no swaddle!

just in case you're completely enthralled with this fascinating swaddle business, i didn't want to leave you hanging a second longer than necessary.  

here is the update:

 

 

monday nap yesterday was his first time swaddled with just one arm and he fell asleep just as he would completely swaddled.  monday night, same deal... didn't seem to even notice he wasn't in a full swaddle.  and so today, same deal for nap times... went to sleep without a peep and slept a full length nap.  didn't have trouble transitioning at the 45 minute mark or anything!  

so tonight i was putting him to bed and thought to myself, "maybe i should just see what happens if i put him down for bed with no swaddle at all."  so i did.  i propped him in the upper left corner of his crib so that he head was in the corner and his back was to the bumper (from what i can tell, he prefers to sleep on his side) and walked out of the room.  and he didn't fuss.  and then after ten minutes i was dying to see if he had truly fallen asleep.  after i finished brushing my teeth, i went up to check and OH MY HEAVENS IT WAS REALLY TRUE!  he'd fallen asleep just perfectly without a swaddle!

 

i'm still in shock.  let's hope the good luck continues!

just dance

abigail is at the age where it takes FOREVER to do even the simplest of tasks.  eating lunch can easily take over an hour, and just getting out a diaper and pj's for nap can take 10-15 minutes.  when we're in a hurry (or even when we're not) it can be sooo frustrating because i know i could do it myself in a matter of minutes or seconds but she is perfectly capable so i know i need to let her do it.  even if it takes a lot of guidance.

yesterday i got frustrated at her because i wanted her to feed herself her oatmeal while i got myself and brady ready and being late was not an option because i had to drop her off at her friend's house right at 10:30 or else brady and i would be late for his doctor appointment.  well, yesterday afternoon it was nap time and i asked her to pick out her diaper and pj's and then i would just watch her NOT do it.  finally i found myself saying "it's time to pick out a diaper and some pj's.  what are you doing?"  and then she wandered and wiggled a little more before finally breaking out.

"i'm dancing!"

no music, no hint of anything related to dancing.  just somehow, in the moment, she just couldn't resist the urge to dance.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and it went on for at least 5 -8 minutes.  oh to be a child.  i'm pretty sure this isn't exactly what the scriptures are referring to when they say to become like a little child... but i think it's at least partially it.  this little girl teaches me so much.

baby girl is growing up

there are not enough hours in the day to do everything on my to do list.  but yet somehow i spent one of those hours today just looking at pictures of baby girl and brady that i've taken over the last year.  i can't believe how much brady has matured and filled out already.  he's still small for his age but he's not the wrinkly, scrawny little newborn he was just a few months ago.  and a year ago baby girl was still just a baby!  now, we have real conversations and her average sentence is about ten words long.  i could go on and on about all the things she does that amaze me every day but i'll just post these pictures and go to bed instead.  lately she seems much less like a toddler and more like a little girl.  she is so mature and still wise beyond her years.

this morning after my mostly failed attempt at taking pictures of brady, i thought it'd be fun to attempt to take a few pictures of abigail.  i used the exact same setup that i used with brady and even had her sit in his bumbo.  she loooves that bumbo.  it started out slow but picked up and we had a lot of fun.  she's a jokester for sure.

check out this awesome setup... i'm a pretty legit photographer.

 

 

 

just keepin' it real.  this was what things looked like when i zoomed out.

and then she look apart my photography studio aka a blanket draped over a cushion propped up by a suitcase.

she was pretty smug about it.

i told her to jump on this cushion and she got way happy.

and she awarded me four cool mom points.

 

 

 

i see baby carrie in this picture too.  anyone else getting sick of me saying that?

 

as if her personality and everything else about her wasn't perfect, she's got these incredible eyes and precious smile too.  she may not have amazing locks, but i still find her breathtakingly gorgeous.

boy in white

i'm not crazy in love with any of these pictures but i'm giving myself a pat on the back anyways for just getting this done!  check it out, brady!  you were blessed!

 

a for sure giveaway that your photo shoot isn't going as planned.  i laughed out loud when i saw this.  somehow i made my terribly photogenic baby look this terrible.  props for me.

 

 

 

i know i already posted this picture but it gets a second appearance because honestly... it speaks to me. 

carolyn... i know this is my child, but when i look at this picture, i see yours.  i still think of benjamin as this tiny.

two words come to mind when i see this picture.  my christopher's nickname as a baby was "the judge" because he was always serious and then he grew into a kid that was actually sensible and wise.  my mother in law always tells me that even when christopher was a kid, she would ask him for advice.  this is my little judge.  i feel like he's reprimanding me.

and that's a wrap.

*my favorite part about these pictures (besides my boy brady... i do love him so) is that this is the same blessing outfit that my honey wore for his baby blessing.  it kind of terrifies me that that means my brady will eventually turn into a full grown adult but it also gives me hope that he'll grow up to be as fantastic of a husband as my own.

brady's face

my photography leaves much to be desired.  and one of these days i'm going to get my act together and take pictures during the morning when the lighting in our house isn't so horrific.  until then, you can gaze at these strangely lit photos blessed with the yellow kitchen lighting and harsh flash from my camera.

brady - age 3 months and 5 days

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

looks like he's got a bad mascara job or something since his eyes are always so wet from his blocked tear ducts.  and how bout that elmo binky?  baby girl thinks it's the coolest thing ever.  that's the kind of street cred brady likes most.

but check out those eye lashes!  we get sooo many comments on those everywhere we go!  one of the perks of marrying someone with perfect eyelashes... your kids get perfect eyelashes too!

i'm so thankful for this little guy.

punk

for her first birthday, baby girl got a cute little pink windbreaker from my christopher's grandparents.  it has hung in her closet ever since... waiting for the day it would finally fit her.  well, friday was the day.  it fit and baby girl loved it and her favorite part was the tag on it (so that part is actually still there) and my favorite part is that when paired with her pink hat (still wearing it 24/7), she looks like a thug.  a thug that just shoplifted a pink windbreaker.

 

did i mention it's size 18 months?  oshkosh has their sizes off.

and hallelujah that my kid is loving the camera lately and actually models like this without any help from me.  i just click away.

 what a sweet little punk this is.

Needs improvement

There's got to be a better way to do this.

thank goodness brady slept the whole time and didn't make a peep because i honestly had no way to access him (without unloading my entire cart of groceries) to even give him a binky if he had fussed.  seriously, how're you supposed to go grocery shopping with a carseat and a kid that needs to be buckled?!