The Garage

Clint is pretty obsessed with his garage.  Now he has a little companion out there.  In fact, every time Clint goes out to the garage, Sawyer is on his heels.  Even though Clint denies it, Clint and Sawyer spend A LOT of time “piddling” out there.  They have successfully completed quite a few projects. Notice the matching work benches side by side.  

Clint even insisted on getting a dry erase board to “improve family communication.”  He wants Sawyer to learn how to draw and communicate through pictures.   

 

Oh and don’t forget about the “Freezer of Fame.”  It is a place for photos of our big adventures.

Our Angel

A friend of mind gave me a wise piece of parenting advice.  She said to give your child a pet name that sounded loving even when disciplining.  So shortly after Sawyer was born I started calling him “Angel” and have ever since.  Well Sawyer really is an angel, even his Mother’s Day Out teachers and the gals at the church nursery have told me so.  But most importantly Sawyer reminds us daily that he is an angel.  In fact he won’t let me call him anything but angel.  Clint tries to call him “Buckskin” but he insists on “Angel”.  Well you can imagine my surprise when this came home from school one day.  I swear he really thinks he is an angel even though this picture isn't convincing.

Christmas 2010

We celebrated Christmas with my family the weekend before in Arkansas.  Sawyer and Beau had all there cousins there (10 kids under the age of 6) and it was pure chaos.  I love my family.  I didn’t get many pictures, but here are a few attempts.

This is my newest nephew, Baby Carsen.

Beau and I having a moment of peace and quiet at my parents.

On Christmas Eve we had corn chowder and went to church.  Sawyer enjoyed holding the candle.  Sawyer totally got the whole Santa Claus thing because Christmas Eve was his first night he slept in his big boy bed.  With no cues from us he figured he could get out of bed at any time to see what Santa brought.  Sure enough he was up bright and early.  Clint and I stayed up late watching our old home videos.  We had a great time reminiscing.

Sawyer is reading Beau a Christmas devotion.

On Christmas Day we opened our stockings, ate breakfast casserole, played with all our new toys, realized it was nap time and hadn’t opened our gifts under the tree, ate venison tenderloin (from Clint’s deer), then finally got around to opening the gifts under the tree.  It was a fun lazy day. Sawyer’s favorite was his chainsaw.

Of course Beau slept through all the excitement.

On the 26^th we traveled to Stillwater for Christmas with Clint’s family.  We had a great time, played with lots of fabulous gifts, and ate great food.  Sawyer and Beau had fun hanging out with Grammy, Grandpa, GG, Uncle A, and Brooke.  

Grandpa got a T-shirt with the following pictures on it that said "A-Team".  It is all the Aichele boys.

But poor Beau, we did realize that the boy traveled four weekends out of his first 6 weekends of life. We had a great Christmas.

Christmas Activities

One of our favorite things this year has been watching Sawyer finally get into the holidays.  Christmas was no exception.  We definitely wanted this year to be special.  We watched Christmas movies almost every night, decorated lots of cookies (and ate them), kept the house stocked with all the fabulous toppings for hot cocoa, made several trips to look at lights, went to a live nativity/town of Bethlehem, went to Woolaroc, saw Santa Claus, had a cookie decorating party, did a community service project, decorated the tree and house, Christmas crafts, and all with a new born baby. 

Sawyer loved Santa Claus.  He was so nervous, but so excited.  He also loves baby Jesus and has spent all month playing with the nativity.

Beau - One Month

Remember when I said Beau didn’t move much in my tummy.  Well that is because this boy is a sleeper.  He is still sleeping most of the day.  But the problem with the boy is getting him to sleep.  He starts getting sleepy and then gets upset (aka - screams bloody murder).  He will continue to scream unless you walk him, holding him in a specific position, in a dark room, and then he will just look at you for a very long time . . .  His Dad still has not figured out how to calm him down.

He smiles a lot though already at one month.  He also only really cares for his mommy.  He has a very short fuse if someone else is holding him.  And when he is upset, the entire neighborhood knows it.  I should have known when the doctor, who has delivered thousands of babies, commented on how loud and long he screamed at birth.  But like I said, once he is back in his mommy’s arms (or the car seat) he is just fine. 

I never co-slept with Sawyer, but Beau does spend part of the night in our bed.  I love it.  I also just think he is the most beautiful little creature I have ever seen.  I know it is just the mommy goggles.  The boy has rolls.  So cute.

Sawyer has adjusted fully.  He is a great big brother, and always lets me know when Bebo is upset.  Because Beau is pretty much a full time job, Clint and Sawyer have become inseparable.  

A week of firsts - December 1st

We have had a lot of change in our household over the past few weeks.  Beau is doing great most of the day.  The poor baby has man sized gas and it is really hurting his tummy in the late evening.  He is fine as long as one of us is working with him, but he definitely ties up our night.  I am sure it will pass in a few weeks (no pun intended).  Beau started smiling and cooing.  He slept through the night one night, but that was an accident.

Sawyer and Beau had their first bath together.  They both really enjoy this part of the evening most of the time.

Sawyer had his first haircut.  I am having a hard time with the idea that my boys are growing up and thus have put off Sawyer's haircut for too long.  He was starting to blend in with the average kid in the Bartlesville Walmart (ducktail/mullet).

The ducktail

So handsome!

Clint killed his first deer (buck) on 12/5/10.  He shot it from his deer stand with his 7mm remington mag. on his Dad's land in Stillwater.  Fortunately, the deer wasn't a trophy, so we didn't go to battle over mounting it in our house. There's always next year.  Clint's Dad helped a lot with field dressing and butchering.  Clint was glad to share that experience with his Dad.  We cut the back-strap and tenderloins into steaks and we ground the rest into hamburger.  We also made some summer sausage that was delicious.

As far as me, I made my first solo walk with two babies and a dog, and made my first solo shopping trip to Walgreens (was uneventful until Sawyer grabbed a box of tampons off the shelf, opened them, started taking them out and another shopper stopped him.  I was clueless the whole time.) It has been a fun crazy few weeks.

Thanksgiving 2010

We planned on a low key Thanksgiving since Beau was just two weeks old.  On Thanksgiving day, Clint's parents and grandmother came to our house to celebrate.  Clint's family brought all the sides and Clint made the turkey.  Everything was delcious.  Clint's turkey was fabulous.  I had no idea my husband could even cook let alone make one of the best turkey's I've ever had!  Beau and Sawyer had a great time hanging out with Grammy, Grandpa, and GG. GG enjoyed seeing Beau for the first time.

GG with her great grand babies

Our first family of four photo

Grammy and Grandpa with their grandsons

My family was planning on coming to Bartlesville on Friday, but my dad had a bad accident and broke his hip just a few days before.  We decided to make our first road trip as a family of four plus a dog and head to Arkansas to celebrate with my family.  My mom surprised us all and after hospital stays, no sleep and taking care of my dad she pulled off a fantastic meal (anyone who has had her food would agree she is one of the best cooks ever).  The kids had a blast.  All the cousins (total of 7 with one more on the way all under the age of 6 plus a few close family friends) play soooo well together.  They really love each other.