Layton is 1 month--already!

Layton, you have been with us for one month now! I can't believe it. I think you complete our little family and we are just SO glad you are here!! The kids just love you. They can't give you enough kisses. They are very interested in you and want you to be happy. They help Mommy with you alot.

Breastfeeding has been a challenge--as it always has been with me in the beginning. However, I think we are doing better. You nurse every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day. You nurse pretty good, but always seem to have to poop during the middle of it. So, I have to stop and wait for you to get done before you will finish. Feeding takes 30-45 minutes usually because of this. You weighed 7 lbs 8 oz at birth and 7 lbs 3 oz when we left the hospital. At 2 weeks, you weighed 7 lbs 11 oz and at 4 weeks you weighed 8 lbs 11 oz. I think you are doing pretty good!!

You like your pacy. Sometimes you sleep fine without it and others, you will cry a little until someone puts it in your mouth. You like to suck.

You are sleeping okay. The first night at home was a little rough. We started propping you up on your boppy because you seem to have a little bit of reflux. You rarely spit up, but sometimes we can tell milk will come up and make you gag. Propping you up to sleep seems to make you more comfortable and you have been sleeping better. I have been feeding you around 11:30 p.m lately and letting you go as long as you can. So far, you have only gone to about 4:15 a.m. (not consistently yet though). I waited until you were 4 weeks before I let you go longer than 4 hours. I am getting some sleep, but look forward to the day when you sleep a little bit longer!!! You need to be swaddled, but like to have your hands up near your face so much that you try with all you might to break out of your swaddle. Right now, you are in the pack-n-play in our room. I don't know how long this will be. I am scared to death to put you in your bed in the room with Lincoln. There is no telling what he will do. :) So, we will see what happens with that.

You have a bit of baby acne on your face and a little on your chest. Mommy is ready for this to go away.

You love to sleep on Mommy and Daddy's chest. Mommy and Daddy sometimes fight over you in the evenings. We both LOVE to cuddle with you.

You have been pretty easy to take places so far. You stay pretty content. We have gone to the movies twice and to the River Market where we rode the trolley. You have just been a little angel. We have been to church since you were 2 weeks old. I forgot to take a picture of your first time to church, but here are a couple with you all dressed up. I'm still not too sure what I think of these bubbles/smocked outfits on my little boys, but you do really look sweet.

Everyone says you look like your sister. She LOVES this and tells everyone this herself. Someone was visiting us the other day and she ran and got one of the pictures of her that we think looks so much like you and showed it to them and told them that you look like she did when she was a baby. She is so proud! There are several things about you that remind me of your sister. When you cry, you look just like she did when she was a baby. Your cries are even similar to me. You have the same lips and nose I think too.

These next 2 pictures are of Hannah around 3 weeks. When I am burping you, you look just like Hannah in this picture! You have the same sweet expression on your face. I love it.

Most of what you do right now is sleep and eat. I am really looking forward to the coming months as you start interacting with us more.

You are trying to smile a little, but haven't quite got it down yet. Here is your Daddy being goofy trying to get you to smile. You did a little half-smile. I can't wait for you to really start smiling. Hannah and Lincoln will just love it!

Mimi and Pappaw came to visit you this past weekend. It had been a couple of weeks since they had seen you. They could tell you had really grown.

These weeks are already flying by. I know they will get faster and faster. I am just loving every minute with you, Layton! I love you so much and can't wait to see how you will change by next month!

Layton - 1 month

My Pregnancy

There were several reasons I took my picture each week of my pregnancy. I wanted to remember this pregnancy because it is probably my last. I rarely had any pictures taken of me pregnant with the other two, so I wanted to make sure I had some of me pregnant this time. I was also really curious to see how my body would change over the weeks. I thought it might be neat. What is quite funny to me is that I only got up to week 37. I was one day shy of 38 weeks when Layton was born. I still can't believe he was that early.

While this pregnancy was a lot harder on my body than the others, I still enjoyed it for the most part. I would go through every ache and pain again to get the reward of that sweet little one at the end. Carrying a baby inside you is such an amazing experience and such a blessing from the Lord. I have been fortunate to have 3 good pregnancies, 3 good labors, and 3 healthy babies. I couldn't ask for more than that.

Anyway, I finally put all the weekly pictures in a slide show.

The Story of Adam and Eve by Hannah

Today Hannah got this Bible out and began "reading" it. She began telling the story of Adam and Eve. I had to get it on video because it was the cutest thing. Enjoy!

Little Sweetheart

Layton has been such a little sweetheart. He has been a good baby thus far. I can't get enough of him. I just want to hold him all the time. These are just some random pictures I've taken over the last couple of weeks.

July 1st

July 5th

July 7th

July 8th

July 13th

I love to take pictures of him after his baths. He just looks soooo sweet!!

Linc & Layt

My two boys! Oh what fun they are going to one day have together--I hope! Right now, Linc thinks it is fun to hold Layt, kiss him (so much that it actually gets on my nerves), and see how high and fast he can get him swinging in his swing. Yes, I have to watch this little dude like a hawk. He is not intentially being mean, I know, he just doesn't seem to know where the boundaries are sometimes. He has a lot to learn. Poor Layton, I hope he makes it through it!

Lincoln has been really cute at church the last few weeks. He is very quick to tell people that he has a new baby brother. He likes to refer to Layton as "baby brother" or "my baby."

When we are getting ready to go somewhere, Lincoln will often ask me if baby brother is going too? Interesting. I'm not sure if he is asking because he wants him to go with us or because he doesn't want him to go with us. Ha! He is a big helper when Layton cries. He is quick to inform me that "baby brother is crying, Mom" and he will go and put his pacy in his mouth for him.

I can't imagine what Layton is thinking in this picture. He's probably wondering what Lincoln is going to do to him next.

Me and my boys! They are both such sweethearts. I can't wait to see what type of relationship they grow up having. My hope and prayer is that they are best buds.

Layton, you have a CRAZY big brother. He is so busy and full of life. I know he will teach you lots and lots!

Lincoln, my big brown-eyed boy--you seem so big to me now that Layton is here. I think your head quadrupled in size. Ha! You are such a funny boy. Here you are with some "bunny ears" that you made yourself out of socks. I can't wait to watch you and Layton be silly together!

What a blessing these little boys are. I am so excited to watch them grow up together.

Keeping Cool

So far this summer it has been SO hot here. Therefore, we have had to come up with ways to play outside--but keep cool! Before Layton was born, this was much easier! Most of these pictures were taken before Layton was born. We were able to go to Wild River Country 2-3 times a week back then. The kids just loved it and so did I! I wasn't able to take any good pictures there because I didn't want to take my good camera. Hopefully, at some point we will be able to go again before the summer is over. We shall see.

We started off the summer in the sprinkler in the front yard.

We have gone to Jack's house once and played in his sprinkler too with Jack and Eden.

I decided to buy a Slip-n-Slide for $5 at Wal-Mart. It broke before I even got it hooked up right. But we were still able to use it okay. The kids LOVED the Slip-n-Slide!!! I got some really cool pictures of them too.

Love Hannah's hair in this one!

Love this one of Linc with his big ole smile!

Since Wild River Country is out of the question for a while now that the baby is here, I really wanted to get a pool for the back yard. Well, it took quite a while for me to convince Kris to get one, but we finally did a couple of weeks ago. It is one that we can actually get in too. I can't wait till I am able to get in it! The kids have really been enjoying it! I wanted this particular pool so that they could continue to practice learning to swim. We haven't done swim lessons yet, but they were doing so well when we'd go to WRC. They are both able to swim some under water now.

Lincoln cracks me up with how much he goes under water. It is constant. He is really good at holding his breath. Hannah is a little more timid about it, but will do it when she really wants to.

We had our friends Jack and Eden over to swim a couple weeks ago. It was so fun!

We have really been having a blast in the water this summer while we try to keep cool!!!