Black & White Photos ~ Raleigh

I took some photos a couple days before Raleigh turned 4 months old. These 2 are my favorites:

Raleigh Edward Davenport Bates ~ Baby Dedication

Since I am SO far behind in blogging I thought I'd just touch on the last few major events of 2009, and because there are several I'll do individual posts. In late October Tom's mom, sister, niece, and nephew came to visit. It was fun introducing them to Raleigh and them getting to know Tennyson better. I think they enjoyed it, too! Tom really wanted to do Raleigh's dedication while they were here, so on October 25th we had our second son dedicated to the Lord. We had a lot of my family there, but we were still missing quiet a few due to sickness or distance.

Our lead pastor, Merle, did the dedication and walked sweet, little Raleigh around the sanctuary while the slideshow played. We chose Rita Springer's song "Created to Worship," and I have included the words after the photos. Afterwards Tom read Psalm 133-134, just as he did every night to Raleigh in the womb. It was so meaningful to have him read that out loud at the dedication. Everything went well expect they cut the slide off just a minute or so in to it. I was so frustrated because my brother and I put A LOT of work into that! Since you didn't get to see the whole thing I will post that here on the blog.

Raleigh slept the whole time he was being shown off

I love this one of just our little family.

Thank you, Lord, for another precious son. We will raise Him up to know and follow you. What an amazing blessing Raleigh is to us and all who know him.

Created to Worship

I am your sacrifice
I am your offering
I was created to worship you
There’s nothing I could bring
That would mean more then this one thing
I was created to worship you.

You are all I have
All I have is you
You are all I am
All I am is you

Whatever you ask of me
There’s no one I'd rather be
Then one created to worship you
In all that comes my way
Poverty fame or pain
I was created to worship you

Without you there’s nothing Lord
Now and forevermore
I was created to worship you

Tasty Tuesday ~ Chocolate Cobbler

The first, and only, place I've had chocolate cobbler is at Wood Grill. The few times I've been this is the only thing I get for dessert. So I set out to find a recipe for it, which was surprisingly difficult considering I only found two that sounded good. I got this one from Allrecipes.com, and it was exactly what I was hoping for! Serve it warm from the oven with some all natural Breyers vanilla ice cream, and you'll think you're in Heaven. Oh yeah, it was good.

Ingredients:
12 Tbsp. butter
2 cups self-rising flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 1/2 cups boiling water

How to Make It:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in 9x13 dish while oven is preheating.
2) In bowl stir flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 3 Tbsp. cocoa. Stir in milk and vanilla until smooth. Spoon over melted butter in dish.
3) Stir together remaining sugar and 1/2 cup cocoa. Sprinkle over batter. Slowly pour boiling water over mixture.
4) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until set.

*This recipes is doubled. If you want to make half in an 8x8 dish, just do half of all the ingredients except the water. Use 1 1/2 cups instead of 2 1/2.

Meeting Some Great-grandparents

Back in September my maternal grandfather and my step-grandmother came to visit. Since they live in Florida they hadn't met either one of our boys, so it was exciting for them to meet for the first time! Unfortunately we weren't able to get a photo with just them and Tennyson, but I did get some cute ones of them with Raleigh.

Friedel and Raleigh

My grandfather, Papa, and Raleigh

Friedel was absolutely taken with him and asked several times if he could go back to Florida with them. I think she was joking.

My parents with Papa waiting at the airport

My uncle coming in for a landing

Watching the planes

Tennyson loved watching the planes land and take off.

Posing with Daddy by the plane

Our Littlest Man at (Almost) Three Months

Here are a couple photos I took on 10.18.09, two days before Raleigh was 3 months old. He's just so stinkin' precious. Enjoy!

This one is my favorite

His cheeks look so chubby in this photo. :-)

Oooo, I just wanna eat him up!

Sprinkles!!!

One of Tennyson's favorite things to do this summer was to play "sprinkles." Which basically consisted of him running around the yard squealing and having a grand ole' time. These are a few photos we took to commemorate it:

His "game face."

Now that's the face of a happy boy!

Tennyson was practically blue here, he was so cold.

He's already looking forward to doing it again next summer, I'm sure, since he was asking well in to September to go play outside in the sprinkler.

Baby Rah-ree

**I just noticed on my posts that I had this one already done (just without all the photos added). It was originally to be publised 10.6.09, and I wanted to post it for memories' sake.**

"Baby Rah-ree" is what Raleigh is affectionately called by his big brother, so Tom and I find ourselves referring to Raleigh as "Rah-ree" as well. Haha! I can't believe I haven't done an update on our littlest guy! It's probably because I am constantly buried in more housework than I can keep up with, on top of not getting enough sleep, keeping kids, and tackling all the bookkeeping for my parents' bookstore. I am tired just typing all that!

Anyway, Raleigh is now 11 weeks old (as of yesterday), and he continues to thrive. I mean honestly, you would NEVER know he was almost 6 weeks early! He weighed 9 lbs. 14 oz. at his 2-month check-up and grew 4 inches since birth to 22 inches. I know every mom says this, but I really can't believe how quickly my baby is changing and growing. Also he slept the longest he ever has about 3 nights ago - 5 hours straight! I know plenty of you magically get your babies to sleep through the night at 6 weeks, but I'm not big on scheduling or timing his feedings. You'd think I would be, being the organizing, planning type of person but I'm not that uptight about it.

That's probably because I am home with him full-time. But the real reason is this, I secretly love the time just Raleigh and I share when he's nursing. I do! I really do! Yes, I am tired. But someday I know that I'll wish I could do just one more mid-night feeding. Or stay up to watch "The Tonight Show" with Conan. Or have a quiet house, while Tom and Tennyson are asleep upstairs, and all I hear is the sound of my baby boy breathing. It really is a special time for us and I just know someday I'll wish myself back to these days of having babies and raising kids.

I have to admit that I have surprised myself this second time around. I am not as tired as I was when Tennyson was little, but of course, he was up at lot more at night at this age. (I think Tom is way more tired now though! Haha!) However, Raleigh decided a few days ago that 1AM is now his new bedtime. For a week or so there, I thought we were getting in to a 10:00 bedtime, but now he has an I-want-to-be-wide-awake-stage between 10 and 1. So hopefully this will pass quickly.

And I am really enjoying breastfeeding this time, whereas with Tennyson I felt like it was a chore. But God answered my prayers in that department and it's been going great! I also love having Raleigh sleep by me in bed. I know! I know! You're not supposed to that, SIDS and blah blah blah. But I don't pay much heed to statistics and it just feels so natural to sleep that way. (Raleigh does still sleep in his bassinet or playpen or swing during the day, which is where he is now.)

But all in all we have settled in quite nicely, and smoothly, into a family of four. Raleigh is smiling now and cooing, which takes my breath away every time. I can't believe I love him just as much as Tennyson. I didn't understand how it was possible, to love your husband and children with ALL your heart. It's just amazing!

21 Days old

4 weeks old



Six weeks

I love that his hair gets curly when it's wet.

Eight weeks

He look so excited to be getting a bath. Haha!