Interviews

I've decided to "interview" the kids every so often so I can remember what they sound like at certain ages. I wish I had started sooner, it's fun to see how cute they are.

Great Granddad

We went down to have dinner with my grandfather earlier this week. He was excited to see Lily and it was fun to watch him with her. 

Granddad and Lily

The kids in a cool old barber's chair. I remember playing in this when I was little.

He's so OLD!

I am officially married to an old man, Adam turned 30! Okay, it's not old at all but I remember being in college and thinking that 30 sounded forever away and that when Adam and I got there we'd have life all figured out. HA! Little did I know Adam would still be in school we'd be living in my parents' house with my sister, and we would still be living on student loans. The only thing that's changed is we have 3 kids. Man, on paper our life doesn't look so hot. Adam's birthday was pretty low key, but it was nice. I think the kids were more excited than he was about celebrating. They wanted to make him a chocolate cake (he bought a key lime pie for himself) that they decorated. After we sang and had a piece of cake we put the kids to bed and had a couple good friends over for dinner. We are actually celebrating this weekend...Adam and I are leaving the kids while we go to an Avs game and stay up in Denver for the night. It will be great to get away, we haven't had a date without Lily since she came home from the hospital.

Just Life and Lily's Stats

I have had many requests to post some updated pictures of our little Lily bean. Samantha and I have taken to calling her bean more often than Lily, we'll see how long that lasts. These are just some fun pictures we've taken over the last few weeks. I also thought I'd post Lily's stats from her last two doctors appointments. 

1 month stats:

20 1/2 in (38th percentile)

8 lb 4 oz (23rd percentile)

2 month stats:

22 1/8 in (51st percentile)

10 lbs 3 oz (34th percentile)

We have the greatest kids. I am amazed at how easy the transition (so far) to three kids has been. Lily is wonderful and the other two are really helpful and wonderful with her. It isn't to say there hasn't been problems...I still get stressed when Lily wakes up in the middle of the night more than once and wonder if that is going to become a regular occurrence. It still bothers me that she takes her main nap in her swing every day (I wonder if she'll be able to transition to her crib okay) but I'm willing to let her because it means she'll sleep for a solid 2-3 hours at the same time as Paul. It was a rough decision to bottle feed because at two weeks she was only 6 lbs 10oz and wasn't getting enough to eat. It's also been a challenge finding a routine with both Samantha and Paul in school and Lily, but I think we've got it figured out. For the most part, these things have been minor and I've just been so happy to have Lily in our home. As you can tell from the pictures, Paul and Samantha are equally happy to have her here.

Paul showing Lily all the features of her baby gym

Paul was more excited than Lily to be so close

Just one Sunday after church

Samantha wants to hold/kiss/love Lily ALL the time. All the time. Luckily she does a pretty good job and is able to pick Lily up from the ground and put her back down safely. She's not allowed to stand up with her though.

Grammie with Lily

Newborn Pictures

My friend Kelly took these AMAZING pictures of Lily and the kids. I am so, so glad that we had them done.

Lily at Six Weeks

Since Lily is changing so fast I figure I'd better document what she's like now before I forget.

• She typically goes to bed at 8:00, wakes up at 3:30 to eat, and then is up for the day around 7:00. She isn't as consistent as either of my other kids were by 6 weeks, but is still doing well.
• Takes one or two naps in the morning (short ones), a long nap from about 1:00-4:00, and one more short nap in the evening.
• I can put her in her bed awake and she'll usually get herself to sleep. Sometimes she cries as she's falling asleep, but usually she's quiet.
• She's a happy baby and doesn't cry too often but when she does it goes from zero to sixty instantly. She doesn't ever fuss, she is either screaming or quiet.
• She started smiling one day before she turned 1 month.
• At her one month check up she weighed 8 lbs 4 oz and was 20 1/2 in long.
• She smiles more at me and Samantha, probably because of our high voices. The only times she smiles at Adam is when he talks in an unusually high pitched voice.
• She is getting much better at controlling her head and can hold it up for few seconds when she's on her tummy.
• She is happy and very loved by everyone in our family!

Butterflies

One day this summer Paul came inside with a caterpillar on his shirt. Since then the kids were obsessed with caterpillars and trying to find more. Of course we couldn't find any...I have no idea where that first one came from. So, we decided to buy a butterfly habitat that included a certificate to order caterpillars. They were not nearly as cute as the green one that we found on our own, but the kids had a great time watching them turn into butterflies. Last week we were finally ready to release them. They are already asking to start the whole process over, but I think we'll wait until next summer to do it again. Paul wasn't really interested in the release, but he did love watching them the rest of the time.

First Day of School

Lily's Blessing

We did Lily's blessing the Sunday after we came home since my mom was there. Adam's parents were also there, Lauren and Caity, and my Aunt Nanette.  Adam's dad was the one that performed the blessing. Unfortunately Paul was talking to me during a good portion of the blessing so I missed some of what was said. Lily was perfect though and didn't cry a bit. I did get a lot of comments about how quickly I'd come back to church. We didn't really have a choice if we wanted my mom there...otherwise I would have been home in bed!

She looks thrilled about being held by Paul

Lily and I, unfortunately I didn't get one of her and Adam

Little Miss Lily

Well, I think we are finally getting into a routine with our newest member of the family. It's definitely been an adjustment but she's been such a sweet baby and it's already hard to imagine life without her. It's easy to forget just how tiny babies are as newborns.

The first week and a half were crazy. She was born on a Friday and we came home from the hospital Sunday. Sunday night my mom came to help, Monday was back to school night (crazy, 100's of people), Tuesday was Samantha's first day of Kindergarten and Paul's first day of preschool, and Thursday was Adam's first day of school.  Lily was up at night since she hadn't figured out days and nights yet but luckily that only lasted a few days. I think by the time she was a week or so old she had stopped.

It was really hard having my mom leave after that first week and a half but luckily I had my sister Kelle coming out shortly after that. She came out with Alyssa for a long weekend and it was so fun to have her here. The only bummer was that she couldn't stay longer. When she left my kids kept saying "bummer in the summer, bummer in the fall." They are already asking when they get to see Alyssa and Kelle again. I told Samantha maybe we could drive to Chicago soon and she was mad we wouldn't fly. 

Samantha and Paul have had a pretty seamless transition. They both love Lily and the only time they complain is when she's asleep and they can't hold or feed her.  Paul was shy with her at first and was embarrassed to kiss her or give her hugs. That didn't last too long and now he kisses her all the time (or"all the time long" as he likes to say). Samantha isn't as possessive of her as she was of Paul, but still wants to take care of her and do more for her than I'm comfortable with. I caught her carrying Lily around the other day and it about gave me a heart attack. Especially since she decided to lay her down on the couch with her legs hanging off when she was done. We've had to have a few talks about what she's able to do and what she needs help with. 

Meeting Lily for the first time at the hospital

Sisters

He is SO proud to be a big brother

Coming Home

Just getting home, Samantha and Paul are very excited to have Lily here

First family picture as a family of 5 (we didn't realize until after we'd taken the pictures that we all matched...imagine that)