Wesley - 12 weeks

Hard to believe that Wesley is already 12 weeks old! I think he has changed so much in the past couple of weeks!! He has really started cooing and making a rasping noise with his mouth. His whole face will just light up. The other day, while Clint and Ella were taking the decorations off of the Christmas tree (yes we are late getting everything down), as Wesley sat in the bouncy seat, he and I just carried on a conversation. We just talked and talked. It was so much fun!!

He loves his hands. He clasps them together all the time. He puts in them in his mouth all of the time too. I think he is searching for his thumb! He will still take his pacifier, but he loves his hands!! The other night after his middle of the night feeding, he couldn't seem to be able to go back to sleep right away. He wouldn't take his pacifier either - he just kept spitting it out. I finally just gave up and went back to bed. I could hear him over the monitor coo out loud a couple of times and I could tell he was eating his hands. Then the next thing I knew, he was sound asleep!!

He even rolled over from his tummy to his back yesterday for the first time. It was so funny! Ella and I were just playing with him and totally didn't expect him to do it - which of course, he didn't expect it either. You could tell he was a little freaked out by the change in direction. I have also noticed here in the past couple of days that he is reaching out for things now. Like tonight at dinner, he reached out to the zebra on his swing and was jut hanging onto it. He is mesmerized by the animals that hang down in the baby Einstein play gym. He will just lay there and stare and then swat at them.

My favorite moment right now is sometimes when he is finished nursing, he will just take those big eyes, gaze up at me, smile and then say cooooo. It is just sweet, genuine love.

Snow

Boy did it ever snow!!! We never dreamed that it would snow this much, but it sure did. It was pretty amazing! We didn't really play in it that much though. When Clint got home from work, he and Ella went outside and played around a little. It was a little too powdery to go sledding. Mary Catherine was tired and needed a nap. She was starting to get a cold, too, so it was a good thing she didn't go outside. Wesley was napping also when Clint and Ella went out.
Ella was measuring the snow.

In the front yard, it measured 8 inches!!!

Hard to see, but Mary Catherine and I were looking out of the kitchen window watching Ella and Clint. Mary Catherine thought it was fun!! :)

Lots and lots of snow!!

Measured 12 inches in the back yard!!

Looking down the street from our house.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas was a lot quieter in some respects than it has been in years past. Our only two guests this year was Mimi and PaPa. Nana didn't get to come this year because she so graciously came to help us when Wesley was born. Barbara and Uncle Jerry weren't able to make it over either, but hopefully we will get to see them later Christmas week at Mimi's house.

Clint and I cooked off and on all day. It felt weird not cooking with my mom by my side! But, we managed to do pretty good. We had ham, macaroni and cheese, green beans, and some south west dressing. I thought I was doing a good thing to make the homemade mac and cheese, but I mistakenly made it with whole grain pasta (to counter-act the 4 cups of cheese in it) and the girls did NOT like the whole wheat pasta. Ella told me it was yuck because it wasn't white!

After dinner, the girls opened one present from me and Clint - new pajamas and new slippers. They both really liked them both - it was fun watching them. They excitedly went to bed with anticipations of Santa coming that night!

Big girl bed

Yesterday, Ella and I went to town and bought bed rails for Mary Catherine. Clint put them on the bed last night (after suffering thru the worst instructions ever). So, after bath time and story time, we were ready to put Mary Catherine to bed. She was a bit confused, but since she was really tired, she didn't give us much grief about getting into the bottom bunk. She was a little confused, but laid right on down. She only cried for about 5 seconds before drifting off to sleep.

Ella, daddy and I watched Polar Express, so Ella was a little later going to bed than normal. When Ella went to bed, Mary Catherine was still sleeping soundly in her new big girl bed. Before we went to bed, Clint checked on her and everything still seemed to be A-Okay.

Could it really be this easy???

Even though I got up at 3 to feed Wesley, I didn't even think to check on the girls! At any rate, about 6:15 or 6:30 this morning, I heard some crying. When I went into the girl's room, Mary Catherine was laying on the floor, all balled up, with no lovey, crying. I picked her up, got her lovey and brought her into the play room. We got a blanket and just rocked and cuddled for about 20 minutes. She seemed so tired. So, I am not sure if it was really that "easy" for her. Not sure how long she was on the floor and really not sure how she even got out of the bed!!!

Guess we will see how it all goes tonight!

We went to Roper Mountain Science Center again this year to see the Christmas lights. Mary Catherine just didn't know what to think about all of the lights. She was pretty amazed. Ella remembered going last year, so she talked about that a lot. We got some hot chocolate (and coffee for Clint, of course) and roasted some marshmallows. We walked around to see Santa, and to see all of the giant Christmas cards that the local schools had made. Then we rode thru the grounds admiring all of the lights that we saw. Our favorite (or at least mine) was Candy Cane lane.

Roasting marshmallows. I think the roasting part is her favorite, as opposed to eating a burnt marshmallow. Whatever makes her smile though :)

Completely wore Mary Catherine out!!

Santa

We got the kids all dressed up and went to the mall to see Santa. We only had to wait in line for about 15 or 20 minutes - so not too bad. Surprisingly, Ella ran up to Santa and sat on one of his legs. I put Wesley on the other. Santa politely asked if Ella could sit on the bench below, which she agreed. So, then I put Mary Catherine in his lap. After the picture was made, Ella didn't want to talk to him, so we got our Stop sign and waited to the side for our pictures. While we waited, Ella wrote on her Stop sign her letter to Santa and put it in the big mailbox for the North Pole. We had a great time - and all of the kids did great!

Is he cute or what?

Wesley is just too cute! When I took him with us to Mary Catherine's 18 month appointment last week, he weighed almost 14 lbs!!! Can't wait to see what he weighs at his 2 month checkup next week!!