Will // 4 Months Old

It's getting so much more fun with you little man and we are all a bit less stressed. It somewhat feels like we're getting out of the newborn survival mode and enjoying or little guy! Now if you would just stop fighting going down for naps and at night! :)

Stats:
Weight: 18lbs 2oz (92%)
Height: 25.25 inches (54%)

Changes: We moved you to your room this month!  I loved having you next to me but it's also SO nice to have our room back and not have to tiptoe every second. :) You're also starting to really hold your head up higher when on your tummy.

Temperament: We love our sweet and happy baby! You really are such an awesome little stud with the exception of going to sleep. This month you've learned to giggle and it's AWESOME to hear. Drew gets the BEST ones from you. :) Also, smiles are anytime we look at you now and you love to smile at me while you're nursing.

Sleep: We moved you to your room this month but have given up on the crib and went back to the Rock N Play. You just can't transition between the 2 levels of sleep in the crib and always wake at the 45 minute mark after falling asleep. We were using the Magic Merlin Baby Sleepsuit for a couple weeks but have since just been using PJ's in the Rock N Play. Your naps are still all over the place anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours but at night you'll go down for 10-12 hours with either just 1 or 2 wakings. You nurse and fall right back asleep which is great. Now, when we put you down for naps and at night you're literally terrible. You scream and fight going down so much despite everything we've tried. Hopefully that's just a phase and ends soon! :)

Eat: Love nursing and you're still trucking along just fine at it. I ended up with a clogged duct which led to mastitis this month and that was AWFUL. I  legit felt like I was going to die for about 12 hour there. Thankfully the meds and me popping it kicked everything but I feel like my supply has been lower ever since. You're still gaining though so that's good.

Clothes: You're in mostly 9 month now with a couple 12 month outfits

Diapers: Size 3

Talk:  Cooing all the time!

Love you little man and love watching your relationship develop with your brother and sister! :)

Ady // 4 Years Old

How in the world is our second child already 4?! And somehow, surprisingly, we really didn't see much of the 'terrible twos' or the 'trying threes'. You are so full of an adorable little personality and although you do have sassy times here and there you genuinely are a wonderful girl. You have so many friends and other kiddos just gravitate to your easy going play-with-everyone attitude. You aren't terribly girly girly and are a little leader among your peers. Also, you've taken getting a new little brother like a champ. Despite smothering him to pieces, you have been great with him and he loves to smile at you! Here are your stats:

Height: 44.75 inches
Weight: 37lbs 8oz
Sleep: 10.5 - 12 hours and is an awesome sleeper
Potty training: still in a pullup at night
Shoe size: 8 and 9
Clothing: Mostly 5T with some 4T
Food: decent eater except veggies
Liquids: mostly milk and water with some juice
Counting: up to 100 with some help here and there (also, 'thirty' is 'firty')
Shapes: recognizes the basics
Letters: can recognize all of her letters

And now for the questionnaire I do with the littles!

Favorite color: purple
Favorite doll: Barbie
Best friend: Lottie
Favorite food: Mac n cheese
What do you want to be when you grow up: Scientist
What makes you happy: Mommy
Where is your favorite place to go: Disney World
Who is your favorite superhero: Superwoman
What is your favorite show on TV: Doc McStuffins
Favorite Sport: Soccer

Happy Birthday my little sunshine! :)

 More pics from our little ice cream session...

Surviving

Man does social media make things look like they are so much more awesome than they really are. So we try to keep our kids very active. Babies don't hinder us from eating out or hitting up local fun activities, etc. But, it's hard. Very hard. So when Derek had to travel for a week to New Orleans, we had his parents drive down to help and MAN did they help. Derek has a magic touch to get William to go to sleep, but he fights everyone else. Me, Mimi and Grandpa. So this week had lots of pissed off William times but it was fun outside of those times! I just admire single parents and military parents because I just don't know how they do it! It's SOO hard and there is SO much to do! But, I digress. It was wonderful having them in town to help. We knocked off a couple things from our bucket list and enjoyed some fun in the sun!

(Also, if anyone has tips on how to get a nearly 4 month old to not hate going to sleep let me know. We've followed the Sleep, Eat, Play method and the 90 minute cycle method and everything in between. He hates pacifiers and screams his head off when he goes down despite being very sleepy and showing tons of signs that he is. And yes, we've tried doing it earlier before he's overtired and then we've tried pushing his naps farther. Nothing seems to change and it's beyond stressful to have him be so upset right before going to sleep. The worst is 8p-10p. The kid fights sleep for a good 30-45 minutes but then wakes up a short time again and we have to start the process over. It's tiring!)

My Reader

This one. He's always been my verbal baby and even though I'm biased we all think he's very intelligent. But his reading is where it's at. His Aunt gave him a collection of about 20 chapter books and he's almost knocked out about half already and loves them. We have quiet time daily (or most days) in which he can read or write or do math worksheets. He often chooses to read and prefers the comfort of our king size bed. (Plus, we now have a new mattress after sleeping on a hand me down that was probably 20 years old. It's SUPER awesome and I rarely have lower back pain when waking up. But I digress). Anyway, I LOVE seeing him soak up books, especially all of the classics and listening to him tell us about what's going on.

May he always love reading a good book. :)

Big Willy Style

Drew's new trick is holding him while standing up and although he says he's 'VERY heavy mom', he loves doing it. 

And yes, sissy is still obsessed with him.

Obsessed.

Another momma made these 'tree of life' images from a shot of Will nursing and I LOVE them. How cool are they?!

Lifetime Gym

Being the only gym that would take a 3 month old, we joined for the summer just the kids and I (since daddy gets to work out at his job). It's CRAZY expensive but a pretty awesome facility. At this point we probably won't continue on once the kids are back in school, but for now we're enjoying it while we can. We took Mimi and Grandpa to the pool this week while they were here and it was a lot of fun. Ady is too short for the slides but Drew, Mimi and Grandpa all went down! Will enjoyed staying at the Kids Academy in the air conditioning considering it's 105 degrees out this week!

Girls Nights

Derek and I are FIRM believers in date nights, both with each other and with our friends. I think it's crucial to have date nights with your spouse and we cherish each and every minute we get just the 2 of us outside the home. But I LOOOOVE me some girls nights too, especially with the awesome girls I've become friends with down here in Texas. We went out the other night to dinner, then a winery then ended with some dancing and I haven't laughed and smiled that much in a long time. Love me some girl time!

Snails For All!

Drew recently found that in our backyard we have a million tiny snails and has officially made it his mission to capture them all. Ady loves watching from afar but won't touch them in a million years where Drew feels the need to pick every.single.one up. Either way, it's just another thing to keep them off the screens so snails it is!

4th of July

We had a CRAZY 4th this year doing what felt like 97 things! First I started off the morning with 2 girlfriends running the local 5K. It was disgustingly hot and my time was the slowest ever for a PR but hey, I'm 3 months out from baby and I did it!

Next up was the local parade!

Then it was on to pool party #1 where both the kids and adults enjoyed some relaxation and beverages!

Then we made both kids nap knowing how long the day would be and it was off to our 2nd pool party after. There was even a pig they roasted all day which tasted AWESOME! 

After that we had a bit of a break before the fireworks and enjoyed our new mega bubble maker.

We ended the night with popcorn and firework watching where Will was a champ and did ok until the end. :)

Flags + Watermelon

Our little town plants flags on EVERY street each year for the 4th and this year we went out as a family to volunteer our time to help! It looked SO cool as you're driving around.

We've also eaten TONS of watermelon.