Tyler's overstimulation

We put Tyler in Adam's old aquarium bouncer seat tonight, and he was certainly enthralled! Check out these adorable expressions.

Another Christmas has come and gone

I can't believe Christmas is already over! All the preparations and decorations that take up so much of our December time has faded, and we're getting ready to ring in the new year. We had a wonderful Christmas down in Lexington this year. Tyler's first will certainly be memorable to all! Enjoy the pictures in this slide show. Our camera batteries died during our stay in Lex, so we have no pictures of the boys first thing on Christmas morning. But we do have video that I promise to upload one of these days!

We love you, Sue Sue!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Our first snow of the season was heavy at times, but only amounted to about 2 inches. It didn't stop us from playing outside with the neighbors, though, who built a fort! In every picture below, Adam is telling me to stop taking his picture. His expression says it all in the last picture! We even bundled Tyler up in his "snowsuit" and took him out to enjoy his first snow ever.

'Tis the Season

Thank you, thank you, thank you! to everyone who sent me emails regarding my last post about the boys. I felt so loved and really appreciated the support and help. (I promise that I will respond to your emails very soon). Our second week was MUCH better than the first. Adam didn't throw quite as many tantrums, and our schedule seemed to get better, as well. It also helped me a lot that Ben came home in time to help me with the kids at night. Tonight, we are going to a Christmas party without the boys, so it'll be fun to be adults again! Our wonderful friends Mark and Gina are keeping the boys for us - THANK YOU!

I have some random pictures to share that haven't made it on the blog yet. Everything from gingerbread houses to trains to trimming the tree. Hopefully some videos of the boys will be coming soon...

Maddie turned one!

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures of our niece, Maddie, who turned one on November 7th. Her Mommy, Stacy, threw a very cute Strawberry Shortcake party, and we all had a great time. Enjoy the pics!

Life with two kids and no help...

Tonight, I am blogging while sitting at the dinner table finishing our Red Baron personal pizzas, Adam's favorite dinner. This week has been my first week at home alone with both boys withOUT Nana. It's been quite an adjustment! It also doesn't help either that Ben has been home late every night this week........that's overwhelming! But we're managing, and I thought I'd share a few thoughts about what we've experienced this week.

TYLER

1. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to keep a pacifier in a five-week-old's mouth?? He loves to suck on it, but good gracious, he can't keep it in his mouth to save his life! My back is killing me from leaning over to put it back in all the time when he cries.

2. He's going through a growth spurt today, I just know it! I'll say that every time he seems to want to nurse every hour...it's always a growth spurt, right? But then again, it's times like this that I'm afraid I don't make enough milk for him to feel full and then I stress myself out too much. But he's had two good weight checks this week, so I've got to get those thoughts out of my head. (Reminder: I never produced enough milk for Adam and only nursed for 3 months with a supplemental bottle at EVERY feeding. Nursing is going much better this time around...Tyler's last bottle was a week ago).

3. Despite keeping us up after his middle-of-the-night feeding, he's still an adorable, precious, lovable, darling little baby boy. He melts my heart every time I look at him. :)

ADAM

1. Oh boy, this week has been an eye-opener! A friend of mine gave me a book titled "1-2-3 Magic for Disciplining your Children" and I'll be cracking that sucker open tonight. Adam has been defiant, stubborn, resistant, you name it this week. He's been in time-out a couple of times, where this requires me to physically restrain him in the leather chair in our room. It's not fun, and I just don't think he's understanding why I'm putting him there until he cries his heart out. I guess we're getting into the terrible twos, but I hate to use that term because my child can't possibly be terrible.

2. I hate having to tell Adam that I can't do something with him or for him because I'm tending to Tyler. I feel awful because I know he doesn't understand that I have to console Tyler's crying or use both hands and arms to nurse Tyler. It breaks my heart when he looks at me like his feelings are hurt. Tonight, we did attempt to read books while I nursed Tyler. That seemed to work out alright.

3. Why does Adam feel the need to turn on Tyler's portable swing when Tyler isn't in it??

4. Any suggestions on what to do with Adam while I'm nursing Tyler? I've resorted to lots of TV this week, and I think that's why he's somewhat lashing out a lot. Luckily, he doesn't try to crawl all over Tyler and me while we are feeding. I'm waiting for that to start.

5. On the positive side, Adam is such a BIG help! He will bring me Tyler's burp cloth or pacifier when I ask. He's now standing on a stool to "help" me change Tyler's diaper on the changing table. He loves to kiss Tyler's forehead and give him hugs. It's adorable!

A cute picture of the boys to share......

Baby Dedication

On November 10th, our church held it's fall Baby Dedication ceremony. We dedicated Adam and Tyler's lives to the following of Christ. Our church does baptism by submission later in life when a child or adult decides to accept Christ, but as babies, they have a very special ceremony where we, as parents, dedicate them to Christ, and we dedicate ourselves to raising our children as Christians. It was a great occasion, although Tyler got pretty fussy during the ceremony. But he wasn't the only child crying, so we weren't too embarrassed.

This was also the first time I got to dress the boys in the same shirt........adorable!! :)

Halloween - Do we really need costumes?

Halloween was fun this year........but as you'll see in the pictures, Adam refused to wear his pumpkin costume. But did it really matter when he showed up at our neighbors' front doors? Not really, as Mommy was right there next to him holding the torturous costume to prove he actually did have one. Adam collected handfuls of candy, which he proceeded to eat almost all the chocolate that night at our neighborhood block party! I believe he was still on a sugar high the next morning when he woke up.
















Tyler, on the other hand, slept right through all the festivities, as usual. Not complaining though as new parents of our second son.........it's been nice that he's a good sleeper already. What were all those comments about the second child being the total opposite from the first? Not the case with us..........YET!

Pumpkin Patch

The day before Tyler's birth, we took Adam to a local pumpkin patch for his birthday celebration with his grandparents. We had a great time and the weather was awesome! Adam wasn't so sure about the hayride out to the corn maze, but he enjoyed the ride back.

Brothers

It's crazy to look at Tyler and see all of the old pictures of Adam we took two years ago! The two boys look so similar at birth that it will be fun to see them grow up together. I have a feeling people will think they are twins when they get older!

Not only did they look a like at birth, it was almost deja vu at the hospital for us. When we arrived for surgery, I was taken to the pre/post anesthesia room, and they put me in the exact same bed/bay (bed #3) where I recovered from surgery with Adam. After Tyler's delivery, I returned to bed #3 for recovery for about an hour. Then, it was time to be transported to our regular room, and we were taken to the exact same room where we stayed with Adam (rm 1324)! Of all the rooms in the Family Birth Place, how crazy is it that we would end up in the exact same room TWICE!

Here are a couple of pictures of the boys to compare their looks.........I'm sure we'll be comparing them a lot in the days to come!

Adam - 12 days old

Tyler - 7 days old

Tyler Joseph

OK, so it's time for some pictures, right? Life has been turned upside-down this week, but of course, it's all good! We're enjoying our new little one, and it turns out, we did actually pick a name for him! Tyler is doing great, and Adam is too sweet with him. It's adorable, and we can't wait to watch the two grow up together as best buds.

So here are a few pictures...........Tyler was a big baby, but very proportional. We kid around that he'll be our football player, but I'm sure things will even out and he'll be just like his big brother. Their baby pictures are identical. I'll post more on that later.

Tyler was monitored in the nursery a little bit while Mommy's surgery was completed.

Tyler's first bath at the hospital

Big Brother Adam meeting Tyler for the first time

Our first family photo (who is the large lady in the bed??)

Granddaddy and the boys

Tyler's really long, 21 inches!

Chubby cheeks and his Daddy's dimpled chin

Ready to go home from the hospital!

Bubba is here!

Bubba joined us this morning at 9:50 AM from St. Elizabeth's Hospital. He came out to the groans of the doctors as they pulled out all 9lbs 8.4ozs of him. Mom and baby are both doing well and are resting in the recovery room.

We will post pictures in the coming days for everyone to see. We want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers for us this morning.

Stay tuned for more details, including....his name!

And the Birthday celebration continues...

Since Adam is celebrating his birthday all month, I thought I'd post some pictures from his toddler birthday party last weekend. The friends who came were dressed in their costumes, but we still couldn't convince Adam to put his on. He was traumatized the day we tried it on him because the merchandise tag scratched his cheek. So, he has yet to put it on again! We'll keep trying, though!

Adam is obsessed with pumpkins this year, so his party was pumpkin-themed. Our local bakery made his cake, and it turned out adorable! We all had a great time!

Mark, Zachary, Adam, Ben, and Christopher enjoying the party

Adam is enjoying our singing!

He did eventually blow out the candles! yeah! And Bubba is in his costume, as well. :)

Birthday Boy is 2 today!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM!

Adam's 2nd birthday is going well today..........we hosted our playgroup this morning and served cupcakes, cookies, and marshmallow ghosts. Adam had a great time! He actually blew out one of the two candles on his cupcake - yeah!

Happy Birthday, Adam!

Singing "Happy Birthday"

Blowing out the candles!

Tonight, we're going out to dinner with some friends to celebrate Adam's birthday again. He'll be celebrating all month, actually! This weekend, we're having a party with friends and neighbors, and the following weekend, we're having a party with Adam's grandparents since they will all be in town for Bubba's birth. This is probably a good thing for Adam since his life is about to be turned upside-down on the 22nd!!

Only 3 more weeks!

Wow, how the time is flying by! Baby's delivery date is only 3 weeks from today, assuming he doesn't come early. Which I don't believe is going to happen. Hopefully these next 3 weeks will go by fast, too, because we have so many things to do. We're going to a family wedding, the KY Gubernatorial debate, Adam's 2nd birthday!, two picnics, and multiple MOMS club activities throughout the weekdays.

I just had to post these two pictures to compare my feet from each of my pregnancies. I was SO swollen with Adam by this point that I was just miserable. But with this pregnancy, my swelling is under control, and I'm feeling good. My back really just started to hurt this past weekend when I stood on my feet too long, so I believe I'll have to start taking it easy a little more. :)

Very swollen feet with Adam at 36 weeks
(You can even see the imprint from my sandal straps!)



No swollen feet with "Bubba"

Already Multitasking!

Adam was talking to Nana and Granddaddy while we were eating dinner. They called to see how Adam was feeling after he got sick Friday. Can you believe how talented our little guy is already?

Our Budding Photographer

Adam got a hold of our digital camera this weekend.........maybe one of these days, he'll perfect this new skill.