The Comings and Goings of Week Three

Grant is three weeks old today.

And may I just say that this last week was just splendid. 5 nights out of 7 this precious little bundle slept 6-7 hour stretches. What a wonderful little baby who has already figured out that Mom is much more tolerable when you let her sleep. :)

And may I also say that Baby Grant has kindled my love for newborns. I know you'll report me to the People Magazine edition of "Most Horrible People of 2011" - but I've just never been a HUGE fan of newborns. Love them most when they can walk and talk and interact. When I was a teenager my Mom SWORE to me that when I had my own it would change. Then I had Emma. I most definitely LOVED her to pieces but I was always waiting for her to "grow up" into a toddler. Now that I have Grant, I can truly say that I just want him to stay a newborn forever. He is so small and cute and cuddly - and my heart breaks to think of him getting bigger. Maybe it's because he may be our last baby or maybe he is just an exceptionally good baby - but regardless, I have been converted to the "lover of newborns" club.

Emma has been doing really well. She has only pulled his hair twice. I know that sounds tragic, but I was expecting much worse, so two times is a really great accomplishment. Both times somebody was holding Grant and she wanted the adult's attention. We're working on other ways she can get positive attention. :) In other Emma news, she had her 3-year-old doctor's appointment this week. She is in perfect health and the doc says she is doing fantastic. She now weighs 34 pounds, is 37 inches tall, and is in the 87th percentile for her BMI. BMI, you say??? Yeah, me too. The doc told us she is "at risk" for being overweight and we need to watch her caloric intake. WHAAAAAAA???? She is THREE-YEARS-FREAKIN'-OLD! Give me a break. She eats VERY healthy and runs around all day long - and frankly that is all I am concerned with.

A funny Emma-ism from the month -

When she is done eating her dinner food she now says, "I'm full of that". Greg and I always laugh and say, yes Emma, you are most certainly "full of it".

We had lots of wonderful visitors this week!! And most of them brought along FOOD, which is always appreciated!! I am back to preparing our own meals as of tomorrow... and it has been a remarkable 3-week journey of ZERO cooking. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us. The kindness is completely overwhelming.

Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everyone who stopped by. It's harder for me to remember my camera with the second child.

Here are the kids with my sweet Grandparents -

And Brielle Mortley - who's Mom Amanda brought me Cafe Rio for lunch! YUM! YUM!

We have been getting lots of great quality family time. And this week, I even ventured out on errands with TWO kids, my Tempe Symphony rehearsal, our ward play group and my 2-week OB check up. PHEW! It sure takes longer to get two kids out the door. It took me 15 minutes to get unloaded children ready to walk into the post office, 30 seconds to buy stamps at the automated service machine, and another 15 minutes to exit the post office and get the kids loaded back into the car.

My wonderful Aunt Sharron brought over Grant's baby quilt. Isn't it just beautiful?? It is one of my favorites she has ever made. And it is ALL hand quilted. She made one for our wedding, one for Emma and now Grant has his very own. We feel SO lucky to have these quilted treasures!!

We found some cheap tickets on Craigslist to "Disney on Ice" - so Greg and Emma went on a Daddy/Daughter date on Thursday evening. We knew Emma would LOVE it, because of her hysterical reaction to all of the characters at Disneyland. We were right. She had a fantastic time. She kept asking for more princesses. Her appetite is NEVER satiated with the beautiful fluffy dresses and gorgeous hair.

These past three weeks have been brought to you in part by:

AND...

AND...
AND (embarrassingly enough)... HEY, I had to check out the new judges...

We are seriously not a TV watching family. I frankly don't care for television. I've never let Emma watch it and Greg & I are generally too busy to watch it much ourselves.

HOWEVER... when a new baby comes along... the TV seems to suck us in. What else am I supposed to do while I breastfeed my life away? I'm so uncoordinated with breastfeeding that I don't have any free hands to use to hold a book - so I end up plopped on the couch - watching the boob tube. HEY. Maybe that's where the nickname came from? Breastfeeding women??

And BTW, I do love these TV shows and Red Box movies. Courtney was kind enough to buy us the first season of Modern Family on DVD and I've been laughing my brains out. Such a funny show.

So - our third week was a success. This second baby has been a MUCH smoother transition than the first baby and I feel like our life is moving right along. I am so grateful to all of the help we have received and all of the support we have been given. I am so grateful for Greg and his amazing ability to parent two children and take care of a wife with patience and love. Most of all, I'm just grateful for this miracle baby who has brought so much joy and happiness to our home. We Love You Grant!