We had two firsts today:

1. The rite of passage when you hit four months – cereal

As you can see, Braden was not impressed.

2. Exersaucer fun!

Playing hard can make one sleepy!

What do you mean I’m four months old already?

Braden (b, brother, bubba), at four months, you:

• are such a happy baby!  You have a belly laugh that is contagious, and your smiles light up the room.  You giggle with pure delight at the sound of your sister and when we play peek-a-boo.  And although you’re a mama’s boy, you tend to give your daddy most of your smiles and laughs!
• are starting to get a routine down, waking between 7:00 and 8:00, going to bed around between 7:30 and 8:00 each night.  I was so excited when you slept through the night just one week before your 4 month birthday; two nights in a row, actually.  But that was short-lived and you are back to waking 1 to 2 times a night.  I have no doubt that you’ll be sleeping through the night again soon.  Plus, your getting so big that you will soon have to move to your crib, a sad day for mommy.
• still love to suck on your chubby little hands, and recently found your thumb!
• have a tight grip and love to squeeze the fingers of whoever’s feeding you.
• are just starting to babble and have figured out how to blow raspberries!
• don’t really like tummy time and squeal with frustration when you’re on your tummy.
• are wearing size 6-12 month clothing and size 2 diapers.

Stats from your 4 month check-up:

• Weight: 16 lbs, 8 oz – 85% percentile
• Length: 24.9 in – 50% percentile
• Head: 16.5 – 50% percentile

Granny making you smile!

Here’s a comparison of sister and brother at the same age:

We love you, Braden, and can’t believe how fast time has passed!  It has been such a blessing having you with us these last four months!

• Line crockpot with 1 package of chicken fajita seasoning
• Layer three frozen chicken breasts atop seasoning
• Pour in 1 can of Rotel (recipe calls for fresh pico but I forgot to get this at the store)
• Add 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup olive oil on top

Do NOT stir! Cook on low for 4 - 6 hours. About 30 minutes before you are ready to eat, mix everything together (chicken will fall apart with fork) and continue cooking on low.

Enjoy!!

The day after Christmas we loaded up the car and headed to Arlington to spend time with Josh’s side of the family. Riley was giddy with excitement as she anticipated the visit with her cousins. She couldn’t wait to tell them what Santa brought her; in fact, she twisted daddy’s arm and convinced him to load some of her new toys in the car so she could show them off!

A lot of time was spent on the new Wii…

and it wasn’t long before Riley picked up the remotes to give it a try.

Cousins (4 out of 6 at least)

Here’s the funny face version from the whole crew.

We had such a fun time with everyone and really enjoyed our stay. Thanks Debbie for being such a wonderful hostess. The food was fantastic, as always, and the company was even better. Hope to see y’all again soon.

We're heading to Marshall over MLK weekend to celebrate with my mom's side of the family, so stay tuned for our final Christmas post of the season.

We are so lucky that we are able to celebrate Christmas with both of our families.  Our first celebration started with a special kids’ service at our church and ended with a wonderful get-together at my parents’ house.  We exchanged gifts and had a wonderful Christmas/birthday dinner.  The kids were spoiled as usual.

Granny & Papa got each of the kids their own chair and Riley immediately flocked to hers.

Braden spent a lot of time in his chair…he loved being able to sit up independently.

Riley’s new nap mat!

Concentrating really hard on his new toy,

but he didn’t last long.

I didn’t get any pictures of Dalton opening presents because the kids were tearing through the presents so fast!  Plus, he wasn’t feeling good, poor baby.  Hopefully Paige got some pics that she can share.

After our fun-filled evening at my parents’ house, we headed home to get ready for Santa.  This was such a fun year because Riley understood so much more about the holidays, not just Santa.  She was eager to participate in preparing Santa’s cookies and popping the popcorn for the reindeer.  She had a hard time winding down on Christmas Eve, but her excitement finally turned into exhaustion and she fell asleep.  Then it was off to work for mommy & daddy Santa’s elves.  We finally crawled into bed around midnight, and not much later, we felt a little body crawl into our bed and whisper “Daddy, Santa ate all his cookies”!  She managed to fall back asleep in our bed, albeit very restless the rest of the night.  I don’t have any pictures of our Christmas morning, as I was too busy videoing and enjoying the moment.  We had a wonderful day filled with great memories.

We celebrated the new year by enjoying the festivities at Sea World.  Braden stayed with Granny and Papa, while Riley got to spend a few hours by herself with mom and dad.  We caught a Shamu Christmas show and then grabbed a spot on the lawn for a spectacular fireworks show.  We braved the fierce wind and had a great time!

Wishing everyone a wonderful 2010.