7 Weeks

Sweet Isaac is 7 weeks old today. That is very hard for me to fathom. He is quickly changing from newborn to baby.

He is sleeping well - about 8:30 at night to about 5:00 a.m. and then he goes back to sleep until 7:30 or 8:00 before his day really starts. I'll take that!

He is by far our fattest baby. Alana wasn't extremely fat, but very healthy-looking. Peter has always been on the skinny side - and probably always will be. Isaac is our little chubs. He is in a size 2 diaper and wearing 3-6 month clothes.

This little boy LOVES his baby brother. I was fully prepared for Peter to have a hard time with the adjustment of a new baby - partly because it would be very typical for his age and partly because he's always had a lot of attention because of everything he's been through.


I was wrong though. Peter has loved Isaac from the very first moment he met him. He's always smothering Isaac with kisses. They seem kind of rough and slobbery to me, but Isaac doesn't seem to mind.

We've been giving the boys a bath together for a couple of weeks now and they both love it. Tonight, Tom was rubbing some gunk out of Isaac's eye while they were both in the tub and Isaac cried about it. His cry has started to change from the newborn, baby-kitten cry to a more hearty baby cry. Well, Peter got VERY upset! He cried and cried big crocodile tears for a long time and we finally had to distract him with a cookie. He couldn't stand poor Isaac crying. That broken/repaired heart of his is a very tender one!

Fruits of Our Labor

It is miserably hot here, the same as the rest of the country it appears. So, it was probably not the best of days to put up 14 quarts of homemade marinara as well as 4 pints of homemade salsa. However, when the tomatoes are ready, they are ready. We planted a big garden last year and learned from that experience that the only vegetable we really want to grow each year is tomatoes. The rest of it was too much work for not enough dividend. We thoroughly enjoyed the tomatoes though, because we love homemade marinara and homemade salsa. We got so spoiled throughout the year that we could hardly eat store-bought. With my pregnancy and Isaac's arrival, we never got around to planting tomatoes. However, our neighbor came to our rescue. He has 3 bushes FULL of them and he gave to us generously. We are so grateful!

This was my project while Tom cooked. Cooking is NOT my strength, so I'm usually the support staff. When Tom didn't need me, I organized the pantry. It hadn't been done in years. I was quite proud of my accomplishment.

The kitchen was a mess all day, but it was so worth it. I tell Tom he is my summer chef. When he's home, we get things like homemade marinara, salsa, black and white cookies, General Tso chicken, etc. In a few weeks when Tom goes back to school, we'll be back to hamburger helper.

I love seeing all those jars all lined up. Very satisfying



Makes me feel like the Waltons:)

Mr. Smiley Face

I finally caught some of Isaac's smiles on camera.

So cute!

6 Weeks

This 6-week-old little sweetie slept 7 and half hours last night! Yay! We are so excited and hoping it's a trend.

Isaac has been smiling a lot lately, but it's tricky to catch it for a picture. I'll get one at some point. He was especially smiley this morning during his feeding. I told him that's why he needs to keep this up - you feel better when you sleep longer:)

Going to Church

We had a weird morning yesterday getting ready for church and were a little early, so I had time to get a few pics before we left. I doubt that will happen again anytime soon.

Happy Monday!

Scripture Memory - July 15

I can hardly believe it's time for our next verse already. Time is a flying.......

She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple. - Proverbs 31:22 (ESV)

Have a good weekend!

Kelli

Babies and Birds

I took Isaac to the Dr. today for his one month appointment and he weighs 10 lbs., 5 oz. and is 22 and 1/4 in. He is in the 76th percentile for growth in all areas. Wow! Hard to believe.

On another note.....

After dinner, Alana and Peter were playing in the backyard and found this.

A baby mockingbird that had been pushed out of the nest. It was completely pitiful, with it's little mouth open, desperate for some food.

Tom went and got the ladder and a garden tool and picked up the bird and put it back. He isn't confident that it will stay however, because the nest was crowded and this was the runt. So sad.

I had to go in and pick up my little baby after seeing that. He was hungry too with his little mouth wide open.

Comparison Pictures

Alana - 7 yrs, Peter - 3 weeks

January 8, 2009

Alana - 9 yrs, Peter - 2 1/2 yrs, Isaac - 4 weeks

July 4, 2011

Peter - 3 1/2 mths

April 4, 2009

Isaac - 1 month

July 6, 2011

These 2 pictures of the boys in the same baseball sleeper really gets me. At almost 4 months, Peter could barely wear it. We even put a onesie underneath to help him fill it out. Isaac, on the other hand, wears it perfectly at only one month. How far that little Peter has come!

Thou Shalt Swaddle

I have never been very good at swaddling my babies. Alana slept pretty well early on and didn't seem to need to be swaddled. Peter slept all the time no matter what we did (because of his heart defect), so he had no need of it either. However, Isaac has been different.

I'm a big fan of teaching my babies to put themselves to sleep, all the more so now that I have 3 to take care of. As much as I would love to hold Isaac all the time (and that is a BIG temptation), I have two other little people that need their mama so it was imperative that Isaac learn to put himself to sleep and sleep well. For his first 3 weeks, that just was not happening. I knew the problem wasn't a feeding issue, Isaac is an excellent eater. So I decided to give swaddling a try.

Within one day, this little boy learned to put himself to sleep in about 2 minutes. The difference was unbelievable! I have become a swaddling convert.

I think part of the reason I never really tried to swaddle before was because regular blankets just don't work very well. I have two hospital blankets that they sent home with me after Peter's stay and they are my favorite baby blankets. They are big enough and stretchy enough for really good swaddling.

Sleeping babies make for happy mamas!

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. - Luke 2:7

Plus, it's Biblical:)

1 Month

Isaac is one month old today. I can hardly believe that! Hands down, this has been absolutely the fastest month of my whole life. It seems like just a few days ago I was in the hospital. My labor and delivery went by fast, and everything has been whizzing by ever since.

Isaac goes to the Dr. next week for his one month well check, so I'll post his height and weight then. I know he has grown so much though. He can't wear any of his newborn clothes anymore and he's out of most of his 0-3 month things. Also, my back hurts when I hold him a lot.

Isaac is on a fairly decent schedule. He goes to bed at 8:00 and eats at 11:00 and again around 2:00 or 3:00. I hope the time between those two bottles starts stretching soon. We've been working on a lot more waketime during the day and Isaac seems to love the interaction. I feel like my days are starting to have some measure of order again.

Best of all, Isaac starting smiling in the last few days. I haven't been able to catch it in a picture yet, but he's doing it more and more.


He's not a big fan of tummy-time!

4th of July 2011

Tom has been doing "Constitution Summer" with Alana since school let out. He's been teaching her all about the founding of our country as well as the constitution and its importance. So, for the 4th of July we decided to go down to the Charlotte Museum of History.

It was a fun day, but hard too. I have to remind myself that we're in a sweet, but challenging season of life right now.

Peter had a blast and never shut his mouth the entire time. We couldn't get him to cooperate for pictures because he was too distracted.

Isaac wasn't too impressed with it all. He mostly just slept. So far, he seems to be a very laid-back, easy baby. As long as he gets his feeding every 3 hours, he doesn't care too much about anything else going on.

Happy Independence Day!

Scripture Memory - July 1

I can't believe we are into July already! We have waited for summer for so long now and it's flying by.

We are back to the Proverbs 31 woman for our Scripture memory:

She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet. - Proverbs 31:21 (ESV)

Happy Independence Day!