this little piggie went...

straight into michael's mouth!

he eats his feet at every opportunity right now. so cute!

play hard...crash hard

michael and i had a good time at our play date yesterday. he played and talked and ate and laughed. he loves watching his friends. every time one of the other babies makes a noise, he turns quickly to check it out. well, as hard as he played yesterday, he crashed just as hard on the way home. poor guy!

workin' on holding his own bottle. he doesn't get a bottle very often so practice times are few and far between! good job, md!

oh! hey, mom! didn't realize you were here!

i love how he holds onto the side of his carseat. so tired his sassy was half out of his mouth, but you better believe he wasn't lettin' go of that ring!

goin' crazy, crazy, crazy...

because all my son does is whine. whine. whine6............t(and type on my laptop). whine.

i don't know if he's teething or has a tummy ache or...what, but geez!!!

i can't do a single thing because he wants to be held (but still continues to whine). God forbid i try and walk into the kitchen or out of his sight for a split second.

to make matters worse, i am babysitting 3 month old kylah today. she's been able to stay asleep for the most part, but his whining has to be getting on her nerves too. cause let's face it, she needs to eat and have her diaper changed too.

and...spit up. spit up. spit. up. it's everywhere. and yesterday, lots of poop.

maybe it is a tummy ache...i've done everything i know to do so i guess it's just hang in there 'till this clears up and gives me back my sweet baby boy (who has somehow escaped his body and gone somewhere without me).

update: after easter weekend in san angelo and a nice fever while we were there, i took md to the doctor upon our return home. no ear infection. doesn't seem to be teething. dr. bacuta thinks it was a minor viral infection of some kind. he seems to be getting better each day. i guess all that baby orajel wasn't really needed after all. oh well!

south african pride

michael got this awesome south africa onsie from aunt tammie and amy at our baby shower. he's finally wearing it. and wearing it well, i might add!

way to be proud of your heritage, buddy!

as i took picture after picture of michael, jules sat so pretty watching me. i finally aimed the camera at her and she looked right at me until the camera snapped. i think she wanted to be a part of south african pride day too!

good girl, julsie!

baby sittin' with a babysitter...

michael david stayed with a sitter for the first time tonight. whah!

brittanie was referred to us by our neighbors. she teaches their 2 year old daughter at daycare. brittanie is a sweet and outgoing girl who was more than comfortable hanging with md. must have been a pretty easy night, we left at 6:45 and his bedtime is 8pm. not too bad.

i remember the things i did when i was a sitter so it made me happy to come home to a clean house. dirty dishes were put in the dishwasher and dirty clothes were folded on the bathroom counter after bath time.

michael david did well and so did i, believe it or not. but don't worry, i did think about him just about the whole time i was out. it's nice to know that we can now occasionally go out and michael david can still be in bed on time.

i'm sure he had a nice time but missed me more than anything. he just loves me so, you know? he just really does...

mason and michael

over spring break, jenny, her boys and her mom came to san antonio for visit. during the day, the did their thing and then we all got to hang out in the evenings.

it's been a while since i've been able to hang out with mason. every time i am over for a visit, he has his own buddies over for a visit. it was so fun to be with him again and see him with michael david. they loved each other so! mason is a phenomenal big brother to grant and seemed perfectly at ease playing with and helping to take care of michael.

michael watched every move mason took. he laughed and played and played and laughed. it was a fun bond to watch grow.

adi+rosie+md=love

michael's cousin adrian, and his wife rosie came to see us a few weeks ago. adi is from south africa but has been in new zealand for the past 15 years or so. that's where he met his gorgeous gal, rosie. they were on their way home from africa and decided to make it a round-the-world trip in which they could stop and see friends and family. we only got to see them for about a day and a half, but it feels like i've known them forever. i miss them terribly, already!

adi and rosie didn't meet md until the morning after their first night's stay. in one look, they were all in love with each other. it was so sweet to see them together. whenever md would go to one of them, they just seemed to all fall in together, loving, cuddling and giggling. it did my heart good to finally see md with some of our relatives from across the globe.

plus-while they were here, adi downloaded some old family pics to my computer. they are stunning and i hope to share some of them soon. rosie knew so much history on the family and i was happy to sit and listen to all the stories they had to share. sigh...what a wonderful visit. i can't wait to see them again!

here are some pics of the beautiful couple!

yogurt is a go for md

md had yogurt for the first time today. he loved it so much it actually took him out of his bad mood and made him smile again. it's sweet, lite and cold and, obviously, much enjoyed by my baby boy.

what a good little eater he is!

baby boo party

our mom's group had a baby boo party for halloween. the plan was to have all the babies dress up in their halloween costumes but it didn't quite happen. it was such a fun get together, as they always are!

melissa and jude

alli and sophia

rikki and michael david!

yummy mix

mummies! so cute!
there was a lot of other food too but the camera missed it...bummer.

jude brought halloween gifts for all of his buddies.

the kiddos: bella,
sophia, michael david, miller and jude

sophia really love bella's ballerina costume.

sweet cheeks

buddies miller and jude

someone always needs to get annoyed with the camera. if someone doesn't, it means you haven't taken enough pictures. thanks, miller! :)

after the party and a long nap later, md was stylin' in his "i love mummy" onsie and socks!

sleep, going once...twice...

sold to the lady with the 2 month old baby boy!

the past few nights, michael david has been sleeping so well. he's gone to bed around 10pm, wakes around 3:30 to which i respond by giving him his pacifier, wakes around 6am to eat and then sleeps again until 8am.

last night...ALL NIGHT LONG!!! 10:45pm-6:15am without a wake for the paci!!! i fed him then he went back to sleep until 8:15!

michael david slept 7.5 hours in a row! i slept for 6.5 hours in a row! what a great, great night!

ceiling fan flirt

this morning, md woke about 8am. i got him up, fed him and then took him in to see daddy. we laid in the bed chit chatting for a good while. when daddy got up, md and i stayed there and giggled and cooed some more.

at one point, i couldn't hold his attention. instead, he was falling in love with the ceiling fan. he kept smiling and ducking his head, looking away then looking back. he'd talk to me for a minute then go back to his love and smile away. it was pretty darn cute.

although, last night during his bath i told him that when he turned 57 he could have his first girlfriend. i guess ceiling fans will be the only thing he can flirt with until then...

because mama said so!

pumpkin patch play date

on wednesday, michael david and i met our great friends at a local pumpkin patch. we hung out in the shade and enjoyed the conversation and crying. :)

md enjoying the warm outside weather and the beautiful, orange pumpkins!

miller and michael david.

she is 10 days younger than md and has the sweetest cheeks on the planet!

happy jude!

cookie-eatin', one-shoe-wearin' bella. what a doll!

melissa & jude, rikki & miller. both fathers of these babies are in the military and are in training before being deployed for the 2nd time. what amazing women!

sadly, and i don't know how, i never got a picture of maria, bella's mama. she's a sweet gal expecting her 2nd baby in about 7 months!

one month old

did i ever live before you?

what makes him happy...

mama...

and daddy.

ha!!

hard work

this parent thing is really hard work. really. it's so hard to hear MD cry and not know what he wants. his diaper is clean. he's fed. he's not screaming like he does when his tummy hurts. he just cries. he falls asleep until it's time to lay down and then he's wide eyed and awake. if you leave him lying there to fall asleep...he cries some more.

it's hard not to get frustrated. it's hard when i do get frustrated and then immediately feel terrible. i know babies feel tension so i try and stay relaxed. i've been praying a lot.

michael does his best to help out and calm the baby. he takes over when he can tell i'm no longer helping the situation. but still...

i just want to make sure i am nurturing and growing a happy, healthy baby. sometimes i wonder if i am. mom says that all babies cry and that things will look up eventually. it's still hard.

in the middle of the day, things seem so sweet and wonderful and i feel like a pretty good mom with a pretty good baby. then it seems about the time for michael to get home, michael david gets fussy and i just want his daddy to be able to see him sweet and happy.

i know it will get better and even now, it's totally worth it. i love him more than i ever thought i could love anything. i love being his mama, just for now...it's hard work.

a second chance visit

the day after michael david was born, jenny drove to san antonio to see us. i had been feeling pretty good all day, until about 30 minutes before she arrived. a wave of pain came over me and i couldn't even focus on life. i had already requested pain medication and the nurse came in about ten minutes later with a shot. i was pretty quickly knocked out. it was the weirdest feeling in the world. michael or jenny would say something that i would respond to. immediately i couldn't remember if they actually said what i thought they'd said. i also couldn't remember if i'd answered a question they'd asked out loud or only in my head. i vaguely remember brief glimpses of jenny holding the baby in the incredibly dark hospital room, swaying back and forth. she headed back to san angelo 2 hours after she got there. she didn't get a single picture. i felt so terrible.

however, this weekend, jenny came in again for a second chance visit and it was much better. this visit had actually been planned for about a month. she knew she probably wouldn't be able to come and i'd have tons of family here so she pre-scheduled a visit with baby boy. i'm so glad she came!

he was quite smitten with my pretty friend. he stared at her for quite some time...

she stared at him too.

i think she kinda likes him... :)

things are gonna be a lot different around here...

mom left today.

that says it all. she's been here for two weeks and i've enjoyed every single minute of it. she made the labor, delivery, hospital stay and coming home transition so much easier. i can't tell you all that she did for us.

besides the continuous cooking, cleaning and company, she was just here. her knowledge and caring were more than i could have asked for. just having her here to help me know what to do made everything better. she reminded us every night before she went upstairs to call her if we needed her, she was ready to do her walk if needed. there were two mornings around 6:30 michael got up with the baby and she came down not long after and took over. she was the perfect picture of motherhood while she was here. what an amazing mamo she is.

i don't think i had to get a single thing for myself while she was here. there were a few times i did get myself something to drink, but man...that's about it. she made every meal, every snack. she washed every dish and wiped the counters after each meal. she made a couple of trips to the store and even cleaned my entire house last night before bed. after the 3rd time of me telling her to sit down and not work so hard she hugged me and said, "i just don't want you to have to do anything once i'm gone. you just love that baby."

it was as hard for her to leave this morning as it was for me to watch her go. she had to tug michael david's hand from her shirt. he didn't want her to leave either. we both cried and i'm crying again now just thinking about it. it's gonna be hard without her being near. i tried to get her to move in. i think she actually thought about it for a second. i know she's excited to get back today and see ellie and gray. 2 weeks is a long time for her to go without seeing them. plus-we're going to san angelo on thursday. hopefully we'll all be able to make it these next 4 1/2 days without each other.

i love you, marme. you are absolutely more than anyone could ever ask for. thank you so much for giving up two weeks of your life to stay with michael, the baby and i. it would have never been the same without you here. these two weeks are something i will treasure forever. i love you so much-jo

it's been a rough one...

today has been tough.

other than about 1.5 hour stint where michael david and i both took a nap, he's been crying. he'll be happy for a few minutes and then start crying. poor guy must have a little tummy ache. we had hot dogs for supper last night and that's all i can think this could be. is chili, in fact, the culprit?

as i write this, however, he is content in his daddy's arms listening to his soft, calm voice. oh, wait...nevermind.

i've tried everything. Jesus, help us...

what's-his-name choices

as you well remember, we haven't had the best luck with choosing names for baby boy in the past, oh...39 weeks or so. :)

a few weeks ago, michael and i decided we would each choose 5 names and then narrow down a list from there. we've also chosen that we won't finally decide on his name until we meet him. i mean, we've waited this long, what's a few more days?

so, i think we have a list of 4 to choose from. feel free to give your opinions, as long as none of them are negative...:)

michael daniel jules kotze junior - MDJK

jackson david jules kotze - JDJK

nathan daniel jules kotze - NDJK

luke henry jules kotze - LHJK