...and the name is...

As some of you know, I have been confident of baby boy to be's name ever since I knew it was a "him" and saw his precious little profile during the sonogram.  Walt, however, wanted to take some time just to make sure that it was the right name...even though he was the one to come up with the name originally.

Last night he confirmed what I already knew to be true :)  Our precious little boy is going to be named Aiden Alexander Louis.  It was either that or Hudson James Louis, but this baby boy is not a Hudson.  He is definitely an Aiden!  Did I mention that his name means "fiery one".  Should I be concerned?  Maybe that means he will have red hair :)  Either way...he will be loved and we are so excited!

End of July 2012

I was planning a dessert night for the ladies in my neighborhood play group and was going to share our exciting news of boy or girl.  So I went to the party store to pick out some plates.  I got both boys a balloon.  I knew that Jackson would be very excited, but didn't think Dillan would really care.  Let's just say that his balloon burst on the way to the car and there were tears!  Not throwing a fit tears, but hurt feelings tears. Needless to say we got another balloon.  Here are some pictures of the boys playing with the balloons!

 We are happy to share that we are having another precious baby boy!  It was so amazing to see him moving around and to hear that he is healthy and doing well!  We have almost decided on the name (i.e. I have decided, but Walt wants to wait a little bit longer before finalizing).  So as soon as we make the final decision, I will post!
I mentioned that I was planning a dessert party (7/26/12).  Well, it did not happen because at 6PM the night of the party, Dillan had a seizure.  Apparently it is pretty common for young children / babies to have seizures when they have a high spike in fever. In the moment...it was beyond scary and at the time, I didn't realize he had a fever b/c I had taken his temperature earlier in the day and it was normal, but gave him some medicine b/c he was fussy and I thought maybe he was teething. So I think once the medicine ran out...his fever spiked causing the seizure.  Those images of my sweet boy will probably haunt me for the rest of my life, but I am so incredibly grateful that he is ok.  Those few minutes were the longest minutes of my life, but after running around like a crazy person briefly trying to figure out what to do, I called 911 and they were able to talk with me and assure me that he was ok.  By the time the ambulance arrived, he was beginning to open his eyes and respond.  Thankfully, Jackson was completely unaware of what was happening and thought it was so cool to have an ambulance and fire truck in front of our house.  Right before we left for the hospital, Walt got home and was able to ride with Jackson to the hospital while I rode with Dillan in the ambulance.  They checked him out in the ER and we had a follow up with his pediatrician the next day.  They assured me that he was ok and that this is very common and although it was very traumatic and scary...that there was nothing to be concerned about.  Praise God!  We are hoping that he is one of the 70% that never has a recurrence!
Unfortunately, Walt had to leave town 2 days later.  I was still a little shaken up and Dillan was still not feeling well, but Walt had a great reason to leave.  His family was celebrating his grandmother's 90th birthday.  It was a rough weekend because Dillan was not feeling well, but I tried to sneak some fun things in there for Jackson.  We decorated some sugar cookies.  He had a lot of fun!

We also had to get a new car seat for Jackson.  He still fit in his car seat, but Dillan is getting too tall for his.  Let's face it...he has had it since he was a baby and he is a big boy!  So now Dillan is in Jackson's old car seat, Jackson got this new car seat that should last him until he is ready for a booster, and Dillan's old car seat will be baby boy # 3's car seat.  Crazy!!!

Jackson LOVES anything that we describe as "big boy".  I am hoping this will help us when we start potty training next weekend.  I am dreading it, but he is starting to show a few signs of readiness so I feel like we need to give it a try.  I have been reading and doing research.  Hopefully all goes well.  If it becomes obvious that he is not ready, we will postpone until after the baby comes.  I don't want to do anything disruptive around the baby's arrival.

Dillan playing in the kitchen

Jackson and Dillan having fun with the car seat box!

Here is a random picture...quite the look I am getting from Jackson :) 

Despite what the above picture might suggest, Jackson is really a lot of fun right now :) He is a really sweet and loving little boy that blesses our lives every day!

Here are some fun facts about him since I just wrote a lot of stuff about Dillan in his one year post.

* He is really good at using his manners.  He says, "Mommy, thank you for making my lunch!"

* He still loves playing outside, reading books, and playing with cars and balls.

* He loves "playing" soccer, baseball, basketball, and golf...basically anything with a ball.  We took him to play putt putt the yesterday and he had a blast and did not want to leave.

* He is very loving and affectionate which I love!

* He is a good helper!

* He is an average eater and has gotten better at sleeping.  He takes a decent nap and at the moment sleeps until 6:30am-7:15am.

* He is a very exuberant and joyful child and is a lot of fun to be around!

* Most of the time he is very sweet to Dillan...but of course, they have their moments.

* He knows most of his letters and he also knows a lot of their sounds.

* He can count to 15...sometimes to twenty, but it can get a little spotty after 15 or so :)

* He is talking a lot these days...quite the conversationalist...I love talking to him.  I need to start writing down some of the things he is saying.

* He is very caring.  If I say, "ouch".  He says, "what's wrong, mommy?". If I tell him that I hurt myself, he offers to kiss it and then asks me if it is better.

* He is also encouraging...he tells me "good job" on various things :) 

There is so much more, but I guess I have to stop somewhere!  If only I could capture every little aspect of Jackson's and Dillan's life....each moment is so precious to me!  And to think, soon there will be another precious little life to capture moments with!  God is so good and we are so thankful!

Louis Family Beach Trip

In July, we had the Louis family beach trip.  Similar to my beach trip, I wish I would have done a better job of getting pictures of people other than Jackson and Dillan, but I was not even doing a great job of getting pictures of the boys.  

The boys had a blast...no one got sick!  However, Dillan still needed some down time every now and then.  Here he is with his chin resting on the bed while watching a video.

 Once again, our boys were early risers.  I know this picture is not that clear, but here is a picture of Walt and Jackson on a morning bike ride.

 They had this mound of sand right by our beach house.  It was a highlight for Jackson...especially since Walt came up with fun things to do.  Here they are dancing on top.

 The beach houses were literally right ON the beach.  Walt and Jackson were throwing tennis balls up to people on the deck at the other beach house.

 Jackson was having fun.

 There were 2 beach houses.  We were in the house with Mr. and Mrs. Louis and the younger cousins and the other house had Jack and Leigh and the older cousins.  It worked out well.  Jackson with his cousins playing on the IPAD...everyone was taking turns.

 Henry, Jackson, and Margaret watching a show before bed time.

 A rare moment...Dillan playing in the sand.

 Dillan playing in the pool.  Similar to my beach, he did not spend a lot of time on the beach or in the water, but he did a little bit better...I am sure because he was not sick!

 A rare picture of Walt and I

 The family organized a group picture wearing Ranger gear.  We don't own any Ranger stuff so we had to borrow.  As you can see, Jackson's shirt was a little big :)

 Walt and Jackson

 Family Picture (baby bump included)

 Mr. and Mrs. Louis with their 16 grandchildren

 Dillan's beach hair while eating the famous Louis baked beans...which he loves!

 Every year, there is a treasure hunt for the kids.  Jackson had so much fun searching for the treasure.

Walt and Jackson also went to the aquarium one day, but I stayed behind with Dillan since he was napping.  We also went to a fort and rode on a ferry, but I did not get many good pictures from that outing.  Let's just say it was an experience :)  The boys did great...it was just really hot and there was a lot of walking involved!  We are so lucky to have gotten to spend quality time with both of our families at the beach!

Professional Pictures

I got a really great deal for professional pictures during the first year of Jackson's life, but was unable to find a similar deal for Dillan.  So I have just relied on my personal pictures this last year, but just could not take it anymore.  I decided to do some professional pictures of Dillan at one year.  We also took some pictures of Jackson and attempted a family picture.  We scheduled it for early in the morning to try and avoid the heat and possible meltdowns.  Crazily, it was ridiculously hot...we just happened to choose a weekend where records were being set.  Despite the sweating, we got some sweet pictures.

The above pictures were taken by Meredith Daniels Photography

www.meredithdanielsphotography.com

June 2012

I am playing major catch up so I am updating by month.  So here is what we were up to in June.

Dillan is walking all over the place.  He started taking his first steps at 10 months and by the time he was 11 months he was predominantly walking everywhere.  Here he is riding the bus :)  He is getting so big!

 About to stand on the bus, but mommy said "no" :)

 Jackson found a pink bow one of his friends left at our house after a play date and his sunglasses.  It is quite the look with his pajamas :)

 One weekend in June they had the Taste of Charlotte.  It is a way for you to try food by local vendors, but they also had a lot of fun activities like this "train" ride.  It was Jackson's favorite thing.  As you can see, I am already sporting a noticeable baby bump :)

 Before we left downtown, the boys had fun running through this water fountain.

We never have any pictures of just Walt and I...so we tried to take one.

 In June we had my family's annual beach trip to Galveston.  We got off to a rough start because Jackson was sick and running fever.  Then Dillan caught whatever he had and started running fever on his birthday :(  Despite the sickness, it was good to get to see family.

Here is a picture of Dillan unwinding before taking a nap.  There were so many people, he needed some time to himself :)

 Walt and Dillan

 Our boys are early risers and with the time change, we spent time on the deck trying not to wake people up in the house.  Walt would get up with Dillan since he got up first and then I would get up with Jackson.  We were always the first people up :)

 Sometimes we would go down to base camp and try to set up the tents.  Dillan was not a fan of the sand, but it was windy and he thought that was fun :)

 Jackson had eaten powdered donuts for breakfast...yum :)  Look closely at his mouth :)

Walt and the boys

 My mom got Dillan this bathing suit, but he only wore it once since it was a little too small :)

 Our attempt at a family picture...believe it or not, this was the best :)

 Dillan did not spend much time out in the water or down at the beach, but here is a rare shot of all of us in the water.

 One day we went to the Galveston Aquarium.  Me with Dillan, Jackson, and baby to be :)

Surprisingly Dillan loved the aquarium.  He really looked at everything and was very interested.  Yes, he had shoes, they just weren't on at the moment.

 There was also a rainforest area.  It was really neat.

 There was a monkey that you could reach out and touch.

 Walt and the boys tried to take a picture with the monkey and as I took the picture the monkey jumped behind them.

 There was also a splash play ground.  Jackson had fun running around.

 Dillan was getting tired, but he played, too.

We were at the beach on Dillan's birthday so we decided to have his birthday party with the family.  Here is Dillan's cake and cupcakes.  His birthday pictures are a little out of order.

 The sweet birthday boy.

 Poor Dillan started running fever before his party.  He had a little bit of cake.

 The cousins and Walt :)

 Dillan opening his presents.  He was starting to fade so it was pacifier time.

 Candid family picture

 Opening presents...a lot of his presents were in Charlotte, but he still had a few things to open.

Such a sweet face!

 Jackson

 Another sweet picture

 Jackson and Papa

 Jackson and the hula hoop

  Jackson had fun playing with his cousins and hanging out at the beach with his daddy.  I went out in the water with him a couple of times, but spent most of my time inside with Dillan.

 Dillan walking on the beach with his Daddy

 Dillan did like playing on the deck and in the blow up pool we brought.

 Another attempt at a family picture at Dillan's birthday party.

 Jackson playing in the blow up pool.

 Dillan and Walt

 Here is a random picture after we got back from the beach.  Dillan snuggling with his Daddy...I love those big blue eyes and curly hair :)

 Another random picture...we found a turtle...don't you feel sorry for that turtle :)  I assure you, the turtle was not harmed although it might have been terrified by the 2 little munchkins that were so excited by its presence.