Butter

It is hard to believe that already two months have gone by.  Duncan has at least tripled in size, and his sweet smile brings such joy to all of our faces.  He recognizes several people (obviously me, Todd and Rissa..) but he also seems to have special smiles for my G amd Grumps and his very own Nani, she is my newest favorite person at my office, Lori. She is the wonderful angel who was hired in order for me to take a maternity leave at all.  She has filled in so much at work and taken immeasurable stress off of me.  She is a true gem.  Anyway, she has grandkids who call her Nani and Duncan responds to her in a way he doesn't do for most people outside the family.  It is a little more understandable when you realize that I have been taking him with me to work.  While on leave, I continued to do payroll and now have 60 hours worth of 'comp time' built up that I can use as needed and I have been back full time for 2 weeks now.  Taking him to work with me has definitely had its challenges, but it has been nice to not be separated from him only 6 weeks after birth.  I am moving into an actual office (with a door and everything!) very soon and that will make things even easier, I think.  I am so very blessed to have a Boss (who is also the owner) hear Duncan cry and say, "here, I'll walk him around the building for a while so you can finish what you are doing"...it is a rare and precious thing to see your son loved so much by so many who don't have any obligation to love him.  My cup runneth over.

The other person he really loves, is Rissa.  She is such a wonderful big sister!!  She loves her little "Butter" and never misses a chance to kiss him, hug him, tickle his cheeks, or sing him a song.  Since I have been going to work again, I have taken her to school a lot more in the mornings since I have some flexibility as to what time I get into the office.  She LOVES taking Duncan into school so all her friends can see her baby brother.  It is really precious when we come in and all her little friends press up against the window and say,"it's Duncan!! The baby is here!" Even the teachers make a point to say hello to him.  She is very helpful and seems to have had little to no jealousy problems.  There has been a little bit of regression to younger behavior, but not much so all it all it has been a pretty great experience. In May, Duncan will start at CTK (where Rissa is now) and in August...Rissa will start Kindergarten at Rush here in the neighborhood.  I seriously can hardly believe it is already time for her to start Kindergarten, but we know she is ready and will flourish. Duncan is a wonderful baby.  He is not overly fussy, in fact, he rarely cries for no reason and he has been sleeping through the night (as in 8-11 hours at a time!!) for almost 4 weeks now!! In my opinion...that makes him the perfect baby!!  :)  He is truly beautiful and has the CUTEST dimples!  We have seen expressions and features in him that have reminded us of someone on each side of the family...not only Todd's side and mine...but both parents sides, too!  He has the Bentley red hair and round head, the Biles/Outsen chin dimple, the Tidwell lashes, Outsen ear spikies, Bentley toes, Tidwell chicken legs and lack of butt, Outsen/Tidwell height, Biles/Bentley blue eyes and the combined beauty of all of them.  There is still some debate with some of the family as to his hair color, but if you ask me, it is totally red!!  He is a regular lil' stud muffin!

We had a full weekend of parties, on Saturday we had my parents, Bobby and Jennifer and Chef over for dinner.  It was so nice to see Chef, and he seemed to really enjoy himself.  Then on Sunday we hosted a Super Bowl party...and let's just say...the table was FULL of food, there were 7 people not counting the kids, and the next day I had to Google 'Who won the Super Bowl' because I was so busy talking that I didn't exactly catch much of the game!!  It was a very fun weekend!

We are so blessed and can't wait for everyone to meet our sweet boy.  Hope you all got our Merry Christmas/ Happy New Year/We Moved/Baby Announcement card!  it was such fun figuring out a way to combine all our announcements and greetings into one!  All our love to each of you!!