Baby Dean is 4 months old!

Dean turned 4 months last Friday and I can't believe how fast time has gone! I took him to the doctor today and here are the stats:
Length: 25 1/2 inches (70%)
Weight: 15 lbs 11 oz (70%)
Head: 42.7 cm (60%)
Our baby is pretty proportional. :) He got shots today and I usually get a little choked up but today I didn't because HE didn't! He cried for literally 5 seconds and as soon as he saw me he was beaming again.
Here are some things about Dean. (click here to compare him to Brennen at 4 months!)

• He reaches out to grab toys (isn't always successful but can hold onto them really well once he has them) and sometimes switches hands.
• He likes me to read him stories. He reaches out and grabs the book and his eyes go to the pictures I point to. He's very alert.
• He rolls from back to belly like crazy! I can't keep him on his back anymore. It's funny to me because he doesn't really like being on his belly and once he gets there he can't figure out how to roll back.
• This baby is SOOOO happy! I can't even describe it to you. He smiles ALL the time (even when he cries) and laughs at everything, especially Brennen.
• He still wakes up once a night no matter what time he goes to bed. I don't mind, though, because it only takes him 15-20 minutes to eat then he crashes again. He's in bed about 9 and up between 2-4 then up for good around 7:30. Then he takes really good naps, usually two a day, one in the morning and one in the late afternoon.
• We sometimes still swaddle him at night but it doesn't do any good because he's always completely busted out by the time he wakes in the night.
• He is breastfed only and eats every 3-4 hours. We left him with Gwen for several hours last week and didn't think that he might not like drinking a bottle... she ended up dipping the nipple in sugar to get him to drink it! Fine with me! :)
• He is a mover! He pushes himself around in circles and up and down. He can move across the room only on his back.
• He doesn't really talk much at all. It's kind of weird because Brennen always babbled from a very young age. But Dean is already loving to spit and blow bubbles.
• He's going to keep his blue eyes! They are very blue and the doctor says that's the way they'll stay. That makes me happy because they are beautiful eyes!

We all just LOVE our chubby baby Dean so much! Here are a few pictures of him at 4 months. I only have like one picture where he's NOT smiling. :)


The Latest

Potty training is on my mind all...the...time. I feel like right now my life revolves around Brennen's toilet schedule and therefore that's all I really talk about (warning: don't call me if you don't want to talk about this). :D But I think he's doing a pretty good job!

Eating a sucker while coming down the slide after the parade. He looks like such a patriot! :)

Petting a little pony during the parade (the pony is Cowboy Joe in Training). He actually liked it much better than it looks like he did.

I realized yesterday that Dean doesn't talk... Brennen would jabber all the time at this age but little Dean just sits and watches people with a content little smile on his face. He even smiles when he cries. No joke. He's so much like Matthew. Just sits and lets the world go by and doesn't feel the need to fill it with his voice. (Brennen is much more like me. As Matt puts it, we both want everyone to know "all the things.") :) He also has grown out of the bassinet so we put him in his crib in Brennen's room. He seems so grown up now!

My smiley guy! I love that he's sitting on a blanket my sister made and leaning on a blanket my mom made. :)

I've been way more positive lately. I had gotten stuck in a "feel sorry for myself" rut but I decided to snap out of it and I can't even tell you how much happier I've been. That being said, sometimes I still have hard days. Like yesterday. I was really in that "feel sorry for myself" mode and told Matt that I thought it was about time that something good happened for us. But then my awesome husband reminded me of some things.

I keep thinking that maybe we're supposed to learn something from all of the trials and little road blocks that keep coming our way and Matt said that maybe things would get better for us if we learned humility and graditude. He reminded me that despite what we may think, we do not ever deserve anything in life. Everything we have comes from our Heavenly Father. Everything. He blesses us with everything we have and with every good thing that comes to us. So we need to have humility and remember that we are not in control and we are not better than other people and we are especially not better or wiser than God. (Is it "wiser" or "more wise?" Evidently I am NOT wise). :)

He said that WE needed to learn those things but I think we both know that it's mostly ME. :) Most of the things that have been going on should be harder for Matthew but it seems that they're not. Although, even I'm not sure of that because my husband is NOT a complainer. He does NOT wallow in self pitty. (Example: Last time he was sick I only knew it because I noticed him blowing his nose a lot. When I asked if he was sick he said that he'd felt pretty crappy all week but that he was almost over it. And he does that all the time! I could do a much better job taking care of him if I knew he was sick). :) He's such a good example for me.

So even though I sometimes think things could be better, I also have been thinking about my blessings and they are too numerous to count.

Camping!

Matt and I like to spend time in the mountains and even though we love the local ones we wanted to go somewhere different. I had never really been in the Big Horns so we went up there above Ten Sleep and it was a blast!
This was our path. The red was the way up, star is about where we camped, and purple is the way back. Isn't this just a beautiful state? I love it. :)

Our vehichle didn't have AC so it was a pretty long, hot drive, especially on the way back between Buffalo and Casper (I "offered" to drive because the sun was beating in the passenger side window) :) but the boys were just awesome in the car. Dean got restless a couple times but I either had to feed him (20 min max) or one of us sat in the back by him and he was fine. Brennen was SO good!
We got there pretty late Tuesday night so we found a random spot to camp in the dark. First thing in the morning Matt did a little fishing and then we packed up and headed to a new place. We spent all day Wednesday exploring the area and hiking and fishing around a couple of lakes.

The creek by our first campsite.

Brennen zonked out in the tent. He slept past 7 both days!

Dean asleep in the car. Don't worry, he didn't sleep there all night and we didn't do any driving with him there. :)

Me and my Dean! I carried him in this pack most of the time.

Matt getting his lure out of the lake. hee hee

Brennen and a rainbow trout Matt caught. He liked it until it started flopping around.

Then we found a new campsite and hiked and fished the creek around there then ate a yummy dinner and went to bed. Thursday we packed up again and then did more exploring and hanging out by Meadowlark Lake and fishing on the creek that went into it (forgot its name). Then we decided to head back. Matt wanted to spend another night but two nights in a tent with a 3 month old is about the max for this mother. (Matt actually was on board with me after he spent half of the second night with Dean in HIS sleeping bag). :)

Our second campsite.

Dean hanging out in the camp chair.

Matt with Brennen down by the creek.

Me and my boys! I love them. :) That view behind me looked WAY cooler in person.

Brennen needed to be distracted during meal preparation so we had him building a tower out of wood. He actually moved some of those logs by himself!

Matt is always our camp cook. Good thing we have this stove. Propane was allowed but we couldn't make a fire. I actually kind of liked that because one thing that I don't really like about camping is the smoke smell all over everything.

Our friend John. At least we think that's what it was... we opted not to go inside.

Kickin' back.

Some wildflowers.

Notice anything amiss in this picture? That was our "fridge."

View from our campsite. Again, way better in real life.

Brothers! Dean looks like a gansta.

Did you see that sky today? Talk about blue! :) This was Thursday morning. If you look closely you can see a little sliver of the moon in the lower left corner. Brennen spotted it before we did. He's very observant.

Our family down by the river!

Brennen LOVED it. The whole way up in the car he kept talking about camping and the mountains. Then he got as dirty as a two year old can get and loved playing in the dirt. He slept SO well, too, once he actually fell asleep. Both nights, we had gotten Dean to sleep and then after awhile of telling Brennen to go to sleep, too, we just decided to ignore him and listened to him sing wheels on the bus (did you know there is a mother penguin on the bus who says "quack, quack quack?"), frowny face, and a few other primary songs until he sang himself to sleep.

Playing in the dirt.

Dean had the same sleeping and eating patterns that he usually does and was just the same, good, happy baby the whole trip!

All tuckered out.

 It was SO nice to get away! I loved spending these few days with my little family and no one was grumpy and we were all happy and relaxed. I really needed this little vacation and I really love spending time out in nature and exploring the beauty all around me. The only thing I don't like is the bugs. :)

Dean at 3 months!

This is about a week overdue but I wanted to do a short post about Dean! He turned 3 months old last Wednesday. Some of these are just silly random facts mostly for me to read later on. :) (In case you care to compare, you can click here to read about Brennen at 3 months).

• He weighs just over 14 pounds!
• He wears size 2 diapers already.
• We swaddle him to sleep at night but he's always busted out by the time he wakes up in the night. Not sure why we do it...
• He is not sleeping through the night. I can't keep him awake much past 9 then he usually wakes up between 2:00-3:30 every night and then is up for good before 7. But he goes right back to sleep after I feed him in the night and sleeps a lot during the day (naps are still irregular).
• He is a very good eater. He is only breastfed and eats like a champ. He gets right down to business and I've never, ever, had to spend more than a half hour feeding him and it usually takes less time than that.
• He is trying with all his might to roll from back to belly. He did it once but it was on the couch so it was probably a bit easier. :)
• He can hold onto toys for quite a long time and actually tries to shake them. He also sucks (and gags on) his hands all the time and like to eat toys, too.
• He loves Brennen! He can be upset (on rare occasions) and if Brennen comes over to talk to him or hug him he calms down and smiles. It's pretty cute. :)
• He continues to be a really happy, low-maintenance baby! He smiles pretty much all the time when he's awake and it's easy to make him giggle.

Here are a couple random pictures of Dean at 3 months.

Happy after a bath.

Chillin' on the couch (he fell asleep like that all on his own).

Laying on the couch with his big brother.

I thought this was cute. :) Dean touching Brennen's foot.

Cuddling with Grandpa up in the Snowy Range (the same day the dumb fire started).