Playtime

Titus is now playing with his toys! It is so much fun to watch him hold, chew on, and play with his toys. The greatest part about this is that he can play when we are in the car. We went through a period where he could cry in the car seat while I was driving. It could be so frustrating and heartbreaking to hear him back there screaming and not be able to do anything about it. Now I can give him a toy and he plays until he falls asleep. His favorite toy seems to be his moose from aunt Simone! It is soft with bells in the feet and antlers that he can chew on. Thank you aunt Simone, it has been a lifesaver!

Titus' internet debut

There is a company called L'oved Baby that I found online and ordered Titus two outfits from. He wore one for the first time yesterday and looked so cute. Of course I took pictures! Through the website you can submit pictures of your child wearing their clothes. Since Titus is so cute, I figured they would definitely put his picture on...and they did! Now they may put every picture that they receive on the website, but I'd like to think that they only put the cutest ones...which of course Titus is the very cutest! You can go on the website www.Lovedbaby.com click on the Photo Gallery, then scroll down and find Titus' picture. The clothes are really great. They are a bit pricey, but there was a buy one get one free special that I took advantage of. They do run small. Titus, who is average in height and weight, is wearing 9-12 mo. They do seem to be good quality and they are so cute!

Sleeping update

Titus has been doing much better the past few nights! He is still not sleeping much during the day, but he has only been getting up one time at night. In the evening I bathe him, nurse him, and usually he falls asleep by 9pm. He is sleeping in his SweetPeace (by Graco-I love it!) He will sleep until somewhere around 3am. I'll put him in bed with me to nurse and then lay him on his stomach beside me and he will sleep until 10am. Steve gets up around 6am so it's only a couple hours that we are all in bed together. Even so it is a king size bed so we all have plenty of room. I am not a morning person so I love that he sleeps in late. I know that I need to start working towards getting Titus in his crib in his own room at night, but for now I am enjoying our routine. Now I just need to get him on a nap schedule!

Family pictures

Sleep patterns

We've always had to fight with Titus to get him to sleep...last night was no exception! He had only taken three 30 min. naps during the day so I was sure he would be tired by night. Which he was, but he refused to fall asleep on his own. He falls asleep eating or in the car, otherwise it is next to impossible to get him to nap or to bed. He also had us tricked because at 4 weeks he started to sleep through the night, but it only lasted a week or so. Now at 3 mo. he is getting up 2-3 times each night. I thought that maybe by feeding him larger amounts in a bottle he would get enough during the day and not need to eat at night. I started this yesterday...it didn't make any difference at all. I know "they" say that breast milk goes right through babies and formula is more likely to fill them for longer. I was still giving him breast milk, just in larger amounts in the bottle. I really don't want to switch to formula at this point. I don't think it would make much of a difference since I think I am more fighting his habits than his hunger! So...I guess it is time to start letting him "fuss it out." Which to him is more "scream it out!" These pictures are of him at 10:00 last night. His eyes were red and tired, but he was still laughing and "talking."

Then I finally gave in and nursed him until he fell asleep...and woke up an hour later.

Three month pictures

On October 15th Titus turned 3 mo. old! He is so much fun at this age. He is smiling all the time, starting to laugh, and he always has something to say! I think he is going to be quite the little character. I can't believe how time flies! Here are a few pictures I took of him on that day...

Our guests

Adrienne and Clara came to visit us this week. They were here for 4 days and we had a great time! It was wonderful to see them again and for them to spend time with Titus. Clara just loved him! It was so great to see him just looking at her, studying her. We spent a lot of our time at the pool. but if you ask Clara, she would probably say that we weren't there enough. The pool was all she talked about.

Testing

Well, we are starting to wonder what in the world is going on! Everything came together so well in our preparing to move here. We felt that this had to be God's will for us. Now that we are here everything is going wrong. I guess it started on our way down here really. We thought that we had our housing decided on and then halfway here it all changed. We were 4 hours away when we made the final decision as to where we were going to live. A place that I had never seen, but Steve said was "nice." It was not ready when we arrived so our landlord paid for our hotel that night and we moved in the following day. The night we moved in our air conditioner died and the house got up to 87 degrees. At this point it was frustrating, but we weren't really thinking much of it. Then after we got our phone/Internet/cable hooked up, the phone and Internet went out for 5 days. I kept calling Comcast and they said they were working on it but that there was an outage in our area. Once that all came back on (after a lot of frustration!) the air conditioner died again. We got that fixed and the phone went out again, got that fixed and the air died again, got that fixed and the phone went out again. This time in the middle of my conversation with Rachel...that was the last straw for me! :) As if all of that wasn't enough, Steve's "check engine light" in his car came on this week. Thank goodness we had gotten a second car because that is what he is now driving, therefore leaving me car less once again. We are taking his car to get looked at tonight and are just praying that it won't be too expensive. So, like I said in the beginning... "what in the world is going on?!" I am so thankful that we are all three doing well physically! We know we can live without these "luxuries" it has just added some extra stress to things. I am telling you this so that you won't be surprised if we move back home next year! Good thing we saved the bubble wrap, huh mom?

Our growing boy

Today I took Titus for his doctor appointment. I found a good pediatrician about 10 minutes away. I had an appointment with a pediatrician last week, but it didn't end so well. As soon as I walked in I had a bad feeling about the place. It was somewhat dirty, had tacky Halloween decorations up as well as a strand of Christmas lights (I'm assuming were from last Christmas) falling off the wall. So I took my baby and left! Today's experience was much better. Although we did both leave in tears after Titus' shots. He weighs 13lbs 11oz and is 24 inches long...at birth he was 8lb 2oz and 21 inches. The doctor said he is in perfect health! Such a relief since he was way overdue for this check-up! learning to sit up...he is so proud of himself!

Hot October days

I woke up to feed Titus last night, or rather he woke me up, and I noticed that our air conditioner had stopped working. This is the 3rd time that it has died (Sorry Mom, I didn't tell you about the 2nd time because I didn't want you to picture us here sweating. You were here the 1st time and know how hot it can get). I called right away in the morning and someone was scheduled to come fix it in the afternoon. In the meantime we decided to get out of the house and go to the beach. It was a beautiful day! The water was so calm and we could see right to the bottom. Titus did well under the umbrella and he even took a quick dip.

Uncle Dustin

Today marks the 4 year anniversary of our losing Dustin. This is the first year that we could not all be together as a family. It was decided that we would each release a balloon for Dustin from whenever we are. This morning Titus and I went to the beach to do this. When Titus was born, Steve and I were honored to have a son and be able to pass on a part of Dustin to Titus through the use of his name. Titus will never know his uncle Dustin, but he will forever have a piece of him.

One month later...

...and we are starting to feeling like this is home. It doesn't feel like we've been here for a month already, but when I think about last being in PA, that seems like much more than a month ago! The first couple weeks here were difficult at times. I don't think we realized how much we would miss our families. Steve had a ton of work to do in catching up since we arrived two weeks after school had started. CCA is huge and he had so much to learn..and is still learning. He often comes home excited about something else he learned or a new wing of the school that he just found out about. Last week he saw the recording studio that the school and church uses. He is looking forward to getting in there! The staff is amazing. They sent meals home with Steve for 2 weeks! We are still meeting new people and trying to see who will become our close friends. We did buy a second car and that has been a huge help for me in getting more familiar with the area. Titus and I have been going to a group on Mondays for moms and babies. It is a support group/Bible study. It is great for me to meet other new moms and for Titus to interact with the other babies. The woman who runs the group, Myndha, has taken a special liking to Titus, always saying how beautiful he is. Today was our 2nd time going and there were 5 moms and 5 babies. On Friday we are having breakfast with another group of ladies and their kids. So...we are getting adjusted. There are moments when we feel wonderful about our decision and are excited to see what our future here will be, and then there are times when we want to get on the next plane home...although those feelings are coming much less often now. Especially after a day like this...

Friday afternoon football...under the sun

Today we went to a football game at the school. We are used to watching high school football games at night under the lights, freezing cold, bundled up in a blanket while drinking hot cocoa...not here! The game was in the afternoon, the sun was blazing, and they were selling ice cream. Titus did well, but I wasn't quite prepared so we left before the game was over. I didn't bring his hat and was trying to shade him with a blanket while feeding him a bottle. We were also sitting next to the band and I felt it was a bit too loud for the poor guy. Maybe we'll try again next week now that I know what to expect!

Titus wasn't too sure about his 1st football game...but at least he was dressed appropriately.

Another photo shoot at the beach

Here are some more pictures I took at Deerfield Beach...

Catching up

Our Internet service went out on Saturday and just came back on today. So here are some pictures from the past week...