Once Upon an Army Wife: January 2015

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

At three weeks Macky is having longer periods of awake/alert time, makes lots of funny expressions, sleeps best in his swing while being tightly swaddled and has a awful time with hiccups. Hiccups are the biggest cause of Mommy, Daddy and Macky ALL being awake at strange hours of the night. Also at three weeks his Newborn clothes are getting a little short and his cheeks are getting pretty full :)

Monday, January 26, 2015

Daddy Time

Having Mike home this past month has been the biggest blessing. The Army certainly takes Daddy away from us for long periods of time, but the "leave" we get in return is really great too. What other job can you just take off 30 days? This time together after our babies have been born is fabulous and has completely convinced me of the importance of paternity leave.

While Daddy has been home, not only has he been a huge blessing to me while helping with Macky, he's been able to spend a lot of quality time with our big3. The kids have loved every minute of it too.

Mike took the boys out for fun afternoon while Nora was at her Elsa birthday party. The boys went to the park, pet store and to get ice cream. (Notice the beginnings of he beard here...)

Daddy has taken the kids to church and ninja school and dance...

They went to the Children's Museum in town

and he went on his first field trip with the preschool to the Transportation Museum.

field trip buddies

and check out Daddy's beard now!

Friday, January 23, 2015

Elsa Birthdays

Well friends, you may have had enough of all things Frozen, but it's still very much a part of my girl's life--and every other little girl on this planet. We attended our 2nd Elsa birthday party a couple of weeks ago. This one had a special surprise....ELSA! At first when Elsa walked into the room the girls all seemed caught off guard a little bit shy, but it didn't take long before they were bouncing up and down vying for attention from the Queen :)

Elsa read them a story

helped them make tiaras

and gave the girls makeovers

look at all those happy girls!

Nora and the birthday girl, Hannah

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Week.Two

At two weeks Macky is still mostly sleeping, getting better at latching, eating every 3 hrs or so, hates taking a bath and loves to snuggle up with us but is learning to be content when he is not being held as well. We had his 2 week appointment and he weighed in at 9.3lbs and 21.75 in. We learned this week that cricket noises help bring on the sleep. Thankful for our sound machine!

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Adjusting Second Time Around

I am so pleased to say that adjusting this time to a new baby in the house has been a much better experience. I still cringe when i think about the first few weeks with Davis. Here's the link to that blog post if you wanna read it. I'm sure there are lots of reasons that things are better this time-- age of the twins, Davis having a different personality, we've been settled into our home for a few years, and i'm feeling better this time around which in turn reflects on the kids... but whatever the reasons, we are SO THANKFUL for how well everything is going.

We've obviously been spending a lot of time together at home just the six of us --it's been slow and sweet. I've really loved this past few weeks watching my kids all bond with each other, watching how they each in their own way show care and concern for Macky and then having Mike in the home so much. Everyone is getting lots of attention and lots of love. It's been good, real good.

Nora has taken a huge interest in her baby brother. She loves to hold him and help me care for him. She's very good with Macky. He's like a real live baby doll to her :)

Holden isn't as interested as Nora, but he is kind to Macky--always hugs and kisses him and always willing to help out if i need it. Occasionally he'll want to hold him or talk with him, but really i don't think Macky's entrance into this world has changed much for Holden.

Davis is taking to his new baby brother very well. I was most concerned with him obviously because he wouldn't be the 'baby' any longer. Really he doesn't show any signs yet of jealousy or frustration. He gets really concerned when Macky cries and thinks that a paci can always fix it. He asks where the baby is if he can't find him and has also asked to hold "it" a few times. I think Davis has enough personality and spunk that he is gonna be seen and heard whether there's a new baby or not.

I really can't ask for anything more than this.

Mike goes back to work Monday and a new normal sets in. Really i think the biggest adjustment to be made will be with me. Taking on the role of full-time mommy of 4 littles everyday will take some getting used to. I'll probably be late a lot in the beginning and figuring out logistics of going into public (like shopping cart issues and loading/unloading the car) with one more little will take some time -- i know this. I think i'm more prepared for all of that this time and my plan is to just give myself a little slack and a lot of grace.

Monday, January 19, 2015

Scrub-a-dub-dub

Macky's first bath...keeping in tradition was a whole family event! Here we were just a few years ago doing the same thing with Davis.

Brothers and Sister helping out

a clean baby and some happy big helpers :)

Friday, January 16, 2015

A Pretty Perfect Day

It goes without saying that bring a new baby home does of course change things up for a while and there are difficult days. But years from now i would like to remember the wonderfully sweet days. The quiet, slow, sweet days spent doing nothing but lounging in our pajamas and bonding as a family.

Below are pictures from a day just like that. Macky was 6 days old. And it was a good day. A really good one.

snuggling with my 2 littles while watching Mickey Mouse morning cartoons.