Swim Lessons…

Jonas had his first swim lesson (one of nine he’ll have in the month of May before our neighboring neighborhood pool opens) today at the rec center. He had a fleeting moment of anxiety in the car when he realized that I wasn’t going to be swimming with him and that his teacher was not going to be Ms. Cathy or Ms. Shelley (his preschool teachers). But it passed, and he was a big champ and took to his swim teacher, Ms. Melanie, right away. He even put on a wet suit to keep warm (the indoor pool is used for swim competitions so it’s pretty cold) and was totally cool with trying on a pair of goggles for her. It ended up being a private lesson this time around (as the other three students never showed up), which was a total blessing for Jonas who tends to be a little cautious with firsts. Ms. Melanie was great with him and worked with him on putting his face in the water and blowing bubbles, kicking with straight legs, waving under the water (he puckered up when he got water in his nose the first time but recovered very quickly and tried it again), making swim hands and rocket arms, and floating on his back like a starfish. It’s so fun to watch him learn and be a little man in the water. I’m looking forward to watching his progress…

Ice Cream Man…

Jonas and I were playing in the bonus room today after he woke up from his nap, when we heard the music from the ice cream man’s truck. We both immediately stopped what we were doing and went running down the stairs. He jumped up and down on the sidewalk and said, “That’s a yummy sound!” We waved the ice cream man down…Jonas picked out an ice cream sandwich, I chose a red/white/blue bomb pop (the kind I used to get when the ice cream man came to our neighborhood when I was little), and we put an ice cream sandwich for Xander (he was still sleeping) and a fudgesicle for Tom (he was still at firefighter training) in the freezer. We sat down to enjoy our treats on the front porch, while Roman was chilling out in his bouncy seat, and I agreed wholeheartedly when, in between bites, Jonas said, “I love the ice cream man, Mommy.”

Centennial Park…

So, I took the boys to Centennial Park this morning to feed the ducks (something I remember loving doing when I was a little girl). And they had a BLAST!!! It’s amazing the things you don’t think about having to teach, like how to tear off small pieces of bread instead of hucking the whole thing (or even half the thing in the water)…the ducks didn’t seem to mind, though. Jonas even had a momma duck rare up at him when he went running after her and her babies…it was one of those too-quick-to-school-him-on-it-before-it-happens moments…oh well, he learned pretty quickly what not to do…haha (and afterwards we talked about how mommies are protective of their babies).

On the way in, we passed a really cool old train on display from the Nashville/Chattanooga/St. Louis Railroad.  So, we stopped back by to take a look at it before we left…the boys loved tromping around, checking that thing out…it was awesome.

The Tricycler…

Jonas is all about his tricycle these days…he can totally ride it all along the mile long path we take when we go for a walk (we just give him a little boost from behind up the hills with the stroller or the wagon). It’s good for getting out all of that boyish energy.

His feel for vocabulary continues to floor me…especially when he outs with words like attached, additional, focus, and ingredients.

Here are a few one liners for you…

“I wish we could plant popcorn seeds so we could have popcorn in our garden.”

“He has to turn his mouth off and turn his listening ears on.”

“Baby Roman, did you know Xander and I used to be in Mommy’s tummy with you?”

“Look, Mommy, Roman’s awake so I can yell.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have a safe home right now because he hit me on the head and that hurt really bad.”

Playing Around…

The boys and I went to the mall this weekend to make a few exchanges and decided to check out the indoor play area while we were there. (Jonas found one of those quarter-for-a-ride cars that he and Xander got to take a ride in, and I discovered one of those fun photo booths that we all piled into to have some goofy pictures taken together.)

Nine Weeks…

At nine weeks, Roman is: loving being outside (he loves going for walks in the Bjorn and taking naps in his bouncy on the porch); punching his arms and kicking his legs with wide open eyes in his awake time; enjoying music and the noise of his brothers; and moving his whole body in agreement with his light-up-the-world smiles.

Twenty-Two Months…

In his twenty-second month, Xander is: doing a lot of pretending in his play kitchen (so adorable); starting to be quite the little provoker; narrating his activities throughout the day; comforting the baby when he cries by saying “Kay, baby…Mommy here” and bringing him his pacifier; valiantly giving up his bottle of water (his own pacifier); and talking up a STORM (saying things like funny…”fuddy”…JoJo, careful JoJo, uh oh Pooh drop honey, see that, JoJo milk all gone, Mommy knee hurt, look Mommy more owie, please open…”pease ope”…bag, more buttercup, honey pot dump out, look Mommy egg, sure Mommy, like apple pie, green…”geed”…light Mommy, get honey pot, hi bug, I do rope swing…”ope sing”, oh great…”gate”, etc.).

Garden…

The boys and I have been having so much fun working in the garden…they love helping me plant, water, and check on the seeds and plants to see how they’re growing.

We picked up a book at a yard sale down the street for Jonas called “Zinnia’s Garden” by Monica Wellington. Jonas really enjoys reading it, and I thought it would be fun to try to plant some of the same flowers in our garden (zinnias, sunflowers, cosmos, asters, and sweet peas).

We also planted some bulbs (daffodils and anemones) that have already bloomed, some herbs (rosemary, lavender, oregano, and chamomile), some vegetables (spinach and cherry tomatoes), and some fruits (strawberries, watermelons, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries). Yay for gardening experiments!!!

Eight Weeks…

In his eighth week, Roman is: suddenly realizing mommy is there and wanting to socialize at 4 and 5 o’clock in the morning; increasing his awake, alert, and socializing time; giving us a glorious 5 and 1/2 hour stretch of night time sleep (it looks like it was just a one time thing, but here’s hoping there’s more where that came from…).

Seven Weeks…

At seven weeks, Roman is: continuing to stretch out his daytime and nighttime feedings on his own; falling into a fairly consistent routine of sleeping and eating; smiling, cooing, and laughing; and developing a thing for sucking on the knuckle of his forefinger (it’s really just so adorable…when it falls out of his mouth, he lets out a little squeal…or a big cry…and goes right back to being perfectly content when he finds it again).

Baby Goat Farm…

My dear friend, Lizza, invited the boys and I out to visit a baby goat farm with her and her two precious little ones, Bennett and Isabelle Leigh (named after me…hehe!!!). It was so precious watching the boys…here’s a picture of Bennett helping feed and of Jonas and Xander holding a baby goat.

Six Weeks…

At six weeks, Roman is: seeming to feel a little bit better in the tummy (now that Mommy has cut out the dairy from her diet and that he’s taking probiotics twice a day) and passing out the sweetest middle of the night smiles (when Mommy needs them most).

What’s New with Jonas…

Jonas has been really excited about the appearance of the bulbs that we planted in the fall…so much so that he stripped them all of their flowers in the few short days of early spring (oh well, they were beautiful while they lasted, and it was worth the wasted wait to see the excitement on his face when they finally bloomed).

He transitioned quickly and well to sleeping in his big boy bed without the safety rail and loves using big boy toothpaste now to brush his teeth.

He’s starting to get crafty…like when you leave the room and Xander starts crying and you ask him what happened and he says, “I don’t know” with a smile (we’re currently in talks about “telling the truth”) and when he deliberately does things he knows he’s not supposed to do while all the while making eye contact with you (we’ve been discussing the difference between doing things “on purpose” and “on accident”).

He LOVES his new baby brother, Roman. He likes to hold and hug him, read to him, help give him a bath, and share his favorite things (like his Thomas jammies and his Pooh bear) with him…so sweet to watch.

Five Weeks…

In his fifth week, Roman is: packing on the weight; amazing us with how many facial expressions he goes through in one minute; winning the loudest, most spirited eater award; getting really good at lifting his head (he loves to look at the beautiful pictures of Jonas and Xander that my dear friend, Marcie, took that hang above our living room couch); adding a heartbreaking, turned-down, bottom lip sometimes when he puckers up and cries (bless him); and giving us a four hour stretch of sleep two nights in a row.

Twenty-One Months…

In his twenty-first month, Xander is: saying “ticka” for “tickle” and “follah” for “flower”; starting to emerge as the funny guy; saying “sure” (or “um” while he considers it) when you ask him if we wants something/wants to do something; really getting the spirit of kindness behind having manners (it just wells up naturally from his heart)…saying “pease” when he wants something, “taku” when you give him something, and “besshu” when he hears someone sneeze; turning into a big boy all of a sudden; being a good big brother to his new baby brother, Roman (bringing him his pacifier when he cries, saying “besshu, baby” when he sneezes, and learning how to give gentler pats); starting to give Jonas a taste of his own medicine with all of the pushing, taking, and hitting (ugh); and running to time out when he does something wrong (and even sometimes when he doesn’t) and running back to give pats and say “shawee, JoJo”.

(I was trying to distract him the other day from something he was wanting to do that he shouldn’t and said, “Xander, can you go put Petra’s collar on her?”. He said, “No, shi”…he knew she was outside…and just went back to what he was doing. Ha!).

Easter Eggs…

Xander had fun hunting Easter eggs in our front yard while Jonas was at school, and Jonas enjoyed dyeing Easter eggs after he got home from school while Xander was taking a nap.

Four Weeks…

In his fourth week, Roman is: starting to stretch out his feedings a little bit (thank goodness…he’s been going strong on the every 2 hour day and night thing since birth); enjoying his first bottle of mommy’s milk; being very attentive to voices; taking a keen interest in the patterns on my shirts when he’s nursing (he was so into a black and white floral shirt that I had on one day that he went cross-eyed momentarily); and starting to smile (up until now, he’s been very serious).

(P.S. I was so excited to discover the other day that Roman loves Ray LaMontagne as much as I do. He was sleeping in his swing to “Jolene”…one of my favorite songs EVER…and every time it rolled over to the next artist/song on my iPhone he would wake up and cry until I put “Jolene” back on…that’s my boy!)

Three Weeks…

At three weeks, Roman is: confusing his days and his nights (he likes to be up and eating every hour when everybody else is ready to sleep); winning the gruntiest baby award; trying to work through some gas issues and thus much preferring to be held most of the time and close to the warmth of Mommy and Daddy; and very much enjoying car (yay!) and Bjorn rides (where he gets some of his best sleep).

Two Weeks…

In his second week, Roman is: enjoying his first full body bath in the baby tub after losing his umbilical cord and giving Jonas a run for his money on being a vocal infant.

Water Table…

We had our first really warm day today (more summer like than spring like), so we busted out the water table for the boys…they loved it and got soaked (next time I’ll put them in their swimming trunks).

One Week…

At one week, Roman is: nursing like a champ (thank you, God…it’s what we prayed for) and one ounce shy of his birthweight only three days after birth; sleeping through the night his first night in the hospital (the five hour kind…I had to wake him up to feed him); and letting out a little squeal when there’s something he really wants.

More One-Liners…

Here are a few more great one-liners from Jonas…

“Mommy, I found a cloud that looks like an ice cream cone.”

“Mommy, I wish I had a long, long, long hand with a paintbrush to reach the ceiling…then I could paint it.”

“Mommy, I like your new flower called ‘daffodil’.”

(On a side note, Jonas played a VERY important role in helping to rescue a stray dog this month…he basically had Tom and I both close to tears on the way home from the restaurant where we found her, saying things like, “I think she’s sad because she needs a friend” and “I don’t want her to eat grass”, so we turned back around and picked her up.)

Petra and Roman…

Petra loves to guard Roman…

Twenty Months…

At twenty months, Xander is: surprising us every day with his expanding vocabulary (see, cut, lap, hide, cup, top, dip, honey, catch, “lot” for “a lot”, “dump” for “jump”, “cose” for “close”, “seeze” for “squeeze”, “sup” for “syrup”, “muse” for “music”, “mesh” for “medicine”, “bit” for “big”, “phot” for “phone”, “bat” for “back”, “cabi” for “cabinet”, “shool” for “stool”, “tash” for “trash”, “XanXan” for “Xander”, and “JoJo” for “Jonas); outing with more and more two and three word combinations (get it, did it, do it, “pease ope” for “please open”, “moh pease lot” for “more please…a lot”, “appuh deuce” for “apple juice”, “mess keen it” for “mess clean it”); and using words to show us his silly side (saying “cheese” when you take his picture and “cool” when you put him in a shirt he likes).

It’s a Boy!!!

Welcome to the world and to our family, precious baby boy.

Roman Cole Seyfried

Thursday, March 1, 2012 at 1:30 am

7 pounds, 10 ounces, and 20 inches

Bulbs…

I had a burst of nesting energy today and pruned our monkey grass, crepe myrtle, and rose bush, while the boys checked out the bulbs we planted in the fall that are starting to bloom…

Jonas Update…

Jonas is reading quite a few three letter words, learning how to write his name and a lot of his letters, continuing to assert his independence (his newest thing is being very particular about his clothes…he likes to wear “double shirts”), showing his sweet servant’s heart (like sharing his favorite blanket with me when I’m cold and bringing Xander’s favorite bear to him when he’s crying), and giving us more one liners every day…

“Xander has a peanut allergy.”

“I must say ‘poop’ four times and perhaps that will help me think where it is.”

“Well, that’s just how God made us, with legs to walk on floors.”

“Mommy, why were we up in his grill?”

“Mommy, is the moon following us to our house?”

Nineteen Months…

In his nineteenth month, Xander is: having a bit of a language explosion…saying “gai” for “again”, “bass” for “bath”, and “hod” for “hold” and outing all of a sudden with a battery of clearly spoken words (help, mess, sorry, hi, top, home, house, piece/peace, and too); loving the ever-popular-with-the-Seyfried-boys smoothie (”sooey”); pushing (and trying to carry) chairs around to climb on them to get to what he’s wanting; becoming a fan of taking his plate to the sink (”si”) just like his big brother; delighting in helping out with household chores (unloading the dishwasher, putting trash in the trashcan, and transferring laundry to the dryer); starting to tell on Jonas (”hit head”, “push”, etc.); and remaining the eye contact king.

(He also TOTALLY amazed me by saying “Huss”, our pediatrician’s name, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot of our pediatrician’s office last week. Crazy smart.)

Growing Up…

Jonas is growing up so quickly…he’s getting really good at riding his tricycle, rocking out with the potty training day and night, loving hearing stories from his two favorite story collections right now (Frog and Toad and Harold and the Purple Crayon), and saying the darnedest things (I’ve been writing them down because they’re so great)…

“Also, you need to tell me the truth, Mommy.”

“I can bend over because I don’t have a baby inside my tummy, Mommy. I can go up and down the stairs, but you can’t because you have a baby inside your tummy, Mommy.”

“It’s okay, Xander. I’m your friend. Don’t you know I’m your friend, Xander?”

“Mommy, I wish I had claws so I could climb a tree.”

“Are you excited about having a newborn baby?”

“Xander’s bigger than a really fat bumblebee.”

“You smell like flowers, Mommy.”

Eighteen Months…

At eighteen months, Xander is: doing the sign for “change” when he needs a diaper change; saying “deh” for “there”, “lala” for water, “uh oh” when he drops something, and “go go” while he points to his plate and his tummy to let us know where he wants the food to go; diving into two word combinations with “DaDa nih nih”, “JoJo potty”, “see DaDa”, “PePa bye bye”, “DaDa boo”, and “MaMa moh”; doing the bouncy dance for things he gets excited about (climbing up on the couch, watching Winnie-the-Pooh with his big brother, getting a fresh sippy of ice water from the refrigerator, and eating); and taking a shine to building Lego towers.

Christmas…

Thanksgiving…

We spent a wonderful week in Virginia with Tom’s family for Thanksgiving, enjoying: going to mass, decorating the Christmas tree, sharing good food and conversation, playing outside in the woods; going for a ride in the boat on the lake, hiking, and participating in the Seyfried Family Turkey Games (swim fin races, quidditch tournament, pie eating contest, marshmallow/toothpick tower building, etc.).

For more pictures, click on the “Thanksgiving 2011″ picture page to the right…

Seventeen Months…

In his seventeenth month, Xander is: saying “bih boh” for “big boy”, “pepa” for “Petra”, “shack” for “snack”, “ton ton” for “crouton”, “caw caw” for “car car”, “shi” for “outside”, “tay too” for “thank you”, and “Jo Jo” for “Jonas”; doing the sign for “thank you” and “change”; getting pretty good at going down the stairs (just today he started doing the full body slide); champing out on his daytime and nighttime sleep; cutting four molars; echoing everything big brother does; delighting in rousing games of hide and seek with DaDa and Jonas; and brightening our days with his happy spirit.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Jonas!!!

Jonas had a blast on his birthday weekend…making cupcakes, spending time with family, opening presents, and eating cupcakes.

(I always get so wrapped up in the birthday moment that I forget to take pictures, but here are a few of our precious little man on his big day.)

Thirty-Six Months…

In his thirty-sixth month, Jonas is: still saying the darnedest things (”It’s okay, Mommy…be brave…it’s time to be brave” and “Mommy, what would be a good way for me to keep you in my room?”); taking a break from potty training; skipping out on his afternoon nap more often than not (although most of the time, when Mommy builds him a good “nest” on the floor with all of his pillows, blankets, and stuffed animal friends, he can’t resist a good long snooze); starting to spend a little more time enjoying playing with Xander instead of trying, in so many not so nice and at times downright mean big brother ways, to keep Xander from getting into all of “his” toys; getting really good at riding his tricycle downhill AND uphill; and delighting in Dr. Seuss books.

Sixteen Months…

In his sixteenth month, Xander is: saying “boo” for “spoon” and “book”, “ta” for “trash”, “moh” for “more”, “sih” for “sit”, “sh” for “share”, and “tu” for “turn”; doing the signs for “please” and “change”; continuing to love doing anything “big boy” (using a toddler fork/spoon, washing his hands, sitting at the table in a booster seat, etc.); identifying body parts; really getting into lift the flap books; making passionate choices of favorite books to read for nap time, bed time, and any time; outgrowing his dairy intolerance (yay!!!) and testing positive at the allergist’s for a peanut allergy (ugh!!!); cracking us up with his headlong into the world attitude and endearing us with his sweet, sensitive spirit.

Halloween…

Halloween night in our neighborhood is so much fun…it’s a big costume street party. Jonas dressed up as Batman, Tom as Robin, Xander as Superman, and I as Lois Lane.

The boys were so excited to be outside as the sun was going down and as the moon was coming up…especially Xander. He kept running down the sidewalk towards the moon, cape flaring behind him, pointing his finger, and excitedly saying, “Moo, moo!”.

Jonas was an old pro with the trick or treating, saying “Trick or treat” and “Thank you”. And Xander picked it up really quickly…muscling his way up to the door, holding out his pumpkin bucket, and saying “Ticka, Ticka”.

As the night turned colder and darker, Xander went back to the house with Daddy to help pass out candy before tucking into bed, and Jonas stayed out with Mommy to trick or treat the houses of a few more friends before coming home to cozy up in warm pajamas and covers for a good night’s sleep.

Fall Morning with MeMe and Papa…

Here are a few pictures taken on the beautiful fall morning we spent with MeMe and Papa at their new home, sharing a delicious breakfast and going for a leisurely walk together along the creek.

Pumpkinfest…

We all enjoyed spending a cool fall morning, walking around downtown Franklin, for Pumpkinfest…the boys loved trick or treating the arts and crafts vendors, jumping in the inflatables, and petting the animals at the petting zoo.

Halloween Party…

The boys and I had so much fun at our neighborhood mom’s club Halloween Party today. This picture makes my heart smile and well up with thankfulness for the community that we are privileged to be a part of here. What precious children (and mommies)!!!