Thursday, October 30, 2008

Pumpkin Patch!

On Saturday, our good friends Kimberly and Daniel came to visit us with their son, Caedmon. They just recently moved from Alabama to the Eastern Shore, so they took advantage of being a bit closer to come hang out and meet Jackson. We had a great day hanging out with them and our other dear friends, Brian, Krisha, and Chase. Although the day started out rainy and cold, it turned beautiful in the afternoon, and so we loaded up all the kiddos and headed for the pumpkin patch. Kathryn loved exploring among the pumpkins.

Posing with the gourds.

They also had a petting zoo. Kathryn liked barking at the sheep, goats, and donkeys.
Mommas and babies.
Our whole group.


Searching for the perfect pumpkin.
Family picture.
Kathryn had fun in the corn maze too.

She even found some corn that she insisted on feeding to the animals in the zoo.
After the pumpkin patch, we all came back to our house to hang out and have dinner together. We took advantage of all the kiddos being awake for a photo shoot. Here are the boys:And then the boys plus Kathryn. Soon, the kids will outnumber the adults...scary!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Happy birthday today to a very special father and grandpa! We love you!!!
Kathryn's special message to her Grandpa: fjkkkkkkkkkjjj

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Bathtime with Daddy

Johnny gave Kathryn a bath the other week. When he called to me to bring him the camera, I had no idea what to expect.

Bathtime with Daddy sure is fun!!

Friday, October 24, 2008

1 month old!

Yesterday Jackson turned one month old! It's amazing how fast time flies! He is such a joy, and we love our sweet little guy. We've particularly enjoyed his smiles lately. He's mostly smiley in the mornings, but every once in a while we'll get one in the evenings. He still sleeps relatively well for a newborn; I feed him right before we go to bed, then he wakes up once to eat in the middle of the night, and then again in the early morning (around 5:00). He then kind of dozes on and off until it's time to get up for the day. (Exception: last night he was up A LOT!) All in all, I can't complain though. A certain big sister was up every 2 hours for months when she was a baby, so he's not doing bad in comparison! He is very fussy most evenings, though, and spends a good bit of time crying if he's not being held (and even when he is being held). But thankfully it's been a little better the past several days, so hopefully he'll be over it soon. Enjoy lots of pictures of our "little" guy, and the doctor stats are at the bottom.

I tried to be artsy the other day with photos.

All decked out last Saturday to cheer on the Cavaliers!


Adventures in the double stroller...
...and cloth diapers. Look at that huge butt! It's hilarious!!

And finally some pictures from yesterday, when he was exactly one month old!
If you look closely in this picture, you might notice the nice collection of spit-up in his mouth about to come out. As soon as the picture took, he gushed it out. Nice!
He had his one month check up today at the doctor. He grow any in length, but the doctor suspects that they just measured him wrongly when he was born. So, he's still at 22 inches long, which is the 62nd percentile (22 inches at birth is the 99th percentile!). His head is 15.3 inches, also the 62nd percentile. And finally, his weight is 11 lbs 7 oz, which is the 82nd percentile! (His birth weight was the 91st percentile at 9 lbs 4 oz!) So, he's definitely gaining weight quite well! His face still doesn't look as chubby as Kathryn's did at this age. I think he's just got a longer face than she did/does. If he continues to grow at this rate, he should be ready for little league football any time now!

Finally, happy birthday today to my brother, David!!!! We love you!!!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Goin' hippy...

On Sunday night, I decided to make granola for the first time. It turned out so yummy, so I thought I'd share!

The dry ingredients... The wet ingredients...
Kathryn loves to help me cook!

Jackson got fussy during the process, so I had to wear him in the sling.

Ready to bake! So yummy!
So, making granola alone doesn't make me a hippy. But the fact that I did it while wearing Jackson in a sling doesn't hurt the cause. And the day before, I cleaned the house with homemade natural cleaners. And yesterday I ordered some more cloth diapers and put both kids in cloth for the first time (Jackson's first time ever). So yeah, all that added together, and I'm feeling pretty cruchy these days!

Monday, October 20, 2008

Trip to Bridgewater

Last weekend Jackson and I took a trip up to visit my parents and siblings in Bridgewater. Jackson enjoyed napping with his Grandpa....and meeting his cousin Payton for the first time!

Holding hands...
Napping with Grammy too!

Meeting his aunt and uncles! (Notice Nick's sling...he broke his collar bone while we were there!)

The four siblings, plus Jackson.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Pictures from the last week

Kathryn likes to play with some of Jackson's things, like playing in his bathtub.
Last weekend, she started mimicking her daddy when he'd say "Touchdown!" So far, it's paid off, as UVA has been doing better.

Snoozing with daddy...

I caught the glimpses of a smile on camera! He still doesn't smile very often, but we can see it right behind his eyes. We can't wait to regularly get those precious grins!

"Oh man!!!!"

Kathryn is great at helping me change Jackson's diaper. She is always very eager to get the wipes, a diaper, and the diaper creme. Of course, babies his age have dirty diapers all the time, so you can see what we do when he has yet another one. Oh man!!! (Note: listen to her snap in the second video...do you know any other 21 month old that can snap? Yeah, she's amazing!!)




Friday, October 10, 2008

Cousin on the way!!!

I've been waiting to post this for a long time now, but I think I finally have clearance to announce that Randy and Lindsay (Johnny's brother and his wife) are expecting their first child in March!!! Kathryn and Jackson can't wait to have a little cousin around to play with! Congrats guys!!!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

First Bath

Jackson's cord fell off last week (was that early?), so he was ready for his first real tub bath!

As you can see, he wasn't crazy about it at the beginning...
But then he decided that it wasn't all that bad.
And by the end he seemed to even tolerate it (maybe enjoy it?).
The time is flying by!!

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

How we're doing...

(Pictures are at the end...)

So, we get lots of questions these days about how we're doing. So, here ya go: We're doing okay! I won't lie, it has been an adjustment with two kiddos! The hardest part for me hasn't been adjusting with a new baby, but making the adjustments with Kathryn. We have been soooo blessed to have pretty much full-time help since Jackson has been born, thanks to family and friends. I can't tell you what an amazing thing this has been for us! And Johnny has been absolutely incredible. He has done all the extra household chores without complaint, has given up so much to help out, and has been so encouraging to me when the crazies hit. But, there is still the adjustment phase to go through as a family, as everything has changed.

For me personally, I have been learning a lot (and have TONS more to learn!). Many people think I am a pretty patient person. Sorry, but you're wrong. At least when it comes to myself and waiting for things. It's been hard for me to be patient with myself and my body, to let myself rest and recover. I so badly just want to be back into things, to do it all myself. And I get frustrated when I'm told not to, or simply can't do it. I'm also very prideful. I have a very hard time asking for help. And I struggle a lot with guilt, so I feel guilty for not doing things that I think I should. And I'm a perfectionist. I just want to do what's right, all the time. And often these days, I'm not sure what's right, and that drives me nuts. So all in all, you can imagine what a mess I can be! There is so much pressure to get back to normal, to bounce back and go go go...(societal pressure, that is). I feel weak when I say I can't or I shouldn't do something, and I hate to feel weak (the pride thing). And now that I'm starting to feel a little better (albeit extremely tired!), it's even harder for me to still take it easy and not feel like I should be the one doing the cleaning, chores, etc. But then on the other hand I have many people encouraging and reminding me to be careful, to take it easy, to not push myself. It's all very confusing and hard for me, for my prideful, guilt-laden, perfectionist self! (You all really are going to think I'm a nut-case by the time this post is over!)

However, in the midst of it all, God has been so good to us. Jackson is sleeping relatively well. I mean, he's a newborn, so we're not getting much sleep in general, but it could be much worse! He'll often go 3-4 hours between feedings at night, so there are times when I get a good 2-3 hour stretch of sleep at least once a night, which is super! Not every night, but at least some nights. And even though my time with Kathryn is so different now, I have had some sweet little nuggets of time with her, and I treasure those. When people come to visit, I try to let them hold the baby and seize that time to sit on the floor and play with her, or walk outside with her, etc. I try to touch and hug and snuggle her as much as possible (which is hard with how much she is on the go, but I still try!). Bedtime has been good with her, and I try to feed Jackson shortly before putting Kathryn down so that he's content and sleeping and Johnny and I are able to put her to bed together and keep that normal routine that she's used to. So far she's done great with that, and last night I was even able to rock her to sleep, and held her for a full 20 minutes. What a great time that was. I'm tearing up right now just thinking of it.

I've also gotten some sweet times with Jackson. We've had many times of people coming over to pick up Kathryn and take her to the park or out on some errand, and that's given me/us some alone time with the baby, so that's been good too. So far he's such a good baby, mostly content and easy-going (an answer to prayer!!).

So, in order to not ramble too much longer, that's the basics of how we're doing. The story may change once I'm more on my own with the two kiddos most days! But for now, there's a snapshot of how things are. Yes, we have good days and bad days (or more like good moments/bad moments). I am often sad about how things are so different with Kathryn, but at the same time life is so much more rich as a family of four that we wouldn't go back for anything. It's just something new and different to get used to. If I was too honest and you think I'm crazy now, then please just pray for us! :)