In his eighteenth week, Roman is: cooing, talking, and squealing up a storm; belly laughing at Mo Willems’ “I Am Invited to a Party”; having fun checking out out his exersaucer; and enjoying a place at the table (we moved him from the bouncy to the high chair during meal time so he could see what’s going on).
The boys and I love the subscriptions to Wild Animal Baby and Highlights High Five that Grandma and Maw have given them this year. Jonas and I saw a fun craft idea in the back of the Highlights magazine we were reading this afternoon and decided to try it with Xander when he woke up from his nap. It was super easy and fun…pipe cleaners, googly eyes, coffee filters, markers, a spray bottle of water, clothespins, glue, and pom poms…and voila…butterflies.
In his twenty-fourth month, Xander is: fascinated with puzzles, getting better everyday with potty training, spouting out more and more sentences (“Be careful, JoJo”, “Uh-oh, buckle me in, Mommy”, “Read book me, Mommy”, “Don’t eat baby Oman, Petra”, “Play puzzle if me, JoJo”, etc.), and loving his big boy bed and all of his bedtime “friends” (BooBoo Bear, Lambie, Other Lambie, Doggie, Wolfie, Big Pillow Pet, Little Pillow Pet, Blue Coze, and Green Coze).
Happy 2nd Birthday, Xander!!!
You are such a precious boy…you have such a great sense of humor, a servant’s heart (you always think of and like to get Jonas, Mommy, and Daddy a snack and a drink when I’m getting one for you), a thoughtful mind (you say “thank you” and “please” very naturally without having to be reminded to do so and “sorry” much more than you need to), a sensitive spirit, and a healthy dose of inner (and outer…you’re almost as big as Jonas and wear the same size clothes…and you’re starting to give him back a long overdue taste of his own brotherly medicine) toughness.
We enjoyed celebrating your birthday…we love you, Xan-Man!!!
It’s been a wicked hot summer, so we’ve had to come up with some interesting indoor things to do. Here’s one that the boys loved…an indoor picnic with all of their “friends”. They had so much fun laying out their picnic blankets, dragging their “friends” into the play room, putting bibs on them, setting out plates and bowls and cups, and picking out what food they wanted to serve them.
The boys and I went blueberry picking at the Blueberry Patch this morning with our neighborhood mom’s group. We got there early to beat the heat but ended up only picking for about thirty minutes before the kids were hot and ready to have a snack and play in the shade. There weren’t a lot of blueberries to be picked this year, due to the heat, but we still had fun. And when we got home, we made a delicious blueberry sorbet…what a great summer treat (thanks to a new mommy friend, who brought some to an ice cream social, for the inspiration).
In his seventeenth week, Roman is: practicing his new skill (rolling over from back to front) every time he gets a chance and enjoying his first live show (he went with me to see Sarah Siskind and the Novel Tellers – Julie Lee and Elizabeth Foster – play at the Station Inn).
After running a few errands this morning, Jonas, Roman, and I spontaneously stopped off at the library to check out the summer reading program (Tom took Xander to work with him). It was crazy…as we were driving around earlier, Jonas was talking about how he wanted to try cotton candy sometime (he saw some in a Look and Find book he was looking at in the car). And lo and behold…there he was lining up with all the other kids after the science guy’s super fun experiments for some cotton candy on the library’s back porch. How serendipitous is that?!?
Jonas went to his first birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese this afternoon for his friend, Ava, from preschool. (Tom stayed at home while Xander napped, and Roman, amazingly enough, slept through all of the afternoon’s festivities in the Bjorn). It’s always interesting to see Jonas interact with his preschool friends. He’s been talking about them all summer long, but when he saw them, he was very quiet and preferred to play by himself (such a departure from the Jonas I know at home). But he still had an absolute blast!!!
At sixteen weeks, Roman is: starting to prefer socializing to eating during the day (he still eats…he just likes to snack and then catch up at naptime, bedtime, and nighttime…which may be why he’s back to waking up every 2 to 3 hours at night).
We spent a wonderful evening with the Bledsoes and the Bowens, some of our dearest friends, hanging out in the backyard…watching the kids play, listening to music, catching up, cooking out, and sharing a delicious meal.
It’s interesting…we all had babies close together…Jonas was born November 2008, Betsy’s son Henry was born May 2010, Xander was born July 2010, Lizza’s son Bennett was born August 2010, Lizza’s daughter Isabelle was born February 2012, and Roman and Betsy’s daughter Adelaide were born March 2012!!!
It was a goodbye cookout for the Bowens who are moving to Dallas at the end of the summer…I’m not even thinking about it right now because it makes me too sad. I just try to think about staying in touch and going to visit. Lizza’s daughter, Isabelle (pictured below sleeping beside Roman), is named after me…Isabelle Leigh…aw!!!…totally makes me cry…what a blessing. Thank God for good friends.
Happy Father’s Day to Tom…builder of one of a kind backyard treehouses, stacker of the tallest Mega Block and Lego towers, hider and seeker in the boys’ favorite pre-bedtime game, starter of (way too) early morning walks (on all of those mornings when the boys are overly excited to start their day), instigator of tackle Daddy floor time, constructor of the back woods rope swing, carrier and pusher of the tricycle (when it gets tough going up the hills), buyer of land for future camp outs and woods rovings, bringer of fun to the end of the day (and really to every situation), and so much more…thank you for being such a good man…you are a wonderful father…we love you!!!
I took the boys out to visit PaPa this morning, while Tom stayed home and had some much-needed Daddy time, for Father’s Day. We had breakfast on the back porch, got to see Aunt Jean, went for a walk down to the creek, said hello to the chickens, and spent some time in the garden.
After a drive home, lunch, and an afternoon nap, we went over to the Bates’ house (our dear neighborhood friends) for a cookout. (I realized later that I didn’t take any pictures…I think because they have three kids and we have three kids and it gets a little wild at dinner time…haha!!!
So, the boys and I went out for a quick grocery shopping trip this afternoon. I decided to take them to Kroger because the last time I was there I saw a child-sized cart that I knew Jonas would LOVE to take for a spin. We only had a few things to pick up, so I thought it would be the perfect time to try it out. Jonas made a grocery list (sounded it out, wrote it out, and everything) before we left, and he had an absolute blast. He was so proud, and I was too.
In his fifteenth week, Roman is: rolling over (he’s pretty comfortable rolling over from front to back and has done it several times…he even rolled over once from back to front, much to my amazement).
Here’s a picture of Jonas and his wonderful swim teacher, Mrs. Melanie, on his last day of swim lessons for the summer…
We had so much fun having Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Rich, Aunt Sherri, Kaitlyn, and Andrew at our house for the week/weekend.
Grandma and Kaitlyn went with the boys and I to the Splash Pad in Smyrna. Xander, our resident water dog, was all about it. It took Jonas a while to get comfortable with the idea (when I asked him about it, he said it was all the people not the water, which I totally get). He ended up deciding he would try it, though, after Kaitlyn walked him around the perimeter. They had so much fun!
We also took the boys to Touch a Truck in Franklin at Pinkerton Park. It’s such a great thing…they bring out all of the public works trucks for the kids to check out. I was amazed at Roman, who slept through the whole thing in the Bjorn (big truck horns blowing and all).
Tom took us all for a tour of the fire department, which is always a good time. And we drove up to Gallatin, where we walked around MeMe and Papa’s property, fed the chickens, looked at MeMe’s garden, and visited MeMe’s store.
It was such a joy to see our youngest son, Roman, be baptized…thank you to our dear friends and family who helped us celebrate this momentous occasion.
We had a WONDERFUL week/weekend…we got to watch Tom and Phil build the coolest treehouse EVER, hang out with our family and have a lot of fun, and witness our youngest son’s baptism.
Not often does there meet in one person the ability to dream and to do…but meet Tom Seyfried. HaHa!!! He has been talking about building the boys a treehouse for a while now…his vision was to build something very out of the ordinary and it is…extraordinary.
We were driving home one afternoon, and he saw these huge cedar logs that the electric company had cut down in someone’s front yard. He went back later that night, after the boys had gone to bed, with a truck and a friend in the hopes that he could score them to build the boys a treehouse…and he did.
We are thankful beyond words for Grandpa, who showed his great love for his son and for his grandsons, by driving all the way down from Virginia to work for several intense days and nights to help the dream become a reality…and to Tom, who wins the Father of the Year award.
Here are a few pictures of the treehouse project, from start to finish…
In his fourteenth week, Roman is: laughing out loud; wanting to go longer during the day between feedings; (FINALLY) consistently sleeping 4 to 5 hour stretches at night; holding on to his feet; and trying his darnedest to roll over from back to front.
