Christmas Festivities

Since we were traveling, we opened a few gifts before we left and then the rest when we got home.  Before we left, the girls got their gift from Daddy.  Brian built them this doll bunk bed for their American Girl dolls.  Super Dad scores again!  Genna's doll gets top bunk since Hannah gets the top bunk in real life.

Isaac was pretty happy about the Ninjago, huh?

This toy turned out to be a bit too old for Drew.  He presses buttons, scribbles on the screen and he's off again to tackle bigger and better things.  I should have known since he is more of a physical guy than a computer guy.

Then we headed to Roanoke, VA to visit some of Brian's family.  His mom and brother made the trip as well.  It was a nice couple of days with family.  It was the first Christmas in a long long time that I haven't had to cook.

Christmas Morning

I had told Brian that I would try midnight mass this year, but I don't know what I was thinking since we were in a hotel for two nights and I am still not getting to sleep through the night on a regular basis.  So, I backed out and took Isaac to the earlier Christmas Eve mass and let Brian take the girls to the midnight mass.  I was sound asleep in the hotel room with the three boys long before they even made it to mass.  Maybe next year?  I kind of doubt it.

We may not have filled up a pew yet, but we definitely overfilled this couch.

Christmas morning we slept in a bit. (That means 7:30/8am for us.)  We ate breakfast at the hotel and then joined the family for gift opening.  We had a late lunch Christmas meal and a light left over dinner.

This is Paw Paw with the kids.

Had to get a photo of my handsome two year old in a tie.

His personality!

We had to buy a luggage rack the morning we left in order to make it home with all the gifts.  I am now in the throws of reorganizing the whole house, room by room, and getting rid of old toys to make room for the new ones.

Merry Christmas!

We took these after mass on Sunday since we knew we would be out of town on Christmas and not get the tree photo that I wanted.

German Christmas Program

 Brian got to go to the children's Christmas program at German School.  Isaac's was in his classroom and the girls were in the auditorium with the rest of the school.

Four Months

This guy's sleeping had been getting just worse and worse until one night I realized that he was eating every 3 hours around the clock.  So I decided that I would let him cry in the middle of the night if he woke up before the 4 hours mark.  Well, he did and he cried for close to an hour.  I went in once to try the pacifier.  The next time he woke up about an hour later.  I nursed him.  The next night was a semi repeat with the second waking being close to 4:30am.  The next night same deal, crying about an hour and then sleeping until 4:30 or 5am.  Then he seemed to get it and start just waking up between 4 and 6am which has been great.  As I write, it has been about a week and he did sleep through the night once making it until 6am.

I made this onesie for him, but I should have made a bigger size since he barely was able to wear it.

His naps have been better the last week also, although not regular.  I am not sure if this is just catch up sleep from the three nights of crying or what.  I did make a change in his bedtime ritual that we do.  I had been swaddling first and then he started falling asleep in my arms before I could get even close to finishing the routine.  So now I am swaddling him at the end while I am singing to him.  He is nearly always awake this way when I lay him down.  He usually goes right to sleep without crying, but occasionally he does cry, but typically for less than five minutes.  He really enjoys looking at his mobile which makes me happy.  When I read to him before bed, he either looks at the book or strains to look at his horse mobile spinning from the fan.  Drew didn't ever look at the book, so I am excited at the prospect of another early book lover like the other three.

We often find Judah trying desperately to fit his whole fist into his mouth like this.  His eyes are so big.

 Another change this month is that he no longer will lay quietly in one place for the whole time he is awake.  He has arrived at the age of knowing when he is being ignored and wanting change in his activity a bit more. 

Judah startles from loud noises, especially if they come from behind him.  This has been going on since he was born, but it took me a while to see the pattern.  He will start screaming bloody murder if someone sneezes behind him or if Drew yells suddenly when it was quiet.  My mom reminded me that I did this too when I was a baby and beyond, so we will see if this continues.

Holding his head up improved dramatically all of the sudden a couple of weeks ago.

Judah is also grabbing toys and pulling them to his mouth now.  He can recognize my voice and find me in a room.  He is sucking on his fingers or fist a lot.  I often find him with his fingers in his mouth despite the swaddle when he is sleeping.  He has a bad habit of peeing out the side of his diaper, but nearly always when he put on his right side at night.

Judah is now trying out his go-pod which is kind of like a portable exersaucer that you can clip toys onto. 

Da boys

Here are the pictures from when he actually turned four months old...

Best Picture I have taken of his dimple!

The hat is from my godson's mama for his baptism.  It's his Lion of Judah hat.

This is what I am talking about, always sucking on those fingers!

He gets so many comments/compliments on his HUGE eyes!  Both my girls did too when they were babies, and Genna still does.

Super Why

Drew has now officially asked "Why" questions.  This is unbelievable to me since the older three practically came out of the womb asking "Why" this and "Why" that.  The other day, he asked, "Why here, Mom?" when we pulled into a parking lot when he had thought we were heading home.

"Me knight, mom."

He notoriously starts nearly every sentence with "Me."  "Me hold it."  "Me want Mommy to do it."  Etc.  I am gently correcting him and having him repeat it back to me.  This seems to be working slowly but surely.  I have heard him correct himself a couple of times and I am reinforcing that with tons of praise.  Cookie Monster talk is cute for a while, but then it gets old.

He had a playdate earlier this week.  He wanted the boy to go play Lincoln Logs with him in the other room.  I told him to just ask.  He tilts his head (like he does) and says, "You come with me play tinkin togs?"  The boy just kept playing.  Drew turns around and goes, "uuuuuh," making fists, slumping his shoulders, and he stomps off.  So funny looking.

Drew held Judah for a while during a movie.

Drew is doing super well with potty training.  He tells me when he has to go.  He had an accident every three days or so this past week.  His biggest problem is not making a mess in the bathroom.  Since he is so young, he has to be supervised and helped to get situated.  He sits on the little potty most of the time because he isn't tall enough to stand.  He has mostly mastered pulling his pants up and down too.  He is dry during naps even, but not at night.    The potty dance has started which helps when he is having too much fun to want to stop to go potty.  I can then suggest he go, but, otherwise, I have too much going on.  I usually forget completely that he has underwear on until he is saying, "Mommy, pee in potty" to tell me he has to go potty.

Finally a Christmas Tree!

And while Brian ties the tree to the roof, we sat in the car to keep warm and took pictures...

Still hard at work

Time to go pay for the tree and get our free apple cider

I was very tempted to hold off on decorating it until the next day.  I have had a cold since getting back from Texas and my energy was kind of gone.  But alas the kids were too excited for me to make them wait.

The kids always love to get their box of ornaments and put them on.  I try to write the name of who gave it to them, the name of whose ornament it is, and the year they received it on them.

A stinker two year old ran around bumping into the tree and knocking off ornaments that were not put on securely.

A cutie pants baby watched the action from his swing.

Soak it up, Judah.  Next year we will be decorating when you are napping and probably not letting you even go in the same room as the tree.

 (Sung to the tune of the Twelve Days of Christmas)  Three announcements from me that we would get along and have fun or not decorate the tree at all, two broken ornaments, and a beautiful Christmas tree!