Home sweet home

Hey y'all! We've been home in MS for the last 3 weeks and are having a blast. Cov is quite the trooper, waking up in different places all the time. He's loooving all the time with family too. I'm so thankful for this time!

4 months

 i know i say it every month, but i can't believe it's already been 4 months! it's been so amazing.

in actuality, this is what our little photo shoot looked like this month - totally chilled but no smiling. even james could barely get him to crack a smile, which is rare. he's quite the observer at times. 

at 4 months, covington is weighing in at 13.9 pounds, which is kinda little at only the 16th percentile, but i've been told not to worry - he's obviously not starving. he's in the 72nd for height, so we've told him to enjoy being tall and thin for as long as it lasts; it's obviously not in his genes :) he's sleeping for 12 hours at night, 1 hour in the morning, and 1-2 in the afternoon and is generally happy during the day, until he hits 7:00. he definitely likes you to stand up and hold him facing out so he can observe all that's going on. we think he's a people-person because he seems to be pretty happy and entertained when we're hanging out with lots of people. he's started making this funny little sighing sound after he yawns which totally makes him sound like an old man. he's rolling over from back to belly and loves sleeping on his belly while sucking his fingers. if he could get his whole fist in his mouth, he would. james can get him to belly laugh and it is so fun to watch. i'm definitely loving this stage!

                         

fun days

3 months is so. much. fun

lots of people told us so, but it's even better than i expected.

i loved, loved cuddling and napping all day but it was like one day he just woke up!

he started noticing everything and making eye contact for longer periods

and everything became funny

he's very smiley in the morning and then gets more pensive and observant as the day goes on, like, you can't get him to smile for anything, obervant

when he's not smiling with his mouth wide open, he's usually sticking that little tongue out

we're having so much fun

james, the baby whisperer

seriously.
i'm about to hire him out if you're interested.

when i had to go back to school for a month to finish out the year, i was slightly freaking out that it had started taking upwards of an hour to get covington to sleep at night. i was ok with the 3 and 6 o'clock feedings, but the 11:00 or 12:00 bedtime was not so great.

enter this little book.
mr. ronnie had given us a stack of research based books approved by the american pediatrics - quite important to james - and i had read this one a couple weeks after covington was born. side note - you shouldn't read anything that you actually want to remember a couple weeks after your baby is born. well, james got it out and started reading and decided to follow it to a T.

best part of this little book - she promises you can read the entire thing in 2 hours.
i think all parenting books should come with that promise.

there's a ton of books out there like this one and tons of different scheduling advice, but this worked for us. james had 2 weeks off between his semesters when i went back to school so, needless to say, that first week of schedule training wasn't exactly vacation for him :)

it was nothing magic, though we quickly figured out that james is way more patient in the middle of the night. i was all about 'give me the kid. i'll feed him and he'll go back to sleep so we can go back to sleep.' james was all about the 'you sleep, i'll gently console him and rub his back and wake you up when it's time to eat.' yep. he's amazing.

lucky for us, it didn't take to long for covington to get it. after 2 not-so-fun-nights, he stopped screaming for hours when we put him in his bed and at about 11 weeks, he was sleeping through the night. yep - i'm fully expecting for the rest of our kids to be horrible sleepers and pay me back for the fact that i didn't sleep through the night until i was 3. i'll enjoy it while i can.

naps are still not his favorite, but at least sleeping at night makes mornings like this way more fun.

oh be still be beating heart.

needless to say, i'm so thankful for the dad that james is.
i have a feeling it's only going to keep getting better.
happy father's day

it's official...

we've got a roller

success. sweet success.

now if only he could learn to roll back the other way, maybe he wouldn't get so mad after he rolls to his stomach...

lately...

we've been -

playing on the play gym that cov loves

packing up my classroom and saying goodbye to an amazing school

wearing our sunday best for covington's first sunday in the nursery

continuing our search for good bbq...

with no luck - letha's in t-minus 3 weeks

our first cubs game

and they actually won, which is apparently rare these days

trying not to freeze - really 47 degrees on the last day of school. thankfully it's warmed up a little since then.

skyping - i so love technology. it makes 1000 miles seem a whole lot less

chatting. how i love baby coos

and practicing a little time in the bumbo

three months and five years

on sunday, covington turned 3 months! tons of people told us to just hang on until 3 months and they were so right - we're having so much fun these days! covington is an interesting mix between totally chilled and really smiley. he's so alert and can focus on things so much farther away now. he loves james and will giggle and smile so big at him! he loves his little play mat and will lay there looking at the lights and hitting the rattles forever. we've started putting him in the bumbo for a few minutes at a time and he's so cute sitting there - until his head gets heavy and he gets all smushed down in it. he loves music, although we don't really give him much of a choice about that. and...one of the best parts...he's sleeping through the night! he goes to sleep after we feed him at 8:30 and wakes up about 8:15. the first time it happened, i about had a heart attack. but it's oh so good. i'm loving it all!

on saturday we celebrated out 5 year anniversary! it's been an amazing 5 years plus 4 years before that with james. the night before covington was born - or really just a few hours before my water broke - i had a bit of a melt down, worrying that a baby was going to mess us up somehow. i love being married. i love our crazy adventures. will we still get to drive 30 minutes looking for homemade donuts or go bike riding or stay up way too late watching movies? will having a baby immediately make us turn old and not fun? james kept assuring me that a baby would only make us better and, 3 months later, i can say he was so right. covington made us a family. seeing james as a dad is so fun and such a joy.

five years ago i never would have believed you if you told me where we would be today. but things just keep getting better and better.

last week i opened one of the (many) emails on covington's development i get each week and it said

'your baby is no longer a newborn'

really?

REALLY?

obviously a woman did not write that. 

it's not like i'm already struggling with how fast this is all going

not a newborn anymore?

it's still feeling all quite new to me

but it's really wonderful and amazing and way better than i'd ever imagined. i still look at him and think - he's really real! i get to keep him! i'm going to wake up tomorrow and still get to hold him and kiss him and cuddle him.

oh how i love it all.

stylin'

i could kiss those cheeks all day.

made it through my first week back at work and very thankful summer is just 3 more weeks away.

happy friday!!

a quick before & after

before: a poopy brown wall sandwiched between the kitchen and bookshelves

after: a couple coats of chalkboard paint and 30 minutes later

hoping the landlord doesn't mind...