Pumpkins

Last weekend, we sat on the front porch and carved the pumpkin for Paxton's photo shoot (see it HERE) and colored the pumpkins that the twins got when they went on their classroom field trip to the pumpkin patch (see that post HERE). 

Paxton and I watched from the sidelines.

Yes, I have a receding hair line. I lost a ton of hair after I had the twins and the
same thing has happened this time around. It'll come back... hopefully.

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Last Friday, the twins went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch with their class at school. Wes and I couldn't chaperone, but luckily, their friend's mom (Diane, Olivia's mom) took some pics for us.

He's Giggly

My MD Visit

A couple of weekends ago, Wes' mom, brother, and brother's girlfriend came down to VA for some weekend shenanigans with the twins (post to come) while I traveled to MD with Pax to spend a couple of nights at my mom's new place. It was exactly what I needed. I hadn't seen my mom since the beginning of August and it was definitely nice to have some time alone with Pax (without G & V pushing and pulling and screaming and whining in the background).

It's about a 3.5 hour drive (with mild traffic) and I only had to stop once in Tyson's Corner to feed Paxton. My mom and her fiance, Max, recently moved into a brand-spanking-new luxury apartment complex. And let me tell you, it is gorgeous and absolutely fabulous.

Here are a few awesome things about their new place:

1. The hallways are ridiculously wide.

2. There's a gorgeous glass rock electric fireplace in the "lobby" of the complex.

3. All of the fixtures, lighting, and furniture in the

common areas are to-die-for. I was totally in love with it all. 

The interior designer spared no expense.

This couch was very long. And beautiful.

This chair is so sick. You can't really tell by the photo,
but it's a faux alligator skin that's super shiny. It's so flashy. I love it.

I just love a tufted couch. Heart it.

4. There are a lot of amenities like a bar where

specialty coffees and fruit is served in the morning,

a game room with a pool table and foosball table, 

 a test kitchen that you can reserve and host a cooking class, dinner party, or catered event,

 and a movie theater, library, conference room, fully equipped gym (with an awesome playroom for the kiddos), a huge outdoor pool, and then another club house with second set of all of the stuff I just mentioned. It's actually quite incredible.

My mom's apartment is two doors down from the gym (awesomesauce!), has two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, a fully updated kitchen, and a large balcony overlooking the outdoor pool (it's like they live at a resort). 

Max's mom actually painted three of the paintings in their apartment. They are vivid and vibrant.

Here's another one. Love it.

While I was in MD, I went to my friend Stephanie's house to help her paint a dresser for her nursery (post to come). The rest of my time in MD was spent with my mom and Max. Paxton was so well-behaved. He barely slept during the day on Saturday or Sunday, but he wasn't crabby and he slept well at night, so it was all good. 

It was a fun time, but it was way too short. See you again soon, Mama!

Pumpkin Pax

On Paxton's five month birthday, we decided to have a little pumpkin fun. He was a bit put off by the entire experience, but in typical Pax fashion, he didn't cry about it. But he didn't smile about it, either.

Okay, he did give us a little smile.

Paxton is 5 Months Old

Paxton is five months old today. And yes, he's still a really good baby. He's happy, easily-soothed, a good eater, sleeps well, and seems to be up-to-date in terms of developments. Here are the deets:

His Routine

Paxton is (and has been for a while now) on a eat-play-sleep routine. Through out the day, Paxton sleeps for 1-2 hour stretches (usually 1.5 hours), he wakes up and nurses or is fed a bottle of breast milk (he's still exclusively breast fed despite the excessive lipase issue I've been experiencing for the last EIGHT FREAKING weeks). Then he plays for about 2-2.5 hours (and sometimes 3 hours in the late afternoon). He really likes to be in his doorway jumper, his car walker, on the floor rolling around (yes, he's rolling now), being held by one of us, or in his bouncy seat. Gavin and Vivian really love playing with him and he loves it, too. He smiles, giggles, and coos when they make faces at him, tickle his fat little belly, or play with his toys. Then he goes to sleep again and the cycle continues.

Sleeping

Paxton is a relatively good sleeper. Well compared to his siblings, he's perfect. Like I said, he takes 1-2 hour naps through out the day. All of these naps are usually taken upstairs in his crib (unless he falls asleep while we're out and about- then they happen in his car seat). Around 7 or 8 pm, he goes down for his first long stretch of the night. He begins in his crib and then sometime between 11pm and 1am he wakes up, I bring him to our bed, and he nurses. He then stays in our bed with us until the morning, nursing one more time before he wakes up around 6:30-7am. Unlike with G & V, P has yet to actually cry in the middle of the night. He just grunts and "talks" a little bit, I nurse him, and he drifts back off to sleep. No crying. It's so foreign to us. Not only is sleeping different, but actually putting him to sleep is really different, too. With G & V, we had them on a play-eat-sleep schedule and so they became very used to eating to fall asleep. This was good for us because it almost always worked, but it was bad because they took a very long time to learn how to put themselves to sleep without drinking something. Paxton is fully capable of falling asleep with just a paci (which still isn't always there). We turn on his noise machine, wrap him (with one or both arms down), and rock him until he is mostly asleep. Then, we place him in his crib half-awake and he drifts off on his own. It's so awesome.

Eating

Like I mentioned, he's still exclusively eating breast milk. We gave him solids for the first time yesterday (post to come), but that's it.

Talking

Okay, he's not actually talking. But he's a babbling, gargling, screaming baby. For the most part, Pax is very calm and quiet, rarely making a fuss about anything. But a few times a day, for up to an hour each time, Pax is LOUD. He squeals and and babbles and squeaks and blows raspberries. He's definitely trying to tell us something. It's very funny.

Milestones

Paxton walked forward in his car walker for the first time on October 11th (he was 4.5 months old). He rolled over for the first time a couple of weeks ago (he was 4.5 months old), but didn't do it again until two nights ago (just before he was 5 months old) and is now consistently rolling from back to front and from front to back. He's been trying to sit up for a couple of weeks, but has yet to perfect it. He's very good at jumping in his doorway jumper and has been for the last two months (since he was around 3 months old). He can also easily grab toys, bring them to his mouth, and slobber all over them. When he's riding around in his car walker, he likes to throw toys from his tray. Lastly, he's still really big, comfortably wearing 9-12 month clothes.

Likes

Paxton really loves: his feet, eating his hands, his brother and sister, sitting up (or being propped up), standing and holding your hands, his monkey blankie, his elephant rattle, his cow rattle, being tickled, riding in the car, going for walks in his stroller, and just like his Daddy, he absolutely loves sitting on the front porch and watching the cars drive by.

At this point, if we had to describe Paxton in three words, they would be: easy-going, happy, and charming. Love you, Pax!

Oh yeah, here's what the twins were up to at 5 months.