Four Months Old

Allen was four months old on Tuesday. I keep hoping that time will slow down, but it certainly has not! We had his check-up on Tuesday, and the doctor says that he looks great. He is 16lbs 14ozs and 26 1/4 inches long. That means he's more than doubled his birth weight and grown 6 inches! That's a lot of growing in four short months. Can you image doing that? We talked about sleeping habits, but I am still not ready to move him out of our room and start sleep training. I'm away from him all day; I don't want to be away from him all night too! This may sound a bit crazy, but I kinda like getting up with him in the night. Well, I like it when it is one time and when we can get up, snuggle, nurse, and go right back to bed. I am trying to eliminate the 4am feeding and just have one. The doc says that Allen doesn't wake up from hunger but from habit. He may be hungry when he wakes up but that's not the culprit. He also told us that the next few months will be super fun because of all the things he will be learning and doing. He is already so fun with all of his smiling and laughing; I can't image it getting better. :) Of course, we took a ton of pictures. Ms. Devon even helped take some during the day and got a super cute one of Allen and Cason playing together. Brooke and Kenneth watched Allen on Thursday night while I went to a meeting, and Brooke caught Allen and Kylie (her 5 month old daughter) holding hands under the play mat. She was able to capture it and is going to send me the picture. I'll add it asap. Enjoy Christian Allen at 4 months old!

Exciting Day

Today is a very exciting day! For all of DFW, we are having snow like we've never had before. Beautiful, soft, white snow that fell all day. About 8 inches of it have coated everything. The kids at school were having a great time. Snowball fights, lifesize snowmen, and snow angels were seen everywhere. I wish that Allen was old enough to enjoy it! Our own exciting news is that Allen has teeth!! I thought I felt them through the gums this morning, and then this afternoon they had already broken through! The bottom two have made their appearance. It seems crazy that he can already have teeth, and it makes me a little sad. I don't want him to grow too fast! Because of the weather I get to spend all day with him tomorrow - yay! Maybe that will help me asorb his baby moments before they come and go too quickly. Here are some fun pics to document the snow and teeth. Smiles to all!

1st outing

Last Sunday, January 24th, was Allen's first public appearance. Until then he had only been to family's houses and to Ms. Devon's. We went to church. Allen was all dressed up in an outfit Uncle Uli gave him for Christmas. He looked adorable and like a little man! We got everything ready and headed out. Allen did great in the service until... he had a huge blow out poop! Ok, we could handle it, except - we forgot the diaper bag! Christian packed it, and I checked it before we left (even added a few more diapers). It was on the table just where we had left it. Our church, The Heights, is about 20 minutes from home, so we left immediately. I heard enough of the sermon to know that Pastor Gary was encouraging us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with others. I'll tell you this, after having a son, the fact that God allowed his to be sacrificed for us, has an entiredly new significance. I can't imagine doing that even if it would save the world for the rest of eternity. This is major! God loves us more than I love Allen and that is amazing. If you haven't already, think about this. It is crazy good news. Here's Allen in his Sunday best and just at home being cute:

16 lbs

Allen is weighing in at 16 pounds today!!!

Allen is 3 months old!

I can't believe that our sweet baby is already 3 months old. I wish time would slow down! He's had so many changes over the past couple of weeks it's hard to tell which are due to growth and which are due to schedule changes. Allen started daycare last Monday, Jan 4th. He stays at a home in Wylie with two other baby boys while we're at work. When they get a little older, they'll have a great time together. For me, every morning is extremely difficult. I can't stand leaving him! It is not natural for a mother to be seperated from her baby. However, since I have to work, I'm thankful for the job that I have. I love what I do and each day passes quickly. It will be a constant battle to continue doing everything I want with my job and still be the best mommy I can be. Allen has had a cold this week but continues to smile and laugh through the coughs and congestion. What an angel! A couple of days ago he started batting at his toys on his carseat and paymat that hang down.

He's constantly getting stronger and loves to stand up. We're cherishing every moment with him! One of my favorites was last weekend. We all slept late and then hung out in the room for a while before starting the day. The countdown of the top country songs of the decade was on the radio, and we took turns singing and dancing. The #1 song was "Live Like You Were Dying." We did exactly that. What's better than that precious time with our baby?! Here are some pictures to mark Allen's 3 month birthday:

Here are the comparisons of Allen at 1 month, 2 months, and now today at 3 months:

Allen's 1st Christmas

Allen's first Christmas lasted well over a week. It was full of family, food, and fun! He was ready with lots of cute Christmas outfits. Here's one that is a hat from Aunt Diana and an outfit from Uncle Luis and Aunt Deana (it has Rudolf on the booty):

Allen got to meet Santa for the first time! The house at the end of our street had great lights to music and Santa came to pass out candy canes and visit with children. It was a perfect opportunity to get a cute pic with Santa:

Allen got to join in a fun Inman tradition of making and decorating Christmas cookies. Gigi, Alyssa, and Kayla helped out. :)



We went over to Gigi and Grandad's on the 23rd to make a few last minute treats like Special K cookies and butterscoth pretzels. Mom had already made food for several meals and all the best desserts and munchies. Normally we spend the night there, but this year we took Allen home and came back the next morning for our famous Christmas brunch. It is my favorite meal of the whole year! Sausage egg casserole, hashbrown casserole, baked cinnamon apples, homemade bread, and more - yum! We have lots of cute pictures with the Inman family opening gifts. We had a great time celebrating with everyone and were thankful to be able to share time and gifts with them. Here's one family pic. (I'll put others on Facebook.)






That night the plan was to head to the Baez family Christmas celebration, but it started snowing in the afternoon and continued all night. Reports of road closings and accidents kept us at home. It was beautiful and a special white Christmas for Allen's 1st, but it did affect our plans. We went to Christian's parents' house on Christmas day. Unfortunately, Christian's grandmother was admitted to the hospital and wasn't looking good. (More on this later.) There wasn't much Christmas celebrating with this news. Allen and I went back to Mom and Dad's that evening for Christmas dinner; Christian stayed with his family awaiting news. The following day (26th) we enjoyed time at Pop and Judy's. We got to visit with both Lane families and the Gillises. I don't know how, but we missed taking pictures this day. The following week we got special time with cousins! Ian and Timothy came over and hung out one day. Another day we got to spend with Maria, Sue, and Ellis. I think Maria wins the award for getting the most smiles and laughs out of Allen. They had a great time together! This takes us up to New Year's 2010. Allen and I spent special time together. Here he is:
Hope everyone had a special Christmas and a blessed start to 2010!

2 months

Allen is two months old today! I can't believe the time has passed so quickly. I'm sure it has because I don't want it to. This time with him has been the best two months of my life. I remember when we first came home from the hospital Mom and Dad both asked (at seperate times) if it was strange to have a baby in the house. Christian and I both agreed that, strangely enough, it was not. It seemed exactly as it should be. He has been an absolute joy, an angel baby, and full of love. He has both of us by the heartstrings (along with some grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins too). We are cherishing every moment of the last two months and all those to come.

This morning I took some 2 month old pictures to show how cute he is and to compare with his one month old pics. Take a look:



Here is the same pictures just one month ago:


We visited Dr. Rosen for his 2 month appointment and were very surprised at his new stats! Allen is 24 1/8 inches long (91%) and weighs 13.6 pounds (94%). He is big! Except for his head, which is 15.2 inches (26%). I told him not to get used to it; if he's like his Mama and Daddy this will reverse soon. Surely our son will be a bit smaller with a big head. Maybe he'll be lucky. Here he is with Daddy at the doctor:

Of course there are several more cute photos of Allen, but we'll just add the ones with each of us for documentation. :)

Worst thing today:

-shots!! Allen's a trooper, but they still hurt!

Best things today:

-happy baby time in the morning

-surprise growth stats

-seeing Jocelyn and fam at Dr. Rosen's