Nothing But Blue Skies

As I mentioned yesterday, the rest of our week at the beach was gorgeous! Thankfully my mom was kind enough to stay at the house with G so J, A, and I could spend some time together on the beach. It was beautiful!! The sky was clear, the water was calm and warm, and there was a huge sandbar so even A could stand in the water. The men did a little fishing and A wanted to join in on the fun. They even caught spanish mackerel.

We also caught a crab. This was as close as she would get to the crab because she wasn't too keen on that big left claw.
Strangely, she was very fond of a dead fish that J found and planned on using for bait. I guess she likes animals that aren't squirming and she knows can't bite her. I can't say that I blame her! Please excuse the very old and chipped nail polish. I've learned that instead of investing in polish remover I can just allow time, salt water, and pool water to get the job done. I think she was going in for a kiss The beach was a little more crowded than usual. We joked that we mind need to find a new spot at the beach if we have to keep dealing with crowds like this every time we go :)!

Rain, Rain, Go Away

As I mentioned yesterday, we spent last week at the beach. Av was ready to hit the water as soon as she could.

Unfortunately, we were greeted with this shortly after we left the house.

We tried to watch and wait patiently for the rain to stop.

And passed the time by catching rain drops

Watching the puddles forming around the porch
And practicing gymnastics Thankfully the rest of the week was beautiful, but that will have to wait for another day. Both the kids are now in bed and I am off to get some rest myself.

A Few of My Favorite Things

I have a couple of newly found items that have moved to the top of my list and I thought I would share! One is for me and the other for the bambino.


1. I LOVE coffee, however, J says that I love a little coffee with my creamer, milk, and sugar. He is a straight black coffee drinker and I do get quite a bit of grief from him for how light my coffee is. I am normally a vanilla/french vanilla creamer girl, but it is time for vanilla to move over! We were at the beach with my fam this past week and mom brought Coffee-Mate Italian Sweet Creme creamer. Even J agreed that it is wonderful. It smells like a pastry shop-yum! Thankfully, my mom loves me and sent the bottle home with me!



2. We are swaddlers when it comes to our kids. With Av we used blankets and it worked very well. The same blankets worked OK with G-for a little while. Even our best swaddling blankets are not working well on him since he is the size of the average 3 month old already. He squirms all over the place and kicks out of the swaddling....and then wakes up from his nap. With Av we had tried special pre-formed swaddling blankets and was very unimpressed. I received the miracle blanket as a gift and had my doubts at first, but it is fantastic!! It has a pocket for the feet, inner fabric to wrap around the arms, and 2 outer pieces of fabric to swaddle without velcro or snaps so it fits no matter what size the baby. One of the outer pieces is longer and I am able to wrap it around G twice so he is as snug when he gets up from his nap as he was when he first went to sleep. I don't use the arm wraps, but leave his arms out and start the swaddling under his arms. He fights it if I pin his arms down and sleeps better with them free. There are instructions on it here and you can order one here.


Be back soon with updates from the beach! Oh and very exciting news-G starting sleeping through the night last week!!! More on that later as well!

Doctor, doctor

Whew! It has been a schedule of doctor appointments this summer-OB visits, having G, my postop visits, G's well child checks, and now taking Av to the surgeon. The news is-Av will have to have surgery in a few weeks. I was 99% sure that this would be the verdict, but I'm not looking forward to it. She has been the healthiest little bit-never been on antibiotics and the only time I have even taken her in for a sick visit was when she had pink eye. I know that this is the best thing for her, but taking her in the day of surgery and handing her over to the OR team is going to be REALLY hard for me, and I think it might be even harder for J. Thankfully we will be able to be at a pediatric hospital with a highly recommended surgeon. Amazingly, he said that kids her age are normally fine in 48 hours and don't usually need anything more than Tylenol for pain. Will keep you posted. I'm off to bed since both of the kiddos are asleep!

Sister

Can I tell you how proud I am of this little girl? Since brother has gotten the blogging attention lately, I thought it was sister's turn today. First of all, I have loved every stage, but I am really loving the 3 year old stage! It's definitely challenging, but I still love it. She is so fun, imaginative, and full of personality and excitement. She is also an all-star big sister. She has adjusted to her new role so well. She is incredibly loving to our new little man and has become a huge help to me. Many people I have talked to noted that their older chidren wanted to play the role of the baby or "regressed" somewhat with things like potty training. I feel that we are experiencing the opposite. She has grown up so much in the last month. She is very aware of G and his needs. She is so quick to rush to him if he loses his paci or try to comfort him if he starts fussing. She tells him "it's OK brother, it's OK," rocks him in his chair, and gently tells him "shhhhh." Makes my heart melt! She has also become a HUGE helper and loves to help change his diaper, get me wipes, kiss him, put him to bed, etc. She even refers to herself as the "other momma" sometimes and tells me "I'm the mom!" At those times J is her husband, my mom becomes her mom and my grandmother, and brother is my brother. She refers to me as "kid." Her name is L and my name is Av. I just love it!

One reason I wanted to make this about her is to ask for prayers as well. Av has an umbilical (bellybutton) hernia. She has always had it. The standard is to see if it closes on it's own. Av is at the age where if it was going to close on it's own, it would have by this point...so tomorrow we have to see a pediatric general surgeon and schedule surgery. I'm trying to tell myself that this is a "minor" surgery, but honestly, when it's your child is any surgery minor? Now I know how my patients feel. I'll let you know how everything goes tomorrow. Thanks!

Bliss

I don't know any way to better describe life right now. It is busy, sleep deprived, and chaotic at times, but it is completely wonderful. I feel incredibly blessed, joyful, content, and simply happy. It's as if we have reached a new level of family. I know that we were a family even when it was just J and I, but now it somehow seems more real, fuller, and deeper. I love we are now a family of 4, that we have more than 1 child, and that Av now has a sibling. Pure bliss. I am overwhelmed by God's grace, faithfulness, and goodness.

I love every little bit of him and already feel like I have to capture it because he is changing so much. He is growing so fast. His cheeks are getting full. He no longer stays in a little ball all day long, but is stretching out now. He makes the cutest sighs and coos while sleeping and awake. He has an entire range of facial expressions already and I wish I could capture every one of them in a picture. He is already holding his head up-he actually did it while we were still in the hospital (have to admit that freaked me out a little bit :)). I love every little bit about him and this period in our life.

Call Me Crazy

Last Fall I let you know how we had quite a few major life changing events in a very short time span. I guess maybe I didn't learn the lesson at that point, because we did it to ourselves again! On top of J starting a new job recently, having a C-section 3 weeks ago, and becoming a family of 4....we have bought a new house! We have been looking for a while and finally found a house that we really love and that has almost everything we have been looking for in our home. We closed on the house when G was 11 days old and have been moving in since then. Thankfully, J has been a workhorse and our family has been immensely helpful in the moving process. Here are a few pics.....can you guess one of the reasons why we love it??

Anyone up for an afternoon of poolside margaritas?

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In newborn news, G had his first visit with the pediatrician today. We might not be calling him Little Man much longer--he is now 22.5 inches long and weighs 9 lbs 15 oz. Our pediatrician was quite impressed with how much he has grown and noted on more than one occasion what a big guy he is! He got a clean bill of health and we were all thankful to hear the good news.

I tried to give you some pictures of the visit, but am having issues with the pictures from today.

Let Me Introduce Myself

I do have a name, but my mommy is a little funny about putting our names on here, so you can call me G. I don't hear my name much at home anyway. I typically get called brother, brother man, little man, boo, bobo, and some others. I'm a pretty big guy, well at least for a 10 day old. I have already moved out of newborn diapers, and am pretty much out of newborn clothing and onto the 3 month stuff. I don't really like bath time and I always voice my opinion on that-as you will see below.

I do love to be snuggled up in my warm blanket after my bath and it calms me down immediately.

I have REALLY cute dimples and Mommy keeps trying to get a picture of them, but I wanted my paci, so I just stuck my tongue out at her instead.

I keep trying to find my fingers. I know they're out there somewhere since they end up in my mouth sometimes.

Aaah, I finally got my paci and made sure that no one was going to take it again!

I do love my dog, Lily, but I think she has been feeling a little left out lately.