Visit to Santa

Yesterday, we made the trek to Fair Oaks Mall to visit Santa. They loved it, and weren't scared at all. I actually wasn't too worried about that because they've never really been scared of Santa, as evidenced here and here.

Piper asked him for "Toy Story movie with Jessie," and Fletch asked him for "Mack and the green truck [from the movie Cars]." I hope Santa can deliver. (Or should I say, dear Lord, I hope that boat from China with Fletch's discontinued green truck can deliver. Yes, that's the only place I could find the right green truck.)

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Deacon: 6 Months Old

Seems like just yesterday that Deacon was an itty bitty, but he's growing up fast. He was 6-months old on Tuesday, and had his routine check-up. The doctor declared him healthy (knock on wood) and perfect. As you can see, he's also a rebel and rule-breaker, sitting in his bumbo seat on the counter.

Here are his latest stats:

Birth: 7lbs 9oz, 20.5 inches
2 weeks: 8lbs 9oz (49%), 20.25 inches (32%)
1 month: 10lbs 8oz (66%), 21 inches (31%)
2 months: 13lbs 1.6oz (70%), 23 inches (47%)
4 months: 15lbs 13oz (61%), 25 inches (46%)
6 months: 18 lbs 9oz (71%), 27 inches (68%)


He's about the same size Fletch was at this age, so it looks like we have another big boy on our hands.

In terms of milestones, there's not much to report. He's working hard at figuring out how to roll, and I think he'll get it in the next two weeks or so--same as Fletch. He also is getting better at grabbing toys and playing with them. His biggest achievement is probably his talking; Deacon is one chatty guy. He loves nothing more than to wake us up around 2am to have a "chat" and babble for quite a while about Lord knows what. He babbles and "talks" way more than Piper and Fletch did at this age, so I think he's going to be quite the loquacious fellow.

As for sleep, he's still not sleeping through the night. He generally goes down around 6:30pm and wakes once around 2:15am for a bottle and then goes back down until at least 5:30am. We're hoping when he moves into his new room next week that we can break him of this habit or at least change things up a bit. During the day, I guess he naps 2-4 times. I know, I know...with Piper and Fletch I was schedule-crazed. With Deacon, I really have no idea what is schedule is during the day. Five days each week he's in daycare or with Eric's mom where he just goes with the flow, and on the weekends, we're always on the run, so he just catnaps in the morning and then takes a 2-3 hour nap when Piper and Fletch go down. Poor third child doesn't even get to sleep in peace....

That's about all that he's up to these days. I hope we can get a good recording of him laughing because he giggles all the time. If you ever need a pick-me-up, you can just hear him laugh and you can't help but smile yourself. He's such a sweetheart.

Random Snow Pictures

We got a little bit of snow yesterday. Piper and Fletch thought it was great.

And, just because I can't leave him out. Here's a recent photo of Deacon.

Big Kid Room

The weekend after Thanksgiving brought lots of changes. For the past 6 months, Deacon has been sleeping in our room. For the past 3 years, Piper and Fletch have been sleeping in cribs. And, for the past 3 years, we've been living with a million toys in our living room. 

All three of those things changed last weekend.We moved all of Piper's stuff into Fletch's room and bought them two new twin beds. We also started to turn Piper's room into a room for Deacon, although that won't be complete until the room is repainted next week. And, we moved all the toys to the basement to create a kids' playroom.

In the few weeks leading up to this transition, we really talked up the idea of P&F getting big kid beds and sharing a room together, so that Piper wouldn't feel like Deacon was stealing her space. We also let them pick out their own sheets. They were so excited with their new room.

Overall, the transition has gone great. They've stayed in bed and been sleeping really well. We did have a rough time this past Saturday when they wouldn't nap, and on Sunday, it took them a long time to fall asleep at naptime, but they they slept HARD. I'm optimistic this good stuff will keep up and their big kid rooms will continue to be a success.

Turkey Day 2013

As usual, life has been hectic lately, so these next few posts are just going to be photo dumps. We'll start with Thanksgiving.

The holiday kicked off with the kids' ShareFeast dinner and show at school a few weeks ago. All the kids got up on stage and sang Thanksgiving songs. Actually, I should say, the older pre-K and kindergarten kids sang, the rest of the kids all sort of looked like deer in headlights.

The program was a little bit chaotic but fun, and so cute to see the kids in their first school show.

A few weeks later was real Thanksgiving. As usual, Eric's parents brought delicious food, and we supplied the kids. It was a terrific time.

No Thanksgiving is complete without a visit from Captain America.

Deacon's shirt look familiar? You may recall Fletch wearing it at their first Thanksgiving. Looking back at these pictures, I think it's safe to say that Deacon is a mix of Piper and Fletch.

During dinner, Deacon even got his first taste of real food. Mmmm, sweet potatoes.

Overall, it was a great holiday. Now, it's on to Christmas.