Sneak Peak...

...of our super fun Halloween week!

Then and Now...

THEN:

Grandma W holding Mac and Cousin C

(both 9 months old)

September 2008

NOW:

Grandma W holding Mac and Cousin C

(nearly exactly two years later)

August 2010

Just want to say...

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Adding to our ETERNAL family...

On Saturday, January 8th, 2011

we will be able to take our precious

Oak

HERE...

photo by Shonda Barlow

And our FOREVER family will become FOUR!

We are so excited and blessed to be able to have our sweet girl forever.

Heavenly Father absolutely knows what he is doing,

and we have seen his miracles in our life.

Oh the faces of Mac...

and some of his feet too!
His hair is so long in these pictures. I really don't like his hair long, because it is a bit frizzy and tends to look really messy, but I do love giving him a little faux hawk. He finally let me cut it today! Last time we tried he completely freaked out although we have been cutting his hair with the clippers for at least a year and a half. I was able to take a sigh of relief when I saw my cute boy with his short hair. Makes this Mama happy!

Oh how I love this little boy! Lately my little guy has really been testing me and this week started off really rough! I finally was able to take a step back and going to make some changes in discipline and see if that helps. I am so thankful for those moments where he is as sweet as can be, and I really relish those moments even more now that he is having a hard time. And the 100 random times in the day when he says "I love you Mommy!" really help too!

Well at one point Mac was mostly potty trained and then he just decided to not be and I was too lazy to stick with it. We gave it a few weeks break and at the beginning of last week I decided to just refuse to put diapers on him (except for nap and night time). And I have stuck to my guns. We have tried to stay home as much as possible and I have cleaned up alot of pee on my carpets and the bathroom floor, and done alot of laundry. But I think it might be ok to say that yesterday Mac finally got it and we are doing good, minus the pooping on the potty part. Yesterday on his own with out any initiation from me at all, he ran to the bathroom to go potty and his underwear was only a tiny bit wet. A few hours later again he went all on his own to the potty and his underwear was completely dry. We then left at 10:30am (with a pull up on) and didn't get home until about 2:30pm and (I only took him potty once while we were gone) when we got home he was dry and went pee on the potty. He even woke up dry from his nap. He has done good all day today except for one pooping accident without peeing in his underwear. So I am pretty excited! And he is too. If he can keep this up for about a week he will get his big prize of his new Thomas the Train movie.

And I just really can't believe that he is going to be 3 in less than two months.

The Pumpkin Patch!

One of my most favorite family traditions!

And the weather was perfect and beautiful, especially for being 10am. We had so much fun! And it really got me into the spirit of fall.

The patch was beautiful but was not functional at all. There were too many vines to trip over and all the pumpkins were almost too big too carry. Our rule is Mac has to be able to carry his own pumpkin.

This was basically the only pumpkin his size.

Once he had his pumpkin he was ready to get back on the wagon.

We took our pumpkins to the car so that we could go and have some fun.

Mac got a ride back.

He wanted to ride the cow train. And he was brave to do it all by himself. I was very proud of him!

Our cute little family!

Things Oak ~ 2 months old

Weight: 13 lbs 8 oz (94th percentile)

Height: 23 in (55th percentile)

~ She got three shots and one oral vaccine yesterday. Of course she cried and then cried harder with each shot.

~As of a week ago she has been sleeping through the night, usually about 8:30 to 6, although she slept until 7 this morning (but that may be due to the shots yesterday).

~I did notice that when ever she got restless in the night she would start sucking her thumb and put herself back to sleep.

~She is starting to not want to be snuggled to sleep for naps and just wants to be laid down to fall asleep on her own, but still likes it to go to sleep for the night.

~She takes at least one really good 3  hourish nap a day, and it usually coincides with brothers nap which makes me happy.

~She is just a really good baby, and rarely cries unless she is tired, fusses when she has a dirty diaper, and sucks on her hands/fingers when she is hungry.

~She has the most precious smiles. And she smiles with her whole body. 

~She does not like tummy time and does not want to lift her head during it like she needs to be doing at her age. 

~She does hold her head up really well when you sit her up or have her over your shoulder.

~She is a kicker, it is so cute.

~She has just gotten over her second cold.

~After she drinks a bottle she usually wants to go to sleep.

~She is cooing.

~She has never like to be swaddled.

~She loves it when she is tired and I put my hand on the side of her face/cheek. It usually calms her right down.

~She loves being on her changing table. She is usually the  most smiley and happy there. She also loves to look around at all the stuff in her room.

~As soon as she is done with the size one diapers I have, I will be switching to size two.

~She has the cutest rolls on her thighs.

~And the sweetest, chubbiest neck, which I have to constantly make sure is clean and dry so that it doesn't get owies.

~She is a seriously beautiful baby! And she gets compliments from alot of people saying what a beautiful baby she is.

~She may end up with auburn colored hair. And her eyebrows are red.

~She brings complete joy to our family: Our little family, our extended family, and her birthfamily!

I took these pictures on her actualy 2 month birthday. I could not get her to smile for me for anything, I think she was tired because she was a bit fussy. I am going to try to take more today to see if I can get some smiley ones out of her.