Ridin'

We got a lot of snow late last week and into the weekend, and our friend and coworker Emily invited us to take some of the horses out for a ride. I hadn't ridden since the beginning of last summer, and I was thrilled to go. It was awfully cold, but absolutely beautiful outside.

Here's a view from the saddle...

...and this is Emily and me on our horses. See, I can be ranchy, too. I don't leave it all to Rob and Levi.

And if anyone has anything to say about my not-so-ranchy hat, you should now that 1) it's very warm and 2) my sweet Grandma Helen gave it to me. So there.

Lynda

Precious Boy

Levi now sleeps through the night! Two weeks ago, we decided it was time to let him 'cry it out' at naptime and bedtime, and it was the best decision we've made in our short parenting lives. Before we made the change, he'd sleep a total of about eight hours a night, with two or three feedings or diaper changes in between. Now he sleeps 11-13 hours a night, and naps better during the daytime. The best part is that we can lay him down fully awake at naptime and bedtime. He may wimper, but he quickly finds his thumb and drifts off to sleep. I've almost forgotten what it was like to get up three or four times a night and be sleep deprived. Almost.

In other news, it's snowing more frequently now. I haven't seen the ground in several days, and I'm enjoying the cold weather much more than I thought I would. It helps a lot that I rarely go outside! It's really the wind that's problematic; I don't want to take Levi out while it's so cold and windy. Here are some pictures of the first real heavy snow that we had a couple of weeks back:

I wish that my niece Sophia could have seen all this snow. We had a lesser amount when she visited with her parents, and even then I think she could have stayed outdoors all day long if they'd let her. In Houston, we buy fake plastic icicles to string up at Christmastime. I saw these and thought they were beautiful:

Rob decided to grow a beard this winter, and he looks so different! I told him that the beard would go well with a turtleneck and a beret, but I doubt I'll see him in that getup. We'll all just have to imagine it.

Levi has started making new sounds with his mouth. I saw him stick out his tongue and make a 'pbbbbb!' sound yesterday. He did it accidentally, but you can see his mind working now as he tries to figure out how he did it. I've been trying to show him how, and he just smiles at me. If I can catch it on tape, I'll be sure to post it.

There's not much else to report, so I'll just post some of my favorite pictures from the last few weeks. Levi fell asleep in his swing one day in the strangest posture. I took this picture because his fat cheeks hide his precious neck most of the time. I think it's one of his sweetest features.

I call this Levi's 'big boy' picture, because in it, he looks so much older than his three months to me.

We were wrapping Levi up in his swaddle blanket one night when I realized that Levi looked a bit like a little angel.

I think I like this hat a lot more than Levi does.

We really like getting Levi dressed in the morning, because that's when he's the smiliest. Yes, smiliest.


This picture is for Auntie LaNell, who gave Levi this great bib. You can see that Levi is wearing the boots that we bought the day we learned we were expecting a boy. We bought them expecting that he'd wear them this summer, but he'll likely outgrow them before then.


We took this picture just before Grandma and Pop left last Sunday. Levi was a little sleepy, but it's still a great picture.

Pop can get Levi to sleep faster and easier than anyone. Levi is just moments from drifting off...
Here's one last shot of Levi in his most common pose. He figured out how to clasp his hands together a few days ago, and now spends most of his time like this.

We especially like this Winnie the Pooh outfit (thanks, Cyndi!).

Levi

Snow!

This is what the ranch looked like on Tuesday:

And this is how the ranch looked when we woke up yesterday morning:

We'd not heard the snow forecast, so we were both shocked. All the guests had a great time building snowmen and having snowball fights. The kitchen staff played Christmas music, and in Kid's Club, we sang Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells. The snow continued most of the day, and although the sun is shining today, there's still some snow on the ground. I've heard that they've seen 'surprise' snow at the ranch every month but July...

Lynda