Two Months

Colten was two months on October 30. The time is flying!! It almost seems like you can SEE him grow. Here are his two month pictures:





A few highlights from the month:

* He is smiling and cooing a lot. Melts my heart! Even when it is at 2 in the morning!

* He just discovered his hands and is fascinated when his fists cross his line of vision. It is so funny to see him just stare at them!

* He weighed 11 lbs 2 oz at his 2 month checkup and was 22 1/4 inches long.

* On Friday night (10/29), he slept from 10:30 pm to 6:00 am. I felt like a new woman!! I did have to get up a few times and give him his pacifier, but at least we didn't have that 2 am feeding. It was heavenly...sleep is a precious thing! Although we have had a few rough nights since then, he is sleeping pretty good for the most part.

* He has lost a lot of the dark hair he was born with but still has a ring of dark hair around the bottom of his head. We call it his old-man hair!

A few more pictures from the month of October:

Shutterfly Card Promotion

I will admit it...I love Shutterfly. I have countless photobooks from them and have used them for Christmas cards for several years now. I love designing the photo cards each year - and they are easy to order and they look great! Besides, family and friends usually love to see updated pictures!

As usual, Shutterfly has some great card options this year. Here are a few of my favorites:

I like both of these...and you can change the titles to say "Merry Christmas" or whatever you want. Love that!

This one is just fun!

Another favorite!

Now we just need to get a good family picture! That usually means about 50 or so attempts - much to the delight of my husband.

So check out the new Shutterfly holiday cards - I know you will find something you like! They also have some some great gift ideas - like Christmas ornaments and wall calendars. I make calendars for the great grandparents every year - and they LOVE them!

If you are a blogger, you might be interested in the promo Shutterfly is currently offering. You can get 50 free photo cards just by blogging about this offer. You can't beat that!

So go get some good pictures...and if you are free, you are welcome to come over and take ours!

Deja Vu

When I am holding Colten, I sometimes feel like I have been transported back 6 years to when Tanner was born. They are alike in so many ways. And then I pulled out some of Tanner's baby pictures. Oh yes...twins born 6 years apart!

One Month

Colten turned one month old last week - and even though I am feeling very sleep deprived with a newborn in the house, it still makes me sad that he is growing so fast. Maybe it is because of our fertility struggle over the last several years. I can't help but wonder if this will be our last one and if it is, I want to savor every single second! Chris tells me that I am already spoiling him. Just because he cries in the middle of the night but then is happy as a lark when I pick him up and lay him in bed with me! I tell him that you can't spoil a newborn (or at least that is what I keep telling myself!).

But how am I supposed to resist this:



A friend of a friend makes these adorable iron-on "monthly" transfers. They are perfect for the monthly photo shoot. You can find them here. Here are a few more pictures from his "1 month" session:








A few highlights from Colten's first month:

• He is VERY alert for a newborn. In fact, when he was born he was wide-eyed and alert for the first two hours or so. He studied the face of every family member holding him and would even turn his head to look for other voices that he heard. Everyone commented on how alert he was and even our nurse said she had never seen a newborn that alert. In fact, I think she used the word "trippy" to describe it...I wasn't so sure I wanted that word used in relation to my precious new baby boy, but it did make me laugh!


• The smiles started early - around 2 weeks - and we get them regularly now (as seen in the pictures above).


• We had a weight scare at his 2 week appointment. The doctor weighed him in at 6 lbs 10 oz - more than a pound under his birth weight of 7 lbs 12 oz. I took him in the next week to check it again and he weighed in at 6lb 8 oz. It didn't make any sense because he was eating well, had the right number of pee and poop diapers, and was a very content baby. But the doctor's scale said 6 lbs 8 oz - and scales don't lie right?? She told me to go see a lactation consultant and I made an appointment for the next day. When I took him in, he weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz. I stood there in shock...knowing that he didn't gain a pound in 24 hours. She had 4 different scales in her office and we checked them all. Yep, my boy was a healthy 8 lbs all right! Turns out the doctor's scale was off!! I was dumbfounded and more than a little annoyed. All that stress and worry for nothing!


• Tanner loves his little brother! He has to give him a kiss every morning on his way to school and wants to kiss on him and hold him when he gets home. I love it!!

Finally, here are a few more pics from the month. I also took weekly pictures this month because he was changing so fast!

Colten Lee Adams

Colten Lee Adams made his arrival at 12:26 PM on Monday, August 30. He was only 4 days past his due date - which was better than his big brother who made me wait for 8 days after his due date!

We are so excited that he is finally here - and I must admit that I still have moments when I can't hardly believe that God has given us this miracle. After four years of longing for another baby and thinking it would never happen, I feel incredibly blessed that God has given me the desire of my heart!

And not only did He give me another baby, but He gave me an easygoing one at that! In fact, I remember my mom telling me after Tanner was born that I had not experienced a real baby because Tanner was so easy. Well, it looks like I still haven't experienced a "real" baby because at least so far, Colten has been very easy as well. God knows how much we can handle - and apparently He knows I need easy!!

Here are some pictures from the first 11 days of Colten's life:

Tanner's first soccer season

This spring, Tanner had his first experience with organized sports. The two options were soccer and t-ball. After some discussion, we decided to go with soccer this year - mainly because we figured the constant running and activity would be best for Tanner at this age!

The season started in March and we had 10 games. Tanner loved it and it really was fun to go to the games and watch our little guy play. It is still hard to believe that he is already old enough for sports!

Here are some pictures from the season:

Etched Glasses

Last month, we were able to get away for a long weekend at the beach. It was heavenly!! Lots of naps and relaxation and a chance to catch up on the stack of magazines that were gathering dust on my nightstand.

As I was reading the latest Southern Living (one of my favorite magazines!), I ran across an article on etching glass. This is not something I had ever thought of doing - but they made it look so easy...

...and they had this adorable idea! Don't you just love them??



These would be perfect for summer dinner parties - nobody would lose their glass! I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them and NEEDED a reason to make them. With Mother's Day only a few weeks away, I decided they would be the perfect gift for my mom. We have a large family, and every time we get together for dinner we pull out the faithful red plastic cups and everyone writes their name on a cup. It accomplishes the intended purpose...but THESE glasses would be SO MUCH CUTER!!

So, I picked up 16 glasses from Walmart:



And I set out with my trusty Southern Living magazine and the listed supplies. I used my Cricut to cut out the numbers directly on the clear contact paper. Then I simply put the contact paper on the glass, brushed the etching cream on, let it sit for 10 minutes, and then rinsed under running water. Take the contact paper off...and you have an etched number on your glass. Oh my goodness, this seriously could not be any easier. Truly!!

An inexpensive, easy, handmade gift - I love it!





My stencils weren't quite as fat and chunky as the numbers on the Southern Living glasses...so my glasses didn't look quite the same. But I still liked the way they turned out. I might play with some different fonts next time. The possibilities are really endless! I even thought about trying some with a monogram. They would make a unique wedding gift.

Which reminds me...I need to go get some glasses and make a set for me! If you want to try it out for yourself, the instructions are on the Southern Living website here.

The Gender Reveal Party

About a month after we found out I was pregnant, I ran across the cutest idea for a fun twist on finding out what we were having. A friend from my college days was pregnant with her 4th, and she posted this idea with some pictures on her Facebook page. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to do the same thing!

So here is how it goes:

On our sonogram day, we told the technician that we wanted her to write down the gender and put it in sealed envelope - without telling us the results! So she warned us when she got to that part of the ultrasound and we turned our heads. We left the doctor's office that day with a sealed envelope - the inside telling us whether the baby was a boy or girl. I will admit that it was difficult to not tear that envelope open - but I knew it would be worth it in the end to keep the secret! Of course, it was even more difficult since the sonogram was on Wednesday...and we weren't finding out the result until Saturday!

I then took the envelope to a friend that makes cakes. Her instructions were to make the cake either pink or blue on the inside, depending on the results inside the envelope - but to make the outside of the cake gender neutral so it wouldn't give anything away.

We picked up the cake on Saturday morning, and that afternoon we had a party with our family to find out the baby's gender. I decorated the dining room in both pink and blue...it was so fun!



We even had pink and blue fruit dip!





I sent Chris to pick up the cake that morning and it was SO CUTE! Far beyond what I had imagined! Of course, when he walked in and showed it to me, I was caught off guard because the outside was blue. But he told me that our friend said the outside in no way indicated what the inside would reveal. So that left me even more confused...was she giving a hint, or was it to throw us off because the inside would be pink?? Only time would tell!







Tanner had a soccer game later that morning, and then the whole family came over after the game for our "baby reveal" party. I had everyone guess what they thought we were having - by writing their name on either a pink or blue piece of paper. The overall result was 5 "boy" guesses and 7 "girl" guesses.

Chris, Tanner and I then cut open the cake for the big reveal.

It's A Boy!!!

We are very excited about having another boy in the family! There is nothing quite like the snuggles and kisses that a little boy gives his mommy!