Tennyson ~ 3 months

My little buddy is three months (actually, he's almost 15 weeks as of this posting!). Let's see, what's been going on? I'm chuckling as I write this, because life is chaotic sometimes around here. You probably noticed that, due to the lack of posts and how late they always seem to be these days. :) It's a beautiful chaotic, though, and I wouldn't trade it for a second!

I weighed Tennyson over the weekend, and he weighs 14 pounds 5.2 oz. He is a BIG boy! He's about the size of a six month old, and he is in six month clothes. I love the three month mark! His little personality is starting to come out, and I love all the little facial expressions he has right now. He has started to giggle, too, which is adorable and melts my heart. Baby giggles are the best! He loves it when we make noises for him: clucking, smacking, kissing...he finds it all hilarious. Tennyson is all about his hands these days, and he is trying SO hard to find his little thumb (either of them). He gets so frustrated when he can't find it or when he does and can't keep it in. He loves the Christmas tree and gets really excited when we lay him next to it; he kicks those little legs and just talks and talks. That's another thing he's been doing a lot of, talking. He coos and is playing with his voice all the time. He can roll from tummy to back and has really great head control. He's very alert and enjoys the mobile in his crib and on the swing, he is grasping rattles and toys (for dear life!), and he stares very intently at his activity mat toys. Tennyson LOVES Zooey! He smiles at her and just watches her. His little eyes follow her around the room all the time, as if he's trying to figure out how to do all the things she can do. He's also started to show an interest in Gideon and smiles at him. I am so excited to see how all their little relationships unfold!

Tennyson's been sleeping through the night (dreamfeed @ 11:00 until 7:30/8:00) for about a month now. He had a growth spurt that coincided with the 8 week wonder week that caused him to wake up at 5:30 a couple days, but his other sleep was not too badly disrupted. I am seriously PRAISING GOD for this and praying his sleep will continue to be protected with all the disruptions of having an older child and having to run out with both of them mid-nap or putting him down late. He is a trooper and is doing great! I decided to drop his swaddle four days ago, and he's still getting used to that. Some naps he'll sleep great and others he'll wake up mid-nap, but that could also be because we're starting the mother of all wonder weeks this week (seriously - if you know about the wonder weeks, you know this one's a doozy!). He looks so super cute in his little sleep sacks. He has not had any nighttime waking from dropping the swaddle so far.

And, the part I'm sure most of you really care about :), here's some pictures of my sweet boy:

So sweet!

"What's up Mom?"

Concentrating on rolling over

Love these little snuggles!

He was not thrilled about his first time out in the snow

 

Smoochable little cheeks!

November

November was a blur! Isn't it always? I also did a bad job taking notes this month, so I honestly don't remember a lot of what happened (haha!). I guess I'll tell you about what I do remember.

Zooey has her first crush, a little boy in her class at school. She talks about him all.the.time. She invited him over for a playdate and even wanted to dress up for him (where does she get this, because I do not talk about that?!)! She prays - prays, ya'll! - about marrying this boy. It is crazy how early this stuff starts...we're going to be in trouble!

She loves her little brother so much, and she said a couple cute things:
"Me so thankful you came out of my tummy"
"You stay with me all the time when you come out of mommy's tummy"
(the next day...) "Send Tennyson back to hospital, Mommy. Put him back in your tummy."
She is very caring for him, and she will tell him, "It's ok baby; don't cry...me here." It's adorable.

Another random cute thing she said this month was calling guacamole "cado-mole" (like for avocados). Cutest thing!

Zooey had her first performance at school, which was adorable! She wore a little turkey hat and sang with her class, then they had a luncheon. She was such a good girl and sat still with her class while they waited to go up, then she smiled and sang some of the words and did the hand motions. She was very excited that we went to watch her, and she kept looking for us in the audience and smiling at us. She LOVES school and her class and teachers. Many of conversations at home are about her friends and teachers, and she is surprising me with her new knowledge every day.

Her speech is improving by the week, and her SLP is amazed at her progress; she said she's doing great. She did another evaluation on Zooey and is now working solely on articulation instead of words. Zooey talks all the time and in full paragraphs, she's singing songs from school and BSF and she makes up stories as well as tells us about past and future events. She has come a long way since last spring, when we were still working on 3-4 word sentences.

Zooey also continues to go to OT for some sensory things, but I am so proud of her! She has begun to do her calming techniques all by herself when she feels stressed or overwhelmed, and her focus has greatly improved. She has gone from spending 2-3 minutes on an assigned task in September at OT to spending 10-15 minutes.

We spent Thanksgiving at Sarah and Rey's. It was one of the best Thanksgivings we have had in a long time. It was very relaxing and so nice to have all the family there, especially our two newest little additions. After dinner and naps we also watched a movie together. It was a fun day, and it was fun to see Zooey understand the tradition a little more this year. She kept talking about the Mayflower, which she had learned at school. She was also singing her turkey song that she learned at school, which was cute.

One of the reasons November was so crazy was that God called me back to leadership at BSF. I was honestly thinking I wouldn't return until December, or maybe even after the holidays, but when He calls, His timing doesn't always match our own ideas and certainly doesn't usually leave us in our comfort zone. He made it very clear to me by laying it on my heart, then through the notes one week, a conversation the next and the lecture and notes that same week.  I have to admit, I was a little worried about it, because it is a big time commitment and Tennyson is still so little. He is so good to confirm, again and again (when we may feel like we don't have what it takes, or during a crazy busy season!) His call on our lives. What a sweet blessing it has been to be with those little ones! And what an amazing reminder week by week of how faithful God is to enable and equip us, giving us energy, ideas, enthusiasm & patience to answer His call. And my worries have been taken care of - I am able to nurse Tennyson when I need to, because I'm right next door to him on class day (so special!). I love to see these little toddlers babbling in song to Jesus or saying "Jesus," "Bible" and "Amen." What a sweet gift they are to me and an example of precious faith.

So, yes...November was a blur, but I'm so thankful that God doesn't give us more than we can handle and that He gives us the strength and wisdom to face what He does give us. He is teaching me more and more how to live in the moment and cherish my children, and He is giving me new ways to pray for them, which is so cool! What a privilege it is to be a parent and be able to pray over our kids' lives.

Love these snuggles!

Fun (rare) snow day in the park

Tennyson's first snow



Singing at school

My little turkey

She still loves to pick up leaves and throw them

My camera died, so this was the only one I got of her on Thanksgiving, drinking her sparkling juice out of a big girl glass

Cutest little guy ever - so thankful for my two littles!

Thank You Jesus

Well, Thanksgiving's come and gone, and although I didn't spend as much time as I should have on the day pondering all that I am grateful for this year, I am pondering it now. Sure, we went around the table and talked about what we were thankful for, and my list looked something like this:

Jesus
Ryan
Zooey
Tennyson
Family and renewed relationships

My mind cannot wrap itself around my heart and all the feelings that are associated with that list. More than ever this year, I have been struck with my sin, especially my sinful habits, and just how undeserving I am of Jesus' love. His love is so rich, His grace is so abundant. I am fully undeserving, and it makes me appreciate His sacrifice so much more than I think I ever have. I am thankful for sanctification. I am thankful that Jesus has grabbed my hand and is taking me along a lifelong journey with Him, one on which He will never let me go, where I will end it by looking into His eyes, His sweet face, and be brought to glory, fully sanctified before Him. I am thankful, that even though it hurt my pride, that He showed me what sins I need to be rid of, and I'm so thankful that I don't have to do it on my own. I'm thankful He showed me just how much I was trying to do that and how I was sweeping some of it under the rug, so to speak, but that it was just damaging me more and more, and that He has claim over my heart, because He calls me daughter and He has healed me. I feel inadequate, so inadequate, to serve Him, but He has called me to teach His Word to little children and He has called me to be a mommy to two precious little ones...despite my inadequacy...and I am thankful I don't have to do that alone, either. I'm thankful that His Spirit gives me power and strength and words to speak and patience in the moment when I whisper those arrow prayers, because I am this.close to losing my mind. I am thankful that at the end of the day, when I often replay all my "mistakes," that He is gently reminding me that those shameful reminders do NOT come from Him, and He can make all things new.

I am thankful that Jesus held me when I was in the pit of postpartum anxiety, and I felt like my world was crashing down around me and I was losing my mind. I am thankful for the sisters in Christ that He gave me who prayed over me and the one He gave me who prayed for me in the middle of the night when she got up to pee, because she knew that's when my anxiety was the worst. For the friend who would listen and remind me of Jesus' strength and how He wasn't surprised but always has a plan. For the sisters who came up to me and confided that they too had battled it and were praying for me and let me know if I needed them they were there. I am thankful for Sarah who would listen and tell me I wasn't a bad person, who would text me prayers and who would remind me of the techniques I knew to help me calm down. I am thankful for Ryan, who I could be brutally honest with during that time, who listened then reaffirmed that I am sane and who would then hug me and pray with me. I am thankful that Jesus pulled me out of the pit, too. He is there, even in the darkest moments of our lives.

I am thankful for Ryan. I am thankful that God gave me someone who is so "chill" and doesn't indulge my every freak-out. I am thankful for the father he is, how he is silly and lets Zooey put tiaras on him and listens to her stories about Jake and Peter Pan, even when she's told them fifty times in an afternoon. I am thankful for his strength, for his sure and steady faith, for the ways he says, "No I'm not worried; God's not surprised," and the way he holds me as he prays over the concerns of our family and how he is a great model of how to leave it there with Jesus and stop dwelling on it.

I am thankful for my Zooey bug and the lessons God is teaching me through her. She is so kind, gentle, compassionate. She loves big and forgives easily. She is spunky and easygoing. She brings so much joy to my life!

I am thankful for my little Tennyson, who I prayed for for so long. He is a blessing from God! I look at his sweet face and am again in awe of the miracle of life and how God knits together little babies inside their mother's wombs.

I am thankful for Sarah and how God has brought us closer together through our little boys. I am so grateful that I get to study God's Word with her at BSF, which is something I got to do with my mom. I feel like God granted us this time together. I am thankful for her encouragement and love and prayers and the way she can make me laugh, sometimes harder than anyone else can. That girl is funny!

I am also thankful for time spent with family on Thanksgiving and for memories that will last a lifetime. For my dad and my grandma, who cared for me when I was a baby and who love my babies now. It was a blessed day!

Tennyson ~ 8 weeks

Tennyson is eight weeks (and one day) old. He went to the doctor today for his 2-month well check. He is weighing/measuring like a four month old - he is a little tank! He weighed 12 lbs. 14.4 oz. and was 23.75" long. I think he was in the 75% for weight and somewhere in the 50th for height. I can never remember the head circumference.

Tennyson continues to be pretty mellow most of the time ::knocks on wood:: even in the current wonder week eight. He has exhibited some of the signs he is in the leap, such as fussing when I put him down and wanting to be entertained more, but his fussing is nothing like Zooey's full-on wails when she was a newborn. I am waiting for the 45-minute intruder to crop up in his naps; I know this is a common week for them, and I also know the wonder week can interfere with sleep but we haven't seen it yet. One thing I did figure out just last night is that Tennyson has witching hour. His is a lot later than Zooey's was, so I think that's what threw me off. His fussy time is between 8:00-11:00; most times he will settle after the dreamfeed.

He is a cute little guy! Right now he's really "into" the curtains in his room and the pirate ship picture above his changing table. He stares intently at the curtains and smiles at the picture. He's pretty serious most of the time (like his dad), but he is content and I am able to get more smiles from him this week. Most of the time he just kind of sits back and takes it all in - especially Zooey! :) Tennyson is very alert, and we get comments on it all the time. He has started kicking and moving his arms a lot when he has blanket time, which is adorable, and he makes more cooing noises when he's playing or talking. He is also very mellow when Zooey is kind of rough when she's loving on him and when his best bud cousin smacks him in the face in his sweet efforts to hug him. I love to see all the littles interacting! It is SUCH a blessing!

Exciting for me: Tennyson has now gone 4 nights sleeping from the dreamfeed (so about 11:45) until 5:45/6:00! I feel like a new woman. An added bonus is we were actually on time to BSF, because I was able to get myself ready before Zooey even got up! :)

Here are some pictures of my chunky squeezable little guy.

Zooey wanted to do "tummy time" too

Thanks for the Mamaroo, RaRa!

Looking at the curtains in his room

Napping in the car seat...this is how a second child rolls LOL

"Who, me??"

Tennyson 7 weeks (almost!)

Sheesh, I am slacking on this blogging thing...not that I haven't been a wee bit busy. :)

The last three weeks have been a blur. I have actually been thinking about how I can't wait until January when Zooey's OT is up, and I can have four days a week at home (with the exception of church on Sundays), instead of needing to be somewhere every weekday but Monday. As I did, and do, with Zooey, I pray that God will help me to cherish this time with my littles, busy as it is.

Tennyson is doing great! I weighed him on our scale last Saturday, and he's up to 12.05 lbs. I measured him yesterday, and he's 23 inches! Wow! He's a big boy, already outgrowing some of his three month clothes and I'm sure quickly moving into six months clothes. He started smiling in his 5th week, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE those little baby smiles. The last couple of days he's also started cooing and making more noises. We have a black and white picture above our couch that all babies seem to love. Today he saw it and smiled and kicked. He was super excited to see it! He's also getting more interested in the swing and mobiles (on his swing and in his crib). He definitely "woke up" a little more this past week. My sweet Zooey girl is sick today, and he saw her on the couch when he was playing on the floor and stared at her for the longest time cooing; it was adorable! Another exciting thing was that he slept nine hours on Sunday (I don't expect him to go that long again for awhile, but he had had a rough night!) and last night he went from the dreamfeed to 6:00, so 6.5 hours - very exciting! His hair has grown a little bit; it's fuzzy, and I love to nuzzle and kiss his little head. I know a lot of people don't like the newborn phase, and it definitely has it's challenges, but there is a lot I love about it, too. I feel like I turned a corner emotionally the last week, too. My anxiety seems to be quite a bit better, but I am definitely still praying God's hand of protection over my mind. Thanks for those prayers (and continued prayers, too)! :)

So, we're a day shy of 7 weeks, but since I have a minute to post, I'll post the pictures I took today.

Week Five

 



Week Six

 



He does NOT like tummy time!

Week Seven

 



Little hands

Little feet

They love each other!

Smiling at his sister