A Pick Up

I was taking Colten's picture today and Austin was helping me. He was sitting next to Colten on the floor when I stood up to get something. As soon as I stood up, Austin said something and I turned back around to see THIS:

Apparently, Austin thought Colten needed to be held and just picked him up. I'm guessing he did pretty well since Colten wasn't upset about it and obviously wasn't hurt! I'm just glad they were both on the floor and that Colten has pretty good head/neck control!

Actually, Colten must have liked it because he was smiling at Austin, as you can see in this picture!
FYI - I did tell Austin that next time he needed to ask Mommy or Daddy for help if he wants to hold Colten. He understood and said that he'll ask next time...guess we'll see! He just wanted to help me and Colten out...that's something to be proud of, right!?!? :-)

2 Months....and GROWING!

Colten is getting HUGE! No official weight check since his 2 month appointment isn't until April 8th, but he's probably about 12 pounds or more right now! He officially in 3-6 month clothes even though I'm still trying to get some use out of a few 0-3 month clothes that fit bigger than everything else. In fact, there are some 3-6 month clothes that are getting short on him! I think he's long in the torso so things get tight around the diaper area.

Colten smiles a LOT. Austin loves to try to get him to smile and is pretty good at it. He's also ticklish around his ribs and feet and smiles and giggles when you tickle him. He's sleeping pretty well at night, although we do have a few nights here and there where he wakes up every 2 hours. The other night he slept about 7 hours straight. He also likes to wake up at 5 am sometimes for about an hour to smile and talk to me. I'd rather he do this at a better hour, but he's so sweet at that time that he makes up for it a little. :-)

Well, here are some pictures of our 2 month old!

Comparison next to the bear:

Some more pictures I took...

Such a smiley boy!

Crazy Skies

Some awesome looking clouds have been in our area recently and we got a couple of pictures it. Brian and I love being back where we hear thunder again. We didn't get many thunder storms in Hawaii...in fact, I think I only remember hearing it once or twice the whole time we lived there. We both love hearing storms, especially at night.

On Thursday, there was a storm coming in and we had a weird flash of lightening, then a HUGE boom of thunder that sounded like it was RIGHT on top of our house. We had company over and all of us just kind of jumped and then looked at each other for a minute. I think my heart stopped for a second or two because of it!

Anyway, here are the pictures of the cool clouds:

8 Weeks

Colten is 8 full weeks old. To me, it's a little confusing that 8 weeks isn't 2 months since he's not 2 months until the 27th...at least that's how the doctor's office counts it! :) He won't have his two month well baby appointment until the 8th of April (because they had to schedule it after the 27th and they didn't have any appointments until the 8th)

Anyway, Colten is getting so big! He's staying awake more often and sleeping for longer stretches during the night. He watches things so intently that you have to wonder what he's thinking. He loves to smile at Mommy and Daddy...and basically anyone that comes by. When we joined First Church on Sunday, he smiled at everyone who talked to him!

It's fun to see how much he changes over the weeks.

Here are a couple of pictures I took today.

I have been shooting in manual the last couple of days (which means I am not using the preset modes on my camera). That is why some of the pictures in the most recent posts aren't the greatest, but I'm learning. There are still a lot of things I need to learn, but right now, I'm just taking the leap and trying to take pictures with natural light only (NO FLASH).

T-Ball...The Nationals

FINALLY! Austin gets to be on a team! We have been waiting for him to be old enough to start SOME kind of sport. We have to drive 30 minutes to get him there, but it's SO worth it! Our town doesn't have t-ball for 4 year olds, so we had to go to another town's league so that Austin could play.

The coach is really good. He's a Vice Principal at an elementary school, so he's got a lot of patience. He's teaching them the basics and isn't the yelling type, so we are really happy with that (you should have heard a coach at the field next to us).

Austin was really nervous before his first practice on Friday. It seemed like he thought he was going to be the only little boy who didn't know everything about baseball. He kept saying that he didn't know how to play and we had to keep telling him that he would learn and that's why we signed him up. We told him that all the other kids were just learning about baseball too, so they were all probably nervous like him. He seemed to accept that and was VERY excited when it was time to leave.

I didn't get pictures of his first practice. I forgot the camera, which was probably a good thing anyway since it was cold and I spent a lot of the time in the car feeding Colten.

I did get pictures of Monday's practice. Here are a few that show what they worked on:

The coach has the kids hold hands and go into a circle for stretches...they have fun with that!

Stretching to the toes.

Little Brother in his carseat...

Getting ready to run the bases.

Throwing at a target.
CAUGHT IT!

(they are catching tennis balls because they are learning how to catch with their gloves up...if they miss, it doesn't hurt as bad when it hits them in the face)

Batting with the coach. I wasn't paying attention to how he was hitting...Brian had to come over and tell him that Austin hits left handed (but catches and throws right handed).

Random Pictures

A moment between Father and Son

This was an outfit that Austin wore for most of the day last week. The other part of the day was spent in several other costumes (I woke up to Buzz Lightyear in my room...LOL!).

Brothers...

Playground Pictures

We had a great day and took the boys and the dogs to the park to play on the playground. It wasn't the greatest time of the day to get pictures since it was in the middle of the day where the light is really harsh, so I didn't get a lot of Austin playing...plus, the kid is everywhere when we go, so it's hard to keep up with him!

Here are a few of what I got:

Daddy on the swings...we never really do grow up, do we!?!

Austin loves his little brother...even when he's crying!

Daddy and Colten

Mommy and Colten (a rare picture since I'm usually behind the camera!)

Daddy taking a picture of Colten crying...he had enough and ended up eating and falling asleep after this!

Daddy and His Boys

Not the greatest picture, but with two squirmy boys it's hard to get it perfect! The opportunity was there and I just grabbed the camera. After taking this one, I tried to get a few more hoping to get one a better one, but it didn't happen! :-)

It's a great picture no matter what though because it's one of all three of my boys together!

The Many Faces of Colten

Colten is the baby that LOVES to be held. He's very social and will just stare at you for the longest time. He's got the biggest eyes and the longest lashes and I just love taking pictures of him! Whoever said that you don't get as many pictures of your second as you do your first was wrong! :-) Of course, I keep trying to get smiley pictures of him. I have to work VERY hard to get him to smile for me when I have the camera....he usually smiles the most when it's not handy! LOL

Here area few of the latest pictures of Colten:

The Many Faces of Austin

Austin is always a character. He can look up at you at any given time and give you the goofiest look...of course, his crazy hair helps a little too! He usually loves having his picture taken...and wants to see the picture AS SOON AS it is taken, which makes it hard to take subsequent pictures! :-)

Here's a few of the latest pictures of Austin:

New Church Members

On Sunday, our family became the newest member of First United Methodist Church in Springdale, AR. :-)

When we decided to move to NW Arkansas, we knew we wanted to start going to the church that Britt Skarda preached at. Brian had heard Britt preach for years at his childhood church and always told me what great messages he gave.

This church has a great feeling of community to it. You walk in the door and it feels like a smaller church even though they have over 3000 members. They have a lot of bible study groups that you can join, a great children's program complete with a pre-school (that Austin should be going to starting in August), and of course, the Skardas! :-)

We are excited about getting more involved in the church and meeting more people.

Here's a picture of our family after we joined....

(I can't believe that BOTH kids are looking at the camera!)

Colten's First Bath

Yes, his first bath at 6 weeks! It's not because we just like dirty children. His umbilical cord just would NOT fall off. Finally, last week, it fell off. We've been giving Colten sponge baths until tonight.

Tonight was the big night. Colten took a dunk in the water with Austin right next to him. He didn't cry...not even once. He seemed to enjoy it. He even got a mouthful of water after Austin "rinsed" him with a watering can and didn't even get upset.

So, here are the pictures of our little boy getting clean:

All Clean!!! And happy about it!

Loving His Shirt

We have a child who has to have a say in his outfits. Yesterday, he wore a red long-sleeved shirt with red sweatpants....and he wouldn't change for anything! Let me just remind you that we've had some nice days lately and it was about 70 degrees here! Not to mention that I told him that it didn't really match...he said it did since they were both red.

He really loves his "character shirts." We have Transformer shirts, a Hulk shirt, and now a Wall-E shirt...thanks to Aunt Amanda who gave it to him for his b-day.

I thought that maybe we could take it back to Wal-Mart and get a bigger size so he could wear it longer, but he wouldn't hear of it. He didn't want another one...he wanted the one Aunt Amanda bought him. So, I hope he doesn't grow too much this spring/summer so he can wear it as long as the weather is nice...I'm not holding my breath though. I'm sure he'll wear it as long as his head can fit through the hole.

What a Big Help!

I had changed Colten's diaper and had to go and grab something from the living room. Austin was in the room, so I asked him to keep an eye on his brother while I ran into the other room.

This is what I saw when I came back in....

Austin was trying to put on Colten's pants for me!

He really is such a big help. He lets the dogs in and out of the house when I'm nursing, he pushes the stroller anytime he has a chance, he gets diapers when we need them. He tries to keep Colten happy by talking to him or putting his pacifier back in. He's such a great big brother....Colten is so lucky to have him...and so are we!

A Perfectly Windy Day

A windy day means a kite day! Austin got a kite for his birthday from his Nana and we got to take it out on a gorgeous, windy day. He really enjoyed it and it flew GREAT!

Here are a few pics:

You should have seen his face from the front when he was actually flying the kite. It was awesome...he was having so much fun!