Alder Hawaiian Party

This year's Alder Christmas gathering was a Hawaiian Party!

Check out his stylin' flip-flops! Useless, but adorable.

Aaackk!

August's First Christmas!

His shirt (from Grandma Bonnie) says it all! 

Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Dale joined us for gifts and a delicious Christmas breakfast. We did this last year, and it's proving to be a lovely tradition!

Madelyn had asked Santa to bring her Jingle the interactive story pup. But August benefited from her wish too because Santa brought Jingle with 2 books for August, plus Bell (the girl pup) with 2 books for Madelyn! Everyone was happy.


At the Winkel Homestead later on, August received a gift from cousin Jack.

 

 

And he gave a cozy hoodie to cousin Ethan.

A coupla cute boys, no doubt about it!

Each family took turns sharing our family service project experience. 

Grandpa and Derek playing with August while the grown-ups play some new board games.

Christmas Eve

Uncle John came with Grandma and Grandpa on Christmas Eve and was a great helper with August.

Even though he wasn't that interested, Madelyn read August his new Dinosaur Rainbow finger puppet book (it's adorable). 

What a happy bunch!

This is August's first experience with our Christmas Eve Jammies Tradition! His pajamas feature snowmen and say "Chillin' with my Homies." How cute is that?

Babee Tenda

The Babee Tenda was one of our favorite contraptions when Madelyn was a baby. We had converted it into a work table for Madelyn, but finally brought it back to its baby-glory for August (don't worry, Madelyn has another cool desk to use).
 

It's a great place for him to sit, and it won't be long before he's eating here too!

More with Daddy

Daddy goofin' around with August at Madelyn's school program
 

 

 

 

Daddy Time

Daddy knows how to get this little guy smiling and giggling!
 

 

 

 

 

I love my precious family!

Believe it or not, August loves to be held upside-down. He immediately smiles when he goes topsy-turvy.

Partyin' with Grandpa

Grandpa Winkel loves to hang out with August. They were buddies during Madelyn's birthday party.
 

 

So cute together!

4-month stats

At his four-month well check we learned that August didn't grow a whole lot in the last 2 months. 

4-month stats:

13 lbs 6 oz - 12th percentile (down from 58th% on 9/26)

24.75 inches - 35th percentile (down from 92nd%)

Weight-Length ratio - 10th percentile (same)

So he only grew 3/4 inch and gained less than one pound in 2 months.  But he appears to be very healthy and has plenty of baby chub, so the doctor isn't worried. August is a healthy, happy baby!

Babysitter Bonnie

My family/business partners had a huge project to do at Curves over Thanksgiving weekend, and like always, we are so lucky to have Grandma Bonnie (Gary's mom) to watch the kids. She was kind enough to bring August over to the club for feedings vs. me having to pump bottles during our work.

Here are they are ready to head back home from Curves. Thanks so much Bonnie!

Thanksgiving

Napping with Dad on Thanksgiving

Watching football with the boys

Family photo shoot (which didn't turn out good enough for the Christmas card, so we went a different direction on that)

And playing with Aunt Diana

Making cute faces

This is for "Glamour Shots by Deb"

Bright Eyes

A couple of cute pictures of our bright-eyed baby!

With loving big sister

Working on rolling over ...

On November 20th August rolled over from front to back, and the next day he rolled over from back to front, twice! This would completely unaided and on a flat surface. But he has not repeated the feat since then. So he has rolled over, but I wouldn't say he "is rolling over."

First Halloween

For August's first Halloween we emulated Madelyn's skeleton-costume motif.

He mostly hung out with Daddy and Mommy on the sidewalk while Big Sister trick-or-treated. 

This baby looks nice n' ripe, let's pick him! :)

Crazy Pumpkin Farm

While August mostly slept, Madelyn really enjoyed this amateur amusement park disguised as a harvest festival.

I took August down this long slide in the Ergo carrier (after crawling through some may maze tunnels, it was the only way out!) and it made him cry. :( But he went right back to sleep, thank goodness.

For most of the time, Gary was the "super dad" carrying baby, backpack, and camera while Madelyn and I did most of the activities. (The best value was to get the unlimited access bracelet, so we kinda had to choose one of us to wear it.)

Awake and happy just before it's time to head home!

2 Pictures

Just a couple of cute baby pictures!

Oct 2 - 2 months old

Oct 11 - Pumpkin patch with Grandma Bonnie and Grandpa Dale - he slept the whole time!

First Swim

We took August to the YMCA pool to go swimming for the first time!
 

He was pretty calm in the water.