"Tat!"

Many of you know this story, but for those of you who don't, let me tell you. This 'tat' and Joseph have become best buds. Last week, it was a beautiful day, so I asked Joseph if he wanted to go play in the backyard. I had to feed Christian, so I told Joseph that I would join him outside as soon as I was done. Joseph then decided that he didn't like that idea and became Mr. Grumpy Gills. He started whining and getting really mad because I wouldn't come out. I told him he needed to go sit on his bed and when he was ready to join Christian and I and have a good attitude, he could come out. (He had also just woken up from his nap, so he isn't always the sweetest little cherry right after waking up.) Back to our story; I walked out of his room and made myself comfortable in the living room and started nursing Christian. It couldn't have been 5 minutes and out comes running Joseph grinning ear to ear. I thought to myself, "that was a quick turn around." Then whoosh, out runs this cat from under the couch. My only reaction was to scream because I wasn't expecting it at all! I stood up real fast and opened the back door and out he ran. Joseph then followed saying, "tat, tat." He played outside with the cat for a good while and then wanted me to join him outside. We went through the whole "I need to feed Christian, then...." thing again and while doing so, in came the cat again!! I just wanted that yucky thing out of my house. (Yes, I am more of a dog person). I ran through the house closing doors trying to refrain from the cat getting under the beds and end up not coming out. Joseph was just loving this pet in our house. He was following him and petting and bonding....well, I finally got the cat out the front door and kept Joseph inside. Oh man, you should have seen the tears. Joseph ran to the back windows screaming and crying for this stray animal. I videoed it because it was just priceless, but after watching it, I felt bad videoing this totally distraught child. Fast forward to these pictures...his buddy reappeared again this weekend and they bonded once again. The cat just goes right up to him and rubs on him and lets Joseph pick him up. The first picture, Joseph was kissing the cat...blah!
*I wish I could have seen Joseph's face when he saw the cat in his room. I bet it was priceless. He loves animals which is unfortunate because I can't see us ever having one.*

All Smiles

I finally captured some big smiles on camera. This was during Christian's happiest time first thing in the morning. He also 'talks' a lot during this time, but getting that on video would require me to turn on my super duper mommy voice, which can be very annoying.

No Way!

It can actually be done! You can get 7 children sitting, happy and all looking at the camera at the same time. I was so surprised we got the picture we did.

(L-R) Phillip 5 wks., Christian 5 wks., Tilly 1, June 2 1/2, Joseph 2, Mark 5, Jack 4

Leaders of the pack. I don't know why Joseph has the face that he does.

1 Month today!!

Today is Christian's one month birthday! Woohoo. Below are three pictures, the first two are one of each of the boys (Joseph is the first picture) in the same outfit and the third is just of Christian on his first month. You will probably get tired of me posting pictures of the boys, but I thought it would be fun to see what they each look like on the same months. On the other hand, we are doing good. Pretty much have a routine, but am looking forward to more sleep. Christian only gets up twice in the night, but after the second time, he will usually have a hard time going back to sleep. This is where the swing has come in handy lately. I just bundle him up, stick the 'fire' in his mouth and turn on the swing. This buys me about 2 more hours of sleep! He is starting to be more awake during the day, so I am thinking any day now he will be sleeping longer at night. Joseph has done pretty good with having just me here. He is a little more short tempered so we have had to address that a lot these past two weeks, but I am just trying to give it time and let him get used to me tending to Christian all the time.
This past weekend was my shower and I was blessed tremendously! I am so thankful for my church family and all the wonderful ladies of FCofC. We didn't get pictures of the wonderful day...not even of the two boys who were dressed a like. (For those of you who don't know, my sister in law had a baby boy two days before I did, so we had a baby shower together...so much fun!). I do want to get some pictures of them together, but it is so hard right now because someone is either asleep, crying or eating. As they get older, I am sure we will be able to get more of them together.
Christian also went in today for his follow up hep b vaccine and he weighed 9 lbs. My growing little man!
That is about all the news here, stayed tuned for more updates and pictures. (I wanted to get one of both boys today, but Joseph was so crabby during our photo shoot...maybe next time. )

Does he look like....

Okay, as Christian's mom, I think he looks similar to Joseph's baby pictures. Many people don't see it, but I can tell in a couple of features. I posted two photos so that you can make your own assessment. They have the same nose and same shape of mouth....Joseph's lips are just bigger. Many people don't think they look anything a like because Joseph is so fair complected and Christian has the dark hair. So here you go..have fun trying to decide whether or not they favor each other.

On a side note. We are trucking along. On Monday Christian will be 3 weeks old!! I can't believe it. It will also be my first day on my own, so if you call and I sound tired, annoyed or grumpy, that is probably the reason. I am ready to do it though. Ready to have the boys all to myself and get into a routine. Christian is doing really well. I weighed him yesterday and he was 8 lbs. I think he may be going through a growth spurt because he is waking up every 2 hrs at night...ugh!! Very tiring. At least he is eating and going back to sleep and not waking up to just be up like he was at the beginning. The kiddo sleeps all day too. I try to keep things loud and bright so he will stay awake, but I haven't been successful. He is also a big smiler and when he smiles, it is alot like Joseph's smile.
Joseph is such an angel with him. The other night, I saw him kneel down next to Christian and start talking in a super sweet 'baby' tone. He saw me looking at him and he just grinned and got kind of embarrassed. So cute!
That is all I have for today. I hope to blog next week and keep you posted on our transition, but don't be surprised if I don't get around to it.

Joseph on top.

Joseph at bottom.

Happy Valentine's Day

Our wonderful Grammy!

My mom was such a blessing these past two weeks. I already miss her and am looking forward to seeing her again real soon. She let me sleep in every morning, cleaned, did our laundry, played with Joseph and held Christian when ever I needed her to. Thank you mom for a wonderful two weeks.

Big Boy Bed

Well, in addition to bringing home a new little boy, Grammy and Papaw bought Joseph his big boy bed this week. It was just a nice little surprise because I wasn't planning on getting this for a while. While my mom was here, there was a good sale going on at the Roomstore, so she wanted to go check it out. We did and were able to find the perfect set up for him. Joseph loves it!!! We might have to take the ladder off for now because he loves to climb up to the top bunk and run back and forth. There is not telling what he would do in the middle of the night. I plan on painting his room in the future, maybe when Christian is a little older and I feel like I have more time on my hands. I am also excited about this bunk bed because I really need to be able to close the door when Christian is napping. So far he has been in our room in his playpen, but I have to leave the door open to be able to hear him. Joseph loves running in there, or should I say, sneak in there and put things in his crib. Now that I can put him in the regular crib, I can close the door and use the monitor. A little bit more relief for me. Yea! Thank you mom and dad for blessing us so!

Joseph doing his happy dance above. Grammy taught him this. This is the dance where you circle your arms around and around. Was this called the cabbage patch dance? Or am I totally making that name up?

He likes to climb up to the top and run back and forth. Yikes!