Saturday, January 1, 2011

A Long Overdue Update

Well, I'm obviously quite behind on my blogging. And my laundry. And the dusting. And the vacuuming. And my sleeping. And pretty much anything else that doesn't involve holding or feeding a newborn baby. So, this post will be pretty much pictures of the last 3 weeks with short captions.

Here are the pictures I took of Jake, Zach, and Drew for our Christmas card/Jake's birth announcement. They're not studio quality, but I thought they turned out pretty good. I even got most of the cards out before Christmas (like on the 24th), so I was pleased with that, too.



Jake was 5 days old when I had my 33rd birthday. My mom, Zach, and Drew helped me celebrate by baking and decorating cupcakes for me. It was a long day and not my best birthday ever (totally sleep-deprived and experiencing that mother-guilt), but it was still a good day.


Jake has done lots of sleeping and has had lots of pictures taken of him in various cute positions.


Zach and Drew enjoyed checking the Advent calendar, or the Christmas Countdown House, as they call it, daily. On this particular day I had put in little wooden star ornaments for them to paint. That was a big hit, so I should make a mental note of that for next year.


Grandma Ruth got some good snuggling in with Jake.


We did get a chance to visit Santa before Christmas. Drew was a little unsure of Santa, and Zach was a little nervous, too, but he was excited to give Santa his Christmas letter and a pretty colored rock he had decorated that he thought Santa would like.



Although Jake was just one week old when we went, he wasn't the youngest baby to visit Santa this season. Apparently Santa'd already seen a 3 day-old baby.


Jake got some snoozing done in the bassinet that so many of our family members have slept in, including Zach, Drew, cousins Anders, Myles, and Cam, my sisters and me, and both my mom and dad. This bassinet has been in the family for over 60 years.


Jake also spent some time napping on Dad's lap and looked pretty darn cute.


On the 20th Grandpa Dick came to town and got to meet grandson #6.


Drew and Zach could not wait for Grandpa to get there so they could watch Cars with him. So they did that the afternoon after Grandpa arrived.


Zach continues to want to hold Jake as often as possible. He loves to talk to him and touch him and give him lots of kisses. He thinks Jake is more advanced than he really is- he's always talking about how Jake copies him and tries to touch him, etc. I don't usually burst Zach's bubble, because I just love that he's so interested in Jake.


Another shot of all three boys.


Zach and Drew enjoyed horsey rides on Dad.


I love this little striped reindeer outfit Jake has- it's already too small, though!


On the 23rd I took Jake to his 2 week check-up. He weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. The pediatrician was very pleased with Jake's weight gain. She said most breastfed babies gain 3/4 of an oz. to 1 oz. per day after leaving the hospital. Jake had gained 17 oz. in 13 days, so he was doing better than expected!

On Christmas Eve we all went to church, and Jake slept through the whole thing. It was perfect! We should have posed ourselves different for this picture- I didn't intend for our shoe-less feet to be in it!


This may be my favorite picture of the holidays. All three of my boys on Christmas Eve.


Christmas morning came and the boys were excited to get to their stockings.


Every time I put this outfit on Jake (which was twice- once before going to meet Santa and again on Christmas morning), he pooped or pottied through it within about an hour. So I had to get a quick picture before changing him into clean clothes. This outfit is too small now, too, along with pretty much all newborn clothes.


Zach was excited about his new golf clubs.


And both boys were very excited about the robes Grandma Ruth made them. They're getting lots of good use!


Santa brought the boys just what they asked for- Pillow Pets. They have gotten lots of good use, too.


On Christmas night Aunt Katherine got to come meet Jake for the first time.


Here's Mike with his not-so-little sister and Jake.


My mom has a neat picture of her mom and my sisters and me at Christmastime of 1977. I was just days old, Sandy was 6, and Becky was almost 3. So we made sure to get a similar picture of my mom and the boys. Zach is 5 and a half, Drew is almost 3, and Jake is about 2 weeks old in this picture.


On the 26th, my sister Sandy, brother-in-law Will, and nephew Anders arrived. Drew and Uncle Will got some good bonding in on the couch.


Jake's umbilical cord stump finally fell off, so he got his first real bath. He loved it! I took him to get weighed the next day, and he was 9 lbs. 15 oz. with his clothes on, so approximately 9 lbs. 10 oz. undressed. He is growing so fast!!


Anders was very happy to get a chance to hold "Baby Jake," as he liked to call him.


Here is Sandy holding her newest nephew.


We did our best to get a picture of the 4 cousins together. Anders really wanted to hold Jake again, but Zach was not going to let that happen.


I like Zach's face in this picture, because you can tell he's trying to smile while thinking about how there's no way he's going to let Anders take Jake, though Anders is trying his hardest to get his hands on his newest cousin!


Finally a decent picture of the 4 boys.


While Zach and I were at tennis, Drew and Anders had lots of time to play together, and according to Drew, they had lots of fun. It's great to see them starting to be buddies, rather than Drew being afraid of Anders like he used to.


On Tuesday everybody left. It was definitely bittersweet. It was nice to get the house back to just our family and our stuff/clutter, but it was also sad to see everyone go and a little scary to know I was on my own with the three boys. So far things are going ok, but the real test will be tomorrow morning when Zach starts back at school. I hope he's on time!

4 comments:

Goldenzinns said...

Be sure to turn Right on the freeway and you have a good chance Zach will get to school on time:)

Laura said...

great pictures! Jake looks very much like his older brothers.

I was wondering, if you get a chance, could you post a picture of your advent calendar? I want to make one for next year, but need a little inspiration. (No pressure, and if it's all put away, no worries) Hope you can get some rest. Congrats again!

fredecker said...

Drew cracks me up in these pictures! He has a great expression on his face in so many of them!

Sandy ( I have to sign my name now because I only get the choice of using Will's ID or OpenID and I have no clue what that is, but my name does not count as an open ID).

zinncaulfield said...

That pic of Santa and Jake is funny! Wish we could've been there!