Five Months

Witten is such a joyful little guy! He's pretty easy going, loves to be around the action, and is ready with a big smile and squeal any time you want to talk. He's sat up some on his own but still tends to slowly lean forward until he's almost folded in half. I'll let him hold my fingers to push himself up straighter, but he's been known to push my hands away so he can sit up alone. :) Determination! Sitting up and standing up are two of his favorite ways to check out what's going on. Lately we've been out in the yard pulling up grass, digging to level our steps that make the path to the back yard, mowing, playing in the pool, etc. Since most of us are busy with our own little projects, Witten usually just hangs out on his blanket under the tree. No toys necessary....he loves watching the leaves blow and occasionally checking out what we're doing.

practicing sitting up all by himself

Witten has become incredibly predictable when it comes to napping and eating during the day. If I'm distracted or preoccupied with something he'll definitely let me know that he should be in his bed. I'll sing him a song as we shut his windows and he'll settle right in for a snooze. I love hearing him cooing in his bed when he's done napping. I usually go in to see him looking up for me, and once he spots me I get a huge smile, a little wiggle, and he hides his face so we can do it again. Silly guy!

Waking up!

Looking up at the mirror on his changing table after bath time.
 He'll just talk and talk and talk to himself.

On Mother's Day we dedicated him at our church and pray that he grows up to know Christ personally and shine such a bright light. Wit means "life" and Charles (his middle name) means "free man". When we chose his name, our prayer was that he would experience true life as a free man in Christ. Everything else falls away when you live to bring Him glory! As we dedicate him we want our closest friends and family to help keep us accountable for setting an example, showing him the way, and guiding him into God's loving arms.

Right after the dedication

Best Time of Day

Right now my favorite time of day is the afternoons. It used to be the hardest and may be hard again as we pass through the different phases with two little guys....but right now it's so fun! Usually Witten wakes up to eat around 2/2:30 and we get to play some, just the two of us, while Tytus finishes up his nap. It's really fun to just spend some time playing and talking to our little bug and enjoying him all by himself.

He loves swinging outside. I'll say "Ready, set, go!" and he'll giggle as he flies up high.

 Once Tytus is up we all play outside or eat a snack inside then head out for a walk. Over the past week we've walked the trail in our neighborhood and picked flowers along the way. Witten naps in the stroller while Tytus and I listen to the quiet as we walk. Tytus points out what flowers we should pick to bring home and usually asks to either check up on the construction on one of our streets or visit the park. Then we make it back home to get ready for dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening before bed.

Imaginiation

It's the best just to sit back and watch/listen to what Tytus is thinking and making up. It ranges all the way from mimicking familiar situations (like feeding his stuffed animals and putting blankets on them for their naps) to new funny scenarios. One day last week he brought out his bag of blocks and started building a city without saying anything or asking for help. I asked him what he was doing and he described a house, a bridge, and showed me where the train goes through. He made the sounds and everything, so I had to take a picture. :)

getting started

giving a tour of his creation

So proud!

Last weekend we spent most of Saturday running errands. One of the last stops we made was Sams to get some new tires for Ian's car. We dropped off the car and walked around while they worked on it. After we checked out they were still finishing up, so Ian held Tytus up to look through the windows to check out what was going on. We talked about how the wheels were old, how they lift the car up to work on it, and that the new wheels will be safer to drive on now. Since then it has been a part of our daily conversation to talk about daddy's new wheels. Usually he says "NEW WHEELS" with a huge smile and his hands up in the air. He's reenacted it several times with different tools and props....one day with his tricycle, another with his little green truck, even out in the sandbox with his little diggers.

4 months

Our sweet little guy

Witten is four months old now and so much fun! I remember this is when time seems to fly as they begin to learn so many new things. He's working on sitting up on his own, still loves tummy time, and LOVES to talk to people. He'll also pull up if you hold his hands. I think the most fun is when we're outside on a blanket and he gets to stand up and talk to whoever is around. He can see his brother (most likely throwing a ball or running around) and hear all the fun noises. It's getting to be really pretty most days, so we get to spend a lot of our time out of the house. Cherishing this time and loving both of our boys!

Happy Easter!

Jesus is risen and we can celebrate and truly live because of it! He has blessed us in so many ways, and we live to bring him glory in how we raise our two boys, love each other as husband and wife, and try to treat others the way He shows us in His word. Here's how our family has grown through the last three Easters:

2011

2012

2013

A Three Month Old and Fun Brother Time

3 months old - Where has the time gone?

He loves tummy time!

Witten has been sleeping 12 hours through the night for a while now, which has been a great gift! We've also gotten to where his long nap of the day falls right during Tytus' nap. I would say those are two big reasons why it's getting easier being a mom of two. It's so much fun to see Witten smiling and talking back to us when we visit with him. He loves to be a part of what's going on, but I can also see that he enjoys having some quiet time without a whole lot of commotion. I'm sure we'll see more and more of his personality as the months keep flying by.

Now that Witten can hold and grab at toys a little, Tytus will pick out a few things and try to hand them to him or prop them up for him to see. As we were playing in the living room one day Tytus was being really sweet playing with Witten, so I asked if he wanted to hold him. I sat them down next to each other and Tytus immediately put his arm around him and just loved it!

Sweet, sweet brothers

Tytus also wanted to look at some books that day. So, he went and got two books that he knew Witten would enjoy and I helped sit him up so he could look at them. Then Tytus got a book for himself. So studious :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Tytus!

The big 2 year old!

We celebrated Tytus' birthday with just the four of us last weekend. Ian and the birthday boy left early in their pj's to get some donuts. We ate them at home and started to open some presents before Witten got up. Over the last month or so I have been talking to Tytus about his birthday and what it meant to be turning two. I didn't really bring up presents at all, but I found that I didn't really need to. Every time we talked about his birthday he would say "Green truck!". Needless to say that it was really simply to pick out his gift this year.....and he loved it! He also got some little men to put in the truck and a tee ball set to play with outside this summer.

Daddy got his these cool Green Lantern and Superman Little People to go in his truck 

It didn't take long for the truck to make it into the sandbox.

The week before his birthday we had some crazy winds blow down both sides of our fence. It was tough to let Mia go out to use the bathroom because she would go right over to the neighbors' yards to explore and try to get out of any holes they may have. So, Ian and one of our neighbors spent almost the entire day on Saturday taking the old fence posts out, buying new supplies, pouring concrete for the new posts, and reinforcing the sections of fence that had fallen. It actually made for a perfect day for Tytus because he got to spend all day outside with daddy and lots of tools. Doesn't get much better than that!

Right after the fence fell....and there were more sections down on the other side of our yard.

The guys working!

We had some pizza out on the deck for lunch and then after naps we sang happy birthday and ate some cake. I found a cool recipe for a truck cake and thought it would be fun to give it a shot. It turned out pretty good, and he loved eating it! Now he thinks every birthday cake is a "truck cake".

To end the birthday celebration we went to check out the kite festival in Austin on Sunday. We met Aunt Lindsay, Oliver, and Aiden there and had so much fun watching all the kites and enjoyed spending some more time outside. It made for a really fun weekend to celebrate our two year old. We can't believe it's already been two years!

Eating some peas for a snack...yum!

The kites filled the sky

Witten was also there, but I think he was napping on his blanket at this point.