Baby E 2 months old!

June 25, 2011
My Dear E-
You are now two months old! You are the most pleasant baby ever! You are such a sweet little guy. We hardly ever hear you cry.. if you need something (to eat, diaper change, are sick of where you are laying etc) you start to squeak a little. If we hear you cry, we are always surprised, and know something is really wrong. (like when you got your 2 month shots, or when Daddy poked you in the eye with his beard!!) You are so content and we just love you for it!
You started to smile 2 days after you turned a month old, and you like to coo and tell stories. You are especially happy and social after you eat, and during diaper changes.
You still have quite a bit of hair, but are getting a bald spot on the back of your head.. we still think you are so handsome though! So many people comment on your hair!
You have only rolled from your tummy to your back one or two times and we haven’t seen it since, but you do get lots of tummy time. You don’t really care for it very much, but we make you lay on your tummy a few times a day to strengthen those neck muscles and also get a new perspective on the world. 
Here are some 2 month stats on you:
*Size 2 diaper
*At your 2 month check up, you were 13lbs 10oz/22 ¼ inches long. That is 90th percentile for weight and 25th for height. Short and chubby! 
*You nurse every 3 hours and usually follow this schedule: up at 6a to eat, 9a, 12p, 3p, 6p, 9p (or a little later) then you go to bed around 11p or so, and sleep till 6a or so. I LOVE that you sleep 7 hours in a row, and it helps Mommy stay sane! You started to sleep through the night right at 6 weeks and I just think it’s the best thing!! You currently sleep next to our bed in your carseat, but we are trying to get you to sleep in the bassinette. (Started sleeping in the bassinette full time around 9 weeks)
*You are a great nurser and it takes you 20-30 minutes to eat usually.
*You take a paci but spit it out at times.
*You have only had one bottle and it had mommy’s milk in it. We only gave you an ounce in it—just to see if you would take a bottle.
*I can almost count on getting spit up on after you nurse.
*Your brother and sister adore you, but don’t interact with you a ton yet. H holds you, and J will too occasionally, but he normally just pets you a little! 
*You do not mind getting your diaper or clothes changed.
*You are happy pretty much anywhere—in someone’s arms, the swing, your carseat, and even on the floor if you aren’t left by yourself for too long.
*You like bathtime and kick your legs like crazy! I got a funny video of you wiggling from side to side in your little infant bathtub.
*You came to Auntie S and Uncle T’s wedding on June 3rd and did perfectly! You slept through a lot of it!
*You don’t have a set nap schedule, but we try to have you play for a little bit after you nurse so your schedule usually follows the eat, play, nap routine.
E, we love you so very much. Life is so much fun with a baby in the house again. I was saying to Daddy the other day that I am just so happy to have a baby to hold—my big kids don’t let me snuggle them much anymore! You are an amazing baby and are a joy to have in our lives. We love you! Love, Mama

one month!

May 22, 2011
Dear E,
You are 1 month old!! You are the sweetest baby ever and rarely cry. The few times you have gotten really riled up, Daddy and I just talk about how surprising it is to hear you cry. If you are hungry, you just kind of squeak and fuss a little till you are fed. Nursing is going wonderfully and we can tell you are gaining weight. We love you so much and are just overjoyed that you are now a part of our family. Your brother and sister love you and ask to hold you and Judah likes to pet your hair 
*You are in size 1 diapers
*Your newborn onesies are getting way too tight
*You smiled at mommy and daddy right around your one month birthday. I was unsure if it was a real smile, but today I am sure that it is.
*Everyone comments on how much dark hair you have. It is so soft but it only starts growing about halfway back on your head 
*You went to the tulip parade on May 11th—you were about 2.5 weeks old.
*You have been to Uccellos restaurant when you were 2 weeks old for Auntie Stephanies bachelorette party. You also have been to Margaritas restaurant in Holland—we took Grandma F. there for mother’s day on May 9th.
*You nurse every 3 or so hours during the day and at night you sleep from around 11p to 3a and then from about 3:45a to7a or so. You then will even go back to sleep after you nurse at 7a. You are a great sleeper.
*You are having more periods of awake time.
*You love to be held and cuddled. You love it when mommy rubs your head.
*When you are tired ready to sleep but we haven’t gotten you settled yet, you get a little squeaky and bothered until you get situated and then you go right to sleep.
*You nurse for around 30 minutes every time—sometimes more, sometimes a little less.
*We adore you.
We love you so much little boy!! Love, Mama

soaking it up

this little sweetness is baby e,
who joined our family on Good Friday april 22nd at 9:35p, weighing in at 7lbs10oz and 20inches long. (although... at the doctors office the other day, their measurements were 19 1/4 inches long. and he did not have a conehead that shrunk, so maybe they measured him wrong in the hospital?? either way, we are going with the nice round number of 20 inches.)

he has the sweet disposition that i desperatly prayed for, and i am praying it sticks around. he nurses about every 3 hours and now, at 11 days old is having some periods of more alert time after every nursing. today he lost his little belly button and he will be starting some tummy time tomorrow :)

while it is hard to be at someone's beck-and-call 24/7, i am trying to soak it all in. while i don't get more than 2 or 3 hours of sleep at a time, i still have joy in my heart, because he is here. and healthy. and mine. the hubs has been a dream the past week and a half. he has been filling my water glass, asking me if i need snacks, folding laundry, and the biggest help of all: keeping the older kids fed/happy/entertained/loved.

we are settling into a new way of life around here but it is a good life. may i never forget the soft wispy black hair, the toes that are barely bigger than tic-tacs, the peely new-baby-skin, and the sweet baby smell that accompany almost all of my moments right now.

a new year

a new year that will bring:
a new baby,
a "baby" turning 2,
our oldest "baby" turning 10..

after ringing in the new year with 2 couples we love love love and go "way back" with, we have now embraced the new year.

highlights for j in this new year include taking his first ever snowmobile ride, and h loved getting a chance to ride them again this year, too!

Santa Babies

Today as our advent activity, I took the kids with my sister and mom to see Santa in the mall. The line was ridiculously short-- just the way I like it! J hopped right up onto Santa's lap, and H claimed she was too big to sit down, so she just stood by him. I even had to convince her to do that by telling her that J wouldn't be scared that way.
This Christmas season has been so laid back.. I did have advent activities planned, but if we didn't get to it or it didn't happen, I didn't push to make it work. We probably did an activity every other day, and still have some winter ideas that we haven't done yet which will probably come in handy when we are going stir crazy in February.
Here are a few of the activities on our advent list for this year (pretty much the same as last year)
*made handprint wreaths
*pinecone/peanutbutter/birdseed birdfeeders
*set up and played with the nativity
*decorate Christmas cookies
*made a paper chain to hang in the doorway
*took kids to see santa
*set up the Christmas tree

Still to do: go sledding, make paper snowflakes, build a snowman, go snowmobiling (we actually need snow to do these things though!!)

jingle all the way

We set up our Christmas tree as the 4th advent activity.. only 3 broken ornaments later, it was done and we were loving the sight of our (fakey) pretty tree. The snowman ornament is H's. J's ornament is a tractor and I for some reason did not get a picture of it.

boxing day

You know how kids like playing with the boxes their toys come in better than the toy themselves at Christmas? I can do ya one better.
My kids like playing with a box their daddy's new gun cabinet came in.
(Well, at least after J got over his fear of the dark tunnel)