You are still growing like a weed… weighed in at 15 pounds this morning!  That’s half your sister’s weight, and she’s more than 7 times as old as you.  No wonder Mama has been calling you “Chuggy Bear”.  (Not Daphne’s favorite nickname for you, by the way – “No! Him not Chuggy Bear – him Cormac!”)

You do like to eat and put stuff in your mouth, even when you can’t eat it.  You’ve been drooling like a fountain lately, too.  We thought it was a tooth a month or two ago, but it seems to have receded.  We just invested in some new bibs for you, so we don’t have to change your drool-soaked shirts quite as often.  Mommy just leaves you in the sink sometimes, too… so you can just drool away with abandon!

Okay, I’m just kidding… she just set you in there for that photo, not all the time!

Your big sister loves to cuddle you when she can, and you enjoy the extra attention too.

Daphne got a new camera for Christmas, and you are one of her favorite subjects to photograph.

Mama and I do agree with your sister… you are quite photogenic!

You have been rolling around much more this month.  You can go from your tummy to your back and then back to your tummy, along with kicking your legs up and then falling over to one side.  You’re getting more mobile that way, and can turn yourself around to see a different direction when we lay you down on a blanket or your play mat.

And speaking of your play mat, it is still one of your favorite places to hang out and play with your toys.  But besides the ones hanging from it, you also are getting better at holding on to other toys on your own now too.

Also, you are starting to develop your cute little belly laugh.  It’s not fully there yet, but once you get started laughing, we can see it coming and it’s pretty contagious.  Unfortunately, every time we try to get it on video, you don’t do it, you little turkey!  So maybe we’ll add a video later if we can get a good one…

That’s it for this month, Cormac…

Love ya, big boy!

Love,

Daddy

Happy third birthday, beautiful Daphne!

Love always,

Daddy and Mama

Happy 4 Month Birthday!  You’re getting big, little boy!

You are cutting your first tooth, which makes you a bit fussy sometimes (and causes you to have copious amounts of drool, lately!).  It’s coming in on the bottom front right – hopefully it pops through soon so you get some relief (though its cohorts will be following soon behind, I’m sure)!

This last month has seen you getting more active, awake and aware of your surroundings.  You still love playing on your play mat and batting at and grabbing the toys hanging from it.

You still aren’t that big of a fan of tummy time, though you occasionally will show off your rolling-over skills.  Mostly, though, you cry or end up just relaxing and resting.

You are figuring out that you can make sounds now, and your favorite lately is the ‘B’ sound: “Buh, buh, buh…” or just motorboating your lips (blowing raspberries).  You also like it when we say “Ah-goo!” (though your sister prefers “Ah-gah!”), and you try to repeat it back to us sometimes.

Speaking of your sister, Daphne sure does love to spend time talking to you, holding your hand, and giving you hugs.  She’s your best friend, and loves you very much!

She’s really excited for you to grow up a little more so that you can play with her.  We made a pirate ship out of a box the other day, but you weren’t too happy to sail the high seas with her…

You are old enough now, though, to share bath time with her.  She was pretty pumped about that, and you enjoyed it quite a bit, too (just as long as we kept her from dumping water over your head – she just wanted to help wash your hair)!  There’ll be many more shared baths in your future, I presume…

This month you experienced your first Christmas.  It could be pretty overwhelming, what with all the lights and presents and traveling and family and what-not, but you took it all in stride – you’re still a pretty laid-back little bundle of coolness.  Early in the month, you went with Mama and D to the mall to go see Santa for the first time, and your sister won a teddy bear!

Then toward the end of the month, you took your second big plane trip out of state, as we went up to WA to visit Daddy’s family for Christmas.  You did pretty well on the flights, and then enjoyed seeing and spending time with your Aunt Jamie, Uncle Tom, Bestemor, Grandpa Lyle, and the other extended cousins, aunts and uncles.

We went to the Pt. Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and saw Zoolights – a huge display where they cover much of the zoo with Christmas lights.  You seemed to like the sparkly lights, and you were pretty comfortable bundled up in the Beco carrier up against me on the chilly evening.

On Christmas Eve, we went out to Great Uncle Tom and Great Aunt Tam’s house for our Gimse family party, and Santa Claus made an appearance!  You liked hanging out with him (also known as Travvy-Claus), but your sister was pretty scared by him, actually… we had to tell her it was Travis and also hold her just to get her to take pictures with him.

You seemed to enjoy opening presents on Christmas morning, and you liked playing with some of your new toys!

"Hey! Who put this sticker on me? I'm not a present!"

You had a great first Christmas and a great trip to WA to see our family – an awesome way to end your fourth month with us!

Mama, Daphne and I look forward to the new year, and to watch you keep growing and learning.  We love you to pieces, you cute little guy!

Love,

Daddy

You are such a sweet boy. If your personality now is true to how you’ll be as an adult, I think you’re going to be an awful lot like your daddy. You’re laid back and quick to smile. You make all of us so happy – even your sister will sometimes say “I love Baby Mac! He makes me so happy!”

In the last couple of days, you’ve learned to laugh, and I think that Daphne and I have probably spent hours trying to coax laughter out of you. There is nothing cuter than the sound of your giggles. It’s impossible to listen to you chuckle without laughing ourselves. I tried to catch you giggling on video, but you were too interested in the camera to cooperate. I’ll keep trying because I know that your Bestemor and Grandma would love to see our silly little man laugh. Here’s the video I did get of you yesterday.

Unfortunately, you’ve had a cold recently. For the whole last week, both you and your sister have been sick. It’s so sad to hear you snorfle and snuffle when you’re trying to breathe. It’s made it kind of hard for you to sleep at night because you can’t suck on your ba with your nose all clogged. Hopefully you’re at the tail end of the illness and you’ll be back to your sleepy old self soon. Speaking of your sleepy old self, I really love this next picture. You played so hard on your mat that you fell asleep. We have a similar picture of Daphne at this age. I think I’ll have to get prints made and frame them next to each other.

You’ve been growing so fast, little guy. You’re holding your head up pretty good these days and you’ve even started sitting in your Bumbo seat for a few minutes at a time. You really love your seat because it makes you feel like a big boy. Your favorite thing to do in your seat is to be right next to wherever Daphne is so that you can watch her play. You coo and squeal at her and wave your arms around wildly in the air. I know that she can’t wait until you’re old enough to run around with her and join in on the fun. For now you’re content to just watch, but I have a feeling that she’s going to really motivate you to crawl and walk quickly.

You are very into your toys right now. You can shake a rattle and your keys (you have about 5 different sets) are your favorite toy. You shake them so hard that sometimes you hit yourself in the face with them. It’s funny because you always look stunned, but you don’t cry. You’re a pretty tough kid. You also really enjoy the mobile in your crib. You’ll happily watch it for 15 minutes so that I can take a shower, thank you! We recently got out the crib aquarium that Daphne loved as a baby. You love it too…you’re completely entranced by it and you stare slack-jawed until the timer turns it off. Next time we take you to see Dr. Hughes, I’ll have to make sure to let you watch the real fish.

Last week I dressed you and Daphne up in your Christmas best and tried to snap a picture of you together to use for our Christmas card. It was a huge failure…you were not happy about your outfit and your sister didn’t want to look at the camera. The resulting pictures are funny because they are so terrible. I almost used this one on our card just to be funny, but I ultimately decided to send out a more flattering picture.

And I had lots of flattering pictures to choose from because you’re such a handsome little dude.

I started back to school this month and it’s been very hard leaving you for 5 hours on Mondays (with our babysitter)and 12+ hours on Wednesdays (with Daddy) so that I can go to class and clinical. I miss you so much and I wish I could take you with me. You miss me too. I know this because you don’t like to take a bottle from the babysitter and sometimes you won’t take one from Daddy either. Part of this is because you’ve developed a dairy and soy allergy just like your sister, but that’s not all of it. The other day the sitter was trying to feed you and you were taking the bottle (for once). When I walked in and you heard my voice, you spit out the bottle and started wailing. You finally stopped when I took you from her and then you nursed like you hadn’t eaten in days. Poor sweet boy, I’m sorry that I have to leave you for such long stretches when you’re still so little. My favorite thing about being gone is getting to come home to you and your sister. I miss you so much on those days that I can’t bear to put you to sleep in your bed at night…so I just hold you instead. You don’t seem to mind.

We celebrated your first Thanksgiving on Thursday. Unfortunately, you got a little tired and fell asleep before the festivities began. Your daddy and I have an awful lot to be thankful for this year. You’ve made our little family feel complete and you and your sister are the best things that have ever happened to us. I’m thankful for you, Little Mac.

Love,

Mama