6 weeks old and Maternity Pictures

Today Britt James is 6 weeks old!  The last week has been pretty busy and our big boy is growing!  Ava's school was closed last Friday for Parent Teacher Conferences and this week for Spring Break.  Calvary has two Parent Teacher Conferences a  year and I love this thirty minutes with the Teachers to hear about Ava and her classroom.  I love how much structure and consistency they offer at her school and love to hear about everything they are teaching her.  Currently they are working on the days of the week, recognizing numbers, and the months.  I never thought she would be learning so much at two years old!

This week has been a little challenging with Ava off all week.  Monday went well however Tuesday was another story.  I think Ava was a little bored since we did not leave the house on Monday and since I have to give more care to Britt and the fact that Travis was not home to play with Ava, she started to lash out a little and I was happy that Travis came home early to take Ava to the park.  Thankfully Nana and Papa took her on Wednesday and today which always makes her happy.  After Travis picked her up yesterday, I took her to the park while Travis watched Britt at home.  Ava's good friend, Vivien, was at the park and the two girls ran, giggled, and held hands for the hour that we were at the park.  Vivi's parents love Ava so much and were just as tickled as I was watching the two girls play together.

Ava and Vivi at Ava's 2nd Birthday

 Britt is continuing to be a sweetheart and I love all of this special Mommy time that I am able to spend with him during the day.  While  he still does not love it, he is getting better at spending time on his play mat.  He also graduated to size 1 diapers but is still mostly wearing with Kissy Kissy newborn gowns. It has finally warmed up and I hope to take him on a walk at Radnor Lake this afternoon and then tomorrow I am going to attempt to take both children to the Zoo!

In other news I made a mistake last week and did some online shopping for summer clothes.  I bought the same size shorts that I use to wear and when I tried them on I could barely get them on and did not even attempt to zip them up.  Needless to say everything was returned.  After a pity call to my husband, he reminded me that I did just give birth 42 days ago so not to be discouraged.  With this said below are the photos from our Maternity session that was taken of me at 37 weeks pregnant, just 18 days before Britt was born.  This helps to remind me how large my belly was and this is why I cannot fit into any of my old clothes yet.

Britt's Sip and See

This past Saturday my family and best friend hosted a Sip and See for Baby Britt.  I loved the mason jar and chalk board theme and we had a beautiful Tennessee afternoon to have this outdoors.  While I enjoyed all of the showers that I had while I was pregnant with Ava, it was nice to do something different and have a Sip and See for everyone to be able to meet Baby Britt.  It was such a fun afternoon and I feel blessed to have so many people who love our babies!

They did a great job with coming up with a shower favor for us that I am able to take home and display in Britt's bedroom.

The wonderful hostesses minus a picture of  Nana, sorry Nana I did not get a picture of you from the shower.  Nana and Papa were so great to open up their beautiful house to us once again to host this event.  I have the best in-laws and am so thankful for them and all that they do for us!

What a perfect day to share with everyone!

The Super, Incredible Big Sister Ava

The week after Britt was born, we received a gift in the mail for both Ava and Britt.  They were personalized books and Ava's was The Super, Incredible Big Sister Ava.  It is the sweetest book and it made me cry when I first read it.  The entire book is precious and has Ava and Britt's name throughout including on banners in the pictures.  My favorite page reads:

You're a super star, Ava.

You'll show Britt the ropes.  

You'll share all of your dreams, 

your wishes and hopes.

So far this is true that Ava is a super star big sister!  After hearing so many stories from friends  how their first born has reacted so horribly to their second born by hitting the baby or asking for the baby to go back to the hospital,  I am so  pleased that Ava loves little brother.  

Our new home, Duncanwood Court

On October 28th we signed a contract with Carbine and Associates to build a new home in Duncanwood Court.  It is fifteen home new development in Green Hills less than a mile away from our old home.  The development is off a dead end road and our street is a cul-de-sac with side walks which will be perfect for the kids.  Also HGTV has chosen to build a home in this development two doors down from our house for their 2014 HGTV Smart Home Giveaway!  How fun is this!

We started the process back in August after we were finding no homes on the market to buy or renovate.  There was a beautiful tudor new build  that we were considering that was almost completed but it was on a main road in Green Hills.  The home was perfect and we loved everything about it and especially the fact that it was almost completed.  While we are ready to be out of our rental, we felt like it was worth the extra couple of months, which will turn into a year, to be on a quite street which will be safer for our children.  There were five lots left and two spec homes completed in  Duncanwood  and we decided if we were going to do this that we would want to design our home and we chose a lot that backed  up to  land with no neighbors behind us.  

After the ink dried on the contract, the waiting game started.  We were told that they would break ground the week of Thanksgiving and it was more like three weeks after that.  Then weeks would go by without any progress due to the Holidays and the cold weather.  As of the end of February, they had the lot cleared, excavation completed, the foundation dug and poured and all of the underground plumbing and sewer installed.  While there was progress that was made, it also had been four months and we had been so use to being disappointed by the progress that we lost the excitement of building and it did not feel real to us.

Finally after four months of waiting, in the last week they have framed out the basement and first level and the second level should be completed by this weekend!  We went by last night  and there were still workers at the house!!!  We were not able to walk the first floor because of the workers but we got to go down into the basement and it was so exciting to be able to walk the rooms that we have only been staring at on paper for the last six months. 

We have finalized the brick and trim colors as well as the plumbing fixtures and appliances but we still have so much left to do.   After we move into this house, I am  not moving again for at least ten years.  The neighborhood is going to be perfect to raise our children in.  There are so many young children already in  this neighborhood and one of Ava's classmates, Hudson, is building next door to us.  We have become good friends  with his parents as they are at the park as much as we are and his father is also an attorney who works for a different law firm but is in the same building as Travis.  They also have a six month old little girl so it is going to be so great having Ava and Britt grow up next door to them!

5 Weeks Old

How is it possible that only 35 days ago I was waking up to start my day and by that evening I was cuddling with my cute little man?!?

This past week has been great and Britt has been going for a five hour stretch in the night for the last three nights between feedings!  We have also been giving him a bath each evening in his little whale bath tub and he loves it.  He is not kicking yet but I have a water stainer that slowly drips water out and I will put it on his face and he opens his mouth trying to drink the water.  He is starting to reach more and has grabbed my hair several times.  I also try and put him on his play mat several times a day, even though he still does not like it, and he is starting to bat at the toys hanging above him. 

Travis had his first out of town trip to Chicago and luckily Aunt Mandy came in to help with the kids.  While yesterday was chilly, we had some great weather over the weekend and week and have enjoyed several outings to the park.

I still find it challenging to trying to entertain two children at once in the evening, but Ava makes it so much easier on us and does not get upset with all of the time that I have to spending feeding and holding her brother. 

I have not shown any pictures but Britt was born with a TON of hair at the very top of his head.  It is easily over an inch long which is so funny because he barely has any hair in front.  Aunt Alissa says he looks like a little tomato and it is the cutest thing.

Britt James, One Month Old

Well, it happened.  Britt James is growing like a weed and is already one month old.  As with Ava, it already feels like Britt has always been part of us but on the same hand I cannot believe that a month has already gone by since Britt was born.

This time around it is so much different and while I felt like I was walking around in a sleepy haze with Ava, I keep waiting for it to get as difficult with Britt.  While Ava was a sweet little baby, I think it is better with Britt because I know more what to expect that makes it easier this time.  The only time that he really is fussy is when he has a wet diaper, is hungry, or someone is not holding him.  While this may not be the best thing, he is a baby and babies should be held and cuddled and I spend the good part of the day carrying him around in the Ergobaby that straps to the front of me so that way he is being held but still gives me the use of both of my hands to do other things.  Britt is also great at taking long naps in his car seat and thanks to Aunt Emilie, he has a cover that goes over it that blocks out all of the light so he will sleep for a couple of hours allowing me to run errands.

Britt has not had too many milestones in his first month as he is still a newborn.  We were happy that he quickly regained and surpassed his birth weight and there are no health concerns.  As far as a schedule, he is now nursing every 3.5-4 hours so I know about when each day he is going to nurse which makes it good for me to schedule anything that needs to be done outside of the house.  For a sleep schedule I am amazed at how much he is still sleeping.  During the day I normally have to wake him up to feed him and then he stays awake 30 minutes to an hour after that.  Other than that he sleeps and at night I can normally get him back to sleep within 10 minutes of nursing him.  He does seem to like to be up for about an hour to an hour and a half between 4:00 am to 6:00 am if he is not being held so I normally end up holding him so that he will go back to sleep.  Britt is still wearing newborn diapers and I have not dressed him in anything other than his Kissee Kissee newborn sleeping gowns because it is so easy to dress him and change his diapers in.  Also we sponge bathed him his entire first month since it is the easiest way to bath a newborn.  Britt is great at nursing and latched on within an hour of being born.  I do find that he spits up more than Ava did but as long as I burp him in between nursing, he seems to be okay. 

At this point Britt is a big momma's boy which makes me happy.  Ava adores him and while she still refers to him as a her, she is always asking where baby brother is.  She gives him a lot of kisses and always makes sure that he is included in anything that she is doing.

Britt still is not focusing on anything at this point other than lights and will stare at them when he is awake.  My favorite feature is his mouth as it is so tiny and perfect.  He also has the cutest belly button which I call an innie outie meaning it is not a complete outie but it is not completely gone to an innie yet since loosing his umbilical cord.

Britt James has really completed us as a family.  I am excited to watch Ava and him grow up together and I feel beyond blessed on a daily basis that I was chosen to be the mother of two perfect babies.

Baby sneeze

And a baby yawn

Britt taking a nap in the Ergobaby

For comparison, here is a picture of Ava Marie at one month old.  I see so many similarities in them and love that you can tell that they are brother and sister.

Where are you going my little one, little one...

Growing up my mother had a musical figurine of a mother holding a baby and behind the mother was a little girl holding her baby doll.  It turned in circles and played this lullaby:

Where are you going, my little one, little one,
Where are you going, my baby, my own?
Turn around and you're two,
Turn around and you're four,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door.
Turn around, turn around,
Turn around and you're a young girl going out of my door. 

I am reminded of this song everyday as I watch Ava Marie.  As I sit and hold my new baby boy, I cannot help but cry as I look at how fast Ava has grown.  When I was in the Hospital with Britt, my father sent me a video of Ava from my sister's wedding in April.  Watching the video Ava was barely talking and still looked very much like a baby.  Now only ten months later she is talking up a storm, running, jumping, telling stories, singing, dancing, and playing on her own.  There is nothing that is baby about her anymore and while I love the silly, smart, and beautiful little girl that she is turning into, it is so sad to know that the past two years have flown by and it will only go faster now that we have two children.

I find myself getting overwhelmed, tired, and frustrated at times and long for some quite mommy time but I also remind myself that we are so blessed to have two healthy children and the happiness and love that they give me is more than I could have every have imagined.

Thank you Ava Marie for making me a mommy and for all of the hugs, kisses, and loving words that you give me each and everyday.