thumb sucking, chefs and doctors

I recently read how thumb sucking can be an inherited trait. I now understand how true that is. We have ultrasound pictures of both kids sucking their thumbs in my belly. One of their parents....not me...was a thumb sucker as a child too. Brinley was 3 months old before she could get her thumb in her mouth, but Mr. Clayton is excelling early and found his thumb at 2 weeks old! I have found advantages and disadvantages of thumb sucking. In a baby, it is wonderful not having to get out of bed to put a pacifier in when they wake up crying. It also is nice to have that baby soothe themselves instead of me having to do it! In a 2 year old, it is a hard habit to break, at least with a pacifier you can throw them away to stop the behavior! Plus, we have to wash our hands all the time to get rid of the germs since her thumb goes in her mouth! Anyways, here are pictures of my little thumb suckers!



Clayton sucking his thumb at 4 weeks old
Brinley sucking her thumb at 3 months old
Brinley has been a busy and energetic girl lately. Her energy has reached a level I never thought possible these past few weeks! Her and Jason can run the perimeter of our entire back yard several times and he gets tired before she does! We have to find ways to tire her out just to get her to go to bed at night! Even then she will be in her bed for an hour singing or chatting away before falling asleep! One of her favorite things to do everyday is play at her kitchen. She got new food and a chef outfit for Christmas. So she loves to get dressed up and cook us food.
Another of her favorite things to do (which I haven't taken a picture of yet) is get dressed up in her princess costumes and high heels and dance and sing all around the living room with her arms doing ballerina poses. When her routine is done she will take a bow and say,"thank you, thank you" before we have had a chance to clap! She will even do it when we are in public. This girl likes to entertain...maybe she will make us a lot of money being famous one day!

On a side note, both kids are sick right now. Clayton has the sniffles. As long as he is sitting upright with a pacifier, he is happy. Brinley has a cough and double ear infection. I took her to the doctor for the cough because it was keeping her up at night, but the doctor looked in her ears and was shocked to see how infected they were...considering Brinley was dancing around me the whole time :) She has shown no signs of her ear hurting and hasn't acted sick at all. Her pain tolerance is amazing!

1 month old

Our little man Clayton is one month old today! I can't believe one month has passed by so quickly! He weighs 7 lbs 5 oz and is 20 and 3/4 inches long. Clayton you are a very good baby. You only cry when we are changing your diaper or you don't have any clothes on. You love to watch the fan and ride in the car too. You are sleeping 5 hours at night and eating like a champ! You would much rather be held sitting up than laying down so you can look around and you can hold your head up for at least a minute at a time!

Nothing new

This picture pretty much sums up what we have been doing the last week. The weather has been cold, so we have been staying indoors quite a bit. We don't know what we are going to do once football is over. It has kept us quite entertained on the week nights and weekends. Even Brinley enjoys watching it and asks to watch "kick ball" every night! She yells at the guys to "run, run" when they get the ball! And yes the dog has kicked me off the couch now that Clayton took her spot!

Happy New Year

2009 has been wonderful for us so far! We spent new years eve with my parents and Reese. We went out to eat, where Brinley mistook a jalapeno for a pickle....needless to say I don't think she will be eating either any time soon. We then to the wedding of my life long friend, Jimmy. It was a very intimate wedding in his parents backyard! After the wedding, we shot some fireworks at my parents house and was home by 10:30pm. I did manage to stay up until the ball dropped to give Jason a new years kiss, but then I crashed hard! We spent new years day laying on the couch watching football or "kick ball" as Brinley calls it. She is now requesting to watch it everyday.....gotta love my girl!

Brinley and Reese watching mamaw light the snake fireworks.

Clayton is doing really well. I took him for his 2 week check up Friday. He weighs 6 lb 11 oz and is 20 inches long...he grew 1 1/2 inches! He is eating well and sleeping 4-5 hours at night, which is nice for me! He only cries when you take his clothes off, other than that he is a happy, laid back baby! Brinley is adjusting to being a big sister beautifully! She is always hugging and kissing him. No jealously at all, even when someone else holds him. In fact, she is a proud big sister who shows him off to everyone! One of her favorite things to do is put the pacifier in his mouth and cover him with a blanket. She is such a sweet girl! Here are some pictures we took before Christmas.