Easter 2013

For Easter this year, we spent the weekend in middle TN visiting family. On Friday we went to mom's house, and Jordan, Meagan, and Jude joined us there too. There was so much rain that the Easter egg hunt was cancelled that night. On Saturday, we went to dad's house and enjoyed playing outside and decorating Easter eggs. After church on Sunday we drove down to Pulaski to visit mom's family. It was Leah's first time to meet her extended family. Because of continued rain, the boys had to have the egg hunt on the carport. Before the long drive back to Memphis, we went to Lawrenceburg to visit my grandmother for Leah to meet her for the first time.

It was a great but very full weekend. We enjoyed watching Isaiah and Jude play together, and Leah was never without a set of arms to hold her. Meagan is pregnant and we look forward to welcoming their sweet baby into this wild and crazy family in September! The weekend would have been perfect if Lindsay, Landon and Jared could have been there too.

Leah Update

I went back to work full-time on Jan 2nd. Leah started daycare then, just shy of 8 weeks old. It was hard to let her go so early, but she's in good hands. She's really such a sweet, happy doll. I couldn't ask for an easier baby...she fits well into the second child role. Here are a few milestones:
- First smile: 4 weeks
- Started cooing: 6 weeks
- Rolling from tummy to back: 3 months (did it consistently for 2 weeks then forgot how for a few weeks)
- Laughing: around 4 months
- Sleeping thru the night consistently: 4-4.5 months
- Introduction of rice cereal: 4 months; she's not a big fan of it, but since then we've added sweet potatoes, green beans, and squash, and she likes them all.

Her favorite pastimes include watching Isaiah, jumping in her jumperoo, playing on her play gym, bath time, and sleeping in her swing. Her least favorite thing is tummy time. She still sleeps in the pack and play in our bedroom at night; we've had a hard time giving her up and have used her nighttime feeding as an excuse. Now that she's sleeping through the night, I guess we'll transition her to the crib soon :(

At 4.5 months, she weighs 15 lbs 4 oz and is 25 inches long (80th percentile for both).

Isaiah

The initial honeymoon period for Isaiah with Leah wore off some when I went back to work and had less time for both kids. He was still loving toward Leah, but he was suddenly acting out more and wanting a lot more attention. Combine that with starting big-boy underwear in January and the sudden trouble with bowel movements (let's leave it at this: 2 enemas given, daily laxative, and hour long episodes on the potty), and he (we) had a rough couple of months. By late Feb/early March, these things started improving a lot. He absolutely adores Leah and would be in her face constantly trying to make her laugh if he could. Frankly, the feeling is quite mutual. Their personalities and dispositions really balance out well, and I can see them being great lifelong friends. What a blessing!

Here are a few updates on Isaiah:
- Spells his name quickly without a thought (cutely, he also spells his best friend's name very well: M-A-X)
- Really loves to sing and make up songs. Since January, he's taking a Pre-Twinkle music class with the Suzuki Institute. We hope to start piano lessons next year.
- He has quite a reputation for his love of books. I often pick him up from school and find him quietly "reading" a book at the table while his classmates are running around the room. He'd love for us to read stories to him all night long if we could. Recent favorites: Horton Hatches the Egg, Snow White, and the Llama, llama series.
- He loves to crawl in bed with us in the morning and snuggle if we haven't gotten up yet. Undeniably, we cherish this time.
- He really seems to enjoy helping and likes to be given big boy jobs.
- Athletic endeavors don't come real naturally to Isaiah at this point. We got him the bike for Xmas, and when we can convince him to get on it, we end up pushing rather than him peddling.
- For 2-3 months, Isaiah had a funny fetish with putting pj's on the minute he got home every day. On weekends, it was tough to get him to change out of pj's period. His favorites were the green striped ones that say "Santa's Helper", so you'll seem them in a lot of pics.

He's grown up so much and often surprises us by things he says:
- I was trying to explain how one child's mother is the sister of another child's mother, making her the first child's aunt. He responded by saying, "that just doesn't make sense."
- In the car or at home Chris and I may be talking about Isaiah, and he'll pipe up "are you just talkin' bout me?"
- His typical yes response to a question is something like "I sure do" or "it sure is"
- When Leah gets upset, he sweetly says, "hey sweetie girl. We're not gonna cry today; no, no, no...not today."

At 3 years old, Isaiah weighed in at 39.5 lbs and was 40.25 inches tall (95th percentile for both). He wears 4T in everything, though I've started buying 5T shirts, and size 10 shoes.

Sick Day Catch-Up

I'm home with Leah today while she's sick with an upper respiratory infection. I have no TV or computer (stolen last week after house was burglarized btw), and for the moment, she's happy in her swing. There's a million things I should be doing but my mind keeps turning to the blog. I've been meaning to do this for so long (I think I write that in each post now), but I never feel like I have enough time to do it justice. Oh well, here goes anyway...

Thanksgiving: we stayed home and Mom, Aubrey, and my siblings and their families (sadly minus Jared while he's deployed) brought T'giving dinner to us. Leah was just 2 weeks old, but she loved all the holding and attention. The boys had a blast together with the train set and playing in the leaves. "A fun time was had by all." :)

Christmas: we went to Middle TN the weekend before Xmas to visit my fam. Isaiah was a little sick before the trip, and Leah had it by the end, but thankfully nothing serious. We came home on the 24th and had a nice, quiet Xmas together. Chris' mom and sister's fam came in on the 27th and stayed four nights. Three families under one roof with a 6 week old was interesting, but it worked out okay.

Isaiah's b'day: we celebrated as a family for dinner on the 25th with an Isaiah-approved meal (turkey smoked sausage with sautéed bell peppers, go figure!) and cake-pops. We got him a big-boy bike with training wheels and more pads and protective gear than I had my entire childhood ;). We had a cowboy-themed party for him with family and friends at Chick-fil-a on Jan 5th. It was a bit crazy but a lot of fun...clearly word leaked out that Isaiah is obsessed with horses.

I'll post separate updates about the kids themselves. Here are some pictures from T'Giving on: