When it was January...

Oh, January.  It probably is my least favorite month of the year.  My little family doesn't like being cooped up inside, and we spent a lot of time inside during January.  It was pretty outside but very cold.  With Jakey still being so little, I don't like taking him to too many public places because of all the yucky sicknesses going around.  That added to us being homebound.  But with two sweet cuties to always keep me on my toes, it became a very fast month!  I used our lazy days to practice with my camera. Cooper didn't like having to "stop and smile" for the camera, but his little brother was pretty cooperative. 

I love this picture because Jake's hands are always like this.  He stares at one and chews on the other!

Everything is new and exciting to him.  He has a love for lights and ceiling fans.  

 With those chubby cheeks, I know he's ours!

 That's my boy: smiling and sucking on his precious hand!

Finally big brother decided he wanted in on the action too...

 He's a cutie and a mess and the best big brother in the world!

At three months, I finally decided Jake's cradle cap had to go.  Coop Man had cradle cap too.  At three months, I soaked his hair in baby oil, let it sit, and brushed that stuff right off his scalp.  Along with all that newborn hair I love so much.  I didn't know that Cooper was going to lose his newborn hair that day.  It was a week before Thanksgiving.  I would have waited!  The pediatrician brought up the cradle cap at Jake's two month appointment.  I told him I was waiting until after the holidays this time!  Jake's beloved newborn hair had started falling out on its own after Christmas though. Karl would torture me by rubbing Jake's head and then show me the hair he collected.  I knew it was time for the cradle cap to go, and with the hair falling out on its own, I was just going to speed up the process.  Two birds, one stone.  I soaked Jake's sweet hair, and then I brushed.  And there in the brush was the beloved newborn hair!

He still has a good bit of hair though, and his new hair is already coming in.  Mommy is in the postpartum hair loss stage too.  I couldn't remember when that happened after Cooper was born, but I definitely remember it happening.  It's amazing how much hair you lose in this stage.  If only the weight would fall off too!  Between Jake, me, and Sadie (she's shedding like a mad woman), there is hair all over our house.  

About a week after Jake turned three months, he got booted from the pack and play in our room!  He is finally sleeping in his crib, and he's done great with it!  I, however, miss him being right beside me.  I loved having him in our room.  I find myself waking up a lot on my own since we moved him.  Middle of the night feedings were much easier when I could just reach over and grab him and nurse him in bed, but hopefully we'll be weaning out those feedings (really just one now) soon anyway.  Here is our big shot after his first night in his crib!  I think he was confused about why I was taking his picture so early!

Little Man is almost three and a half.  I'm not going to lie: Three is a butt kicker.  He is old enough to have an opinion and express that opinion but obviously way too young to know what's best for him.  He knows what he likes and what he doesn't like, and right now it seems like he likes everything I don't like and vice versa.  He's learning that it's not okay to say "no" to mommy and daddy and that obeying in this house is really not an option; it's what we do.  He knows how to push our buttons, but the little stinker also knows how to seriously turn on the charm.  As mad as he can make me, I often find myself struggling to keep a straight face when disciplining.

For instance, the other day he was having a time out in his room.  When I went in to talk to him, I explained that he had been a bad boy that morning.  I asked him if he wanted to be a bad boy.  He said no and shook his head no for added emphasis.  I asked him what he wanted to be.  I was going for "a good boy."  His response: "A ninja turtle."  Yeah, well, I think he was missing my point.  Thank goodness he is a really good brother though, and I mean that.  He is wonderful with Jake.  We have not had to get on to him a single time for doing anything wrong with Jake.  In fact, he gets unto us if he thinks we're not holding him correctly or if Jake's fussing.  We're very thankful!

This picture is one of those "real" pictures.  I look exhausted and unshowered because, well, I am, and Cooper is picking his nose despite being told 500 gazillion times not to.  

 

Towards the end of the month we took Jake to Simmons Sporting Goods for the first time.  This was the first place Karl ever took me, and its a place he loves and has been going to for all his hunting goods since he was a very little boy.  It's a special place to him, and I know it will be special to the boys too. We captured Cooper's first trip there, and as we were walking out the door to go there the other day, I ran back in and grabbed the camera so we could capture Jake's first time too.  It's just one of those places.  I know my boys will spend a lot of time (and probably money) here in the years to come.  I'm just thankful they let me tag along, for now at least!

Speaking of hunting stuff, deer season ended on January 31st.  The last day of my least favorite month, and hunting plays a big part of why I don't like January.  

Welcome February!

Jake~3 Months

This baby is so sweet.  Sweeter than sugar!  He is easy, happy, loves his mama, loves to nurse (and is so good at it), and is content just about wherever he is as long as he has a familiar face to look at.  

He's super cute too.  His precious newborn hair started falling out on its own, but it didn't take away from his good looks.  It fell out even more when I finally let his hair soak with baby oil and then brushed/scrubbed off that pesky cradle cap.  His new hair is lighter than his newborn hair, and his eyes are still blue.  We originally thought they would turn darker, but they're just getting bluer and bluer.  I think he'll end up looking like Karl too, which is fine by me! I'm a lucky lady to have three very handsome boys to look at every day!

His constant smiling and cooing definitely add to his cuteness.  He's got a good personality.  I noticed this month that he gets very uneasy in new situations though.  He gets sensitive and nervous and usually will poke out his bottom lip in new and rowdy situations.  He doesn't like things very loud (which should be interesting with Cooper as his big brother!), he startles easy, and he doesn't like to be left alone.  He likes a little reassurance, which I'm more than happy to give.  

I had forgotten how precious this little baby stage is.  The way your baby looks at you with such trust and admiration.  You are their world.  Your smile brings a smile to their face.  Your touch soothes any pain or fear.  I appreciate that more this time than I did with Cooper.  I remember when Cooper's eyes were on me all the time, and I couldn't help but kiss him constantly. I love being in that stage with Jake now.  I kiss those sweet chubby cheeks all day!  

Amazingly enough, I still am letting him sleeping in the pack and play by our bed at night.  I love having him right next to me.  The closer, the better!  He takes his morning nap in his crib, but I still let him take his afternoon nap on my chest.  He's starting to get restless and has trouble finding a comfortable spot.  It makes me treasure those naps even more though. My little baby is growing super duper fast, so our naps together like that are probably not going to last much longer.  

Speaking of my growing boy, he's a big baby!  He is still in size 1 diapers but needs to be in 2s.  It's just that I'm trying to finish the 1s we have.  I feel kind of bad for him because they're obviously too small!  He wears 3-6 month clothing but that is getting small too.  He is very long and has some really chubby legs!  They are so very cute though!

Some other tidbits about our Jakey: he loves his swing, loves bath time but doesn't like getting his hair washed, still doesn't like the paci, still hasn't tried a bottle for a feeding, and he's pretty predictable.  He wakes up slowly in the mornings and stretches for a long time once he's awake.  After some good stretches, he's bright eyed and smiley.  He loves his hands and stares at them until his eyes cross.  He likes to suck on his left hand and grab at things with his right hand, but every now and then he'll switch it up.  He blows bubbles like crazy and has a steady stream of drool dripping off his chin most of the time.  With the way he's chewing on his hands and drooling, everyone asks if I think he'll cut a tooth soon, but Cooper did the exact same thing at this age and didn't cut a tooth until he was around 7 months.  Jake also loves to roll on his side.  I think he could roll over if he wanted to, but he's content on his side.  He still hates to be on his tummy and will push up and fuss, but then just lay down and smile.  I don't think he's going to be one to over exert himself!  He finds the good in things too easily!

Merry Christmas!

Tis the season to be busy, crazy, joyful, sick, excited, nice, naughty, celebratory, reflective, and exhausted!  That about sums up our Christmas season this past year.  As it is now February and I'm just now posting on December, I think you can see the truth in that!  

Here is a picture recap of our 2013 Christmas Season:

We bought a beautiful tree that we stopped watering sometime before Christmas because, well, we just plain forgot.  FYI-Christmas tree needles get really sharp when they're dry!  Taking off the Christmas lights was a rough and very prickly job this year!

Cooper and I decorated for Christmas the week before Thanksgiving since Thanksgiving was so late this year, but we didn't get our tree until the weekend after Thanksgiving, as is our tradition.  I thought Cooper would love putting the ornaments on the tree.  No.  After just a few, I lost my helper! 

When it came time to go see Santa, Cooper decided he wanted to have a 3 year old day and be a complete pain.  He didn't want to get in Santa's lap (not because he was scared, just didn't want to), and once we made him, he of course wouldn't smile for the camera.  Santa was amazing though and super patient.

It was one of those times where you feel your blood pressure rising by the second.  Finally I told him to just get down (after telling him that he was in jeopardy of being put on the naughty list and that he would not be getting one of the delicious donuts with sprinkles they were passing out).  I was able to get some really sweet pictures of Santa and Jake though.  

In fact, Santa couldn't get enough of Jake and offered to hold him while I walked around the store and shopped.  He was loving this sweet baby!  Jake was definitely on the nice list!

While I shopped a little, Karl talked Cooper into getting on Santa's lap.  In the mean time, Jake had his first blow out dirty diaper.  Awesome timing.

"It" was only a little bit on his clothes, and I really, really, really wanted a picture of Santa with both boys.  So...I did a horrible thing and gave Jake back to Santa.  Karl was really mad at me for doing that.  I know it was wrong, but Jake is strictly breastfed, and he was only 8 weeks old, so how nasty could a little, tiny bit of his poop be?!  It was basically dry on his clothes at that point to because it was such a small amount.  Guess I deserve to be on the naughty list too!  What made it worse was that Santa was so happy to have Jake back that he kept holding him and coming up with new picture ideas for us to take!

Then when it came time for Cooper's school's Christmas program, he decided that, once again, he would give the pain-in-the-booty gig another whirl.  He never acts up at school, thankfully, but that day he did.  In front of all the parents.  He walked to the front, crossed his little arms, and turned around with a big pouty face.  He wouldn't hold his star like all his classmates were doing.  He wouldn't sing.  He just pouted.  Karl whispered to me that he hoped he didn't start picking his nose.  He didn't.  I guess that was the positive to the program!  It was such a precious, wonderful Christmas program, and I am already looking so forward to next year's.  Hopefully next year we'll remember how to be good!  Are you noticing that Christmas was not our best behavior season this year?!

Then it was time for our annual baking day with Niecee (Karl's mom).  Every year we bake Christmas cookies together, and already it has become something that Cooper looks very forward to as well.  Pappy (Karl's dad) set up the boys' train set from when Karl and Wade were little.  Cooper was enthralled!  It blows steam, whistles, and goes various speeds.  It really is amazing (and sad) how much better toys used to be made.  

While we baked, this little helper was an absolute angel!  He sat in his rocker, smiled, and tried cooing (this was when he was first starting to coo and it took a lot of concentration and effort!).  He even took little naps too.  He was just as sweet as could be, as usual.  

And this little helper was a fantastic little baker!  He helped press out the butter cookies, sprinkle all the cookies, roll the dough for the molasses cookies, and cut them out.  He even sampled a few bites of the molasses dough (no eggs in it) to make sure it was good!  He loves to help in the kitchen, and it was so much fun having his help this year.  He worked really hard and took a lot of pride in his work!

Cooper is like Karl and doesn't like having his picture taken, and some battles are just best not fought.  Luckily Jake is too young to have an opinion on the matter, so I took advantage and got some pictures of my baby by the Christmas tree testing out the Bumbo seat.  He is really such a wonderful baby and was by far and away the best present we got this year!  

Back at the end of November I was able to get some pictures of both boys in their matching Christmas outfits though.  

 

Their faces in this picture crack me up!!

I didn't get pictures of Zoolight Safari this year or of Santa on the firetruck (we were having bad weather that day, so they went by pretty quickly), but I'm very glad I pulled out the camera on Christmas Eve because I did not do a good job taking pictures on Christmas Day.  I can't believe I didn't capture Jake's first Christmas better!  On Christmas Eve, we did a little more shopping, had a wonderful dinner with just our little family, and then went to Karl's boss's house, as we do every Christmas Eve.  Cooper was so excited on Christmas Eve, and I was really afraid he wouldn't go to sleep.  We kept telling him he better go to sleep fast or Santa wouldn't be able to stop at our house.  We got home past his bedtime, and he was still really awake and really wild! Nevertheless, after a little coaxing, our sweet boy drifted off into a happy slumber.  

As soon as I heard Cooper stirring on Christmas morning (bright and early of course), I ran in the living room and turned on the lights and grabbed the camera.  Then we rushed into Cooper's room and told him Santa had come!  His excitement quickly turned to sadness when she saw that Santa wasn't at our house still.  He didn't care about the presents; he just wanted Santa!  It didn't take long though for him to perk up and dig in to the presents!  Santa was very good to all of us this year!  Cooper had only wanted one thing: a green garbage truck.  At first I thought he wasn't very serious about this, and I didn't take him seriously.  However, it was all he ever asked for.  Thankfully Santa came through, and there was a green garbage truck!  Out of all his goodies, it was his favorite thing too!
These are the only pictures I ended up getting on Christmas.  I still can't believe I didn't do better!

We made a yummy breakfast of sausage patties and a Cinnamon Roll French Toast Casserole (sinfully delicious) and a big pot of coffee.  We visited with family throughout the day and evening, played with our new stuff, and just breathed a big sigh of relief!  Christmas was a bit overwhelming this year for this mama!  But it was very, very special.    

There's something about having a little baby at Christmas time that makes Jesus's birth more meaningful and real.  It's hard to imagine giving birth with animals around you.  It's hard to imagine the simplicity of the most important birth our earth will ever know.  There was no special "coming home" outfit to dress the new babe in.  No birth plan.  No decorated nursery.  No hoopla.  Not even a crib.  

And then it really, deeply, truly hit home with me: The beauty of Christmas is in Jesus alone.  

Merry Christmas, and Happy Birthday, Jesus!