Happy Four Month Birthday, Baby Boy!

Today is Hawkins FOUR month birthday!

He got an excellent report at his check up, and Dr. Jones said he was "perfect"! (We already knew that!)

Weight: 14 lbs 4 oz (50% percentile)
Length: 25 3/4 (74 percentile)

He is growing by the day and getting so big. Hawkins, here is what you are doing this month:

-You rolled over last Monday November 22! What a big boy!
You have done it twice since then on Nov. 24th and 29th.

-I noticed a speck of your first tooth coming in on the bottom! You have been drooling up a storm and fussy, so I can assume that is why!

-You wear 6 month clothes and are quickly outgrowing your 3 month outfits.

-You just started wearing size 2 diapers, and we love Pampers the best!

-I have started putting a bib on you at all times (except when sleeping of course) because you drool so much!

-You are sleeping great at night! From 8:30pm until about 7am. This has drastically changed my life - I can get through the day without a nap and have energy!

-Your naps are iffy, but you usually take a good morning nap from 8:30-10, then eat and play, nap at noon, eat at 2pm, play and nap again at 3:30.

I am working on your evening nap, because currently you refuse to take it and end up being awake for several hours and become a screaming mess by 7:30 until you get your bath and nighttime bottle.

-Your Daddy always give you your bath at night and you love it! You splash around and kick your rubber duckies. Then you have a 7 oz bottle - this usually makes you fall fast asleep! Daddy really knows how to get you relaxed and put to bed the best!

-You are starting to grab at objects. If I put a rattle in your hand you can hold it and swing it at other toys on your activity gym. You are becoming aware of your toys and that they make noises. I put a toy dangling in front of you in your bouncy seat and you love to stare at it and grab for it. It makes you mad that you can't pull it in your mouth!

-Everything goes into your mouth! You still love to suck on your fist and fingers, but now other things are making their way to your mouth!

-You are becoming very aware of your surroundings and LOVE people! You follow people with your eyes in and out of the room and are very alert during your awake time. You love when anyone sings to you or talks to you. This always makes you smile even when you are crying.

-Riding in the car has become a pain. You hate your carseat and cry every time I put you in it. You will calm down once we get moving in the car, but you don't just sleep like you used to :)
-You love to blow bubbles and coo at Mommy and Daddy!

-You know your Mommy and Daddy and become excited just at the sight of us. It warms my heart when you do this! My voice can instantly soothe you especially when I sing to you.

We love you so much!

Soaking it in...

I find myself hurrying and hurrying to the next task, next chore, next feeding, next nap and next time for me to have a quiet moment - especially now that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is fast approaching. Everyone who knows me knows I love babies and have waited practically my whole life to have one of my own. Now I do and he is the love of my life! But I become obsessed with thinking about the next thing on my to-do list and being a good wife and having dinner cooked and clothes folded - I am afraid I am missing out on the best times of having a baby. My baby will be 4 months old tomorrow and is growing SO FAST! Too fast! This is truly my favorite age of a baby (although I know I will love every age), so I want to cherish every moment - every feeding, every burp and spit up and every diaper change.

Also, I don't want Hawkins to be spoiled (like that is even an option!), so I try not to hold him all day or let him just sleep in my arms or run to him every time he makes a whimper. Well, I miss these precious moments, so a few nights ago I gave him his nighttime bottle and he fell asleep on my shoulder. I just sat there for forever and rocked my sweet baby. His chubby cheek was on my shoulder and I just kissed it and held him close and soaked in that special moment. I want to do this more because time passes by too quickly and before I know it he will be a toddler!

Honey's 60th Birthday!

I am way behind on posts because I have been so busy baking cheesestraws! Yes, you heard right - I am back at selling cheesestraws! I took a long break when we moved and after I had the baby, so it is nice to be making some money and keeping busy.

On November 7th we celebrated Honey's 60th birthday! Our family had a fun trip planned, but Hurrican Tomas had other plans for us...we had to cancel the trip and postpone Hawkins' first plane ride. Hopefully we will reshedule for early 2011.

We still had a fun family weekend at the Lodge to celebrate. It was nice and cold and Hawkins enjoyed his first fire!

Hawkins is not lacking for attention as you can see...

Leola was the only one who could get him to go to sleep!

The Birthday Girl!

Virginia and Mom

Leola gave Hawkins his night bottle just like she did for me!

Aunt Katie with Hawkins

Aunt Virginia with Hawkins

Finally a picture with Mommy!

Lunch on Sunday

Big Daddy and Hawkins

With Honey and Big Daddy

My Honey loves me!

It's a Shutterfly Christmas!

Have you picked out your Christmas card this year?

If not, you need to head over to Shutterfly and see the great designs they have this year!

I have always been a HUGE fan of Shutterfly. I use the site to store all my pictures, order prints , and make photo books for every event our family has!

Now it is time to pick out our family Christmas card for 2010! Our son was born in July this year, so this is a very special year because it is Hawkins' first Christmas.

I love all the photo cards Shutterfly has made this season. There are so many different designs to choose from!

Here are some of my personal favorites:

Their gift tags are a MUST on my list! They add such a special touch on gifts to friends and family.

They are just perfect!

I think I may have to order one of each!

These desk calendars are perfect for Dad or for Grandparents. Everyone loves personalized pictures to look at everyday!We took Hawkins' three month pictures this weekend, and I cannot wait to pick out the picture we will use this year.

You will be getting the Raybon Family Christmas card in your mailbox soon!

These are just a few of the many Christmas items available over on Shutterfly, head on over there and check out all their great items! And Bloggers, did you know that you can get 50 FREE Christmas cards?

*I received 50 free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly for giving them my opinion on their Christmas items.

Halloween

Here is my sweet pumpkin on his first Halloween! We had a relaxing weekend in Thomasville celebrating Halloween both Saturday and Sunday. Some friends hosted a super fun party on Saturday night. The weather was perfect, and Hawkins was the hit of the crowd. I can't wait for him to be able to enjoy all the games and fun they had set up for the children. Sunday we had trick or treaters in our neighborhood so we stayed home and passed out candy. I have never lived in neighborhood before, so it was fun to see all the children dressed up. We had WAY too much candy left over and it has become a problem! If you need candy call me!

Family picture

Hawkins and our neighbor Sarah Bailey

Three Months!

Dear Hawkins,

I cannot believe you are 3 months old! Time has flown by. You are so precious to your Mommy and Daddy and we are so proud of you. Here is what you have been up to:

-You love to suck on your fingers and you will not take a paci!

-Your Daddy gives you a bath every night and you love bathtime!

-You are adapting to a new schedule where you eat every 3 1/2 hours and stay awake for an hour and a 1/2 between feeding and naps.

-Your best nap is your morning nap from 8:30am -10:30am.

-You slept through the night on your 3 month birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!

-You have continued to sleep through the night since then :)

-You are in 3 month clothes and getting close to 6 month...

-You went to the church nursery for the first time during Bible Study and did great! This was a huge step for Mommy...I teared up when I left the room!

Here are your 3 month pictures that Mommy took:

BIG NEWS!

We have some big news in the Raybon household. Before I can post about my sweet baby turning 3 months old or about his first Halloween, I must post about how he SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT! That's right - my big boy slept all night. Some people think sleeping 6 hours is sleeping through the night, but not this Mom- sleeping through the night is 8+ hours - preferably 10 :)

I could not have helped Hawkins make this monumental step without the help of Jessica with Sweet Peace Parenting. We have been using her consult services since Hawkins was 4 weeks old and it has been life changing. Babies are so tricky with their schedules and crying and eating. If you remember my previous post Jessica came to visit us when Hawkins was a month old and helped us get him on a schedule and sleeping in his crib. I have been talking and emailing with her since then with changes in his schedule and milestones as he grows and changes.

We were still swaddling Hawkins to sleep and he was still waking up around 4 or 5am to eat. He wouldn't really eat much, so I thought maybe he was just used to that feeding and didn't really need it. I talked to Jessica and we agreed that it was time for him to come out of the swaddle and let him learn to sleep through the night. I had been dreading this so much because I knew he depended on that swaddle to sleep and it would mean sleepless nights for me until he adjusted. Jessica assured me that we (Hawkins and I) could do it and prepared me for what would happen. She said to give it 3 nights and be commited. He cried alot during the night the first 2 nights, but as promised, by the 3rd night he went down at 9pm and didn't wake up until 7am! Robbie and I were in shock! And we were in further shock when he did this the next night too!

We are so proud of him! Thank you Jessica and Sweet Peace Parenting for your help and support!

And we made their website!
http://sweetpeaceparenting.com/?p=153