Rhys' First Steps!!

Last night in the basement Rhys decided that he was ready to go for a walk, and we (Lilah, Mommy, and Daddy) couldn't have been any happier. Well, at least we couldn't be any happier than he was :)

Happy 7 months!

Rhys is seven months old today. How time flies. He now sits and plays with toys like a big boy, he has started to make those sounds that precede words. . . "Dah- Dah" and "Guh- Guh". Raspberries which were almost constant last month at this time are few and far between. His hair is finally growing in and his eyes show signs of beautiful brown. He grows like a weed- wearing 12 month size clothing and weighs more than his sister did at her first birthday. He laughs at his favorite person every day. . . can you guess? Yes it's Lilah. And man, does he jump in his jumperoo. He brings us such happiness to everyone here at his house. Oh yes, he loves his pooch.

One year ago today we saw Rhys and I'll never forget it. In Jan of 2008 I had an ultrasound and his little left arm seemed to wave at us, but the amazing images at 16 weeks pregnant are ingrained in my mind. I just can't describe it, but every March 19 I'll think of it.

and here are a couple of shots of our big girl, she is so tall, someone asked me on Monday when she would be four. . .

The Big Girl Room

Before Lilah was born we decided on a neutral nursery- periwinkle walls with yellow fabric and warm wood toned furniture. The thought was that she would use it until her next sibling needed it and then would move into her own room.

As it turns out, Lilah is very happy in her crib, loves it in fact and doesn't attempt to climb out. So after consulting the doctor (who said that as long as she is comfortable, don't move her from the crib), we borrowed a crib from our dear friends Anna and Jack (ages 8 and 6- they don't have a need for it). Last weekend we set the crib up in Lilah's big girl room with the hopes of transitioning her before Rhys made the move to the nursery.

Today I stealthily put her "Blue Blankie", "Piwwow" (pillow), and the babies she sleeps with in the new crib. (Sidenote that Blue Blankie and Piwwow are security to Lilah, she has even been known to add them to the list of people she asks God to Bless at night.) When she went up for her nap today she exclaimed "Blue Blankie!" when she saw it in the big girl room. I told her they (above mentioned items) were ready to sleep in Lilah's big girl room. She answered "I take a nap, take off my shoes and socks." (typical at nap time) And without question went down in the new room.

Tonight we read stories on the bed that will be hers when she wants to sleep in it, and did her routine in the new bedroom. At one point she said "I go downstairs" and I thought she was going to balk but she didn't.

I got a little choked up coming down the stairs. First night out of the nursery. And she makes me so proud, no questions, no argument, she is happily ready to be in the "big girl room". I'll probably shed tears when she sleeps in a bed for the first time : ).

What color eyes do you think Rhys will have?

Lilah April 15, 2007
~eyes beginning to turn green~

That's a question a lot of people ask me. I remember people asking about Lilah but perhaps more ask now because we are a three color household; Dad-blue, Mom- brown, Lilah- green. From what I learned in high school biology I am 99% sure that Dad will be the only blue eyed person in the house. There are blue eyes in my direct line but you have to go back 3 generations. The chance that I carry a recessive gene is very slight. Whereas green eyes abound in my family, both grandmothers, my Dad, an Aunt, and again from my HS bio, green is a dominant gene. So I must carry green and brown. Whereas in order for Dad to have the bliest blue eyes, he must have only recessive blue genes.

This is something that fascinates me. I used to play with this calculator before I had Lilah and just plugged in our info again, but I increase the green allele because of Lilah. It gives our probability to be 50% brown, 36.5 % green and 13.4% blue. But it doesn't account for the prevalence of green eyes and lack of blue in my family.

The answer then, is of course, we don't know what color Rhys' eyes will be. They are still that baby blueberry color that his sisters were for 9 months. Personally I think they are going to be brown, but then again, I thought Lilah's would be too. Post your guess if you'd like. . .

Halloween 2008

The kiddos had a blast on Halloween. Rhys actually made it to three houses before falling asleep. But he had great time hanging out in his snuggly caterpillar costume with Dad on the porch while Lilah went Trick or Treating. Lilah, the butterfly, was armed with a flashlight and got the hang of things quite quickly. At the third house she was already sing song-ingly saying "Trick OR TRE-eet" before she was even at the porch. She also thought she'd tell me- "this way" when she wanted to continue up a street and I made the decision to head back toward home. Especially of interest to her were the "singing houses" . . . where people were pumping out Ghostbusters and other appropriate tunes.

And, Yes! That is a new porch on our house. Check out Nov 2007 posts to see the old porch. New improved porch was done in May of this year. Front door still yet to be painted. . .

Rhys' Dedication

Rhys was dedicated to the Lord on October 26th. He is quite a gregarious little man and when our pastor spoke to him to bless him using Numbers 6:24-26, he began to smile and speak to her. It was a very precious moment. (Second photo was taken while he was gabbing away.) Then Pastor Donna bent over to kiss him and so did LILAH! As you can see she was in Daddy's arms and so it was a long reach. But it was again a precious moment because it was as if she wanted to share in the love.

The whole gang present for the event.

A car ride with Lilah

Things heard in the car with Lilah . .

"Radjyo pwees" . . . Will you turn on the radio please, Mom?

"More radjyo" . . . Please turn up the volume.

"'Nother radjyo" . . . Can you turn the dial and put on a different song?

"Sing!" . . . during instrumental portions of songs

"Great song Mama". . . self explanatory

"Red to go" . . . Please disregard the red light Mom and go because I'm 'ready to go'.

"Here we go" . . . when the light turns green.

"Mom, it's gween" . . . the light is red but we have been sitting longer than Lilah would like.

A Wonderful Night

Way to go Rhys! Last night, Rhys went to sleep at 8 pm. I woke up at 1 am which is when he typically wakes up to eat. He was asleep. I woke again at 2 am (nervous that he wasn't awake) and he was still sound asleep. Finally at 2:45 he woke up. . . starving. I changed him but his diaper was dry, nursed him and put him back in the co-sleeper at 3:06. He slept until 6:30 am!

I know we'll probably go back to our 1 am and 4 am wake ups again but last night is a sign of things to come. One wake up per night would be awesome for Mommy and Daddy.

When I think back to 2006, Lilah was on her way to sleeping straight through 12 hours at 10 weeks of age. We are totally spoiled by her love of sleeping. I think it ranks right behind bookies, blueberries, little people and babies. But I do think Rhys won't be far behind her. I have an estimation of when he'll be sleeping straight through but I don't want to jinx us so I won't say it.

Two months old

Yes, technically Rhys was two months old yesterday but today was his well baby visit. He weighs 14 lbs 2 oz and is 24.75 inches long. 95th percentile in both. It is amazing to me how two siblings could be so opposite.

Tonight I was frantically searching for 1) warm jammies that 2) were the right size. We have size 3 month warm jammies but I knew immediately when I pulled them out that they would be too small. What I settled upon- a pair of PSU pjs that Lilah got for CHRISTMAS in 2006. A size 6-9 month. That she didn't fit into until February. If we do the math she was 7 months old when she wore them.

Recent happenings. . . two weekends ago, L&R's cousins Harman and Charlotte came to visit and meet Rhys. The three oldest played so very well together, "tag you're it!" was heard as they ran in and out of our dining room, they splashed in the tub together and when they got undressed for their bath they exclaimed "I'm naked!" in a chorus. It was a great time and I was so impressed with H,L and C because they shared so well.



On Friday the four of us headed out to the Pumpkin Patch and had a great time on a hayride. We tried desperately to get Lilah's picture amongst the pumpkins but when she is decided upon something there is no arguing with her. Often I want a specific shot and Lilah will have none of it. So the result can be seen below. I've decided to stop deleting such images, so that one day when she asks why there are pictures of Rhys but not of her doing XYZ, I can show her that she was most uncooperative!

This Saturday our friends Mariah and Evan came to meet Rhys and spend the day. The 4 girls headed downtown for Gelatto (sorbetto in my case). Mariah and Lilah had to tote their babies with them and we were tickled to witness a little conversation happening between a 26 month old and a 17 month old- but they are their mother's daughters!



Shame on us for not getting the camera out for a group shot until right before they left, when everyone was tired. The event is recorded although no one was too happy!