The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10

Happy 3 months Charlie boy!

You are such a cuddler and a happy boy. You make us laugh every day when the family is busy all around you and we look over at you and you're just cracking yourself up in your seat. You find a lot to smile about and your smile is precious. You love talking these days and will chat with anyone who wants to have a conversation with you. The biggest thing you've surprised us with is how agile you are! You cannot be trusted alone anywhere unless you are strapped down. You roll all over the place when on the floor and have rolled out of seats more than once (yes, mom fail). You roll when you're happy and when you're mad... and when you're mad, everybody better watch out. You have one fierce and stubborn temper. You've rubbed your knees and your cheek raw from your temper fits, and you've even managed to unzip your own sleep sack and get it wrapped around your neck when we didn't come get you up out of bed early enough (again, mom fail).

You are starting to really watch your brother and delight in him. Andrew loves you so much and his patience with a new baby brother is heart warming. He brings you your blankets, your burp cloths, your pacifier and your bottle. He just sets them in your chair with you or on the play mat next to you... or gives them to mommy is she's holding you. Your brother loves you and wants you to be happy and cared for.

You've recently decided to give up your hatred of the car seat and have started enjoying going on walks in the evenings. It's so much fun to take you and Andrew out in the stroller and enjoy the nice "fall" weather we're having (it's less than 100 degrees outside right now). You're also starting to eat much better and not every bottle is a battle like it was for a while. When you're hungry, you are HUNGRY. And then other days, you act like you'd like to go on a fast.

You've also had another cold this week... I think this has become our norm now that big brother is in school one morning a week. Sorry baby boy :( You're handling it very well I think, but you just can't sleep or eat well when your nose is stopped up. Hopefully we'll be all better soon.

Here are some pictures of what you've been up to lately!

Happy boy hanging out on your hippo! This is before you rolled off and face planted on the floor :(

Brother kisses

whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Andrew started "school" last week at University Christian Church. He'll be going on Monday mornings each week from 8am-12. His first day went so great, and he barely cried when I left (which was surprising since he's a disaster when we leave him in church). He even wanted to carry his own backpack all by himself!

Andrew's teacher Ms Kelsey

Since Charlie has been born, Andrew has a very hard time saying "good bye" to his lovie and paci each morning. It's been hard to keep it away from him since he'll often take our hand over and over again to show us where it is (usually somewhere we thought we were super sneaky at hiding) and crying until we get it down. We've been caving a lot and just giving in to his requests. He seems fine without it so far when we're out of the house. And he even knows the difference between his and Charlie's paci's. When Charlie is crying, Andrew will now go get Charlie's paci out of his crib and hand it to me. Such a sweet and helpful big brother!

Charlie is starting to figure out the sleeping at night thing lately :) We had to break him of his swaddle because he started rolling over (first tummy to back, then back to tummy 2 weeks later).

I was a little unprepared for this change, since Andrew was over 4 months when we had to take away the swaddle. Charlie is having a tough time with the adjustment, but we're slowly working through it. The first night was just awful, and then the next few nights have gotten progressively better. Andrew has been amazing with each transition for Charlie. He never cries when he's awakened by his brother at night, and has no problem putting himself back to sleep. Here are some pictures of Andrew being a sweet big brother

It's TCU football season again! And time to hang the flag for game day!

And music class started back up again! I can't believe a year ago we started this at church and Andrew wasn't even sitting up. He absolutely loves music class and is so happy to dance and keep the beat with Miss Linda!

dancing alone in the middle of the circle

Then turning around and grabbing his bestie Delilah for a dance!

Playing the drum with Miss Linda!

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Hebrews 6:19

My time off from work at home with the babies is coming to an end after this Labor Day weekend. Thanks to help from our nanny, Amanda, the last 10 weeks have been much easier than I anticipated with two babies. She is so calm and gentle with the boys, and we're very grateful for her.

Some notes on Andrew:
He's my cautious boy... he would never jump off a couch or bed or go off of a big step without looking to us for help first. He is doing so well at communicating using some signs (like banana, eat, sorry, thank you, more, shoes, outside), which makes us all feel better and less frustrated. He's got quite a temper when he doesn't get to do what he wants (which is usually go outside), and he recently threw such a serious tantrum that he bit through his top lip :( I don't know where he gets that from? :)

Andrew is trying to say more and more words every day. So far our regular words include among others:
blue
bubbles
muffin (mu mu mu)
book
bible
wheel
bike
yellow
apple
bug
brother
ball
knee (and eyes and ears)
(He still won't say Charlie... just "baby")

Andrew has become very sweet and caring towards his baby brother, which is so wonderful. He truly has fallen in love with him and is so concerned when he cries. If mom is holding him and he's crying, all is ok. Otherwise, he'll come get me or point at the baby to make sure I know that I need to go take care of him. Andrew always wants to give him a kiss before bedtime and if Charlie is on the floor, Andrew will come over and lay his head gently on him. He tries to hand Charlie his pacifier or a toy sometimes too... and of course he tries to throw them at his head as well :)

Some things we're especially loving about Andrew right now:
How sweet he is with his brother Charlie
He loves the I love you stinky face book and he points to the Mom and says "Mommy" (which I'm sure is because the Mom is in her robe and has a scrunchy in her hair. ha!)
He knows his Bible book and loves reading all the stories
He loves any book with trucks (favorites are Little Blue Truck and Where do diggers sleep at night
He's obsessed with only one particular Lovie that he has to carry around at all times (he was given 300 lovies since he's been born)
He's being so mature and easily adaptable with Charlie now sleeping in his room. He sleeps right through any night crying

Andrew loves:
Mickey Mouse (the "DAWG".... this came from the infamous Hot Dog Dance at the end of every show)
balls (or "bowls" as he calls them)
Bob the Builder (loves "BOB!")
Muffins ("mamama's")
Bananas (I'm clearing out the grocery store every week)
Fruit, Yogurt & Spinach smoothies
Daddy (EVERYthing reminds us of daddy: any helmet/hat, bikes, any man old or young, water cups, water bottles, his computer, his office, his shoes... he's the first person he asks for every morning)

Some notes on Charlie:
Charlie usually wakes up and goes to sleep smiling. However, he's still not a good night sleeper. Sometimes he starts waking at 11pm, and sometimes he can hold off until 3pm. He has slept 10 hours through the night starting at 10 weeks, but only will do this one night a week. Otherwise, he's up 3-6x per night. He thrives on a schedule and will wake and fall asleep usually at the same times each day. He started rolling over this week from belly to back! This is two months before his brother tried the same thing. He's not a great bottle drinker, but each week he gets a little better. He will usually take about 3 ounces and then try to quit and fight the rest of it. We're trying to get at least 6 ounces in each bottle to make sure he gets enough and have tried various combinations of formula and breastmilk. He still gets mostly breastmilk during the day, but some days he acts like it's killing him (something Mom is eating is not agreeable). He's taken his second cold this past week, but thankfully this one is nowhere near as severe as the first and he seems to be handling very well. Charlie is usually pretty content during the day and is fairly predictable, other than the eating. Sometimes giving him a bottle fills me with dread, and other days he will take the whole thing in 10 minutes.

Some recent pictures of us:

Playdate with Delilah and ZoZo

Selfies with Mom

DD comes to see us every other week for snuggles

Bath time... was a struggle until about 10 weeks old, then he started to love!

"Oh, hey Mom!"

Charlie's first time to meet PawPaw... Andrew LOVED laughing with PawPaw!

Grandy's first time to meet Charlie. Andrew had to supervise.

More selfies with Mom

Pool time dinner with Dad

Falling asleep during lunch... a result of getting woken up all night by baby brother!

Happy 2 months!

Silly boy time

Running after Miles

This is Andrew's favorite thing... bringing a book and coming to sit in your lap. So sweet!

2 month shots picture... had to wear our Rocky shirt to show how tough we are!

Best family pic we've gotten

Tummy time with Miles

Sweet boy

Brother snuggles