Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Lately Around the Gentry Home

We haven't been up to much around here except more adjusting to a family of four, which in our 7th week got really, really fun!

Annabelle started smiling intentionally and cooing last week, which is awesome. I can tell she's been wanting to for a while because when I talked to her, she moved her mouth a lot. It was just a matter of time before noise followed. The first time was when she saw herself in the mirror at GAP. I couldn't stop laughing--just too funny! She loves talking to the baby in the mirror.

Big brother Jack has turned into a SUPER big brother. Everywhere we go, he tells people about "baby sister Aaabelle." He won't go to bed without giving her a kiss on the cheek first. It's adorable. He's my great helper, too.

All of these are iPhone pics with mostly moving targets, so please pardon the quality.


Our church hosted Gary Thomas, the author of Sacred Marriage, for a marriage conference a few weekends ago. If you've ever read that book, you can imagine how great it was to hear Gary in person. It's based on the premise that marriage was created to make us holy, rather than make us happy. I think our kids had fun in the nursery too, or at least Jack did! On the way home Friday night, we stopped for ice cream. A hit, of course.

I bought the book Sacred Parenting from Gary's merch table. If I ever make it through it, I'll post a review here.

Even though today is a ridiculously cold day for Texas in April, on the warmer days we've been getting out to the park most mornings that Jack doesn't go to MDO. We bought a BOB duallie which arrived last week (Amazon had the best deal), so I'm looking forward to consistent warmer weather to exercise with my babies in tow.

I love this boy so much!

And here is my little princess before her first day of Sunday school. She's wearing her Beaufort Bonnet and is just about to fit into it!

Getting out and about with two small children is slowly getting easier. I'm thankful that Jack has MDO on Tuesday and Thursday because from the get-go, it's forced me to get up, put myself together, and load them up to be somewhere on time.

Right now the kids are napping at the same time. Jack wakes up a little early, so I'm trying to institute "quiet time" where he either naps or plays in his room. I know a ton of mommies out there have done this successfully, so I'm curious to know how you approached it.

Inquiring minds want to know!

3 comments:

  1. Fun! I'm glad things are getting easier.

    We didn't make it to the conference, but I've heard good things about the books.

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  2. I wasn't a stay at home mom with 2 very often, but here is an idea that maybe you could try. Play music or set a timer in Jack's room. When the music stops or when he hears the beep, then he can come out and talk/play with mommy. We also changed the word "nap" to "rest" when laura Beth hated to hear the words "take a nap" (which was around 3 years). After Jack wakes maybe he can just tell "relax" on his bed 'with your eyes open' and read books, watch a video on a laptop, or play a game on your phone. (Laura Beth was trustworthy, even at 2, to not destroy computers and electronics. My second child is a different story. We must keep our Eyes on her at ALL times. ha.) It's tough to get their schedules on the same page, especially since Annabelle's schedule may change almost every other week pretty soon.

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  3. It will depend on what works for him! When Carly still napped, my complaint eager-to-please rule-following first child would stay quietly in her bed until I came to get her. Bree, my wild and independent free-thinking boundary-pushing middle child, required a digital clock with a construction paper number taped to the side, and tons of consistency and reinforcement, and to be honest, the only thing that saved us was the fact that she naps for two solid hours. Impulse-management is an issue for her. =) =)

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