Sixteen Weeks Old

   WHOA!!  It has been a super busy week around here.  And, I am not sure who is more tired - my mommy & daddy or me.  I'm worn out.
   To start the week, last Sunday we went back to visit our friends at Parkwood Community Church, and it was so fun to show old friends how much I've grown. 
   Then mommy and daddy seemed really busy around the house, getting ready for our guests this week.  And, they had to thaw out the turducken they had ordered for the big festivities.  They explained to me that we would be celebrating my first ever Thanksgiving - and I have so much to thank the Lord for.
   On Wednesday, my uncle Henry and cousin Natalie arrived from Houston.  My auntie Althea couldn't come because she is expecting to bring me a new cousin in about 20 weeks :)  - It was so fun to meet some of my family and get to see folks who look kinda look like my daddy.  Mommy was really busy in the kitchen most of the day getting ready for the next day.
   On Thursday, my uncle Charlie, auntie Abby, and new cousin Parker arrived from Wisconsin.  It was super fun to see my baby cousin and know that we will be growing up together in the years ahead.  Then a bit later, my uncle Marc, auntie Olivia, and cousins Seth & Caleb arrived from Virginia.  I loved getting to meet my daddy's family (and look forward to meeting mommy's family next month in Georgia). And, they all kept telling me how cute I am.  
   But boy did we realize how I am an only child - I am not used to all this noise and all these people.  My mommy did her best to keep me on my schedule but there were times I was having way too much fun with all my family and didn't want to sleep for my usual full-length nap-time.  So, I'm actually sleeping a lot today - I told mommy what to tell all of you while I catch up on my sleep :).
   Unfortunately, mommy and daddy were so busy spending time with family and cooking food that they didn't take many pictures of me.  Can you believe that they didn't take a single picture of me with my cousins or aunties/uncles?  What were they thinking??


Here are the few that they did manage to take:

Sorry there are no videos this week.  My mommy is falling down on the job :) -- or was just too busy cooking and cleaning.

Fifteen Weeks Old

It has been quite a momentous week around here.


My biggest news first: I have now learned to turn over from being on my belly to my back.  Mommy and daddy put me in my play-yard/bassinet on Thursday night and then watched as I lifted myself up and turned half-way over to look at the mobile over my head.  I didn't quite make the full turn as the siding of the play-yard got in my way.  But,  you should have seen the smiles on my mommy's and daddy's faces -- I love making them smile. :)
Then, on Friday, our friend, Ina Lee (no relation, but I still call her auntie Ina) came to visit mommy.  Well, mommy put me on my tummy on their bed, and I flipped all the way over to my back.  Of course, she spent the next 10 minutes with the camera and couldn't get me to do it again.  
Other exciting happenings this week: 
  * I'm beginning to drool a lot and mommy and daddy are wondering if this is the beginning of me teething - again, I have no  clue what they are talking about, but I am sure they will let me know when it happens. 
  * I had a great deal of fun on Wednesday at mommy's Bible Study group.  I took a long nap in their pack-n-play and then enjoyed visiting with the ladies for a while. 
  * I got to meet one of mommy's friends from Georgia, Neil Barley, who flew in to Chicago to attend a wedding with his wife.  Although I threw quite the fit on the way to the airport (mommy is wondering why I seem to dislike my car seat so much), I did finally calm down and took a short nap on our way to lunch. 


Please continue to pray for my mommy - she continues to wake up too early in the night (most days it has been 3:30am this week) and cannot go back to sleep.  She is getting really tired of this trend and cannot figure out how to reset her body clock.

Mommy had me try on this winter outfit but I was not a big fan
so she did not make me wear it

In the midst of changing outfits

Playing with my new bath toy

Daddy waking me up for my "dream feed" -
my last feeding of the day, usually around 10:15pm

All bundled up to go outside and get the mail

Fourteen Weeks Old

According to mommy's books, I am no longer an infant.  I guess that is because I am now in my fourth month.  And, I hit another milestone this week - I graduated from Size 1 diapers.  I used the last one and am now wearing Size 2.  Mommy and daddy were so glad that I used up the whole box of Size 1 before moving on.  Now they just need to figure out how to keep my poopy diapers from leaking all up my back (this has been happening for a while now - using Size 1 or Size 2 diapers doesn't seem to make a difference).  Although I do enjoy getting to wear a few different outfits each day when this happens. :)

I seem to be getting more and more into a rhythm although mommy is learning that I change things up about the time she has things figured out.  This week, every other day was a great day with me keeping to our schedule well and eating/sleeping well throughout the day. And, the odd days weren't too bad - just not quite as predictable.  The time change hasn't been near as bad as mommy was expecting - most mornings this week I slept until about 6:30am or 6:45am.  But mommy sure doesn't like the time change with it getting dark so early - mainly because I am beginning to like to skip that 4th nap after my 4:30pm feeding - and we cant go out for a walk or anything like that b/c it is already so dark.  So she is trying to find new activities for me to do in the late afternoon.  Any suggestions??

I  am figuring out this talking thing - and my mommy and daddy love to hear my voice.  And, I love talking to them several times a day.  

Please pray for my mommy - although I am sleeping until 6:30 or so, she is still waking up around 4:30 in the morning and can't go back to sleep.  Then she falls asleep while talking to daddy in the evenings.  She would really love to be able to sleep until I wake her up in the mornings.

Here is me looking super cute and chatting it up this week:

Look how strong I'm getting

And how cute too

I love bath time

And, I'm learning how good my hands taste too:

Thirteen Weeks Old

It's been a pretty fun week around here.  Monday was my first Halloween and mommy had a bit too much fun taking pictures of me during the morning.  In the afternoon, I got to help pass out candy to neighborhood kids - until I got hungry and we had to just leave the candy at the door with a note for the kids to just take one. 
  Then Tuesday was a beautiful day so mommy and I took a blanket outside and played in the sun for a bit - I look forward to doing that more - although mommy says the cold and snow are coming so we may have to wait until the Spring. 
  I've had a couple of mornings where I slept all the way until 7:30 - and mommy and daddy were really happy.  But then I've had a few where 6:15 was my wake-up time.  Mommy cant figure out the difference - and she tells me she is a bit worried for this next week as that 6:15 will be 5:15.  Hopefully I'll figure out the time change quickly :)

ENJOY!

I love playing with this little fella on my car seat

Mommy put me in the candy bowl -
saying "Trick or Treat" -
I'm definitely a TREAT

Playing outside on a blanket with some of my toys

Daddy told mommy it was ok to post this video :)
   Be sure to turn up the volume and listen to what I do near the end of the video.  Mommy promises to remove this video before I am old enough to know better.

And a video showing my excitement over Halloween: