February Celebrations!

Some people would claim that December is a month full of celebration and excess calorie intake. In our house, February definitely takes the cake for that title (see what I did there?). February has Brett's birthday, Valentine's Day, and my birthday. This year was no exception to the celebration overload and lots of yummy food. 

The week before Brett's birthday, I arranged a babysitter and surprised Brett with a date night. We tried out Loan Star Steakhouse and had a great night. 

Brett was lucky enough to have the day before and his actual birthday off. We decided to head to San Antonio for a couple days. We were able to attend a temple session and eat at all our favorite places. 

Panera!! 

We went on a train ride around the park. Kayla loved it and now loves choo choo trains! 

No better place to spend the evening with my eternal companion than at the temple! I'm grateful for friends in San Antonio to watch the kids. 

Afterwards, we ate at IN N OUT!! We were all excited to eat at a yummy little taste of home!

We usually end up staying at La Quintas because they have free breakfast and they had these awesome waffles. :)

We decided to take Kayla back up to the temple the next day to show her around and she kept calling it the 'princess temple!' She loved it, especially all the flowers!

We did some shopping and Kayla jumped up in this bed display after kicking off her shoes and exclaimed 'NAP!' She was tired!

We also took Kayla to the children's museum in San Antonio. She had a blast! Some activities were a little old for her, but the mini grocery store had her occupied and excited for a long time! 

 Another perk to February is that we both get a free meal at Red Robin! Yumm!!

For Valentine's Day, Brett had to work the evening but we spent the morning together. We gave each other the same card and lots of heart themed meals. I had planned to make crapes for breakfast but Brett got up before me and bought my favorite breakfast tacos! So we had crapes for lunch. :) One of the raspberries was heart shaped!

Brett was already at work, but I made this pizza for Kayla and I. 

The beautiful flowers Brett got me for Valentine's Day. 

My awesome friends all planned a lunch to go out for my birthday. It was so fun seeing everyone and I was reminded how lucky I am to have such great friends here. Unfortunately, I was too busy chatting with everyone to remember to take a photo. 

For my birthday, Brett had to work, but he gave me more beautiful flowers, a massage gift certificate, and a plan to go ocean kayaking on a date once the weather warms up a bit. 

Brett offered to buy me a cake since he had to work, but I wanted to try this recipe and it was amazing!

We went out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse and had a great time!

It was a great birthday and I feel good turning 30. At this point, I feel like age is almost irrelevant. Life is wonderful and I'm one happy lady!

Tyson 4 Months

Tyson Brett is 4 months old. He weighs in at a whopping 19.5 lbs and 26" long. He's almost the same weight that Kayla was at a year! Depending on the chart you use, he's either off the charts for weight and 98th% for height or 98th% for both height and weight! At least he's proportionate, I suppose. No doubt though that he is a big boy! 

 

My big little guy turned 4 months old about a week ago. I should have blogged sooner, but I've been busy the past few weeks with birthdays and such. This happy baby has been such a blessing to our family. I really couldn't imagine a better addition to our family. I'm so grateful that I've come into a place where I feel more balanced as a mother of two little ones and a wife. Life is much calmer and its a relief. One major contribution to the feeling of control I'm regaining is the amazing sleep habits of Tyson! He sleeps 10-12 hours each night. I don't do well without sleep, so this is perfect for me. Its also so nice that he goes down around the same time as Kayla at night, so Brett and I can still have evenings together just the two of us. 

Here's a comparison pick between Kayla and Tyson, both around 4 months. They have matching cheeks. :)

 

Since I'm behind, here are the pictures of him that we took at 3 months. At 3 months, he loved sitting in the bumbo. He's happier sitting up. He smiles endlessly and I swear he knows the word  "smile" because he definitely does it upon being asked. :)

One of the best parts of watching these two together is their budding relationship. Kayla is quite a parrot and tries to do a lot of what we do with Tyson. She's always asking him if he's happy and trying to give him kisses. I caught her trying to nurse him the other day. He was fussing, laying on the floor. I walked in and she had her shirt pulled up and was about to lay on him! Haha! 

I gave Brett this onesie when I found out I was pregnant the first time. I had purchased it to be gender neutral so all our kids could wear it. Tyson obviously fills it out a bit more than Kayla did. :)

 

While Kayla sure loves her big girl bed, some mornings, she really just wants to be up in Tyson's crib with him. She'll bring her baby dolls and ask for a blankie. Good thing he wakes up happy as can be and is a good sport about it.  That's another one of my favorite things about Tyson. He wakes up cooing and talking happily, even after 12.5 hours between feedings. Kayla, unfortunately is not such a morning person, which makes me appreciate his cheery mood all the more 

                          

Having an older sister means you will inevitably have to play with princesses and dolls but Tyson is getting an early start, Although its more like he's one of the toys too. 

I attended a very long meeting the other night, so Tyson had a bottle for only the 2nd or 3rd time in his life. Brett said he could hold it up all by himself. 

Tyson is pretty strong and has reached some milestones pretty early. He rolled over from his belly to back at 5 weeks old. He hated tummy time so he must have learned to get out of it quickly. He then learned to roll over from back to belly the day before he turned 4 months. He's hitting milestones sooner than Kayla by two weeks exactly, and we thought she was pretty advanced. I guess having such big babies makes them strong too! 

                   

Brett calls this sweater an old man sweater, but I think he looks pretty darn cute in it. 

He really is smiling all the time. He loves attention and as soon as anyone looks at him, he's happy. He's really starting to laugh  now, which is the most heart warming sound a mother can hear. 

 

Tyson is already wearing 6-9 month clothes. Its crazy to me how fast he's growing. He actually doesn't look very roly poly, but it just a really big kid! 

 

I love hearing him coo and talk. He's even turning into somewhat of a squealer, although its all really happy sounding. I really can't imagine a happier baby. 

 About a week ago, we got the jumperoo down from the attic and got rid of the bouncer, which he would try to slide out of. He loves it! He can already jump a little and loves playing the music and spinning around. Its interesting how quickly his motor skills have improved since putting him in the jumperoo. He especially loves the sunshine and will smile and coo at it. 

We love this little guy and are so happy that he's party of our family.