Christmas in Louisville

The Hamiltons plus extensions descended on Kentucky for the Christmas Holiday.  A great time was had by all and a big thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for letting us all stay in their home (each family had a room to themselves)!  My brother-in-law was a gracious photographer. 

The Grandparents and their eight grandkids.  (#9 is on the way and will be wearing pink!)

The original six.

The brown family

My happy boy

Pure joy

"I want YOU" 

Baby's first Christmas and SNOW

The whole fam (minus Jill who was coming down with my stomach bug...boo and sorry! And, Jim should have been in light blue...guess he missed the memo...)

 

 

Nap Time or Play Time?

He was put down awake for his nap with no crying (this time).  I waited to make sure he had time to be asleep before I went to get something.  (We were shacked up in the same room at my bro's house.)  This is what I saw...

This Boy Baby no longer gets swaddled...he is growing up so fast!  Look how proud he is that he completely busted out!  Hat and all!  He also won't really take a paci anymore...it worked for a little while.

Where is Thumbkin?

Ok, so I occasionally peak in on my Boy while he is sleeping...this is what I found one day while we were in Kentucky for Christmas.  Looks like we have a lil thumb sucker on our hands...he actually doesn't find it nearly enough yet. ;)

Dress up

Who says boy babies aren't fun to dress?!

I love these little overalls...I found them at babies r us and sprung for them (on sale for $4.99!) because I thought they were so cute.  We already have a 12 month pair...I kinda wish I would have bought every size in between. :)

Yes, this is what he wore today.  And we even left the house in it.  We've been enjoying high 70s-80s.

How sweet he is

Look at those big, blue eyes.  I am slowly coming to terms that I have a blue eyed baby.  I need to go back to Biology and study the section when you fill in the grid of recessive and dominant traits.  Neither of this kid's parents have blue eyes and blue is recessive!  I do love to look at them and see him tilt his head back with laughter.  He is super sweet and becoming very expressive and observant.  I love watching him grow.  There is still time for those eyes to change... :)

Baby's 1st Thanksgiving

Thankful-

Here are some things I am Thankful for (in no particular order) and a few photos from our Thanksgiving photo shoot.

I'm thankful for marriage-mine and those I have watched and admired over the years and the picture it is to portray of Christ and his Church.  This is a good, good gift.

I'm thankful for friends and family-laughing, sharing struggles and joys, the knowledge they have from having gone before me in certain areas, learning from them.  I could go on and on...

I'm thankful for cell phones, computers, webcams, skype and airplanes that connect you to those far away sometimes instantly, sometimes in a few hours.

 I'm thankful for our one bedroom apartment...it is so cozy and I'll be a little sad to move to a bigger place.  I also like that we can't collect too much stuff and The Boy Baby is always so near to me. :)

 I'm thankful for my husband's job not only because it provides for our family but also because it provides us with health insurance and allowed us to use a midwife practice that delivers in a hospital

 I'm thankful for a normal, healthy, pleasant pregnancy and that I was able to have the labor and delivery I hoped for-no unnecessary intervention and a healthy baby and mama.  My husband was (is) amazing and my Midwife and nurse were awesome!  I hope to do it all over again a few more times...later. :)

 I'm thankful for a healthy baby.  Even the first few days with the jaundice issues are only memories now.  Twice we had to go to the lab at the Children's Hospital and I found myself weeping as I held my sweet baby so tight and thanked God for his health and prayed He would hold closely the parents and children surrounding us.

 I'm thankful for baby chatter, smiles, laughter, head lifts, snuggles, eye contact, play, watching him learn new things...and even to sometimes have sleep interrupted, meals rushed and life in general made a bit more difficult by a baby in the house.

 I'm thankful for a Sovereign God who is good and does good...who has ordained all of our days so we need not worry...I'm working on understanding this better-I still check to see if the babe is breathing no less than 18 times during the day and night. :)

 I'm thankful that my son has grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and friends who are crazy about him and very generous to him with each aspect of their lives.

I'm thankful for digital cameras and a patient brother-in-law willing to take some time to try and get us a good photo that might possibly show up on a Christmas Card.

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
                                                                                                1 Chronicles 16:8

4:22am

Sunday morning at 4:22 am I heard crying.  What?!?!  He has been sleeping solid through the night (9-10 hours, sometimes more) for over a week.  I waited a bit to see if it would stop and when it did not, I went to check.  This is what I saw (sort of...I took the picture once I got him out of his crib and to his changing table).  He had kicked out of not only his blanket (which is quite common) but also his sleeper.  Somehow he had, with his feet, undone the snaps across the bottom of his sleeper and his little legs and feet were hanging out and so cold.  Once he was all taken care of he was back to sleep.  Silly Boy! :)

Photos of our 2 month old

Favorite Mommy's side Uncle Clint came back for a visit!  Mommy keeps telling me there are two more uncles on her side of the family but I'll have to wait til Christmas to meet them...I'm excited for Christmas.  Aunt Dayna was here last weekend and we did not take any pictures. :(  Mommy needs to be better about taking pictures.

This is me hanging out in Daddy's friend Austin's $6,000 bed...he made a video for some fancy bed store and they paid him with a fancy bed.

I lift my head so high....and still have blue eyes.  Mommy keeps telling me they will soon turn brown like hers.  We'll see...

I love to streeeeeetch!

I also love sugars from Mommy...it's a good thing because I get a lot of them all.day.long. :)

I like my arms out when I sleep.

I am a super baby, so say my Mom and Dad.

2 months

Where are the last two months?!  It really seems like it was just the other day that we held The Boy Baby at 4:48 am and laughed at the days to come.  In the last 60 or so days we have definitely laughed a lot (and cried, been frustrated, thought we were terrible parents, etc).  God has been very kind to us.  We praise Him, the Giver of good, good gifts.

The 2 month numbers:
Weigh t= 10 lbs 8 oz (25th percentile)
Length = 23 1/8 in (50th percentile)
Head = 40 cm (when they first measured they said 45 cm and when the doc came in she checked again since 45 cm is a 4 month old head!)

He lifts his head SOO high and just looks around all proud of himself.
He rolls over from stomach to back and laughs at himself...or maybe he's laughing at me because I'm so excited.
He has started noticing more around him...his mobile, the toys on the bouncy seat, etc.  It's pretty cute and fun to watch him see something, you know, realize it's there.  He looks intently at it and will smile and stare. 
He sometimes can fall asleep on his own...other times (maybe most times) he needs time with mom or dad walking, rocking and singing so he can fall asleep.  And, well, sometimes I just hold him and I enjoy every minute of it because he is already growing too. too fast.  I know, I know...I'm spoiling him.  Right now I do not mind at all that he might be a cuddly lil mama's boy. ;)
He fights and fights to get one or both arms out of the swaddle before he can fall asleep.  (Unless we have rocked him to sleep and then put him down, ha!)
He is in a good 3 hour, eat-wake-sleep pattern. Most of the time...
He has sleeping 9-10 hours!!
His stretches are so cute!  His daddy likes to be the one to wake him up so he can unwrap him and watch him streeeeeetch. 
He is precious.

Watch him grow...

2 days old

4 days old

One month old...in the same outfit, can you tell how crammed in his legs are?! :)

I love...

...watching him sleep...and how he gets that left arm out.  Sometimes he will grunt and grunt trying to get that arm out and once it is out he is out. 

...walks in the ergo...this was after we walked over to vote.  As you can tell, he thoroughly enjoyed his first experience with democracy.

...just hanging out with these two.

7 weeks old

We are blessed and enjoying every minute.

Our good friends the Zicks came to visit...Meghan took these photos and blessed us with her artistry.  Isn't he sweet?!?

Trick or Treating

"You mean I get to eat tons of candy?!"

"Wait a minute...I don't know what candy is..."

Baby's 1st Halloween and his first pumpkin...next year we'll let him have some candy. :)

These are some of my favorite photos.  The video is a little long, but you might get a laugh...this is what Sunday mornings getting ready for church look like at our house.  Thanks Aunt Dar for the bib. :)