Thirteen Weeks - Back to work!

I started back to work on Monday morning and that meant that the kids were both on their way to daycare. Jim took this picture on Monday morning - I thought that we all did pretty well with the transition, but looking at this picture it makes me laugh at how depressed we all looked!

On Sunday Addisen was baptized - what a great day it was! We were so happy that Chrissy was able to be here and agreed to be Addisen's Godmother!

We stayed in a hotel with the kids for the first time on Saturday night. It was the first time Brody has slept in a "big bed" in the same room as Jim and I. At about 4 in the morning we were all awake! Brody woke up asking a million questions when he saw that Jim and I were in the room. Then Addisen was up to eat, followed by the need to have a whole outfit change due to a blow out! I think it was another hour until we were all asleep again!

It was a LONG weekend and both of the kids were ready for naps on Sunday afternoon. Addisen was so tired that she even slept through the night for the first time on Sunday night! I was so grateful to her for making my transition back to work just a little easier!

This week we had great weather! Addisen and Brody were able to go outside to play for a little while after we got home.

Aunt Chrissy was a big hit with Brody and Addisen! She was great at playing hide and seek and putting Addisen right to sleep!

Addisen celebrated her Three month birthday and St. Patrick's day on Thursday. Her hair is starting to take one a red hue - so she fit in with the Irish theme!

Hopefully I will have a chance to get some 3 month portraits done this weekend! I hope everyone has a great week - hopefully this week will go a little easier for us as we continue to transition to the "real world".

Twelve Weeks - Time to return to work!

The big event this week is preparing for Addisen's Baptism! She will be baptized on Sunday at the church where I was baptized, Jim and I were married and Brody was baptized. We are so excited that Nanny and Aunt Chrissy are able to come all the way from Pennsylvania for the big day! I took the opportunity to take some photos of Addisen in her baptism gown yesterday (it will be our last midweek photo session since I will be returning to work on Monday!).

I can't believe that it has been 12 weeks since Addisen was born. It seems like just yesterday I was at the hospital (it is kind of crazy how you can remember everything about the day your children are born!). I am coping with the idea of going back to work and leaving Addisen with Brody at daycare starting on Monday. I took her in a few times this week to drop off some of her things and visit with the ladies that will be taking care of her. Luckily I have her baptism to focus on right now too. We will see how my post is for next week! The good news for Jim and I is that Addisen has started only getting up 1 time a night!

This morning Brody and I made a fort in the sun room so he could watch a movie in his "house". It only lasted about 30 minutes before he started to destroy it...but at least it was fun while it lasted!

I hope everyone has a great week! I will post pictures of our week back to the real world and Addisen's baptism next week.

Eleven Weeks (Where does the time go?)

We started out the week with Addisen's two month doctor's appointment. I was sad to have to see her get her first set of vaccinations, but excited to hear how much she weighed! Our little girls is already up to 12 lbs 4.5oz (75th percentile), 24 inches long (90th percentile) and just like her brother her head is large (75th percentile). It is a little different having a bigger baby - Brody was always so skinny and we didn't have the rolls around his neck and thighs! Maybe this will mean that Addisen will be a better eater than Brody is!

This week Brody started his "Sports sampler" at the local YMCA. They started out with soccer and Brody really enjoyed the class. He wasn't willing to go out on the floor by himself, but as long as Jim was with him he did pretty well. I am looking forward to watching him try out golf, football, baseball and rock climbing in the coming weeks!

Many of you may not have known, but Dr. Seuss had a birthday on Wednesday! While at daycare Brody made a special hat, read some of his books and celebrated with a pizza party to honor the great guy!

This week Addisen's smiles have been coming more often and I have finally been able to capture a few more on film. She is doing pretty well with sleeping at night and seems to be getting on somewhat of a routine.
I took Addisen in to daycare this week to meet her teacher, Ms. Terry. She is the same woman that took care of Brody. I know that Addisen will be in good hands, but I think I am going to have a really hard time going back to work in another week! It just all seems a little overwhelming to me right now - I wish I could just get paid to stay home!

Addisen has really started to notice Brody a lot more. She loves to watch him and gives him a lot of smiles! He returns the love with squeeze hugs and kisses - he is such a great big brother (I hope they are this nice to each other in another year when she is on the move)!

Ten Weeks! Bring on the Smiles!

I tried my hardest to catch Addien's smiles on film this week! They are coming a lot more often and are just so cute! You know she really means it mean she scrunches up her nose (this isn't the best picture of her, but the only one I could get)!

Brody is home with me today so we set up the "photo studio" again to capture some pictures. The best ones were from just setting the camera on the tripod and shooting with the remote! I just love the pictures of Addisen sitting up and smiling (above).

I realized I have very few pictures of me and the kids (because I am normally the one taking the pictures). So I thought we would try to get some today and it worked! These are some of my favorite pictures to date! I love my kids!

Addisen has become more alert this week and actually stays awake for multiple hours at a time. This allows her to get in some time with her favorite friend, "Toucan Sam" (this was Brody's favorite friend when he was a baby too!).

Before we were done with pictures today, Brody had to get a shot of his airplane! His favorite part of pictures is to take them and then run to the camera to look at them. Today he told me that I was taking way too many!

Addisen's sleeping habits have been up and down. Just when I think we are getting somewhere she starts to revert back to just a few hours of sleep. We were waiting to move her to her room until she was sleeping better, but it didn't seem like that was ever going to happen! So last night I made the decision to move her to her crib (although I thought about taking it back when it was bedtime!). She wouldn't fall asleep until after her feeding at 12:30am, but then to my surprise she made it until 4:30am and then again until 7:30am. That was a pretty good night for her (especially for sleeping in a new room). Now all we have to do is get her to fall asleep at a reasonable hour!

Nine Weeks

Addisen turned 2 months old yesterday! The time really has just flown by - I only have 3 more weeks to stay home with her and then it is back to the real world! I have actually come to terms with it all this week and find myself looking forward to seeing who she becomes as she gets bigger (instead of dreading each week that she becomes less of a newborn!).

On Wednesday I set up my "photo studio" in the sun room and worked on getting some good shots for her 2 month portraits. I LOVE digital cameras - they allow me to take 100 shots to get 10 good ones! Here are some of my favorites!

This was a busy week for us! Brody started his swimming lessons last Saturday. Luckily Jim agreed to go in the water with him (I really can't imagine getting in a swimsuit right now!). Brody did really well during the lesson - he was even jumping off the side by the end.

I think the highlight of the swim lesson was the story that Jim had from the locker room. While Brody and Jim were getting ready to go to the pool some of the dad's came in to change in to their swimsuits. As they were taking off their pants Brody asked Jim "Daddy, why is he changing his pants? Did he pee in them?" Jim said he couldn't say anything and definitely couldn't look at the naked man next to him!

Brody picked out a firefighter outfit for his Valentine's Day present. His favorite part is the "smoke mask" and whistle! It is amazing what Addisen can sleep through!

The gifts that Jim and I got from the kids!

This week Brody and I made "pupcakes". The plan was to make all mini cupcakes but after the first 50 I switched over to the normal size! We had lots of fun mixing and testing the batter!

Week Eight Spent with Grandma and Bobo

Addisen, Brody and I spent the week at Grandma and Bobo's because Jim had to travel for work. He was gone Monday - today and I just didn't think I would have much sanity left if I stayed here alone with the kids. I am glad that I ended up going because it ended up being a pretty sleepless week for Addisen! Just when we started to have 4-5 hour stretches at night she went back to 30 minute cycles! My mom and dad were life savers with taking care of Brody in the morning so I could at least get a few hours of sleep in.

Brody had a pretty fun week while we were there. Uncle Neal and Jenny took him to the local children's museum and out to lunch - he had a GREAT time with them! Grandma took him to the library for the first time and he came home with 3 books and 3 movies! Bobo took him to the local pet store and he got to see birds, turtles, frogs, snakes and even 2 potbelly pigs that were there shopping!

Of course he was also spoiled and enjoyed eating all the treats!

I was experimenting with pictures yesterday while we were at my parents - this is the only one that turned out!

We picked Jim up at the airport this afternoon and Brody was excited to welcome him back with our sign! He kept yelling "Welcome to the airport daddy!" There were quite a few people that found him entertaining! We ended up having to wait about a half hour for Jim because his flight was delayed, so while Brody started to lose hope that his daddy was every going to come I suggested that we count. He counted to 5 and I said "Let's try to count higher", so Brody started to jump and count to 5...oh, how I forgot how literal a 3 year olds mind is!

Once Jim got there we went to the arcade for a few minutes and then to wait for Jim's luggage. Two of the pictures above are of Jim and Brody waiting at the baggage claim for his bag. The picture of Brody pointing is what he did to every bag that went by as he was asking "is that your bag?". I stood there and just chuckled to myself because I think he asked that question about 50 times before Jim's bag finally arrived!

Seven Weeks - Wow time is flying!

Addisen is 7 weeks old today! I can't believe that much time has already gone by! I am over halfway done with my maternity leave now and can't even imagine leaving her! I thought it would be easier the second time around, but it definitely isn't going to be.

A lot of people have been asking if Addisen looks like Brody when he was a baby - so I decided to put a few comparison pictures up. As you can see they are two very different babies! The major thing they have in common is that they are good babies during the day and AWAKE babies at night!

This Wednesday we were hit with the blizzard of 2011! Jim had the duty of digging us and our neighbor out (her husband normally loves to snowplow, but he was on a business trip). As you can tell we got quite a bit of snow and it didn't help that it drifted A LOT!

Addisen has had a good week. The good news with her is that her jaundice has started to go away and that we figured out it was due to an interaction with the breast milk and her. So now she is on to bottle feeding! It seems like an abrupt end to our "bonding" time, but now Jim can share in the feeding responsibilities.
Last Saturday we headed to my parents for the first time since Addisen has been born. My mom and dad watched the kids and Jim and I went for a much needed night out. We had a great time celebrating the night with my brother and his girlfriend, Jenny.

I am getting everything packed up this afternoon to go and spend a week at my parents house. Jim has to go on his first trip since Addisen was born and will be gone for the whole week. I thought 5 days with no adult interaction might be a little too much for me, so I opted to take the kids to my parents. We will have a full car on the way there - but it will be a NEW one! Jim finally agreed with me to get a new car with more space and to our surprise it will be ready tonight! We will be driving in our new roomy Acadia with a 3rd row! Now Grandma and Bobo can ride with us instead of taking 2 cars everywhere!

This is Addisen modeling a hat that I made for our neighbor's daughter, Ella. The pattern said 0-6 months and that size fits Addisen no problem - but our family tends to have big heads! When I gave it to the neighbors last night it was obvious that Ella would not be wearing for a while - hopefully we have some cold nights in July! Oh well it's the thought that counts, right?

Celebrating Six Weeks and Dad's Birthday!

What a week! We started the week by celebrating Jim's birthday with a party! Brody had lots of fun getting to spend the day with Nanny, Bobo, Grandma, Uncle Neal, Jenny, Daddy, Mommy and Addisen! There were a lot of people to play with!

Uncle Neal and Jenny took Brody outside for some fun! It was more of a workout for Uncle Neal than Brody!

My mom made Addisen a matching hat and sweater! We were afraid that it might not fit since she is growing so fast - but it looks like she will at least get a couple of wears out of it!

This week has been a trying one for me. Yesterday I took Addisen to my work to see how much she was weighing (up to 10lbs 12oz already!). While I was there a few of the doctors commented on how "orange" she still was. So off we went to the hospital to get some labs drawn. It was heartbreaking to watch Addisen cry as they collected the blood from her. By the end of the day our doctor had called and said that her levels were the same as when she came home from the hospital - so we needed to do some more looking. Unfortunately the lab forgot to collect for one of the tests so we had to go back again today for labs. I took her back and this time instead of a heel poke she had to have blood drawn from her arms! I thought the heel was bad - but I had no idea what it would be like to watch your 6 week old baby suffer as they tried to find a vein in her arm! We heard back on the results today and the good news is that everything appears normal. So we are trying to figure out why her jaundice hasn't gotten any better. We are going to try giving her formula instead of breast milk this weekend to see if this will help things clear through her body. We will be back to the lab on Monday - so please pray that the levels improve and we won't have to continue this process!

Brody is still in love with his baby sister! Tonight he was sharing his toys with her (notice the octopus under her arm). He was so excited to pose for pictures with his baby sister and his toys!