Some recent favorite {phone} pictures -

checking out his new birthday goodies from nashville, watching for miles' bus

snoozy, smiley

looking so grown up!, still waking up

and scenes of a sweet sleeping babe

John's second birthday in photos

A few photos from John's 2nd birthday celebration -

Chocolate cake = big bath time!

The celebrating continued through the weekend. While we didn't have a real party, Uncle Luke and cousin Brady came by for dinner and cake on Friday (the rest of the brood was under the weather), and Miles had his first sleepover with Brady. Josh and I couldn't stop peeking in on them - they had such fun with each other. Then Saturday, Uncle Kurt came into town for the day/night. Sunday Lolly and Poppy came for a visit and took us to Monkey Joe's and to lunch on Monday. What fun! Of course I didn't have my camera out all weekend (what?!).

Monday the boys had their 2 and 4 year check-ups. I don't remember their stats, but they are certainly growing well. Miles' 4 year appointment was different from previous ones; she asked him lots of questions instead of us and took his blood pressure. So grown up! He impressed her with his answers and big boy-ness.

Two Years Old!

John is two years old today. A look back through the last year...

This little boy is a wonderful brother. He adores both Miles and Lauren. He is still a little unaware of how much bigger he is than Lauren, so he needs to be supervised carefully. He's able to {mostly} hold his own with Miles. They are very physical in their play and love to wrestle. The down side is that their roughhousing is starting to turn to occasional fighting. Hey, it was bound to start sometime, I guess.

John loves to play. Favorites include cars and trucks, balls, play food, his shape sorter. He prefers to listen to books on the go; he's far too busy to sit in our laps. After a rough start to the year, he loves his PDO program. It's always funny to drop off and pick up - he pretends not to want to go in and as soon as his teacher picks him up, he buries his head in her shoulder like she's the best thing ever. When I go in at the end of the morning, he flirtatiously grins at me and runs to the other side of the room. Silly boy.

He still loves his baths and showers.

This little boy LOVES to eat. His appetite is showing signs of slowing down, just a tad. He prefers his fingers to shovel over utensils (he starts his meal with them and very quickly they are discarded in favor of the much faster fingers). He is still very messy.

John does have a bit of an attitude. He has a rather unpleasant screech/whine that comes out when he doesn't like the way something is going down. He has also developed the Habegger man thing of not liking to have his photo taken. Ugh. He does have a very sensitive side and is sweet about comforting others when needed.

John's speech and vocabulary have really emerged since he received tubes in October. It's pretty amazing, actually. Daddy has definitely replaced mommy as his fave. He really hearts Archie. He is very friendly, a great sleeper. He still has many nicknames (Johnny, John John, Johnny Panda, toad belly, Johnny Fresh Bruise - pretty self explanatory, Johnny Johnny Coconut, Johnny Kitty Cat. Silly, I know).

Happy Birthday to our amazing two year old. You are so much fun, and we love you so much!

Weekend in Berne

We spent a great weekend in Berne celebrating Christmas with Josh's immediate family. The weather was very un-January like so the kids could play outside. Miles (of course) gravitated toward Willow the lab and loved feeding her bones and sticks. There are a lot of children, and it's such fun to watch them interact and see how they're growing up. The girls spend most of their time coming up with plays and dances. So cute.

The boys opening some goodies -

And my favorite kind of photo - catching Josh napping with his sweet little girl.

Three Months

Three months old. You are such a happy little gal. You love to be held, and you often give us beautiful whole face smiles. You talk, bat at toys, watch what's going on a lot. You want to laugh so badly.

You have gone from being a little scrawny babe to having chubby little cheeks, a round little double chin, and chunky little thighs. You still wear 0-3 month clothes although they are getting kind of short. You wear size one diapers.

You sleep through the night, sometimes about nine hours. You still eat very well and will take a bottle when offered.

You have found your hands and love to suck on them.

You still have navy eyes and cry without tears.

You love your brothers. You are getting used to Archie.

You are simply amazing!

Brrr

It's cold outside. Really cold. And school started this morning. Way too early. I'd rather be in bed still doing this-