Chugga Chugga Choo Choo!!

We are finally chugging along around our house as far as how to operate as a group of three when it's just the boys and me on most weekdays, and a fun group of four the rest of the time! We've gotten out of the house more often and invited friends to come play as well. On Valentines we got to go to Zilker Park in Austin to ride the train with Aunt Lindsay, Oliver, and Aiden. Tytus was pretty quiet during the train ride, so I wasn't sure if it was as exciting as I thought it would be. Now I see he was just taking it all in. We've had so many conversations about it since. He'll name all four of the boys that rode on the green train (even though the little ones were just sleeping during the ride). :) And he'll talk about the tunnel, bridges, train tracks, and the park we played on afterwards. He loves to look at the picture I've taken on my phone, and the train pictures have become some of his new favorites.

Taking it all in

The two big guys!

Ready to go!

Witten was enjoying himself, too!

Witten is now 2 months old and is growing so much! He's more than doubled in size, started smiling, holding his head up really well, and will have a little conversation with you. :) He's such a gentle little guy, and I'm sure he's taking in so much from watching his older brother all the time. They are so much fun together!

2 months old

Both of our guys around the same age again. I have so many moments that I think "Wow, I've been here before!", but although they're very similar I love each of their unique qualities!

                                         

Most weekends Tytus especially loves hanging out with daddy. They have so much fun together and, of course, daddy can do things with him that mommy doesn't. Last weekend Ian went to hang out with one of the guys from church, so it gave us a Saturday morning that was different than usual. It was a beautiful day and we spent a lot of time outside. I was trying to decide how to get Witten back to sleep when he woke up in the middle of his nap while also keeping my word to Tytus that we could go back outside...and we also needed to eat lunch as it was almost 1:00 by this point and he needed to take a nap as well. To make all of it work we ended up just having a picnic on the deck. I quickly made some tuna and crackers (one of Tytus' favorites) and we finished the rest of some green beans we had made earlier in the week. He ate quicker than I've seen him eat in a long time and thought it was great getting to share a plate with mommy and eat outside! 

6 weeks

Our 6 week old!

Witten is a happy little guy and a great sleeper at night, but we've got to work on those naps during the day. Each day I think I'll catch a quick nap if I can get both sleeping at the same time, but more often than not I end up spending time with one of them while the other sleeps. Here's what Witten and I ended up doing the other day while Tytus was sound asleep. It was so fun to hear him "talking" while kicking his feet so happily! And even though I didn't get a nap, it's really special to have alone time with Witten. It was fun to just enjoy him without going back and forth between the two of them. 

This was also the first day that all 3 of us went to MOPS. So fun to get out and spend time with friends!

Tytus, of course, is taking notes on all the ways we help take care of Witten and how it's different than him. He'll take the initiative to help out and is such a fun brother. While I was making lunch one day this week I looked over to see him doing this. 

Just for fun, I found these picture of our two boys around the same age. It's fun to see how similar they are, but we can definitely already see differences as well. I think Tytus is actually a little older in these two, but it's still pretty close. :)

First Month as a Family of Four

 We're watching Witten grow each day, and it's so fun to see him change. It also reminds me that time is going to fly by. Things change so quickly at this age, and I just want to soak it all in!

2 weeks old

one month old

 We've gotten into a rhythm at home now that we're past the sickness and can enjoy doing normal things around the house. Tytus is really such a great big brother. He loves being involved on all levels. He helps pick out Witten's clothes, burp him, watch him get diaper changes and baths, and brings him toys when it's time for them to play. It's fun to see him love being a big brother.

He always wants Witten to wear shoes 

Helping get a new diaper

Giraffe is giving Witten a kiss. 

 You may or may not be able to tell that Tytus enjoys picking out his own outfits too. He comes up with some interesting combinations, but he always looks handsome that's for sure! Also, since we've been taking some milestone pictures of Witten in his bed Tytus has asked to be photographed on his big boy bed. He saw that I put a stuffed animal next to Witten, so the first time he went and got Lion and placed him by his side on his bed. Most recently he didn't get his lion but wanted to make some silly faces for the camera.

 The weather was so cold that we've spent so much time inside in the past month. Recently, though, it's gotten into the 70's and we have spent some great time outside together. It's been fun to take the guys to the park and play on the deck outside. We also spent some time this past weekend taking down our Christmas lights and just hanging out in the front yard.

Tytus is off to go play while Witten is napping in the stroller

Ready to go!

Yay for sunny days!

It's always a good time to dance...it doesn't matter where you are :)

Enjoying a peaceful Sunday afternoon

Checking up on his brother

Off to find some more sticks to add to our collection on the deck

We also had a fun visit from the Schwarz great grandparents, and we got to meet Aiden for the first time....finally! It was fun to see everybody and eat dinner together. Here are the two newest additions!

Witten Charles Carroll

Our sweet Christmas present

Our new family of four!

We welcomed Witten into our family on December 19, 2012 at 5:39 weighing 5 pounds 12 ounces. He reminds us a lot of his older brother and has been such a sweet baby. Our first few days back home was great as we saw Tytus adjust so well and be so interested in his new baby brother.

Merry Christmas! Tytus loved helping decorate the tree this year. :)

It didn't take long to realize our adjustment back home as a family of four was about to take a turn down a different path. Tytus has had some stomach sickness off and on for the past two months, but it suddenly got severely worse just two days after we brought Witten home. We talked to our doctor at Witten's first visit on Christmas Eve, and she tried to encourage us that this was normal and it'll be over soon. Well, it continued to get worse and then took out Ian and I for about a day and a half at a time. We finally figured out that it was a vicious virus and, thankfully, we're all getting over it now. Needless to say it took us a little longer to adjust than we were originally thinking.

Other than helping each other get better, doing lots of laundry, disinfecting......here are some other things we got to do together.

Reading stories 

Some great entertainment for everyone!

Cuddling with Daddy

Playing in Tytus' room

All the guys getting stuff done around the house.

Eating a snack

Trucking Along

So, we've had a lot happening around here since August but no time to document any of it. (Part of the problem was the fact that our camera cord went missing and we couldn't get any of our pictures uploaded.) Regardless, things have just been trucking along....literally. We have been watching, daily, the construction going on behind our house. So far they have leveled the ground that used to be covered in trees, grass, and bushes. They've also plotted out where each new house will go, and this week they started pouring the curbs for the new street. Needless to say the trucks are BY FAR Tytus favorite things right now. We've seen so many trucks come and go in the past few months and many of our conversations have to do with what the men and trucks are doing outside. It's so fun! Here's a little peek into what many of our days would include.

His most common words at this point were "up" "please" and "this". You'll also see him putting the car up on the truck because that's what we've seen them do as they bring new trucks in and take others away on huge trailers.

We also had our last visit to the river in September and Tytus loved swimming back and forth between Ian and I with his float on. He also really enjoyed watching Ian and Papou go down the shoot and cheering them on. He loves the water!

Fun at the San Marcos River

Just finished our sandwiches and ready to jump in!

Halloween was fun this year. Although we had the same set up as last year (Tytus played with some toys out in the driveway while we handed out candy to trick-or-treaters) it had a much different outcome. Tytus was less interested in playing with his trucks and wanted in on the costumes and candy. He doesn't really know what candy is, but he was definitely interested in why we were handing it out to everyone. It was also fun to watch his reactions to different costumes and show off his roar as he got more into character. He thought it was really fun to be a lion!

So excited about the candy!

Daddy's little helper

The whole costume....tail and all.

Most recently Ian and I had a relaxing get-away to celebrate our 5 year anniversary. It was so nice to be just the two of us and look back on all the ways our lives and marriage have changed over the past five years. We're so excited to be welcoming our new little guy into the family in December and know that these times alone will be a little harder to come by for a while.

Such a beautiful view from our balcony at the Barton Creek Resort in Austin

Here's a little sneak peek at the changes we've been working on in Tytus' new room to prepare for the next little one. Tytus loves his new space, and he enjoyed helping with the building, painting, hanging things, and rearranging. 

He's curled up on his bed fast asleep. 

This was about 6:00 one night when he was going through a growth spurt.
He would just sleep and sleep and sleep.