Andy handed Christopher our small A-80 camera last week and showed him how to push the button and then look at his pictures on the screen. He LOVED it and didn't want to part with the camera. I think he took nearly 100 pictures...so here are two! =)
One of the light in his playroom.
And one of Mommy and Kaela.
Last weekend, Andy took Christopher on a date to a nearby park so they could throw rocks and play on the playground. That kid lives to be outdoors and always has so much fun.
Hmm...not so sure about the grasshopper, Daddy.
Andy took a few pictures of the beautiful oak tree behind our house. It just keeps dumping leaves! It has covered this yard 3 times already and they've blown all the leaves away...now it's full again and there are still leaves on the tree.
Christopher and I decided to surprise Andy while he was gone on a trip to Memphis. With some help from SaraBeth, Ryan, Anna and Joy, we transformed our living room (see the picture of Kaela and I above) into a restful sanctuary. It finally has color! We'll have to take a picture of the whole room put back together to post on here, but for now here is a picture and video of my littlest helper! And thanks to everyone else for the b-day $ and help painting. =)
Andy and I had fun on Saturday taking pictures of our princess. Andy got a few more backdrops, so we played around on white this time.
We started off in this basket - she was sound asleep and so cute, but by the time we got the lighting right...she was awake and not quite so happy! =) Still cute, though.
Peek-A-Boo.
Gazing at Daddy. She loves to look at faces now.
Later that evening, I tried unsuccessfully to get Christopher to pose for some pictures. He wasn't quite so interested, so I only got one before he was almost out of the bag and off to play. We'll try again sometime, because I think it would be cute. Also, notice the polo over pjs look - totally his idea. He's quite in to dressing himself these days.
Update on us: It's been a rough week. Andy was gone 3 days and has had some late nights and all nights at work...which leaves us both pretty worn out - him from work and me from having the kids all day and night. We're worn thin without much to give to each other right now, but we're still hanging in there and thanking the Lord for our beautiful, precious family.
My ultrasound at the OB doctor revealed nothing - everything looks normal, so still no answers as to what may have happened twice! He was able to start me on some medicine that is beginning to help with my post-partum depression - I'm feeling more energized and even happy at times - yeah!
Christopher is keeping us on our toes daily. From dropping his cup of milk into Andy's subwofer to sticking toys in the toilet...and then to singing to and calming Kaela, and singing with us on our laps before bedtime. What a wonderful child. He knows a lot of the books we read and can fill in almost any word we leave out of the songs we always sing at bedtime. It amazes me when he chimes in with words like "sufficient" "Messiah" "Intercessor" "Coming King" etc. How can we not smile?
Kaela continues to grow daily. She was up to 8 lb 9 oz when I weighed her last week, so I'm sure she's put on a few more oz by now too. She's awake more often during the day, and enjoys staring at lights, faces, and Chritopher as he runs around the room. I think her favorite is when Christopher kneels beside her and shakes her rattle and other toys and waves them in front of her face. Most of the time, she'll stop fussing whenever he goes over to her and sings, plays or shoves her paci in her mouth. A lucky little girl to have such a great big brother.
The 30th was my birthday. Earlier in the week, my brother and sister-in-law invited our whole family over to their house to celebrate, and also hang out with some friends that were in from out-of-town. We had a great time. Silas made Grandpa's BBQ chicken and it was delicious!
Christopher had fun playing with "Aunt Mollie's microwave" while we waited on dinner. He probably opened and shut that door close to 100 times!!!!! Then he discovered that he could play peek-a-boo through the glass when it was open. =)
My favorite - cherry chip cake - and Mama made an icing with real cherries to go on top. Yummy!
Everyone enjoying dinner. Thanks, Si and Mollie! It was our first visit to their new home. Fun!
Family Picture: Rachel, Christopher, Andy and Kaela Ruth
Whipples came to visit us this weekend for our annual "Fake Thanksgiving." (I know, I know...a terrible name because we ARE very thankful...it just somehow ended up being called this since it's never actually on Thanksgiving.) This was year four of Andy and Lizbeth cooking a huge thanksgiving feast while Dave and Rachel played video games. Ok, so this year with two kiddies...the video game part didn't really happen, but the feast did!
They decided to smoke the turkey on the grill this year - delicious!
Christopher discovered a new toy in Daddy's spray bottle for the grill. At first he sprayed it at the fire...then decided it was more fun to chase Daddy around the yard...
...and spray the windows. He thought it was hilarious and was giggling a lot.
Dave played a football video game for a little while - to entertain Christopher who really likes football. Every time a play was over and Dave had to do something else on another screen, Christopher would ask, "What happened? Where game go?" It was pretty cute. He was quite absorbed.
For dinner we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, creamed spinach, cranberry sauce and rolls. So good. For dessert, Dave baked a pumpkin pie. Also very good.
Andy, Christopher, Rachel, Dave and pregnant with baby Ada - Lizbeth. Kaela was sleeping upstairs.
It was a great visit, and we were sad to see them leave. It's nice to have great friends that feel like family even when you live miles apart.
Well...we weren't really going to dress up for Halloween this year, but since we live in a community of townhouses full of elderly women that absolutely ADORE our son...they all had bought special things just for him and were asking what he would be and when he was coming by. So we participated! =) Christopher wore on old costume of Mommy's and dressed up as "Dr. Tolan" aka Babu. He then proceeded to perform wonderfully for his friends and charmed them all. He received animal crackers, apples and some candy. Of course, he knew where the candy dishes were in each house, so he made a beeline for those as soon as he was in each living room. So at 5 different houses, we chatted for awhile in the living room, Christopher listened to several heartbeats with his stethoscope, they gave him a treat, and then he hugged them all goodnight. It was pretty cute and they were all thrilled. I'm glad we went.
Snoozing with Daddy on a lazy Sunday afternoon - watching football.
Since I've been so bad at posting this month, there are seven new posts. You might want to scroll back and start at "Christopher's First Slumber Party" if you want to glance at all the new pictures and work your way back to this post. Actually, you'll probably have to click on the titles on the sidebar, because I don't think it scrolls all the way back to that one. Too many! =)
Sorry for the long pause...my goal now that I'm caught up is to have a new post up by Tuesday of each week. We'll see how that works out...but for now...sit back and relax! ;-)
`````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` So that's an update on what we've done...here's an update on how we are.
Now that Kaela is three months old, I've officially been getting up 1-2 times a night for three months to pump or for the last 6 weeks since she's been home, Andy and I have been taking turns getting up to feed her and then I still have to pump. The good news is - at three months old, the baby should be able to sleep through the night. The bad news is - Kaela is three months old, but adjusted age just turned zero, so we have three more months to go before we can let her sleep all night long. =( Since she's done such a good job gaining weight, we have been able to drop one of the night feedings, so now we share getting up...one of us changes her and gets her bottle ready, then the other one feeds her. Kaela is getting much better at breastfeeding, but still gets worn out and needs to eat a little from a bottle at each meal, since it's easier. I've really started to try to push her a little harder now that she's officially full term - and I'm hoping by the end of November she'll be nursing and I can finally quit pumping and get some more time back in my life! Needless to say, we're pretty tired and worn down, but getting through each day happy to have two beautiful children.
Andy is doing well at work and enjoying his job. We're so blessed with wonderful jobs in a time of trouble for our economy, and we don't take that for granted. He's such a wonderful father and husband, and does so much to help me with the kids and around the house. I'm so thankful for him and for how much he cares for and works hard to provide for his family.
I'm doing well in general - I have so much to be thankful for. This past week, I realized I'm going through some post-partum depression. My emotions are pretty volatile, I feel depressed and worn down all the time and little things that I know I don't really care about make me cry (something I don't usually do very often.) I'm not motivated to do anything and don't have much of an appetite. All this makes it a little harder to chase a toddler, care for a newborn, keep up with a household and still have time for my hubby too. Andy has been so understanding and loving - we're working through this and I'm going to talk to my doctor tomorrow. My family has also been very supportive and my Mama has done so much to help me out. Thanks!
What really made me cry was a few nights ago, just a few days after I had told Andy about how I was feeling, he was putting Christopher to bed. They were saying a prayer when Christopher looked up at him and said, "Mommy sad, Daddy. Mommy not talking. Mommy sad." I had no idea a two-year old could express something like that - of course that broke my heart...the last thing I want to is affect my kids like that. I've worked really hard the last two days to lavish some love on him and smile and talk to him a lot. It's extra draining to put on a happy face when you're feeling down.
Of course, this makes everything harder for Andy too. I know he's tired and overwhelmed too, but he's doing such a great job pulling us all through this.
Tomorrow, we go to the doctor for a 3-D ultrasound of my uterus to see if a couple doctors can see anything that might be causing my early labors. Of course it will be good to know if they can find anything - but with feeling emotional already, I'm sure it's going to be a tough day.
So that's how you can pray for us right now.
On a lighter note, here are a couple funny Christopher stories that show his ever-developing mind.
Just before supper one time this week, he wanted some chips. Since I had to feed Kaela quick, I put about 5 in a little bowl and then sat down to feed her. He finished those rather quickly then brought me a different bag of chips and wanted more. I told him no because it was supper time and we would eat dinner soon. He seemed to accept that for a few minutes, before crawling up on the couch beside me where I had put the chips. In a pathetic little voice, he looked up at me with this puppy-dog expression and said "Cisser sick again. Need get all better." Then he opened the bag of chips and said, "Need more get all better. Cisser sick. Need more chips, Mommy." How could I resist? After each chip, he would look at me and say the same thing, explaining why he needed to eat each chip he pulled out of the bag. What a guy! What a mind!
Tonight, I was in the kitchen cooking dinner, when I heard something spill on the floor in the dining room. There was 1/3 of a bag of honey mustard pretzels all over the floor. I started to head that way, then decided to see what he would do. Normally he comes running when he dumps something to tell me that he made a mess and needs help cleaning it up. This time, I saw him peak over at me, then sit down and start cramming pretzels in his mouth as fast has he could. It was hard not to laugh. After a few minutes, I hear: "What you doing, Mommy?" "I'm cooking. What are you doing, Christopher?" A pause...then a whiny grunt...he didn't want to tell me. So I left him alone another minute or so then asked, "What are you doing Christopher, do you need help? "No. No need help. No mess." And pretzels were still being eaten as fast as a little hand could pick them up and as fast as a little mouth could eat them. Finally, I started to head into the room to see what he would do. He saw me coming and held up his hand saying, "No Mommy. No. No." and shaking his head vigorously with a panicked look on his face, knowing if Mommy saw the mess, she would make him stop and clean it up. So I turned back around. At dinner, he ate nothing - he was full of pretzels and there were only a few crumbs left on the floor to tell his story. Bad choice by Mom? Maybe - but it was too funny to stop him! Smart little guy.
Weighing in at 7lbs and 10 oz, Kaela turned three months old today. Amazing. I can't believe she's that old already, and we're so proud of how much she's grown. Thank you again for all your prayers for her. She's a very pleasant baby. When she's hungry or needs some attention, she just lets out a short little cry/yell. She does this 5-6 times, pausing for about 30 seconds or so in-between to see if anyone is listening. Only if you ignore her does she then start crying. When she does, Christopher has gotten pretty good at giving her a pacifier. He goes over, picks it up and says "It's okay, Kaea. Open your mouth, Kaea. Here's your papi. Open your mouth, Kaela." And he gently wiggles it in.
Kaela's doing great at learning to hold her head up, and she's beginning to track things really well with her eyes too. We all love her and enjoy having her as part of our family.
I took a few pictures of her for several reasons - one - to show what she looks like at 3 months. Two - to capture a memory of her wearing the same outfit that I wore when my parents brought me home from the hospital. And three - to show you all how much she looks like me! I included a couple pictures from my baby book of me, including the one of me in the same outfit.
Our beloved sweetheart...pretty in pink.
Rachel - a couple days old - wearing the same outfit Kaela now has on.
Pretty girl. Such big blue eyes.
And an adorable little mouth.
She's started smiling now - which is so much fun. I caught the end of one in this picture, but her eyes were almost shut. Oh well...next time.
Looking out the window.
Kaela Ruth. Just kidding...Rachel at 2 1/2 months.
We spent lunch and the early afternoon over at Daddy and Mama's house. The whole family was there, so we decided to take a quick family picture since we didn't have one with Mollie and Kaela in it.
Mama was so excited to have 10 members now!
Anna, Mollie, Silas, Rachel, Kaela, Andy, Christopher, Cindy, Daniel and SaraBeth.
This morning, Christopher pulled out his t-ball set. Previously, he would try to hit the ball and barely knock it off, so he'd give up and just throw it. Well - he set it up in the kitchen while I was cleaning something up, and wailed it! I was so impressed. Against our better judgment, we let him hit it a few times in the house...Andy even allowed this:
Then we got smart and loaded it up and went over to play t-ball outside with Babu.
Christopher had been swinging with just one hand. Babu showed him how to hold the bat with two hands - then he really sent the ball flying.
I love the expressions on his face. He's so intent and always kept his eye on the ball as he swung. He rarely missed. I think between the basketball last a few days ago - perfect form without any coaching - and the t-ball today...we may have a natural born athlete! =)
Good follow-through too.
And of course the fall leaves are also a new fun thing to play in. When he woke up this morning after being gone all week, Christopher looked out the back window and saw all the leaves on our patio. He said: "What happened, Mommy? Leaves fall down. Leaves fall off tree." Then Andy showed him how to play in them - fun!
