Our Lil Munchkins: Dr. checkups, birthday,

Boy the past month has really flown by, we've had Dr. appointments, a trip to Oklahoma, Shelby's birthday, where is the time going?? Oh yes, my days are filled with nursing, diapers, naps (Joshua's, not mine!!) and playing or reading with Shelby whenever I can manage it.....and somehow managing some laundry & dishes in there somewhere. Cooking has fallen by the wayside unless it's hot dogs or hamburger helper, ha!! I did manage one slow cooker meal this week but that was only because it required the one pot, ha! Right now life is a little crazy & exhausting, but all well worth it for the joy my lil munchkins bring me.

Joshua had his 1-month checkup in August and he was 8lb 5.5 oz and 20 5/8 inches. The Dr. was really pleased with his weight gain and I explained how he'd been on a feeding frenzy, so I knew he had to be doing well!! At week 3, Joshua went on a growth spurt where he was nursing every hour for 2-3 hour spurts, usually once during the day (from 1-3 pm) and again in the evening sometimes (from 8-10). I was not sure I could keep up with nursing, it was exhausting! Thankfully it did taper off and he went back to a fairly consistent schedule of every 2-3 hours. Once in awhile we have a growth spurt day though and we get those frequent feedings again. He is a good sleeper at night though, very good to go right back to sleep after nursing.....w/Shelby, I usually had to soothe her more, so this has been a welcome difference. It's funny to see all the differences between them....for instance Joshua doesn't take a pacifier like Shelby did, I can get him to use it a little but he has not taken to it like she did. It's also taking him a little more effort to take a bottle than Shelby. We're still working on it. He has slept a long stretch a few nights, going 5-6 hours, which was great! And he loves to take a long nap in the morning after nursing, so at least I can get Shelby & I breakfast and we have a little time together. The last 2 weeks have been really fun as he has been smiling and cooing. I'm trying really hard to get a smile on camera, but so far no luck. He always does them when I don't have the camera handy. I hope to get one soon!!

Shelby has been so great throughout this transition in our lives. She is really very patient and understanding about waiting on me to help her with things. And she's been so good to play by herself or do crafty things when I'm busy. She loves to play games on the Disney Fairies website. I know things will get a little easier once Joshua is on a consistent nap schedule. She is really a good big sister to Joshua, she just loves on him all the time. She is always saying "What you doing??" in this funny little voice to him. She told me the other day "I think Joshua's cute, we should keep him." So glad she felt that way, ha!! Then the other night she told Drew & I that Joshua should be the last kid we have!! When I asked her why, she said because we had a boy and a girl. I was glad to hear that reasoning instead of her maybe not liking him as much as we thought!

We celebrated Shelby's 4th birthday on August 8th, taking her bowling. I knew I wasn't up for having something at the house and all the stress of cleaning it beforehand & the cleanup after, so we went to a place called Main Event and the kids got to bowl and then we had pizza, cake & presents. Shelby & the other kids all really enjoyed the bowling, more than I thought they would! We want to go back soon, she keeps talking about how fun it was. She had a Sally themed cake (from the Cars movie) that turned out really cute. It wasn't exactly what I had wanted, but oh well, all she would care about is that Sally was on there. All in all it was a lot of fun and she really had a good time. She starts preschool after Labor Day, will be going 2 days/week at our church again. She's looking forward to that & seeing her preschool friends again. She continues to crack us up with her antics.....she recently started winking, but can only do her right eye. When you ask her to do the left eye, she just covers it with her hand, ha! She loves to take pictures with her princess digital camera, has taken several of Joshua. She also figured out that she can roll her tongue....not sure how she learned this, she was just doing it all of a sudden! That is definitely a Morrel trait and one I cannot do. Her Nana, Uncle Russ & Aunt Kellie all can, and her Daddy too. She can write her name and loves to do her United States puzzle, she's gotten pretty fast at it. The other day she told me that I need to teach her all the names, so we're working on that. She has the Southern region pretty well, we're working on the Northern states. I'm looking forward to what this next year will bring. I thought this past year was one of the best & most fun, much easier than the 2-year old age! It will be neat to see what all she learns this year.

All in all, everything here is going well, even if a bit chaotic at times. But like everything in life, you learn to manage and just take each day as it comes. Hope you enjoy the pictures!!