Shepherd Fox Months 7-9

Where oh where does the time go? I am just plain mad about it. My sweet baby turned NINE months old yesterday, and I am in mourning every time another month passes. He is a sweet angel baby, and I can't stand that he is getting older each day. 

He is so sweet, y'all. He really is. Eli is our spitfire, but Shepherd is just so so sweet. Calm, serious, and so cuddly. He LOVES to be held, and is happy in someone's arms most of the day. 

He is so serious. Eli would smile and laugh at almost anything from an early age, but Shepherd makes us work really hard for a big belly laugh. In new environments, he gives a total stare down. 

He loves Eli. He crawls all over our house, just following Eli. On really good days, Eli will let him actually catch him. Shepherd is all over the place. He loves to crawl and pull up on anything and everything, and is constantly hitting his cute noggin on tables. He is starting to let go while standing, and I may or may not push him down to discourage him. :)

He has the CUTEST front teeth. They are like a little bunny rabbit, and have a huge gap in them, just like Eli's, and just like Matthew did. He is almost the spitting image of Matthew when he was little, but there are a few differences. Shepherd has the softest light golden brown hair, and chestnut brown eyes and the straightest long eyelashes. Be still my mama's heart. I can just see girls swooning over it all when he gets older.

He sleeps okay. He takes two naps a day now, and has pretty much dropped his cat nap in the early evening. He sleeps from around 8:30- 7 or so, and wakes up at night still to eat and visit. He is wearing 9-12 month clothes, and size four diapers. I take him to the doctor this week to see his weight and height, but I am guessing a little over 20 pounds and close to 30 inches.

This little mister pretty much skipped all baby food, and went straight to table food. We didn't start solids until 6 months and even then, he wasn't too into it, so I waited awhile longer. Around 7 months, he started eating some table food, and a few of those vegi/fruit pouches, and now, he pretty much nurses four times a day, and then eats three "meals" a day of table food. He loves everything! He has had vegetables, fruits, red curry chicken, beef stew, spaghetti, eggs, sausage balls, etc. Loves. it. all. 

He hates to be left alone, and pretty much crawls after anyone and fusses to be picked up. He loves his baths, and will splash around and play forever. He loves to babble and says dada consistently, and mama sometimes. When he hears Matthew come in the front door after work, he makes a beeline straight for him. He is pretty scared of the dogs still, and cries if they bark loudly or surprise him when inside.

Frankly, he has us all wrapped around his little finger, and makes me want a whole brood of boys. 

For my records, 

-army crawled at 6 1/2 months

-crawled at 7 1/2 months

-pulled up at 8 months

-has 6 teeth (four upper and two lower)

-says dada, mama, and heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

-nurses four times a day

-still will hardly take a bottle

-size four diapers

-sleeps 10 hours and wakes up to eat 1,2 or 3 times

-takes two naps a day

-a little over 20 lbs and 30 inches?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! Hope your holiday is well spent with family and friends--We had a great day yesterday and today will be spent decorating our house for Christmas and watching Christmas movies.

I am BLESSED beyond measure for these three boys in my life--I mean, look how cute they all are!

Shepherd Months 5-6

I am so far behind in updating about our family, but I have to try! Here's my sweet boy at five and six months. I feel like we really turned a corner at five months...he didn't just fuss all day long anymore!

He talks all the time and loves to watch everyone around him. He is very serious and makes us work really hard for a real laugh! He LOVES Eli and will laugh at most of Eli's antics.

 He is not a great sleeper, probably up every two-three hours wanting to eat. He LOVES to be held and is usually pretty content as long as someone is holding him while standing.

At six months, he got his first teeth! Two on the bottom, then two of the cutest bunny teeth on top followed- they have a huge space in them, just like Matthew's did when he was little. I love them!

(They kind of look alike here!)

He finally mastered sitting up without his head pulling him down, and he started army crawling around the room. He took his very first airplane ride (Eli's too!) to visit friends in Boston. He did great on most of the flights and so did Eli.

We tried baby food for awhile, but he really just wasn't interested, so I didn't push it. He just wanted milk, so that's what he got! He ate about every four hours, and then multiple times at night. He took three naps a day still and went to bed around 9:00. At his six month visit, this cute boy weighed in at 20 pounds and 28.5 inches tall. He and Eli could not be more different in looks right now and in demeanor. Where Eli didn't want to nurse, that's all Shepherd wants to do. Where Eli has always been giggly, silly, and loud, Shepherd is quiet and serious. They BOTH hated to sleep alone. :) Eli is already talking about how he looks forward to the day when Shepherd can play with him more, and I pray they are the very best of friends. Shepherd Fox, you are SO SWEET- we love you!

How Does Your Garden Grow

I'm not sure where my time goes these days, but it seems it's harder and harder to find the time to sit down and update this little blog. Now I feel too far behind to actually catch up! I'm determined to try though, because I do like looking back and reading about our little blessed life when my memory fails me! I came today with pictures from my mother-in-law's garden. I wish I had gotten back and taken some pics when it was at its peak because the lady can grow some veggies.

 

We love it too because we are the happy recipients of much of her labor! Every week or so we get sent home with bags and bags of fresh organic beans, corn, tomatoes, peppers, okra, lettuce, etc. Matthew and I have tried our hand at canning and pickling this year so we could save everything. I say we, but really Matthew did. I did a lot of the shelling and freezing of beans, peas, and corn.

 

Eli got to help plant some seeds while we were living there, and was in heaven playing in the dirt digging up worms. I loved the fact that he was outside and learning about where our food really comes from!

 

My mother-in-law would be out every morning before the heat of the day and every early evening until dark planting, hoeing, composting, and weeding. Matthew and I hope to have a garden next summer after we are more settled in here at our house, but it sure is a lot of work.

 

Do y'all remember Rivers? We adopted him when we were first married and my in-laws graciously fostered him when Eli was born and Rivers became a huge pest. :) They have since decided that he is definitely a pest and they are hoping we take him back any day now.

 

Eli loves to help in the kitchen and although it's much faster and easier and cleaner if we do it ourselves, we try to let him help when he can, knowing that it's all a learning process for little ones, and frankly, good for them to help and spend that kind of time together! We love cooking good food, and we want our boys to like it too. I hope their wives will thank us one day. :)

 

We were just sent home last night with another big bag of jalapenos and Matthew has learned to make a great jalapeno relish recipe, so sometime this weekend we will be canning our last batch of veggies for the winter. I hope to at least plant a little lettuce, kale, and spinach garden this week and have some greens for this Fall too. Lots to do every weekend and not enough time as a family to do it! Matthew and I talk many times about how we wish we could just hunt and grow everything our family needs to eat and cook great meals together- but still have my Starbucks. :) Hope y'all are enjoying your weekend--I hope to get back here soon to update about our new house and our growing boys!

Shepherd- Months Three and Four

 

 

 

 Let's catch up, shall we? Shepherd turned four months old on July 7th, and has such a sweet personality! He loves to talk and coo to us and loves to laugh and giggle when he is tickled. He is loving putting everything in his mouth and drooling all over the place!

 

He has started blowing bubbles and can roll from back to front...now he only likes to sleep in his belly, which gives me mini panic attacks when I find him smashing his face into his bed!

He is napping in his crib in his new room! but still sleeps beside me in bed at night. I KNOW I need to move him to his bed at night, but since he wakes up so many times and only want to eat back to sleep, it's much easier for me if he's just right beside me! I'll have to work on that soon. :)

 

He still can't have any dairy, and has a very sensitive tummy to many foods. I am still mourning my iced vanilla lattes and cheese, but know it's worth it for him to feel good. Month three was a big one for me b/c Shepherd finally took a bottle!! Amen! I had a baby shower I was hosting, and left my MIL with whatever I could find. He wouldn't take the Dr. Brown's bottle I have 20 of, but I found one Playtex bottle with a drop in liner I never used with Eli, and left that, along with formula bottles just in case! When I got home, he had drank out of the Playtex one! I was so happy to know if I have to miss a feeding, Shepherd will eat for someone else!

 

He is taking three naps a day- a morning, afternoon, and a catnap. He is up a lot at night--sometimes twice, sometimes four times...just depending on how he's feeling that night.

 

He is still keeping his cute rolls, and is getting bigger every day, probably from all the night time eating he's still doing. :)

 

 

Month four has definitely been a harder one for me. Although I've figured out his dairy problems, he still will have bad nights over other foods too that I'm not even sure what I ate to upset him--he will just cry and cry and just wants to be walked around the room at night.

 

He LOVES to be held, and does not like being put down or left alone at all. He might last all of ten minutes on his play mat or in the swing, and then he cries and cries until someone picks him up. I'm afraid he's a tad spoiled since the first three months of his life, we lived with grandparents and he was held anytime he wanted to be! I am getting some serious arm muscles carrying around my 17 pound baby!  

 

His doctor said he looked perfect, of course, but we might want to try some rice cereal if he's acting like he is still hungry. I didn't have any plans to start any food until six months or so, but I might try a little to see if it helps him sleep a little more! I am ready for a little more sleep around here!

Easter 2013

Not only is Easter my favorite holiday, but this year, I had two more reasons to celebrate! It was my big three year old's birthday, and my tiny three week old's first time at church! Matthew and I look just about right for two parents with a newborn--bleary eyed and sleepy! It was a miracle in itself we made it to church for the 9 a.m. service!

 

That cute fuss and I spent most of our time in the nursing room, and Matthew spent most of his time helping a toddler try to go potty at church, but we were there nonetheless. :)

 

My dad joined us for church and lunch, and we ate a nice lunch at my MIL's house, and then Shepherd, Eli, and I took a big afternoon nap. The day before we all had gone to the Gentry's Farm to hunt eggs, and Eli and I spent one morning dyeing eggs while brother napped. The times are rare that I can give Eli all my attention lately, so I soaked it up!

 

 

 

That cutie pie was so proud of his creations, and told me every color he was using. He wanted to do them all all by himself, and I let him just go at it. He is getting so big and independent, and it's fun (usually) to watch him do things all by himself.

I would have liked to do more this Easter, but we had just moved back to Franklin that weekend, and I knew with Eli's birthday being that day and still healing from my surgery, I would just have to learn to let a lot of things go this Spring and do the small things we could!

Two Months Old.

 

Shepherd turned two months on May 7th and obviously, I am a bit behind! He had a much better second month than his first, as the dairy was getting out of my system. His fussing stopped being an all day thing, and his poor rash started healing.

 

 

 

His sleeping patterns were all over the place...some nights he'd give me a three hour stretch and some nights every hour!

 

I started getting my first real smiles around six weeks and Shepherd starting trying to talk to us, which is such a sweet sound to hear! His pediatrician said he was talking like a four month old- I agreed he was a very gifted two month old. ;)

 

He started to get some pretty cute rolls, and a cute round belly. It's so funny to me b/c he and Eli's little body shapes could not be more different! As I quit eating dairy, I was so thankful to see this sweet boy's happier personality come out. I think his little belly started feeling a little better and I am so glad I figured out mostly what was bothering him early on.

 

Shepherd's two month stats:

 

24.5 inches 95%

14.11 lbs 95%

 

 

On a side note: why won't ALL my pictures let me choose the "large" size anymore? Only two of the pictures here would give me the options of re-sizing. Any help?