Fun with Poppy...

These could easily be my most favorite pictures ever.  Is this not the most precious man ever?  I am amazed at his gentlenss, patience, brillance, steadfastness, trustworthiness and unconditional love.  No wonder I am in love with my Father God.  What a great earthly example I have had.  What other 58 year old would go grab his top hat to serve as his granddaughter's Prince Charming?

9 Months!

I cannot believe 9 months have passed so quickly!  Our precious boy is continuing to come into his own and has such a fun personality.  He is so laid back.  LOVES LOVES LOVES his sister.  He is into everything and experiences everything with the greatest intensity possible (seems like an oxymoron with his being laid back but somehow it works).  He has the greatest little voice and laugh...super throaty and wonderful.  He still only says Mama (hehe) but we are working on other words.  He is a great napper and goes to sleep easily but still is waking some in the night (this is most definitely when a paci would come in handy!).  He is still taking four 8 oz. bottles a day and eats three solid meals.  He has recently been vetoing baby food and really wants things he can feed himself.  I think I missed this window with Abby Kate and she still has an aversion to some textures of foods so I am trying my best to offer nutritious choices that he can feed himself.
My sweet friend Ashley asked Bo to be one of the models for her Snapshop (her amazing photography class) a few weeks ago and these are the pics she took.  If you haven't already found her blog, you are in for SUCH a treat.  She is super creative and intentional with her precious 4 kids, you will get ideas galore from her blog, you won't believe it!  Her precious daughter is just a few weeks older than Bo and I have joked with Ashley that I so hope they marry!  I am so blessed to have such precious friends in my life.

Fun Days...

Not much to update.  Had 6 glorious nights of Bo sleeping 12 hours straight only to come to a strange screeching halt on Thursday.  Still not sure why he is waking again.  I will say, I think the hardest part of being a Mom is not the lack of sleep, but the constant problem solving.  It is emotionally exhausting.  Just when you think you have things figured out, or you get in a routine, it changes again.  Oh well!  We  have LOVED the warm weather and have spent tons of time outside (or in our diaper it seems).  Both kids are doing wonderfully.  They are both super snotty due to allergies I think but happy as larks.  Poppy and Sweecie came this weekend to help us complete a landscaping project and WE SO APPRECIATE it!  Poppy jumped on the trampoline with AK to her utter delight (see above pics) and she was spoiled as usual.  We truly had a ball.
Bo is getting more and more mobile.  It seems nothing can slow him down and he is SUCH a boy.  He is into everything and loves exploring and emulating his sister.  Abby Kate really has seemed so grown up to us lately.  We just delight in what comes out of her mouth (most of the time!).
Hope all is well with each of you!

Up, Up and Away

I feel like I have so much to update.  Sweet Bo made it through his surgery wonderfully.  I will say we had a TON going on right around his tubes so I was sorely disappointed when it didn't seem to change things as everyone had said. His left ear literally drained for 6 days.  It continued to get clogged, prohibiting the antibotic drops to get in deep enough so we were placed on another oral antibotic.  On top of that, his other top tooth came through which bled and bled and he continues to drool like a crazy man.  We also we in the process of switching him to formula and instead of gradually decreasing the breastmilk in his bottle, I went cold turkey and gave him full formula bottles while we were out of town for Easter (due to the convience of heating them in the middle of the night) and he began waking every 3-4 hours again.  It took me, the genius, 6 days plus a formula change to read the box that said, "Gradually switching to formula is best."  So I tried it last night, 5 oz. of breastmilk to 3 oz. of formula and he slept through the night like a champ.  SO SO love it when problem solving as a Momma gets a positive result!
SO SO sadly, I forgot my camera on Easter so I will have to get pics from the rest of the fam!  Bobby's family had a huge reunion and we had SO SO much fun.  My MIL has 4 other siblings and each had large families as well so it was SO much fun having so many cousins around.  Abby Kate literally had a BALL.  AK got to stay a few extra days with Neannie and Pop to play with our Florida cousins who got to stay the week.  I hope to get those pics soon!
The above pictures were last Thursday, the afternoon of Bo's tubes.  It really is amazing how quickly they bounce back (though coming out of/sleeping off the anesthetic was literally the worst nightmare ever).  Sweecie had gotten AK a new kite and we got to go fly it together as a family.  Truly one of the most fun afternoons in a LONG LONG time.  We so love spending time together!