Overdue Update

Our bundles of JOY

I apologize for such an overdue update!! Time seems to slip away with two parents working and 2 little ones that keep us busy but always happy. Life has been wonderful but in superfast mode since Little Man arrived. The Fall is full of events with season tickets to A&M Football, birthdays to celebrate, tailgating with friends on the weekends, Halloween, etc..and the list goes on!! Joe and I were joking how we are supposed to rest up during the weekend but it is quite the opposite for us right now. Sleep is definitely a luxury right now but our two blessings are so wonderful.

Not sure what John's hand is doing but it was definitely picture worthy!!

A family of 4 is definitely a whole other dynamic and adjusting but we have managed pretty painlessly. We are still trying to teach Alexis that her brother cannot "play" yet since she is asking why can't Baby John can't hold this and why can't baby John play with me? We are so excited about her enthusiasm to have a playmate eventually but explain to her why babies cannot do what 3 year olds can do, so she just settles for tickling him and singing and dancing for him, in which he LOVES!! He's such a giggler right now and recognizes his big sister right away. She gets a smile every time she spends time with him or plays with him. He LOVES to watch her either when he is playing on the floor, in his exosaucer or sitting up in his chair or bumbo.

Alexis wanted to pose!

Little man "talking"

Lexi is sitting in  my lap while I am filming this! :-)

So, what is Mr. John James up to?!! Quite a bit lately since he is getting strong FAST!! He is still sleeping through the night, OK, well, 7:30-5:30, wakes up to eat and then takes a long nap. If we don't get him in his jammies and a bottle by 7pm, he's toast and won't do much of anything! He still won't nap in his crib during the day but Joe and I are about nip that one! At his 4 month check-up his DR found that he had an ear infection in the left ear and fluid in the other ear! So, no shots at that appointment. Of course all this started to happen while daddy was away on business but lucky for mommy, Papa and Gigi were around to help out. John James weighed in at 14 pounds 10 ounces at his 4 month check-up and measured 25 inches long. 50% in both categories. She wanted to start him on rice cereal but since he was fighting an infection, we decided to wait after he finished with his medication. I was telling John's DR that it was so odd he had ear infections since he never ran a fever, wasn't really fussy, and his sleep patterns never changed. It's amazing but such the opposite from his sister! She would run a really high fever, really fussy and missed school. He was opposite on all accounts! The only thing I did notice was he was eating less since he was so plugged up! So, we go on the famous "amoxicillin" and our little man is back after a few days. We had to go back to the DR after 10 days of being on the medicine for a recheck on the ears and to get our 4 month shots and John had gained more weight!! Now, he was 16 pounds, 10 ounces. I couldn't believe it. I guess I'm so used to picking him up, I don't notice the few pounds here and there. He was a champ with the shots...one little cry. This weekend we started him on Rice Cereal in which he loved!! (Alexis absolutely hated it!!) He did really well so now he is eating cereal twice a day plus his 5, 6 ounce bottles. He is definitely getting stronger, rolling side to side and last night we found him on his face! So now he can roll side to side and onto his tummy but not back, YET. John's personality is very bubbly and low key.

This is what happens when you leave your sleepy 4 1/2 month old unattended on his mat while eating dinner.

Showing him how to sit up

He LOVES to giggle and snuggle but has to be around someone at all times. He will let you know when you have left him alone and he doesn't like it. He can just sit there in the mornings and just watch me get ready for work and be so content. He hates being left alone!! Alexis really didn't care. He's getting ready to sit up....his neck is solid and he can hold it up without becoming a "bobblehead". He's pretty solid in his exosaucer and can stand up in it and reach the bottom and has figured out how to bounce in it. And now that he does, he giggles when he bounces himself. He definitely can crack himself up!! It's hilarious.

This pose was comfortable for about a week..not sure why but it was so funny!

Gotta love the pink bumbo chair(Daddy doesn't!!) but he LOVES sitting in it and eating his rice cereal.

We go back December 5th for his 6 month check-up. Can't believe I am saying that! Feels like he just got here.

So..what is Miss Alexis Victoria up to?!! Well, the biggest news has to be that SHE IS DAY POTTY TRAINED!! WAHOO!! What a relief to have one done(and she had to be before she moves classrooms when she turns 3 in January) but she pretty much did it on her own to say the least. We did regress a little bit when John joined us but a few months after that, she got back into it and decided she had enough of the diapers during the day. She even stays dry at nap time. :-)  We are still amazed at how much she wants to learn. She knows her colors, numbers 1-20, shapes and some letters. But now she is starting to put things together like, "the red box has 4 sides" and the number 13 has a 1 and a 3 in it. She's really into asking us what things say, like "Mommy, what does that S say on that sign?" And she is showing more interest in writing letters and when everyone's birthdays are. She is learning the months of the year at school too. And of course we are in the "Why" phase since we are almost 3. It definitely keeps you on your toes! We have alos noticed that she is starting to play more by herself with all her many "houses" that she has. She has Dora dollhouse, a little people family house, a noah's ark, etc. (She's not spoiled) But Joe and I like to eavesdrop on her playtime since a bunch will come out about what happens at school, if someone goes into time out or if she really doesn't like someone. This one little girl at school really likes to play with her (her teachers told us they are together all the time) but when we asked her about this girl at school, she told us that she follows her around all the time and doesn't really like it! What a trip!!

She's such a ham and loves to have her picture taken and then she always asks me to "show her Alexis" on the camera. She's like, that's me!

We used M&M's to help potty train her but she loves Lollipops! This also helped us when trying to keep her ears popped on the airplane going to Tennessee. She actually let me put her hair up here!

She is quite the fashionista these days!! Here she has Papa's boots on.

And the outfit is not complete unless it has a cowboy hat!!

Papa playing his accordion for his girl...she loved this!!

Another development in Alexis's personality is she is figuring out how to get away with things such as: She asked me if she could do something the other day, I said no, and then smarty  pants went and asked Daddy who then said yes(Daddy did not know I had said no)!!! We are really having to crack the whip in terms of discliping her in regards to listening to us. She will hear us but only "halfway" do something such as: If we ask her to pick up her books, she will pick up maybe half of them and the same will go with her kitchen and all the food. She is REALLY good at making a mess but hates picking it up. But yet, she will help pick up at school. Go figure right!

Daddy is still the jungle gym...

Everytime I go to take John's picture, she wants her picture taken too...

So how are mommy and daddy doing?!! We are just trying to keep up with our kiddos. We are so fortunate for their health and all their milestones that they are reaching. Work for both of us is going really well. We have somewhat of a schedule down that seems to currently work for us. We are so lucky that Papa and Gigi live close because we have called them from time to time to pick up the kids from school since we run late and school charges a HORENDOUS late fee. We definitely try to avoid that. But as we get older and our kids get more active, we are finding ourselves going to bed earlier that we "normally" would. Alexis went through a phase in which she was waking up a few times during the night and asking for one of us so finally Joe told her that if she really needed us, to come to our room. Let me tell you how much that backfired. Miss Smarty pants found her flashlight(since she has a nightlight on in her room), got out of her bed and made her way to our room. I told Joe, that is all you since you taught her that!! That lasted for a week but it was definitely tiring waking up every 3-4 hours with her asking for us(we have 2 monitors in our room, one for each kid! Crazy!!) Thank goodness it has toned down.

School pictures are this week and we can't wait to see how they turn out!! The kids will be photographed separately but more exciting...together!! And we are finally ahead of the game..both kids have HALLOWEEN COSTUMES!!!

Stay tuned!