Latest and Greatest

Lillian is consistently waking once at night to eat. She usually wakes between 4:00 -5:00, giving us a solid 6-7 hours of sleep. When she wakes she only eats for about 10 minutes and goes right back to sleep. Pretty soon we will be moving her up to her crib. She has become the HAPPIEST baby! For all of you that read our blog (thank you, by the way) you know that she was not the happiest baby for the first couple of months. In fact, she was quite a handful, but she has turned a corner, and is pretty amazing. She smiles all of the time. So much, that I can't make eye contact with her while she is nursing otherwise she smiles so much that she stops eating and spits out whatever is in her mouth, making a big mess! She loves to talk and coo, especially at her daddy. She has found her hands and feet and they keep her pretty entertained. If Ryan is around she follows him with her eyes and smiles at him all of the time. She is such a sweet girl and such a joy to have around. She is 3 months old already and has grown out of all her newborn clothes and most of her 0-3 month clothes. She still hates her car seat, but is getting used to it and doesn't cry as much.

Ryan is amazing us every day. He is starting to read. Yes, you read that correctly. I started getting him familiar with letters and what letters certain words start with. That was pretty amazing for us. Then we started writing out words for him to see, now he can read about 10-20 words that we write out for him. It is pretty unreal to watch. He also has his colors, shapes, and some numbers down. His vocabulary has grown by a ton too. I love to listen to him try to make sense of things. Today we were eating left over brisket and he was saying "brisket is yummy" then he would take a bite and say "Ryan brisket bye bye" and laugh. Which, for those who do not speak Ryan, means, "Ryan made the brisket go bye bye". He will surprise us with new words and is a sponge. He repeats so much of what he hears which is forcing us to choose our words very carefully around him. He is also trying to potty train. He knows what the urge to go feels like and will tell us when he has to go. We will sit him on the potty and right before he goes, he gets scared and wants off. Last week at Gymboree we spent the entire time in and out of the bathroom b/c he had to go, but wouldn't go in his diaper or the toilet. I finally left a little early b/c it was getting to be a bit of a problem. I know Ryan, and once he goes just once, that will be the end of diapers for us. I am not pushing the potty training, I am going with his flow though and encouraging him as much as I can. Having 2 in diapers doesn't bother me, and quite honestly, I don't want to deal with public bathrooms all of the time until Lilly is a bit older.

The summer heat is here and we are trying to keep Ryan entertained in the a/c as much as possible. We still get outside play time about once a day, usually in the morning and in the backyard shade. Ella is still staying with us, which has been such a great opportunity for all of us. We love having her here and will be sad (but understanding) when she decides to move out.