The Many Faces of Juliet

Glam girl, grown up girl, tomboy, baby girl. And yes, she strikes these poses all on her own.

Sweet Sleeps

One Day. One Bed. Two Boys. Two Naps.

Happy One Month Lincoln!!

My sweet little man turned one month old last Thursday. I can't believe it! He has done so much in one month--visited my parent's house, visited Bryan's parents, hosted extended family at our house for several days. He even went out to eat once and to the grocery store once.

He is such a sweet little guy. He loves to cuddle with his mommy, and he will gladly nap on me from time to time. Neither of his siblings did that. But, Lincoln also sleeps in his bassinet every night without problem. We haven't tried out the crib yet though. He is a good night sleeper. For example, last night he went to sleep at ten, got up at 12:00 for a quick bottle, slept until 7:00, had another feeding, and then slept until 10:00. We've gotten the hang of feeding much more quickly than I did with the other two as well.

I'm anxious to see what he will weigh at his one month appt, but we haven't had that yet.

What We've Been Up To

Outside of learning to be a family of five, we had the great privilege and fun of having a big family event this past week.  We threw a surprise party for my grandfather who turned 75 this summer.  So, we loaded up for our first road trip with Lincoln and drove to my parent's house in Eastland where we stayed all weekend long.  Then, we took my grandparents, parents, and my uncle, his wife, and their three kids to Fossil Rim, which is a wildlife preserve where you can go and feed the animals in a safari-like setting.  Then, my uncle's family headed up to our house to stay for three days, which was awesome because they live in California, so we only see them every couple of years.

My uncle is an amazing photographer, and when he left, he gave me a CD with 485 pictures from the week on it.  I haven't been through them all yet, but I picked out some of my favorites so far that are pretty representative of what we got to experience last week.

Here's my little man showing off his muscles and asserting his place in the family :)

 

My middle child stealing my morning cup of tea and getting away with it in her usual fashion of just looking so durn cute as she does it :)

 

My eldest showing off his new found confidence in the water, thanks to his cousins and a new pair of water wings

Robby hanging with his older cousins and loving absolutely every second of it.

My grandfather with all of his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren (with the exception of one son who was unable to travel for the event)

Me letting my inner animal out at the wildlife preserve and begging my cousins in the truck in front of me to feed me their skittles.  (They didn't fall for it . . . can't imagine why)

Juliet being taken care of by my sweet cousin, who did an amazing job of helping out with all of the kids this weekend

My husband showing off his inner child in the pool, where we all spent large parts of the week (rotating between four different pools)

The First Few Days

Life is pretty crazy as we are learning and adjusting to being a family of five instead of four.  Thankfully, we've had lots of great support from family over the past couple of weeks to help us through the transition.  But, Lincoln is such a joy to have.  He is already very busy asserting himself into the family and carving out his role in our lives.  His brother and sister have done an amazing job of adjusting to the new arrival.  They are both protective and concerned for the new baby, and each seek him out a couple of times a day just to check in and make sure that all is well.  Here are a few pics of the family and the kids over the last 10 days:

This was taken right after arriving home from the hospital

Such a good and careful big brother

Right after his first bath.  Lincoln does not enjoy the bath at this stage in his life.

 

Trying out some tummy time.  He tolerates it in small doses.

Such a proud big brother and sister!

 

Such a cute pic.  Not sure why it refuses to upload correctly :(

Lincoln is Here!

After 4 days of nonproductive contractions and only about one hour of productive labor, baby Lincoln made his appearance last night at about 9:57 pm! He was 7 lb 11 oz and 20 inches long. He appears to be completely healthy, and of course we think he's totally adorable :). I can't wait for him to meet his big brother and sister today!

Visit to the Central Library

On Saturday, we decided to head into the "big city" to visit some our favorite haunts, including our favorite donut store for breakfast, then a trip to the downtown library, followed up by a picnic at the Botanic Gardens. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.

Both of my kids love to read, but somehow books at the library are never the main attraction. They are much more interested in any of the following:

--fish tank
--drinking fountain
--costumes
--Cody the enormous teddy bear
--the big wooden train

And, last but not least, the computers. Guess I can't blame them. The earphones are pretty rockin :)