Christmas in Arlington

Now that Reid had a little taste for Christmas-gift unwrapping from his school party, he was amped up and ready to celebrate with the Andersen family in Arlington!

Poppy & Jo Anne figured Reid's toddler-sized lion needed a companion.  Meet Mr. Giraffe.

 Reading with Grandma JoJo.

 Hanging out with Poppy.

 Fun with Grandpa Kim {and Sophie of course}!

 Uncle Justin & Aunt Jen stopped by for a visit. They've got this kid thing down pat!

Big smiles from Baby Barrett!

 Cousins!

LHCCEC Christmas Party

The adults in the house kicked off the Christmas season with the Delta Christmas Party.

Reid kicked off the Christmas season with the Lake Highlands Christian Child Enrichment Center's Christmas party.  

This was his "Gift for a Boy" that he was so proud of.  Mommy was so happy that he truly understood that this present was for someone else, and he was perfectly fine with that {possibly because I assured him that one of his friends would be bringing a present especially for him}.  Baby steps...

 Reid's friend, Dane {notice he's an Aggie too).

 "The stockings were hung by the chimney with care…."

Thanks to dad buying Reid the book, "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" on one of their field trips to Lowe's, Reid had this story practically memorized.

 Ms. Debra (she's a floater teacher) is so fun and one of Reid's favorite teachers.

 He could hardly wait to take down his stocking!

"R for Reid, Mommy!"

 Reid watched as Mia helped Charlie open the Christmas present he brought.

 Reid's present was perfect - Cars!

 This party was Reid's last hoorah in the Crickets class (with Ms. Cece & Ms. Ebony) because….

To Be Continued.

Delta Christmas Party - W Hotel

Jeff & I kicked off the crazy busy month of December with the annual, ever popular Delta Christmas Party.  
Dare I say it gets better and better every year?  In a day and age when not many companies have big Christmas parties like they used to, Delta continues to go above and beyond.  
I was especially excited about this year's party since I've been pregnant at two out of the previous three parties.  Ha!
This blog entry wouldn't be complete unless I mentioned the sweet babes.  The twin-littles gave us the pleasure of only waking one time for a bottle and then going back to sleep until 8:00am!  Of course, Reid was his typical sleepy self and slept 8pm - 8am. 
Thanks boys!

Happy Six Months, Twin-Littles!

YES, I KNOW!  Just a taaaaad bit late with this post.  

Tidings of the Twin-Littles:

• I'm happy to report that both boys enjoy bath time (thank goodness!)
• Jack is the active one who likes to kick, kick, kick.  He enjoys making the biggest splashes (aka. water messes) that he possibly can.
• Hunter on the other hand is the chill bather.  He's typically relaxed and subdued during bath time.
• The changing table - the boys have done a 180 on this one.
• Jack used to be the one who would cry (sometimes scream) and fuss during diaper/clothes changes, but now he's typically chilled out and happy to be up there being attended to.
• Hunter on the other hand often fusses and tenses up his legs thus making it more difficult to diaper and dress.  He is definitely impatient when it comes to the changing table!
• Food…and lots of it!  The boys are already starting to eat us out of house and home.  Around 5.5 months, we began serving them solid (aka. pureed) fruits and veggies.  Thus far they've had peas, butternut squash, quinoa, avocado, cantaloupe, peaches, blueberries, blackberries, apples, bananas and pears. Next on the chopping block - lima beans and green beans.
• Turns out Jack is the pickier eater of the two.  He won't have much to do with veggies by themselves, so we've resorted to trickery. We mix various fruits with his veggies, and he eats them right up.
• Hunter, well he's turned into our BIG eater.  We think he knows he weighs less than Jack, so he's playing catch up.  He gulps down his entire 8.5 oz bottle at each meal and then fusses until he gets his solids.  As far as the solids are concerned, he probably eats about twice as much as Jack at each serving.  On the bottle front, Hunter gulps down his bottle much faster than Jack does…just the same as when they nursed.  Hunter was always finished nursing before Jack. It'll be interesting to see how much different in size they are at their next pediatric well visit (at 9 mos in late February).
• Speaking of size - at their 6 month well visit, Jack weighed in at 18.8 lbs and Hunter weighed 17 lbs.
• Sleep…oh wondrous, glorious SLEEP! We've {temporarily} separated the babes since we've been fairly confident for several months now that, if given the opportunity, Hunter would sleep through the night.  Hunter is currently in a play pen in our guest bedroom upstairs, and Jack is in his crib in their bedroom.
• Jack - he definitely doesn't sleep through the night (and never has), but he's improved ten-fold!  As of late, he will wake somewhere between 2-3am for a bottle (which he gulps down in its entirety…all 8.5 oz - this may be one reason why he eats less solids during the day than Hunter because he gets an extra bottle every 24 hours).  We change his diaper, feed him the 3am bottle and then lay him back down.  He will then sleep until 7 or 8am.  Hooray for Jack!  He wins the "most improved sleep" award.
• Hunter…so grateful for sweet little Hunter.  He enjoys his sleep!  Ever since we separated them, he's been sleeping through the night.  He goes down after bath and bottle around 7:30pm, and he typically sleeps until 7:30 or 8:00am.  Hooray for Hunter!
• Naps - they BOTH typically nap like rock stars.  They sleep for 1.5 - 2 hours during their mid-morning nap, 1-2 hours during their afternoon nap and they are still in need of a cat nap around 5 or 5:30pm.  There are times when Hunter will sleep from 5:30pm until we wake him at 7pm for his bath and bottle, and then he will go back down for the night at 7:30pm as usual and sleep until 7:30 the next morning.  Like I said, the boy LOVES sleep!
• Jumperoo - one of their favorite activities is the Jumperoo.  Hunter has always loved it.  Jack was a little slower to come around, but now that he has, he loves it!  So much so that we now have two (got a 2nd one from a dear friend), and they are so cute jumping together like madmen.  I need to work on getting this on video.
• Illness - unfortunately we've had a few bouts of illness with both boys (but thankfully nothing too serious).  One thing became clear -
• Jack - he's the "good" sick kid…meaning he seemed to take his illness in stride and being under the weather didn't appear to get him down much.
• Hunter - not so good sick kid.  Ha!  Hunter was a bit fussy through his illness but nothing that was too difficult to deal with.  Fortunately as of this post, they are both healthy and happy little munchkins.
• Demeanor - fortunately both boys are happy most of the time.  Hunter is most unhappy when he's having to wait any amount of time to be fed.  Jack doesn't fuss about much (as of late), and he is truly the smiling-est baby I have EVER seen.  He is constantly smiling!  As one photographer put it, "that boy's a photographer's dream come true!"  Don't worry Hunter - you're a sleepy mama's dream come true!
• Thievery - our boys have already learned how to take toys (or pacis) from one another.  I can already hear them in the not-too-distant future, "Mine!" "No mine!" "MINE!" "NO MINE!"
• Scooting and sitting up
• Jack is the better scooter.  Put him on the floor and he's off!  Rolling and scooting all over the place.  He's also just recently started getting up on all fours (hands and knees)!
• Hunter…not so much.  Put him on the floor and he's perfectly content to just lay there.
• They are both sitting up quite well now with the help of a Boppy.  Hunter has actually been the better sitter-upper but Jack has just recently turned a corner and he's doing better with it himself.
• Teeth - we have an enamel eruption on both boys!  Still really difficult to get a photo because they are so small, but they are definitely there on the bottom.  Hunter's are a little more visible than Jack's so far.

6 Month Well Visit Stats (from 12/03/13):

Jack

Weight - 18.8 lbs (66th percentile)

Height - 27 in (61st percentile)

Head Circumference - 45.1cm (90th percentile)

Hunter

Weight - 17 lbs (37th percentile)

Height - 26 in (19th percentile)

Head Circumference - 45.1cm (90th percentile)

Wish I knew what they were both thinking here!

On the move….

~ jack ~

~ hunter ~

Pledge of Allegiance

I've had a difficult time getting quality video of Mr. Reid lately because every time he sees the camera or my iPhone camera, he wants to see the picture even before I have a chance to TAKE the picture.
But alas, I captured a gem tonight!  
At least it was a gem in mom's eyes.
On the short five minute trip from his school to our house each evening, he's recently noticed a house that has an American flag displayed outside.  Each day for the past week, when we drive past that house, he says, "A flag! A flag!" And he then proceeds to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
Tonight as I was loading him in the car at school, I decided to have my phone ready, and instead of driving past the house as usual, I pulled over alongside the curb right about the time the flag appeared. 
The rest is history.

Snow Day

In mid-December we had our first snow day in Dallas.  The only problem is that it wasn't really a snow day but more like an ICE day.  Hence the photos of the fallen branches on the side of our house.  

Although we had to quickly tend to roof, fence, gutter and fascia repairs, we were ultimately grateful that it was nothing more serious.  

 

Jack & Hunter on their very first "snow" day

iphone ipurge

Reid and mom got to go to mom's favorite place together.  Reid must love it too because he was SO well-behaved!

 

 Several pics I took with dad and his boys.  I couldn't resist all the sweetness!

 Twin-littles are wondering "Are you sure these people are related to us?"

 Smiles between daddy and Jack