Four Months Photos

I think I mentioned in the post about Thomas's newborn photos that we purchased a First Year Package from our photographer, Lisa Mac.  The First Year Package includes 4 sessions worth of photos to see how he grows over the year.  Lisa takes pictures during the first two weeks, at 4 months, 8 months, and at one year.  Since Thomas is 5 months now, we've already been to see her for our second photo shoot.  I've just gotten the edited photos back and once again, I love them all!

Thomas was a complete ham for pictures!  It's like he knew exactly what he was doing - he smiled and grinned and cooed for Lisa right on cue.  I think she had a full roll of perfect pictures of him within the first 15 minutes!

She had some great pictures of him grinning on this blue blanket, but we chose this closeup below instead.  His hands in his mouth is just so representative of how he is right now.  We have to fight him to get him to put his hands down!

But that doesn't mean we didn't choose any with big grins...how sweet is this one of him on the green blanket?!  I love that it shows off his gummy smile and his bright blue eyes.

As great as Thomas was for the camera, his big sister was the exact opposite.  She was running around and laughing when we first arrived, but as soon as it was her time to be in front of the camera, it was meltdown city!  She wouldn't stay in front of the backdrops and cried and cried.  I took her new yellow rainboots, rain coat, and umbrella because I thought they would make a cute picture, but she wasn't very cooperative with keeping her boots on.  She also wouldn't touch her umbrella, so this was about the best Lisa was able to get.

Finally got the boots on, but definitely not smiling!

The only picture that I knew for sure that I wanted going into the shoot was one of Thomas in the baptismal gown that my mom made for him.  I plan to have his gown framed like I did Katie Wynn's, and I wanted to have some pictures of him wearing it to hang with it.  Since he was so sick when he got baptized, I didn't even bother trying to get good pictures of him in it.  Plus, I knew Lisa would do much better.  Look at this happy face she got!

I chose the one below to have a full shot of the gown, even though you can't really see the details.  Like always, my mom outdid herself with all her detailed handwork.  

Lisa had to work her editing magic for the picture below.  I really, really wanted one of Katie Wynn wearing this heirloom dress with Thomas in his gown.  Lisa took Thomas's face from one photo and hers from another and put them together.  She also removed the bright red sucker that Katie Wynn was holding in her hair.  I hate that her hair is a mess and her bow got cut off, but if you knew how horrible she was being, you'd know how lucky we are just to have this!

We are supposed to get 10 finalized pictures from each of the four photoshoots, but I only chose 8 from this round.  I'm hoping Katie Wynn will behave better at the 8-month or 1-year sessions and we'll have more options to choose from.  Here's hoping anyway!

Halloween Overload

Do you like Halloween?  I think I like it in theory.  I always get excited about it when it's still a month away - when people start pinning cute recipes and costumes on Pinterest and I always get the itch to throw a costume party so I can serve all the yummy (and spooky) dishes.  But usually, by the time the actual day gets here, I'm way over it.  This year was no exception.

Our Halloween festivities started a week early with our neighborhood Halloween parade.  I worked all night on Katie Wynn's homemade costume...a hot air balloon!  Remember those gigantic balloons I used for her 2nd birthday party?  Well she loved playing with them and that's really how the idea of her costume popped in my head.  When I ordered them on Amazon, one of the suggested items they had to go with them was a net that would hold it to a flower arrangement.  Or, in our case, a basket for a hot air balloon.  :)

The basket itself has a hole cut out of the middle for her body to go through, and it has strings attached that act as shoulder straps so she can easily wear it.  I cut all of those tiny letters out of felt to make her sign, and then just attached the giant balloon in its net.  I was so pleased with how it turned out.  So stinking cute, right?

Guess who disagreed and had a cow when it was time to put it on for the parade?

Our ride for the parade was waiting on us so we didn't have time for a meltdown.  Luckily, I knew there was a cheerleading outfit in her closet that she got last year for her birthday, so I ran and grabbed it and changed her on the golf cart.  What cheerleader doesn't have a bow and pom poms?  Mine, apparently.  Oops.  We got to ride on the back of the cart with Queen Elsa of Arendelle!

Did I mention that it was blazing hot?  That's why Thomas wasn't in his costume.  We were all sweating by the time the parade was over.  It ended at the lake in our neighborhood where they had games set up for the kids and lots of food and candy.  Katie Wynn found a balloon on the ground and snatched it right up!

Please check out the little girl behind Katie Wynn dressed as Richard Simmons.  That's her real hair.  Is that not awesome!?

Hey there, cleavage.  Why would a size 2T outfit be so low cut??

We didn't stay long at the neighborhood party because we had another Halloween event to get to.  This one was with all of my bunco friends and their families.  Last year we did Zoo Boo but this year we decided meeting at someone's house would be much better for our little ones.  The Earls hosted us for "Costumes and Cameras" and we munched on hot dogs and chili and other goodies.  

The first order of business once everyone had arrived was getting a group picture of all the kids in their costumes.  Katie Wynn had another cow when Matt tried to put her in the hot air balloon.

My kids totally rocked it out for the group pictures.  I mean, they're like mini professional models.  #sarcasm

So what if he was falling over?  Couldn't he have still smiled at the camera?  #kidding

Thomas was dressed as a pilot to go with Katie Wynn's hot air balloon.  It was a last minute purchase but ended up being great because it was just like a pair of pajamas.  He wore it with no problems and didn't get way too hot in it.  Since K-dub wouldn't wear her costume, we put Thomas in it (away from the crowd) for pictures in it.

Of course, Katie Wynn had to make sure he knew that it was hers.

Here are some of our friends from the party.

Caroline the lady bug with Henry the teddy bear

Olivia the bumble bee with her mama, Meghan

Cliff and Stephanie with Liam the dragon

Teddy Bear Henry with his parents, Jenny and Darrin

Me and Jenny with our boys

Liam the dragon

Snow White Wesley

Sock Monkey Everett

Olivia the lady bug likes the hot air balloon!

Actually touching her costume!

Grant protested against his costume too.

Sock Monkey Everett with his parents, Chris and Allison

Olivia likes to swing as much as KW does!

While making the sign for Katie Wynn's costume, I also made a Pin-the-nose-on-the-Jack-O-Lantern game.  Basically just a big orange pumpkin with lots of black triangle noses.  I thought it might be a good idea to have an activity for the toddlers.  They were really into it for about five minutes, which is longer than I thought they'd be!

The week leading up to Halloween was one of those crazy dress up weeks at daycare.  I have mixed feelings about this week.  I like that they're doing something fun and different for the kids, but at the same time, it was really hard for me to put KW in pajamas in school when I spend so many mornings telling her she can't wear pjs to school so that she'll get dressed.  Tricky.  Thankfully, she has not asked to wear pajamas to school again so maybe she won't remember.

Monday = Hat Day.  She wouldn't wear hers but still won an award for cutest hat??

Tuesday = Mix Match Day.  So very hard for this matching mama to do!

Wednesday = Pajama Day.  Skeleton pj's with candy corn in the belly were perfect!

Thursday = Pink Day for Breast Cancer Awareness.  Also known as just another day for Katie Wynn.

Friday = Costume Day.  Thankfully we had overalls in her closet for a makeshift farmer/cowgirl costume.

Guess who had skeleton + candy corn pj's to match her on Wednesday?  Nope, not Thomas...it was Charlie!

Like I said at the beginning of this post, by the time it we needed to get ready for Trunk or Treat, I was so over it.  I didn't even try to get her to wear the hot air balloon since I knew that would just be another meltdown.  I did talk her into wearing her bandana around her neck to be a little bit more convincing as a cowgirl.  I don't think many cowgirls wear white keds...

The temps dropped fairly low so our church moved Trunk or Treat into the gym and rented a big bouncy house for the kids.  There were tables set up for them to trick or treat at.  The event was open to the public and it was kind of a big, chaotic, sugar fest mess.  Katie Wynn was, like always, too shy to do anything other than cling to us, so we only stayed long enough to hand out our candy.  While she would not actually trick or treat, she had no problem filling her bucket up with candy from the basket I was trying to empty.

Thomas was happy-go-lucky when we arrived but all the chaos proved to be too much for him.  Poor little guy feel asleep sitting up in his Poppy's lap!

By 6:15, we were in the car and calling it quits on Halloween.  And I was A-ok with that.  Maybe next year we'll actually try to go door to door for candy!

Rotten Pumpkins

Have any of you ever tried to get a good picture of a 2 year old and a 4 month old together?  It's hard.  Like, insanely hard.  In fact, it might not even be possible.  

Let me take you through one of our recent photoshoots.  These pictures were taken on a Saturday afternoon after they'd both woken from naps, a time when they're generally in a good mood but still sitting semi-still as they really wake up.  I asked Katie Wynn if she wanted to have her picture made with Thomas in their matching shirts and she excitedly said "Uh huh!!" and climbed up in the chair.

I sat him in the chair too and we were ready to start.

But obviously the blanket and paci needed to go.  When I took those away from her, her body stopped working.  She could no longer sit up on her own.  

So I sweet-talked her and promised her a treat and wrestled her back into an upright position, but by then Thomas was mad.

She stole her treat - a blueberry muffin - off the side table and consoled Thomas as if she hadn't just had a meltdown herself.  

I'm not exactly sure what happened next but I think she jumped down and ran off and Thomas fell over, because when the pictures start again they've switched spots.

I tell her to sit up so I can see both of their shirts.  She gives me this.

Followed by this.

And then she jumps down and runs off again.  I give up and take pictures of Thomas who is much happier without his crazy sister around.

He doesn't even mind sitting up if he doesn't have to worry about her jumping over on him.

Sister returns and wants back in the game.  

"Oh, you want to lay down?  Yes, that's a good idea!  Let's lay down! Isn't this fun!  Wait, where'd you find that paci?"

I take the paci away again because we haven't met our quota of meltdowns yet.

Dangling the paci overhead like bait for a smile doesn't seem to be working.

Yes!  Now all the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch are crying!

I give up.  Where are the plugs?  Everyone gets a paci.

The blanket returns and we're back at where we started.

My precious little rotten pumpkins win again.

Thomas: 4 Months Old

Remember how I posted about Thomas at 2 months and discussed him being colicky?  Well these days, he's a totally different baby!  At 4 months, we have moved past the colic and instead of getting hours worth of crying, we're getting lots of smiles and giggles and coos.  I like those sounds much better!  

He had his 4 month checkup this week and his second set of shots.  He weighs 15.1 pounds and is as healthy as can be!  He was a total flirt with the doctor and gave her LOTS of grins and laughs.  He was not so fond of the nurse that gave him his shots.  Katie Wynn sympathy cried for him (she didn't get any shots!).  

He is becoming much more alert.  He loves to watch Katie Wynn.  The picture below is of him standing (assisted) by the coffee table while she opened her birthday presents.  

When KW opened her new baby crib, we knew it was only a matter of time before Thomas found himself laying in it.  He barely fit and wasn't very excited to be in it!  

Thomas is the very happiest in the mornings.  He is still sleeping swaddled up in his own room.  He has become quite the little Houdini and can wiggle out of his swaddle.  For the most part, he sleeps all the way through the night (from 7pm to between 5 and 6am).  If we go in his room it is either to give him his paci back or re-swaddle him if he's come loose.  He can roll from his stomach to his back but not the other way.  We are about to switch to a zipadee-zip to see how he does sleeping in it (Katie Wynn slept in one of these from 5 months until about 22 months).  

These pictures were taken the night we were at the ER (read more about that here).  The little yellow hospital gown just about did me in.  I hope he never has to wear a  hospital gown again!

I snapped them post-bottle but pre-catheter so he was in an ok mood.  After the catheter (to get a urine sample), his daddy was able to get him to sleep while I tried not to fall asleep on the hospital bed.  I haven't been out past midnight in who knows how long and this was not really a fun reason to be!

These two pictures were taken the next days as he started feeling better.  The one on the left was taken on Monday morning and you can tell from his eyes that he still doesn't feel great.  By Monday evening (on the right), he was feeling so much better and acting more like himself.

These days Thomas is a huge fan of bath time.  We have stopped doing bath sinks (much earlier than we did with KW) and instead lay him in very shallow water in the tub.  Katie Wynn loves to watch and then she gets in (with more water) (and bubbles) right after him.  He loves to be in the warm water and would be perfectly fine if he could stay and splash in it all day.

I have borrowed a swing from a friend and it's a complete game changer.  It was like love at first swing for Thomas.  I would seriously like to redo my maternity leave now that we have a swing and I could actually put him down somewhere!  

The picture to the right is one of my favorites.  Katie Wynn lined up all of her favorite babies.  I cannot even begin to describe how much of a little mama she is.  She pats on her babies (Thomas included!) and kisses them and puts them down for night-night all day long.  Thomas is the first person she asks about in the mornings and when she gets home ("Where Thomath go?") and she tries so hard to share all of her food and drinks with him.  For diaper changes, she always picks out an Elmo diaper for him because Elmo is her favorite (I have to remember to use the other character diapers when she's not around!).  

We have started feeding him whole food at dinner time.  We first gave him cereal about three weeks ago and he hated it.  I thought it was the cereal so we began mixing in some stage 1 foods to give it some flavor.  So far he's tried sweet potatoes, pears, and carrots.  Aaaaand I don't think it was the cereal he hated.  I think he just hates eating with a spoon in general.  He won't close his mouth around the spoon so we have to scrape it off into his mouth and then stick his bottle in so he'll swallow it.  It's quite the process and he cries all the way through it.  Who could hate eating so much??  I don't know who he gets that from as his daddy and I both love to eat.  Hopefully he starts learning to love the spoon soon!

Lately our bedtime routine has been me getting Thomas lotioned up and dressed after his bath while Matt bathes Katie Wynn and finishes her up.  We usually finish first so Thomas sits in her chair and waits for her to finish her hemming and hawing around so they can have a bedtime story and go night-night.  He loves to sit up and is getting better with his balance by the day.  I think he'll be sitting up on his own very soon.  He also still loves having his hands in his mouth and is in the major drooling stage.  No teeth buds yet but maybe some will sprout soon?

I am trying to do his monthly pictures like I did for Katie Wynn but I am not doing a great job of getting them done right on time or putting much effort into them.  Typical second child problems, huh?  Here are the standard chalkboard sign ones for all four months of his life so far.

The next set I've been trying to do is him with his big sister.  These are such a disaster.  I'm only keeping them for the laughs they'll create when they're big and look back on them.

The third and final set is themed to go with the month, just like I did for Katie Wynn.  These are the ones that make me feel like the biggest failure because I have only halfway tried on them.  Hopefully once he starts sitting up and it gets easier to pose him I'll get motivated to try harder?  

Watermelon = July?  I think Katie Wynn's July picture had a watermelon with this galvanized tin too so I was trying to have it kinda match.  He was so tiny though and couldn't sit up and it was too bright for him to really open his eyes.  Ugh...I did I mention it was like a hundred degrees?  I gave up quickly.

Pumpkin hat = October!

Swimming in August!

Golfing in September.  I know September doesn't really make you think of golf but I just loved the pictures of him in this hat and I actually think his dad was playing golf when we took these, so it counts.  :)

Here's a fun little side-by-side comparison of both Katie Wynn (left) and Thomas (right) in the exact same outfit.  Katie Wynn was 2 months when she wore it and Thomas is 4 months in it.  The pumpkin hat is definitely tighter on his head, and never mind that slight ruffle on bottom of the pants.  :)  I don't know why I thought it was a good idea to attempt to sit 2 babies that can't sit up on their own on a slick bench.  That's why they're blurry...they're falling over and I'm hurrying to snap the picture before the face plant!

Even with all the chaos that comes with having two small kids this close in age, I still wouldn't change any of it for the world!  Who knew Thomas was what we were missing to make our family complete?  And to think I was so scared about Katie Wynn feeling replaced or not liking him.  I think having Thomas is her favorite thing I've ever done for her!  We have loved this little guy from day one, but now we are starting to really like him too!  He brings us so much joy!  :)

Thomas's Baptism

Two days after Katie Wynn's second birthday party, we had Thomas baptized.  I had planned both events for the same weekend since Matt's parents would be in town visiting.  Everything was organized and planned to a T so that the weekend would be smooth sailing.  What I didn't count on was Thomas running a high fever all day on Saturday and us ending the night at the ER.  Sigh...

After hours of a burning hot head, we finally decided to take him to a weekend clinic to see if it could be an ear infection.  The idea of getting a round of antibiotics in him before the baptism seemed like a good idea.  But....we waited too long and pulled up to the clinic at 8:06pm.  The website said it was open until 9:00pm but it actually closed at 8:00pm.  Did I mentioned that we'd driven 45 minutes to get there?  You better believe I heavily knocked on the door, but they wouldn't let us in.

So we went to the ER, still thinking it was a simple ear infection and we just needed to get our hands on a prescription.  But then Thomas got extra fussy and the triage nurse thought he should be totally checked out and....fast forward four hours and we were finally walking out the doors shortly after midnight.  His ears?  Totally fine.  Everything about him was totally fine, except for the fever.  We left with instructions to give him Tylenol and continue to watch him.  Ugh, I could've figured that out on my own.  The fever lasted about 2 and half days and we never really figured out what it was.  Just one of those unexplained things babies get!

Back to the baptism.  It was already planned and in the bulletin, lunch had already been ordered, his gown had been handmade and ironed, and family was in town.  102 fever or not, Thomas was getting baptized!  

Matt's mom, Pat, took pictures of us during the service.  We walked up on stage during the singing of a hymn.  That's always awkward because I don't know if I should sing or not while I'm up there.  If you've ever heard me sing, you know that my voice accidentally being picked up on a microphone could be tragic.  

My mom plays the piano during our church services but walked out from her normal spot to sit in the front pew and watch.  Katie Wynn spotted her immediately and squirmed out of my arms so she could go sit with her.  Do you see that look on my face?  That's a look that says, "Please don't fall down those stairs and make me run and trip over there in my heels to pick you up.  Don't you even think about getting hurt and crying.  I already have one sick baby, I don't have time for that."

Thankfully she made it down the steps just fine and we were able to move on with the baptism.

Didn't my husband do an excellent job of holding Thomas and his draping gown?  I was the one looking awkward since my assigned child ran down the steps.  Note to self: stand with legs together and don't twist your arms up like that.

Pouring the water - nice action shot, Pat!

And a prayer for sweet Thomas.

I don't have good pictures of the actual baptism because Brother Tom turned his back and was blocking the view.  His head was so hot, though, that the water sizzled when it was poured over him.  I'm kidding.  But it was really hot.  So hot that the picture below is of Brother Tom telling the congregation that he was not going to bring him around and introduce him to them because he was sick.  We appreciated that.  Why do preachers always wad up the gown?

We had a catered lunch at our house for all of our family.  Since everyone was present and in nice clothes, we took family pictures again.  Here's our whole crew.  I've just resigned to the fact that we're gonna have bad family pictures for a few years until the little kids know how to look at the camera and smile.

This is my oldest brother Nick and his family.  They are the most photogenic family in the world and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit jealous.  

My other brother, Ben, and his family.  I should've arranged them a little bit better, but Ben's leg was broken so he couldn't move much.  At least I took the crutches out from under his arms!

Everyone in this picture is shooting little death rays out of their eyes at me.  They are so mad that I'm making them take pictures again.  Well, everyone except for my mom maybe.  Don't they all just look like a happy bunch??

The last pictures we took were of Matt's parents with our kids.  Aren't our little ones the most precious things you've ever seen? 

I honestly have no idea what people mean when they talk about the terrible twos.  My two-year-old is a little angel who would never entertain the thought of not sitting pretty and smiling for a picture for her mama.  Meltdown she does not.  

And Thomas?  He's screaming his head off because he still has a 102 fever.  This was the best we could get before I told them they could go inside and eat (or, in Thomas's case, chug some Tylenol).  

It was an exhausting day but we are so glad to have had it done.  As parents, we know this is the best gift we could ever give Thomas and we hope that we will raise him to love Christ and live according to his examples!