Matthias John - 2 Months

Matthias turned 2 months old on May 20th.

At his 2 month check-up, he gained almost 2 pounds from the month before (12 lbs, 10 oz).  The poor little guy had to get 4 shots. He was pretty cranky for the rest of the day, although I'm not entirely sure if the crankiness was due to the shots or due to being hit in the head by wooden toy train thrown by Charlie that morning.

He's starting to coo and loves to suck on his fist.  He's also staring to become more aware of his surroundings.

The picture below is a little blurry, but I wanted to get a shot of his toes.  He has an incredibly long big toe and a pretty big space between his first and second toe.

Both of his brothers have adapted really well, but James absolutely loves him.  He brings Matthias toys, comforts him when he's fussy, and will randomly say "I love him".  When James talks to him, he'll use a very high pitched voice and say things like "You're the cutest baby in the world.  Yes, you are! No other baby is cute like you are."  It is very sweet to watch the two of them together.

PS - You can see Matthias's monthly pictures here.

A Dinosaur Train Birthday

The Birthday Boy

Playing with his food.  Hey, dinosaurs have to eat, too!

The amazing Dinosaur Train cake made by his Grandma Patsy

 

Presents!

April 24th - BeCha turns 2!

Now that he's 2 years and 2 months, it's about time I shared what we did for Charlie's Birthday :). 

After posing for a picture with his brothers in their pajamas, we got the day started with a few of his favorite things: his family, pancakes, and his most favorite thing ever, BACON!  We met his Grandparents, Great Grandpa, and Aunt Emily at Cracker Barrel for breakfast where he ate not only his entire order of bacon, but some of Emily's as well.  

 

His birthday fell on a Friday, which was a school day for James, so after breakfast we headed back home to get ready for school.  Charlie took a nap while James did some learning, and then we all headed to Community Park in New Albany.

The boys loved it.  Charlie's favorite was the slide.  

After going down, he'd run over to the steps, climb them as fast as he could, and go down again.  I think he did this loop about 25 times - he was panting pretty hard by the time he decided to move on to something else.

He did a little swinging

And actually played nicely with (or at least next to) his brother James for awhile.

Matthew met us there, and we grabbed another of Charlie's favorites (pizza!) on the way home for dinner.  Pizza was followed by white ice cream...

...And some present opening.  He kept saying "ooooh!" - it was so adorable.  James was happy to lend a hand with some of the tricky wrapping paper :)

The day ended with a bath.

It's pretty obvious, but just in case you're wondering what he's doing in the bottom left picture, he's pretending to be a puppy ghost.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Charles Norman!

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