Dear Mom, Dear Sev

Dear Mom,

     I was just reading through the posts that you did back in 2007 through 2010 and I noticed that there were a LOT of posts about HG and Blaine.  In fact, I noticed that you did monthly posts for them and the last monthly post you did for me was on my 6-month birthday and here I am 8 months old and, well, there is nothing about me.  I demand an explanation.

Love, Severan

P.S. I love you, Mom!

Dear Severan,

     My sweet, handsome boy.  I may not be spending the time here noting your every move but I am spending a significant amount of time WITH you - playing, holding, and loving on you.  When your older brother was born I spent a lot of time figuring out what the he!! I was supposed to be doing with a baby, working, and vacuuming (yes, vacuuming.)

     You have grown a lot in the last three months since my last post.  In fact, you turned 8 months old yesterday and you are crawling around like a BOSS!

     You came out of your Craniosynostosis repair surgery like a champ and have brought nothing but joy into our home (well, except for your sleeping habits - those aren't quite as joyful as your smile.) Several weeks ago we saw your Neurosurgeon and Plastic surgeon and they both agreed that your skull could use a little more support so we had you fitted for a molding helmet which you will wear for 23 hours a day for 6 months (and we hope not a day longer!)  You've been a good sport though getting it on is not a fun task and you have shed some tears in the process.  We can't believe how strong and resilient and amazing you are already.

      We had some family pictures taken just after your 6 month birthday.  Your older siblings actually look like they like each other.  (But you know the truth!)

     I love you sweet one.  I love your chunky legs, your precious smile, your perfect head, your funny laugh, your determined crawl, your big beautiful blue eyes, your tiny hands, your first two bottom teeth, and the way you light up the room when you see someone you love.

     You are loved and treasured and I thank God for you every day.

Love, Mom

A Lengthy Update

After multiple special occasions pass it's really hard to just sit down and recap it all.  Especially since my brain cells are fried from Baby Sev and I can barely keep my eyes open past 7:00 pm (on a good night.)  That's a rough combo.

Halloween dragged on f.o.r.e.v.e.r... Oh my gosh.  Halloween does not deserve that much attention but it seemed like we had one Halloween event after another: The school dance, the class party, trick or treating - you name it and we did it!

Meridian Halloween Dance/Carnival

The World's Greatest Kindergarten Teacher:
Mrs. Theresa Vogt!

David spinning HG at the dance

There were two highlights on the actual day of Halloween: 1. Our kids went to like 12 houses and then were done Trick or Treating (Yay!), and most importantly 2. Nana and Uncle Matt came to visit. They arrived, in costume, at our front door after dinner.  Lots of excitement for Luke Skywalker and Little Bo Peep Princess Fairy Girl :)

A Toddler finding a makeup bag = funny.

We had so much fun the rest of the weekend.  Blaine had his last soccer game and he loved the extra cheering from the sidelines.  After the game he got a medal with his name on it - which he loves.

He's happy.  I promise. :)

Nana and I did one thing that we do best: SHOPPING.  We did some Christmas shopping and baby shopping... I don't know which was more fun!  The kids and I also did some baby shopping this past weekend.  Blaine loved picking out things like a changing table pad, cover, and a swing.  He is very excited about all the gadgets and clothes and tiny things we get to buy.

On Sunday we enjoyed church together and were kind of lazy all day, (which was really nice.)  We relaxed and visited a lot while the kids climbed all over Uncle Matt and begged him to throw them in the air and hang them upside down.  We were really grateful for their visit and hope they come back sooner rather than later.  Maybe a new baby will lure them back in the new year :)  Love you guys!

After our company left, we spent the week getting back to our normal routine.  Blaine wrote about a special time he had with Uncle Matt in his Writer's Workshop on Monday (see picture below.)  And then this past weekend we went on a day trip to Colorado Springs.  Our first stop was "Passages" - which is an interactive Bible exhibit that travels all over the country.  This exhibit was phenomenal.  We were able to see actual fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls and learned amazing facts about how the Bible has journeyed through time and why and how we're able to read it in English today.  One fact that we learned was that when the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the late 1940's a team of locals were hired to go into the cave to recover the scrolls.  They were told that they would be paid according to how many pieces they retrieved.  So, being the 'smart' people they were, they actually tore up the scrolls into tiny pieces before bringing them out of the cave so they would be paid more.  Eventually someone caught on and this practice was stopped.  But what is even more amazing (and a miracle, if you ask me) is that the Book of Isaiah came out of the cave in its entirety - which is the one book in the Bible with the most prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ.  And who found these scrolls?  Shepherd boys... Pretty cool!  Luckily HG slept through the whole museum and Blaine actually enjoyed the exhibits with us.  And there was a great interactive kid's section at the end that entertained them both.

"I was flying my kite with Uncle Matt.  My kite broke off the string..."

"it landed in the grass."

After the Passages exhibit we headed over to The Garden of the Gods where we hiked and climbed (well, I watched) and played until it was time to make our last, and most important stop, Rudy's BBQ.  An Austin favorite right in The Springs!  Mmmmmm.

That about concludes this lengthy update.  We have approximately 56 more days until my due date (but whose counting?)  After talking with the insurance lady at my Nurse-Midwives office yesterday she said that a lot of women consider "speeding up the process" when there is a late December/early January due date because of insurance deductibles and such.  I was hoping to be early anyway (Blaine and HG were 4 days early) but getting things started 7-10 days earlier seems a little crazy to me. However, how great would it be for Baby Sev to come early (before December 31st) AND save a huge chunk of money.  More money for baby diapers! :)