Happy Birthdays

This past week has been super busy for us, but in all our business we got to celebrate two special people's birthdays. Easton turned the big number one while they were visiting so we had a small family birthday party here. Then we celebrated Shaw's MiMi's birthday this past weekend.

The birthday boy (AKA my brother's mini me) eating his dinner

 My brother, sister-in-law, and Easton Matthew. Love them to pieces and miss them so much

His favorite gift, two cans of puffs that he banged together the whole night. haha

 Big boy opening his gifts

Happy boy

Yay for smash cake!

 MMMMmmmm...this is good!

 Then, he decided he didn't like it one bit. :)

This chunky monkey (am I really saying that about MY teeny tiny preemie?!) slept through all the festivities.

This weekend we celebrated MiMi's birthday by going out to eat for yummy food, opening gifts, and eating delish chocolate pie.

All of us with the birthday girl.

 Happy belated Birthday E man and MiMi. We love you both so much!

Cousin Love

Last week, my brother and his family were in town. That meant lots of cousin lovin' for Shaw man. He got to meet his cousin Easton for the first time and cousin Raeleigh loved having both boys to play with. She thought she was SO big! Here are a few pictures that I took while they were here.

Love these three! I was really close with many of my first cousins growing up and I pray Shaw has the same fun, exciting experiences with his. 

 :)

Early morning at Pops and Ganna's. I'm pretty sure Easton is letting Shaw know where his nose is.

 Sweet babies

Rae Rae loves her baby Shaw

Hey Aunt A!

  Oliver wasn't amused by the early morning festivities

 Mr. Blue Eyes

 Mont Momma and Daddy Buck with three of their great-grands (Love how Easton and DB are looking at each other..melt my heart cute!)

While they were here visiting we had pictures taken of the three kiddos for Ganna (and Pops) for Christmas. My friend, Lindsey, took the pictures and did a great job! We knew with a five year old, 12 month old, and 3 month old it could have been a disaster but they all three did fantastic! Here are a few of my favorites of all three of them together.

Wordless Wednesday: Phone pictures

:)

3 Months

Shaw Michael, yesterday you turned 3 months old!!! 3 MONTHS OLD....that's 1/4 of a whole year! I just can't believe it! You have grown and changed so much over this last month! Here are a few facts about you:

• On your birthday you weighed 10 lb. 7 oz. (still gaining over 2 lbs. a month)
• You are wearing mainly 0-3 month clothing and you can barely fit into some NB items
• You have the same feeding schedule that you have been on. There have been a couple of times where you have spread your feedings out to every 4 hours and if you are sleeping soundly I am not going to wake you.
• During the day you pretty much eat, play/stay awake for about an hour, take an hour nap and then start the cycle over
• You are still a great sleeper but your night sleep is very sporadic. One night you will sleep 5 hours straight and then the next you will sleep 9. You average about 7 straight hours. Regardless, we feel very blessed to have a baby that sleeps, gets up to eat, and goes right back to sleep with no problems.
• You LOVE playing with your playgym. I posted a video here of you in action
• You have now rolled over tummy to back 3 or 4 times
• You talk and smile all the time and your sounds are starting to vary more
• This week you laughed out loud "cackled" for the first time. Funny thing, I almost thought it was a cry because I was rocking you to sleep and your paci was barely in your mouth so I took it out and you had a HUGE smile on your face :). Guess you were having a funny dream. It was funny and sweet.
• You have a love/hate relationship with tummy time. You can put all your weight on your arms and keep your head up for about 5-10 minutes at a time. You would way rather hold your head up sitting in your bumbo, probably because it doesn't take as much effort.
• You still love bright, playful toys. You just stare and bat at them.
• You have really become fond of "Mr. Fan". ha! Your love the ceiling fans in our house
• Being outside it still your favorite
• We have been reading to you since you came home but now mommy tries to make it a daily activity. As long as you aren't tired you just intently listen and look at the pages of the book! I hope to install the importance of reading in you, and you enjoy books as you grow older.
• You have been doing great in church. We still haven't taken you to the nursery but you usually sleep through the entire service.
• You are still sleeping on your nap nanny in your pack-n-play. When daddy is gone I put it in the bed with me. I have been wanting to put you in your crib but your daddy is not ready to move you just yet.
• Lately, you have loved the car seat and it puts you right to sleep
• You take naps either in your swing or crib. I try to rotate throughout the day
• You still have some issues with reflux but for the most part it is controlled. I have considered taking you to the chiropractor and I am leaning more towards that then keeping you on medicine
• Starting a couple of weeks ago, you started fighting sleep. You will cry for the first few minutes. I think it is a tactic you use to keep your heavy eyelids open for as long as you can :)
• One of your favorite things to do is "Patty Cake". You smile and kick your legs the whole time.
• It is official that you look JUST like your daddy!

Shaw, you have such a sweet personality and you are such a joy to be around. I know I say it in every post, but I could not thank God enough for allowing me to be your mommy. I love you so much sweet boy.

Halloween

Yesterday we got to celebrate our sweet Shaw's first Halloween. A couple of months ago, my niece decided she was going to be Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz so we started talking and thought it would be cute to all be the characters. Of course, the guys didn't want to play along so all the girls (and Shaw) dressed up. Along with Dorothy, my mom was the wicked witch, my sister was the scarecrow, I was the tinman, and Shaw was the lion. I couldn't find a lion costume small enough for a 3 month old, let alone a premature 3 month old, so I found a cute hat on etsy and used my crafty sewing skills (ha!) and made the body of the costume. I surprised myself and it actually turned out super cute. All day we rested up and played at home until it was time to get ready for the big trick-or-treat trip. My family met us at our house, we went by my grandparents, and then we went to a big, popular neighborhood in our town to do the trick-or-treating. Afterwards, we went by Shaw's Mimi's house to show him off. He was such a sweet lion and enjoyed being outside all night. All the excitement really wore our sweet boy out because he slept 9 straight hours, something he has only done a couple of other times. We had a great day full of sweet memories.

My two boys

Sweet boy

Having cuddle time  

 Oliver was a skeleton this year

 Mrs. Tinman and her sweet lion

Dorothy (aka Raeleigh)

 Daddy and Shaw trick-or-treating

 He looks a little scared! haha

They were having a seriously conversation



 What a great night!