Back to work

I've been a bum about blogging lately.  I've been too busy enjoying my maternity leave. ;)  Hubby was off for ten days and then my folks were down here helping out for the last two weeks so it really did feel like I took a leave of absence from my job.  No cooking, laundry, dishes, driving C to and from school, brushing little teeth or giving baths...it was such a blessing to be able to recover and relax and just enjoy this sweet time with my new little guy.  My giant seven year old running through the house is a constant reminder that this newborn stage will be gone in a flash!

 

The last few days I've been at it alone without the help of my parents and so far so good.  Lil' peanut has been having some moments (mommy code for meltdowns) but overall he is still doing better than I anticipated with the addition of baby brother.  And my firstborn is totally rocking the big brother role.  Not just with the baby, but the past few days he's been doing really well with lil' peanut too.  Including him in games and crafts and outdoor adventures.  I usually need to feed pumpkin as soon as we get home from school pick up and the big boys have been playing surprisingly well together and entertaining themselves during the hour or so before Dad gets home.

 

This weekend hubby has drill and C has his last soccer game.  Flying solo at the soccer game...my first true test. ;)  And now to share some recent pictures...

 

I LOVE how pumpkin is just staring up at big brother...mesmerized.

Papa and his little namesake.

"You didn't specify what to dress him in."  My life is never dull people.

Babywearing, sigh.

My mom was holding him and told me to come look because he was saying his prayers.  Too cute.

Pumpkin got a cookie bouquet from Grandma and Grandpa.  We enjoyed it for him.

Pumpkin painting!

Before the trunk-or-treat event at C's school. 

Lil' peanut chose not to participate in this photo shoot.  He was running around with his Halloween bucket on his head.

Setting up our trunk.

Excited to go through the haunted woodlands.  According to Daddy his excitement faded once actually inside the haunted woodlands.  The 5th graders were the ones who did it.  Hubby said some of them had the really awful masks and were hidden really well.  They would just jump out and get right in your face.  He said C got pretty freaked out and started to cry near the end.  Poor guy!  He was totally fine by the time they got back to the car though.  Oh, my dad and lil' peanut paid to go through the woodlands as well.  They stood in line with hubby and C and when it was their turn you can guess lil' peanut had a rapid change of heart "No!  I want see Mommy!!!"  That's $14 my dad will never see again.  At least they each got their hot dog and drink.

It turned out to be such a fun night.  I'm glad we decided to set up our car and hand out candy instead of just take C there and then leave.  It was neat to see some of his little friends all dressed up in their costumes.

I have new pictures on my camera, so more posts to come soon (hopefully).

Halloween Prep

The boys' costumes arrived in the mail the other day and they were super excited to try them on.  C came up with the theme and I think they are so cute.  Ash Ketchum (pokemon trainer) his Pikachu, and a pokeball.  Love these three!

Bliss

Back to normal

My feet and ankles are back to normal!  Y'all this is exciting stuff.  I thought I would never wear real shoes again and was feeling pretty thankful that I live in the south where I could stuff my fat feet into flip flops all year long.  The last month of pregnancy my feet and ankles were a bit disturbing...

When I came home from the hospital they were downright frightening.  Even hubby was concerned. ;)  I was assured that it was normal due to the amount of fluids pumped into me during and after surgery, but after a week I started to think I should make peace with my new feet. Then a few days ago I propped my feet up and gasped in surprise.  "I can see my ankle bones again!"  And there was much rejoicing...



Lil' peanut's puzzle

In the days leading up to (well actually in the days extending beyond) my due date, I tried to keep busy.  I alternated between mad rushes to pick up the house and clean and whole days where I wanted to do nothing but hang out with lil' peanut.  Some times the dishes won out and lil' peanut played with his cars on the rug or watched an episode of Daniel Tiger while I scrubbed away in the kitchen.  And other times we abandoned the house completely, treating ourselves to Starbucks and playing with the trains at the bookstore all morning.  It was a sweet time of just me and my baby while we waited for the new baby of the family to arrive.  Just wanted to share some pictures of one of those days I chose my lil' peanut over projects...obviously the better days! :)



Brotherly bonding

Wow!  One week ago our little pumpkin decided that he was ready to make his entrance.  This week has been full of baby snuggles, lots of fun having Daddy around, and quite a bit of resting for me.  Both the big boys seem to really enjoy having their new baby brother around.  Lil' peanut has been soaking up all the one-on-one time he's getting with Daddy while C is at school, but he makes sure to check in on me and baby often.  

He gets so excited when pumpkin does anything that resembles interaction. ;)  Like in the above photo, lil' peanut was saying, "Oh!  Baby touching me.  Why baby touch my arm?  Baby want hold my hand!"

And "Baby look at me!  Mom, baby look at me."  It's really sweet.

C is also always curious as to what pumpkin is up to and he can often be found documenting his findings. :)

This time he was "interviewing" pumpkin.  C and I took turns answering for him in our best baby voices. :)

Hubby has been putting the big kids to bed at night (he's been doing a LOT actually.  Gold stars for him in the helpful husband/super dad department this past week) and the other night he took pumpkin in with him when it was time to lay down and snuggle with C.  Well, C apparently loved that!  Last night I read books to C and when he asked me to send Daddy in for snuggles he asked if he would please bring the baby.  I told him probably not because the baby was sleeping.  Well, when I went to get hubby, I discovered that pumpkin was awake so C got his wish.  He was so happy to see hubby carry him in.  I think we might have a new bedtime ritual...and it's pretty darn precious!

Coming home

I told hubby to let C pick out an outfit for pumpkin to wear home and this is what they brought when they came to get us. (Can you see how his nickname got started?) I thought the jack-o-lantern was a perfect choice for our little October baby.

All snuggled up and ready to go HOME!  Several people commented on how quickly I left the hospital.  It's true.  It was fast.  Less than 48 hours actually.  That wasn't the hospitals standard protocol but I pleaded my case and they saw no reason why I couldn't go home early.  I was so glad to be back at home with my family.

It looks like C is playing a video game, but his DS actually has a camera feature.  So, he was following the baby around and taping him. 

Pumpkin is bundled up in the same blanket that myself and siblings came home in, and all the grandkids so far.  It's a special little tradition my mom started and we've managed to keep going.

Do you see lil' peanut using his booty to get C out of the way?  Ha!  They were having a moment of who could get closest to the baby.

Sweet baby boy, now you're home!

Meeting brother

I have pulled myself away from the little pumpkin to get some pictures posted.  He's magnetic and it's really, really hard to put him down. ;)  I will share more about his birth at some point, to include his very first pictures.  But, right now those are still on my phone.  It was a bit of a rush to the operating room and Daddy didn't have time to grab the camera.  For now, let's enjoy the first meeting.  The day after pumpkin (I think that just became his new blog nickname) was born Daddy brought C and lil' peanut up to meet him.

I was so happy to see my boys and to watch them meet their new little brother.  C had just given pumpkin his new car toy and in this picture he was going on about how cute and chubby the baby was.

Lil' peanut was only slightly more interested in the baby than his snacks.  Just slightly. ;)

Getting a good look at him.

Lil' peanut likes his "teeny tiny baby toes."  Hubby said that he even started talking about the baby's toes the other day while they were riding in the car.  They are quite the toes and have obviously made an impression on lil' peanut.  Ha!

C was so content just getting to hold him and lil' peanut was just checking him all out.  They were both so good with him.  And have been so far.  C is just smitten and is always checking on the baby, reading to him, taking pictures of him.  And lil' peanut has done really well being gentle with him.  He pops in every once in awhile to see what's up with the new baby but is mostly content to just hang out with Daddy.

All my blessings!

See lil' peanut giving the stink eye here?  "Why baby kick at me?"  Lol!

Checking out those toes again.

Other than my recovery, we are all in that blissful babymoon place...even the boys.  I'm sure having a new baby brother around won't always make them so happy.  That's why I'm soaking it up right now.