7 months old on St. Patty's Day!

Preston turned 7 months old today. Best of all he celebrated his first St. Patrick's Day! We put him in green...along with all of the kids. I still wish I would have taken a picture of all of them. Oh well. That's what happens when it gets busy! Trying to squeeze a holiday in after school never really works out. We always try to make it a special day....celebrate the little bit of Irish in our heritage. We had the traditional corned beef and cabbage. I had to make it this year...usually Jared does that part. It turned out pretty good for my first try! For dessert we had cinnamon rolls with green frosting! I think the kids had fun.

Anyway, Preston is on to his next month of growing. He started eating "real" food last week on Monday....we started with some carrots...which he loved!! This week it's squash, and he's doing fine with that too. As mentioned before, he is crawling! He is still a bit awkward with it, but gets around just fine. I'm sure by next week, he'll be a pro! He has slept better at night lately, only waking up a couple times. He's developing an aggressive personality. If he wants something, he will do everything in his power to get it. If you take him away from something he wants, or take something away from him...he cries and sometimes even screams. I thought he was still too young to care about little things. You can't take away one thing while distracting him with something else either....he's just too smart for that. It's funny to watch him. Jared calls him a little cave man. He pounds his little hands on his belly and yells....so cute! He grabs on to me...pretty much pinching my face as hard as he can and pulls it close to his, then he laughs or screams, depending on what mood he's in. He gets excited when he hears loud noises, and loves music. He's a little curious George. If it's somewhere that he's not suppose to be, he will find a way to get there. If it's something he's not suppose to play with, he's playing with it. The room could be filled with Preston's toys, and he'd find the one Lego in the entire room to play with. He's one that you can't take your eyes off of. It's gonna be even better when he starts walking....let's pray that doesn't happen for a while! We are having fun watching him grow. The kids grow more attached to him every day. Peyton has fun playing with him. They both lay on the floor, and Preston crawls over Peyton...or grabs Peyton's nose. They just have a blast...Peyton laughs so hard at him sometimes. I was a little worried that Peyton would have jealousy issues, but he loves his little brother. He wants to take care of him and be the big brother. I really hope it lasts! We are ready to see what this next month brings!

Fun at the Park

A day at the park...it was still a little cold but fun! It was the first "warm" day of the winter.

Preston in his little snow outfit

Peyton and Preston

Mystery Person

Peyton was the mystery person for his Kindergarten class last week. Basically all week at school, the teacher gives the kids clues about the "mystery person" and they get to guess who it is. On Friday, I got to go to Peyton's class and talk to the kids about him. We made a poster with pictures of him and all of his family...we also wrote down some of his favorite things (like favorite colors, favorite activities, favorite treats, etc.). We showed the poster to the class, then we got to answer all of the questions that the kids prepared for Peyton. At first it seemed a little bit silly to me to spend 15 minutes in his classroom talking about Peyton. We spent about an hour or more just making his poster. I think I was a little bit frustrated that day....I was up late the night before, didn't sleep well when I did get to bed, I had to work that night...so I really needed sleep, and Jared had to miss work for a few hours to stay home with the baby. I was just ready to get it over with. I also knew that I would get home from the school and have to go back an hour later to pick Peyton up. It all seemed like a crazy waste of time. I wasn't going to get a nap that day....which meant that by the next time I would go to bed, I'd have been up for more than 24 hours. Anyway, I got to the school at 10 a.m. and waited in the office for Peyton to come get me. When he got to the office, I saw this proud look in his eyes. He grabbed my hand and walked me to his classroom. He was so excited for me to be there. He was even more excited to be able to show me to the class. He couldn't wait for me to sit up there and talk about him...about what a great kid he is...and how much we love him. I got to tell the kids all about Peyton's favorite things...and he got to interrupt and share funny things as well. I think I realized at that point, it was worth it. Every hard thing that I had to deal with that day...and the next 24 hours, was totally worth that 15 minutes in my son's classroom. It was worth it to see him so happy. It was worth it to watch him talk to the class with that big smile on his face. I came to the realization that it's these moments that are important, and this is all that kids really need. Someone to want to be there, and someone to love them for who they are. After we were done sharing, we passed out a treat for the kids....one of Peyton's favorites...DOUGHNUTS of course! Peyton gave me a big hug before I left. It makes me proud to have such a wonderful son. I'm so glad I got to share that time with him!

Little progression updates...

Preston is so close to crawling! He's been close this whole month, and is definitely a pro army crawler. He rocks back and forth on his hands and knees...he'll even lift one hand up at a time...just doesn't go anywhere. He does what look like push ups too. He's on his hands then gets on his toes and pushes up....strong little fart! Just today he was able to go from a crawling position to a full sitting position all by himself. Then he got back down to a crawling position! He's also getting his 3rd tooth in on the top front left side. it's been hurting him, poor baby! Those top teeth can be painful! Just wanted to share....