8 weeks - really??

I guess it's natural when you have your second child to compare him or her to your first. I'm so glad that I started this blog when Hunter was born. Since I haven't done nearly enough scrapbooking like I had intended to, this blog allows me to go back easily and find old pictures or figure out when Hunter did this or that for the first time.

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So when Hunter was 8 weeks old, he had hardly ANY hair!! Look at him!!

Hunter also started sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, which I can't actually find on the blog, but I am about 99% sure that was the case. And Jenna is following suit so far. In the last 6 days, she has slept "through the night" 3 times. The last two nights, she has gone down for the night between 9:30 and 10 and woken up the next morning at 5:15 on the dot. I'm about to wake her up for her last feeding tonight and we'll see if she does the same. So far, today's schedule has been pretty much identical to yesterday's so hopefully, we are on a roll here!!

Jenna - 8 weeks

We received a beautiful crocheted blanket from my sister's grandparents-in-law (is that right??). Anyway, my sister obviously has very nice in-laws because they make stuff for us and send it unexpectedly so I get surprised when I go to the mailbox!! Thank you Nanaw and Papaw. (Maybe this is obvious, but the pics below have the blanket as Jenna's "prop.")

I thought the next one looked like she was taking the picture of herself - you know how you hold the camera out in front of yourself to take your own picture?

And the next one reminded me of a commercial I've seen, or maybe it's a magazine ad...something about her expression...

I really wish I had Windows Live Writer on my laptop. I like how I can do the larger pictures with that program. Plus, I don't have any good picture editing tools on this computer either. Oh well - maybe next week.

Pa-Daddy came to visit last week and I snapped a couple of pictures of him with the kids. Hunter wanted him to read to him for an hour and Pa-Daddy was very patient and made it through the Pooh book (which is very long and I'm surprised every time I read it that it keeps Hunter's attention the entire time).

Jenna - 7 weeks

I couldn't decide which pictures I liked best, so you get to see all my favorites. The first one was manipulated a bit, which you might be able to tell. It kinda glows...

And in the basket...
My sweet baby girl...

And her silly little grin!!

Gotta love her!!

Lots of Firsts

I promise I’m not a bad momma and I did give sponge baths the first 6 weeks of Jenna’s life – I just didn’t take pictures necessarily.  Since her umbilical cord didn’t come off until that 6 week mark, she hadn’t taken a full blown bath until last week.  Oh man, does she love the water!  She loved looking at herself in the mirror and moving around.  Hunter helped give her a bath this weekend too – so much fun.  We take baths pretty often now since the poor little girl keeps throwing up all over herself.  (And I’m working on my video making abilities, so I’ve put a song into this one.  I hope it works because I LOVE this song.)

Jenna also started smiling last week.  Sometimes its a random smile, but I can usually get her to do it if I tickle her face (aka poke her in different places while making funny sounds).  This usually instigates Hunter wanting me to do the same to him, which is actually what we used to do when he was this age to get him to smile on command. :)  Capturing a picture of her smile in its full splendor has been a little tricky though.  This is the best I’ve done so far.

We also ventured out to church yesterday, so Jenna had her first visit to the church nursery.  I’m guessing most folks take their newborns into the sanctuary with them based on the reaction of the lady up front when I said Jenna was only 7 weeks old, but I figure I was in the nursery at 2 weeks old, so my daughter can go before 3 months (which is apparently what is typical).  And would you believe they didn’t break her???  They may have kissed her a zillion times, but no harm done.  And Hunter moved up to the 2-year-old class.  We missed promotion Sunday in August, but he went to his new class with no trouble and I believe got to wear a firefighter’s hat, so he was a happy camper when we picked him up.  We managed to get them together in some pictures once we got home and got some food into their tummies.

 

I like this last one best because it looks like Jenna was telling Hunter a story or something that was keeping his attention, when in fact, I just told him to look at her.  LOL!

Random Hunter Update

My little Mario Williams was disappointed with the Texans this past weekend (not quite as upset as Daddy was though), but you'd never guess it with some of the smiles he flashed at the camera on Sunday. He sure likes his pudding, even though it makes his teeth look disgusting, at least in this picture.

And he figured out he could put these "bead" things on all of his fingers this weekend. We used to just do one finger and he and I would have "finger wars" with them on, to see who could knock the others off (I always win, of course, because he's laughing so hard when we play this game that he doesn't realize he's supposed to fight back). He gets a bit frustrated when trying to put the fifth bead on his finger because there's no room, so I have to help him out.

An update on school - we are now dropping Hunter off at the door at school with Mr. Dave and Hunter doesn't fuss at all. He likes Mr. Dave and as long as I stay put in the driver's seat, he seems to do fine. I love that we have the option of dropping him off and picking him up at the door so that I don't have to get the baby out every time. Makes for a much easier trip. And I don't think I blogged about this yet, but Jenna got moved up on her start date at Lakewood Montessori. She wasn't going to have a spot until April, so I was going to have to drop 2 kids off at 2 schools - someone dropped off the list though so she gets to start in December! YAY!!! That will make the morning routine and travel time to work a lot better!!

Jenna – 6 weeks

It was a rough day! I took this picture right after giving Jenna a very quick bath after she let loose her late afternoon meal, but we had to get right into the car to go get Hunter, so her hair was still wet and curly. This was the best I could do for a picture on such a hectic day. Started off with contractors to put in a new AC filter system (trying to cut back on the allergies in our household), then a nice drive to the med center for my 6-week checkup (all is good in the world), and then another nice drive up to the Woodlands to Pottery Barn Kids to pick up our new activity table and storage bins (which will be put together tomorrow). And feeding baby Jenna every 1.5 to 2 hours along the way if you can imagine.

Baby Jenna may have reflux – we will find out when I take her to the doctor tomorrow. She’s been throwing up at least once a day and exhibiting other signs of reflux. Luckily, she’s only suffering during the daytime, it seems – she still sleeps great at night.

Jenna finally lost her umbilical cord today too. Can you believe that?? 6 weeks!! I thought Hunter’s took a long time, but this has to be a record.

A few more pictures…

Aunt Loyce and Uncle Dunk came to see us last weekend, thanks to Uncle Brad for bringing them by.  Unfortunately, Jenna was covering her face in this picture, but otherwise it is perfect.  Hunter had a great time playing ball with Uncle Brad and Uncle Dunk.  Thanks for coming to visit!!

And I need to take pictures of more of his hats, but here is one of Hunter in his “Queen Car” hat and nothing else!  His Pa-daddy gave him a handful of hats for his birthday and I’ve been meaning to get pictures of him in them.  I’ll try to get some more in the next week or so, or maybe have Hunter pose in them with his Pa-daddy when he comes to visit next weekend – yay!

And Uncle Brad came back on Sunday on his way back to Round Top with MORE gifts.  The man can’t help himself but to spoil my kids!  He brought pillow pals for both kids, and I was SO excited because I want to buy one every time I pass the little kiosk in the mall.  Hunter got a horse and Jenna got a cow, because Uncle Brad is determined to make my kids into ranchers.  They are ADORABLE and soft as can be.  Love them!!  Thanks Uncle Brad!

Another spectacular gift came this weekend, but it came in the mail.  My sister’s mother-in-law, Terry, is very talented with cross-stitch and to ensure Jenna got equal love as what Hunter received, she did a birth announcement for her.  I need to find this frame so that I can have at least 2 more in her room.  It’s beautiful and we are very grateful to Terry.

Isn’t that frame beautiful??  And a detailed view of the cross-stitch below.  I just love the lettering she chose.

Hunter Pre-Montessori

Hunter has been accomplishing more and more each day, which made me realize that I need to write down some things he is capable of doing so that I can compare notes later in the year and see if they are continuing to develop him at the rate he has been developing at Kids R Kids.  So, here is a laundry list of Hunter’s accomplishments to date.  And make sure you get through at least #3 because the video is probably the best I’ve ever gotten of Hunter in action!

1.  Counts to 10 (and 11, 13, etc. sometimes)

2.  Remembers words from some of his favorite books so that he can “read” them himself.  Examples:  Elmo book (Mommy & Daddy take me to the water park, Elmo go to sleep), “Daniel book” (Daniel loves God, Daniel trouble, Lions, Hooray), 5 Little Monkeys (both “Jumping on the Bed” and “Sitting in a Tree” – bed, head, said, bed and SNAP, oh no, where is she?, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), Hop on Pop (Red Ned Bed, fall off the wall, Pat sat on cat, Don’t sit on that, hop on pop – stop!).  Hunter absolutely loves to read books – he would probably let us read to him hours and hours each day.  He also tries to use it as a tool to stay up later at night, but has gotten pretty good about just picking 2 books out when I ask him to.  He still wants to throw Daniel Book in occasionally.

3.  Sings songs (this is brand new within the last two weeks or so) – Twinkle Star, ABCs (he leaves 3-4 letters out), God Our Father (had to ask his KRK teachers what the words to this one were because he was trying to teach me and I couldn’t understand “Thank you for our blessings” because it sounds more like “tank gaskins.”  He obviously doesn’t understand the words, but he’s mimicking very well.)  And he also says occasional words with me in Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man.  He also asks us to sing “Pa-daddy” songs because when we are in my car, he gets to listen to his Pa-daddy’s old gospel albums from when my dad was an adolescent.  (So I started this post last week, and since then, Hunter has proven he can sing Amazing Grace – like, we’re talking the whole first verse.  And I got some of it and some other songs on video – this one is a keeper!!)

4.  Recognizes some shapes – circle, triangle, square.

5.  Favorite cartoon is by far Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and he loves to say “Oh toodles” and “Cheers” when they are using the Mouseketools.  Favorite movie so far has been Shrek, but we don’t do movies very often – just in the car really, and we don’t take many long trips that necessitate putting the DVD player in.

6.  Art – does well with Play-Doh, crayons, markers.  Favorite is Play-Doh.

7.  Sports – Hunter throws a ball well and also kicks a ball very well.  He can throw a ball into his basketball hoop and also hit his ball off his blow-up tee with his blow-up bat.  None of this is consistent, but he definitely enjoys his sports and knows the difference between a football and a baseball.  Hunter LOVES to run and play outside, and as seen a couple posts back, loves to play in the water.

8.  Language – Hunter is speaking very clearly.  He understands most pronouns and puts together complete sentences easily.  He understands prepositions and descriptors like in, out, under, over, up, down, etc.

9.  Memory – A lot of the stuff up above is attributed to this kid’s incredible memory.  Books, songs, routines, etc.  He will tell you what happened at school that day, who bit him or what he learned.

10.  Potty training – He will sit on the potty, but has a difficult time climbing up onto it using his step. He has gone tee-tee on the potty a few times at home and went occasionally at Kids R Kids.  He went poo-poo on the potty last Wednesday morning, actually, and no, I’m not attributing this to his new school – I was just changing his diaper and noticed he hadn’t done much when usually it’s FULL.  So I told him to sit on the potty to finish – I think his tummy was hurting because he was kind of clenching before I lifted him up there and then out it came.  So it was kind of an accident, but we celebrated excessively.  We will be doing “Potty Training in One Day” within the next month or so because he’s supposed to be wearing big boy pants in his new class – they’re kind of cold turkey at this school, which I like, but I want to do it right to minimize the accidents (and laundry!!!).

Jenna – 5 weeks

Man, she’s pretty. A lot prettier baby than I was at 5 weeks (see below). Sometimes I think she looks like me, but when I look at that picture I realize I just was not cute at this point in my life. It got better with time though, I promise.

And here she is wrapped up in her Miracle Blanket, aka the straight jacket. She loves it though…absolutely LOVES it!

Water Park!!!

Hunter used to LOVE talking about water park day at Kids R Kids. At first, he wouldn't go play on the splash pad at school, but once we started getting the little blow up pool out at the house and letting him play in there, he started participating at school as well.

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So we have a splash pad in our neighborhood. The last time we went, it wasn't quite working right and only one level of the water spouts were working - the fierce level! He wouldn't really participate - this was before he had done water park day at school. We took him today and thought we might have the same problem. But then God intervened - there is one area in the splash pad where a bucket fills up and then dumps out on whoever is under it. He was just walking around and BAM! It got him full on!! Didn't even freak him out actually(scared me a little bit though) - and then he was game for anything. He had a blast and Daddy caught a couple of pictures on his i-phone. Wish I had remembered the video camera so that we could have captured how incredibly happy he was. It was a blast, and Jenna stayed asleep in her stroller til the very end. What a cooperative little girl.

Miserable

Looks pretty miserable, eh?

Hunter and the Three Dwarves

Today is Hunter’s first day at his new school, Lakewood Montessori.  He was so excited that he woke up around 3 AM chanting “I want to go to school, I want to go to school.”  Thankfully, he went back to sleep when I picked him up from the floor and put him back in his bed.  Here are some first day pictures.

                  

I didn’t get a picture of his new backpack unfortunately – it’s Lightning McQueen and he picked it out this weekend.  He was SO proud of it.  We got to school right before Hunter’s friend Landon came in, so Landon’s mom (who I was very happy to see again) came in to say hello and then took the two kids back into the other toddler room where they eat breakfast so that I could talk to Hunter’s teacher.  When I finished and went back to the other room to say goodbye, he was sitting quietly at the table with his new friends and Landon, eating his cereal and drinking his milk.  He gave me a kiss goodbye and off I went.  No issue whatsoever.  Hopefully, I hear that he had a terrific day and made lots of new friends!  Will find out soon enough!

And here are some pictures of Miss Jenna at 4 weeks, with captions telling you which dwarf she was trying to look like…

Sleepy

Grumpy

Sneaky

Uncle Brad came into town this weekend and got to meet Jenna and get some good playtime in with Hunter.  (Thanks to Uncle Brad for the blanket used above as Jenna’s backdrop.)  Here are a couple of pics from that event.  If anyone knows a good way to get rid of glasses glare in pictures, please let me know.  Tried to retouch with Picasa and couldn’t get anything to look good…

 

And how precious is this photo shoot?  This was last week, Friday, I think, and she’d just had her bath and was very alert and pleasant, so I took full advantage of the opportunity.

 

   

Thanks to the Fowlers for that Princess towel.  A very nice prop and backdrop for Jenna’s photo shoot.