Luc's first day of school

Luc has been so excited to begin kindergarten. He has been eager to go all summer. The one thing he has shown concern about was not getting enough sleep. (I wanted to say "yeah, me too buddy"). Luc has always been my sleeper. He often sleeps until 8 or later. He still has a rest time and usually falls asleep during that time. So, here we go messing things up with school. Back to sleep in a min...

So Monday, we all got up and walked to school with Luc. Of course this caused him to be late for his very first day. Drop off was easy since he was so excited. Later in the morning, Brian noticed Luc's lunchbox in the refrigerator. Yep, on top of being late, I also forgot his lunch. We were able to get it to him before his lunch break so it was okay. When I picked him up, I noticed that I filled out his first week of school transportation name tag with MY name. His teacher had crossed out my name and wrote in his. Seriously, she must think I am crazy!

 

Luc loves his teacher. She has been with the district for 22 years so she has some experience under her belt. She has told me that Luc naps every day during rest time and that he asks her why rest time is so short.

 

I have been so sad about him starting school. I miss him a lot. He does make me so proud though. He is such a sweet kid. We'll see how long this going to school excitement lasts for him.

Teething biscuits

Madeline seems to be a picky eater. She will eat oatmeal and green beans very good. She will sometimes eat squash, sweet potatoes, and spinach. She absolutely will not eat any fruit or peas. Textures are a real problem for her. She gags like crazy if I try to give her a bite of a banana, a puff, avacado, bread. The only solid foods that I can get her to eat (suck on) are teething biscuits, watermelon, and apple. She does love her teething biscuits though.

 

When it gets so soggy that it starts to break, I have to take it away. 

 

This is also the reaction if she drops it and can't find it. 

I have a picture of Luc super sad at the end of a biter biscuit too. 

6 months old!

This baby girl is 6 months old already....and she doesn't like sitting in the grass. haha

 

Madeline began sleeping through the night a couple of weeks ago...then we traveled to Alabama. She's back to waking up every 2-3 hours now. My body was tricked by having a week of sleep then back to no sleep. I have been so so tired lately.

 

She has learned to sit up and get up on her hands and knees. She hasn't figured out crawling though. She just rocks back and forth then flops down. She can get where she wants to go by rolling though. She's a little roly poly.

 

Madeline was introduced to some baby food last week. We started rice cereal. She has tasted carrots and sweet potatoes too. She isn't crazy about any of them but she will tolerate sweet potatoes. Her favorite thing to do during mealtime is mash her lips together so I can't get the spoon in...then if I manage to trick a bit in there she blows it at me. Evan did the same thing when I tried to feed him so I know she'll eventually eat.

 

My favorite things to remember at this age are:

-how she gets so excited when she first sees her brothers in the morning

-she plays (or pulls) my hair when she's nursing

-she gets so excited to see me when I get her up from bed or when I come home from work

-her little giggle is too cute

-she's still so chubby

Her stats:
17 lb, 10 oz (75th percentile)
26 in (50th percentile)
head circumference has jumped to 45 cm (97th percentile) more on this below

Luc at 6 months:
17 lb 4 oz (50th percentile)
27 in ( 75th percentile)
HC 46 cm (75th)

Evan at 7 months:
18 lb 12 oz (50th percentile)
27 in (50th percentile)

First of all, I suppose the percentiles are so different because there are different charts for boys versus girls. Anyway, Luc was born with a big head and has always had a big one. Evan was born with an average head but then it got big. Madeline was born with an average head and evidentally it has gotten big so quickly that it is a concern....that and her soft spot protrudes. So our dr sent us to have a brain ultrasound. They just wanted to be certain that there is nothing blocking the ventricles in her brain which could cause her soft spot to stick out and her skull to grow so quickly. The ultrasound was normal. We do have to go back in to have her head remeasured though. Baby drama!
 

 



Evan's first haircut

Evan's hair has gotten a bit out of control. He complains of "hair in mine eyes" quiet often.

 So I finally gave in and took him in for his first cut.

 After starting out in the red sports car, he discovered the pink jeep. The sweet lady cutting his hair was giving in to anything that kept him happy.

 Before it ended, he was in Mama's lap with a cool motorcycle. 

 We still have lots of curls. The final look is much cuter than this picture. This is a great picture of his attitude by the time the lady was done. The overall experience was completely opposite of Luc's first haircut. We had no tears this time.

Big Boy

After a few weeks of Evan crawling out of his bed whenever he decides to, we decided to turn his crib into a "big boy" bed. The problem now is that we can't find a bed rail that fits well. Any suggestions? He falls out every night. It scared him the first night but now he just sleeps through the fall. We find him on the floor sleeping a lot. On a side note, he loves that he can put himself to bed. He told me the other day at nap "No Mom. I do it  myself." and he pushed me out of his room. Where'd my baby go?

Evan

This is how Evan's been singing lately.


Untitled from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

And he learned a new word a few weeks ago.

Untitled from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.



Untitled from Noelle McNeil on Vimeo.

Evan's first spaghetti

This is also about 2 months old. Anyway, Evan loved it and still does.

Evan - 8 months

Evan is 8 months old. Wow time flies! Last night, Brian and I realized that one year ago yesterday we were rushing to the emergency room for the first of many pregnancy scares. What a long scary few months it was! I am so so so happy that God had plans for Evan that was completely against what the doctors were telling us. If only I had known then...

Evan is obviously a growing, healthy baby. I don't know how much he weighs but he is wearing 12-18 month clothes. He now had 2 teeth. He is finally crawling on his hands and knees rather than dragging his legs behind him. He pulls up to stand. He is starting to push things around but mostly by walking on his knees. He will finally eat most anything and he will drink from a sippy cup.

Our biggest challenge with Evan is that he is still a terrible sleeper. He goes to sleep on his own very easily. In fact, I noticed this morning in church that it is actually very difficult to get him to sleep by rocking him. Our problem is that he doesn't stay asleep. He usually wakes up at least twice a night. Sometimes he will go right back to sleep but other times he will cry for up to an hour. I have stopped nursing him when he wakes up which makes him pretty angry.

How does this work when your kids share a room? We have a palate on our bedroom floor for the nights Evan wakes Luc up...which is most nights. It works though.

So here is this super handsome sweet baby boy...

 Gotta love those eyes!

All About Evan

Evan is 7 months now. He saw the doctor just last week for his 6 month check up even though he was also 7 months. He has dropped down to the 50th percentile for both weight and height. He is doing great. She told me that I should really be more consistent working with him eating baby food especially seeing that I am going back to work a few hours a week next month.

He is crawling all over the house. He does an army crawl. He pulls himself with his arms. It doesn't slow him down though. He's quick. If I go in another room, he will follow me in there. He is also finally eating baby food better. Ashley worked with him a couple of times while we were staying at her parents house. He eats pretty good now. He will also drink from a sippy cup. He cut his first tooth...the day we moved. He LOVES taking a bath. I will get a video as soon as I can. It is hilarious. He goes nuts in there.

 Such a big boy.

Evan's First Cookie

I heard about these things called MumMums. They are great. They are thin little rice cakes that pretty much dissolve in your mouth. Evan loves them.

Sitting and Scooting

Evan is sitting like a pro now. He can go from sitting to his belly too. He can't go from his belly to sitting position yet though. He is also scooting all over the place. I'll upload a video soon.

Oh Evan!

Evan is not the biggest fan of cereal. He went from liking it okay to hating it. I have only fed him a couple of times. Once we are home, I will have to really work with his eating habits.

Evan's Bathtub

Accomplishments of the week

As y'all know, we've been having trouble getting Luc to take a bottle and pacifier. He was taking a pacifier just fine then he wouldn't have it anymore. I tried 4 different kinds and he wouldn't take any of them. As for the bottle, we fought with him for a whole week. We tried the Avent, the Playtex Airflow, Dr Brown's, the BreastFlow, and some fancy bottle that Jennifer let us borrow. One day he cried so hard when Brian was trying to give him a bottle that he choked. He got to the point that when he saw the bottle, he would just start screaming. Well yesterday he took both. Brian gave him almost 5 oz of a bottle then he took his binky last night. Today he only took about 2 oz. If he hears or sees me, he won't take the bottle. He has been taking his binky today too.

Look what we FINALLY did

So we finally put up the babybed. Luc still hasn't slept in it. I'm definitely not moving him out of our room until he is sleeping through the night. Even then I can't imagine him being that far away. Yeah, I know I'm overprotective but that's okay. I like him to be beside my bed or in bed with us. We still don't have the dresser. We waited too long to buy it. Now we're having trouble finding it.

First smiles

Luc is starting to smile and make noises. When he makes a loud noise, his eyes get really big and he gets that frown on his face. He looks like he is thinking "Did I do that?". It is so cute.

Luc's first Easter

Luc got to meet the Easter bunny Thursday but I haven't scanned the picture yet. If I ever get around to it, I will post it on here. Here are pictures from his first Easter. He looked so handsome in the little outfit Baboo got him....and check out those little shoes.

He doesn't look very happy to be going to church.

Our first Easter picture and first picture since the hospital...this on is much better.

These are girls from church. We all had our babies around the same time. Kim and Ryan, who is a little over 2 mos old, me and Luc, and Nancy and Brooklynn, who is 3 wks old.

Luc and his first friends, Ryan and Brooklynn

Luc in his Easter outfit.

Luc and Daddy

Luc and Mommy

Luc meeting his McNeil grandparents

Brian's parents came to meet Luc when he was 4 weeks old. Here are pictures of him meeting them.
Luc and his grandfather McNeil

Luc and his grandmother McNeil

Luc with his Daddy and McNeil grandparents