January

January is always divided up into two parts before and after tax season starts.  The first half is almost always joyous followed by the last half being a tad bit less than joyous???

The first half is joyous because it is my birthday!! And I am one of those people who NEVER get tired of birthdays, never, never, never! Normally I celebrate it for quite some time but I got such a good birthday present this year that I decided to not drag it out :).  This year I got to go away for two days of reading and relaxation by myself followed by two days of just me and Clay.  I missed the boys terribly but having dinner with my brother and almost sister-in-law helped and not to mention the entire day at a spa...

So we divided the boys up Wyatt stayed with Tammy B. and Gavin stayed with Uncle Dave and 'Pril.  Gavin had so much fun I'm pretty positive he didn't miss us a bit.

This year the onset of tax season was made a little more difficult because Clay went on my brother's epic bachelor party/vacation.  I would bet that most bachelor parties don't last 4 days but leave it to my brother to stretch it out as far as possible.   So I had to get creative in how to entertain the boys by myself over the weekend.  Thankfully a friend reminded me about the Tunes for Tots so I strapped Wyatt in the baby carrier and tried to hold on to Gavin.  I wish I could have taken more pictures, it was nearly impossible with Wyatt and the crowd, Gavin was so cute trying to play all of those brass instruments.  He kept putting the mouthpiece inside his mouth and neither the instructor or I could seem to explain to him in a way that he understood to put it on the outside of your mouth.  It was really funny but I guess you had to be there.... :)

I feel like we must have done something the rest of the month but I sure can't remember what it was if we did.  I do know that we played a lot at home so maybe we didn't....it was pretty rainy and cold.  Anyway here are some pictures from the month.

Wyatt is a bouncing machine!!  Look at those chunky thighs, just love them!

Clay brought Gavin and I back hats from the bachelor trip to the mountains, aren't we cute.

Wyatt sure was glad to see his Daddy!

We go through more Amazon, Luvs, and Pampers boxes than I can even count so one afternoon I had the bright idea that Gavin and Clay make "cars" out of them, they could use the Pampers for Wyatt and a big Amazon one for Gavin.  I just figured that Clay and Gavin could decorate them and it would keep Gavin entertained and out of everything else.  Well I should have known that Clay couldn't be happy with a handful of crayons/markers.  He had to go all out and actually cut the boxes to look like cars, well of course that meant Gavin couldn't help but it's pointless to try and stop the creative genius once he gets going :).  Gavin and Wyatt did have fun with them though.

Poor Wyatt, those teeth are giving him a fit!

Just one more example of how creative Clay is.  This is from the "snow" day that the boys had from school on the 30th.

5 months old!

Wyatt has had a big month!

He ate his first veggies and we haven't found a vegetable or fruit that he doesn't like!

So far he has had carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, green peas, green beans, apple sauce, and peaches.  He doesn't like the consistency of the Stage 1 so we mix it with his oatmeal to really thicken it up or give him stage 2.
Right now his feeding schedule is:
6 am - 7.5 oz
8:30 - 9:00 am -  7.5 oz and 2 TB cereal w/1/2 jar of fruit or veggies
12:30 - 7.5 oz and 2 TB cereal w/1/2 jar of fruit or veggies
3:30 - 4:00 pm - 7.5 oz
6:30 - 7:00 pm - 7.5 oz and 2 TB cereal w/1/2 jar of fruit or veggies


He naps from 9 - 10 and 1 - 3.  We had a rough month with the sleeping at night.  It started with him pooping several times a night and then it just became a habit to wake up.  So we started to break him of it towards the end and I think we are going to be back to sleeping solidly quickly.

Wyatt also sprouted his first two teeth!!  I couldn't believe it but it sure did explain all of the drooling and poops!!  He is still drooling like a maniac so I figure another couple of teeth are going to be making an entrance soon.

Our big boy has started sitting up by himself and has gotten pretty steady but he still only lasts for a minute or so and then topples so I have to make sure he is on the padded carpet and not the wood floors when I let him go.  He has also gotten really good about moving across the floor, he isn't crawling yet but definitely getting closer and closer.

His favorite thing to do right now is grab things off of the table and either put them in his mouth or throw them on the floor.  This was especially evident at a trip to Chick Fil A a couple of weeks ago.  We had set the tray down on the table and were getting his food out of the bag when all of the sudden, WHAP! There went the entire tray of food onto the floor.  Apparently he was showing his displeasure with the food situation.  You can tell he wants to eat regular food SO bad!!

Another favorite activity for him is bath time!  This baby LOVES the water!!  Recently we have started letting him bathe with Gavin, and let me tell you that is an activity that takes 100% of both of us. Wyatt loves the water so much that all he wants to do is move around so one of us has to hold him under the arms while the other washes.  Clay has started letting him "float" on his back.  He gets so incredibly excited it is hilarious!  He starts flapping his arms and kicking his legs and then makes the funniest face when he accidentally splashes himself with water.  I keep meaning to get a video of it, but haven't yet.  

He is still the sweetest baby and loves to give hugs and open mouth kisses.  He is also super fond of yanking on my hair and then refusing to let go.... guess he just likes to make sure I'm not going anywhere.

Random December Pictures

Just an assortment of pictures I have taken since I got my wonderful new camera, tehehe.

It's a good thing Gavin and Wyatt were blessed with such a creative Daddy because Mama has a negative score in the creativity area.  For example, Gavin wanted to play with the huge assortment of play-doh he got for Christmas so, he chose a couple of pictures off of the box that he wanted to recreate and we got to work. This is what we ended up with....

Ice cream cone....

Caterpillar

I wish I had taken a picture of the dragon that Clay made with him after we watched How to Train Your Dragon, it actually looked like one of those dragons....  Oh well, at least they have to keep me :-)

Poor drooly baby

Now this is the BEST picture I have EVER taken of Gavin and I absolutely LOVE it!!! Is he not the most handsome little boy you have ever seen?!?

For some reason I really wanted some roasted hot dogs and marshmallows the other night and it was at least 80 degrees outside so we pretended we were camping out in the living room....

Had to have the air conditioner on and the back door opened just to be able to withstand the heat...LOL!

Bubble Fight

One afternoon Gavin decided he wanted to have a BIG bubble bath so Clay being the wonderful Daddy that he is got in and played with Gavin.  Well all of the sudden I hear squeals and laughter and I walk in there to find them having a bubble fight.  As you can see from Gavin's face, he was enjoying it immensely!

My silly boys!

Christmas 2013

Christmas Eve/Day were beyond exhausting but SO much fun this year!!

It started at 2 am on Christmas Eve with Clay going to the church to help cook 2k chickens to Feed the Needy.    It is really important to me to instill a servant heart in both the boys so the boys and I joined him up there at 9 am to dish all the food up.  It was bitterly cold (for South GA) so Wyatt looked like a mummy and Clay kept him inside mostly.  Gavin poor guy was really trying to help but was by far the youngest out there and they really didn't have much he could do especially since there were more volunteers than there were jobs.  So after he put a few snack cakes into the boxes he gave up and Clay took them home.  Not quite the learning experience I had in mind but if we make it a tradition I know it will plant the seed of serving others until he actually is tall enough to do it.  Maybe next year I will remember to bring him a step stool.

So after I get home from slinging chicken, we pack up the car to the point where we couldn't have fit anything else sized any larger than a pencil in, and head to T-ville.  Every year we spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with my family and then head back for a round #2 with Clay's family.  Once we got to Thomasville, Gavin and I made birthday cupcakes for Jesus and lit our final Advent candle.  I'm super glad we started that tradition this year, it has really helped to keep all of us focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

Side note, I have been obsessed with finding matching pajamas for Gavin and Wyatt ever since I found out I was having boy #2.  Clay is NOT a fan but I have gotten 2 pair so far, one of them being the Christmas jammies seen below.  I may have changed Clay's mind with the cuteness overload.

Last year Gavin wasn't really into Santa, not sure if he just wasn't old enough or what but this year was a COMPLETELY different story.  It was absolutely adorable watching him look for the stocking that Santa had filled up and then his reaction.  Such a sweet, sweet little boy.    Wyatt enjoyed sitting on Meme's belly/lap and chewing on all of the things that Santa put in his stocking.  Needless to say Meme was over the moon since she barely gets a half a second of attention from Gavin cause he is 1000% Papa's.  I didn't get a picture of it but Wyatt would just stare and smile so big at her, it was super sweet.

Santa may not have gone overboard but Mama and Daddy sure did!  I guess since we didn't buy him anything big, we didn't realize how many smaller things we had gotten him until we put them all in the car. Good grief this kid has a lot of toys now.

You can't really tell but my parent's Christmas tree is about 2ft too tall and since they waited until we got there on Christmas Eve to even bring it in the house we decided it wasn't really worth the trouble to trim it.  It was super funny to look at but the picture really doesn't do it justice.

Not sure if you noticed the difference in quality between the pictures above and those below but I GOT A NEW CAMERA for Christmas!! :-)

Another brother with cute jammies shot.  Poor Wyatt.....

Wyatt thoroughly enjoyed the wrapping paper and shredding it to bits.

Gavin's new scooter from Papa and Meme

Awww

We packed it up after lunch and finally got on the road by 3:30 :-)  Good thing we only had a little over an hour to drive

Cousin Kaleigh taking good care of Wyatt.  Her and her sister love some Gavin and Wyatt.

Gavin's mad because he wants to sit at the adult table :-)  I thought it was a precious picture though.

Wyatt and Uncle Joey

Gavin got this super cool remote control car from Papa Browning and Mrs. Peggy, he and Clay have played with it a bunch.  Poor Doug (our dog) had not been excited, Gavin chases him with it.  I try not to laugh but it is pretty funny especially since Doug weighs over 100lbs.

So after dinner, presents, fire works over the lake, and looking at super cute pictures of Clay as a little boy, we finally made it home around 9 and promptly fell asleep!  This was the best Christmas I can remember, we truly enjoyed Jesus' birthday and all of the blessings He has bestowed on us!

Wyatt's 4 month (sort of) well visit

Poor guy has had one AWFUL month with sickness and it continued on Monday when he had to go to the walk in clinic because he wasn't eating much and hadn't been all weekend.  They said his ears looked perfect, praise the Lord, but his throat was really red.  So another round of antibiotics....

The poor guy has only slept through the night a few times since he got home from the hospital and the frequent nighttime diarrhea has definitely not helped.  So when I tell our NP that, she gives me this uh-oh look and says she is afraid it might be C-diff and that they need a sample to run tests on....  Well guess what that entails... yep, me scraping doo off of his butt and putting it in a canister, can you say Yipee?!?  I pretty much beg Wyatt to please poop before we leave the doctors office but he sweetly tells me that no it's not going to happen, I'm going to wait so that you can have the character building experience of collecting poop on a stick!  

Then comes the fun part, shots!  Normally Clay and I attend these together because I refuse to be the one that holds him when they stick his poor little legs.  Well Clay said he deserves a bye on this one since he had to hold him down through the whole IV experience at the hospital.  I can hardly argue with that, plus it is his "prince week" so he gets to go hunting without any fussing or guilt trips from me....

So Wyatt unleashes the fury on that poor nurse who I think has the worst job in the world, making kids cry all day.  Thankfully it is only for a minute or two and then he immediately falls asleep.  Poor baby!  

Wyatt has grown a lot since his 2 month well visit.  He is 2.25 inches taller and  4 lbs heavier!  His demanding to be fed in the middle of the night has really put on the pounds!

Stats are:
Length - 25.5 inches 75th percentile
Weight - 15lbs 15 oz - 60th percentile

I think they said his head was 14.25 but not really sure I can't be trusted to remember things correctly if they aren't written down.

So three hours after I left work I return to joyfully anticipate the text from his daycare telling me to come and scrape poo.  Fun times I tell ya!

Gavin's choral debut

Gavin is in the First Baptist 3 year old choir that is led by some of God's very own angels, I believe!

Last night they had their Christmas program which included all levels of the Children's Choir and it was so good!!  As soon as the congregation started singing the opening song and I could hear all of those little voices singing their hearts out for Jesus, I started crying. In fact, I'm crying again just thinking about it, LOL!

We are trying extra hard this year to make sure that Gavin understands that Christmas isn't about presents that we give each other but about the ultimate present that God gave us, his Son Jesus.  We are doing the Advent candles every night with scripture reading in the hopes that this will bring the whole family back to the true meaning of Christmas each day since it is so incredibly easy to get caught up in the crazy this time of year.

Anyway, here is a video of the program if you are interested.  Gavin's portion starts at 5:00 and ends about 10:00.  The other choir groups are really cute and some of them are really good as well.  I was especially impressed with the last group.