Birthing Inn Baby

Here's the picture we sent along with our thank you note to the awesome nurses who took care of us on Sylvie's birth day. This cute shirt (along with dinner and souvenir type glasses) was in our take-home basket from the hospital. I loved everyone at Inova Loudoun's Birthing Inn when I delivered Brady and loved them again when we were there with Sylvie.

little card BIG SMILE

That's what it says on the box. If we had known when we placed the order on amazon.com that the little boy product we received would be SO CUTE and SO FUN, we'd have ordered at least a dozen more! :)

Brady once again provided proof for what everyone says- kids have more fun with boxes than with the toys that come inside them! He entertained himself (and us!) for almost an hour with this cardboard box...seriously just the box. We heard him in the kitchen by himself saying things like, "I get in my car. Buckle up! I put my seat belt on. I go grocery store." and then "I type letters on 'puter. Where my mouse? I need a mouse!" (He'd pull up one of the flaps and tap away on his "keyboard.") It was hilarious!

Daddy then drew a steering wheel on the box and so began an entirely new game of decorating the box with markers. Good times! :)

2 weeks old

Happy Birthday Sylvie! Yes, it still cracks me up to measure human life in weeks. :)

Stats from her 2 week doctor appointment this morning:

Weight: 9 lbs. 0.4 oz. (75th percentile)
Height: 21 inches (75th percentile)

And The Band Plays On

This is how Sylvie often sleeps- with her hands held way up high like a marionette puppet. Grandma says she looks like she's conducting a band or directing traffic. It's cute and she sleeps so well that she can do whatever she wants as far as we're concerned! :)

Our Little Star

This morning we had our own version of circle time at home with a new "Mommy and Me" DVD. It has fun songs to sing and dance to. Brady enjoyed it. He was so darn cute singing along and I finally caught the tail end (like 10 seconds) of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on video.

Here he is singing along to a few other songs. Sylvie was nursing for part of the time and then relaxing. But she looks like she's dancing along to the songs too. :)

And here's video from last week of Brady The Entertainer singing an a cappella version of If You're Happy and You Know It. (I think he means to say "Hooray!" instead of "E-O!" I think he's mixing If You're Happy and You Know It with Old McDonald. haha! Either way, I just want to eat him up!)

How's It Going?

Many people have asked me "how's it going?" referring to our adjustment to a family of four. I don't want to jinx us, but it's Fantastic! At this point, it is completely manageable and totally fun! First, Sylvie is a really awesome baby- so easy going that she just blends right in our lives and lets us keep on going. Second, Brady is a great big brother and is at a very cool age. Third, Grandma is here and handling all the things I would normally stress about. She's cooking, cleaning, and entertaining when she needs to. All I've had to do the past week and a half is to heal myself (the muscle tension headaches I was having were not fun), take care of Sylvie, and play with Brady. It's been Wonderful!

Brett was home all of last week and returned to work today. I thought for sure we'd bring Brady to daycare every day. I wanted to do this to keep him on schedule and also because I thought it would be so chaotic here. But actually, he's home with us girls today because he wanted to be, because I wanted him to be, and because things are completely manageable. He's been so sweet and for the most part listens and cooperates well. I of course have to keep it real and recall that last week there was one point when I was nursing Sylvie while escorting a disobedient Brady to time-out. That was hilarious to me because I can remember when I used to nurse Brady, the world would stop. It was like I was paralyzed and all I could do was sit still while he fed. This time around, I scooped her up, grabbed his hand, and lectured the entire time I walked him to time-out. Probably not the most serene dining experience for Sylvie, but I had to do what I had to do. :)

Anyway, so life is good. We are extremely blessed and I'm feeling very grateful.
And that's how it's going.

Here we are this morning playing with Mr. Potato Head. Brady was just so cute. Sylvie was sleeping in the bassinet and Grandma, Brady, and I were hanging out in the office.

I'm all ears!

I wear multiple hats-
adorable kid, awesome big bro, Firefighter Potato Head! :p

This afternoon we all went outside for a little bit. The weather was Awesome...and crazy. :) I heard that at one point the temperature got up to 68 degrees! The sun was shining and it was beautiful. The ground was really squishy because of the torrential rain we had last night and this morning. But that didn't stop Brady from doing his favorite chore- mowing the lawn. Nope, not the soggy ground nor the repeated sun showers that soaked little man stopped him from doing what he loves to do! (If you look closely in the pictures, you can see the sun shining and the rain coming down at the same time. I didn't get any good pictures though b/c I was holding Sylvie and we stayed dry on the porch.)

This evening we had to go pick up my car from the dealership. A couple days ago the battery got drained and when Brett jumped it, the fuse that controls the power steering blew. So this evening was the first time we had both kids in a car with their car seats. It was a tight fit in Lexi (what we call Brett's car), but we did just fine and now Torrey (what we call my car) is back home. Sylvie does Great in the car. Baby Brady didn't always love the car...and toddler Brady doesn't always either. (Often I hear, "Mommy, want to get OUT!" before I've even turned off our street.) But little Sylvie just snoozed away. When we'd ask Brady how she was doing, he'd say, "She sleeping!"

Yup, life is good. :)

Happy 1st Birthday Rayan!

Brett and Brady went to Rayan's house today to celebrate his friend's 1st birthday. Grandma, Mommy, and Sylvie hung out at home. I don't like splitting our family up like that and found that I really missed the boys while they were gone. But it is best for 10 day old Sylvie to be home for a bit more before hanging out with all her friends. Brett took these pictures so I don't have much context for them. But it looks like they all had a great time! Brady did tell me that he played with KK (he was very happy about this and even told me before they left, "I go play with KK!"), he ate pizza and cake, and was quite thrilled with his goodie bag that included a baby elephant that looks just like big Elephant who is his best pal and he sleeps with for naps and nighttime.

Happy Birthday Ry!

These are my favorite pictures that Brett took of the cool dude in his leather jacket, Chuckies, and Jordan hat. I'm mad at myself though b/c I didn't charge the camera battery so I had to send the boys with the older camera- and the pictures are sort of fuzzy. This rickety umbrella was mine from kindergarten- lol! After almost 30 years, it's seen better days and this one was it's last. But what a little cutie this kid is!

Party of Four

We took a timer shot of our family of four today.

Someone was having a really good time doing so! :p

Squirt

I had to giggle tonight while Grandma was holding Sylvie. The way she was laying plus her covered hands and feet made me think she looked like Squirt, the little sea turtle from Finding Nemo. So cute!

Big Brother Is Watching

But she's got her eye on you too buddy! ;p

Brady has been a terrific helper when it comes to his sister. He gets diapers, burp cloths, and other items we need for Sylvie when we ask him to. He also alerts us to her needs. She was sitting in her swing today and began to cry (note that this may have been because Brady was leaning in too much- you think???). Brady immediately said, "Sylvie want to get out!" and stood close by to ensure someone was following through with her wishes.

This morning as Sylvie laid on the floor, Brady kept saying, "I wanna have her!" and putting his hands out. I said no, that she was fine on her pillow but that he could talk to her or play with her if he wanted to. He kissed her, let her touch him (and thought that was so funny!), and introduced her to all his stuffed animal friends. At one point he said, "Dogpile!" like he does with his daddy and his stuffed animals and I had to quickly say, "Oh no! Please don't! Sylvie will not like that!"

The boys (Brady and Romey) are very attentive to the little miss.



Just look at sweet Sylvie's little face.
"Uh Mommy? You see this? Is this okay?"

"Yikes! What does 'Dogpile!' mean???"