Gunner Blake- 5 months (Did I really just say that?)

Gunner Blake,

You are 5 months old!!!

The time is just flying by.

 You always hear it goes by faster when the 2nd baby comes along. Whoever said that was right!

You are definitely our "Mr. Personality!"

You just LOVE to smile, smile, smile.

Here is a little bit of what you've been up to the past month!

• You are wearing a size 3 diaper.
• You are wearing some 6 month clothing but mostly 6-9 months or 9 months.
• At your well visit last Thursday you weighed a whopping 17 pounds! You are definitely a chunk. But still behind on big brother's weight when he was your age. Not by much though. You might catch up soon!
• You are eating 5-6 ounces every 3-4 hours. Before bed time you will eat up to 8 ounces with cereal. I have started you on one fruit a day (usually in the morning). We have introduced vegetables but you do NOT like them. Dr. C said he'd like you to be eating baby food 3 times a day by the time you're 6 months old. I think I'm fixing to start making your baby food fresh just to see if you like that better. (I'll do a post on this later)
• You are FINALLY only waking up once throughout the night to eat. YAY! The bad news is, you're still a pretty horrible sleeper. :-/ We're working on it. You're also STILL in mommy and daddy's bed. Mommy plans on trying to wean you to your crib soon! (Wish me luck ;))
• You are very hot natured. I worry so much at night trying to figure out if you're comfortable or not. If I put a blanket over you, you sweat so much and don't sleep as good. If I let you keep it off, you feel ice cold... but most of the time you're sleeping so good. I just worry about you getting sick from being ice cold. Hopefully I can getit figured out soon!
• You found your toes a few weeks ago and you LOVE them. You are always touching them. It's actually SO cute.

• You have also started this awful habit of putting your hands in your mouth. I can't seem to keep them out of your mouth and I absolutely cannot stand it!!! Only because I know how dirty they can be. And how much germs they can carry. When I was taking your "5 month" photo session last night I could barely keep them out of your mouth. About 90% of the pictures I took, you had a hand in your mouth.

• Still only rolling from belly to back.
• You've recently started grabbing for things. You get so excited when you're laying on your play mat and you see those toys dangling down in your face. You try so hard to grab them.
• You've been starting to pull yourself up into sitting position. I have a feeling you'll be sitting up on your own within the next month.
• You're STILL loving Big Brother. You are SO amazed with him. When your eyes find him, they don't leave him. You get so tickled with him. He probably makes you chuckle harder than anyone. I can't wait to see you two interact one day! That day will be here before we know it.

• You are recovering this week from being sick the last 3 weeks. Poor bud, you've been through it. You've had pink eye in both eyes, double ear infection and the croup. SO glad you're finally starting to feel better again. Hope you stay healthy for a long while. Hate seeing either of my babies sick.

Another month has come and gone and you have left us feeling even more blessed than the last 4 months that have gone by. Mommy & Daddy love you more than you'll ever know (and brother too)!!!!

Happy 5 months sweet baby! :)

Our weekend (a lot late)

I didn't know we were going to be smacked with the croup this week so I had originally planned on posting about our weekend on Tuesday. I have spent the last 2 days at home with our croupy baby boy and I can assure you, croupy doesn't even begin to explain the way he's felt and the way mommy & daddy have felt. It has been challenging, that's for sure. Since he's been on the steroid that the DR gave him for his croup, he has been nearly impossible. Our happy baby boy has not been his happy self. Hardly any sleeping and lots of screaming. That's about all that he's been doing. Poor baby. I'll be glad when we're done with this steroid. We go for a "follow up" this afternoon so we'll see if he's gotten any better. To me, he still sounds wheezy but I guess that doesn't mean anything. I'm no DR or nurse, that's for sure. Between all the screaming and lack of sleep, I did manage to catch a few smiles from our sweet boy.

Back to our weekend. Friday night we decided to go watch Dalton play basketball. They were also having a "white out" at the end of the game to benefit a little boy who lives in our community that is battling cancer. I wanted to be there for both so we loaded up the boys and headed to the game. We got there just a few minutes into the girls game and there almost NO seats left. The gym was packed. Now can any of you imagine what the temperature was in a gym packed shoulder to shoulder? It was HOT! Everyone was handling it well by half time of the girls game. Enough to snap a few pictures!

Gunner wore his "LION" shirt since we were there rooting for the Lions! ;)

Our sweet babies

All my boys

Getting ready for tip off.

The bad news is, we didn't make it past half time of the boys game. It was SO hot in there. Everyone could "stand it" except Gunner. He just wasn't having it! Of course he was sick at the time, and we didn't know it. That could have had a lot to do with it. He was SO tired but couldn't get cool/comfortable enough to rest. He kept arching his back and crying/whining. So we left at half time. I hated to miss the game and really hated missing the "white out" but... babies come first. Tuff was even asking for "home." Tuff LOVES the ball games so when he's asking to go home, you know it had to be that bad. ;) Dalton & Courtland came over and stayed the night after the game. We really enjoy their company when they come over. Tuff especially! ;) We stayed up late and slept in late. Well Tuff and the boys slept in late. Me and Jordan were up at normal time with Gunner Bear. Later Saturday we got ready and headed to Murfreesboro for Harrison's belated birthday party. (His birthday was the beginning of December but since the twins had just gotten home, they pushed his party up about a month) Tuff had a lot of fun at Harrison's monster party. He colored, ate cupcakes, played ball, ate suckers, etc.

The birthday boy fist pumping after he blew out his candle

;)

Cupcake time

cupcake face

showing off his monster sucker

coloring with MeMe

loving on mama

sweet Gunner Bear

getting some help from Aunt April

sweet Greer baby

my handsome husband... and nephew ;)

MeMe and Gunner

MeMe and boys

playing ball

After the party we went to Logan's for dinner and then sent the boys home with mom so we could go see a movie. We brought Courtland along on our date and we had a really good time. Hardly ever do we get to do something that doesn't consist of having our babies with us. We love our babies, don't get me wrong, but it's nice to have a little "us" time too.

 We saw Sherlock Holmes 2. It was good but considering we hadn't seen the first one (Courtland had), it was a tad confusing. We are planning on getting the first one to watch at home soon. Doing it a little backwards but hey! Whatever works. It was still a good movie regardless.

We didn't do much on Sunday because we knew Gunner wasn't feeling good. That's when I took him to the ER to have his ears re-checked. Sure enough, they were both infected. Poor babe. Praying for him to be feeling better and getting back to his self SOON.

Hope you're all having a good week.

Happy Thursday!

The Croup

Yesterday was Gunner Bears third time to the DR in the past 2 weeks. He quit eating his bottles Saturday afternoon. Sunday morning I knew something was up so I took him to the ER in town since my SIL was working. The DR took a look in his ears and confirmed both were infected. We were on the last day of his first antibiotic. He changed his antibiotic and put him on another 10 day. I called my mom on Monday while I was working to check on both boys. While I was on the phone with her I heard a loud noise. I said "what was that?" She said it was Gunner coughing. I didn't really think much more of it. Well Monday night he coughed all night. One of those coughs that sounds like a dog when their trying to hack something up. Yes, it wasn't pleasant but also knew it probably hurt too. Then when we got up at 4 for his bottle he decided to add some serious wheezing to the mix. That's when this mama started to freak a little. So I got ready and we headed to the DR. The diagnosis- "the croup." And the croup = steroid. And steroid = screaming & no sleep. And screaming & no sleep = one tired and stressed out mama. I was advised to keep him in another day so we'll be staying home again today. It's pretty nasty out so I guess it worked out anyways. We have a follow up appointment tomorrow afternoon just to make sure he's improving. Please keep poor bud in your prayers. He could really use them since he's been so sick the past 3+ weeks.

But of course, we're still smiling through it all.

Happy Wednesday friends!

2011 recap (very long post)

2011 RECAP!!!

 It was a gooood year!

Specifically because little brother was brought into our lives ;)

 

January:

We were all starting to settle in with our new & exciting news!

"Big brother coming soon!"

February:

We celebrated our nephew Gabe's 10th Birthday at a local place that has an inside pool.

I started my weekly pregnancy highlights @ 12 weeks.

March:

We celebrated T.T.'s 13th Birthday.

We colored our baths.

We threw away the high chair and started sitting at the table like a big boy.

We started getting some warm weather and we took advantage.

We welcomed Beau Waylon to the Family!

We celebrated Mommy turning 25(Eeeek.) with some family, dinner and bowling.

April:

We made a trip to the Discovery center.

We found out baby brother was a BOY! :)

Tuff & Ada visited the ZOO for the very first time.

Tuff celebrated his 2nd Easter!

and was finally old enough to have his first Easter egg hunt.

We took a trip to Florida to meet Beau for the first time.

Tuff got in a little practice ;)

And I got a feel of what it'd be like with 2.

Tuff got to see the beach for the first time.

I celebrated my 2nd Mother's Day and was feeling really blessed.

We finally came up with a name for our sweet Gunner Blake. ;)

Tori was in the Good Ole Days pageant.

Miss Ada turned 1.

June:

We celebrated Jordan's 2nd Father's Day!

We started preparing for Tuff's 2nd birthday.

We painted the doors and shutters on the house blue.

July:

We celebrated Tuff's 2nd Birthday with a Curious George theme!

We had a sprinkle for sweet baby Gunner.

Tuff turned 2 & had his pictures made ;)

August:

We finished baby Gunner's nursery and patiently awaited his arrival.

Tuff started "school" (MDO) 2 days a week.

Gunner Blake ARRIVED and we were blessed beyond belief!!!

September:

We started settling in as a family of 4.

Grandparents Day at Tuff's school.

Gunner Bear turned 1 month old and felt just like mommy did about it!

October:

Jordan and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary!

Mommy went back to work from maternity leave :(

We welcomed sweet little Kirby to the family.

We visited the pumpkin patch.

Gunner Bear turned 2 months old.

 (& seemed to be happier about it this month)

Hubby turned 27 years old ;)

Tuff & Jace went on their first official field trip with their class.

We went back to the pumpkin patch.

We took the boys to a local Trunk or Treat.

And lastly (Shew! This month was busy), Tuff dressed up as the cutest sock monkey we'd ever seen and went trick or treating.

November:

We lost my Nana in a car accident on November the 11th. That day is remembered for so many reasons. That very day, we also celebrated my mom and dads wedding anniversary. It was also the date that we found out we were expecting Tuff 3 years earlier. :)

I hosted a sprinkle for my sister and the twins.

We welcomed the twins home.

Gunner Blake turned 3 months old.

And we celebrated Thanksgiving!!!

We had plenty to be THANKFUL for.

December:

We welcomed Snitch in our home for the month of December.

We went to our home town Christmas parade.

We celebrated Jace' 3rd Birthday at Chuck E Cheese

We took several photo shoots

Gunner had his 3 month pictures made. (The day before he turned 4 months old.)

And Gunner turned 4 months old!!!!

We had a play date with Harrison

Santa CAME!

Cheers to 2011!!!

Here's to 2012!!!!