Maddox - 6 months old

On Feb. 6, Maddox turned 6 months old. A half a year has gone by and we don't know what we did before we had this sweet little guy. His personality is coming out more and more, and as you can see from the pictures, he is VERY smiley. He smiles at everyone. Even if he's tired or hungry he will usually try to smile. And that little smile melts my heart every time. In addition to all the smiling, he is starting to giggle and laugh a lot more now toward the end of the month.  He's enjoying playing now with rattles, links, in his activity center (baby gym) and a little ball that lights up and sings when he pushes or kicks it. He is now down to two naps - morning and afternoon - and his feedings are more in line with the rest of the family: breakfast, lunch, afternoon, dinner, bedtime. We've been trying lots of veggies and fruits in addition to cereal, and so far he's enjoyed them all. He is still an avid little nurser and takes a bottle of pumped milk once while I'm working. He drools a lot, so much in fact that we have to keep Aquaphor or Vaseline on his cheeks and chin all the time or else he gets red and chapped. He also sucks his left index finger relentlessly which contributes to the redness along with the drier winter air I'm sure. 

One of his favorite things to do is take a bath. He kicks so much that I can't put his baby tub up on the kitchen sink anymore because he gets everything soaking wet. So I stick it in the big bathtub and usually Lailey gets in there too (in the big tub, not the baby tub of course). Combining bathtime is fun and easier for everybody. Plus they love being in there together. Besides kicking in the tub he's becoming a little wiggler on the changing table. He kicks so much it's hard to change him. 

Applesauce! Of all the new foods we've been trying lately, this got the best reaction. What a face.

Those little cheeks are getting chubbier.

"Well, if you guys are just going to leave me in here, then I'll just go to sleep."

What a drooly little man!

A couple of weeks ago, both kids got very sick, and we found out Maddox had RSV. He was one miserable sick little guy. I don't ever want to see one of my kids that sick again. Lailey probably had it too but in older kids it is more like a really bad cold. It actually turned into an ear infection, her first ever. Thankfully, they are all better now with no lasting effects, and we are really praising God for it. They recovered more quickly than I thought they might, and we were able to travel last week with Davey. Maybe I'll get around sometime to posting pictures from Gatlinburg, TN.

Lailey Feeds Maddox

One of Lailey's favorite games now involves her playing "Mommy" and me pretending to be "Lailey." She tells me, "I'm the mommy, Soooooo..." and then proceeds to explain what she is going to do for me, to me, or with me for the time being.  This typically includes making me breakfast, putting me down for a nap (awesome!), or this afternoon while grocery shopping, it was "buying marshmallows." It's quite fun to see her imagination at work. She is slowly getting more independent at helping with actual things around the house like picking up her room, putting laundry in the dryer, and putting things away for me. 

Lailey asked if she could feed Maddox the other night, and so I obliged.  I had to capture the memorable occasion on video, of course.  Enjoy!

"It have veg-tuh-buls in it."

P.S. The rattling noise is Maddox kicking his feet. He's becoming quite the mover and shaker lately.

Baby Photoshoot

You know when you look at someone's family picture, and everyone seems to be smiling and have a great expression? Well, it's easy to forget that getting that one successful photo often takes hundreds of other shots that end up in the trash, digitally speaking. Since getting my new camera last fall I've realized that the most difficult way to learn about digital photography is while photographing kids. But that's what I want to take pictures of the most! So I've been on a fasten-your-seatbelt-and-enjoy-the-ride, and yeah, you'd-better-know-your camera-well-because-you-have-negative-0.5-seconds-to-change-a-setting-to-get-that-shot kind of learning experience here. It's not easy! Kids move, they don't cooperate, they smile only if they want to, they cry, they whine, etc. Not mine of course. But ya know, other people's kids. Ha. Haha. 

Since we failed to get a picture of the three Akin grandkids (Addy, Lailey, and Maddox) in their Christmas pajamas on Christmas, I told my mom-in-law we'd try to do it afterwards. With Davey and Nick behind me putting on a show, this is what we came up with.

pulling hair

This makes me laugh EVERY TIME.  That face. Hahaha!

Getting better

A keeper!

Addy giving kisses - or licking Lailey - whichever way you want to interpret that

This melts my heart

Oooh! Little person littler than me!

More kisses

I actually trashed many more besides these. Thankfully, Grammy was very happy with the results. :)

Lailey and the Puppies

Lailey loves animals, and puppies are no exception. Uncle Eli and Aunt Whitney's dog, Kovy, had puppies on Christmas day. A few days later we went to see them before their eyes were opened. They are so adorable, and Lailey was so gentle and sweet with them.

Christmas Swing Set

Want to find out how strong your marriage is? I have the perfect test. Ready for this? 1) Decide that a swing set is the perfect Christmas gift for your toddler, despite the fact that it is winter. 2) Order said swing set. 3) Assemble it together, at night, in the freezing cold weather.  Sound like fun? Actually, when it was all said and done, it wasn't really that bad. But there were a few moments when we could have both screamed at the manufacturers for making the stupid bolts too short so each one took 5x longer than it should to match up with the nuts...but I digress.  

Doesn't look too bad, right?

Davey workin' the hammer

For one whole week, we had to stealthily get Lailey to and from the car without accidentally looking too far around the side of the house or else she would have seen the big surprise. Thankfully, it worked, and Christmas morning we were SO excited to show her.

Getting ready to go out

First glimpses

First ride

Wheeeee!

And this makes it all worth it! Even nutbrown hare got to swing.

Christmas with Family

We are so blessed to have so much family around us.  In fact, our celebrations were spread out over a week.  Imagine Lailey's excitement when we told her yet again, that "we get to open presents tomorrow!" We all received so many blessings this Christmas, and Lailey had a blast. Here are some of my favorite pictures from all the wonderful times had with family.

Mmm...s'mores at the Akins house outside by the fire

Lailey is still licking her fingers!

Lailey with her orange "Bilibo," a creative toy that can be used for lots of things 

Her new FAVORITE book

Maddox with his first Elmo

Kisses for Grandpa

Awesome sleeping bag from Uncle Tim and Aunt Amy

Her new tricycle from Grandpa Jim

Thanks to our wacky weather, it was about 70 degrees that day!

Lailey with cousins on Davey's side

Lailey with cousins on Sarah's side

Visit with Santa

Dec 19th, 2011

We drove to go see Santa Claus at the Bass Pro Shop. Now, I realize this outdoor/fishing/hunting/camping/boating store does not sound like a normal place to get a picture with Santa, but this is our third year in a row going. Not many things in life are free, but these are FREE pictures. You never have to wait long (we went on a Monday morning and had zero wait time - brilliant!) because even if there's a line they give you an assigned time card to come back so the most we ever waited was probably 20 min last year. They let you take your own pictures if you want (which turned out better anyway). And this Santa, well he's pretty cool. He had a whole conversation with Lailey about Jesus and Christmas after we noticed his "Keep Christ in Christmas" pin and large cross. Altogether a cool experience. Afterwards we walked around the store having fun checking everything out. 

The life-sized stuffed golden retriever that Lailey loved

 The next picture looks all warm and fuzzy, but it took a little bribing to achieve. I spotted these fur hats in a bin and thought it would be cute if Lailey wore it. Uh, no, she wasn't having it. No amount of convincing her about it's cuteness factor was going to work. So Daddy pulled out the big guns...literally.

 So, how do you get the kid to where the hat for the picture? Bribe her with a pop gun of course!

She only got to pop it a couple of times, but it was successful!

Sweet!

What came next? A conversation something like this:
Davey: "Ooh, look she's having so much fun! (whispers) Maybe we should get her one."
Sarah: "No dear, a pop gun is NOT an appropriate toy for a two-year-old."