Two Months

Our little John-Paul is two months old and at his check up today he weighed in at a healthy 17 pounds (99th percentile) and was 24 1/2 inches long (93rd percentile) with a 15 inch head circumference (90th percentile) so at least in all his bigness he's proportional (unlike Bennett who was always in the 70's for hight and weight and the 90's for his head - ha ha! It's for all his brains of course).

John-Paul has been growing soooo much he's totally out of 3 month clothes and is wearing 3-6 and 6 month clothes and we are just finishing up the last couple size 2 diapers before we open the size 3 pack. So while hand-me-downs from he big brother are great, he's growing so quickly he's already hitting the sizes that Bennett was wearing during his first summer ... opps! We also started cloth diapers this month so that's not helping his clothes fit either ... but it is soooo nice to not have to buy diapers ... those things are expensive!

John-Paul has found his voice! He talks so much and it is absolutely the cutest thing ever! He responds to people when they talk and he even starts up his own conversations too! His inflections are so cute and then his laughing that he breaks into sometimes is adorable! I'm still trying to get a good video of him talking because as soon as I get the camera out he gets distracted by it and stops talking ... this is the best one I have so far...

John-Paul has found his hands and holds them together a lot of the day. But he also likes to stuff them in his mouth ... but not really in the cute, thumb sucking kind of way, but in the "Oh my gosh, he's trying to get his whole fist in there" kind of way! ha ha!

 His sleeping at night is going well ... he's a regular 5 to 6 hour sleeper which is wonderful but it doesn't come with out some work. This past month he has developed this habit of being fussy from about 8 - 11 EVERY night. It's really weird, he's not in pain, he just wants us to know that he is not happy. My theory is that he's tired and since he rarely nurses to sleep like Bennett always did, he just doesn't know what to do with his tired-ness ... that or he just likes to push his parents to their whits end with his crying. But it does end and he goes to sleep and then sleeps for a 5 or 6 hours. It's totally a weird habit we hope passes soon.

The poor kid has not had it easy with sleeping this month during the day either. Now it could be that he has a really loud and rambunctious big brother in a house with walls that do nothing to keep sound out ... or it could be that he seems to have allergies just like Adam and is sneezing and snotty all the time ... but still, I would be greatly appreciative if the boy learned to nap for longer then 30 minutes during the day :)

John-Paul is totally in love with Bennett! It's pretty stinking cute to see how big he smiles and listen to his giggles when he sees Bennett's face! They have the sweetest conversations where Bennett tells John-Paul some random thing (anything from what he ate for breakfast to the plot of Mary Poppins) and John-Paul laughs and smiles and coo's back at him. Also, when John-Paul wakes up during the day (which is all the time) Bennett will run into our room and look in on John-Paul and say "It's okay, Mommy is coming" and then continue on with some story or song and it actually calms him down sometimes!

But just like last month, he is still the sweetest most content baby (except from 8 - 11 pm) who will just sit and watch and listen and smile his contagious smile at you all the time. I'm totally in awe of how much joy this little man spreads. It might just be me, but even in the midst of drowning in the unending laundry and dishes, it only takes one smile and coo from him and I'm totally calm and happy. As I'm sitting here writing this he is talking and laughing and smiling at me - it is the sweetest thing - seriously, I can't even begin to describe the joy that eminates from this little person - it's incredible!

 

John-Paul is so stink'n cute and joyful and well, the back of his onesie pretty much sums up everything else... 

Bennett's 3rd Birthday {Part 1}

Yep... it's true, this is just part one of a three part series on the 3 different celebrations of my sweet Bennett-boy! {Don't judge, I love birthdays and would be more than happy if my birthday was celebrated this much too - which often it is... which makes me very happy!} Anyways, back to Bennett ...

So for his first celebration of his third birthday {that's not confusing at all} we went with the fam to Disneyland {Well, just my side of the fam actually} and it was such a great, great day! {I even started to cry at one point from sheer joy ... but we will get to that later}

We didn't tell Bennett when we were going because we wanted him to sleep the night before, but Adam and I were up bright and early to wake him up at 6am on the dot to break the good news...


After a couple pictures and some breakfast burritos at Grammy's house...

... we were all on the road and to the park by nine to get the boys their buttons before we met up with my cousins to all go in the park together.

The cousins we met up with... Brittany and Javier

We headed straight to Fantasyland in hopes the lines would still be relatively short and well... that theory pretty much worked out!

You can't ride the "casey train" without your Uncle Casey! 

Bennett was having a blast but we can't forget this cute little guy!

Thanks to Grammy and a sleeping Bennett-boy, Adam and I actually got to go on one ride together!

We scored some awesome seats for watching the Parade and had a great time waiting for it to start!

So here's where the sappy mom story comes in ... 

If you hadn't realized from Bennett's penguin dance video, he is totally in love with all things Mary Poppins! He would tell me all the time that he wanted to go to Disneyland to see Mary Poppins. Now, I seriously can not count the number of times I have been to Disneyland but I can count the number of times I have seen the elusive "Poppins" - three! Yep, only three times have I seen her and only once was I able to take a picture with her! So all that to say, I tried to not get Bennett's hopes up about seeing her.  But what would you know as we were watching the parade I saw what I thought were Chiminay Sweeps coming down the street. I thought, "No, it couldn't be" but then it was ... it was MARY POPPINS! And yep, you guessed it, I cried! I literally had tears of joy for my sweet boy as he was standing and pointing and waving to his best friend "Mary Pop-its" {He uses the term "best" to mean "current favorite",  it's super cute}  It was a total "mom" moment but pretty rad nonetheless!

After a ride on the Disneyland Train and few laps thru the hundred acre wood on the always exciting Winnie the Pooh ride we made our way to dinner with the fam followed by a treasure chest full of cake! {Exactly what every kid needs after a long day - ha ha! You're only 3 once - right?!}

After dinner {and clothes changing and the last few minutes of the second parade to see Mary "Pop-its" again} Bennett picked Winnie the Pooh again ... but we needed to kill time before fireworks so we went one last time! 

Unfortunately, the fire works got canceled so we let him pick one more, one last ride - ha ha!

Casey Jr. with Mom and Dad sitting in the coolest seat ... the back of the caboose!
{Seriously, this kid got his every wish all day and we didn't even have to try for any of it - pretty sweet!}

We had such a GREAT day celebrating our sweet Bennett boy!
{Maybe a little too great since we all slept in and skipped church the next day ... but still... it was very special!}

Okay, just one more picture ... look how cute he looked in his bear suit!

That's the end, really, I promise ... well at least of this part!

Part 2 and 3 of Bennett's 3rd birthday still to come!

Captain Adorable!

that's all, nothing more I need to say

Bennett-Boy is Three!

Happy Birthday Sweet Son! 

Your Daddy and I love you very much and pray that you continue to grow in grace and favor with the Lord! You are a blessing and joy to us both!
{PS. As long as you promise to stay in your own bed all night, every night, you have my permission to stay 3 forever!}

And just for a little birthday fun ...
here's Bennett dancing along to {in his own words} "My best movie, Mary Pop-its"

Sweet Baby

Just wanted to share some random pictures of sweet little John-Paul

He's six weeks old now and he's changing so much already!

Park Fun!

Last week we had to skip our normal Thursday Bible Study due to runny noises and yucky coughs but it was such a nice day I just couldn't stay inside so I took the boys to the park {after running a few errands of course ... so the park was a reward for being good!}

John-Paul and I hung out in the shade and had lunch and watched Bennett-Boy do his playground thing while running back and forth to take bites of his sandwich and apples.

That's as high as he made it on the "rock wall"
He told me he was too little and that it was for big boys ... such wisdom :) 

What park day is complete without bubbles?