Beau Harrison at 3 Months

*My blogging hiatus has been due to our annual beach trip with Justin's family. More on that to come!

My sweet boy is three months old!

• No check-up this month, but I weighed him at home, & he's about 13 lb 3 oz.
  
• Beau is getting to be so much fun these days! He gives the sweetest, gummy grins all day long & loves to laugh.
• He is wearing size 2 diapers & mostly 3-6 month or 6 month clothing. Our big boy is very long, so he usually outgrows things in length before filling them out fully.
• Beau's last feeding of the day is at 8:30 pm, & then he sleeps until at least 3:00 am. This morning he made it to 4:45! We still swaddle him to sleep.
  
• He rolled over once for Daddy last week, but Mommy still hasn't witnessed this skill.
• He's starting to get a bit more sensitive to things that scare him, like a stern tone of voice (directed at a disobedient preschooler, not him) or one of his siblings running by unexpectedly. His scared cry is the most pitiful thing ever!
  

We love you, Beau Harrison, & are so blessed to have you in our family!

Back Porch Sittin'

Spring is pretty much over here in Texas, but we enjoyed it while it lasted! We haven't used our porches as much as I would have liked since we bought our house because we didn't have any furniture out there, other than Jake & Mal's stuff. A couple of months ago, we found a dining set for the porch downstairs & a loveseat & chairs for upstairs. Now we can actually relax outside! We've eaten quite a few meals on the back porch, which I love to do. Hopefully we'll be able to continue that some in the summer, even though triple digits are just around the corner.
Jake & Mal still prefer their picnic table, but they like having Mommy & Daddy at the next table over.The upstairs furniture is great for snuggling up with some books. Mal likes to squeeze in & share a chair with Daddy.

Danger is His Middle Name

Justin & I have joked that it will be a miracle if Jake survives to adulthood unscathed. The kid is just a wee bit accident prone. From the time he learned to walk, he's pretty much had a big bruise somewhere on his head or face at all times. In many ways, his fearlessness is a good thing, but it comes at a price.
Case in point: A few weeks ago, Jake fell down an entire flight of stairs at church. We were all heading downstairs after class, & the toe of his boot caught on the edge of the carpeted stairs. I was just a few steps behind, holding Beau, but I was unable to get to him when he started to stumble. I've gotten so used to Jake's antics that he really doesn't scare me too often, but I just had a sick feeling as I watched him tumble head over heels several times before reaching the bottom. It looked like he easily could have broken something from the way he fell, but after many tears, his only battle scar was a carpet burn between his eyes.
Just one day later, he managed to get his finger caught in the car door when we were arriving at school. Again, I feared that something would be broken, but he ended up with just a nasty looking cut on his finger.Jake has recently developed a love for jumping on the couch or his bed, even though this is obviously not allowed. When Justin was explaining to him why we don't do that, he told him the story of how he broke his arm when he was a little boy after falling from the bed he was jumping on. Jake's response was indicative of the challenge we're up against. "I want to break my arm!" Oh dear.

Back Yard Fun

Monday evening at our house was just one of those great evenings where everyone is in a good mood & having a good time. The kids played forever in their little pool in the back yard, & the weather was nice enough for me & Beau to be comfortable watching them from the back porch. J captured some great pictures of their play time. I love days like that!







Love this series:







Summer's here! Clothing optional.

Weathering the Storm

Like many others in DFW, we had an eventful evening last Tuesday as we kept an eye on the tornado warnings around town. Justin was actually in St. Louis that day, but our prayers for him to make it onto an earlier flight & arrive home safely were answered. I'm so thankful for that, because his original flight ultimately ended up getting canceled. He got home about fifteen minutes before a tornado headed to our part of town, so we roused the kids from their slumber & gathered in our little half bathroom downstairs to wait it out.

Thank goodness for the iPad! It kept these sleepy & confused munchkins well entertained until it was safe to go back to bed.
Our classy weather watch station
Daddy multitasking
For us, it was just a crazy & somewhat humorous evening. For so many others, those storms were very serious & life-altering.

As a kid, I distinctly remember being so annoyed when my mom woke us up & herded us into the closet, covering us with mattresses. (Love you, Mom!) I was a heavy sleeper, so if it hadn't been for her, the storms wouldn't have bothered me a bit. Now I'm the one doing the herding, & it's very humbling to feel powerless to keep my little ones safe. We said many prayers of thanksgiving that our family & house escaped any harm that night!