I got the funnest phone call from Allison asking us when a good weekend for her to come visit us! So she and baby Jane flew out here and spent the week with us! It was SO FUN! We got so spoiled to get to know Allison better. My kids LOVED getting her full attention because she only had ONE of her 4 babies with her.
Reesa loved that Allison rode next to her in the car. So lucky!
We took her to Maymont Park and it was just BEAUTIFUL! The colors were so vibrant. We even braved the Maymont Mansion... you had to stand on the "right" carpet, stay in the same room, no touching ANYTHING, etc. Half way through the tour guide asked if anyone wanted to leave, now would be a good time. Since the tour is only 30 minutes, and there were only 2 other young couples, we knew who she was asking... Thanks to Allison's help she managed Reesa who was so impressed with all the new stories of fairy's and princesses Allison told her. Reesa LOVED baby Jane. She loved to hold her, talk to her, make her smile etc. She kept telling me Jane was her friend AND her cousin.
Mitchell and Jane just 11 days apart.
Allison making cinnamon rolls with Reesa. YUM!!!
Since we both had babies, we went to an infant massage class, walked around the lake at our house, cooked and cleaned, and Jake spoke in church on Sunday. Then Monday Allison and I went shopping at Cary Town, and Jake took the kids to the children's zoo at Maymont. It was so fun, and I feel so lucky that Allison would make that effort to come and visit our family! It was so great to have her around. We love you and miss you already!
We decided to take our Christmas photos today because the weather was GREAT! Mitchell was so good he slept almost the whole time. I love this shot we got of Jake and Mitchy. There were 187 photos on my camera to sort through... we got a lot of these and more of this... lots and lots of this... and this, and finally we found two that could work and one that I think works. AHHH so hard, but we look like a normal happy family, right? So if you get this photo for Christmas, act surprised! Thank you Chelsey for helping us out! You did a great job, oh and Brinley too!
Where has all the time gone? I can't believe my little one is now five months old! Mitchell is getting stronger everyday. He can pull his head forward to sit up, brings his hands to center, doesn't reach but can grasp objects... what else? He weighs 12 pounds. (sorry the pics aren't that great I did them quickly with 2 little helpers just for his 5 month celebration)
no smiles yet, but I could get him to look towards me by calling his name
I put my foot in this picture so you could have a point of reference.
Here he is showing off his strength from tummy time
I know this isn't the best picture of Mitchell, but this is what he looks like most of the time. He's fussing, but not uncontrollably... just enough to feel like you need to hold him, so you do, ALL DAY! Mitchell is such a sweet baby. He makes you work for his love, but when you earn it, he'll give it. He'll sleep a good 4-5 hour stretch at night. He loves warmth, being snuggled, bounced, rocked, and patted. He's a great conservationist and talks all the time. He is always happy to have his diaper changed, so we do it maybe too often.
We're still a little concerned about his vision. The neurologist wanted us to see a pediatric neuro- ophthalmologist, but we couldn't find one in Richmond. This doctor would specialize in brain eye development. We know that Mitchell has all the right structures to see, we're just wondering why his brain isn't letting him. So we're going to just see a pediatric ophthalmologist in town and see if that answers our questions. Our visit is on Monday and I think about it all the time. What if he wore glasses? wouldn't that just be too cute?
Happy Halloween! We spent 7 hours on Saturday with doctors to find that Jansen has patchy pneumonia and acute otitis media! (early caught pneumonia and an ear infection) They gave Jansen an IV and I was so worried about him keeping it in. They had this big black male nurse practically lay on Jansen to hold him down while they pricked him and when he got up, Jansen had what looked like a cast on his arm so he couldn't pull it out. So sad I didn't have a camera, it was really cute! They gave him antibiotics and fluids (to keep from dehydrating). KidMeds was awesome! (It's like an ER for kids only) They gave our kids popsicles, juice boxes, bubbles, stickers and suckers. Jansen fell asleep in my arms while everything was delivered and he is doing GREAT! So I didn't think Jansen should go out, but when he heard the front door open he came running, CRYING, to not be left out. So I threw on his costume over his jammies, and let him go to the 5 houses in our circle and he was in heaven! Reesa wore this little cat costume and this is the ONLY picture we took. Sorry Mitchell and Jake! After we did our circle, we dropped off the boys and Chelsey came over with Brinley and Rylee and the girls went out. CHELSEY is a die hard! She wanted to go everywhere. It was so fun. Reesa is loving having older cousins to show her the ropes. What a fun Halloween!
We got so spoiled to get to know Allison better. My kids LOVED getting her full attention because she only had ONE of her 4 babies with her.
Reesa loved that Allison rode next to her in the car. So lucky!
We took her to Maymont Park and it was just BEAUTIFUL! The colors were so vibrant.
We even braved the Maymont Mansion... you had to stand on the "right" carpet, stay in the same room, no touching ANYTHING, etc. Half way through the tour guide asked if anyone wanted to leave, now would be a good time. Since the tour is only 30 minutes, and there were only 2 other young couples, we knew who she was asking... Thanks to Allison's help she managed Reesa who was so impressed with all the new stories of fairy's and princesses Allison told her.
Reesa LOVED baby Jane. She loved to hold her, talk to her, make her smile etc. She kept telling me Jane was her friend AND her cousin.
Mitchell and Jane just 11 days apart.
Allison making cinnamon rolls with Reesa. YUM!!!
Since we both had babies, we went to an infant massage class, walked around the lake at our house, cooked and cleaned, and Jake spoke in church on Sunday. Then Monday Allison and I went shopping at Cary Town, and Jake took the kids to the children's zoo at Maymont. It was so fun, and I feel so lucky that Allison would make that effort to come and visit our family! It was so great to have her around. We love you and miss you already!
Sleeping Mitchell
