Christmas Pics

We were supposed to head to Missouri to be with John's family but a storm came through Colorado, Kansas and then head the way we would have been driving. It wasn't easy to decide if we should still try to make the drive! The day we would've left there were 3 people killed on the Interstate we would have been driving on - the next 2 days a total of 14 people were killed. While we were thankful we made the right decision it was so sad not to see John's family!! John's sister and her family haven't met Zane yet - so that was a huge bummer to miss them!!

I don't think I've posted any pictures of Levi since the unfortunate incident that is his haircut. I am not happy about it. But it is growing. That is all I have to say about that.

All Smiles

Sweet One

Christmas Party

Every year a family friend has an amazing Christmas Party that our family attends. This year it was black tie. You don't realize how much fun it is to get dressed up and have your man in a tux until you get the chance to do it again!! The girls had fun getting ready together! It was a fun night out!! The host has an amazing home that is decorated to the max - and has tons of amazing food to eat throughout the night!

Sweet 4 Month Old

John and Brian, a guy that works for him, took the boys sledding. Jacob is about 6 months younger then Levi.

Gangster

Sweet Smile

Other than "mom" and "daddy" Levi hasn't decided to say anyone's name yet...except for Uncle Kyle!! He will say "Ky-yo" anytime Kyle ISN'T around - so Kyle has never heard Levi say it!! Oh yeah, I forgot that Levi's new name for his daddy is "John".

Zane is a favorite among the moms when I go to MOPS. The number one word they all use to describe Zane is "yummy". And he is!!

Its Rare for me to be in a picture with the boys!!

12 Week Old Smiles

Levi Smiling at 12 Weeks
Zane Smiling at 12 Weeks

Love Them!!

I can't get enough pictures of these sweet boys. Levi is very into Zane sitting on his lap right now. I couldn't get them to smile at the same time.

Smiles

Levi will smile for me now when I ask!! Cute Big Brother that he is!!

Zane Jaxon 3 Months Old

Zane is the sweetest baby. He rarely cries - and when he does it almost breaks my heart because it's so rare.

He is very laid back and content.

Both Levi and Zane have the same sweet, joyful spirit.

One thing I have prayed since high school is that my home and the streets we live on would be filled with "joy,laughter and dancing" - I love our boys joyful hearts!

He is getting so big now!! It's hard to believe he was only 4 lbs. 3 months ago!!

My sweet, sweet boys - you are precious!!

Accidental Parenting?

There are so many different styles of parenting - especially when it comes to babies. I am not a "baby wearer" and we don't practice the "family bed" and we aren't fans of "demand feeding" and we do not believe in letting babies "cry it out". (I'm not going to get into all that.) I LOVE the Baby Whisperer. She has such a balanced approach.

One things I firmly believe in is putting newborns on a schedule. In the NICU they had Zane on a schedule where he ate every 3 hours - this was awesome because they did all the groundwork of establishing his schedule for me. Zane had pumped breastmilk from a bottle when the nurses fed him and I breastfed every other feeding. I remember when I first had Levi and a friend was telling me about things she learned with her firstborn. One of the things she said was "really, what it all comes down to is how disciplined you are as a parent". I immediately disagreed with her in my mind.

About a month ago Zane started to have tummy issues - he was spitting up a lot and had lots of gas. Normally at night when I feed Zane I get up and sit in the rocking chair and feed him. Well, I had gotten lazy recently and would put him in bed with me and breastfeed. We would both fall asleep and he would wake up an hour or so later to eat more. This led to a bad habit of him waking up to eat every hour during the night. I was SO tired. I decided I had to make myself get up, out of bed, and resume feeding and burping him without our naps in between. Once I broke that bad habit Zane was having less gas problems. I realized that because we fell asleep after he ate - I wasn't burping him at night and it was making his tummy problems worse!! So, my friend was right. Sometimes parenting comes down to how disciplined WE are. Making ourselves follow through and be consistent is so important. Tracy Hogg, aka The Baby Whisperer, would call this "accidental parenting". So often we teach our kids bad habits because we aren't parenting on purpose. I don't want my kids to be a product of "accidental parenting" when it comes to discipline. It takes longer to correct behavior than it does to do stick to your guns and be consistent in the first place!!