3 weeks old

(June 7-13)
Keeping track of things by the week is so much easier than by the 'event' right now.  It means for a lot of pictures in a blog and also less blogs to keep track of during this period when we can't post them.

We were still in Wisconsin for Nate's work.  I did venture to the water parks with both boys.  It was manageable - fun for Jacob any way.  It was slightly difficult as there were no shade umbrellas in the kid areas.

Silly picture got turned sideways...trying to keep the sun off him.

Playing in the water...he did really well playing by himself.  He would have something with him - a floating toy or matchbox car...

Banquet night!  We don't get dressed up too often, so we figured we better take a picture!  Jacob got to play with some high school girls and other kids and get more pool time, Christian joined us at the banquet.  He was a trooper and only squealed a few times.

We left Wisconsin and headed for our family reunion in western Illinois!  Christian gets to meet his Great Grandpa and Grandma Sears.  They have been married 64 years!!  

All of my siblings were there too!  This was their first time meeting Christian, so it was pretty fun to show him off to them.  They liked the baby snuggles too.

I think he wants his cake!  So sweet that they thought to get a cake welcoming CJ to the family :).

The cousins on the "Sears" side.  Ages, 7, 6 1/2, 4, 3 1/2, 1 1/2, 2 1/2 weeks

And we made it home to have a bath in the baby bath tub...first non-sponge one.  His face doesn't show how well he actually did!  He was soooo good and seems to like bath time!  He also likes being lotioned up afterwards!

Happy 8th Anniversary to us!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Nate had to work at night, so we took advantage of the day and went strawberry picking, out for lunch and just chilled at home.

Everyone did very well on our visit, we didn't pick too many - 10 lbs!!!  (More than I figured we would get)  

CJ is 3 weeks old!!!  

What a big boy!  He's growing of course!  He recognizes our voices, turns his head to us.  He is becoming more active - kicking his legs and moving arms - voluntarily - and every once in a while gets a squeak out.  He enjoys his swing and watching the mobile go around on the swing and in his crib.  He does not like having a wet/dirty diaper or gas.  His poor tummy gets all mad.

Family Reunion

After our trip to Wisconsin we headed south to spend the weekend near the sticks of Western Illinois.  Our poor phones in both locations got poor service...wait...maybe that was for the better...just made life frustrating trying to get a hold of people and each other!

There are 69 people in the family across 4 generations and 54 were there!  It was so great to see everyone and reconnect.  It's hard for us to get that way.  It was also cool because all of my siblings were there with their families as well.  Life was fun and crazy and wild with everyone running all directions, yet trying to connect.  It was well worth the trip and we were so happy we could introduce the family to Christian!  We had family there from Illinois, Tennessee, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado...I think that's all.  Lots of miles traveled.

Time is always short and it's hard to say good bye when you never know if you're going to see people again - all of our days are numbered.  Especially when reflecting back on a year ago when my grandpa was hospitalized with heart issues and things were not looking good.  I'm so thankful I got to see him again and Jacob LOVED goofing off with him!

A working vacation 2012

 Last week Monday, we headed out on a working vacation (work for Nate, vaca for the rest of us).  Well, we did leave a day early to have one day of family time before we wouldn't see him for a couple days.  The boys traveled very well on our way out to Wisconsin.  I took some time sitting in the back seat feeding CJ and playing with Jacob.

His idea to make silly faces.

On our day together we went and fed deer at a deer park and saw a few other 'wild' animals.  These deer were freakish.  I have a thing about deer, I don't really like them, so this was out of my box for sure.

Jacob liked it but didn't, if you know what I mean!  He thought they were silly, but would get way up in his personal bubble and he did not like that.

And then dad had 4 up in his grill!  I chose not to hold any 'deer food'.

Jacob trying to trick the deer with an empty food bag.

Jacob and I took some time to go paint at the pottery place in the hotel.  He picked a lion mug (thankfully that was in his allotted dollar amount otherwise he may have thrown a HUGE tantrum!)  It turned out very cute and of course he enjoys drinking from it.

Water time!!!!  Do you think he liked it?!

This looks like he's drinking the water from this flamingo, he's not!  He wasn't that close to the water spout.   He's such a ham for the camera.

Of course head first is the way to go!  Love how much he loves the water and isn't afraid of it.

Those swimming lessons are coming back from last year.  Of course this year he's a great white shark :).  So proud of him for remembering how to swim!

Race car driving with dad!  The go carts had a super long line, so this was second best.  

More water time...let's test the water, see what happens when I do this...

or this

All dressed up for the banquet.  Jacob got time playing with some high school girls at the pool and Christian went to the banquet with us.  We had a great time, it was a great banquet, lots of laughs and a good night out!  

I was pretty nervous about taking a less than 2 week old on a trip.  It wasn't all peaches and cream - washing bottles in hotel rooms, diaper changes in the front seat of the car because the place you stop doesn't have a changing station, getting up in the middle of the night when you're exhausted from a big day.  But I learned I could take both boys out and manage.  Granted, when it was lunch time with just me and the boys...we did drive thru because I wasn't going to do both of them in a restaurant by myself...I'm not that brave yet!  I was able to pack up an entire hotel suite with two boys by myself and get checked out of the hotel on time, leaving only 2 things behind...(my poor pillow and our night light that we needed at the next hotel!)  Obviously replaceable things, just annoying.  The experience gives me confidence for the rest of summer...that I can get out and run errands and we can go to the pool and some days will be easier than others.

I took a few hours to go shopping and while at a store the workers were asking how old CJ was, etc. and why we were there and they said, wow, did you plan to have your baby right before your husbands conference.  I said, uh, nope, we can't plan our babies, we actually adopted him.  The one gal said, I thought you looked good for just having a 2 week old (what, I look bad now that I didn't give birth to him!?)  I did get a lot of comments asking how old he was, etc.  Some times through conversation it would come out that we adopted him, other times, it wouldn't.  We're not ashamed that our boys are adopted, but it's not a fact that we share with everyone either.

Any way...the week was tough, but also fun.  We're trying to recover.

Week 2

(From May 31-June 6)

The little man just turned a week old and got snuggles from Grandma and Grandpa!  They were very excited to get to actually hold Christian rather than just look at him.

The brothers are still liking each other :)

Story time with dad

So sweet

Isn't he so handsome in this cute outfit!   Ah, just love it.

On our way to the Pizza Ranch summer meetings we stopped along the road and said hi to our adoption agency!  It was exactly one year from when we initially went there for our orientation meeting - this time with a week and a half old baby.  I had regretted not taking a picture of the agency back at that meeting, so I was pretty excited to get that chance again.

Back seat fun on the way to vacation!!!  Mom, let's make silly faces :)

Here's CJ's

So are are crazy for taking a 12 day old on vacation.  Well...he slept like a baby!  It was challenging, but it wasn't too bad either.  We had the opportunity to leave a day early to spend some time together as a family before the work part of vacation started for Nate.  Prior to leaving, we had talked up this animal park that I had taken Jacob to 2 years ago, he was able to feed giraffes and other animals, it was quite the over-grown, over-priced place (I believe I blogged about this...)  (side note, just linked that post from 2 years ago...WOW!  What a honey!)  Anyway, that park - which I had a hard time finding 2 years ago - was GONE - NOT THERE.  I knew I wasn't loosing it, but how could it just not be there.  Poor Jacob.  Talk about tears.  And a parental lesson learned there.  So we drove along figuring we could find something else to do and we agreed upon the deer park...freaky.  I don't like deer.  They freak me out - I have a weird deal thinking that I'm going to hit one some day, it's head will come through my window and start eating me...yes, I know they are herbivores, but still...this was a big deal.

Here's Jacob feeding the deer...

Here's Christian sleeping through it all...

We are staying at a water park, we will go to the water park - it might just take us a long time to get there.  Jacob had so much fun swimming, do the slides and just playing in the water, while I watched from the side lines making sure no one walked off with my precious boy in the stroller.  And well, quite frankly, it was loud and I would not be able to hear him cry if I was pool side and he was chair side.  The kid sleeps through anything!

We don't get too many opportunities for family photo time, but I wanted my boys in their matching shirts together because one of them is growing so fast, he's going to outgrow it soon - well - probably in a month or two, a lot faster than the other will...

Oh good, still happy brothers :)  Jacob wakes up and wants to snuggle his baby or give him kisses.  He's goes to check on him, just to check on him, brings his stool to the changing table to 'help', tells me when he thinks he needs a bottle or his pacifier.  He even took an Easter story to him, said, this is about Jesus, told the story of Jesus and told Christian that he needs to hear the story because he's not a believer yet.  WHAT....hold that diaper change...Jacob, are you a believer?  Yeah.  Who taught you to be a believer?  God did.  Is Christian a believer?  No, we have to tell him about Jesus.  I think little CJ is in good hands :)  His big brother has a lot to teach him.

first week as family of four

The first week home as a family of 4 was really crazzzzzy!  Honestly, our first night home with the little guy was horrible.  We really got no sleep.  The poor thing was in a strange place with strange noises and really, strange people.  Thankfully, the next night was better.


See, here we are before our night of no sleep - well, at home, I guess we didn't sleep well the previous night in our hospital room either!  Jacob came to check out his brother, but went back to grandpa and grandma's since we got home pretty late and needed to settle in a bit.  Which turned out to be a blessing since we could have had 4 people awake all night.

Such a proud big brother :)

Shucks, this picture turned...just crank your neck!  

First Sunday going to church as a family of four...we made it on time!  

Jacob helping put lotion on Christian.

They're a pretty good little pair!  Jacob wore the same shirt as Christian to his first time to church...and many weeks to follow...I squeezed Christian into it so he could wear it once!  

All clean after his first bath at home. 

We made it!  After some unforgettable moments, the entire hospital experience, driving home through rain followed by a rainbow, seeing Jacob meet his brother for the first time, and a diaper extravaganza.

We had many visitors who came with food and gifts.  AMAZING.