19 Months Old

Samuel,

You are 19 months old! You continue to be such a joyful, sweet, ornery boy. We laugh with you every single day.

You basically will repeat anything we ask you these days, so it's pointless to record the new words you're saying, but a few of my favorite words that you are consistently saying these days are "Sissy," "pumpkin," "Dumbo," "cupcake" and "Grammy." You are communicating so much better with us these days. I've seen a real transformation this month where you're starting to use your vocabulary more when you are trying to tell us something rather than grunting or whining.

Your favorite "show" right now is Dumbo. You ask for it almost every night, and when you see the baby elephant, you point to him and say, "Dumbo."

You're starting to become more interested in trains and will play at the train table for a long time. You and your brother fight over it like crazy, because you both like to play your way and get in each other's way.

You've also developed an interest in puzzles this month. Nathan lets you help him when he does his harder ones. You hand him pieces and help him "bang" them into place. I've worked with you some on his harder ones too. You definitely get the concept, but still need a lot of help.You're really not interested in the easier ones for your age. I think because you've seen the more difficult ones, the easy ones are just a little boring for you.

You're still a great eater. You will try any food and aren't terribly picky. You sit in your high chair for a long time at meals. You prefer to graze and take your time while you eat. You play with your food a lot too which may be why it takes you awhile to eat. We've struggled some to get you to drink enough milk each day. You don't drink much while you eat your meals, and we don't usually let you have milk outside of your high chair because you make a mess. But you are doing better now and are getting about two full glasses of milk a day. And you love yogurt and cheese (and ice cream), so I'm not too worried.

You take a good afternoon nap every day. Depending on our schedule you go down between 12:30-1:30 and take a 1.5 to 2 hour nap. You scream like crazy when we put you in your crib, but usually calm down after about 10 seconds and lie down and go to sleep. You are sleeping okay at night. You've given us a 4-5 night stretch without us having to get you in the middle of the night. That's been nice!

You seem to enjoy the time away from Nathan while he is at school or AWANA on Wednesday nights. You are louder, more talkative and seem happier being the big kid and only having to share Mommy and Daddy with Little Sis. You do love your brother though and like to play games with him like "Ring around the Rosies" and the pacifier game where Nathan will take your paci out of your mouth and you'll chase him until he gives it back. Then you repeat it over and over. It's fun to see you boys play together more as you get older.

You still love books and are beginning to like your brother's books like the Llama Llama books and his Thomas the Train books. You really love to be read to. "The Big Green Monster" is your favorite book right now.

You still love music and always turn on the CD player when we are playing upstairs. You sing and dance along and are just adorable!

I've noticed lately how much you are changing and developing. You are talking and communicating better, your play is maturing, you're doing better in social situations, and you're basically just understanding so much more and learning all the time. It's so fun to be your mommy and watch you learn and discover new things everyday!

Two Months Old

Elisabeth Kae,
You are two months old! I think we've all reached the point that we are (mostly) adjusted to being a family of five and your daddy and I having three kids. You've certainly added a new level of craziness and busyness to our family but also such sweetness and love. We are all head over heels about you.

You eat eight times a day. You usually eat every 2-3 hours during the day and have a 7-8 hour stretch between feedings at night, which is awesome by the way!! You are a rock star sleeper. You'll wake up and eat and fall right back asleep. Thanks for making it so easy on me. Now if only we could get your brother Samuel to figure out how to sleep as good as you do we'd all be rested around here. You usually have your last feeding of the night around 9:30-10:00pm and will sleep until 4:30-5:30am. You'll nurse, and got back to sleep until 7:00-7:30am.

We're still supplementing with 3-5 oz of formula a day. You usually need an extra ounce during one or two of your afternoon feedings and again during one or two of your evening feedings. Otherwise you are doing wonderfully at nursing. I'm so glad we stuck it out during those rough days when you were a newborn!

At your two month check up you weighed 10lbs, 5oz (50%) and were 21.5 inches long (10-25%). Your head circumference is in the 50%.

You are wearing 0-3month and 3 month clothes and a size 1 diaper. It was a sad day to pack away your newborn clothes and use up the last of your newborn diapers. You are growing fast.

You have the sweetest smile and I love seeing it more and more as you get older. You're just beautiful, Elisabeth.


You seem to have an easy laid back temperament like your brothers. You might be a tad more dramatic than they were as babies, but you are really wonderful. You do love attention and to be held and played with. If you are full and rested, you'll happily lie on the floor for a few minutes and look around and kick and stretch, but you'd prefer to be held.

Grammy and Papa Joe kept you for the first time last week, so your Daddy and I could go to a Sunday School supper. It was the first time I've been away from you for any length of time since you were born. They said you were so good for them. I know you love them already. I still keep you with me during church and Bible Study, but we will probably put you in the nursery during church soon.

You nap after most feedings. You eat often in the evenings, usually three feedings between 5:30 and 9:30, so you might skip a nap after one of those feedings. You fall asleep easily for me. You do seem to like your pacifier, and it helps you fall asleep. You'll take one or two long naps a day (1-2hours), and a few cat naps here and there.

Your brothers continue to be super sweet with you. Samuel calls you Sissy or Baby and always brings you your pacifier if he finds it. He wanted to hold you the other day too. And one day you were fussy in the car, and when we got home he had fallen asleep but was still holding your hand. I know he was trying to soothe you when you were fussy. And your biggest brother Nathan is still smitten over you. He sings to you, brings you all the toys you could ever want, and always asks me to lay you down so he can play with you.

You LOVE your swing so much. When we are upstairs, I always put you in it. You're happy in it when you're awake, and fall asleep easily in it (and nap for a long time). I tell your daddy that I wish we had another one for downstairs because you love it so much.

Welcoming you as a third child has really forced us all to slow down and we spend much more time at home than we did before you were born, and I'm really thankful for that. We go to Bible Study on Tuesdays and take Nathan to school and usually grocery shop on Wednesdays, but aside from an errand or two we are at home during the day the rest of the week. A slower pace right now means you and your brothers can have more attention and time with your Daddy and me, and I think that's what we all need right now.

Usually in the evenings after dinner, we'll take a walk to the playground and let your brothers play. We push them in the stroller and wear you in your carrier which you love. You seem so comfy and snug in it, and usually fall right asleep.

You have the cutest stretches when you're waking up.

You don't seem to mind tummy time. We don't do it all that often because I usually forget, but you'll tolerate it for a few minutes, until you get tired. You have strong neck muscles and are great at holding your head up, but I know it tires you out.

I'm just overwhelmed with thankfulness anytime I look at you. You are the perfect addition to our family.

Tulsa State Fair

We had a great day at the Tulsa Sate Fair last Friday. Matt has had a busy month at work, and after all the overtime he put in, he decided to take a day off when things slowed down. We took advantage of the extra day with him and spent it at the fair.

We had SUCH a great day. There were so many fun things for the boys to enjoy.

We spent most of the morning walking through the Expo center. We always stop and let the boys ride the play horses.

A police car, ambulance, and firetruck all in one building is a little boy's dream!

Matt commented that this better be the only time the boys are in the back of a police car :)

Elisabeth came along for the ride. She was so good all day at her first visit to the fair.

Both boys had a ball at the firetruck exhibit.

They also had a little play grocery store set up that the boys enjoyed.

After we finished touring the expo center, it was time for lunch. Samuel especially seemed to enjoy the fair food. Nathan got fixated on some cotton candy he wanted, and only ate about half of his cheese on a stick.

After a trip to the cotton candy booth after lunch, we did a quick tour of the livestock building. Samuel made all the animal sounds for the animals he saw. Nathan seemed a little bored. Samuel definitely enjoys animals more than Nathan.

Elisabeth was starting to get hungry, so we headed over to the kids' building, so the boys could play while I fed Elisabeth. We hadn't been in that building of the fair in several years, but it was awesome for our boys. They had a blast. We could have spent all day just in that building.

Samuel played in the giant sand box for a long time. We think he's going to love the beach next year!

They had a fun slide and ball pit that Nathan played in for awhile.

They also had an area of legos, and blocks that we skipped out on, but the boys loved the little "driving" area full of Little Tikes vehicles. I also made four trips to the bathroom with various children while we were in the building. It was a reminder of the season of life we're in right now :).

The boys were getting tired after we finished in the kids' building, but we had to get Matt's Nitro ice cream. We allow ourselves one lunch food and one treat at the fair each year, and he gets that same ice cream every single year.

He had some help eating it this year.

Since Matt had earned some extra overtime pay, we splurged a little and let Nathan ride a few rides. We bought enough tickets for Samuel to ride too, but after we had our tickets, we realized he was too short to ride anything, so Nathan got to ride some extra rides.

He said riding the train was his favorite part of the fair.

While Nathan rode rides, Samuel and I went to get one last treat for the day.

I told you he was a fan of fair food!

We saved a few bites for Nathan when he and Daddy caught back up with us after the rides.

I caught a picture of Super Daddy transporting all three kids.

It was way past nap time and the boys were exhausted from their fun day.

We've been able to visit the fair every year we've lived here. It's a fun tradition and gets more fun every year!