Tucker, 7 months

I am behind, as usual, but here are a couple of pictures that tell a lot more about Tucker's personality at 7 months than my usual "posed" picture. He is becoming more and more like his brother everyday. Tucker is funny, loves to laugh and climb and play- anything busy. Just like Griffin at his age, he refuses to sleep on me anymore, but he loves his bed and goes down with no trouble for naps and bed. He is sitting up, pulling up (recently started doing this in his crib), getting on all fours and TRYING to crawl- he just cant get it all together yet- although he manages to drag himself to where he wants to be. Tucker can sit himself up from all positions. His favorite position now is to be standing- holding on to anything he can reach. Of course he has no fear. As witnessed in the last post, he LOVES his brother and thinks everything he says/does is funny. He is eating more and more everyday and likes most food I give him. His latest interest are Puffs, which he can put in his mouth with about 75% accuracy. The sleeping at night...well we are still working on that. It is still inconsistent, but getting better. I guess if that is our only complaint, I cant complain too much. We have 2 happy, healthy, fun-loving boys and I am definitely going to have my hands full in the future!

My Silly Boys

My Little Project

This is the finished result of my first real building project that I took on for Griffins Birthday. I wanted to build him a picnic table for him to sit at with his friends but didn't know it would turn out like this. After looking at the plans, I knew I was going to have to solicit some help. Although it would have been a good laugh to see what it would have looked like had I done on my own. Ben Baisdon, a friend of mine from church, Happily agreed to help me. Over a 3 night period, Ben and I cut, measured, cut some more and put this thing together. And this is the finished piece. I have to say that I am pretty proud of it and hope that it is around for griffin to enjoy for a long time. It is a little bigger than I wanted for him but now we can all sit at this this fall.

Nathan

Griffin's 3rd birthday party

Here are the party pictures. Griffin had a "camping theme" party for a few of his friends. We had hot dogs, swam, played in the tent, went fishing and hiking, and ate smores.

Happy Birthday Griffin, Happy Anniversary Nathan!

I am a little behind in writing this, but we have had a busy weekend. Last Friday was a very special day for me for 2 reasons: Griffin turned 3 and Nathan and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It is hard sometime to take the time to look back and remember the dates that we are celebrating...birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc... but I had the unique opportunity to do so on this occasion. Griffin and Nathan took a Father/son camping trip on Thursday night for Griffin's birthday (yes we live in Austin and the temperature has been averaging over 100- crazy, but that is another story that I will let Nathan tell later). I met them for breakfast on Friday morning- Nathan's parents were in town and they stayed home with Tucker. We ate, broke down camp, and then headed home. Nathan switched cars with me and I drove Griffin home. On the way I asked him if he wanted to hear about the day he was born. He did, and I recounted that day for him. He listened intently, then asked to hear another story. So I told him about the day Daddy and I got married. He loved listening to the stories and has since asked several times for me to tell them again. The best part about that moment, though, for me was thinking back and re-living those 2 special occasions. I often find that I get excited to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and other special occasions, but rarely think back to the actual day I am celebrating. July 17, 2004 was the day I married my husband. It was a wonderful, hot Saturday that went as perfectly as it could go as far as weddings are concerned. Since that date I have had the best 5 years of my life. It has not been the easiest 5 years- we have faced a lot of stressful times- but I would not trade a day of it away. I married my best friend, a wonderful amazing father, and most importantly someone who is helping me on our journey with our Father. July 17, 2006, my life changed once again as I gave birth to our first child, Griffin. He is smart, talkative, imaginative, strong-willed, kind-hearted, stubborn, thoughtful, busy, loving, funny, aggrivating, enjoyable, and uniquely special. I could not have imaginied before him how he would change our lives. I cannot believe that 3 years have gone by since that Monday afternoon when we welcomed him into our lives, but I know the next 3 will go by even faster. I will try more often to take the time to remember the past, to enjoy the present,and to pray for the future. I am so thankful for this special day to remember 2 of the most important days in my life- Happy Birthday my sweet Griifin. Happy anniversary Nathan. I love you both!

More details of camping, parties, and pictures to come...

Singing Together

Nothing like singing int he bathtub

Griffin's Songs

Griffin has always been a singer- he sings all the time, especially in the car. He continues to amaze me with how many songs he knows and remembers. However, he doesn't always get all the words right. Here are just a few of his versions of the recent songs I heard him singing in the car.

Father Abraham
"Fader Abraham, had many cents (?) and many cents had Fader Abraham. I don't want a pet, and so are you, so let's all praise the Lord."

He Has Made Me Glad
"Jesus gave me glad, Jesus gave me glad, I will rejoice cause Jesus gave me glad"

Cast Your Burdens
"Cast your burdens, until Jesus, cause he cares for you."

You Are Holy
"You are Holy, You are mighty, you are wordy, wordy of pray"

These are just a few- they of course sound better when you hear it. There is nothing sweeter than hearing your child praise God, even if he is a little off. :)

Sleep Update, #1

Just wanted to say thanks for all the advice- I know everyone is different and every baby is different, so there is no "right way", but I appreciated hearing everyone's ideas and thoughts and sympathies :)

Just to update...things are slowly getting better. We have basically gone to 2 naps during the day and Tucker is eating his baby food so much better- he is now eating 3 meals most days. That has helped. I am trying to feed him and nurse him a lot before bed and I started letting him try and put himself to sleep (without my help finding his pacifier and turning him over) the first time he cried out at night. Yes - I am trying a little bit of everything :) but it has seemed to help. It was hard the first night, but he finally put himself back to sleep and from then on it has been better. He still usually cries out sometime between 3 and 4, but it is mostly whining/fussing, not real crying and he usually puts himself back to sleep within 10 minutes. He is still waking up again between 4:30-6, and I feed him, but not a lot and he goes back to sleep. We are not all the way there yet, but I can see the light :) We have also been out of town and that has affected him, but he has kept pretty consistant through the travel, late nights, etc... We will see how things go now that we are home for a while and can be more consistant.

Again, thanks to all moms for your support! I will update again in a couple of weeks- hopefully with even better news.