My son a Longhorn fan? Seriously?!?!?

It would appear at the young age of 4 months our son is declaring himself a Longhorns fan. SO not cool in an OU household!!! Joshua has taken to sucking on his 2 middle fingers when he's hungry or sleepy, and sometimes just because, and when he does, it looks like he's doing the "hook'em horns" symbol of the Texas Longhorns, one of OU's biggest rivals. Mom is not too thrilled about this!! Drew thinks it is hilarious. Shelby keeps telling me that Joshua is not doing it right, it's supposed to be "Longhorns upside down!!". HA!! At least I've trained one kid well, I guess I have my work cut out with #2!! :)

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we had a nice day here at the house. Drew had to work Friday, so we stayed in TX and are going up later on Friday to spend the weekend with my family. Below are some pics from yesterday, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Hook'em Horns! What?? This isn't ok?!?

And in his sleep....sigh, what is a Mom to do?!

Shelby at her preschool Thanksgiving feast, thought the hat was too cute.

Shelby & Daddy fryin' up our turkey! YUM!!

Shelby & Mommy making sweet potato crunch, she did a pretty good job mashing the potatoes!

So much to be thankful for!! Happy Thanksgiving!

Dr. Checkups, Preschool, & Jeep Jamboree

One would think being a stay at home Mom I could do better keeping this updated, but I know all you Mom's out there understand time just gets away from you with little ones at home!! Sometimes at the end of my day I wonder "What did I get done??" But I know this is a short season of life that will soon pass (all too quickly I'm afraid!!) and I'll miss this time. September & October were really busy with Dr. appointments, preschool started, the Jeep Jamboree & a visit to Oklahoma. Drew's parents also visited a couple of weeks ago & enjoyed meeting Joshua and taking Shelby bowling. Both Shelby & Joshua's well-care visits were in Sept. & they both got shots which was no fun at all. I won't do that again because it was too hard to comfort them both. I felt terrible not being able to comfort Shelby more, but then it was Joshua's turn and I couldn't hold them both. So, lesson learned, while it was convenient to have their appt. together and make one trip, I'd rather make 2 trips in order to focus on each child. Oh well, you live & learn.

Shelby's overall checkup went well, she was 43.8 lbs and 42 1/2 inches, still in the 90's percentage wise. She had her blood pressure taken, didn't like the cuff, and also her hearing & vision checked. She did well on everything and even with the shots she said she liked going to the Dr. Probably because they let her have 4 stickers! She started preschool at our church where she's been going the past 2 years and really likes her teacher. There are 9 kids in her class. She also started a program called KinderTots. They do a lot of basketball type drills and sing songs, incorporate shapes & colors in to the activities. She really likes it and it gives her an extracurricular activity to do. Her favorite things to do lately are play games on the computer, mostly on the Disney Princess & Tinkerbell sites, pretend to cook and ride her bike. Now that the weather is nice & cool, we can hardly keep her inside! She also loves listening to the iPod and playing with Uncle Russ' iPhone. Last night she asked if she could have an iPhone for Christmas, ha! We said Umm, NO. Her favorite snack these days is a spoonful of peanut butter, I think she would just sit & eat out of the jar if I let her! She won't eat a PB&J sandwich, but just loves spoonfuls of peanut butter. Too funny.....she's still not a fruit eater, but likes her veggies, and still likes to eat fruity snacks (those gummy type ones). Shelby also went w/Daddy & Uncle Russ on the Jeep Jamboree. I thought this was a bit ambitious of Drew, but she did really well. She loved it and he said she was really good, no complaining (even when she was super exhausted) or anything. She loved climbing on the rocks and riding in Daddy's Jeep, and of course hanging out in the RV. She thinks that is just too fun. He's already planning for all 4 of us to go next year we'll see. :) (I'm thinking they go do that and I find a spa to hang out at. HA!!)

Joshua is growing so fast, it is very hard to believe he was such a little guy at one time! His 2-month checkup went very well also, he was 11.3 lbs and 23 1/8 inches. He was in the 40% for his weight & 55% for height. The Dr. was really pleased with his growth. He gives us lots of smiles these days and is cooing and "talking" to us a lot. He is really loving the Gymini mat and bouncy seat, grabbing the toys and pulling them off when he tugs real hard. He is holding his head & chest up really well now when on his tummy and has rolled over a few times. About 2 weeks ago, Shelby & I were in the floor playing with him and he just rolled over. It was very exciting for me because I missed it when Shelby rolled over the very first time. She did that with Daddy, so I was excited that I saw Joshua do it the first time. But he's only done it a few times since, he'll push up on his side like he's going to but just doesn't get over. I'm sure he will soon be doing it all the time, hopefully then I'll have the camera handy! He is napping better, usually about 45 minutes to an hour about 3 times/day, occasionally he'll take a 2-hour nap at one stretch. But he is going to sleep on his own which is great. I can't figure out yet if he's going to be an earlier riser than Shelby was or a late sleeper. He'll wake up at 6am/7am to nurse, but then goes back to sleep until 9 or 10, so I'm not sure yet.

We're enjoying the cooler weather (finally got here!!) and watching football and the Texas Rangers in the playoffs/World Series. This weekend we're going to an air show in Ft. Worth and doing some Jeep thing, then next weekend headed up to Oklahoma to do a garage sale & see the family. I've posted lots of pictures since I was so behind. Enjoy!!

Big Sister & Little Brother

Playing on the Gymini mat...Shelby cracked me up w/her pose.

Shelby loves for Joshua to wear his little brother onesie, so he wears it a lot.

Shelby actually took this picture, pretty good job!!

She loves giving baby brother kisses.

1st day of preschool

Joshua loves bathtime & his big, green fluffy towel!

At the Jeep Jamboree, little hot & sweaty!

Jeep Jamboree

Playing cowgirl w/her horse they made @ preschool.

Kiddos napping on a Sunday afternoon.

Don't know how Shelby slept like that, it looks so uncomfortable.

Daddy & Joshua reading a Jeep magazine.

A picture of the future to come, she loves to be on Daddy's netbook.

Now that is some sort of getup!! She put this together herself, can you tell??

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!!

Oh the life of a baby.....

Shelby picked out this teddy bear for Joshua, to be his lovey.....it's huge next to him!!

Shelby & Daddy running through the water, she loved this thing!

Sweet boy sleeping.....see how he is getting a double chin, he was 3 weeks.

Aunt Kellie took the kids to the water park, too fun!!

Opening her "big" presents before the birthday party, she was sooo excited!!

Her vet stand from Uncle Russ ~ one of her favorite toys! She calls it the "pet fixer".

The princess vanity from Mommy & Daddy, a girl can never have enough princess stuff!!

Uncle Russ helps Shelby learn how to bowl.

It was so funny how all the kids would crowd around to cheer each other on.