James at 4 Months {JT Update}

Hip, Hip Horay for this little guy being 4 months old! 

We definitely turned a corner on his fussiness around 3.5 months... he still doesn't like his carseat all the time, and I'm pretty sure we've hit the 4 month sleep regression... but he is so much happier than he used to be! Praises!!

We celebrated his baptism. Doing so had us serving lunch to around 50 family members and friends at our house. It was our first big hosting event and it really went well! It was so wonderful celebrating James' special day surrounded by so many family and friends! I figure we won't have to worry about hosting that many people again until high school graduations (just a few years away, ha!), as hosting holidays or even birthdays will never be to such a large group. A big thanks to my mom for helping clean the house and to everyone who helped in the kitchen on that day. I appreciate all of you!

This outfit was one that Dan wore, so I had to to make sure to take pictures in it before James outgrew it! Future baseball player? We'll just have to wait and see...

The many faces of James :) 

The top two are during breaks from the carseat going to and from family camp.

Then we have a smile of stealing Sister's chair after she had gone to bed... and then I was trying to teach him how to play with his toes.

What?! He's not crying in his carseat? Yay James! And, special daddy-son bonding time.

Cute toes during a nap :)

Time with cousin Lolo and with Grandpa Tim.

Sister time!!

More special people... 2nd cousins, first cousins and mommy's running friends!

Stats:

• Size 2 diapers
• Slowly transitioning from 3-6 month clothing to 6-9 month clothing
• Lots of drool and finger chewing, but his doctor doesn't think his teeth are even close to coming in
• He can finally keep the pacifier in by himself, although we try to only use it if he really needs it - like in the car, hanging out with anyone other than me, and if he's just being super fussy
• He loves his crinkly book and softie
• He has a very strong grip!
• He loves to stand and smile and chuckle
• Rocking is still the quickest way to get him to sleep
• For most of the past month, he had been waking about once a night to eat
• He still doesn't like bath time
• He loves his sister (except when his sister pokes him in the face, ha!) and his sister loves him!

Baby E: Baptism

 We waited to have Evelyn baptized until we had moved home. We wanted our family to be there to help us celebrate Evelyn joining the Lord's family! We went up to my home church (where we were married)... we haven't decided on what church to attend down here, so we decided on doing the baptism up there.

 It was such a perfect day - grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, great-aunts/uncles, etc, etc. They were all there to show their support (and for some, to meet Evelyn for the first time!).

 Here she is with two of her cousins :) 

These are the pictures that show her dress the best, too. I still can't believe I didn't get a close-up of it. It was made by Evelyn's great-great grandmother. It has the most intricate lace tatted on it! It has a matching over-dress, which was of course too small for her almost 6-month head. There is also a bonnet and little booties.

It has been worn by my grandmother, great-aunt, my mom and her three siblings, at least two of my cousins and two of Evelyn's second-cousins. Needless to say, it's pretty special! I'll have to take a close-up picture sometime when I see it again...

Here's my grandma who wore the same baptismal dress... and our first 4 generational picture! This reminds me that we need to get a similar picture on Dan's side, too. (Oh, and that's my uncle... he doesn't do babies very often... but I made him hold Evelyn for a picture... both of their expressions made it very worthwhile!).

A beautiful day for a beautiful little girl's baptism. Blessings all around.