What's Goin' On With Us...

I haven't posted anything in a while. Guess life has just been a bit too busy and even though we are in constant motion, I don't really feel like I have anything very exciting to report. Wright seems to be having a bit of a run with the terrible twos over the past few weeks. Lots and lots and lots of whining and melting on the floor when he doesn't get his way. He knows he is being disobedient but he is just constantly testing the limits and trying to see what he can get away with. I am sure much of it comes from the recent life changes he has had. On a good note, he LOVES his baby brother and does not seem to connect that the hard time he is having is probably as a result of Spencer being born. So, he is constantly petting his baby's head and interested in what Spencer is doing. I have been working on teaching him that God wants us to have a happy spirit and joyful heart to try and help with the whining. I am not sure how much of this he understands, but I have started singing "I've got that joy joy joy down in my heart" and "If you're happy and you know it" when he is having a breakdown and it seems to at least distract him enough to help somewhat. We'll see... Spencer is such a good baby. He sleeps great when he is not waking up to eat (which is still a lot). We have had some on and off nights of long stretches between feedings so we are hoping that he is getting close to consistently making it 5-6 hours. The difference between getting up once vs twice a night is huge, so I will be very happy when he can go longer. Tomorrow he is 8 weeks old and I cannot believe it! Seems especially weird since he is so much more like a newborn than Wright was at this age.

Snow, snow and more snow

Yesterday was a fun day in the snow, but today was a little more than this city could handle. We got about 10 inches total. That is enough to break tree branches and knock down power lines. Our front and back yard look like a war zone with branches everywhere and our power was out all day. We played a little bit in it this morning before the power went out. Then we had to pack up everything and head over to Mimi's house to stay warm. We planned on being there for at least 24 hours because power is out all over the city. But, we are some of the lucky ones and it was back on by 5pm.

Here you can see how thick the snow is on our roof.

Some of the broken branches in our front yard.

Back yard damage.

Our mini snowman that we made this morning.

Spencer is 6 weeks old

We cannot believe that Spencer is already 6 weeks old! He is such a sweet and easy baby thus far, we just love him!

We Heart Global Warming!

It is snowing again today in Dallas and we LOVE it! The flakes are huge and it has been constant since probably about 3am. We actually have that thick good wet snow that you can build snowmen out of. So, Brendan did not make the treaturous drive to Fort Worth for work and we got to have some family fun outside. First, I had to go out and get Wright some waterproof gloves and boots. But it was worth it because he had a great time playing and eating the snow (which he called ice). Spencer hung out in his swing and watched through the window.

He hated the gloves at first and refused to wear them. So he pulled them off and then started to say his hands were burning. Finally, we got him to keep them on!

Wright and me.

Lucy had a great time running in the yard and playing fetch with snowballs.

Chief Firefighter Snowman and Firefighter Wright (in his fireman boots).

Brendan posing with our snowman masterpiece.

Finished product.

Wright making snowballs.

Playing fetch with Lucy.

Like Mother Like Son?

My mom brought this picture to me tonight. The first one is me when I was a newborn and the second one is Spencer. I think we look a lot alike.

Stand Up Comedy

Brendan's friend from work, Jared, came over last night for dinner. Before Wright went to bed, he was putting on the biggest show for our guest. He kept running from room to room, bringing all of his toys in to show off. He would run up to me with his play food and say "look mommy, an egg," or "look mommy, an orange" and I would say "cool, go show jared." So he kept running up to Jared and saying something that we could not understand. After he repeated it a few times, we realized he was saying "Here ya go, Tom and Jared." HA! He loves the show Tom and Jerry and I guess was confusing that name with Jared. So funny.

Meeting Grady Akhtar

We went and met Grady Akhtar on Saturday. He was due about 3 days after Spencer was due. , so even though they are 5 weeks apart, they are almost the exact same size. So cute! We are excited that Spencer has a little friend already. Here is the best pic we could get of the two of them together.

More Homecoming Pics

Some more pics from my sister's camera...

Wright - 27 months

Wright is 27 months old! He is so much fun and we get the biggest kick out of him every day. Here are a few funny things he has said recently:

• We had brunch the other day at the Hilton and the waiter came by with coffee and orange juice and Wright said "I want coffee." very confidently to him.
• When I picked him up from school today, we ran into the teacher who works across the hall from me. She has a little girl named Ava who is 5. Wright LOVES her. After we walked off from them, Wright shouted "Bye bye Ava!" and I asked him if he misses her and he said "Yes, I lub her so much."

He is also still being such a sweet and affectionate big brother. We had a near disastrous event happen today when I had Spencer in the bouncer on the dining table. I walked into the kitchen to get Wright's dinner and Wright started shouting desparately "Mommy, uh oh baby, get baby!" I walked back in and Wright was holding the bottom of the bouncer, keeping it from falling off the table. He was so concerned and worried about his baby brother, it made me so proud.

Spencer is One Month Old!

We can't believe Spencer is a month old today, especially since he has only been home 1 week. Here are some info about him...

• He eats every 3 hours almost on the dot. But last night we gave him a little formula with his 10pm bottle and he slept 4 hours. Woohoo!
• He is great at sleeping in his crib, especially at night. He cries very little or none at all when we put him down. This is especially wonderful after the 1am and 4am bottles.
• He is eating from bottles only but I am pumping 8 times a day so he can have breast milk.
• He has the cutest little dimples and we are not sure who he got them from.
• He is very easy, seems content most of the time and sort of goes with the flow.
• His hair is blonde at the tips and darker at the root, so similar to Wright, people think it is reddish. We think he might end up being blonder than Wright is.
• He had his one month checkup and was 10th percentile head and weight and 20th for length. He also gained 7oz. in 4 days! The kid is a chunker.

Homecoming Pics

Spencer came home today and everything went very smoothly. Wright has been so sweet with him all day wanting to hold him and kiss him. He also kept talking about how "baby need to go ni ni" and kept giving him his paci and blanket. We are pretty sure he thinks Spencer is a new toy and wondering what he will do when the novelty wears off. But, so far so good. Spencer loves to eat now and chugs his bottles in like 5-10 minutes! So crazy, Wright never ate that fast!

I will post more pics from the homecoming when I get them uploaded.

Wright worked on a welcome sign for Spencer's door - thanks for the crafty ideas Sarah!

Here is the picture he made.

Spencer was happy to be home.

Here he is in the hospital taking a nap on me while waiting for the dr to release him.

Up and ready to get outta there!

The three of us leaving the SCN.

Spencer's Coming Home!

We are going to get Spencer from the hospital tomorrow at 10am to bring him home! Praise God that our prayers have been answered and that we finally have a healthy baby who can be here with his family. We are so excited! Pics of the homecoming to come soon.

The Light Bulb

The so-called "light bulb" that we have heard so much about has finally turned on for Spencer. He is eating like a champ taking bottle after bottle and finishing them all. It is almost like he never even had an issue with it, much like a full term baby. We are so excited! Today the dr moved him up to 5-6 feedings and as of 7:30 pm he had taken 4 bottles in a row. If he succeeds with 6 today, they will go ahead and move him to 8. Once he does 8 for two days, he goes home! What does this mean? SPENCER COULD BE HOME BY SUNDAY OR MONDAY!!!!!!! We could not be more extatic about the whole thing and are just dying for him to be with us all the time and to get to know his family. The continued prayer is that nothing will deter him from his eating (circumcision, breathing, etc). Praise God for the healing he has done thus far and for allowing it all to "click" for Spencer.

Spencer 2 weeks old

Spencer was 2 weeks old on Thursday and would be 38 weeks today if I was still pregnant. The gestational age is really more what they go by at the hospital as far as measuring development. Today the doctor decided that he was ready for 4 nipple feedings a day which means they will give him a bottle or I will breastfeed every 6 hours and he will get fed through his tube in between. The dr. seems to think that this might give him a boost to start really motivating to finish the bottles and get out of there. We are up for trying anything! So far so good too. This morning he ate 25 ml from me which is a breastfeeding record to date. And at his next bottle feeding he ate 50 ml which is only 5 ml shy from completion. We just hope this pattern continues and we get to add more bottles quickly. We are also going to go ahead and get him circumcised this week which is one more thing that has to be done before we leave. I like getting things checked off the list and feeling like we are getting closer to getting our baby home.

Lanie's Birthday

Wright had a great time at Lanie's 2nd birthday on Saturday. We went to the farm and he got to feed the goats, see a new baby goat, chickens and a huge horse. And of course his favorite part was the cake and juice.

Brendan helping Wright feed the goats.

Its a weird feeling...

Wright liked the idea of feeding them but did not like to get more than a foot from their mouths.

Eleanor had the right idea letting them eat out of the cup.

Sweet friends - Wright kept dragging Eleanor around by her hand.

That is one large horse!

Wright got to sit next to the birthday girl and he even tried to blow out her candles!