Laine Meg is 4 Months Old!

I can't believe it's been a month since I posted an update on our baby girl. She continues to "thrive!" I took her in for her 4-month appointment today. She has definitely grown. She is only 1 ounce shy of a whopping 18 pounds! Isaac didn't weigh this much at 7 months. I guess we will be buying her a new car seat soon. It's just too heavy to keep putting her in the car seat carrier. With her inside, it weighs close to 25 (very awkward) pounds. Here are the stats from Laine's pediatrician's appointment today:
Weight: 17 lbs. 15 oz. (> 95th percentile)
Height:  25" (85th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16 1/2" (80th percentile)


For the Baby Mamas, Laine's growth is tracking right about where Henry's was. LOL


Laine is a very happy baby. She is smiling at everyone these days and makes some very sweet, happy, chirping noises when she gets excited. She is quite a little wiggler - I have had to start belting her into the bouncy chairs so she won't fall out. She is learning how to use her hands. It's been adorable to watch her hold her two hands in front of her while she looks at them. This week, she successfully grabbed the mushroom on one of our bouncy seats (a feat that was momentous for Isaac and I still remember). She has been able to grasp the umbrella dangling on the other bouncy seat in order to start the music. She routinely grabs the two little "entertainers" hanging from the car seat handle as we are driving. She delights in almost everything Isaac does. 

As you can see, my helper was ready to spring into action while I took pictures yesterday. Here they are playing together today:

Summer Storms

After last summer's ridiculous drought, we are all in favor of some good rain around here. We have had 3 days of rain, so far. The storms on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons were very different. Tuesday's was more like a short hurricane. Candy, who lives maybe 5 miles from here, is close to a weather station. The station picked up winds of 90 mph! As I was watching out the window during the storm, I have no trouble believing that at all. Bark was literally flying off the Crape Myrtle tree as I was watching. The rain chain on the driveway side was floating off the ground and hovering in front of the window nearest the stairs as I watched. I didn't video that day because I was carrying the baby around and it makes for a wobbly video.


Yesterday, Isaac napped through the storm, so I was able to set Laine down and do some video and still photos. There was no major wind yesterday, but WOW!! There was a lot of rain.


This is the rain chain outside my bedroom window. See how hard it is to view the house across the street through the rain?

Listen to this:

The river, I mean street, into the park next door.

Flooding along the front of the house:

There is a river running through my front yard. You can see the small patch of green between the water and the street on the other side.

Picnic table is drowning!

Isaac the Helper

Isaac has become quite the little helper of late. He always tries to help, but he's just amazed us with a few things in particular over the last week or so. 


The other day, after he finished eating his cereal, he got down from the table. He got his bowl and spoon, took them to the dishwasher, and put them in! He did it again when he finished breakfast this morning. 


A couple of nights ago, I took Laine upstairs immediately after dinner. Todd and Isaac stayed downstairs to clean up the kitchen. As Todd was washing dishes, he heard a sound in the pantry. Isaac had opened the dog's food container, set the lid aside, and scooped out half of a cup of food to feed Jackson. Todd helped him to fill the cup the rest of the way, but then let Isaac feed the dog and release Jackson to eat. He usually helps feed Jackson, but it's because Todd says, "I am going to feed Jackson. Do you want to help me?" This time, Isaac proactively started on his own! 


Yesterday, I went upstairs to get Laine after her nap. Isaac stayed downstairs. He apparently got his milk cup off the kitchen table and was carrying it around. It spilled in the front hallway. He came back into the kitchen, got the paper towels down, pulled a few (okay, a bunch) off the roll, and tried to clean up the spilled milk! I am so excited about how helpful he's genuinely been the last few days. If only I could make it last for another 18 years or so...


Isaac has been helping Daddy with projects in the yard for a few weeks now. He wants the drill whenever Todd is using it, so I took him his own drill and he got right to work! A few pics of Isaac and his drill hard at work last weekend in the truck bed:

10 Years of Marriage.

Last weekend, Todd and I celebrated our first 10 years of marriage! It was interesting because it doesn't feel like we should be old enough to have been married for that long. :-P Apparently, we are. 


We had a wonderful anniversary on Friday. Todd took the day off work and we spent some time together as a family. Todd put his house projects on hold for the day. We went to Kerbey Lane Cafe for breakfast - which was good because they are open 24 hours and we were there well before 9:00! We also had a late lunch at Chuy's to celebrate. It was a gorgeous day, so we ate and had margaritas outside.


A *few* highlights of the last 10 years:
Isaac!
Elaine!
Jackson
Honeymoon cruise
2 trips to the UK
1 trip to Paris, France
1 trip to Munich, Germany
1 trip to Florence, Italy
1 trip to Cozumel, Mexico
1 trip for Grandma Gosser's 90th Birthday in Florida
1 trip to Yough in Pennsylvania
1 trip to San Francisco & Napa Valley
Purchased our new home
Completely remodeled interior of the home
Amazing front porch added to home
Jeep Liberty for H
Chevy truck for T
Ford Flex for H
Countless visits to Virginia/Maryland to see family


We started a list of things we'd like to do within the next decade of marriage. So far, we have:
Visit Chicago (with kids)
Visit Big Bend (with kids)
Leave kids with grandparents for a weekend and go away just the 2 of us. (This one is still a couple of years off, I think!)

Isaac's 2-Year Photos

I asked my friend Jennifer to take pictures of Isaac for his second birthday. She came over one day back in late April/early May and got some AMAZING photos. She began editing and sent me several via email. I shared those with a few people. Then, Jennifer got very sick. She's been in and out of the hospital in Houston (she lives in Austin) while she continues to baffle some of the doctors there. They have run lots of tests and have gotten some, but not all, of the answers. I don't want to post more about it here because, frankly, it's her business. I will, however, ask you to pray for her that she will regain her health and be back home in Austin, for GOOD, soon. She's been through a lot...


Anyway, she dropped off a CD of photos of Isaac for me over the weekend. They are absolutely breath-taking. I wanted to share just a few of my favorites with you. We are hopeful that Jennifer will be able to take some family photos of us, as well, but are waiting for her to feel better.


We decided not to try for posed pictures, so Jennifer captured Isaac being himself and playing and having fun in the back yard.

Laine sleeping on Nana (less than 2 months old):

Mommy and Daughter:

Laine is 3 Months Old!

I wrote this post last week, since Laine hit 3 months last Monday. Then, I couldn't get our computer to boot up, so I couldn't upload a photo.  Sorry for the delay...


Our baby girl has already been with us for 3 months! She didn't have to go to the doctor for a 3-month well-check, so I don't have any new size stats on her, but I wanted to give you a personality update. 


Elaine is a WONDERFUL baby! She is a very smily, sweet little girl. She loves to interact with us and has been busy cooing and gurgling at us all. She makes good eye contact and smiles whenever she looks at anyone. She seems very interested in Isaac and actually seems to like his attempts to snuggle on her. She has been sleeping through the night for over a month now, but has relapsed a bit in the last week or so. She is still an outstanding sleeper and sleeps from about 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m., then wakes again around 5:00 and 7:00, but gets up for the day around 8:00 or so (long after her brother is up and running [literally]). She was sleeping from 11:00 to 5:00, but I haven't been quite as consistent with nursing her at bedtime. I was going to bed at about 8:30 and nursing until about 10:00 so she could just snuggle to sleep for the night.  


Laine has fallen asleep in her crib a couple of times when I've laid her in it while putting Isaac down for a nap. She doesn't fuss very often and I check on her when she seems to be awakening because she'll actually lie there for 5 minutes or more without crying if I'm busy wrangling Isaac when she awakes. Her latest "development" has been learning to suck on her fingers. She seems to prefer her right hand, but can now get either hand to her mouth. She will suck on her fingers to soothe herself. The sound of her sucking on her fingers through the monitor is usually what cues me that she is waking up. She can also use this to soothe herself back to sleep during nap time if she's not ready to get up yet. It is FANTASTIC!!!


She continues to *thrive* and is soon going to outgrow even the 3-6-Month-sized clothes she's been wearing. That works out well for me because it means I get to go look for NEW cute dresses. :-) I am feeling amazingly blessed by this sweet new soul in my life If every baby were as easy as this one - eats well, sleeps GREAT, and smiles the whole time she is awake - I would have 12 more. Just don't tell Todd. LOL

Just in case you feel like I'm leaving someone out of this post...