Jack got to meet MomMom and DadDad this week! What a wonderful blessing that Amelia and Jack can know their Great-Grands!

Four Generations

First Day!

I'm not sure who was more excited about her day, me or her, but today was Amelia's first day of school! 

Adjusting ...

These last couple of weeks have been relatively smooth thanks to friends and family. First, Jack is doing great! The kid sleeps pretty well at night which is always good and when he's awake... he's hungry. This boy is already eating us out of house. We've deemed his "cranky" time of day late afternoon/early evening only because he is usually awake the most and ALWAYS wanting food. We've also noticed a few other things about him-Amelia was quite predictable, scheduled and consistent from the start, not Jack. Things are much more of a guessing game with him, but usually, it's food he wants. He also loves to be with people. From the start with Amelia, she had no problem being put down and hanging out by herself ... again, not this kid. He really wants to be held tight and wants to be apart of what's going on.   

 Amelia has been great with him as well. Most of the time she likes to know where he is and what he's doing.  Willingly, she brings pacifers, blankets, bottles, and anything to his aid. I've been impressed with how she has immediately responded to him - like he has been here all along. Her adjustment as been more with us. Although pre-jack I joked Amelia could go most of the day without acknowledging me... she has always been great with self-play. Now she is very aware of the things Jack requires and has been much more needy,  much to our surprise. Now, she hasn't been grumpy or whiney or mopey, she just constantly wants to be involved, constantly wanting to play or read with us. So, thus the balancing act of soaking up the newborn and not making the 3 year old feel left out or forgotten. Slowly but surely, we are all adjusting.

 In attempts to make this time special for Amelia, too, we've been very intentional about what we are doing with her or as a family. Saturday morning we had a little girl time and she also took a trip to the library just her and Dad.

 I have been feeling GREAT! It has been amazing and an answer to prayer how normal I have felt since surgery. I still can't believe that I feel normal just 2 weeks out. My recovery with Amelia took an entire 6 weeks. My mom was able to be around most of the time the first week home while James was at work. She cleaned, cooked, folding laundry, vacuumed, lifted heavy things and occupied Amelia when I was too tired. I am so thankful for her help. James has been home all week this week which has also been wonderful. I still can't to anything (drive, lift) but am feeling great, we've had some wonderful family time and been able to figure this whole family of 4 thing out. We even took a trip to the Zoo!

 The favorite this time: the new bird exhibits where they all fly around you ... Amelia spent the whole time trying to catch them.

 We are enjoying the sweet moments this week and are eager to ease back into the "real" world now as four.

 our Monkey Man after his first bath ...

Sibs

We had a sweet first evening as a family of 4. I think we were all in need of some down time to settle in. And Dad and I survived the first night with an overtired 3 year old, a newborn who feels like he needs to eat every 2 hrs, a post C-section Momma, and a headache prone Dad. Anyway, we are adjusting and the sweet  new moments we get to have all together make it all worth it.

Jack Sterling

August first finally arrived after a seemingly endless, hot summer. And we were very excited to welcome Jack Sterling Humphrey into the world. He was born at 7:54 am weighing a giant 8lbs and 20 1/2 inches long. He has stolen the hearts of not only his parents but most of the nurses as well. He does remind us of his older sister but still not sure the answer to the "who does he look like" question. The best word to describe this boy: mellow. He has been calm and relaxed from the start. During his first bath, he didn't make one peep and just laid there checking things out. He's got so much dark dark hair ... his Papa is a little jealous.

Amelia seems to be doing ok with it all and seems more excited about getting to spend the night with grandparents and cousins. She seemed a little concerned and thrown off by the condition of Mom. But we've     had some sweet moments hanging out in bed together. She even wanted to get a bracelet to match mom, dad and baby jack.

Thank you for the well wishes and prayers. We are all doing pretty good and looking forward to what lines ahead.  Here are some pictures of our monkey man.

big sister!

after bath

 Aunt Julia and Ellie

 Lincoln who wants to teach him how to be a "good boy"

 she was very excited to finally get to feed him

 early morning snuggles... look at those full cheeks

Stay tuned for many more pictures :)

Friday night we had Amelia's much anticipated birthday party. I do feel like I had been planning it for months...
Amelia has been a big fan of Dr Seuss over the past year or so with a handful of favorite stories and characters. So, being unable to pick just one story, we had 4 different and her favorite stories represented in our Dr Seuss on the Loose party.

Thing one and Thing two were there: With some help from my mom, we were able to recreate some characters. 

 the cat. he was about a head taller than Meals. Of course we waited too long to try and get her to stand next to him for a picture ... there was too much excitement for her to come hold still for a few seconds.

 First table, Sneetches. Each station had corresponding food: star-shaped grilled cheese, "frankfurters" or bacon wrapped smokies, and star-belly or plain belly cake pops. 

 The Cat in the Hat table had thing one and thing 2 cupcakes, fruit skewers to look like the cat's hat, and blue jello cups with a swedish fish in each. 

 Green eggs and Ham: we had stuff for ham sandwiches with green "eggs" I made white chocolate discs with a green M&M on each to look like eggs since Amelia is allergic to eggs. The other side of the table is Horton. We had pink cotton candy, cheese cubes using pink pom pom toothpicks, and the star of the party: homemade elephant ears.

 Many party guests. 

 She was a little worried about the sparkler "3" candle.

 We also played pin the star on the Sneetch.

 Amelia beat her cousins!

 opening all her presents. She's still trying to understand the whole thing. She would have been content to open just one or two and play with that. 

 mittens? 

 Mom and Dad got her a new tricycle! Papa is helping her get the hang of the pedals.

 Dress up clothes, books, games, a toy horse, new clothes ... this kid got some fun new things

 wrestling with dad afterwards in new pjs from MomMom and DadDad (thanks!). 

We had a great third birthday party for our Amelia! Now we all anxiously await the arrival  of Jack ...
one week or less!

Three

 Happy Birthday to my crazy girl! THREE today! I was watching old videos with  her last night before bed, again, what a difference since last year. Besides not being much taller :) it is unbelievable to see how grown up she's become. We can't wait to see how God grows her this next year.

Celebrating tonight with friends and family with a Dr. Seuss party ... as long as Jack doesn't decide to crash his sister's party, pictures will follow!