Happy 4th Birthday

This past year has been an extremely fun (and challenging) year with you, Crawford!  At your core you are kind hearted, caring and loving and I so hope that you never loose those wonderful qualities that make you, YOU!

• You always want to do things as a family
• You are constantly telling Jane Clare how pretty she is
• When asked who your best friend is, it's usually Jane Clare
• You wished (in a fountain in Duke Garden) for Nanu not to be sad about Granny dying
• You also wished for Granny
• You made Granny a card with tape to bring to her grave
• You saved some of your hair, after a haircut, for Tin Tin because a few weeks before, she asked if she could have some of your hair because it was so thick and pretty.

You are funny!

• You told me you thought I was going crazy when I turned up the radio and started singing and clapping
• But you love to "crank up" the music in daddy's car and listen "big brother music"
• You wish Poppie had a pig at his house
• "Oh, Man!" is your saying of choice when something goes wrong right now
• And you love to call everyone a silly goose
• You call Jane Clare "Jane Chair"
• You always want mommy or daddy to tell you a story at bedtime - has to be one from our lives and one you haven't heard, "in a long, long time."

You love to help!

• With Anything
• Cook
• Sweep
• Put diapers in the garbage
• Take the garbage out
• Put clothes away

You want to be an excavator driver, a bobcat driver, a pressure washer, a digger and a builder right now.  You are promising that you are going to build me and daddy our next house.  So far you've asked what we want it built out of and what color we want it painted.

You enjoy your routine.  You started speech and occupational therapy this year and that is going well.  You are working on your K and G sounds as well as T, D, N and W.  You have made great progress since starting in February!!

Some funny stories I don't want to forget:

• We were talking about big boy school and how you would go when you were almost five and I told you I was going to cry because you are getting too big.  Your sweet response, "Mom, that's what happens.  Don't cry silly goose; everyone grows up!
• One of your favorite subjects to discuss right now is God and heaven - you said you didn't want to go to heaven when you died, you would rather stay in your house because it would be too busy up there...it will be wild with all of those people.
• You also wanted to know on a beautiful, sunny day how the people in heaven weren't falling down, since there weren't any clouds to hold them up!
• You love to have "sitting time" on daddy's lap before bed time every night!

You are one wild and crazy, all boy, sweet, wonderful, handsome four year old!  We never knew we could love someone so much!!!  Happy Happy Birthday!

Seven Months Already

Happy seven month birthday Jane Clare!  I have absolutely no idea how you are already this old.  You have been an absolute joy and such a sweet baby! 

You are really getting into a pretty good routine, although bringing your brother to school interferes a little.  You sleep twelve plus hours at night and started sleeping through the night at six weeks old (with a few "off" nights along the way).  You have started to make your way through fruits and veggies.  So far, you have had pears, bananas, sweet potatoes, squash, apples and peas.  You took a little warming up to the veggies, but you gobble everything up.  This week you'll start getting food for breakfast and dinner!!  We waited until you were six months old to start you on food and skipped the rice cereal.  You still love your formula and drink four - 8 ounces bottles a day.  At your six month check up you were in the 94th percentile for weight (19 pounds) and 75th for height...might be tall like your daddy.

Happy Fourth of July - After the initial shock of eating food, I really liked my first meal - pears!

Bananas

Not so sure about squash!

Or Peas!

It looks like your pretty, blue eyes are here to stay and I can't wait to see what your hair does; it has a lot of red in it and even a few little curls!  Hats with cute flowers, aren't really your thing.

You have already been on an airplane twice...once at Easter to visit Tin Tin and Unc Dave in North Carolina before they moved to New Orleans and then to Anguilla; where you dropped your dream feed!  You have also been to WaterColor a few times and made a trip to the aquarium, too!

Snoozing on the beach in WaterColor

Out for a ride on Anchor's Boe'

On a Jet Plane - NC here we come!

Your brother still loves you and the feeling is definitely mutual.  Although you are an extremely happy baby you don't giggle or laugh a lot, but Crawford can get you going.  So sweet!  However, he also likes to share his germs with you...working on getting better from your second cold.

Happy 4th!

I'm happy to say (most days) you are a complete mama's girl!

Life is about to get even more interesting since you are scooting around like crazy!!  You are almost sitting all by yourself, too.  What happened to just sitting and not moving for a little while?

We love you so much!!  Can you slow down growing just a little?

Jane Clare Roberts Stolzenthaler

Life…So it’s been a while and a lot has happened!!  The biggest thing is that we had a beautiful baby girl on Monday, January 6, 2014 at 11:04 AM weighing seven pounds, eight ounces and 20 inches long.  Jane Clare Roberts Stolzenthaler thankfully waited until after Christmas to make her arrival. I was so worried the baby was going to come on Christmas Eve or Day and “ruin” it for Crawford and ultimately ruin his or her birthday every year.  Thankfully that was not the case and once Crawford got to see what Santa brought him I was much more excited about the day and could finally relax a little.  The next week and a half we spent just enjoying the last few moments as a family of three!  Crawford was so excited to meet his baby, but I was worried that his excitement would wear off once attention shifted a little for a while.  I’m happy to say his excitement and love for his sister has grown into something I pray continues and lasts throughout their lifetime together.  This little girl absolutely could not have gotten a brother that loves her any more than he does!!  He has been so wonderful to her from day one… loves to help change diapers, throw them away, always right there with a pacifier if she fusses, wants her to sleep with him, tells her how pretty she is, how she is his best friend, and so many more.  And now to see how she loves him is pretty incredible!!  She will just smile and watch him like no one else is in the room. I am so thankful for both of them and can’t wait to see the beautiful friendship they form over the years.