Matthias John - One Month

Since he's almost 2 months old, I thought I should get around to posting his one month pictures :)

Matthias is doing awesome.  He's a great night sleeper (at least compared to his brothers!), although his day napping could use a little work ;).  At his one month check up, he weighed in close to 11 lbs, and his head is in the 96th percentile (!!!).

He's very expressive and alert.  He almost seems like an older baby than he is.

His first smile was on April 3rd, and like Charlie's first smile, it was geared towards James.  Although it wasn't from looking at James, but rather from James putting his freezing cold feet on Matthias's head.  His second (and third!) smile was for his Grandpa Nett a few days later.

He is changing so much every day.  I think he looks more like James, but acts a more like Charlie did at this age (hello, crying in the car!).

Speaking of James and Charlie, they adore him.  Charlie calls him "Thias" and loves to point to his nose, eyes, mouth, etc. and give him kisses.  He also likes to point out when "Thias" is awake, sleeping, or drinkin' milk.  Charlie also likes to give him toys.

James loves to rub (or "pet") his head and talk to him.  He's tried to teach him to say "James", but no luck yet.  He calls Matthias "my baby" and likes to show him off to his classmates at preschool.  We were sitting by Matthias as he laid on my bed the other day, and James said "Look, Matthias.  It's your two best friends!".

Thankfully they don't mind too much when he cries in the car!

We are so very blessed to have such happy, healthy, and loving boys.

And because I couldn't resist, here's a side-by-side of our boys at one month.

Easter 2015

I've always loved holiday traditions, and now that James and Charlie are old enough to enjoy the holidays (and in James's case, obsess about the holidays), I love traditions even more.

I wanted to share some pictures of two of our long standing Easter traditions.

The first is dyeing Easter eggs with their Grandparents on Good Friday.  James "helped" dye Easter eggs for the first time when he was 6 weeks old, during his first visit to Indiana.  With the addition of Caleb and Matthias, the number of grandchildren doubled from last year.  Amazingly, there weren't any spills, although Charlie did leave with a pink hand :)

Our second tradition is the annual Stengel Easter Egg hunt.  While they aren't the fastest Easter Egg Hunters, James and Charlie loved it.

Matthew and Matthias even joined in on the fun.

We attempted to take a family photo, but it didn't go so well...this was the best one we got.

One kid's eyes are closed, one kid is crying, and one kid is pouting.  And our legs are cut off.  We'll keep trying :)

Pa also held Matthias for the first time.  Such handsome men!

James is already planning our Easter Egg hunt for next year :)

Matthias's First At Home Bath

He loved the bath...

 

But not the drying off.

Isn't that the cutest pouty face you've ever seen??

Happy 2nd Birthday, Charlie!

Last Friday (4/24), Charlie celebrated his 2nd Birthday.

Charlie enjoying some Bean Street Cafe coffee.  "Mmmm...Good." 

His is such a fun loving little boy.  He loves making James laugh (along with everyone else!), is fearless and full of energy, likes to do things without help, and loves to climb, jump, and wrestle.  He gives the best hugs and kisses, and says the sweetest "OK" you've ever heard!  He also may be the world's messiest eater.

He's not quite ready for a birthday interview, but I can tell you that his favorite food is bacon, his favorite color is orange, his favorite T-shirt is his Dinosaur Train shirt, and he can sing a mean "Paw Patrol" theme song (I'll have to see if I can get it on video here sometime soon - it's adorable).

Without further ado, here is the link to his Birthday Video.  We love you, Charles Norman!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B01dH4iSONWvNDZMeDNYazE3dDQ/view?usp=sharing