And Don't Call Me Flow

There is an ebb and flow to the newborn world. 

One minute I am so sick of holding a baby and am ready for normal routine to return.

Then the next minute I am so sad at how big he is getting, and I just want to hold and snuggle him all day, kiss his head, smell his baby smell.

The other day when I was particularly exhausted from the newborn experience, I read this blog post from when Evan was a baby. It gave me renewed perspective and appreciation for the "season" of life I am in.

Plus the old pictures of Evan are killing me. How was he ever that small?

This season of my life means there are a lot of these situations while I nurse.

Evan wanted a slice of fresh out of the oven homemade bread. I told him to wait. He brought me the loaf with a vegetable peeler stabbed in it.

I suppose he was trying to be helpful.

We sneak a nap in together usually once a day. I get to hold my baby...I get to take a nap.

My left shoulder always smells of spit up. 

Good morning!

 

It was windy the other day, and Avery wanted to go out and watch her dress blow in the wind like a "real princess".

Post bath diaper play. 

These two are as thick as thieves.

Andrew has started smiling! I love this development.

This is us in the middle of the night. He's so sleepy. So am I.

Avery and Evan take turns holding Andrew.

Again, I must practice patience with this. Their baby brother won't always be so little, so I indulge them even when I don't want them man handling my poor baby.

Jamie gave Muno to Evan for his birthday.

I think it's super cute.

Ok, I was reading this blog about baby sleep/bed times, and as I was reading this part about 2 month old's bed time being 9:51pm, I looked at my phone and it was that exact time! I took a screen picture to prove it. See at the top? It shows the time.

Plus, what kind of random bed time is that?

I love babies in onsies.

My baby is crying right now, so...

The 6 Week Growth Spurt

So if you're thinking to yourself, "wow that kid really grew over night!" he did. 

It's called the 6 week growth spurt and it almost did me in.
It's the newborn to infant right of passage. Congratulations, Andrew, you are now an infant.

This kid was eating every 1.5 hours day and night. 

I wish someone would have told me about this growth spurt phenomenon when I had Avery because I remember being a basket case with her. I cried and fretted and fed her supplement formula because I was sure my low milk supply was the cause for her voracity. 

This time around I knew I just had to bare down and weather the 6 week growth spurt storm. He also insisted on being held at all times. He likes to be held anyway, but factor in the 6WGS, and I was a one armed wonder.

There's not a lot I can't do with one arm tied behind my back - I am practically a circus freak.

With the 6 week milestone, we could no longer hide behind the "postpartum" excuse, so we made our way to church for the first time. 

Sometimes I really like to cuddle my little mummy baby. 

But sometimes I wish I could have use of both my arms. 

Avery took a picture of us taking a Brian.

His first non sink bath. 

Avery and Evan were huge helps. I don't think I could have got anything done without their assistance. Surely I wouldn't have the bonus of Evan dripping water in his face giggle-giggle. That was really nice.

This ended with me shooing them out and locking the door.

Lastly, I want to record my crazy craving this time around.

Pero. 

I can't get enough. Equal parts Pero and sugar, and a healthy splash of half and half. Oh man. I could drink it all day. Turns out Pero is a lactogenic drink! So the jokes on you. (?)

With Avery it was cornbread. I had the recipe memorized.

With Evan, grapefruit. I couldn't cut through those darn grapefruit triangles fast enough. That was a labor intensive fruit craving.

Some Comparisons

First, the car seat comparison.

small, medium, large

*That darn toy on his carseat coming home from the hospital is there because Avery totally wanted it on there, and I didn't think to take it off when we were taking pictures. Andrew certainly didn't care for it, and now those first pictures are 70% toy thingy, 30% Andrew. It is in the way! Ahhh.

Second, the SUU onsie.

Avery, Evan, Andrew

The Desert Vacay

The main reason for our desert vacay was because Jim had to go for a few days of training. Lucky us got to stay at the Kelvingtons.

Sammy still loves her spot, the couch crack.

We threw the kids outside so that we could enjoy the quiet inside. It wasn't totally warm, but the sky was blue and the sun was shining. That's all I asked for.

 

These two had so much fun together. It's so wonderful to have a friend for Avery to bounce her imagination off of. I am not good at humoring her adventures she cooks up. She needs a Sammy for that. They played hide and seek, birthday party, princesses...all the games that I don't like to play.

They had a "s'more party".

I called it something else, so Jamie is admonishing me here in this pic. What was it I called it? A graham party?

They are watching the marshmallows puff up.

Oh and there's Oakley. She reminded me that I don't miss having a dog.

I miss Piper - but I don't miss having a dog. Especially with a newborn to attend to.

A sidewalk nap.

Cupcakes.

Remember the first night home from the hospital and Avery wanted me to make cupcakes and I cried and said no? Well Jamie promised she'd make cupcakes with Avery.

My cute baby. He loves to be held.

The mothers' lounge.

Reese's room shenanigans. Just like old times.

These two are talking about "middle child woes".

For real they get along so well. They both speak at about the same skill level, and just ruff house around together.

And they both love Yo Gabba Gabba.

Me and Jamie went and got some Boba together. Then I sat in the car with Andrew while she went in for her doctor appointment. I don't know who was watching the kids.

(yeah i do...Andy was.)

I love waking up next to this guy. Not only is he so cute, but this means I woke up on my own instead of the baby alarm clock crying in my ears.

One morning my kids were going crazy fighting and stuff, so we took it to the desert.

Look at that blue sky! Just look at it! So wide open and sparse.

We are definitely desert rats at heart. It just feels like home to be out there in the dry rocks.

Look at all that vitamin d. Being in the clouds really does effect you.

The sun is a funny thing. Too much is painful, not enough is miserable.

Don't think just because I'm on vacation I stopped taking pictures of me holding my baby.

I held him A LOT. He's addicted to me.

Later we went back out to the desert for another walk, but this time the Kelvs came with us.

They are looking for treasure.

Jamie calmed my fussy baby.

She called it "change of staff".

Jimi and Reese

The hours before we went home, we took a pic nic to the park.

I took all these pictures from my nook where I nursed Andrew.

They played soccer with a volley ball and Avery threw a fit for some reason or other.

We ate sandwiches and funions.

This is what nursing baby toes look like.