermied lion out for VBS).

-        You love the beach and playing in the waves with your daddy.  You also like to build sandcastles and collect shells.

-        You are not self-conscious in the slightest and I hope you hold on to that forever.

We love you so much Peanut and I hope you hold on to your sassy fire for life.  We are so blessed to be your parents.

Dear Little Stinker,

You are 6 months OLD!!  (and a couple weeks)  

Some facts about YOU:

- You wear size 3 diapers, size 12 mo clothes that are too small, but I can't bring myself to buy bigger clothes

- You smile all the time and are soooo sweet except when we take you out of the bath and try to put a diaper and PJs on you (how dare we, don't we know you like to be naked???)

- You have two bottom teeth and just cut your two top ones.  They hurt like crazy and you've been fussy about it for a while.

- You love the water and fall asleep when I bring you close to the waves or put you in your pool floaty.

- You sit up all by yourself

- You can ALMOST crawl.  You take a couple "steps" and then belly flop toward whatever you are trying to get to

- You just pulled yourself up on the ottoman yesterday for the first time

- You have started solids but are actually not a big fan of eating.  You have tried avocado, green beans, peas, and pears.  Pears were your favorite (obviously).

- You have been sick a lot since you've started school (as have we all).  Your runny nose is still cute.

- You are really really strong and I have to keep a good hold on you whenever you get rambunctious

- You love your sister

- Your hair is blonde...I think...you don't have very much

- You still sleep in Mommy and Daddy's bed most of the night.  We will work on getting you to sleep in your crib longer when you are not teething/sick/etc which means you will probably be sleeping with us until you go off to college

- Your favorite toy is an Old McDonald music making thing that was a hand-me-down from your cousins.  You also love anything you can chew on.

- You still sing yourself to sleep.  It is the sweetest sound in the world.  However, it is quite distracting when you decide to take a nap during church :-)

We love you so much Bud and you teach me every day to just forget everything else and smile.

beach time with daddy

 showing off new board shorts (and runny nose)

 nap time

 sitting up like a champ

 nerdy hat...and nerdy mom

first bible class

giving sister kisses

beach

ready to take off

high chair initiation

avocado smile

you prefer the spoon

can't get better than this

you were asleep right before we took this pic

sweet boy

ick.  you certainly can make a mess.

Dear Little Stinker,

You are FIVE MONTHS OLD!  You are growing by leaps and bounds both physically and mentally every day.  Your “babyness” is fading more and more, and I told your Daddy it’s going by too fast, so we might just have to have another one (to which he firmly objected :-) ).  So you stop all this growing and stay my teeny baby for just a little bit longer, okay?  Okay.  You are the world’s happiest baby.  Even when you don’t feel good, you give smiles to anyone who looks at you.  Just a tiny little tickle gives you the belly laughs.  It is quite impossible for me to have a bad day when you’re around.  You are STRONG and inquisitive and in perpetual motion.  I love watching you watch the world around you.  You are constantly figuring things out and have such and intense determination when there is something you want.  I hope you keep every one of these qualities into adulthood.  We love you to pieces and even though I wish you could stay teeny forever, I’m so proud of all the growing you’ve done and will continue to do.

Some facts about YOU:

-        - You are in size 3 diapers, size 9 month – 12 month clothing, and size 2 shoes.  You have meaty thighs and they are the cutest things in the world.

-      -   You still have barely any hair.  It’s turning strawberry blonde, which means you will definitely be a blondie like your sister eventually.  I just wish some more would pop up!!

-       -  You got your first tooth!!  It is the bottom left one, and I’m sure it will be quickly followed by the right one.  You handled it like a champ.  There were a few nights of restlessness, but as soon as it popped up, you were able to sleep again.

-        - You are a champion roller.  If you see an object you want that’s out of your reach, you manage to roll to it.  Which means I need to be baby proofing sooner than I thought!  You can almost sit by yourself, but still need something around you just in case.  It will probably happen within a couple weeks.  You are thisclose to pushing up on your hands and knees too.  Your upper body is strong enough, you just need a little more coordination in your legs.

-        - You squeal.  It’s baby cooing, but at a high pitched loud volume. 

-        - You discovered your tongue and stick it out at us a lot.

-      -   You found your thumb, but instead of sucking on it you like to chew on it. 

-      -   You moved into your sister’s room!!  However, you only spend a couple hours a night in there.  Then it’s into Mommy and Daddy’s bed because Mommy is just too tired to wake up several times a night.  (You still wake hungry A LOT)

-       -  There was about a week where you pooped in your clothes as soon as you got to school.  Every day.  I would come in at lunch to feed you and you would already be in a different outfit.  You are your father’s son.

-        - You are obsessed with the TV.  Obviously, we don’t let you watch it, but if it’s on when you’re in the same room you can’t keep your eyes off of it.  I can’t even nurse you any more if the TV is on.  That’s something else you inherited from your Daddy.

-        - You and your sister love each other so much.  Every morning she wakes you up and gives you kisses and you give her your biggest and best smiles.  Any time you are crying in the car, I say “Peanut, make your brother feel better”, and she sings you a song.  Lately, it is the ABC’s and Twinkle Twinkle.

-        - You had your first beach day!  You loved it!  You smiled and basked in the breeze.  Then you let me rock you to sleep and slept for a good bit on the beach towel.  That’s my boy!

-       -  You still love your teachers at school and give them big smiles when we get there in the mornings. 

We love you so much Stinker and can’t believe it’s been five months since you arrived.  We are blessed to have you as a son and can’t wait to see what God has in store for you.

Oh my word the shoes.  Kills me.

 No one in our house likes mornings

 BFFs

 Checkin yourself out.  Sorry about all the girly colors.  That's what you get when you have an older sister!

First beach day 

 First visit to the pool...you weren't really in the mood.  We'll get you in the pool next time.

Dear Little Stinker,

You are FOUR MONTHS OLD!!  And, darling boy, what a month it has been.  On March 24th, your Grandad had a stroke while he was visiting us with Nana.  It was scary and awful and you expressed your unhappiness by pooping all over the bed in the midst of the crisis.  Some day we will laugh about that part.  Grandad was in the hospital for several days and is still in in-house rehab right now.  He is a trooper and is getting better every day and we can't wait for him to come home.  Your Nana has been by his side the entire time (except for the rare nights I can convince her to come to our house to sleep in a real bed).  This means we had several amazing people come to our house to take care of you and your sister while your Daddy and I tried to figure out work and spending time at the hospital.  I pray that you and your sister make the kind of life long friends that I have...ones that will come to your rescue without you even having to ask.  Even if they're getting married that week.  Even if they don't have children of their own.  Or even particularly like children :-)  They are willing to come and love on my babies as their own.  And bring food.  We are now in the midst of adjusting to a new "normal".  You and Peanut started school two weeks ago.  Dropping you two off that first day almost broke my heart in two, but I have to say that it's really not as bad as I thought it would be.  You love your teachers and are always smiling when I come to get you.  I even get to come over and nurse you during my lunch break.  We are all a little tired and hectic trying to fit everything into a 24 hour period, but we can only get better at it.  Thankfully we are a strong family and we all love each other very much and amazingly have clung to our sense of humor through it all.   Only with God's grace.  And now, Mr. Man, some facts about YOU:

- Your size two diapers are getting snug, as are your 6 month PJs.  You are in the 75th percentile for length and 50th percentile for weight.
- You are a drool monster!  You grab anything you see and put it in your mouth.  You are constantly chewing on your hands.  This may mean teething, but I know we won't actually see a tooth for a while.
- You are getting better at sitting up and looking around at everything (in the Bumbo).
- You laugh a LOT!  You are such a good natured baby, and it is so easy to make you smile.  I love it.
- Your "talking" voice is so cute and squeaky.  You talk to us all the time, and speak in very very long sentences :-)
- You still think your sister is the coolest thing to look at
- You sleep in your crib when we first put you down for the night, but when you wake up for your first feeding I put you in bed with us.  I was going to try to break this habit, but now that you're at school all day, I'm really loving our snuggle time.
- You wake up happy in the mornings.  Usually I'm up getting dressed and I'll put Peanut in the bed with you while she's waking up and drinking her "green juice".  When she makes too much noise you stir, then open your eyes and look at us and give us the best smiles.  When Peanut sees you awake she says "Good morning sweetheart!".
- You poop less.  Not sure what that's about.
- You had your first fever today.  I think it was a reaction to a shot you had yesterday (Prevnar...for future me when I reference back and wonder which shot you reacted to).  You just ate and slept all day and hung out with your Daddy.

I love you my little man.  It's life's biggest joy to watch you grow and learn.

This is your favorite bath towel.  You love soft things.

Smiles!

Little Easter bunny...

Littler Easter bunny!

My two babies

Easter morning...

Easter afternoon.  You two were so tired!

Chillin in the Bumbo (don't mind the middle finger action)

Favorite place to be - piled in Mommy and Daddy's bed