Christmas

We had a great Christmas!  On Christmas Eve, Grayson and I made sugar cookies and decorated them.  I found a new recipe on pinterest that I think is the BEST sugar cookie recipe I have ever had.  They were super soft and tasted great!  It will definitely be my "go to" recipe from now on.  That night we were going to have our annual family dinner, followed by Grayson opening his gift containing Christmas jammies and a book, then all watch "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" together before leaving cookies out for Santa and going to bed.  Unfortunately dinner took alittle longer than expected to cook and we had a very difficult two year old on our hands.  After we finally ate dinner, we rushed through opening his present, put some "food" out for the reindeer and decided to cut our losses and get Grayson in bed.  It was sort of disheartening that the evening didn't play out as planned, but we were hoping a good night's rest would make for a better Christmas day.

On Christmas morning we woke up and let Grayson open his presents from Santa while breakfast (french toast) baked in the oven.  We let him take his time opening each gift and allowed him to play with them so he could truly enjoy them.  He also helped open a couple of gifts for Beckett and give Aspen the gifts that were left in his stocking.  It was a really nice Christmas morning.  After gifts, we wanted to capture a few family pictures but the difficult two year old made another appearance so those would have to wait for a later day.  Shane's parents, grandmother and aunt stopped by that afternoon for a couple of hours and then we made a trip over to my brother's house for Christmas with my family.  It was a pretty busy, whirlwind of a day.  Grayson had a few moments that day where he seemed frustrated and uncooperative which we can only assume were other instances of his routine being disturbed.  Shane and I were looking forward to the rest of the week where we could get him back into his normal routine.  After one day, our sweet, loving, cooperative son was back!

The rest of the weekend was spent dealing with a water leak in our attic upstairs.  We had one earlier in the week, and our plumber repaired it but I noticed there was still water dripping from the ceiling.  The day after Christmas we had to have the plumber come back out and he found another leak.  The leaks were in our copper pipes that were attached to our hot water heater.  I had my electrician come by and he discovered the grounding wires were not hooked up to our hot water heater when we had it installed two years ago so holes in our pipes formed.  We think this may have also caused the leak in the pipe that we had to have repaired back in September.  After all of the leaks, the bathroom upstairs needed some drywall repair so we had a contractor come out to complete the work.  We also took the opportunity to have the wall repaired properly in our game room and paint our game room and bathroom a different color.  I went with a light gray color and it looks so good!  I haven't had a chance to take pictures yet as we just got everything put back together today, but I will take some and add them to the next post.

Here are pictures from Christmas and a few others from December.  Unfortunately I did not get any photos Christmas evening at my brother's house. :(

 I'm pretty sure he's saying "I do it!"

Yes, they were just as delicious as they look!

 I was able to get him to sit for one picture with

mommy on Christmas Eve.

 Leaving food (oats and glitter) to help the

reindeer find our house.

 Santa came!

Riley just had to be in the photo. 

 Getting Aspen's gifts out of his stocking.

Aspen playing with his dinosaur toy from Santa

 Grayson going through his stocking

 I love his face in this picture!

 Now it's time for gifts!

 Playing with his fishing pole.

I think this is actually Shane's favorite toy.

 Beckett was cooperative that morning

so I was able to capture some photos of him.

 And then there's the two year old...

We would not let him have one of the ornaments

since he accidentally broke one the day prior.

 Beckett's first Christmas!

 Beckett meeting his Great Nanny for the first time.

 Grayson got another train from Granddad and Grammie D

 A couple of days after Christmas I was able

to get my sweet boy to take pictures.

Beckett has a very concerned look on his face...

My three handsome men!

Someone was tuckered out after a crazy Christmas morning

 My sister in law asked me to take their family

pictures this year.

My nephews, Aaron (8) and Andrew (6)

 We had my mom over for dinner one night and 

Grayson helped her with the green beans.

 Grayson discovered his headphones in his closet

so now he loves to wear them and listen to music.

Here he has Shane's phone, but we took Shane's small

Apple shuffle and loaded some songs on it just for him.

 My boys watching a movie

 Beckett enjoying his Sophie toy

Beckett loves to sleep on his tummy.

I promise he is breathing.

 Our new bedroom furniture finally came a couple of

days before Christmas!  We love it!

Disregard our bedding.  I'm on the hunt for 

some new stuff.

Beth, the lady at Gray's school, asked if Beckett

and I would be on their Christmas card.  I was confused at first

but then she explained they have always wanted someone to 

be the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.  Their church has a 

nativity scene so we went up there one night

so Beth's husband, Scott, could take our pictures.  

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!  This New Year's rivals the last couple of years in excitement.  As you can see, we are having a wild and crazy night at the Bybee house.  I'm updating the blog while watching the news, Grayson is asleep in bed, Beckett and Aspen are sleeping on the couch next to me and Shane is over at the kitchen table grading papers.  It's pretty cold outside so we will most likely be spending the next few days at home.  I go back to work on Monday and Beckett starts daycare so I will be trying to enjoy as much time with him as I can this weekend.  I can't believe my time off is finally coming to an end.  I am looking forward to going back to work so I can contribute something to society, but have definitely loved my time off with Becks.  I'm not worried about him going to daycare at all.  I know all of the ladies in his room and he will be in good hands.  They will take great care of him and show him just as much love as they did to Grayson.  See all of you in 2015!

2 Months

Baby Beckett is two months old!  He continues to be one of the best babies and is developing really well.  At his 2 month check-up, he had hit every milestone.  Here are some things we noticed about him this month:

• Beckett has been sleeping 8-10 hours at night!  He does have an off night here and there which is to be expected, but most nights he is sleeping really well which has allowed me to sleep really well, too.  :)
• He is starting to "talk" more and makes all sorts of sounds and noises while we interact with him or he plays on his mat.
• He has also started smiling this month.  Seeing him crack a smile on his face while talking to him or looking at him is so heart warming.  
• Beckett already seems to be so strong.  He is lifting his head fairly well and putting weight on his legs when we hold him up.  Gray was a pretty strong baby, too, and we know Beckett will need to be just as strong to keep up with his big brother.  
• He has started to enjoy bath time this month.  At first he didn't seem to be a fan of it, but now he smiles and seems to enjoy being in the water while I splash him and bathe him.  
• Weight: 11 lbs, 6 oz
• Height: 23.5 inches

Everything else at his check-up looked good.  He still has a clogged tear duct that I'm hoping clears up soon because his left eye is always swollen and goopy.  It could last up to a year which would then require them to surgically open it up.  Gray had one but it went away after just about a week or two.  He continues to have breakouts of his excema from time to time.  We have to do a good job of cleaning him up after he spits up but we are still trying to figure out what triggers the breakouts.  Beckett got a couple of shots and took them fairly well.  He did let out a pretty good cry but was over the initial shock quickly.

In just 2 1/2 weeks Beckett is headed to daycare.  He could start now, but we felt like it didn't make sense to start him right around the holidays while both of us could be home.  I am going to enjoy the last couple of weeks I have with Beckett at home, but do plan to go into work a few times before going back full time at the first of January.  I have already attended a few meetings here and there, but next week I hope to get more time in my office while Shane is out of school.  Beckett was struggling to take a bottle, but after working with him a few days I was finally able to get him to take one.  I know Grayson struggled to take a bottle when he first started daycare so I wanted to work with Beckett in advance so he was ready.  Plus it helps give me a break so I don't have to be the sole supplier of food for him.  :) 

Over the last couple of weeks we have continued our efforts to spend time with Grayson as he is still adjusting to Beckett.  I'm not sure how long the adjustment phase will last, but I hope we will always find time to do things with each boy individually from time to time.  Last week we took Grayson to the Gaylord ICE exhibit.  It's a professionally sculpted ice display in a huge exhibit hall that is 9 degrees.  They provide you with these big, oversized jackets to wear while walking through the exhibit.  I wasn't sure how well Grayson would take the extreme cold, but he seemed to love it.  He was so stinking cute walking around in his big jacket, too.  They have these slides made of ice that he enjoyed going down as well.  Apparently they make the kids go down on their backs so they don't accidentally hit their heads, but I did not know this when he first went down.  I could not stop laughing the first time he went down the slide.  It reminded me of the scene in The Christmas Story when Ralphie and his brother go to visit Santa and his brother slides down on his back.  After walking through the exhibit, we checked out the trains and other Christmas decorations throughout the Gaylord Hotel.  

The weather has been nice so we have also been taking Gray to the park alot.  We have a nice park in our neighborhood that is within walking distance and my parents also live down the street from a really neat park in their neighborhood.  He has really branched out and goes down all of the big slides and seems to have no issues climbing around all of the structures that are designed for kids much older than he is.  We still have to watch him and stay close by, but he really enjoys the park and we find it hard to get him to leave most times.

I'm excited for the upcoming holidays.  I always enjoyed Christmas with my family growing up and now I am enjoying it with my own family as we start our own traditions.

Looks like Beckett may have the same "O" face as his brother

Beckett holding up his head

I changed his diaper and went to wash my hands, 

then came back to find him passed out.

This picture was taken 15 minutes later...

Tummy time!

 Showing off a hat from one of Shane's students

 Smiles and giggles

Smiling while sleeping

Gaylord ICE

 So cute in his big jacket!

 Going down the ice slide

I should have got a video of him going down

the slide.  He actually bounced off the wall before

landing on the carpet.

Little red nose

 It wasn't cold in the hotel, but he loved his mittens and jacket so 

much that he refused to take them off.

 Choo choo trains!

 We went to the mall one afternoon so Grayson

could ride the carousel.

 He kept saying, "Mommy!  I see you!"

This kid still loves to help in any way he can.

His new thing is to "help" with the dishes.

Thanksgiving

We had a very low key Thanksgiving again this year.  My parents, grandmother and great aunt came over for lunch.  One of my nephews was able to join us, but my brother, sister in law and other nephew were all sick so they had to stay home.  Shane fried another turkey for us this year using a new infrared oil-less fryer that we purchased.  It tasted just as delicious as the turkeys we have made in years past and didn't require near as much work or clean up as the oil fried turkeys.  As always, lunch was delicious and we enjoyed time with my family.

Shane had the week off so we spent some time at home getting a few things done, decorating the house for Christmas (pictures to come later) and tried to spend some time with Grayson.  We each try to do something one on one with him when we can.  I especially try to set some time aside for him since he is still adjusting to sharing mommy with Beckett.  One afternoon I dropped Beckett at my mom's house for about an hour, picked up Gray at school and took him to Target to do alittle shopping.  He had a gift card from my grandmother for his birthday so I thought we could go pick a few things out.  When we got to Target we got a snack and walked around.  He ended up picking out a movie (Wreck It Ralph), a playdoh set, a small police car that makes sounds and a Toy Story Rex figurine.  He has loved playing with all of his new toys.  Over the last few weeks he is starting to truly play with his toys, talk to them and pretend with them.  It is so cute to sit and watch him play or play along with him.  

I will close this post with a photo recap from the last couple of weeks.

They had a holiday feast at Gray's school so 

I was able to go have lunch with him.

I attempted to take both boys for a walk.

What you can't see (or hear) is Beckett

crying in his car seat.  

It was a short walk. :)

 I found a couple of cute Thanksgiving crafts

Gray and I could make together.

He definitely got his love of arts and crafts

from his momma!

 I used his hand to make a turkey hat (which he 

refused to wear) and a small turkey.

Another handprint craft with paint 

 Cousins working on a floor puzzle

The boys hanging out with Anpa

Look at that yummy turkey!

Aaron beat Nay Nay when pulling the wishbone.

A cardboard box and crayons are a great

way to entertain a 2 year old

Gray got his finger mashed in a door.

He sat on the couch and iced his finger for

a good 20 minutes.  He really handles pain well, 

but he also knows how to milk an injury.

You have to give him props for creativity

Beckett is starting to enjoy his activity mat

Sleeping like his brother used to sleep on the boppy.

You can see his face is all broken out.

We went to the doctor on Friday and found out

he has excema.  After a couple of days applying

some ointment, it has started to clear up.

Still loving his guitar!

I wanted to start a tradition for the boys to 

have their own Christmas tree in their room.

Gray and I decorated his tree this weekend with 

some Mickey ornaments I made for him.

I made red, yellow and black Mickey

shaped ornaments out of felt.

Proud of his Christmas tree!

Sorry about his ugly attire  ;)

The final product

Sunday morning Gray and I went to Walmart

and then I took him to the donut shop to get breakfast.

Note to self: avoid all food items with sprinkles as this kid

will eat the sprinkles one by one.