16 Weeks Old

Next week is the boys’ 4 month checkup. They have not been to the doctor since the beginning of September so I’m excited to see their new height & weight stats. I weighed them on our home scale on Saturday which showed that they each weigh around 12 lbs.

The boys have made two more art projects since my last post – they painted with leaves and painted with their feet. My sister is so creative and so patient to do this with them. The boys both have very good neck strength so we started to put them in their Bumbo seats for a little bit each day. (A Bumbo seat is a small seat with a high back that can be used when a child has good neck control but cannot yet sit up on their own.) It’s good to use to get them sitting up and off of the back of their heads a little bit. Some days they love the seat and other days they are not so sure about it – just a new point of view of their little world.

We had a fun weekend and spent the afternoon on Saturday at Cory’s aunt & uncle’s house for a grill out. On Cory’s side of the family there were a total of 5 great-grand children born, including our boys, between May & September of this year. Cory’s aunt wanted to gather all the little ones (the oldest one being 5 months old and the youngest being just over a month old) for a picture in camouflage outfits. All of the kids did awesome for the pictures and only started to get a little crabby at the end. It was fun to see them all together and to see what a difference a few months make in a baby’s first year! We had a good time visiting with Cory’s extended family and the boys did awesome.

I had their 3-month pictures taken yesterday and they did awesome. My sister came down with me to help out during the photo session. We fed them at the photographer’s studio and then began pictures immediately after. They were both wide awake and in good moods for the first part of the photo session. After two wardrobe changes, they both got sleepy but not too fussy. We rocked them to sleep and then got a few more “sleepy” pictures in but by the end of that part they were both awake again, but very content. I can’t wait to see how the pictures turned out.

I’m also in my third full week back to work. I can’t say I’m really enjoying it much. I’d much rather be spending the day at home, hanging out with my boys. It’s hard because by the time I get home in the afternoon we get a little bit of playtime in before a short nap and then they have their last bottle of the night and go to bed.

Wyatt
Wyatt had another sleeping milestone this past Friday night – he slept from around 8 PM until 4 PM in the crib. This is the longest either of them has slept in the crib in one stretch. Wyatt has been doing better during nap times too and stayed sleeping in the crib for 45 minutes or more. I even put him down “drowsy but awake” for a nap on Saturday morning and he put himself to sleep and stayed sleeping for the entire naptime. Way to go Wyatt!!

Colton
Colton makes the cutest sound right after he sneezes. He’ll sneeze and then make this “ooooooooooooooooh” noise. It’s always stretched out and just the cutest thing (although I heard Wyatt do this same thing yesterday, so maybe he’s picked it up from Colton). On a side-note his sleeping habits are not very good at all. He doesn’t like sleeping in the crib and will only stay in there at the most 45 minutes during the day (rarely) and an hour or two at night. He’ll sleep forever in the swing or bouncer – and they don’t even have to be moving or vibrating. I think he just likes the cozy feeling of them vs. the crib mattress.

Happy Fall!

First Laugh

Both of the boys have been smiling, cooing and talking like crazy lately – it’s too cute! It’s so much fun to get these reactions out of the boys; it’s like you’re having little conversations with them.

On Sunday when we were packing up to go home from my parents’ house after the baptism & party, Cory was putting the boys’ hooded jackets on. These jackets each have a little animal on the front of them – Wyatt was wearing the one with a frog and Colton was wearing the one with a bear. After Cory put Wyatt’s jacket on he was playing with him a little bit – he held Wyatt’s hands in his and pulled up just a bit to lift Wyatt’s upper body off of the floor slightly and said “Ribbet…ribbet” (like a frog). Right after Cory would do this Wyatt would reply by letting out two good chuckles – this was the first time one of the boys has actually laughed!! It was so cute. Cory kept him laughing off & on for a bit before Wyatt decided he was tired of the game. Unfortunately we didn’t have the video camera with but hopefully we’ll be able to capture some more laughs from the boys soon.

Boys’ Baptism

We welcomed in the newest members of God’s family – Wyatt & Colton.

The boys were 14 weeks old when we had them baptized on Sunday. Wyatt’s godparents are Cory’s cousin & his wife and Colton’s godparents are my sister & her husband.

I really meant to plan it sooner than this but with a few complications trying to schedule it earlier it just ended up working out best this past weekend. The boys did great during the baptism itself (no crying or squeaks when the water was poured on their heads) and throughout the rest of the church service. They were both awake for the baptism but fell asleep in our arms shortly after and stayed sleeping through the rest of church.

We had a small party at my parents’ house following the church service. Many of our family & friends were able to make it out to celebrate. The menu consisted of hot beefs, BBQs, cheesy potatoes, pasta salad, fruit and pumpkin cake for dessert.

14 Weeks Old

The boys and I have had quite the week this past week – but we made it through it and I’m so proud of us!

Cory & Bailey arrive home today from their week-long duck/pheasant hunting trip. It was the first time I had been with the boys overnight by myself and of course the longest Cory has gone without seeing the boys. We have really missed him and are so excited to see them both today! I really have to give a great, big “Thank You!!” to my sister and my parents – I could not have made it through the week without them. My sister stayed overnight with me at our house and helped me out with the overnight feedings during the week. (I can’t even begin to tell her how much that meant to me.) The boys and I also stayed overnight at my parents house over the weekend and both of my parents helped out with the boys a ton! My dad even got up for each of the overnight feedings to help out as well – so awesome. It was the boys’ first overnight trip away from home and they did great.

I also started back to work during this past week – two days part time and then back into full time. It was really bad timing with Cory being gone at the same time I had to go back to work, but I survived!

My husband has been the absolute best since the day the boys were born, (OK, actually since the day I found out I was pregnant!!) but his absence this past week has made me appreciate him and the team we are a hundred times more. He is definitely my other half and I couldn’t imagine going through this journey of live & children without him.

Both of the boys are becoming more aware of their surroundings and taking more interest in things moving around them. They will now try to follow you with their eyes if you are close to them and then move away or around them. They are even turning their heads and looking around a little bit more.

The boys also made their first piece of artwork last week. They finger painted pictures with their aunt, who is also their daycare provider, and cousin during the day on Friday. They turned out so cute!

Wyatt
I swear Wyatt’s looks change daily. He has been filling out so much more that I can’t believe how different he looks from his newborn pictures. He loved playing with the musical play gym at his grandpa & grandma’s this weekend and worked his arm muscles so much by using his fists to punch the little characters that hang down. He’d concentrate so hard before taking a swing.

Colton
Colton loves kicking. We have a fish-themed play gym at our house that he loves. It has a small beach ball near his feet and he is constantly kicking it and gets so excited when he does. Maybe we have a future pro-football field goal kicker on our hands??!!

3 Months Old

I did not get the chance to post this last night...

Happy 3 Month Birthday Wyatt & Colton!

I can’t believe my baby boys are 3 months old today – wow, how much has changed in the 3 short months they have been a part of our family. They both have about doubled their birth weight and consistently give us smiles & laughs. This last week, they also had their first away-from-home babysitting experience. They took a trip over to Grandpa & Grandma’s house (my parents) Saturday afternoon/evening for a few hours while Cory & I attended a friend’s wedding. Tuesday we also used up the last of the newborn size diapers. They are starting to get a little small for the boys, which means it’s time to move up to the next size. We were using Pampers Swaddlers but the size 1 seems to be a big jump from the newborn size we were using. I’m trying out some Huggies Little Snugglers size 1, which seems to be just a small step up from the Pampers newborn size.

I also started back to work (part time) today. My 12 weeks of maternity leave went by way too fast – I really enjoyed being home every day with my two little guys (OK – maybe it was a little stressful in the beginning). It was very hard to head back to the office and be away from my boys.

Wyatt
Wyatt slept in the crib for 4 straight hours last night! This is a big deal because both of the boys have not liked sleeping in their crib for any length of time and usually only last ½ hour – a couple hours at a time. He slept like a champ and didn’t even fuss much in his sleep. The boys usually end up sleeping in a bouncer at night if they get to fussy in their crib. I think some of it has to do with their reflux issues and having to lay down flat in the crib but we’ll see if that improves with time.

Colton
Colton has started to take shorter cat naps during the day which last about ½ hour or so. He is up for a little bit and then sometimes goes back down for a little bit before the next feeding. He is still sleeping the same at night so luckily it hasn’t seemed to effect that a bit.