John James Baptism

Little Man in his Baptism suit furnished by his godmommy

Whew!! Trying to plan around 8 family members' schedules was a little tough but we managed to get it done so we could all see John James get baptized on Sunday, September 11, 2011. We had a very busy but enjoyable weekend. Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave were able to come and visit from Dallas for the weekend so we definitely made a weekend out of it. We celebrated Joe's birthday on Saturday in which the whole family went out to dinner, minus Alexis and John who stayed with their favorite sitter, Miss "Emmy". Sunday was the big Baptism day but short lived for Joe since his company decided to send him to Malaysia(after we planned the baptism date) for a week to attend several conferences. So he pretty much went to the baptism at 1:30 which lasted for an hour since their were 6 other babies receiving baptism as well, and then had to leave straight from church to the airport! It was a whirlwind of events to say the least but it was really nice to see Aunt Julie and Uncle Dave.

Checking out the lights as we arrived at church. Not taking any chances since he just ate with any drool on his outift. We took the bib off at the last minute!

Daddy and his princess, yep, she is wearing all sorts of mommy's necklaces!

Time for the blessing at the fountain.

Here Paul and Meredith are lighting the unity candle. They are Alexis and John's Godparents.

YAY for awesome Godparents!! We LOVE them!!

John in his baptismal "bibb" after he received all the annoitments on his chest and head. He smelled like PineTree after it was all said and done. That oil was some strong stuff! :-)

Attempting a Family picture

Attempting another picture with the Godparents, too many people taking pictures!

Definitely had to get a picture with Papa and Gigi. I love how John is checking out what Lexi is doing. Priceless!

Daddy and his little man at breakfast

Our happy ButterBall!

Aunt Julie getting her snuggles in!!

Labor Day Weekend in Tennessee

Well, we decided to be brave and travel over the holiday weekend with both kids which of course entails a LOT of packing. But since we were going with the entire family to a cabin on the river recommended by a family friend, we knew we would have a lot of help and plenty of room for everyone and all our stuff. We were definitely pleasantly surprised when we took our first tour of the 3 story 4 bedroom house that included a front row to floating on the river as well as relaxing on a balcony and listening to the water.

Seeing if the carrier fit our butterball

Little Man's first airplane ride in which he did WONDERFUL on

On our way to the cabin..having a snack

Gameroom on 2nd floor had a SKI ball machine, pool table and yes that massive big screen TV with theatre seats!! We were in heaven watching the first Aggie Football game of the season on it. The 3rd floor was equipped with a room full of tunnels in which mommy/daddy/auntie/uncle had to chase Alexis around in. We all got a workout with the stairs and the 3rd story gameroom but this house did not skip a beat with all the amenities!! The 3rd story also had an air hockey table and pinball machine. 9 TV's in this house!! CRAZY!!

Can't forget the hot tub that was attached to the house off 1st floor.

Here's the back of the house and Lexi/Uncle/Auntie are walking up the path from the river..those stairs lead to the hot tub.

The view of the back of the house.

And part of the river that we had access to. It was deep in some places and very shallow in others.

The cabin even came equipped with inner tubes...here's a smiling one...

Now goofy at the request of our silly brother-in-law Paul.

It was definitely nice to get away and spend some time with the family in this beautiful, fully stocked house with EVERYTHING!!

We hung out on the deck at night since it was nice outside

Snuggled with Auntie

Auntie even let Alexis "pull" her around

Uncle became a jungle gym when Lexi tried to get the remote away from him!!

We had just enough to do but were able to relax as well. Joe/Jen/Meredith and Paul were able to go white water rafting while Mom and Dad watched the kids. That was a ton of fun!

But everyone knows that with an almost 3 year old..we know who runs the show!! Both gamerooms were a hit with her.

She managed to play her own version of ski-ball!

Here she is using the ski ball machine as a stage!!

Lexi definitely kept busy with 2 levels of gamerooms and a river nearby to throw rocks in.

She was so active, that she could barely keep her eyes open when reading her books at night!

We weren't too far away from a nearby town called Gatlinburg which was great for dining. We were in Tennessee for Dad's birthday and managed to find a nice restaurant to celebrate at. We also went into town and did a little shopping and sightseeing.

The kids did so wonderful with being flexible, eating habits were the same and surprisingly enough, their sleep patterns didn't skip a beat. We had 4 Master suites in the cabin and Alexis got one of them and never had any issues with her "new" room for the trip. We did bring John's pack and play and were a little anxious about the first night but he did so wonderful the whole time we were there.

Chilling with mommy one morning.

Tummy time on Daddy...and he managed to scratch his face while we were there.

Look at that expression!!

Lexi hamming it up since Mommy had her camera out.

Throwing rocks with Pappa into the "stream" while waiting to be seated for our pancake breakfast.

We had a great time in Tennessee!! Joe and I were not surprised at how much work it is to travel with 2 little ones but we were able to relax once they went to bed, played dominoes, watched some football and just enjoyed the scenery!!

Here's where we stayed in the Skipping Stone Cabin.

http://twincedarcabins.com/index.html

Adjusting

Well, our Little Man is now 9 weeks old and our Princess is 2 1/2 years old and it has been one hectic ride so far to say the least!!

We are slowly but surely adjusting to life as 4...things were a bit overwhelming at first but we are getting into our groove as John gets older and establishes an eating schedule as well as a sleeping schedule.

Alexis took some time to adjust, nothing major really. She took her break in potty training(which we expected) but now we are back on track. She figured out that she wasn't the baby anymore and went through a whiney phase and put that together with the terrible 2's and you have one unpredictable little girl! You never know what will set her off!!

But as time goes by, she is realizing it's great to be the older sister and she is becoming our little helper when she can. Since "Baby John" as she calls him doesn't do much right now, she interacts with him a little at a time but will help us if we need it. She is ready for him to be walking so they can play. But she is always wondering what he is doing and where he is. She is really good about not trying to pick him up or touching him since Toddlers are one big GERM and she is very gentle with him so we are very pleased. School has also noticed a change in her demeaner and her happy go lucky attitude has finally come back.

I had to take a picture since I wasn't sure how long she would keep her hair up!! She likes to be a princess and dress up in skirts but rarely does she like her hair up.

Alexis still amazes us with her vocabulary!! It's so incredible we just can't even describe it! She knows all her shapes, colors. She can count to 20 and can recognize those numbers on a page if you ask her to find the number. She is starting to recognize which letters make which sounds! All you have to do is read her a book a few times and she has it memorized!! Especially if it's a princess one. We are noticing that she is shy at first when put into a new situation(which we thought was odd with her being in daycare) but have really witnessed this, this summer with her being in Little Gym every Saturday for 10 weeks. She's really clingy at first and then comes out of her shell but still is cautious about what she tries. She is definitely not a daredevil and we realized that she does not like being rushed into anything. And she is very particular in what and how she wants things, especially when we read books, play sticker book, or games we play before bed. Everything has to be just right!

Stealing Daddy's cap!

She loves games that involve pushing her around on things. Here daddy made up a game of pushing a couch pillow on the floor! And of course she wanted to do it over and over. We are realizing the games that take the most out of us are the ones she loves the most!

For Father's Day Lexi helped Daddy open his gifts before we headed over to my sister's house for some BBQ and swimming. We took everything over there but the kitchen sink having 2 small children but it was nice! And nice to get in the pool since it is just plain hot.  

Lexi and her crown she made at school!

John James is doing wonderful!!! We had his 2 month check up on July 13th and he weighed in at 12 pounds and measured in at 22.5 inches. Even the DR couldn't believe how much he had grown since she saw him on his 2 week check up.

We ended up putting Little Man in his room in his crib right around 5 weeks because he is a really loud sleeper and very antsy in his sleep. Joe and I were ready for him to move so we gave it a shot and we have had no problems what-so-ever! We thought why not give it a try since he really wasn't fond of his pack n play..

At first we were worried about him having a touch of acid reflux with him spitting up at random times after his feedings so the DR said to give him some Rice Cereal in his bottle after we saw her for his 2 month check up. BUT, we tried the rice cereal for 2 days in his bottles and he pretty much stopped eating, gagged on what he ate and his sleep schedule was all sorts of off. So, we were quick to take the rice out of his bottle and now our on schedule eater and sleeper is back. He's eating every 3-4 hours starting at 4am/7:30/10:30/1:30/5ish and drinking 4-6 ounces each time. If we can get some fluids in him before he goes to bed which is between 8:30-9pm, we are lucky! But he has some awake time in the evenings and then he is DONE!! At first we were a little worried about this long span of time of him not eating..he ate last at 5ish and then barely ate before bed but he will sleep a solid 9pm-4am! We have tried to get him to eat around 10pm so he would sleep longer into the morning but for some reason he likes this schedule. And a tired baby won't do anything, especially eat!

Passed out on Daddy!

But lately he has started to really "talk", coo, giggle and interact when we are talking and he can get loud! Wonder where he gets that from!

Crazy Mowhawk sleeper!!

I thought I would get more done on maternity leave but he was a little more demanding of my time than I thought. He likes to be rocked in his chair and if I would walk away from him for even a moment if he was awake, he would let me know he didn't like that at all. I returned to work on Monday, July 18th and am glad to be back. His Doctor gave him the green light to start school after his 2 month check up and Alexis was so very excited that Momma was taking her to school again(since that was our routine in the mornings before John) and also that Baby John is coming with us to school. I told the Pediatrician that I was ready to go back to work if Little man could go to school so now we have 2 in daycare! Crazy!! But so far so good with him doing OK in a new environment at school and he's still eating like a champ and taking naps so nothing has been disturbed this first week.  His teachers still can't get over how much he looks like Alexis as a baby and they claim he even has the same mannerism as her. We will see as he grows.

Life is way more crazy with two but we are so fortunate to have them and to be able to raise one of each!