Thursday, February 20, 2014

This is happening...



Apparently, he wants to move on his own. 

Resistance training for the little mover

I guess we need to start baby proofing the house sooner rather than later!!


Photo Series: 6 Months!

6 months. 26 weeks. 184 days. 4,416 hours. 264,960 minutes.

That is how long Francis Baldwin has been in our lives. While I don’t know how much of that time Steve and I have slept (probably a very small amount) we do know that it has been an amazing six months.

Now at six months, our little man can do some pretty remarkable things! Or well, as excited first time parents, they are pretty amazing achievements.
 - Sit on his own (with help getting to the sitting position)
 - Reaches for everything!
 - Everything goes in the mouth
 - Loving tummy time
 - Can roll from back to front and front to back although not very consistently. We get screams during the night and find babe on his tummy. He is confused about being there and can’t quite figure out how to get back to his back.
 - Is going to be a mover! The kid doesn’t stay still
 - Prefers to work on his standing skills
 - Loves to eat! We have tried different fruits and veggies and the kid loves them all (well, peas are not a favorite but he doesn’t spit them out!)
 - Reaches for Mom and Dad (melts our hearts)
 - Still giggles when he gets Kirby kisses

He is still growing pretty steadily. At his 6 month check up he was 16 pounds 14 ounces and 28 inches long. I had to take him in around the 5 month time frame and he was 16 pounds 5 ounces. This month we did have to move up into size 3 diapers - size 2 was getting a little snug. Still going strong at 9 month clothes but I don’t think it will last much past his 7th month.

Here are our monthly photos. We did get professional photos done as well for this milestone, I will share them soon.


Everything goes into the mouth...
Supervisor Kirby


Kirby always brings a smile
Toes.


Baby's First Christmas

Christmas! The time to spend with family to celebrate the birth of Jesus - my favorite time of year!

Our little family does pretty well with Christmas. We usually celebrate Christmas Eve with Jim & Nancy and then head to Marshall on Christmas Day to see the Herrmann clan. This year was no different - well, except the whole having a baby thing. :-)

In sticking with tradition, Steve and I had our Christmas on the 23rd just the two of us. We go out to dinner and have some quality time before everything begins. Lucky for us, Jim and Nancy were more than happy to watch the boys as we enjoyed our evening out. Steve and I find it very important for the two of us to find time to be together without the babe. We love our son (and puppy) very much but we also love each other and need time to ourselves periodically. Our evening was fabulous as always and before we knew it, we were picking up Frank and Kirby and making our way home.

It is crazy to think that last year at Christmas is when we found out we were pregnant! And now, our little man is here with us and is such a joy. Life is amazing.

Christmas Eve, Jim and Nancy came over for a little breakfast and then we made our way to church. Christmas services are some of my favorite services and I am glad we were able to bring Frank to his first. He did very well! No screaming, just needed to be up and moving toward the end of the service. I can't say he was the best when we got home. He finally fell asleep (and he was tired) but then we got home and he woke up. We tired to open a few gifts with him but that was short lived. He made it two gifts and was done. Needless to say, I spent some time getting him down for a nap. The rest of our day was great! Wonderful food, great family, and just a nice relaxing day. Once Jim and Nancy left for the night, we quickly packed all of us since we were driving to Marshall in the morning.

Christmas Day, we loaded up the truck and made the drive to Marshall; the drive was uneventful (just a little blowing snow). We arrived in Marshall in time to enjoy some yummy soups from Mama Herrmann's Kitchen. My grandma (Frankie's Great Grandma) was there and she was overjoyed to meet her 14th great-grandchild! The next few days were filled with catching up with my brothers and sister-in-laws, snuggling up our nieces and nephew, sharing Frankie with my Grandma and my parents, and enjoying all the delicious food that Mom prepared. The days went quickly but not so much the nights. As you can tell, the house was full and we were trying to sleep train our baby...probably not our wisest moment but we had been working on it for a few days already and it had been going alright. Of course, he didn't want to cooperate in a different house, crib, etc. I mean, he did just fine but neither Steve or I got much sleep since we didn't want to wake the entire house. Despite the sleepness nights (for us) it was a great few days and we were bummed it went so quickly. Christmas with my family is always a little crazy since the house tends to be busy with people and I wouldn't have it any other way. Spending time with all my nieces and nephew is wonderful. When Frank gets older, I have a feeling that between Sophie and Madison & Ava, he will have his fair share of dress-up and doll time since they just love him.

One quick story, Frank is a pretty content baby; he goes to about anyone and is usually pretty chill. However, we learned quickly over Christmas that he doesn't like it when his cousins cry. While in Marshall, Madison & Ava began to cry and Frankie quickly began to cry as well! This happened a few times. Including a time when he was sleeping and woke up crying when he heard his cousins crying! Everyone thought it was pretty funny and Steve & I couldn't believe our little man was so in touch with his emotions and the emotions of his cousins. :-)

What a great Christmas! We are extremely blessed to have such wonderful holiday traditions with both sides of our family. For being so little, the babe brought home some awesome gifts. And, since it is like 1.5 months after Christmas, I can tell you that many have already gotten lots of use!

Merry Christmas!


Here are a few photos [compliments of Barrett] of Frankie at the Singer Family Celebration. Usually sometime before or after the holidays, the Singer side of the family all gather together to celebrate the season. Each year the gathering grows as families grow and it was fun to introduce the tradition to Frank.

I love this moment













There weren't many photos from Christmas Eve but we managed to capture a few:

Being helpful opening his gifts
Mere moments after this photo we had a melt down















Last but not least, photos of the Herrmann family Christmas:

Ava was not impressed that I was
taking a photo of her
Frank opening gifts with Dad


Matt tackling two kids which is the norm
at his hosue
Sophie & Grandma 


Twin cuties
Princess Sophie

Getting all bundled up to play in the snow
They looked like marshmallows


This is how we do meals at the Herrmann house




My Grandma & Frank [LOVE]



Final family photo from Frank's first Christmas
and he is snoozing through it

Monday, February 10, 2014

Baptism of Sydney & Scarlett

Steve and I are honored and blessed to be godparents to Sydney!! She is the sweet little girl of our dear friends, Nick & Andrea. Sydney also has a wonderful sister, Scarlett.

Sydney & Scarlett are about a 1.5 months younger than Frank and were born a few weeks early. Considering the pregnancy Andrea had with them, it is amazing that they spent very little time in the NICU.

Due to distance and schedules, we don't get together as often as either of us would like. However, when we do, it is lots of fun! Did I mention that they have a 2 year old as well? Plus our pup Kirby and their pup Shady!

We are so excited to forever be apart of Sydney's life; to be asked to be such an important piece of her life is amazing.

Gods blessings to Sydney & Scarlett.

Our dear friends and their
beautiful children
Sydney & Scarlett with their respective godparents
 
Steve & I with Sydney

The whole crew!

Bubble Bath!

A great friend of ours gave Frank bubble bath for Christmas - so naturally we had to give him a bubble bath! He loved it! And bath night isn't complete without snuggling up with Dad to read comic books.