Our 3 Sweeties

 When I was taking Avonlea's 12-week pictures, Ryan asked if he could lay down next to her and be in the picture too. So, we had some impromptu Saturday morning pictures. I love how they capture the pure adoration and joy these brothers have for their sister.

A few days later, Ryan decided that Avonlea would like to hear some books. It was so sweet watching him "read" to her!

Church Baby Shower

Our church puts on a quarterly open house for all the babies born into our church families. From the 8 babies born during a 3-month period, I'd say Avonlea will have plenty of friends in Sunday School!

It was fun to see all the babies! There was certainly a theme of girls with lots of dark hair and boys with not-so-much. During introductions, Avonlea and Wyatt were smiling away at each other...it was really cute!

Avonlea with her friends: Ayla, Wyatt, Rhett, Jacinth, Wesley, Joslyn and Leo

Happy Birthday, Grandma

On Sunday, we had lunch at my Aunt and Uncle's house to celebrate my grandma's birthday. They live on the "home farm" place where my grandma lived when I was little. They are moving next fall, so it was a chance for us all to see the house once again. We had to jet out early to make it to a church event, so we didn't get to sit around and reminisce much, but we enjoyed a great lunch and were happy to be able to celebrate with my grandma.

Daddy (and Mommy) Daycare

I started back at work on Monday after taking about 9 weeks off. I think I was ready and really enjoyed getting back into a routine and seeing my co-workers. Our plans took a little bit of a loop when our daycare provider's son got sick and daycare was closed for 4 work days in a row. I ended up staying home one afternoon and Adam took a whole day off to watch our 3 kids plus Ryan's friend from preschool/daycare. We found a great college girl to cover the other 2 days. It turned out to be a decent way to transition back to work as I was able to be home to feed Avonlea everyday for lunch for a week as she was having trouble accepting a bottle. It was also good because Cohen had a bit of a cold and ran a slight temp over the weekend, so it was nice for him to just be home with limited exposure for almost a week.

Sleeping by 7:30 on a Friday after a busy week and several days of no naps.

Avonlea getting plenty of attention from our daycare friend.

Making monster cookies.

"Jingle Bells"  It was like this much of the time they were together.

Cohen: 2 years, 1 month old

It's getting harder to get pictures of Cohen, and I hope it's not just "middle child" syndrome. He's in the stage where he won't sit for a picture because he gets up to come "see it" before you even get a chance to take it!  

Cohen loves his sister and tolerates his brother. Ryan and Cohen can certainly play together much more but can also fight and drive each other crazy. Cohen LOVES copying everything Ryan says and does, which can be annoying to a 5-year-old.  It certainly expands his vocabulary though!

A few things that are funny to hear Cohen say are:

"Oh yeah, oh yeah!" when he is trying to show off

"Na-na-na-na-goo-goo" when he is teasing you (not always a good thing)

"No, mah do it" (my do it)

"No, dat's too scawey!" (for anything he doesn't want to do)

"bonka bonka" (telling us he bonked his head, which is often, followed by "my have ban-aid" (which is never necessary)

"Wook it!" (Look at whatever he is doing)

"I'm paying games!" (whenever he gets a hold of our phones or ipad, even though he rarely actually gets to play games. He has independently figured out how to play videos from the PBS Kids app, though, if he happens to find the ipad unlocked)

"My wanna pick!" (he wants to pick his own snack or cereal out of the cupboard)

"My fahwing down!" (always thinks he's falling down, even from a little stool or chair or if we are carrying him) The truth is, he is usually falling down, but it is from his running around the house in stocking feet.

"No, Nika, nuffin' dare" (every time Nika barks, he informs her there is "nothing there")

I realize this list makes it look like he has a very baby vocabulary, but he actually is quite conversational and says several long sentences. He can tell me what he had for lunch, what he wants to play, and understands our instructions. He'll say things like "I played play-doh at Danielle's house" or "I go to basketball game too!"

Cohen likes wrestling, following Ryan around, throwing things in the air, bouncy balls, chasing Nika, building towers, playing the bathtub, looking at pictures of himself, coloring, dancing, and singing. At night he likes me to sing him a lullaby and usually requests "Goodnight, my wuv" (a song from the 30's by Benny Goodman and Ella Fitzgerald)

He needs someone to lay by him in order to go to sleep in his bed which means one of us usually ends up falling asleep there around 8:30pm, but it's worth it looking nose-to-nose at this little guy in the dark as he says "Dood night, mommy."

Avonlea: 2 Months Old

At 8 weeks, Avonlea is giving us some great smiles! She is generally a very happy baby. She's still getting up at least once/night and is currently sleeping in her Rock & Play in her room. She seems to have a dry stuffy nose most of the time, but it doesn't seem to bother her much, just makes it a little harder to breathe sometimes.  

She likes her swing and will lay on her back on the floor for a while if she has something/one to look at. She is great in the car seat and will generally sleep in it through whatever event we are going to (church...and hmmm...does she actually get to go anywhere else?)

We are grateful she's stayed healthy and as you can see in the pics, she's gaining weight like a champ. At her 2 month checkup, she weighed 12 lbs. 6 oz. (70%) and measured 23.5" (86%). She did NOT like her shots, but I am pro-vaccination and am grateful for the medical care we have available. 

At her checkup (pre-shots)!

Someone thinks she's the "star' in the family.

Avonlea Snapshots

Here are a collection of photos of Avonlea between 1 and 2 months of age.

5 weeks

Smiles at 5 weeks

6 weeks

Dutch vs. Rockets basketball game

Bright Eyes

Happy Baby!

Sweet baby sleeping

New Year's Super Heroes

My sister's family came over for supper on New Year's Day. While the guys watch football downstairs and we watched the babies upstairs, Ryan, Cohen, and Saylor decided it was time for some Super Hero crime-fighting! Ryan's outfit is a "box troll"/"transformer" homemade costume but it's lasted several weeks, so who knew boxes and toilet tubes could be so much fun!

I received a cast iron skillet as a Christmas gift from work (it is a Lodge brand with our company logo "branded" into the outside of the bottom--pretty cool!). This recipe for chocolate chip cookie skillet was a huge hit for our dessert! It was nicely underdone so it was perfect with vanilla ice cream. It was even good the next day after storing in a closed container (and didn't last much longer than that because it was so good!)