Ring Sling

If you have a baby, are having one, or know someone having one, here's my favorite baby product. a ring sling. there are tons of companies that make them, newnativebaby for one, but it's all a matter of taste as long as you get the basic design. I got this one with T and he LIVED in it, it's lightweight, folds into diaper bags and under stroller compartments and is awesome for when they want to be held but you need both hands free. It's like being swaddled, only better, because baby also gets to be next to you, rocked to sleep by your motions, hearing all the noise you and the family make and they sleep SO much better in these than lying flat in a crib. A loves it, and when I put her in she curls up in a tiny ball that looks insanely uncomfortable to adults but perfect for babies! knees up by her ears, arms folded around her, and it doesn't weigh much on my shoulders or back.
this is what she looks like when I finally do put her down to take a shower or make dinner:

blissed out!

Trevor's 4th birthday

Since Trevor is still enamored with pirates, ships, etc, he has asked for a pirate birthday! We didn't really want to do a big birthday party for him because he's just started preschool and still doesn't really know the kids in his class very well yet. We didn't want him to invite people just for body count, so we decided to just have a family day and take him somewhere super special instead. A neighbor recommended this cruise, piratecruise.net that is here locally and looks super fun! Among a few pirate themed gifts (Peter Pan 2, Hook--two of his favorite movies!, a pirate compass cd player to go with some pirate books with cd's, etc), I made him this treasure map that tells him to go from our house to the pirate ship! I've also printed out the info page from their website to give him on the way so he knows where we are going.

This is the ship, the Sea Dragon. The kids board and have to find the hidden treasure. They have water fights and the boys swab the deck while the girls get their face painted. All the kids get loot and they sell lunch and snacks. He is going to have a BLAST and we can't wait to take him. Our reservations are for tomorrow, so we're hoping that the hurricaine doesn't cancel the trip or that the weather is too bad for us to be out in the bay.

Sleepy boy

the other night after Reed and I put the boys to bed, we sat on the couch with the baby to watch some tv for a bit. When we finally decided to turn in, about 1.5 hours later, we found this little guy dead asleep behind us on the floor behind the couch. LOL! It seems like he got up and was going to hide for a minute but passed out. Reed carried him to bed and he never even stirred.

Take your daughter to work day

Since I'm already back to working again, we've had to make a few adjustments around A. It's really been pretty simple, I just plan to nurse and then settle in at the desk while she sleeps, sometimes in her bed, sometimes in the pack and play, and in my lap! I guess she looks pretty content while I work, don't you think?

A Updates

This week has been yucky. Carson brought home a back-to-school cold and has been whiny, but when I caught it I understood why! Runny nose, sore throat, coughing, body pains...yuck! I've been trying to avoid breathing on A but it's hard since she nurses 10 inches below my nose. Oh well, at least she gets immunities from nursing!
Trevor is coming down with the cold now, and at least Faye is bringing us enough rain to keep us all inside to recouperate and veg out, because if it was sunny I'd constantly be battling the boys to keep them indoors--sick or not!
A has now slept in her basinett, her bouncer and her swing! Yay! They won't all work all the time, but at least it gives me some reprieve while I am making dinner or doing big cleaning. Her favorite place, however, is in my ring sling--either on me or Daddy. She cocoons up in there as though she was still in the womb, literally in a little ball and falls right asleep. It's sweet to walk around with her and the sling is AWESOME about distributing what little weight she has so that I have two hands free and it's not too hard on my neck or back. Love it!
She's been a pretty good sleeper in general this week, sleeping 5 hours stretches at night and I'm actually sleeping enough to have dreams again! It's a very weird feeling! She still likes 3 AM for some reason and wants to be awake and alert then, but we're working on that.
25% for weight, but 99% for height...tall and skinny!
Our audiologist appointment is coming up, so keep your fingers crossed that she passes it this time! She did not pass in the hospital, but that could be due to all the fluid she still had in her.

Rainforest swing!

can you tell she likes to sleep on her side?

Meeting Granny

So sweet!


she smiles in her sleep!

Bid-a-wee Beach

Sunday evening we thought we'd take a little walk on the beach with Granny and the kids. The weather was beautiful and perfect for our walk, and it was Addie's first beach visit! She slept right through it though. We've had Granny here with us since Wednesday and she has been such a huge help. I do not reccomend trying to take care of 4 and 6 year olds by yourself just days after having a baby and many stitches! lol They don't quite understand why you won't get up and act normal, and I think we overdid it because by the time she got here, I was exhausted. But I got to catch up on sleep while she spent time with the boys, which was great! And there was another pair of hands for the baby when I had to attend to the boys myself. My parents were in town while I was in the hospital and kept the boys for us then, which was awesome too, but they had to leave unexpectedly early. Thanks to all of our helpers! We appreciate it!!

photo shoot part 2

Yeah, I took a ton of photos...

this one, click to see her face better. I thought it was so funny. Oy!

I have a feeling it will be very tricky to now get THREE faces to all smile at the same time...

A's first photo shoot

I decided to play around this morning and take a few photos of baby girl, and I was pretty pleased!


this is one of the beautiful pink roses Jeff sent her...

so sweet!

this was my coming home outfit when I was born! My mom brought it down last week!

being a model is hard work!

Brently and Brandi and Brent!

Our very old friends Brently, Brandi and their little guy Brent came to Destin for a vacation and visited us Sunday night! Brent and Trevor share a birthday, they are exactly 2 years apart! We were so happy to see them after such a long time--emails and calls just aren't the same, especially when you have kids to entertain you!

Brent



Carson decided to put on a mini concert--both boys were competing to see who could make Brent laugh the most! They thought he was "so cute"!

Trevor got in on the singing as well!
Brently and Brandi weren't aware of our boys penchant for concerts, lol.

the "L" family portrait...

which my boys promptly crashed! lol Thanks again for visiting us! And let us know when you want to move back down...

Home

We got home Thursday night and were ready to settle in to life with a newborn.
Adelyn received beautiful pink roses from Jeff, a sweet bunny from Carson and Trevor, cards from neighbors and grandparents and a cute Care Bear and balloons from Mimi and Poppi. Oh! And a beautiful HUGE cookie bouquet from the Dells, but sadly, it was mostly demolished by the time I took this picture. lol

So we came home to lots of sleeping peacefully (Adelyn's, not ours!)

lots of holding (whenever he can!)

and lots of cuddles...

Meeting the family

Mimi and Poppi brought the boys up to see A later on that night after we were settled in our regular room. They were so ecstatic to mee their new sister! C was squealing a lot and T did his "happy finger dance". lol! They are very tender with her and T has already said if someone is mean to his baby he is going to "Kung Fu Panda" on them. heehee. I know I should discourage that but it's not going to happen...

"Adewyn Cwaire is just wike a pwincess"

"Awww...she's so tiny!"

Both boys have to give her kisses all the time...

And Then...

at 2:05 pm, after a very quick labor, AClaire came into the world!
She had a lot of amniotic fluid left in her belly and lungs because she came out so quickly, so she did a lot of bubble blowing!

Dad got to bring her to Mom for the first time...

And it was love at first sight!

After a bath and a feeding, and we're happy as a clam!
We think she's certainly one of the most beautiful little baby girls around!