First Photo Shoot

My husband (more than) surprised me with a Nikon D3100 camera for Christmas!! I am beyond thrilled and love it. I cannot wait to dive in and learn how to use the manual settings and get out of auto. However, it will be a long while before I master that.

Addy was the victim for my first photo shoot. Love her. She got pissed after the third outfit change, and it turns out her bare pictures are some of my favorite. ha! I use picnik.com to edit the pictures, just in case any one wonders. It’s free to do some of the edits and the more awesome edit tools are for the premium membership, which is just 25$ a year.

Enjoy the pictures. I do believe these will be her “3 month pictures.”

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Firsts

Adalynn and Kael were able to open their first Christmas presents of the season last night. They were from Jonah Bean!

Addy was super excited as you can tell.

Mommy was too! Thanks, Mr. Jonah. She needed some sleepers!

As Kael started to open his he said, “Is it a dirt bike or a Power Ranger, mom?” I said “I have no clue, kid. Open it and find out.”

He was determined.

The smile starting to appear.

“It’s a POWER RANGER, MOM!!!”

He seriously said “TADA!” as he ripped the last shreds of paper from the box.

And on it went.

Kids are brilliant. We had no idea how to put it together so we were looking at the box. Kael had it figured out within seconds. He knew where the parts went on the sword as soon as he saw it. He’s a true power ranger in training now!

Thanks, Jonah!!

 

Two Months

 

Dear Adalynn,

Two months have flown by with your sweet presence in my life. They have been jam packed with all sorts of fun with family, friends, and holidays.

We celebrated Thanksgiving during your second month with us and it was filled with lots of driving. Most babies sleep through car rides. You have proved to me that you do not fall into that category. You like to look around and see the sights, most of which you cannot actually see yet of course. We drove to Miami where we spent a few hours with your daddy’s family and your Aunt Kim cuddled you and your cousins loved on you. Then we drove to Buffalo where you spent the rest of the evening cuddled with your Aunt Heather, memaw, and all 3 cousins of course had to take turns.

I took you out Black Friday shopping and you did fabulous. Of course, you don’t like to be in your stroller. You want to be held and see the world, so I was ready for a nap at the end of that adventure but it was a lot of fun and hopefully will become a tradition for us as you grow older.

I love taking you everywhere I go. I call you my little sidekick. Even if you sleep through our many adventures together, I love having you near me. You are still breast fed, with bottled milk during the day. You are doing great at it and I’m enjoying every minute of it. I’m so happy that I’ve been able to produce enough and pump enough to supply your growing demand.

Your shirt may say "Wild about daddy" but this is the face you wear as soon as you see me in the afternoon!

You are getting so big with full sweet cheeks and a round tummy. You still have your daddy’s bootie (AKA non-existent), so I’m wondering if that will change with time. You have a scowl line just like your daddy and big brother and it’s so cute. I need a picture of all three of you doing it simultaneously. You are already wearing some 3-6 month sleepers because you are so long but your newborn pants still fall off your waist. They need to make belts for babies.

Loev this scowl!

My favorite time of day with you is when it’s just me and you in our room of an evening. You are normally eating while I watch an episode or two of Grey’s Anatomy and then you’ll be wide eyed for about 30 minutes where we’ll “talk” with each other. We’ve watched nearly every episode of Grey’s Anatomy since you were born. I think we have 8 left until you are all caught up. You coo and smile and make such sweet noises it turns me into mush on the inside. You love getting nose kisses and smile so big when I give them to you.

This is your spot while mommy cooks dinner or we play at the table with Kael of an evening.

I admit that I’m a baby hog and generally you are in my arms from the time I get home until the time you are in bed. I give you to daddy or put you in your swing to play with bubby of course, but overall I’m a total baby hog.

Your bubby is totally in love with you as well. He always wants to hold you when you cry to make you feel better. He loves to teach you how to hold your head up, how to swing or kick your toys in your play mats, and he loves to share his toys with you – sometimes. He gave you a little bright colored puppy last week from his toy box and you smiled so big at him when he brought it to your face to show you. Just last week he was in the floor playing with you and he got up to run off to watch TV and you cried and cried until we told him to come back. As soon as he talked to you again you stopped crying. It was so sweet!

You are eating and sleeping like an angel child. You cluster feed at night still, so you are eating just about every hour-hour and a half. You lay down for sleep between 10 and midnight and sleep for a solid 5-7 hours before waking to eat and then sleep for 3-5 hours more. You are amazing.

I love you, sweet girl. You are one of my two best accomplishments in life. The bright spot in my day. If I can’t find a reason to smile, I think of you and my heart is warmed and I can’t help but smile. Your coos and smiles reach my very soul and make me fall in love so deeply with you.

While I was carrying you inside I often worried about how I’d be able to love two children, how would it be possible to love someone as much as I love Kael? It is not only possible, but even more overwhelming in an amazing way. You have chiseled your way into my heart and made a perfect spot just for you.

 

Sweetness!

This month I’ve fallen even more in love with you, Addy. I love you, sweet baby girl. Thank you for coming to me. You were worth every minute of grief I endured last year.

Love you my little sidekick,

Mommy

Fun at Christmas

Christmas Time is here! We’ve went on a few adventures to get into the holiday spirit so far. Two Saturdays ago we went to the Rutledge-Wilson farm and Kael got to sit on Santa’s lap and meet/pet/comb the animals. He loved it! And Adalynn? She did great too. She slept the whole time. haha!

Here are some pictures from that very fun adventure.

I love how you can see the smile on his face.

It turned rainy on us so we left and headed to Toys R Us where Kael found the dirt bike of his dreams. They usually have them up high so he’s never been able to sit on it. This particular day though he wouldn’t get off and absolutely loved it. I cannot wait until Christmas morning!!

 

 

Last Friday we went to Bass Pro for their super fun Christmas activities. He got to sit on Santa’s lap and make sure he knew he wanted that black dirt bike, shoot some guns, shoot a bow (do you shoot bows? Hmm…), ride a reindeer, race cars and monster trucks, and of course see the many fish that are at Bass Pro. He had a lot of fun and so did we. Addy didn’t sleep through this though. She did great sitting on Santa’s lap and wouldn’t let go of his beard, which is real. Ouch! (Side note: I’m in love with all things Mud Pie, and that’s where Addy’s adorable Christmas outfit is from.)

 

I forgot my camera going to Bass Pro so the pictures are taken with my (crummy) cell phone.

 

 

 

 

There’s so much to do between now and Christmas. I’ve not wrapped a single present which is totally odd for me given that I love wrapping. I still have a few things to pick up here and there. I’m taking off a few days next week to enjoy this time with my kids and I cannot wait. I’ve missed my days off with them. Kael’s Christmas program is on Monday at school. I am so excited. He’s an elf and is going to sing two songs with his other classmates. My little boy is growing up so fast!

 

We are now 11 days from Christmas. Every night before bed Kael and I say prayers, and now I’m talking to him more about Jesus and who he is and why we celebrate Christmas. I know he’s too young to understand it all, but I’m hoping that by talking more about Jesus he will come to understand what this season really is all about. It’s not just about gifts and getting things we want. It’s about the best gift we’ve ever received, Jesus, and the gift of eternal life that His sacrifice brought us.

 

"Mom I'm a bad guy. Bad guys wear masks like this."

35 Month Letter to Kael

 

Where does the time go, Kael? In a month you will be three. Wow. I need to get busy on your invitations! We are having your party a bit later this year just because of all the holidays and other family plans, so I still have some time!

This month you’ve accomplished something HUGE. You are nearly fully potty trained. You tell us when you have to pee and poop and haven’t had a poop accident in, well, I can’t remember so that must be a good sign! We are beyond proud of you. The only times you have accidents are at night, you wake up dry sometimes but not nearly often enough for us to trust you in underwear all night. You also have accidents when you go outside because you get distracted. We take you every two hours if you don’t volunteer to go and you don’t fight us anymore. It’s pretty awesome to tell you “Go potty, Kael.” and you can run in there, go, get dressed, and wash your hands without our help. You are such a big boy!

 

You love to play “ball kicks” and “football catch” in the play room with us. You have a good arm, too! You are still learning and growing each month with your vocabulary. We have regular conversations with you now and I don’t even think twice about you being able to understand something I say. You know your ABCs but you still don’t recognize them or, if you know them, you don’t tell us. You have a different letter at school each week that your class focuses on, so I know you have to be retaining some of that.

You are a silly boy. You say ridiculous things to just make us laugh and laugh. Your newest thing is “Mommy and Daddy watch this.” and you do a trick – be it jumping off the couch or running around in circles and falling down. Then you say it again, “Mommy and Daddy watch this!” and do the same thing over. And say it again. And do the same thing. This goes on for 10 minutes before you move on to something else. It’s pretty cute.

This month you got to see your cousins a lot. We had your sister’s baby shower when they were all here (both sets!) and then again at Thanksgiving. Your Aunt Heather watched you one day and Uncle Jeremy watched you another and you had so much fun with all the kids. You went to Jumpmania and to Nakato’s, which I think is your favorite place to eat. You got to ride on your Uncle Don’s go cart again at Ty-Ty’s birthday dinner and at Thanksgiving. You love that thing! I can’t wait until you get your Christmas present this year.

 

I was confident throughout my pregnancy that you’d be fantastic with this baby. You reacted well to my swollen belly and loved and hugged on me throughout the 40 weeks. I just didn’t realize how much you would love your sissy. You have to kiss her before you go to school every day and before bed each night. You love to reach over and pat her head.

 

Last Saturday morning you woke up right after I fed Adalynn so I let Tim sleep in with her and I stayed up with you. We watched cartoons, played ball kicks/football catch, and raced your cars and dirtbikes. We shared a bowl of cereal and my cup of coffee (ha!). It was absolutely wonderful to have two hours of just us again. I’ve missed it, little man. When your sissy woke up, I fed her while we watched another cartoon. When I laid her in the floor and left the room for a second, I came back to this:

 

You laid in the floor beside her and I heard you saying “Sissy do you like cars or trucks more? I like cars more. They’re super fast! Umicar fast!” You kept talking and telling her all about cars and trucks and dirt bikes. It was precious.

This month you also got to see Ms. Kassie, Mr. Eric, Emma, and Melanie from your old daycare! You were absolutely thrilled to see Mr. Eric and he spoiled you with cookies and juice the whole time you were there. When I came back to pick you up you were wearing this:

You’d demanded that Melanie take off the Wonder Woman costume and let you wear it. She happily abliged. Anything for Kael. She really misses you, buddy.

Kael with Mr. Eric

 

Kael with Ms. Kassie

I love you, Kael. I know I always say this, but you amaze me more and more each month. You are growing and I just love being able to witness it. You loved putting up the Christmas tree and helping put on your special ornaments. I can’t wait to watch this season through eyes as you are at an age where you can truly enjoy the magic it brings.

“I love you. Oodles and oodles and noodles.”

“Noodles? You are so silly, mommy!”

“Yes, noodles, Kael.”

Love,
Mommy