The Big Sister (and a few other updates)

Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year since my last post!  Nothing like the holidays to zap a few more "blog memory" brain cells!  J.R. mastered his first roadtrip to Mississippi for Thanksgiving (woo hoo!) ... we enjoyed Christmas in Indiana ... and even welcomed a new precious nephew (born to my brother and sister-in-law in Nashville), Asher James Davis, on December 26!

I love this picture of our niece, Ella, gazing upon her newly born brother, Asher.

I have intended to update my blog for a few weeks as 2013 came to a close ... and now 2014 is already in full swing!  As I sit back and reflect on the past year, I am humbled by the many blessings that God gave us.  Namely, our new little family member.  It is crazy to think that last January, J.R.'s tiny life was being created and, here we are, a year later, with a happy, healthy 4-month-old son.  Thank you, God!

Sweet, smiley boy!

We are definitely getting into a new groove these days.  J.R. is growing and changing everyday and is quite a delight.  Well...mostly!  He has his not-so-delightful moments like every baby!! ;)  We are loving watching his personality come into bloom.  And speaking of blooming personalities, his sweet, silly, sassy (we could do without some of the last one) sister remains one of his biggest fans!  Everyone has been so kind to ask how Big Sis is adjusting to life with Little Bro, so I thought I would give an update on Whitney-girl! 

Whitney loves her "little buddy" J.R.  She constantly wants to look at him, rub his hair, give him a kiss, talk to him, sing to him, etc.  She is even helpful with cleaning up his (constant) spit-up, handing me wipes, and picking up rattles that he flings out of the high chair.  She still loves to talk about poopy diapers (a lot)...and gets quite a roar out of them, but hasn't tackled that icky duty yet!  Whitney even insists on J.R. being in the middle of our morning "group hug!"  I am beginning to notice that little twinkle in his eye when she walks into the room. ;)

Here are some "Whitney-isms" from the past few months that I managed to write down:

• Prayer one night: "Thank you, God, for making J.R. a baby."
• Talking to J.R.: "I am glad you grew out of Mommy's belly."
• Singing to J.R.: "Welcome to our house, it's better than any other.  Welcome to our house, you're my baby brother."
• Asking Whitney the name of the special baby's birth that we celebrate at Christmas: Her first response was "J.R."...oh, and it gets better...the second response was "Skylar," our beloved dog who is in Heaven!  Geez!  We finally got to "Jesus" after that!
• A funny e-mail update from Whitney's speech therapist: "OK, my student teacher and I had a ball with Whitney today!! Somehow we got talking about J.R., and Whitney looked over at Rachel, my young, cute, unmarried student teacher, and asked her if she had "a brother in your tummy?" We were silently cracking up! Then she looked at me and asked "how do babies get in your tummy?" Not touching that one!! I told her that she would have to talk with you about that! We were dying!"

Not everything has been sunshine and rainbows for the big sister.  J.R.'s presence has definitely rocked her world.  She has heard "not right now," "maybe later," and "hold on," far more in the last few months than probably in her 5-year existence.  I think she internalized a lot of the change in the early weeks.  And this, quite possibly, attributed to more of the emotion and sass that we've seen from time to time, but overall, she seems to be embracing sisterhood with her helping heart and charming curiosity. 

Who knew that breastpump accessories could turn into "telescopes?"  This cracked me up!

Such serious faces on Thanksgiving Day!  I think the tryptophan from the turkey had already set in!

 

Love this look (oh no, she's got me again!) on J.R.'s face Christmas morning!

Payback!!  Glad I had the camera close by for this one.  J.R. got a grip on Whitney's hair for the first time and she is squealing and giggling!  The sibling fun has begun!

Oh, and, just a quick photo of Giselle me and Baby Giselle J.R. getting ready on a typical day.  Ha!  I couldn't resist!!  Hey--Whitney teased my hair with a "My Little Pony" brush the other day and wrapped a ruler in my tresses, so she's working on "glam squad" status!

Happy 2014!!!!!!