Wow! I don’t
even really know where to begin. June
and July are getting lumped together because if I don’t lump them I may never
catch up on monthly updates, lol. They
have been a whirlwind and our life is completely different now, but we wouldn’t
change a thing. June and July have both
been marked by waiting, first for Declan and now for a job/place to live, and they
have been filled with adjusting to a new life as a family of four.
I guess a good place to start
would be our last few weeks before Declan arrived. We tried to treat each day, especially our
weekends as the last day we would be a family of four. One weekend we had fun going to the Children’s
Museum downtown because of a groupon I had purchased. Boy how I wish we had discovered that place
sooner because it is awesome! Alethea
had a blast and we enjoyed watching her have fun. We also enjoyed one last trip to the beach
with our good friends the Smiths and my mom (40 weeks and two days pregnant,
lol). The girls had fun playing in and
out of the water and the parents had fun chatting. For our last fun outing as a
family of three we took was on a trip to go visit waterfront park in Mt
Pleasant. We brought Chipotle to enjoy
at the picnic tables on the pier and then took a nice walk before playing on
the playground. Lots of fun times. J
Playing in the surf with Mamaw
:-)
Love her!
We are so going to miss this family!
Best buds!
Last bedtime story reading before Declan's arrival
Walking the pier
Looking at the harbor
Helping Mommy time contractions
Painting nails to distract from contractions
Children's museum fun
My sleeping beauty
After that, things become a bit
more of a blur. My mom came into town to
be with us starting on June 13ths (Declan’s due date), then my dad came the day
he was born and both able to stay until July 3rd to help with the
transition. They were a huge
blessing! They helped us take care of
Alethea while we were in the hospital (and out, lol), stayed here with me while
Ben went on interviews, and played chauffer/weight bearer for me since I couldn’t
drive or lift more than Declan’s weight during that time. We also had a week- long visit from Ben’s mom
as well as a day visit from his sister.
Basically we spent the rest of June enjoying our new little bundle and
having fun with visitors in town…..and not really sleeping a whole lot, lol.
Big sister!
Welcoming Declan home
Reading with Grandma
The Mamaw-Grandma hand off
First family photo
Proud grandparents a such a huge blessing to us in the first two weeks!
July was a month of adjusting to
life as a family of four without any outside help. Surprisingly, the adjustment time was not
nearly as long as expected. My parents
left the day before 4th of July, so Ben had a four day weekend for
us to figure how we would tag team to parent 2 kiddos. We were even able to go for a walk downtown and
eat at Tommy Condon’s on their outdoor patio. This was our very first outing as
a family and both kiddos did great. It
was a much needed outing for all of us!
Out to lunch for the first time in a while
Maxin' and relaxin' in the stroller while the rest of us eat.
The following week marked my
first week solo parenting while Ben was at work. Monday went super smooth because Declan slept
awesome throughout the day and Alethea was on good behavior for the most
part. However that didn’t stay the same
the rest of the week. Running on not a
lot of sleep (since the doc still mandated waking Declan up every 4 hours at
night), having an newborn that was still trying to figure out his schedule,
having a toddler who was trying to see what she could get away with when I was
preoccupied with her brother, and only having a 30minute period of time where
their naps overlapped was really wearing me out. I felt like a walking zombie for sure. Then Ben came home Thursday informing me that
he needed to go to Louisville for interviews the following week and invited us
to come with. Of course I chose to go
with because I didn’t want to stay home by myself with the kiddos, but I was
pretty much at a breaking point with stress having to pack for our first family
of four trip in 2 days.
Day One home alone...
...was a success!
Thankfully we made it safe and
sound to KY with lots of family to welcome us.
Everything ran smoothly and the only thing we forgot was the
laptop. Forgetting that spoiled my plans
of catching up on blog updates and posting photos as well as making Ben have to
get creative to get his contacts for jobs, but in the grand scheme it was a
small thing to have forgotten. J Ben had a few interviews while we were there
(one looking very promising for a job) and after being there we made the
decision to turn down an offer he had received in a podunk town for not enough
money. We also had fun introducing
Alethea to her Uncle Camden, Uncle Cody, Aunt Justine, Granpeg, Grandaddy, and
Uncle Lee’s family. We even got to spend
an afternoon at the waterfront park where we had a picnic and Alethea got to
play in the splash pad they have there.
Granpeg!
Camden
Sisters-in-love (a.k.a. law)
Picnic in the park
Alethea loves these ladies
Splash pad fun with Aunt Justine
Maxin' and Relaxin'
Grandaddy
She loves tending the garden with Papaw
Kaylee and Debbie...love his face
Lee
Our travels didn’t end there
because we had already planned to head to Ben’s sister’s wedding in Gatlinburg
the following weekend. Thankfully my
parents were amazing and offered to join us for the trek so that they could help
watch the kiddos while we participated in the wedding festivities. I am pretty sure I would have lost my mind if
it wasn’t for their help. We rented a
cabin up in the mountains and we were able to attend all of the festivities
(with the exception of me not going to the rehearsal dinner). My parents even brought the kiddos out to the
wedding site (a waterfall) so that they could be there for pictures, meeting
Ben’s family, and so Declan could eat. My
dad even chauffeured me to the reception at Melting Pot so that I could feed
Declan before and then return back to the cabin and feed him again. That way we could minimize the car trauma for
the little boy since he had already driven from KY to TN the day before and
would be driving from TN to SC the following day. Thankfully throughout all of
our travels both kiddos slept great, but we were all exhausted and glad to be
home by the end!
Meeting Grandpa and Aunt Vonnie for the first time
Story time
Three generations
Post-bathtime fun
Cuddles with Grandpa
All dressed for the wedding
Driving to the wedding during naptime
Alethea and the beautiful bride
Wedding site
Watching the wedding from afar
All dressed up for the wedding
Evening snuggles in our cabin
Glad to be home and out of the car!
That pretty much marks all the
big events in June and July. The only
other big deal is that we finally got to return to church as a family on July
28th. Declan was just shy of
6 weeks but we felt he would still be okay to go. We know our time is limited with our church
family and we didn’t want to miss another week!
Going to church is tiring, lol
Can't get enough sleepy baby pics :-)
This was his first Sunday get-up
Kiddos after we got home from church
Having just a little fun. :-)
Now for a small update on each
of us, with the exception of Declan since he gets his own monthly blog for now.
J Ben has been working
hard on trying to find a job for post Navy.
He could probably have had a job in other places already, but we trust the
Lord to provide a job in Louisville since that is where we feel the Lord wants
us to live. It has been a roller coaster,
but he has been very determined and persistent in his efforts. He has handed over all of his
responsibilities as work, except teaching, so that has provided more time for
his job search and for helping out at home.
He has also really been getting into lifting weights and working out. Much of his free time (though there isn’t
much right now) is spent working out or researching ways to eat healthier/to
build muscle as well as the best ways to accomplish his fitness goals. It has been pretty neat to see his excitement/changes
and learn along with him.
I enjoyed continuing to cook
some of our favorites for the first few weeks of June, but since then I have
had to keep things pretty low key on the cooking front. In the last week of July, I was able to
branch out a bit more, but it is still pretty basic. It’s a season of life for sure, but I will be
excited to cook more goodies as I figure out how to be more efficient at it
with two kiddos at home. The past two
months of adjusting have opened my eyes to how much running is a huge sanity
keeper for me. I guess I shouldn’t have
been surprised by that since I ran 3 miles basically the same day I had
Declan. However, it has become even more
obvious since I wasn’t able to run until the last week of July since I wanted
to make sure my body had a chance to recover from my c-section. It is a huge mood booster, and that as well
as healthy food choices (and sleep which I am finally getting more of since
Declan is now going 6-8.5hours at night) make me a much better mommy. I am slowly relearning just how important it
is to not completely ignore my needs.
Taking care of myself ends up making it so I can take care of my kiddos
better.
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So this wasn't for my first run, but it was the first time we took both out in the stroller :-)
I have also had to adjust to the fact that my baby weight is not going to
come off as quickly this time around.
Running through pregnancy definitely helped with my pregnancy and made
the recovery quicker, but I also think not running (as well as too many sweets
consumed in stress eating) during the initial weeks of recovery sent my body
into shock making it so I haven’t lost the weight as quickly. I am still 4lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight
now and I was already 10lbs below at this point post Alethea. It probably sounds a bit silly, but I haven’t
had to deal with not fitting into most of my clothes like this before so it’s
an adjustment.
Last but not least, it’s time for a little Alethea update. Unfortunately I have not been as good the
past few months at writing down her achievements, but I will do my best to see
what I remember. She is still continuing
sprout up. I didn’t do stats in June,
but in July I measured her and she was 39inches and 32lbs at 29 months
old! She is even getting so big that she
is able to stand on the scale all by herself to weigh in. She is not my little baby anymore for sure,
but I love seeing what a beautiful little girl she is becoming.
Having a party with her friends
Maxin' and relaxin' in the carseat
She is almost to big for it!
First thing to note is that she is talking like crazy. There is very little that we don’t understand
and even others are able to understand her well. It is pretty funny to hear all the things she
says, especially those things that she repeats verbatim from hearing us say
things, lol. She loves to sing songs,
read, and point out the few letters that she knows (O, T, and S) and I think
all of these things are helping her language skills a ton. She has even started praying on her own. It has been so fun to see her excitement over
praying and to see her actually be able to say prayers herself with very little
coaching. She also has begun drawing Os
and Ts as well as people with eyes, mouth, arms, and legs (and sometimes a
nose).
These past two months have shown great leaps in her conceptual
understanding. She is aware of tons of
opposites and is very clearly able to recognize and articulate the differences. One cute example is her ability to notice the
difference between hot and cold. When
walking outside Granpeg told her to be careful on the hot driveway and Alethea
said she was going to go where it was cold (in the shade). She also asks for the cold air when we get in
the car. The other concept that is fun
to see is her grasp of big and little.
She gets that people/things start little and get big, but hasn’t quite
grasped the concept that they can’t go back to being little once they are
big. She will say “I can do….when I get
big” when we tell her she is too little to do something, but then when we tell
her that she is too big for diapers, bouncys, Mommy’s milk etc. she says “I can….when
I get little”. We are working on
clearing up that misconception, but aren’t quite there yet, lol.
Future pianist?
She would rather pull than be pulled, lol
and push rather than be pushed
Never too big for the baby tub, lol
We have also definitely hit the twos with regards to behavior. I would not say they are terrible because she
is far from that, but they can be a bit frustrating at times. She had already begun to test her boundaries
before Declan, but she has stepped it up a notch since his arrival to see just
want she can get away with while we are preoccupied caring for him. Thankfully she is getting better each day,
but it was a big challenge for the first few days. She is also in the phase of wanting to do
things by herself which is helpful and challenging all at the same time. We are working on choosing our battles and
helping her to foster her independence.
Much of it comes from her desire to control and so we have been working
on letting her have the control as long as she is polite is how she goes about
it. Otherwise we end up with miss
bossy-pants and that is no fun for anyone involved, lol.
"Let me do it by myselse (myself)" and she can...but of course I spot her
She still is an outdoors loving kiddo.
We have been doing lots of park play-dates and trips to our neighboring
playground since those were place Declan could come too. She always has a blast. The pool at our complex has been frequented
many evenings each week as well and she absolutely loves swimming. We have even been surprised with how we she
is swimming and her comfort level with going under the water when she jumps off
our knees or is tossed into the water.
Alethea and I have also been having a lot of fun with sidewalk chalk
many afternoons after Declan goes down for his nap, but before it’s time for
hers. We can’t go anywhere, but we still
get to go outside for fresh and many times some great learning opportunities
with chalk. Another favorite activity of
late is doing jigsaw puzzles and playing her new memory game. I have been surprised especially with how
well she is able to put her puzzles together.
See-sawing with Declan and Mommy
She loves to swim
Having fun with Mamaw at the pool
Rarrrr!
My little artist
She loves swinging on the big swing now
Goggle faces!
These are huge on her but she loves them!
Playing in the rain is fun...especially when you have a "pool" in your backyard, lol
"Look at my hands Mommy"
My little climber
Proof that Declan and I go to the pool too
The last thing I want to note is just how much she has loved being a big
sister. She absolutely loves him to
pieces and the feeling is mutual. Many
times a day we here “I love him”, “He’s sweet”, “I love my brother”, “Where’s ‘Decken’”,
“Can I hold him?”, etc. She is also
quite the little mommy. When we are
taking care of Declan, she is always trying to mimic the same things with her
baby dolls. She is even already a great “babysitter”
so I can walk into the kitchen and she makes sure he is okay. I can still see/hear them the whole time, but
she loves this responsibility to feel like she is taking care of him. I love how she is also my verbal mimic with
him so whenever I am talking to Declan, it’s almost guaranteed that she is
going to say the same thing to him, lol. It is so special to see their
relationship developing already and to see how much she truly cares for
him. She will pretty much do anything
for him or me (if it is going to help with him). I know it won’t always be this way, but I am
cherishing this season when it is so precious.
Patting his back
My loves
Her baby is swaddled in there somewhere
kisses
Bouncing her baby like Daddy bounces Declan on the big ball
Lotioning her brother with Mommy
Sometimes she forgets he isn't just another doll, lol
Sibling love
:-)
That was super long and I still probably missed something, but I wanted
to make sure to get as much as I could remember written down about the past two
months. We are really enjoying this new
adventure God has us on and we are looking forward to what the future has in
store for us.
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