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....

6 months :)

Preston is 0.5 years old! 6 months went quickly...even though it had its rough moments! Our little man has grown so much. He's babbling a ton, rocking back and forth on his knees and is a master army crawler. He can get around the house almost as well as if he were crawling on his knees. His doctor appointment went well...the doctor said he's sure Preston will crawl early. He's gaining weight well...he's still under the 50th percentile mark on pretty much everything...but he's consistent. We've decided we are going to wait a while to start him on regular baby foods. With all of his belly problems, I'm worried he'll be allergic to some of his foods. If we wait a while, we can decrease that chance a bit. We will stick to rice cereal for now. He likes it well enough. He does watch us eat with intense eyes. He really wants to try anything we'd be willing to give him. If your spoon or fork get too close to his mouth, he will get whatever you have! We have to work at keeping him away from our food if we have to hold him and eat. He's so beautiful. It's a good thing too, because he's still not sleeping through the night. He'll surprise me sometimes and have a good night, but usually he's up 2 0r 3 times. I can't wait to see what this next month brings!




My little man and my main man.....sleeping.....awwww!

Preston is so beautiful....he just melts my heart!

Trying to crawl....my big boy

Daddy and Preston playing

Peyton sharing his game with Preston. What a good big brother!

A couple of firsts

Preston's first tooth broke through. It's the bottom, front, left tooth. I just noticed it yesterday...but it may have been there for a couple days. He's already trying to take advantage of it, and is biting everything! It's a very cute little tooth! I wish I could take a picture, but he hardly even lets me look at it! Maybe when he gets his next tooth, I'll be able to get a picture of them both.

(this picture was taken a few days later...after his second tooth broke through on the bottom right...his right. I love his little teeth!)



Preston FINALLY slept in his crib! We all know that he is not a good sleeper, so he sleeps in any place that I can get him comfortable, or any place that he will sleep longer than 30 minutes! That means he has slept in his swing a ton. He's slept in my arms. He's slept on the floor a few times. He's also slept in his bouncy chair a couple of times. We only used his bassinet for probably 3-4 weeks because he just didn't sleep well. He was sleeping a max of 15 minutes at a time in there, so I finally gave up. The other day, after deciding I was really tired of sleeping on the couch, I tried putting him in his bed. He did really well! I think it was because it was dark, cool, and quiet in the bedroom. He slept for a long time! He has to be really asleep before I put him down, or it doesn't work. He's also had some relapses. He was sleeping through the night (mostly), but this last week, he's been awake about every 3 hours, and he wouldn't sleep in his bed for longer than an hour. We are back to the swing for right now, but we will get to the crib again soon. At least it's a start to normality!



Preston has recently been able to sit up on his own! I was able to leave him sitting for a few minutes...then he finally tipped over onto his side. Up until a couple of days ago, he would fall over after just a few seconds...so it's a huge upgrade in just a couple days! He's such a big little man!! :D

6th grade science fair!

I just wanted to do a little gloating....my daughter Caile took 1st place in her school's sixth grade science fair today! We are so proud of her for working so hard! She did a lot of research and spent a lot of time writing. Jared is good with the whole scientific process, so he made sure she was on track with everything. Other than editing and helping make things look pretty, she did most of it herself (with a little parental supervision). We really weren't expecting 1st place, but we are so happy for her! We will be moving on to the district science fair soon.

Her project was going to be something a little more "science like" but we got busy and procrastinated a bit, so we had to change our plan. Caile decided to see if certain types of cookie sheets will cause a cookie to burn. She researched the types of metals that cookie sheets are made from, and decided which one would cook the most evenly. Aluminum cookie sheets seemed to sound like the best option. Of course when she did the experiment, the thick 100% aluminum cookie sheet worked the best! The cookies were the same golden color on top and bottom. You'll never guess which one came in second....the cheap aluminum foil cookie sheet! The other expensive ones we bought...obviously not worth the money! Some were dark on bottom and doughy on top, or soft in the middle and crunchy on the edges. So, make sure you buy 100% aluminum cookie sheets for baking from now on, if you like evenly cooked foods that is! I guess the teachers voted on Caile's project because it used real world materials...and was something that you could use in your daily life. She also did well with the scientific process and how she set it up. We are proud of you Caile!