Halloween- Take 2

We dressed up as Greasers for our ward trunk-or-treat. I had full intention on dressing up again on the actual night of Halloween. The problem was that it was going to be colder than it was previously which would mean the boys would need to be in long sleeves. Unfortunately we didn't have leather jackets or I would have run with it, so I decided (after seeing how miserable Nixon was at the fact that all the other kids were super heroes and he wasn't at the trunk-or-treat) to let him choose what he wanted to be for trick-or-treating. We settled on a stormtrooper because we have the mask, and his cousin Owen had the outfit to match. 

 Emmett was the Tin Man, Owen was Thor, and of course Nixon was a stormtrooper.  With Nixon dressing up as something else, I had to pull other costumes together.

Say hello to Mr. Smee.

And of course, we couldn't skip out on the fun. I whipped up our signs in illustrator about 5 minutes before we left. 

We had such a fun time trick-or-treating down in Fort Mill with all of the family, and all the kids loved going with their cousins. I love being around so many cousins, it makes holidays just a little more special. 

Happy Halloween!

We hope your Halloween was as "hoppin" as ours!

52 Weeks

Oh. My. Word. We made it! We got 52 pictures in 52 weeks. I can't tell you how time consuming it is, but it is so worth it to look back and have those pictures! We'll be having his birthday next weekend and I'm so excited to see it all put together. Let's just say we're going to have a little bit of a fiesta! Thanks for mostly cooperating Crew, I couldn't have done it without you! We love this guy (and those curls!).

51 Weeks

This boy is 51 weeks!! One week before he turns one and we are in full party planning mode! His personality is getting cuter and cuter every day. We still have our hard moments, but I'm starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. I'm finally getting an occasional "mama" out of him, but he's more interested in "dada", "ow", "wow", "wah" (I'm assuming this is his "what" because he usually says this while pointing). One week buddy!

50 Weeks

We are just weeks away from his first birthday, and I can't get this kid to say "mama" for the life of me!! I mean come on.. I'm with him all day, every day. Yet, the second Ethan walks in the door, "dadadadadadadada!" Daddy's boy much? Ok, I kind of love seeing them together, but I mean, would it be so hard to humor me with a "mama"? I think not.

49 Weeks

Another week, another TWO teeth. They popped through on the same day, and he's been in a slightly better mood since. Also, can we all just take a moment real quick to see this..

I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite picture of this guy. Look at the sass that fills his whole body. I love it! 

Some things that Crew loves:

-Being pushed in a swing

-Being pulled in a wagon

-His brother Nixon

-Walking around like a big boy

-Being pushed in the stroller

-His daddy

-Cords, phones, computers (basically anything that he shouldn't be touching

Also, this kid is QUICK! The second I look away from him, he's gone! It's probably a good thing we spend 99% of our time in the house because it's exhausting trying to keep up with him. 

48 Weeks

This kid is 11 months! I can't believe how fast it has gone! Not that I'm overly upset about that. It's been a little rough with this one, but I just have to keep reminding myself, "This too shall pass." He has to be teething. Or should I say, please let it be teething! I don't remember teething being as difficult as it has been for Crew. We love him regardless, but I'm ready for the crying to stop. Seriously.. Crew, can you give us a little break? Thanks.

47 Weeks

Crew has the best hair. It's not super thick, but it has some great curl! I mean look at this:

He's getting more smiley and I love it. His little teeth make the best smile. He says "dada" all the time, wow, ow, and a few other sounds here and there. Can I get a "mama" from him? Not a chance. Dang kid doesn't know what's good for him. Good thing he's so darn cute. And those lashes? I mean come on. He will be the envy of all teenage girls if those stay around.

46 Weeks

Wait, what's that? This kid is walking? Yes he is! He took three consecutive steps a few days ago, and today, he decided to take off. Obviously he's still very wobbly, but he's walking.. at 10.5 months. Not sure if I should be proud or scared.. both? Let's go with that. Both.

45 Weeks

I tell you, sometimes this kid is ornery! I wish that I knew what babies were thinking/saying because I feel like if we could communicate, things could maybe go a little bit more smooth. But instead, we'll just try to deal with the unknown of his angry elf-self, and soak up the giggles and happiness when we get it!

44 Weeks

Crew is 10 months now and is so close to walking! We had a doctor's appointment so we have some new numbers. 

Stats:

Height: 29.5 in (76th Percentile)

Weight: 18 lb 13 oz (25th Percentile)

Head Circumference: 46.5 cm (80th Percentile)

He's still so loud at the dinner table but he's a great eater. I suppose I'd rather have a vocal child than a mute? Still wondering about that. He also loves people. Doesn't always looks like he does, but he's a little flirt. He definitely loves attention! 

43 Weeks

Crew is 43 weeks and we successfully made it home! I was flying by myself with the two boys for the first time and I was nervous. Not for Nixon, but for this one. He's so busy, and now that he's so mobile, being held is the last thing he wants to do. I decided that this flight I was going to bring the Woombie.

It was a lifesaver.. for the 30 minutes he was asleep until Nixon decided to throw a fit and wake him up. Thankfully we survived.

Since being home, I swear he's become even more mobile. He's going to be walking anytime!

42 Weeks

Crew had his first horse ride and he loved it! He was completely content just sitting on the horse with Nixon, or his cousins. He wasn't thrilled to get off, but who is? He's still anti-speaking, but he started clapping and is pretty darn proud of himself! He climbs on everything he can reach, and he is into everything! He is so busy and a little mischievous, but we sure love him.

41 Weeks

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before about Crew, but he is LOUD at the table. Not the, "Oh he's so cute, he's asking for food." It's the, "That kid makes the most obnoxious sounds when he sits down to eat and only shuts it off when you're shoveling food constantly into his mouth." More like that. He has a voice, and he's not afraid to use it!

40 Weeks

This guy is 40 weeks and loves hanging out with his grandma and grandpa. He likes to be where Grandpa is, which tends to cause a problem, especially when he's at the computer (he's obsessed with cords). his 3rd tooth popped through this week, which I'm sure means another coming it our not too distant future. I'm just hoping it goes a little more smoothly than these last three. Please!!

39 Weeks

Look at that smile!! It takes some work to get it, but I finally captured one! Maybe because he was still in awe of all the attention he got at the Oxnam family reunion. There's something about babies that kids love. I very rarely had Crew by my side because all of the older girl cousins, and even some of the boy cousins wanted to pack him around. He was happy as a clam to have all the attention!

We even got family pictures done and he did FANTASTIC!!! Not a single tear, kind of glum (lots of long nights and early mornings with our reunion) but when he smiled and she captured it? Melt my heart. Here's a little sneak peek of him.

Those two little teeth! Happy nine months Crew! We love you buddy. 

38 Weeks

I'm pretty sure he's avoiding my glance because he knows he was a little ornery on the flight to Idaho. I had it all planned out. I was keeping him up from his nap, because when we got on the flight and I fed him, he'd be out for the whole non-stop flight. Right? I think you know the answer to that. It could have been worse, obviously, but it definitely could have been better. For his first flight, I guess I'll give him a pass. I will say both boys were very excited to go see Grandma and Grandpa!

37 Weeks

I swear this kid is going to walk before he's one. He's only crawling (but walking  at this point, but we have a walker, and he's getting fairly comfortable pushing it (while walking).

He also had another tooth pop through! I had to look back to see when Nixon got both of his, and while his were a little later, both boys got them within about a week and a half of each other. Ask me if it's miserable. Um, yes.. yes it is.

But on the flip side, how adorable is this little face?

36 Weeks

By the picture, you can tell his hands are constantly in his mouth which I can only imagine means another tooth coming soon. Crew met his Great-Grandma Lola for the first time, thanks to modern technology. She'll be celebrating her 99th birthday this year.

Crew is definitely getting more smiley. It takes some work to get him to smile, especially for the camera (which kills his mother who works so hard for it) and he will, but the minute I put my camera to my face.. the smile has disappeared. He's also all over the place. He's so much more mobile than Nixon ever was at this age!

35 Weeks

Crew has officially been inducted to the Thomas clan with a trip to the famous Fontana Dam. Ethan's family has been going to this place every year ever since they were little. He did pretty well on the boat, and slept well except one dreadful, awful night. We were all in one house together, which meant his screaming could be heard throughout the house. I ended up taking him out to the car. He screamed while I tried to sleep. It was miserable and he wasn't my favorite person that day.

On a funnier note, he's started doing this thing where he wiggles his head from side-to-side, sort of like a bobblehead. He's pretty proud of himself, and he likes seeing other's laugh at it.

His first tooth finally popped on the 5th (which maybe the cause of the Fontana disaster). Teething must be a bad deal, because a couple days after, he was done and out not feeling well and fell asleep on my leg while I was sitting on the couch. That kind of thing never happens, so I soaked it up. Happy 8 months Crewman.

34 Weeks

Back from one trip only to get in the car for another.

Crew struggles a little bit in the car, but I guess I don't love sitting in a car for 4+ hours either. We just got back from a 6-hour drive back from Florida, and are headed to Fontana with Ethan's family, which is another 4-hour drive.

He's becoming more smiley, but he's still kind of a hard baby. He loves following his brother around like his little shadow. (Peter Pan and his shadow costume for Halloween???) He's also getting pretty dang quick at crawling!

Also, how cute it this picture from our trip to Florida?

I've always loved that my babies were on the slimmer side, but I do love a good chunky cheek and those tiny arm rolls!

33 Weeks

Put your hands in the air if you're excited!

Crew is just as excited as us for our annual Memorial trip down to Florida! Let's hope he stays this excited and happy during our six hour drive!

32 Weeks

We finally had his six month appointment (at seven months).

Here are his stats:

Height: 28.5 in (90th percentile)

Weight: 16lbs 15oz (21st percentile)

Head circumference: 45 cm (76th percentile)

The doctor was slightly concerned that he had dropped on the curve for his weight so we have to go in for another weight check in 4 weeks. I'm not too concerned. This happened with Nixon, and I think it's just that I need to bump up his solids a little bit. Other than that, he said everything looked great!

Now that he's much more mobile, crawling, pulling up, maneuvering between the couch and chair, he's become much more accident prone. He got his first real wound. We were at church and he was crawling around in the nursery. He had pulled up on his knees on the leg of a stable table, so I didn't worry too much. I was blowing bubbles for the kids when I hear a cry. I looked over and saw he bonked the leg. I tried to console him thinking he'll stop as soon as I pick him up. And he did, but there it was, blood coming from his face. As he was trying to get back down to a crawling position, he scraped his face on a screw head on the inside of the leg that I couldn't see. I felt so bad. Luckily he wasn't maimed too bad, but I could tell it was tender for the first couple days. I guess it begins again. 

31 Weeks

How sweet is this face? I'll tell you, super sweet. He has the best smile and loves when I come into his room in the mornings. His face lights up and does his big open mouth smile. He truly has the softest skin. It's so buttery. People ask me what I put on him, but the once or twice a week I bathe him, I put on Johnson's nighttime lotion. Other than that, it's all natural and I love it.

Crew is anti-snuggling and pro-wiggling. This kid will not sit still for the life of me! I'm a little nervous for our trip to Idaho this year!

Also, drumroll......... We've got a crawler! I knew he was days from crawling last week. He crawled for the first time on the 7th. He still prefers army crawling because it's faster, but he's got it down. Thank heavens though, his shirts were getting dingy from army crawling. Now his pants knees are going to be done for. Such is life, he's crawling!

30 Weeks

Happy Cinco De Mayo and 30 weeks to Crew! Unfortunately no tacos for him.

We are literally on the brink of crawling! He has now learned to climb on top of things- diaper boxes, train bin, Nixon's bed and trampoline. I usually let him play in Nixon's room because there's nothing back there he could get hurt on, until I hear a thud and cry come from the room. I run to the back to see what happened. I was initially angry because I thought Nixon had pushed him over, but after some investigative questioning, I realized Crew had climbed on the little trampoline in the room and had tried to pull himself up and fell over. Needless to say I've been a little more cautious! We are literally days from crawling, I just know it.

29 Weeks

Crew is 29 weeks today and not only are we celebrating another week for this guy, but it's also Nixon's birthday today!

Crew is pulling up on everything! His new favorite item is the Bumbo. He's able to stay on his knees, which gives him the stability he needs, but it's also the perfect height for bouncing up and down while holding on to it. He's also doing great sleeping still. I credit the Woombie. Nixon had it and slept great, and now Crew does too. And who doesn't love a burrito baby? They're my favorite

28 Weeks

You would think after having such a successful week of firsts, he would be a little happier. Apparently it's just a little overwhelming. He had his first Easter and his first haircut! The Alfalfa curl had to go. It was getting a little ridiculous, especially when he has very little hair everywhere else. I hate that it's blurry, but that hair and face. He melts me. But that hair seriously had to go, so I chopped it. I promise, it is much better!

He also tried carrots for the first time, which was another success. I usually keep track of the first couple foods and then too many start being introduced so I stop recording it, but I'll continue to feed him new foods. He'll probably like most and hate some, and that's fine with me. I'm the same way!

I have to say, he's definitely been a harder baby, but his open mouth, tongue out grin.. I mean come on! He's adorable!

27 Weeks

This kid is 27 weeks and he is getting too big way too fast! He's so much quicker to do the things that took Nixon much longer to do (second child syndrome). This week he legitimately pulled himself up on the dishwasher! I look over and see him standing there, proud as can be. I panicked slightly because he was wearing footie pajamas and I didn't want him to slip and smack his face (my kid's luck). 

We now only place the knives in the most inside. I have a feeling this kid is going to give me a run for my money. I am definitely not ready for him to be this mobile yet, because he is fast!

26 Weeks

Crew is months! He is still loving his jumper and has jumped himself to sleep a few more times. He's also wanting to crawl. He's definitely getting close! He's up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth. Those knees just need to come in a little more parallel and he'll be on the move before we know it!

He's had green beans for the first time and did pretty well. Whenever I introduce new foods, I always mix it in with the oatmeal so it's not a brand new texture and taste. I also always make sure to warm up the foods that you would typically eat warm. Who wants to eat cold green beans? I mean if they're right out of the garden sure, but that's beside the point.

We don't have his 6 month appointment until next month actually because they decided to do his appointment and Nixon's 3 year appointment at the same time. So no new stats, but look at that face. He's so squishy. We love him.

25 Weeks

We have reached the pterodactyl stage, and I kind of love it. It's a little worse during church, but just at home, he can screech all he wants. We've also introduced him to a Johnny Jumper and he is in love! We figured it was time. A couple of people held him during church last week and asked if we owned one because he jumps like crazy and has such strong legs. I had tried it a month or two ago, and it was clearly too early, but not anymore! This kid will jump for hours if we let him. We've even had him jump himself to sleep. It was honestly one of the cutest things I've seen. Crew is smiley and personable, and people love to be around him.

24 Weeks

Watch out NASCAR, Crew is coming!! It seems like he was rolling around and now he is "crewsing." (I have fun with all the play on words I can do with his name.) But seriously, this kid is so fast, I can't take my eyes off of him or his in the kitchen, eating paper that I didn't even know what in his vicinity, or eating computer cords. I don't know what his draw is to them, but my heaven's, the cords!!! I'm half tempted to buy some cords, somehow finish them off on the ends, and give them as a chew toy because he could care less about actual toys. (I'm not actually going to..)

He's also finally in the crib full time! We started doing nap time in the crib because there had been a few too many close calls on our bed of him getting to the edge. He needs to be contained. It's been going pretty well. Although, there was a late night where we listened to Penatonix, Hallelujah about 10 times before I snuck out of the room. It's weird, with Nixon we would let him cry because we were in a top apartment with no side neighbors, but here, we have neighbors on both sides and above and Nixon sleeping, so we're a little more cautious of letting him cry it out (although there are definitely times we do).

I love when kids hit milestones, it makes me excited for them.

23 Weeks

Looking at this face you would never know that he's had croup, or "Crewp" as we call it, all week. There was a nasty bug that started with one of the cousin and it kind of spread like wildfire (what can you expect when you have 20+ people in a house sharing toys, touching door handles, coughing/sneezing). We figured it was inevitable the boys would get something.

Fast forward to the beginning of the week and he had the barking cough and strider, but was his happy energetic self. I didn't want to take him in if they were just going to tell me put him in a room with steam, run a humidifier at night, etc. I called the nurses line and not 15 seconds into me explaining the situation, she hear Crew in the back and said I needed to bring him in. We took him in, the doctor listened for a couple seconds and knew it was croup, sent in a prescription for an oral steroid and sent us on our way. Within about 8 hours of the steroid the strider had almost gone away completely. After a few days, he was good to go. His sleeping has taking a toll for the worse, but he's healthy now. Right now, that's all that matters.

22 Weeks

Crew is five months! I can't believe how fast things are going with him. Maybe it felt this fast with Nixon too, but it feels crazy fast this time around. I assume it's because I have two growing at rapid speed now. Crew is already fitting into some of his 6-12 month clothes!

With all of Ethan's family in town, he also got to meet his Great Grandma Nuni. He was all smiles for her, and she ate it up! Speaking of family in town, this kid was an absolute dream considering we were out all hours of the night hanging out with family, limited naps, and lots of kids running around causing chaos. I'm sure we'll be paying for it all next week, but family is always a priority!

21 Weeks

Things have been pretty quiet this week, but they're about to ramp up because Ethan's brother Jared and his family are coming into town! We haven't seen them since our beach trip in September, so we're super excited to see them!

Crew is starting to show signs of mobility and I'm a little nervous. It's been a while since I've had a mobile baby in my house. One thing that I remember is once they start moving, it's a whirlwind for the next year of protecting them, and everything in the house!