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Friday, August 17, 2018

Wells: A 4-Year Snapshot

Since Wells turned 4 back in June, it's time for one of his half-year snapshots.


The Stats:
At his 4 year check-up, he was 42 pounds and 42 inches tall. A pound for every inch :) He is still pretty big for his age - with his height and weight in the 95th percentile or higher. He is wearing 4T & 5T clothes and a size 10.5/11 shoe.

Talking:
Wells still talks all. the. time. He is SUPER curious and always asking questions. He is at such a fun age too because you can totally have a full, in-depth conversation with him.


Brotherhood:
He and Grayer are best friends and worst enemies. They love each other something fierce, but goodness can they fight and argue! They know exactly which buttons to press with each other! As far as Briggs goes, he's got nothing but love. He was so excited when I was pregnant and has been in love with Briggs ever since he met him. He is always excited when the baby wakes up in the morning/from a nap. He loves holding him and talking to him, and he was actually the first person to feed Briggs a bottle.


Sleeping:
Wells is still our boy that requires lots of sleep (unlike Grayer!). He is our late sleeper and has not been a fan of getting up early in the morning now that school has started. We've bumped up their bedtime a lot since we have to get up so much earlier, but he always asks if he can lay in bed a little longer in the mornings (#hismamaschild). He will typically take a nap on the weekends as long as he didn't sleep too late that morning and sometimes takes a nap at school during "rest time."

Devotions:
Wells still loves doing devotions with Daddy. They have been learning hand motions to songs lately, and he enjoys doing that. He retains so much of the stories they learn and asks questions about Jesus and God periodically during the day.

School:
Wells was so excited to start "big boy school" and has been doing really well since starting PreK-4 two weeks ago. This summer, he kept asking if he was going to be the teacher, and I had to remind him that he would be the student! Haha! He takes his lunch each day in his sea turtle lunchbox he picked out. And he gets to ride the schoolbus to our church in the afternoons, which is literally directly across the street from his school. It's like a 2-minute drive tops. This way on the two days I'm working at the church, he gets dropped off right to me, and the other three days, I can drive to our church to pick him up and totally avoid the carpool line at the school. He has had a rough couple of mornings this week, which I think is just him having to adjust to going to school every day (as opposed to 2 mornings a week which is what he was used to in PK3). He is always in a good mood at the end of the day and tells me he had a great day, but mornings have been a little harder.


Quirks:
He is our very particular child. He likes things done a certain way (namely, HIS way). If he thinks you are doing something wrong, he's quick to tell you. We are working on his bossiness and teaching him that he not in charge of others! And he is super nosy lol. If I am talking to Eric or Grayer and Wells isn't entirely within earshot, he will yell out, "What did you say, Mommy?" He wants to know everything going on with everyone else, and I tell him "nunya" or "none of your biz" all the time. Ha! Wells also went through this really funny phase where he LOVED exit signs, fire alarms, etc. So weird, but I think it stemmed from the time that he pulled the fire alarm at our church lol. Any time we were out at some kind of store or restaurant, he would point out all of the exit signs, fire alarms, and sprinklers. He is over this stage, but it's one of those quirky things I don't ever want to forget. :) Another "quirk" is that he is using both hands to write - I can't figure out if he's going to be a righty or a lefty! He writes about the same with both hands, so maybe he will be ambidextrous!

Smarts:
Wells has always been very smart. He wows us all the time with the things he knows and says. He has been able to write his name for a while, but it looks so much better than it did even a few months ago. Very readable :) He's always asking how things are spelled/what letter a certain word starts with. He can write all of his letters and can also write the numbers 1-10. He has the best memory and remembers EVERYTHING.


Singing:
He really likes to sing and has been learning lots of new songs in the Gospel Kids class at church. He has certain favorite songs that come on the radio, too. And he remembers if you like a song and is always yelling "it's your song!" or "it's Dad's song!" when a favorite comes on.

Eating:
This boy has always had quite the appetite. He has gone through and is really still in a picky stage. Some things he does love are raw veggies (carrots, broccoli, and bell peppers), pretty much any fruit, and pizza - still his all-time favorite food! He just recently started eating macaroni and cheese (neither boys liked it up until recently) and has started to also like hamburgers (I made some sliders for dinner one night, and he could not get enough!).


Sea Turtles:
Sea turtles deserve a whole section :) A few months back, Wells all of a sudden took an interest in a stuffed sea turtle someone had given to Grayer a while ago. Neither boys were into stuffed animals and it kind of just got shoved into the toy box. Also at his preschool, he had watched some cartoon about a sea turtle. And thus the sea turtle craze began! He was in sea turtle heaven on our trip to Sea World back in April, and he had an under the sea themed birthday party. We also took him on his actual birthday to a sea turtle rescue center on Jekyll Island. He has now added 6 more sea turtles to his collection, and he sleeps with ALL of them every night.


Miscellaneous
-Wells is starting U6 soccer in a couple of weeks and is excited about that - but Eric may be the most excited :)
-He is the bad word police. And by bad words, I mean "stupid," "shut up," and "hate." Ha! IF you say any of those around him, just know that he WILL tell me.
-He is still a big time mama's boy and can be so sweet. The other day I put on a pair of sunglasses in the car, and he said, "Mom, those sunglasses look really good on you." I love that kid so much.
-One of our neighbors gave him and Grayer a power wheels truck a few months back, and he's become quite the little driver (and speed demon).
-Wells is very cautious about certain things and can take a while to warm up to doing new stuff. But sometimes when you'd expect him to be cautious, he isn't at all! For example, at a birthday party, he refused to slide down the large water slide for the entire party. He did it once and didn't like it, and that was that. However, at Sea World, he had no problems riding his first (kid) rollercoaster! And he keeps telling us that he wants to go on the big, grown-up rollercoaster when he gets big enough :)
-He is at a fun age where he likes playing games - he got a few board games for his birthday.


Watching Wells grow up is so bittersweet. Even though it's sad that he's not a baby anymore, it's so fun to see each new stage and skill and personality trait develop. We love our big four-year-old!


Wednesday, August 8, 2018

How We Pack Lunches

Joining Erika and Shay today for their "How We..." series. Today's topic? Packing school lunches!

School already started here last Thursday, and Wells is officially a full-time school kid in PreK-4 (it was a very emotional day last Thursday...for me. Not him, at all. He got all his Daddy's social butterfly/independent nature and was ready to go!). Anyway, he has been and will be taking his lunch to school pretty much every day, unless there is a day or two during the month that he wants to buy lunch (because hello pizza day.).

I actually really enjoy packing his lunch, but I am not delusional in thinking that I will continue to enjoy it quite this much for more than a couple of weeks. Ha! But for now, me and his lunches are still BFFs. I don't go crazy or get super creative (although I might when it comes to holidays...we'll see how much energy I have then!), but I do pack things that I know he will eat and enjoy. Not gonna spend time or money packing something that will go to waste. I always love hearing what other people pack in their kiddos' lunches, and I can't ever scroll past a lunchbox inspiration pin on Pinterest without clicking on it! :) So, I am really looking forward to reading everyone else's posts!

So, in getting ready for lunch-packing, about a month ago, I purchased a couple of things. Up first are these reusable food pouches.


I've been wanting to get some for snacks on the go anyway and thought that having them for lunches would be great as well. These are a great price and you get TEN pouches plus a little tool for filling them up without a mess. So far, I've sent applesauce and will probably send yogurt.

I also purchased these - another great bang for your buck. It came with 7 containers, and so far they've been serving their purpose well!


Here's what Wells took on his first day of school:


One little tool that I love is this Cut N Seal that my mom gave me. One press, and voila! You've got a homemade "uncrustable!"


I try to send at least one of each of these categories in his lunch each day:
- Main Item (so far he's taken sandwiches, pepperonis with crackers + cream cheese...and leftover nuggets from Chic-fil-a. Ha! Other things will likely include quesadillas, deli meat and cheese roll-ups, etc.)
- Fruit (so far he's taken strawberries, oranges, and a plum I diced up for him)
- Raw veggies w/ranch (his favorites are carrots, bell peppers, and broccoli)
- Carb (cubed cheese or crackers/chips)
- A treat (sometimes that may just be the fruit, but sometimes it is a cookie or a few mini marshmallows. He also loves those little butter mints, so I've sent one of those for him to eat at the end of his lunch, too. #itsthelittlethings

I guess I've only really got two tips for packing lunches. Tip #1 - Put a toothpick in it! Things are just more fun when you can eat it off a stick, amiright? The other day I sent him some pepperonis with cream cheese smeared on them, folded like mini tacos and skewered onto toothpicks. And of course, they were all gone when he got home! Tip #2 - Pack the night before! With drop-off starting at 7:15am (seriously, whyyyyyyy?????), we don't have much (or any!) ]extra time in the mornings. Plus, I am NOT a morning person and need to do as much as possible the night before. I've been packing Wells' lunches in the afternoon or in the evening when I am cleaning up the kitchen from supper. I pack his lunch, put it in the fridge, and then add an icepack in the morning before we head out.

Looking forward to all the tips and ideas from everyone else!

Friday, August 3, 2018

Briggs is TWO months!

Last week, our baby boy turned two months! Time is flying by, and my little guy is getting so big and grown! Here's the latest on Briggs:



He has knocked this cactus over  repeatedly during both monthly photo sessions :)

Weighs:
 As of this week's doctor appointment, this guy is one ounce shy of 14 pounds and is almost 24 inches long! The nurse informed me that he weighs a whole pound more than Wells (our notoriously humongous baby - and still big for his age) weighed at 2 months! So, Briggs went from being our smallest newborn at birth to now the biggest.

Sleeps: Briggs is still a pretty good sleeper throughout the day most of the time. Some days it seems like all he wants to do is sleep, and other days he doesn't sleep as much. He is not on any sort of napping schedule and just sleeps when he wants to apparently! We usually keep him awake during the evening hours, except for the occasional cat nap. We've been laying him down a little earlier at night, and I will usually wake him for a "dream feed" when I go to sleep. He will then wake up about 2 times in the night/early morning after that. He's done two 6-hour stretches in the last couple weeks, which were glorious :) ...let's hope he starts doing it more often!

Eats: Since I started back to work last week (just two days a week), we have kind of figured how much Briggs is eating. He eats about 4-4.5 oz every 3ish hours. But when he is with me, he prefers to eat a lot more often just like his brothers did when they were nursing. I am pumping on the days that I am at work and so far have been pumping more in a session than he eats from a bottle when away from me - so it's great not having to worry about making enough milk!

Wears: I have started cleaning out all newborn clothes from his dresser/closet (#insertallthecryingemojis). The 0-3 month onesies still fit, but the 0-3 month sleepers are getting awfully short in the arms/legs! So, 3-month clothes are the best fit right now. Still squeezing into a size 1 diaper, but we'll be bumping up to a size 2 once we finish off our last couple of boxes.

Plays: He's such a happy and content baby, and he shows it with all his little smiles. His brothers love to see him smile and hear him "talk." He will lay under his activity mat and stare intently at all the hanging toys. As long as he's in a good mood, he will lay on the couch on his boppy pillow and watch all the shenanigans going on around him. Unlike Wells and Grayer as babies, he will happily sit in his swing and bouncy seat. He enjoys bath time now, too, which is great. He is getting more vocal everyday (he was chatting up a storm in the car last night), and I CAN'T WAIT for that first baby laugh!

Briggs brings so much joy to our house. I never dreamed the boys would love him so much, and I know that they can't wait for him to be able to play with them. I guess because he's our last and also because he is such an easygoing, happy boy, I am really getting sad about him growing up! I want him to stay a little baby forever! We love our sweet "Briggsie Wiggsie!"

Friday Favorites


Whew! What a week! We started back to school this week (Eric teaching and Wells' first day of PreK4!), and mama is TIRED. But at least it's Friday! Linking up with AndreaNarci, and Erika for Friday Favorites!

.:one:.
While I am not crazy about my big boy already being old enough to go to PreK4, school is definitely Wells' favorite! He has been so excited about starting school, and yesterday was the BIG DAY! He rocked his first day, ate every single thing in his lunchbox (and still came home starving), and crashed hard at bedtime. I miss him during the day, but I know he's having a blast. 




.:two:.
So, I know this is going to get old real fast. But for now, I am loving packing lunches. I even dedicated a whole cabinet to it. I give it a week before I am totally over the whole situation. Ha! And while we're talking school lunches, if your kid is a fellow crust-hater, get yourself one of these. Seriously.



.:three:.
Those moments when everyone's playing nicely together and no one is screaming/crying/tackling their brother. Definitely a favorite :)


.:four:.
A favorite moment that had me laughing and rolling my eyes was when I caught sight of my husband washing his hand with the produce wash. He thought I bought a new hand soap and had been using this for a week! 


.:five:.
Two words: baby lips.


.:six:.
This right here. Grayer is our snacker. He is in our pantry the whole day. This meme was made with him in mind, I'm sure!


Have a great weekend, everyone!