Weekend Review

We had a great weekend.

Friday night I hosted book club.  This month we read Big Mama's book Sparkly Green Earrings.  It was really good.  We all enjoyed it because most of the book was right in our season of life.

Barrett will not take a pacifier.  I've tried several different kinds and he's just not interested.  He will suck on his fingers and hands.  Friday I caught him sucking his thumb, it was pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen!  It probably won't be cute when hes in the 5th grade and it's costing me thousands of dollars in orthodontic work. I try not to think about that. Ally apparently misses my baby bump, she jumped right up in Natalie's lap and propped her head on baby Emory. It was pretty cute!
Saturday, we went to Ava's softball game.  Barrett fell asleep in before we left.  He's getting really good at going to sleep when he's tired.

Saturday night Patrick and I went to a wedding.  It's the first time we've had a date night since Barrett was born.  Patrick's parents kept him and he did so good.  We missed him so much though.  

My camera was set on something weird. Lauren was the Matron of honor.

This is what happens when my mom has the camera.  She starts just taking pictures and my sister is the master of creepy photo bomb.

Sunday we went to church and lunch at Mom and Dad's.  It was a rainy afternoon.  We all took a nap while it rained.  Perfect ending to the weekend.

4 Months

Barrett,

One third of your first year is behind us.  I can hardly believe it.  You are not longer our fragile little newborn.  You are holding that head up like a champ and seem so much more like a baby than an infant.  Your little personality is starting to show and so far you are happy and easy going just like your Daddy. 

• You weigh 13lbs 12oz (25th percentile)
• You are 24" tall (long?) (also 25th percentile)
• Your head measured 16.5" (50th percentile)
• You got a clean bill from Dr. Farr
• You're still wearing mostly 3 month clothes and some 6 month dressy clothes.
• You're still wearing size 2 diapers.   
• You still nurse every 3-4 hours.  When you take a bottle its usually 4-5 ounces.
• I'll be honest I didn't love breastfeeding at first, but now that we've gotten more comfortable I really enjoy the quiet bonding time we get to share. 

• Sleep has been up and down this month.  At 15 weeks you were sleeping 10 hours straight.  You did that for about a week and a half every night, then every couple nights you'd wake up once. I'd nurse you and you'd go back to sleep.  Now you are up once every single night.  You usually sleep 6 or 7 hours and then wake up, eat and go back down for 3 or 4 more hours.  I'm not sure what happened.  Last night you were up twice, you never slept more than 5 hours.  I don't know what I did btu I wish I knew how to fix it.
• You usually go down between 8:00 and 8:30 and are up for the day by 7:30.
• You've gotten in a pretty good nap routine.  You take 2 good 1.5-2 hour naps most days and then a little cat nap in the afternoon.
• We tried crying it out again around 14 weeks and it worked.  Way better than the last attempt.  I think you were at a really good age.  The most you ever cried was 20 minutes.
• You nap great at work.  
• We're still swaddling you but you usually get your arms out so you can suck on your hands.

• You started rolling from tummy to back.
• You started laughing out loud and it is the sweetest sound I've ever heard.  
• You've found your hands and they are always in your mouth.
• You've also found your voice and you "talk" all the time.
• You can support yourself on you legs with us just holding you for balance.

 

• We celebrated your first Easter.
• You are doing great at work.  You have your pack & play that you hang out in.  
• You watch tv.  Like really watch it.  You love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sportscenter (seriously) and you've watched Baby Einstein some too.
• You're so ticklish.  We tickle you all the time so you'll giggle.  You're ticklish on the back of your neck just like Mommy.

• Everything goes in your mouth. 
• You will not take a paci but you suck on your hands, fingers and thumb all the time.
• You're starting to really notice Ally and you'll try to grab her hair.  She is so good with you.  She brings toys over to you just hoping you'll play with her.  It won't be long.

• We seem to spend more time in the cry room at church than in the church.  It doesn't matter what time I feed you, you always want to eat while we are there. 
• We have taken you out to eat a few times this month and you've done well. 
• We're finally more comfortable taking you out and about, plus the weather has been so much nicer this month.
• You rode in your big boy stroller for the first time and loved it.  You're still a little small for it but you like it so much better than the car seat.

 

This has been my favorite month so far.  (I think I say that every month)  Hearing you laugh and "talk" has been the best sound.  If either of us are having a bad day that laugh will completely turn it around.  My favorite time of the day is when you wake up in the mornings or from a nap, you are so happy and just smile and smile when we get you out of the crib.  I always knew I would love my child but I could never have imagined the love I have for you.  It is often times overwhelming.  Some terrible things happened in the world this month and it made me want to keep you cuddled in my arms forever.  I want to always do whats best to keep you safe and help you succeed in this often times crazy world.  I hope that you always know that. 

We love you more than you'll ever know!

Toomer's Trees

Let me start this post with, I am a Bama fan through and through.  I love the Crimson Tide.  I hope that Barrett follows in my footsteps and walks across that stage at Coleman Coliseum.  As a Bama fan I was not proud of the chump that poisioned the trees no matter how dumb I think the rolling tradition is.  My husband is a die hard Auburn fan.  He wanted to take Barrett to see the "final rolling" of the Toomer's oaks.  I'll be honest, it wasn't my first choice of things to do but I agreed to go to the land of the orange and blue. (Have I mentioned how much I truly dislike the color orange?)  I was excited to spend the day as a family even if it was in Auburn.

 

(I apologize in advance for the iphone photos, I didn't carry my big camera)

 



I even made Barrett this cute little shirt with a tiger on it for the occassion. We used the big boy stroller and he loved it. We didn't go to the spring game and I'm glad we didn't.  We went straight to the corner and the trees before it got too crowded. It was a beautiful day to be outside.
This is a terrible picture of me but our little family as close as we could get to the corner after the game. The Horton boys. Patrick and Barrett outside the stadium.   It was a fun day.  Barrett traveled so well.  He slept almost all the way down there and most of the way home.  I love seeing how happy Patrick was to share something that he loves with his son even if he doesn't get to go to Auburn as much as he'd like.  It was fun spending the day with my boys.  It's getting easier to get out and about with Barrett.  He's becoming more predictable and so easy going.  I see more family days in our future.

Wordless Wednesday

Photo Dump

We are in the thick of "sign season" at work.  So here are a few pictures until I have time to write a real post.

Sweet boy was still tired before work one morning. We are really working on having him put himself to sleep instead of being rocked. II  (which I still so sometimes, I can't help it.  If we've learned anything this week, it's rock you baby to sleep if you want.  You're not guaranteed tomorrow)  I think it's paying off.  He fell asleep on the table at work. So far, he's doing pretty well.  As long as I put him down before he's overtired he usually only cries for a few minutes. This is his set up at the office.  Not to bad if you ask me.  He's got an ipad to watch Mickey Mouse.  I also take my boppy pillow to prop him up some.  Ally doesn't really stay in it with him. Sunday, my mom hosted Bunko at her house and she wanted me to hang around so the ladies could see the baby.  Barrett was so good but he couldn't stay awake another minute. Yesterday Barrett had some company at the office.  Keegan came for lunch and wanted to watch Mickey.  Barrett was so excited to have a buddy in the pack n play.  He just laughed and smiled at Keegan.  It was pretty sweet!  Keegan is getting a baby brother in August and we can't wait.  I have a feeling these boys and going to have a blast growing up together!

Softball

Ava is playing softball this year for the first time.  I've only been able to go to one game so far but it was so much fun watching her play.  She has already learned so much.

The Saturday before Easter we all went to Ava's game.  It was so much fun to all be there to support her.  She scored a run, when she crossed home plate we were all cheering so loudly I think she was embarrassed (but loved it).

I love this sweet girl so much.  I love seeing her do something that she really enjoys and wants to learn and get better. 

Weekend Fun

We've had a great low key weekend.  The weather is finally beautiful and I think it's here to stay (although its supposed to storm this week).  We tried to enjoy it as much as we could. We got take out Friday night and watched a movie after we put Barrett to bed.  

Saturday Patrick was off work and we got to spend the whole day together.  We washed my car and then did a little shopping and errand running.  Simple stuff that we never really do together but it was fun! I spent some time enjoying the sun on the deck reading.  For book club this month we're reading "Sparkly Green Earrings" and I'm enjoying it so far.  It's a really easy read. Patrick had to work Sunday. :(  Barrett and I went to church and then to mom and dad's for lunch.  He was so happy and smiley.  He did get fussy toward the end of church but I'm not complaining.  He rolled over for everyone to see.  He's just so stinkin cute! Nonna Donna came up to see him.  He was fussy but he snuggled up to her and went right to sleep.
He looked so handsome for church and I wanted to get a picture of his pretty blue eyes in his blue outfit.  It didn't happen.  We enjoyed the afternoon on the deck at mom and dad's with John and Hope until it was time to go home.  It was a great weekend, I'm looking forward to work.  It's officially sign season and we are busy busy busy.

14 weeks

I couldn't think of a better title, forgive me.  We've had a great week. The weather started pretty crappy and turned beautiful just in time for the weekend.  Barrett is 14 weeks old this week.  It doesn't seem as old to me if you say 14 weeks instead of 3 and a half months.  :'(  He's growing so fast.  He started the week with a bang and started rolling tummy to back on Monday.  He did it several times in a row and I was able to record it but he hasn't been real interested in doing it since then. 

I love this picture.  We were relaxing on the deck one afternoon. He looks so cute in his sunglasses from the Easter bunny! We got to go to dinner with some of our good (childless by choice) friends.  I was so nervous that he was going to be fussy and reinforce that they'd made the right decision to not have kids, but he was so good.  We went to Buffalo Wild Wings and he was mesmorized by all tht TVs.  He barely made a peep.  At one point Tony looked over and said, "He hasn't made a peep, I kinda forgot he was even here!".  He's been sleeping so good.  Now that I've typed that you'll be up every hour tonight.  He's been sleeping mostly 10 straight hours, there have been a couple nights he's woken up but he usually goes right back down. Ally gets so jealous when Patrick gets in the floor and plays with him.  She doesn't mind to much when I'm down there but she hates Barrett getting Patrick's attention.  She always brings toys to them for someone to throw.    We've been so busy at work but he's doing great.  He just hangs out.  We started letting him cry it out for nap time and he's doing great.  The first time he cried about 20 minutes but it's getting less and less each time.  Sometimes he doesn't cry at all, most of the time he'll cry anywhere from 5-10 minutes and then be out.  I'm so thankful I can just put him in his crib and let him sleep! It's been a great week, we're looking forward to another week of great weather.

Wordless Wednesday

Barrett's First Easter

 

We had a wonderful Easter weekend.

Saturday started pretty early, we all went to Ava's softball game.  More on that later.

After the softball game we went to my Grandmother's house for lunch.  I love going to my grandmother's on Saturday because we can spend a lot more time with her and we aren't rushed to get to the next place.

Here we are hunting eggs.  We were pitiful this year.  I only found one egg but I didn't feel so bad because John only found one too.  No you aren't seeing double, Hope and I were wearing the same shirt. 

We thought it was pretty funny!

I promised Barrett we would dye eggs when we got home.  He could barely contain his excitement.  I started with a dozen eggs, I ended up with 7 to dye.  I'm awesome.

 

His Daddy loves him!

 

The Easter bunny came to see him.  Again he was so excited.  I love his sleepy little face.  I have to add that he slept 11 hours straight Saturday night.  It was the first night since he was born that I got 8 straight hours of sleep and it was glorious. 

My little bunny.   

 

I promised mom that we would get a family picture Christmas morning.  Well since my water broke and we ended up having a baby Christmas morning, I promised we'd get a family picture Easter morning. 

 

All the grandkids.  Porter got sunglasses in his Easter basket.  He wore them all morning.

Our family.  I love this picture.

Ally Bama got to go to Nana's house for the first time in a few weeks.  She was thrilled.

I love this picture of my parents with Barrett. The look on Ally's face is pretty priceless too.  Bless her heart, she's still not quite sure what to make of all the attention Barrett gets. 

We went to Patrick's parents for dinner as usual I didn't take a single picture but we had a great time and everything was delicious.