two months!

Nancy is two months now! I can't believe it. We went to the Doc today and got her stats. She's gained another two pounds and grew 1 1/2 inches. She's in the 95th percentile for both height and weight, so apparently she is well proportioned. She got three shots, which was pretty traumatic (for both baby and mama). Below are photos of the few minutes today that she wasn't either crying or sleeping. Notice in the second photo, she spit up on her new onesie.

see how she's grown: nancy as a newborn and at one month

Daddy is teaching Nancy to drink from a bottle. She doesn't love it, but I'm sure she will get the hang of it eventually so that Jared and I can go on a date alone! There is even talk of leaving her with Grandma Nancy over night so that we can go out of town. But I'm pretty sure I am not emotionally ready for that yet.

School has ended, which means my life is about to start being a million times busier than it has been- which is saying a lot. I am going to try to do a summer school thing again, like last summer, which should technically be a bit easier now that the kids are less wild, but throw in the new born baby, and that makes it a bit harder. So, I guess we will see.

Here is a photo of Brendan and Jacob enjoying their new bath toys, courtesy of my college friend Lisa Poblenz. She also made Nancy a sock monkey, which I love! Gwyneth, who is back in the states for the summer, from her new job in Uganda, sent Nancy a beautiful toy elephant. She doesn't like to play with toys much yet, but she stared at the patterns on the elephant for quite a while.

nancy with her new sock monkey, watching Mr. Caterpillar.

SMILING

She's been smiling fabulously for about a month now, but we finally got some good smiling pictures. Her daddy always makes her laugh.

I also added a few more photos here

7 weeks

Nancy is seven weeks now, and she is super healthy. so healthy, in fact, that the other day a stranger was absolutely convinced she was 4 months old! She's starting to get a few rolls, but mostly she is just getting longer and longer.

Her sleep habbits are still amazing. She always sleeps through the night now (Praise the Lord!). She is also starting to be awake for much longer during the day, which is exciting (and exhausting). She loves to just sit and stare at everyone in the room. And she has been smiling like crazy. She smiles and tries really hard to laugh, especially when she gets passed around to all her cousins, grandmas, and church family that love to ooh and ahh at her. Her daddy is especially good at getting her to smile.

She is starting to notice toys, but, other than her little einstien caterpillar, she still doesn't care for them much. Here, she is discovering her mirror.

Nancy has already been to a bunch of Buffy nights (for those of you who don't know what this is, its a weekly get together with my cousins, Rachel, Leah, and Adam, and occasionally Ty and Brandy, where we play games or watch a show. We used to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (don't even make fun of us. if you think it's lame, its probably because you've never seen it), but now we've moved on to Heroes and Angel). Here's Nancy hanging out at Leah's house last Buffy night.

Nancy loves to be in the water. In addition to enjoying her baths, we have also been swimming at the Y twice, and she had a great time. For some reason I couldn't get those photos to upload, so check out those pics and more at our kodak gallery.

The puppers still don't take much notice of Nancy, other than sniffing her every once in a while, but Nancy and Belle had a cute little cuddle the other day.

She also likes to hang out in the nursery. She isnt very fond of tummy time, yet, but she loves sitting up in her awesome pink chair that Wendy gave me. She has a good view of her surroundings that way. Here, Jacob was reading to her. How cute are they?

More pictures!

click here to see some new photos of Nancy (and more).

one month!

Our first month with Nancy has been wonderful. Although I have had a few sleepless nights, I still am blessed with one of the best behaved babies ever (and also the most beautiful). Now she looks almost exactly like Jared, but with my eyes.

See how she's grown:

Here's daddy having a talk with Nancy

This is the first time she showed any interest in her little einstein caterpillar

baby and mama getting ready for church

The boys just adore little Nancy. Jacob is especially helpful. He always wants to get her diapers and clothes for me, and he's even learning to put diapers on her by himself. Here is Jacob and Nancy taking a nap together.

This is just an especially cute photo.

We had her one-month doctor appointment, and doc says she is super healthy. She is eating and sleeping well, gaining weight, and not having any real problems. She has a pretty chill personality so far (hopefully she will stay that way all through her teens). She loves to sit around in her vibrating bouncy chair and listen to mommy read Lord of the Rings out loud. We've also discovered recently that she likes taking walks in the front carrier better than in the stroller. There is probably a lot more I could say, but, as I have a new born (and three other kids), this is all the time I can spare on the computer: I'm needed elsewhere.

family reunion

Regardless of the fact that I missed all my naps and got Mastitis, I had the BEST week because my sisters were in town!!!
My sister Wendy, brother-in-law Kenny, and nephew Isaiah flew in from CT and my other sister Kim and pseudo brother Timmy drove in from MN and spent the week with us in Wichita. It was great! I love my family! Hearing my sisters laugh (which can be done from across the house) is one of my greatest joys! My mom was also in heaven with all three daughters and both grandkids around. That wont happen again until Christmas. Here is a brief account of my wonderful week:

First of all, Nancy grew! And check out her fabulous T-shirt from Cindy. It has cassette tapes on it.
Little Nancy got to meet her Aunt Kimmy and Aunt Wendy

Nancy also met her 7 month old cousin Isaiah. They got along great.

We took lots of walks. Check out me and Wendy being mamas.

We obviously played Hand and Foot with the cousins. Its not a real holiday without it.

Nancy played her first game of Hand and Foot

Nancy also went bowling for the first time. I had to keep interrupting her feeding so I could bowl the second game. Kim beat everyone (obviously). Wendy and I barely broke 100. It was pretty sad. We need some practice. We also played around in the arcade and watched Timmy attempt Dance Dance Revolution.

Now that is a good week.

Life with a newborn

The first 9 days of Nancy's life have been wonderful. Jared had the entire first week off work, and the boys were with their parents, so Jared and I spent the whole time lounging around, getting to know Nancy, and reveling in the fact that our little daughter is finally out of my belly and in our arms. We are tired, but unbelievably happy. She is already growing, and she keeps getting more and more beautiful everyday.




So far Nancy has been sleeping around 4-6 hours a night, which is an absolute miracle. She is also a great eater. I don't think we could have asked for a more perfect baby. I guess we deserve a perfect baby after almost two years of taming our three wild little boys.

Brendan, Seth, and Jacob came back home over the weekend and it went really well. They are fascinated by Nancy and want to touch and hold her all the time. And of course, it is impossible to get them to pose for a decent picture. Except Brendan, who thinks he's a model.




Our fabulous church came to our rescue this week: a bunch of Restored peeps gave us dinner every night so that we wouldn't have to cook. That was probably the best gift we've received.

Nancy went to church for the first time, in her very own Restored onesie.



Here is proud Grandma Nancy!