Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Charlotte the Enforcer

Charlotte is taking her big sister role very seriously.  She loves her baby brother and takes very good care of him, in fact she is often just a bit TOO attentive.  If he fusses, even for a moment, she is searching for me and telling me that baby is sad.
This last week she has become very strict about what we are allowed to call him.  I might say to him "Hey little man" and she, while coloring and seemingly not paying any attention to me will then sit up and say "not little man, baby."  Yesterday while changing his diaper Tyson said to Gideon "You are just a little tank" and Charlotte, in another room, yells to him "not tank daddy, baby!"  No nicknames or pet names for this little guy with her around.

Happy Boy!

He's smiling!  Gideon is finally starting to smile...and not just when he is passing gas.
 This little grin makes me happy!
And he's continuing to pack on the pounds.  We are in the process of boxing up the 0-3 month old clothes and pulling out the 3-6 months clothes and this boy isn't even 6 weeks old yet!

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Our Animal Adventure

Sunday morning the girls were playing outside and when I looked out the window I saw them sitting in the driveway so I went outside to see what was going on.  I found then lined up, with the baby doll in my jogging stroller of course, looking down the driveway...just sitting there.
 When I asked what they were doing Lily explained.  Apparently they were watching an animal adventure.  There was a black puma (Oscar, our black lab) and a little brown tiger (Franky, our dachshund)  and they were going to have a race and the girls were just waiting for the race to start.  Lily then got up and found a chair for me and I sat down with Gideon to watch the animal adventure with my girls.
Eventually the race did take place.  Oscar likes to be chased so he nudges Franky for a while until it annoys him and he starts barking and chasing Oscar around the yard.  The "race" always ends though with Franky given up because after 3 laps he is almost an entire lap behind Oscar.

Children's imaginations are really amazing things!

Lily's First Tee-Ball Game

This summer Lily is playing Tee-ball, and it is hilarious!  She has a little friend on our play group on her team and they are having a lot of fun so far.  After two weeks of practice, which mostly consisted of practice catching, throwing, hitting, and most importantly the proper order for running the bases, they had their first game last night and it was so much fun to watch.

Lily was the first person up at bat for the game.
I love that she picked up the ball and ran with it!
After getting on base she decided to sit down and enjoy the game like everyone else.
Her second time up to bad was also interesting.
After taking her practice swings she had an urgent need to go visit the little girls' room so I whisked her off to the restroom while her teammates started the inning.  When we got back though she was next up to bat and did great.
Lily's played right field during the first inning and pretty much sat in the grass the entire time.  During the second inning they all traded places and Lily was short stop.  

She started out by watching the game on the next field over...through her legs.
 After a few hits though she started to pay some attention to the game.
If you have a four or five year old, sign them up for tee-ball.  It is really very entertaining!  Those of us watching the game just laughed and laughed the entire time.  It was fun to cheer for them and enjoy their short little attention spans.

One Month

Our little Gideon is one month old today.  My goodness time flies when you have a baby, if only pregnancy passed by so quickly...

This little guy is as sweet as can be.  He likes to cuddle, stare at faces (and blinds), and most of all he loves to EAT!  I'm nursing this little guy at least every two hours and he is packing on the pounds.    I originally purchased some 0-3 month sized onesies for his first monthly photos, but, well, they are too small now.  We had to move up a size.  He was smaller than we thought he would be when he was born, but he is certainly doing his best to bulk up now.

We haven't gotten too many smiles out of him yet, he is always so serious!  But he does actually have some hair, much more than his sisters did at this age, not that that is saying much.
 I'm really excited to see how he grows in comparison to this little whale on his quilt.
 I'm also pretty sure that Gideon is going to have blue eyes.  They aren't a solid blue yet, still a lot of that newborn steely gray, but they are getting lighter and lighter around the pupil. 
His sisters are still totally enamored with him.  In fact, taking these photos was difficult because they wanted to lay down on the blanket with him and play with him.  We love him and I suppose that we'll keep him, even though he does like to keep me up at night.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Tummy Time

Our little guy continues to grow!  He's almost 10 pounds now and about 2 inches longer than he was at birth.  This afternoon we spent some time on the tummy to help him strengthen him upper body.  At first he just laid there, not sure what to do.
He tried, but he doesn't mind laying on his tummy so he isn't trying to push himself to get off of it.
 Charlotte stepped in as a good big sister to encourage and help him along.
 She's such a good big sister.  She refers to Gideon as "her baby" and constantly wants to hold him, help him, or help me with him.  If he fusses, even for just a second, she makes sure to let me know that "baby's sad" and she wants that taken care of right away.  She's turning into such a big girl.

Friday, June 7, 2013

Growing Boy

Our little man just keeps growing and growing!  When we visited the doctor when Gideon was 5 days old he had gained back 10 ounces of the 12 he lost while we were in the hospital.  On our second visit to the doctor a week later we discovered that he had gained another 12 ounces.  I'm not sure how much more he has put on in the last week, but he is certainly getting bigger.  The newborn clothes are officially too small and this little man likes to eat almost every hour.  If he keeps this up he's going to be huge!

And because he's such a cutie, here are a few recent pictures for your enjoyment.
All dressed up for church.
 Cuddling with mommy.
Napping next to mommy.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Lily's Dance Recital

Since September Lily has been attending a dance class one evening a week and she really has enjoyed it.  This last weekend was her final recital and my goodness was she ever excited.  She's been going on and on about her pretty white costume since February and when we brought it home a couple of weeks back I had to hide it in my closet before it became incorporated with the dress-ups and ruined before her recital.  Also this time Grandma Hansen and Grandma and Grandpa Kesler were able to come and watch her dance.

If you've never watched a group of 3 and 4 year-olds dance, it is quite entertaining.  They are terribly cute and they try their very best.

See, she is so excited!
 Not too excited about taking pictures though.
 She was very excited about the pink flowers that her daddy got for her.
 Charlotte preferred to play in the grass and dirt.  She has loved going to dance with Lily and just stood in the doorway during class and watched the girls dance.  She'll be all ready to join in when she is old enough to start taking classes herself.
 Lily has gone through dance this year with her friend Kyrie from playgroup.  I think that it helped her feel more comfortable in her class because she had a friend there with her.