6 Months

Baby boy...you're not going to be a baby for long!  You are growing so fast.  At a whopping 17 pounds 11 ounces, you tipped the scales at your six month checkup.  You are also 27 inches long now, keeping you in the 95th percentile for height. 

You've spent a lot of the past month fighting colds and even a bronchial infection, but you have still managed to be as happy as ever.  Your smile is contagious; all of your teachers love to hold you because of it, which means you are very used to being held whenever you want.  I can't deny complete responsiblity though, because I love holding you too. 

Your daddy is already starting to groom you for a future athlethic career.  He has his sights set on hockey, but part of me hopes that you will choose a sport with a lower injury rate.  You still haven't gotten to go to a professional hockey game though, because of the NHL strike.  You still wear your Blues onesies proudly, even though it makes your daddy a little sad to see them. 

Your diet is getting ready to change drastically.  You started eating baby food this week, and LOVE IT!  You gobbled up your sweet potatoes the first night, and probably would have eaten the whole container if I had let you.  You will also get to start drinking some water from a sippy cup and eating more rice cereal too.  We tried to capture some photos of your first baby food experience, but had trouble getting a good action shot, because we are also finding out that you like to ham it up for the camera.  Any time you see a camera, you smile.  I was trying to take a video of you playing with Jack, and you stopped playing to look at me a smile.  It does make for a lot of good pictures.  Maybe I should enter you in one of those baby photo contests. 

The holidays will be so much fun with you this year.  I cannot wait to take pictures of you and your sister together in your Christmas outfits, but I hope you also come to appreciate the real reason for the holiday.  I pray every day that you will come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior; that you will love and serve God through this life that he has given you.  I also pray that we will be good parents for you, showing you love and kindess while teaching you to be the adult that God created you to be.  I have loved you since before you were born, but you have such a personality now, and I feel like I am really starting to know you.  That makes me love you more than you will ever know.  You will always be my baby boy, and your mommy will always love you. 

Bath Time

I think it is time to start putting Barrett's baby tub in the big bathtub during bath time instead of the kitchen sink. 

Christmas Comes But Once a Year

"Christmas comes but once a year, and now it's here!"  When we returned from our Thanksgiving festivities today, we decorated our apartment.  We did not put out all of our decorations because of our impending move, but we did get out the essentials:  the Nativity, tree, and stockings.  I am very excited for Barrett's first Christmas, and Audrey is at an age to really enjoy things this year.   She remembered some of the decorations and the books that we got out today.  Her favorite toys are still the light up snow globes. 

Unfortunately, the Thanksgiving holiday has totally thrown Audrey off and she is choosing not to listen and to talk back constantly.  I know it is just a phase, and we will come through it.  That doesn't make it any less frustrating.  I want to sing Christmas carols and talk about the birth of our Savior with my daughter.  I don't want her to be sitting on the pillow in her room screaming and crying (or screaming and crying at church...sorry to everyone at the service at First Presby in Greenville this morning) while the rest of us decorate and wrap gifts.  I think the most heart-wrenching part of the issue though is when I take a step back to think about where she learned to act that way.  She's had to observe it, and the people she is around the most are her parents.  So, this holiday season, I feel the need for God's grace so deeply as a parent of a child that is watching my every move.  I also feel true  joy in knowing Jesus died for our sins so that we can freely receive that grace.  I will never be perfect; my children will never be perfect; but Jesus lived the perfect life so we don't have to.  Praise God! 

Stella's New Look

It has been an exciting couple weeks in the Nance household.  Barrett has started sitting up, Billy got a promotion at work, and we bought a house.  Well, techinically we won't own it until December 20, but more to come on that in a later post.  With everything that has been going on, our dogs have definitely been a little neglected.  Before Audrey was born, the dogs were our babies.  Since Barrett was born, Jackson and Stella have definitely not gotten as much attention as they were getting even after Audrey was born.  The proof is in the pictures; I realized this weekend that I did not have pictures of Barrett with the dogs. I changed that, but still, when we first got the dogs, I took pictures of them constantly.   Soon though, the dogs will have their own fenced in yard where they can run and play to their hearts content. 

Our offer on the house was accepted last week, so today was our home inspection.  The inspection went well, but took a while, so we finished around lunch time.  As we were leaving lunch to run to the tile store, I noticed I had missed a call from the dog groomer where I had dropped off Jackson and Stella this morning.  She had accidentally cut Stella's ear while grooming her, and Stella was on her way to the vet.  In the end, she couldn't get stitches because she had eaten this morning, so they put some liquid stitches on the cut and bandaged her up really well.  They also put a cone on her to prevent her from scratching her ear. 

When I picked up Audrey, I informed her of Stella's injury and the cone. Naturally, I got a thousand questions about how Stella got hurt and her current state.  My hope was that this would prevent too many questions once we got home.  That, however, was not the case.  Audrey asked a thousand more questions, many of which she had already asked.  In the end, Audrey decided to draw a picture of Stella with her cone.  Other than the fact that Stella is purple and has 5 legs, Audrey did a great job of capturing Stella's new look (the red circle in the picture below). 

Trick or Treat

This Halloween was the first time that Audrey actually went trick or treating.  She wore the Snow White costume that my mom made for me when I was 4.  It was a little big, but she really liked wearing it.  She wore it to school that morning, so while she was getting ready, she insisted that we call her Snow White.  To go with the theme of her costume, Barrett was an apple.  He was a pretty adorable and actually seemed to enjoy wearing the costume.  We went trick or treating at the Siburt's house in Des Peres.  Audrey really liked handing out the candy.  We went to about 6 houses so she could get some candy, and then she got cold and was ready to go back to the Siburt's.  That was fine with me.  In the end, she got enough candy to fill a cereal bowl. She especially likes the Reese's and M&Ms.  Billy is having to practice a lot of self control to not eat those for her.  In the end, it was a fun first Halloween for Barrett and first trick-or-treating experience for Audrey.