First Hike

Bryce and I love the outdoors. We love the solitude, the stillness, exploration, adventure, and the intimate conversations with our Father. When faced with decisions about life, we take it to the wilderness. When we need to celebrate, we take it up the mountain. When we are in need of a word, we walk out into the woods. We strip down that which so easily entangles us. Run free, jumping and leaping over fallin trees and creeks. Our ears begin to hear and our hearts start to dance. We celebrate full life in sweet Jesus. Life that is much bigger than what our eyes see. Much tastier than the food we find ourself eating some days. It is a simple love. Pure and clean.

We were able to take Cap on his first hike almost 2 weeks ago. Our plan was to go to the top of Pinnacle Mountain starting off the Blue Ridge Parkway. We were on the Toll Road, but could not find the trail that cuts off towards Pinnacle. We didn't bring a map, we weren't too worried about a set plan. We just enjoyed being out, off of camp, and far enough to where we couldn't hear a single car. Cap was having one us his extra sleepy days. He was only awake for lunch. He was a trooper though. Oh the many hikes he will go on in his life. How exciting to take him on his first one. Here are just a few pictures of our day. We didn't take much.

2 month

Cap was 2 months old this past Friday. Here are some updates and pictures.

13.6 lbs., 85 percentile

24.5 inches long, 95 percentile

16.5 inch head, 75 percentile

• you are starting to make a lot of different noises
• you are moving your entire body like crazy,

swinging your arms up and down

kicking your legs

just getting all kinds of excited

• when you are hanging out by yourself your head will follow us around the room as we move about
• you only get up once in the middle of the night to eat, typically sleep 7-8 straight hours straight starting between 6:30 - 7:30pm, not always around that time though
• you still laugh in your sleep, but you laughed the best at 8 weeks when your dad was using you as his weights bringing you up and down in the air
• you are a snuggler and i love when you nestle around my neck
• when you are in the ergo and wanting to sleep you stick your head right in the middle of my chest with your face straight in me
• you drool a ton! and you blow bubbles all the time
• usually eat on one side every 4 hours sometimes 3 or even 5 hours
• you need your morning nap
• you are loving your mobile now, i catch you laughing at it
• you still smile when we whistle
• you dig your fist
• we call your pacifier your bullet, on occasion you really like sucking it
• loud noises still startle you

We are having a great time. The longer stretches of sleep have made us feel a little more human. I don’t think we are even close to catching up on life and sleep, but everyday is getting closer. I still very much feel the effects of a long labor, a big boy and doing too much the first month.

Cap has gotten pretty overstimulated several times, but we always leave time for some quietness. When he is thinking and staring at something, we try very hard not to interrupt those moments. It can be pretty hard not to come up to him and make noises and get him to smile. He can observe an object for 10-20 minutes as long as we don’t get in the way of it. This is something that we have been intentional about and want to continue with. In an overstimulated nation with constant noise and visual garbage most of us would struggle sitting on a porch watching a bird’s comings and goings for longer than 2 minutes.

We are off to Tejas!

so his ear doesn't poke out, just his hat

Expressed

The many sweet faces we see everyday.

What a treasure it is to make eye contact,

to hear giggles,

to see huge smiles with a mouth full of milk.

Many moments to treasure and hold dear.

What an honor to give yourself away.

I have two great guys in my life.

Overwhelmed with love and joy.

Thank you Lord for full life.

Sleeping Baby

Back to back updates. I am impressed. Of course, I posted my last one days after I wrote it.

Since after Cap's first night in the pack n play he has done awesome. I should say we all have! He has never been that hard to put to sleep. We put him down when he is drowsy and he falls asleep on his own. This last week has been exceptional though. We haven't gotten up more than once a night since Friday. We change him, feed him, and then he is back sleeping and dreaming. He still makes all sorts of noise, but now we just turn the monitor low and that way it is easier for us to keep sleeping. He gets extra noisy when he wants us to come get him, but still doesn't cry or anything in the middle of the night which we love.

We chose to use 100% cotton cloth diapers because we were wanting to EC. Cap hates being wet or dirty. Using the cloth we have it doesn't remove his wetness from his body like other diapers. I feel like it helps teach him early on about relieving himself and that is what makes him so uncomfortable when his clothes are still on and it really helps me to pay attention to his cues and body language so that he doesn't have to be uncomfortable. We are simply learning to communicate with each other. Communication doesn't just come in words as we know. Cap and I talk to each other all day long. It just may not look or sound the same as me and you doing it:)

So far EC is going pretty good. When we are at home and ready for it we can catch a few a day. I can always count on him peeing right after naps. He typically gives me all the signs for when he is about to poo. I haven't been so good about his poo's though. I need to be more prepared beforehand during the times of day he typically goes. We have still managed to catch some in the potty though. As always, 1 less diaper is a good thing especially when it is a poo one! It is not all about catching pees and poos, but more about us communicating once again. I will update our progress as we go. I am about to get more creative on having potties more readily accessible throughout our day when we are not home.

I keep telling myself to blog about something other than Cap!! Ha! For this moment, he is 98% of what goes on in my day!

what a burly look right?

Big Day

written last friday, april 29th

Yesterday turned out to be quite the eventful day. I had my 6 week post-pardom appointment first thing in the morning. It was mostly a good report. I never wrote about the whole labor or even after labor experience, but briefly...not that awesome. Mostly the after labor part. After pushing for nearly 4 hours when it was all said and done, ending it with a vacuumed out 9 pound baby, well, it can cause some after pain. I was told the thing that caused the most pain afterwards didn't heal the way we expected and I will have the same thing happen next labor. Sounds fun...that was hard to hear.

We decided to start trying a bottle here and there to get Cap used to drinking mamma's milk from a different nipple:) It was not easy! I was also amazed at the emotions that arose during the whole process. To my surprise I have not 'loved' the breast feeding process. I am getting a lot more used to it than I was the first several weeks, but I just haven't liked it like I thought I would. So I was shocked to find myself crying feeding Cap through a bottle. I will keep the reasons to myself for now.

We also put Cap in a different room than us for the first time last night. When I say room, I mean hallway:) He is so noisy and I am such a light sleeper that I find myself most nights awake listening to his loud sleepy self waiting for him to wake up and wanting to eat again. I have recently wondered if he is really waking up and if we even need to intervene??? He ended up waking up for his usual first feeding around the same time, but then he woke up 2 times after that. The thing is though, as soon as we picked him up he fell right back to sleep without eating which he has never done!!! It was weird. The last two days I haven't picked him up as soon as he wakes himself up and he has been soothing himself right back to sleep. I am hoping this will help us at night time. I am in need of more sleep!!!

So, all of that combined along with a dirty house and a dryer that won't work while we are doing cloth diapers added up to an emotional day. Cap is as cute as ever and growing everyday. He is laid back most of the time, but look out if he gets to overstimulated for too long. Oh and he loves to eat his fist. Like the whole thing. Not just a thumb or finger. His entire fist!

this would be the wild turkey we found at our house one morning

this would be el cap

Sunny Resurrection Day

There is nothing greater than spending the day in the sun celebrating the risen life of our Savior along with family. What a beautiful weekend to run around outside, fishing, flying kites, catching turtles, picnicking every meal, swinging in trees, napping in the sun, planting flowers, and sharing life with the ones you love. I hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as we enjoyed ours.

Cap taking morning nap on table outside while

we were eating breakfast

Miri gave dandelions to everyone

Cap chillin' with his Papa

right before the m&m's flew out of the blue egg

...classic shot...we have a lot of these:)

Graeme and Cap taking afternoon naps

our backyard where we spent most of our time

my two handsome guys

Cap in all his roll glory!

Bryce's sister Judi with her daughter Miri

Miri was loving the tree swing her Uncle Danger

set up. What a treat!

Miri and Graeme

Grammi and her 3 grandkids

While you sleep

Just a couple of great pictures of the Cap Guy.

I love watching Cap sleep. He can be pretty funny at times making silly faces, going from smiling to frowning and raising his tiny brow. He doesn't want his 'bullet' (we are trying this name out for his paci right now) when he is sleeping which is amazing cause he is sucking away on this video.