Blair Update- Almost 2.5 Years Old

Blair didn't seem so big until Beau arrived, but overnight now she does. It's crazy that she is no longer the baby of the family. Luke and I were reflecting recently on some of the unique things about her at this age that we wanted to remember, so here we go:

• Did I mention she cut her own hair? It was right after I had given Blake a haircut and she had watched a little too closely. It is not that bad, but it is in front (the bangs) and one part is really short. 

• Because Bailey and Blake are always doing arts and crafts, she does know how to use scissors really well for her age. She will cut grass on a strip of paper or around the perimeter of paper for long, long periods of time.

• It is crazy how many toys and books she sleeps with. It can be up to 30ish things!?!? Must haves are her 2 taggies, baby Gigi, the mother and baby fox, her monkey, Elmo, and the cat pillow. It may not look like it, but she is asleep in the picture. Oh, and during naptime she sneaks over to Bailey's bed and carries her crew with her.

• She is my most particular eater right now and a total scavenger with any food that is left on the table-ours or someone else's. One example of her pickiness is that she doesn't like Chick-fil-A (???)
• She runs/bounds everywhere, we hardly ever see her walk.
• Talk about independent..."my do" and don't think about leaving her out..."ME! ME!" She moves her chair from the dinner table all over the kitchen to see or get things she wants.
• Just recently she colored our comforter, the bathroom rug, her clothes, the bathroom scale, and the bathroom stool all in a matter of 2-3 minutes. Thankfully, I have learned only to have washable markers in the house.
• She recently moved into Blake's carseat, which has a cup holder right by it. I forgot how much she likes to pour liquids from one cup to the other and she totally poured all her chocolate milk into the cup holder. Needless to say, she is usually the Messy, Messy Mezger.
• Like Bailey, her favorite show is Elmo. During one of the snow days we got out the Halloween costumes for some fun.

• Katie (or Emmy if you ask Blair) gave her a very cute mom & baby fox. The way she pronounces fox though sounds like fock, which is too close to another word.

• She still likes other people's shoes- her favorites are my TOMS wedges and Bailey's boots. Funny thing is that she does not like to wear shoes at preschool and most days I show up and she is barefooted. 

• We are not potty training her yet, but most nights before bathtime she hops right on the potty after Bailey & Blake and goes. She has also gone poop three times all on her own and only told me afterwards. Hopefully that means that potty training in June goes fairly easy. 

• She loves preschool and is usually happy to tell me about what they did- songs, paint, a special snack and most of the time I can understand her. This was at their preschool's Rodeo Day feeding a baby goat.

•  She is always the first up and loves to come find me and snuggle. If she finds me in bed, then she wants me up- "Up mommy, come on mommy". These were my early birds one morning this week.

•  She calls Beau "my Beau" and will argue with you otherwise. Holding Beau still lasts about 30 seconds.

• If she gets wronged, she is very good about telling us who wronged her and acting out what they did to her. 

• Give her some wipes and she will go to town cleaning for you!

• She can pick up tunes like the Olympics theme song and Star Wars really quickly, but also ones with words like "Let It Go" and "We Are" (From Ice Age 4). 

• She recently learned her own version of the I Love You Sign.

•  Favorite books are Hickory, Dickory Dock that has a mouse puppet and We Are Going On a Bear Hunt.  

• When she was little I used to think she looked like Bailey, but now I think she and Blake favor each other. 

 Blair we love you and all your uniqueness!

Everything is Starting to Blur Together

We are 2 weeks in and everything is starting to blur together a bit. I think that is mostly because we have not really left the house yet. Blake and Blair did start back to preschool, but Bailey is on week 2 of Spring Break, which has been SO nice. That has allowed us to eased back into our old life before next week, when it's GAME ON for me as a mommy. I think I can still count on one hand how many times I have gotten out of the house so far.

Everyone is always asking "How's it going?" The most honest answer is that there are highs and lows. My slower recovery has been a bit of a low as it is SO hard to slow down & not overdo it. Another low is how painful nursing is, but that is very normal for me. Highs would be that we have a meal calendar and wonderful, delicious, and new to us meal are arriving at dinner time & also that a dear friend is taking the kids to preschool for the 2nd week in a row. Oh, and Beau seems to have a pretty predictable schedule- there is nothing of note during the day, but oh about 7:30-8:30 he gets fussy (we think due to gas) and wants to cluster feed until around 10:30-11:30 and then he sleeps for four hours, nurses, and will sleep for 3.5- 4 hours. I only know this because I have an iphone app that is keeping track of this data. One night he even slept for 5 hours, which was awesome! I know that may or may not seem like a high and I am fully aware that it may not last, but it has certainly been nice as I am getting more sleep than I was during parts of my pregnancy. He does seem to handle being #4 like a champ- lots of touching and it is not quiet around here. The best part for me is that I have loved watching him wake up & seeing his eyes and an occasional smile.

2 Week Check Up Stats were: Weight- 8 lbs (49%) & Height- 20.5 inches (49%)

Alot of people also ask "Who do we think he looks like?" I am sure this might change, but right now he most strongly favors Blake. The biggest difference is his chin dimple.

Here's the most recent picture of Beau. We are still loving all our Colt pass-me-downs. 

This is Blake at 3 Weeks Old. 

I would title these "My Beau". Blair definitely loves her brother! More on this little girl in another post coming soon.

Here's one from our St Patrick's playdate with the Kuykendalls.

 We have gotten out almost all our activites keeping everyone entertained. One morning all they did LEGOS-

Bailey's T-Rex

Blake's airplane

One fun thing that Bailey and I did was go eat lunch with Emmy at her school. Luke did office work while Beau napped & Blake and Blair were at preschool.

 We even got to play the game inside the meal for about 15 minutes.

 

Luke's birthday is today! We celebrated with Franny last night after Bailey's gymnastics.

And we got to visit with Colin (one of Luke's college roomates) one last time before he & his family leave for Slovakia for awhile. 

Adventures with the Grandparents

The kids have had lots of grandparent adventures lately. 

I will start with Gigi while she was watching the kids during our hospital stay with Beau. So not really an adventure, but she sends these pictures to me...

To which I reply, "teach me your ways". It was nice to come home to a very clean house!

She also had Blair's hair in all sort of cute new hairdos- we call this the "have piggies" or half piggies. 

 

Bailey and Gigi made this list and had two mornings while Blake and Blair were at preschool to start crossing things off. They did not get to all of it, but they did have alot of fun!

This was Bailey rock climbing and bowling.

Franny's adventures included the Lego movie (which Blake said was totally awesome!), Extreme Fun (a bouncy house place) with Owen & Rebecca, and a sleepover!

Extreme Fun Cousin Picture

In the Foam Pit

At Nana's park

Decorating Herself

 Working in the Garden

Lastly, we invited Grandpa Robert into town to meet Beau. This was our first outing as a family of 6 and thankfully Beau slept through lunch.

Next we went out to Granite Shoals to see the piggies he told the kids about and did some exploring.

This was apparently where the pigs were born.

Blake found a cow skull he brought home that is now on our playscape.

One of the group by the feeder.

Thanks grandparents! We are lucky to have you!!!

Beau's Quilt

I have this friend, Rose, and her creative outlet is making quilts for the babies of her friends. I have said it before, but it is a serious labor of love and a beautiful keepsake. You might recognize Blake's quilt

or Blair's quilt.

Well, Beau's arrived yesterday and it is just perfect! PERFECT! How she does this with two little ones is a mystery. So, I literally could not wait till the big kids went to sleep to take some pictures of him on it.

 

Thank you Rose!

One Week Old

Where did a week go??? I can't believe Beau is 1 week old and that a week ago I was in labor!

A little selfie I took right after checking in. Luke was thoroughly enjoying the cable tv. 

 

I am loving my littlest Mezger and learning all about him. I already find myself whispering "don't grow up, don't grow up, don't grow up" and smothering him with snuggles & kisses. Knowing he is the last has definitely sent waves of mixed emotions and although I look forward to the days of sleeping through the night, cleaning out my closet to one size of clothing, and being a diaper free household, I am also so sad knowing that he will grow up too fast trying to keep up with his siblings and I will long for that newborn smell and holding a little one that's mine. Okay, you get it, but it feels good to write it all out.

Here's a few fun things from the week-

Beau got his first bath and he had many helpers...6 to be exact.  Each kid got a turn to wash him and after his diaper had been rubbing on his umbilical cord all day, the last helper to wash him helped it come all the way off- oops. Pretty sure from experience that was supposed to stay on a week or so longer.

This look seems to say "What just happened?", but he really did like bathtime by the end.

Speaking of helpers, Blair has done a great job of taking care of her Baby Beau. Nevermind that her Beau is a girl. 

We also had his newborn check up and he weighed in at 7lbs, 9ozs (49th%), so a little short of his birth weight, but I am sure he will catch back up soon. He and I were both exhausted after our first outing.

And we of course we had visitors!

The Fosheas

Jose- one of Luke's good friends from college who was in Austin for work stopped by.

 Beau Meets Beau. 

Beau Knox is the only other Beau that we have ever known.

Happy One Week Little Guy!