Easter 2014

My baby bunnies had a happy Easter...

{Painting Eggs}

{Good Friday}

{Fresh out of the bath and wearing new jammies}

{Easter Baskets}

Sully says, "Not safe."

Sharing candy with Dad.

It was an Easter miracle.  The bunny fixed our bongos :)

 {Fletcher Baby Fox FINALLY woke up}

Trying out his balloon powered race car.

{Meyers Family Easter at The Vintage House}

Fletcher with Great Grandpa Meyers.

Boobo decided Fletcher was too warm.

Serious egg hunt.

Lolli with her babies.

 {Murray Family Easter}

Sully casually checking out Brandon's birthday loot.

Fletch got some baby food in his Easter basket so we decided to go for it :)

YUM!

Sully and his love for hummus.

Easter games!

We returned home to find that our tulips had bloomed!  The perfect end to a pretty sweet Easter.

Fletcher | 5 months

Hello happiness!

That infectious smile gets me every time. 

You're so easygoing and sweet.
I wish I could bottle this joy...

You've started to develop a solid routine recently...which is both good and bad.  I love the predictability, but you also really, really want to be in your bed for naps now (you take 3, but I'd like to consolidate to 2 longer ones if you'll cooperate).  High pitched screeching begins if you're not in your dark, quite room (and tightly swaddled) when you're ready to sleep. No more snoozing in the car seat while Momma runs errands.  It makes scheduling things a bit more challenging.  It's like a puzzle...keeping your brothers' routine, coordinating it with your schedule and fitting in outtings and activities.  We're finding our groove, though.

You're still eating like a champ.  Nursing most of the time, but I've started supplementing with a bit of formula.  I haven't formally introduced solids yet, but I let you try some bites of avocado and banana when they happened to be on my plate one day.  You loved both!

You're able to reach for toys now and are really working on coordinating your hands to get things into your mouth.  It's so cute to watch the intense concentration on your face.  Witnessing a baby develop new skills never gets old no matter how many times I've experienced it before.  

You remain the center of your brothers' universe.  They read you books, show you toys and make sure your socks stay on.  And now you reach for them when they're near, which makes them feel so special.  They say "I think Fletch loves me!" :)  The foundation of a deep bond is being formed right before my eyes.

Five months have gone by in a flash.  I've looked back and I've looked forward, but I'm stopping to enjoy you right now, today. I'm taking note of the way your head fits perfectly in the curve of my neck, the weight of your sleeping body in my arms right before I lay you in your crib,  the softness of your skin.  These things can only be preserved in memory.  No picture, video or blog can capture them.

Loving a child feels both heavy and light.  The weight of the worry and the loss of time as it passes, combined with the lightness of giving selfless, pure love to another.  I hope you experience it for yourself one day, my dear Fletcher.  And when you do you'll know how much I truly love you.

My whole heart,
Momma

We've Got a Soccer Player!

I love having boys for so many reasons.  However, there was one thing that I was NOT looking forward to as a "boy mom"...and its definitely not the thing most people would assume :)

For me, it was SPORTS (I realize I'm stereotyping here, but I just wasn't a girl who played sports).  I see the value in team sports and want all of my children to play them (whether boys or girls), but I never had any interest.  

I remember putting baby Max in one of the many sports-themed onesies we were inundated with when we announced we had a boy and thinking..."I better start embracing this".   At that point the thought of spending weekends at soccer fields, football games, basketball tournaments, etc made me less than excited.  How was I going to be enthusiastic about sports if my son(s) chose to play them?  

Well, I found out how.  It's when your kid is on the field and they're loving every minute of it.

Max just started playing Pre-K soccer with Brookside Soccer Club and already I'm hooked.  Watching him learn new skills and run down the field (most likely in the wrong direction) with a huge smile on his face...it doesn't get any better.

I'm also impressed that he can actually dribble the ball and pick up other basic skills pretty easily.  He has better coordination at 4 years old than I do as an adult.  When it comes to the athletic gene I'm merely a "carrier". I hope that with all the athletic ability on my side of the family and in Billy's family that my boys find sports come easy to them.  But if they don't, their momma will sure be able to empathize.

For now, there's nothing I'd rather do on a beautiful Saturday morning than watch my little soccer player give it all he's got on the field (well...at least until he notices a snack on the sidelines :)

Obviously, I had to find some sort of creative angle to the whole business, so I surprised Max with a personalized water bottle before his first game.  Apparently having a genuine water bottle is a very key element to his soccer playing.  He explained that to me after being sent to a couple practices with a plain old bottle of water.  He was thrilled with the upgrade.

A little reward was in order after his first game.   Thanks (I guess?) to Lolli & Boobo for these charming suckers ;)

I'm no longer worried about my lack of love for sports, because the love I have for my boys more than makes up for it.  And whatever they choose to pursue I'll be their #1 fan.

Go Team!
Sara, Soccer Mom