4 Month Old Harvey

The first week of December was Harvey's 4 month birthday. His stats were:
Height: 25.7in (78%)
Weight: 14lb 6oz (27%)

After his last appointment he was super fussy/sore after his shots.  I decided this time that I would be proactive and give him tylenol at his appointment to avoid getting as sore.  It didn't work. As soon as we hit the four hour mark he scream inconsolably, it was so sad.  He finally calmed down as he just chilled in the bath for a while.

Harvey is my first finger sucker.  I'm curious to see if it lasts but he consistently sucks on these two fingers.

I love this age.  He is so happy.  He coos, giggles and smiles all day long.  He is so much fun.

Liam's Birthday With Thompsons

The Sunday after Thanksgiving we did a birthday party with the Thompson side.  Since Liam and Caellum's birthdays are just a couple days apart we did a combined party which he was super excited about.  

After present was cake and ice cream.  Liam really wanted a Monsters Inc. cake this year.

He even got to blow out his own candles this time.

Liam and Tad Benson Birthday Celebration

Since we were already all together for Thanksgiving we decided to have a party for Liam and Tad's birthday at the same time. We started with presents.

Then we did cake and ice cream.  Tad really wanted monster cupcakes.  Addie and Demzi pretty much did all the decorating for me and I have to say I'm impressed with how they turned out.  I just gave them different colors of fondant and they did the rest.

When Tad saw the cupcakes he said it was Liam's turn to blow out candles this time.

I think he must have forgotten though because Liam's five were blown out before they made it to him.

Liam might have blown out the last one at least.

Thank You Boxes

After Thanksgiving dinner Kris's parents had a fun activity for the kids.  They had gotten each kid a little treasure box for them to paint.  We called them Thank You Boxes because after they were dry they each got slips of paper to write things they were thankful for on them.  The idea  was they could add as many things to be thankful for as they wanted but then if they were ever having a hard day they could open up their box and read their blessings.

The kids had so much fun painting them.  Tad painted the top of his over and over.  Finally when he said he was done we finished the sides while he was inside. He was very independent and didn't want any input from me, but he did tell me to take  his picture.

 Here are all the grandkids with the finished product.  My kids were super excited.  Even though we got home late that night they made sure to write a few thankfuls to put in their box before they went to sleep.

3 Year Old Tad

I can't believe that Tad is three already.  His most recent stats are:
Height: 37.6 in (53%)
Weight: 29.4 lb
We started out the morning with the typical breakfast cake.  He was excited to blow out another candle.  He had been showing me all week how he blows the candles out.

 During the day we played over at Alicia's and got lunch (to celebrate Erin's birthday since they share their birthday). Tad was really excited because, "Cooper my best friend).  Then when Kris got home it was time for presents.

 He is obsessed with dinosaurs and fighting things together so these have been perfect.  He fights his dinosaurs all day long.  He was so excited about them he didn't even want an ice cream cone which is the treat he picked instead of cake.

• Tad is a mama's boy.  He grabs my hand all day.  "No mom, come play with me."
• He is obsessed with super heroes.  After Halloween we let him use his Hulk costume as a dress up and he has worn that everyday since. He also likes Liam's Thor costume

• He finally figured out how to dress himself.  He hasn't even tried up until the last week but once he tried he figured it out relatively quick. The first couple of times he ended up with his shirt on upside down.
  
  
• He is OCD in so many ways.  Now that he knows how to get himself dressed he changes his clothes probably three times a day usually because he got a little drip on himself and he HATES to be wet.  Even if we can't tell he can and he will change. This day he had dripped on his pants and decided to change.  Somehow he ended up wearing Demzi's pants.  Don't ask me why that didn't bother him.

• He is such a trouble maker, but is so cute it is hard to be super upset with him.  He grins at me like he knows if he smiles he'll get out of anything.  When I was making cookies I looked to find him playing in the flour.  When I asked him to stop, he yelled, "Just one bite!" Throwing it in his mouth and all over the kitchen. 

• He has been asking about his birthday for months since he has watched all his cousins' birthdays before him.  He now thinks that since he is three he should start school.  He knows he is three and sometimes when I ask him how old he tells me three.  Other times he says, "I don't know." And when I tell him three he says, "Oh, that's right.  I four."
• Such a tease but we love this boy.

Backyard Wildlife Pictures

Grandma and Babies

While everyone was here for Tad's birthday my mom was sitting in the rocking chair with Will so we decided to get a comparison of the two babies. It looks like Harvey and Will are just about the same size, even though there is a six week difference between the two.

Tad's Birthday With the Thompsons

Tad has been super excited for his birthday this year.  He has watched everyone before him have a birthday and asked each time when it was his birthday.  The Sunday before was our usual family dinner so we turned it into a little party for Tad with presents, cake and ice cream. He was super excited.  When I asked what he wanted for his birthday he said, "Hmm, dinosaur cake?"  Other than the cake he wasn't specific on what he wanted at all.  We bought a small bucket of dinosaur figures to decorate with.  He kept grabbing my hand and saying, "Mom, come look at something.  You see those dinosaurs? Those are my dinosaur cake." Wish I would have caught his giant smile on camera when he saw the finished product.