Bryson's 3rd Birthday

My parents have a fun tradition of taking each grandchild to Build-A-Bear on their third birthday. In the past it has just been Grandma, but now that Grandpa is retired, he came too!

Chick-fil-A for lunch first

Then a carousel ride

(pure enjoyment on that little face)

Bryson picked out a dinosaur for his stuffed animal. He really likes dinosaurs right now, hence the dinosaur shirt that is too big on him.

Bryson named him Teddy

(I think Bryson came up with this name because this is the same day that Bryson's cousin Teddy broke his femur bone and was at the ER. My parents were on the phone or texting with my sister Lindsey throughout the day and Bryson must have overheard their conversations about Teddy.)

Bryson wavered back and forth between a train cake and a dinosaur cake. As we got closer to his birthday, it was just a dinosaur cake. If you asked him what toys etc. he wanted for his birthday, his only answer was a dinosaur cake. (No one can understand the word "dinosaur" when he says it!)

Matt is much better than I am at decorating cakes (I did this one), but it sure tasted great!

We get together once a month with my family for FHE, so we celebrated Bryson's birthday at the same time.

The day of Bryson's birthday (Nov. 2) he got Thor's hammer, which he loves. He's also wearing the dinosaur pajamas that Grandma and Grandpa got him. His other presents from us were a helmet and a scooter and a few lift-the-flap books.

I thought we'd keep the dinosaur theme going and I bought dinosaur oatmeal for his breakfast on his birthday. Unfortunately it wasn't a winner. :(

After breakfast, we went in for Bryson's 3-year-old well-check visit. He weighs 31 lbs. (46th percentile) and was almost 37" tall (36th percentile). Everything else checked out great. At his 2-year-old visit, the pediatrician was concerned about his speech (or lack thereof) and his soft spot being two finger-widths wide still. A few months after that visit, his speech took off. Now his speech is in the range of normal and his soft spot is one finger-widths wide.

Since his doctor appointment is right by Sam's Club, we stopped in for a few items and Bryson got a pizza slice for his birthday lunch.

(sporting a dinosaur sticker from the doctor's office)

Bryson has started some "terrible three" behaviors and can be quite the firecracker at times. He can be very stubborn about eating his dinner or vegetables, but generally eats well. Bryson is scared of me being angry at him. (I swear I don't get angry that often but I guess it really makes an impression when I do!) If he has to go to time-out for hitting or not eating his dinner or not listening to me, he will cry in time-out while saying, "Mommy's angry at me." Bryson refuses to say sorry to another kid after he does something wrong; we're working on it... In general, Bryson has a hard time with kids his age or younger than him. He can be very bossy and has difficulty sharing (pretty typical for a 3yo).

He is in love with his baby brother Austin and loves to sing to him and touch him. If Austin starts crying, Bryson will run up to him and say, "It's okay baby Austin. I'm here." He also says frequently, "Baby Austin likes me" and "He's so cute."

Bryson loves to pray. He wants to say every prayer (morning, dinner, family prayer). A few months ago, he would add in words like "poo poo" to make his older brothers laugh. We've finally broken his older brothers' response to this and now Bryson does it a lot less. :)

Bryson didn't have any set-backs with potty training when Austin was born, but he still wears a pull-up at night. Most days he wakes up dry.

Swinging, play dough, drawing, and riding a scooter or some of Bryson's favorite activities. He is a really funny and sweet boy, and we love him to pieces!

October

The boys' elementary school does a storybook parade every year, i.e. an excuse for the kids to dress up mid-October.

Carter as Nate the Great

Caleb as a baseball player

Although there aren't pictures, Matt took the three older boys camping on Friday, Oct. 16. There was a Cub Scout activity all day on Saturday to pass off some requirements, so several families camped the night before. Matt drove Carter and Bryson home during the day so Carter could go to his soccer game.

After Carter's soccer game, I took the three youngest boys to a carnival at the birth center I delivered at as they celebrated their 20th anniversary. Carter and Bryson loved the face painting.

Bryson tuckered out from our long day.

Later in October I asked Bryson to hold Austin on my bed while I emptied the dishwasher. As I was finishing up, I noticed that it was really quiet in the room. Usually Bryson is singing or talking to Austin. I went in and checked on them to find Bryson asleep and Austin calmly awake. In a matter of a minutes, Austin was asleep as well. It was so precious.

We've had some crazy rainstorms lately. Carter went out to watch the rain one afternoon and fell asleep in this funny position

Bryson, Austin and I went on a trolley ride while the older boys were at school one day.

And Halloween 2015

Neighborhood party

After trick-or-treating

That sums up October!

1st Season of Baseball

Caleb is an awesome soccer player in my humble opinion. He has excelled so well at soccer and loved it so much that he hasn't wanted to try any other sport. I've always wanted him to try baseball ever since his 1 year old well-visit where he threw a ball with amazing accuracy to the pediatrician several times in a row.

Finally, this season he wanted to give baseball a try. Baseball is kind of intense in this area for the league we wanted him in and we were afraid that Caleb would be way behind in skill level compared to boys his age, so Caleb practiced a lot with Matt to be ready for try-outs. The league does machine pitch for his age at 40 mph which is fast! The practicing paid off because Caleb was drafted first on his team.

In his first game, Caleb caught a line drive playing 3rd base, went 4 for 4 batting, and won the game ball for most valuable player of the game. He had a strong start to his season, and then a few games later he got in a slump where he could not hit the ball. It was very much a mental thing, but he finally got out of his funk when he tried a teammate's bat at practice. The bat was 28" whereas Caleb's is 27". Now, amazingly, Caleb can bat just fine with a 28" bat but strikes out when he uses his 27" bat. He's hoping we'll buy him a new bat for his last 4 games...

In the outfield Caleb rotates between playing 3rd base and 2nd base. He's very good at catching fly balls and does well throwing and catching. Another strength is that he is a fast runner and has only been thrown out at first once. He struggles a little more with reading ground balls because of the uneven ground. The coach has remarked that his favorite thing about Caleb is that he is such a hard worker. I've only been to two of his games because Matt usually takes him, but it is so fun to watch his team play! They are 7 and 1 right now and having an awesome season.

Capturing Moments

Life tends to revolve around baby Austin right now. We are all so in love with him. Matt and I are undecided if our family is complete or not with Austin. Just in case, I am trying to enjoy and appreciate every moment of this precious baby stage.

Caleb and Austin at about 1 week old

Carter and Austin at about 3 weeks old

Bryson and Austin around 4 weeks

And the rolls are coming out...all my babies have been super chubby. We joke that I produce cream instead of milk. Austin looks like a slug in this picture, but I love Bryson's "stank" face.

I do a "dream feed" right before I go to bed around 10:30-11, then Austin usually wakes up around 3 am and 6:00 am when I get up for the day. He generally goes back to sleep pretty well after night feedings. We took Austin to church for the first time on October 11th when he was a month old, and I did his first grocery shopping trip a few days later. Both went great! Austin tends to have one really fussy time of the day where nothing makes him happy, but other than that he's been a super great baby so far! He's starting to respond to my voice with smiles :)

I have a tendency to bounce back pretty easily after having a baby which I attribute to staying really active during my pregnancy. I was at church 9 days after having a baby (this is a busy time of year for my church responsibilities with the Primary program at the end of October) and back running again 3 weeks after Austin's birth. I set out to run a mile or two that first run but it felt great so I ran my 3 mile loop at a 9:35 pace. I'm signed up for a half marathon beginning of March where I'm hoping to be running around 8:30 miles so there is lots of work to do! I ran 3 miles tonight at a 9:08 pace so I'm shaving off some time and soon I'll start increasing the distance. 

I'm grateful to have the year off of preschool this year where my days can be a bit lazier, and if the stars align I can catch a nap during the day. I am teaching 3 piano students this year instead of teaching preschool which is a nice outlet in addition to my responsibilities at church which keep me busy.

Other randomness...

Carter has ringworm of the scalp. About a month ago, Carter lost a small chunk of hair kind of randomly. Then we noticed this bald spot. After I did some research, I thought it most closely resembled a picture of ringworm of the scalp. We took him in to see a pediatrician who confirmed my findings and  then said she has never seen it in a caucasian before. It's a common problem for African Americans just like lice is more common in caucasians. Carter has to drink some medicine for 45 days; as long as he is on the medicine, it's not contagious. We're puzzled by how he caught it. He's over halfway done with his medicine. Carter is more than due for a haircut, but I'm leaving the top long to comb over his bald spot!

Caleb has started baseball for the first time. More pictures and an update on his season to come.

Bryson naps about every 3 days right now. He often falls asleep like this with one leg crossed over the other.

The other night Matt and I were heading to bed and found this little guy had snuck down the stairs and fallen asleep.

More Austin

My brother and sister-in-law came to visit for Caleb's baptism and Austin's blessing at church. Because Austin took so long to make his debut, we postponed both the baptism and the blessing, but my sister-in-law did snap some pictures of Austin while she was here. Here are my favorite ones:

She is so talented even though Austin was completely uncooperative.

Austin is one month old tomorrow!

I'm getting told that Austin looks the most like Bryson, so I was looking through some pictures of Bryson at the same age to compare.

Austin

Bryson

Austin had a doctor's appointment at 2 weeks old where the pediatrician was concerned about a bulge over Austin's soft spot. Worst case scenario the fluids weren't draining properly from his head which could affect brain development and growth. Neither Matt or I noticed the bulge until the pediatrician pointed it out and Austin wasn't showing any of the symptoms of hydrocephalus. Still, the next day Austin and I headed to an ultrasound lab so the technician could take pictures of his head. It's kind of agonizing to have the tech taking pictures and notes but not be able to tell you anything. Later that day we got a call from the radiologist saying that the fluids in his head were normal. We were definitely relieved to rule out hydrocephalus.

Other visitors:

My good friend Kim

First time that my dad held him (he was sick when Austin was born)

My grandma is visiting right now for 6 weeks so I was able to get a picture with her and Austin.