How We're Doing: A glimpse of the last 2 1/2 weeks

I still want to share Jude's birth story and just continue to record on the blog the happenings of our life, but that is going to have to wait for another day. I am a busy Mama of two (I think I said that almost verbatim in the last post!) with a hard-working husband that is currently gone at least 60 hours a week, and by God's grace (seriously, I give Him all the glory for allowing me to bounce back so much quicker this time!) I feel like I am handling "things" (being at home alone 60 hours a week, the demands of life with a newborn and balancing time between two sweet boys, laundry, managing to take a shower most days, fixing meals, keeping James entertained and engaged, etc.) fairly well at this point but I have little time for blogging these days or really little time for anything unrelated to the care of my family and the running of our home during this season of my life.

But I thought I'd post a brief update on the last 2.5 weeks at home with Jude mostly through the pictures I've taken on my camera. I had probably taken ten times this amount of pictures with James at this point, but I guess that's the way life goes with the second child. (I also try to keep my phone handy to capture sweet moments with him when I can!)

Here's a little glimpse of our world:

James wanted to try on my pants. :)

James took this picture of Daddy preparing Jude for his first sponge bath.

James LOVES to help give Jude baths. 

Jude hasn't slept in his crib yet, but I laid him down to put clothes away in their room and thought I should snap a picture of his first time in the crib. :)

Daddy opening his Father's Day gifts. Father's Day wasn't too exciting this year - there wasn't a big celebration with a week old baby and Stephen currently serving as the GM at a restaurant  in Birmingham (loving on people in the place that God opened up for as little or as long as he has him/us there!) and having to work all day. Nana and Grandpa did come and bring us to eat at Daddy's restaurant though which went surprisingly well (James was great and Jude slept the whole time!) - never would have taken James out to eat at 9 days old!

Daddy opening one of his gifts - "Daddy's Stache" Jar that James decorated full of pretzel M&Ms for his desk at work. 

Jude didn't care too much for his first real bath, but he didn't cry for very long. He's a pretty laid back little guy most of the time. 

James is such a big helper for Mama! 

James and Daddy picked the first tomato off our plant. He was pretty proud! 

Early morning conversation with Mama! Pretty sure I have a very similar picture with James (with me in the same pajama pants - they're my favorite!)

We do a lot of rocking and reading in this chair! (This was after playing outside in the sprinkler!)

I wanted an ergo carrier with James but never purchased one because I already had several others. When I ran across one discounted more than 50% at TJ Maxx while pregnant with Jude, I knew that I wanted to get it! I have been wearing him constantly in this carrier and it has become my favorite one - by far! I used carriers quite a bit with James, but this time it feels like a necessity in order to hold Jude and attend to James (and get anything done around the house!). I'm a firm believer in giving my babies lots of in-arms time during those early months and years, and James was a baby that wouldn't settle for anything less. 

James with some of his summer reading prizes. He is determined to read 115 books so that he will earn a trophy at the summer reading finale. We have read 93 books in two weeks!

James and Jude trying out the Baby Eintein's play mat. James was saying the sweetest things to Jude while he laid  beside him.

:)

First Tummy Time!

Things are going really well for us. James is really starting to adapt to life with a little brother, and he seems to be dealing with jealousy much better and acting out much less lately. He is seeming so much more grown up now and his legs seem to be 10 times longer since Jude was born. He is enjoying being a helper and doing many tasks for himself with pride. Of course, there are times he asks me to carry him or hold him too - and I usually do when I can. (He won't want to be held forever... the days go by so quickly!)

Jude is eating well and growing (wearing NB clothing for a while longer and probably quickly approaching nine pounds), sleeping well so far (usually giving us one four or even five hour stretch at night), and seems pretty content and easy-going so far. He looks a lot like James to me, but also has differences in appearance as well: particularly lots of dark hair and eyes that are already looking brown to me. He seems to sleep and poop more than his big brother did (we'll start cloth diapers as soon as we aren't changing 12 "poopies" a day!). His cry is much softer and less demanding than James' was at this point - he even has a little squeak (I call him "my little squeaks" often!) that is distinctly his. James always says "I love that part of his cry!" I do too! He has big, alert eyes like James and he loves to stare at our photo collage on the wall just like James did as a baby (don't know how I remember that!). He also loves turning towards his Mama and studying me when he hears my voice - which, of course, I don't mind one bit. Jude also seems to be spitting up way less than James, and right now it looks like he is not going to have the same reflux problems that James did - I am so thankful! We have had one health scare with him that is not behind us yet - at 10 days old a blister appeared on his lower abdomen that really concerned me and tripled in size in 24 hours. It was cultured and the results came back as MRSA (likely picked it up in the hospital.). He has been on an antibiotic ointment for about a week, and thankfully it looks like we caught it early enough that it did not get more serious. We will follow-up with the doctor on Monday, but please join us in praying for his complete healing (and that it would not  spread to us as well!)

Newborn Photos

Our "newborn photos" with James were really more like one month photos, but we still have some precious photos of him (taken by a church member) that I will always cherish. I wish we had taken some with him a little earlier, but honestly, my recovery was so much more difficult with James that we really were not out and about with him very much until he was about a month old.

Fortunately, our neighbor that lives two doors down has a photography business and offered to take some pictures of Jude at a few days old. She is very talented and ridiculously affordable (don't tell her!), and I am so happy with the pictures that she got of Jude and of our family. It was great to be able to just feed Jude and then walk over to her house and have her capture some precious pictures of him. (It was also nice that James could stay at home and have some special time with Daddy and not have to sit and watch Jude take all of these pictures and add to any jealousy that he might be feeling as he adjusts to life with a new baby.) She came over to our house later that night to get a few of the family as well. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites on the blog. We will be updating lots of picture frames in our house very soon!

Post Five: First Few Days at Home!

If a picture is really worth a thousand words, I guess I've "written" quite a few these last several posts. Thanks for letting me share, in pictures, about our first few days with Jude. This will be the final post full of pictures before I return to my normal blogging about our everyday life (which is guess will still be a lot about life with a new baby for a while!) 

Our first morning at home: James with Buddy (that we made at Build-a-Bear for him as a baby) and Jude with Cubby (that James made for Jude at Build-a-Bear)

First Target Trip

 Documenting "Firsts": James' first time skating and Jude's first walk:

Love that little face in this new baby item - the rock and play sleeper. I wish I would have had this chair with James as well. It has been so helpful and we will definitely get our money's worth out of it. 

Trying to beat the heat with some water table play. James has also scored quite a few gift cards since Jude has been born, so he has been indulged a little more than usual but this has definitely come in handy in this heat when we can't get out and about quite as much as we used to. 

First pediatrician trip at 4 days old. (James would not scoot closer to get in the picture with us, but I'm glad he still made it in the shot anyway.)

Post Four: Hospital Moments and Heading Home!

I will always be thankful for how every single staff member at Shelby treated us during our hospital stay. The staff was especially kind to James and even let him help give Jude his first bath and help footprint him. Many of the nurses would say "oh, is that little blonde boy yours?" when they would come into the hospital room and see his frog potty (yes! we brought it!) in the bathroom and tell me about how their encounters with him. My anesthesiologist and I even discussed the sovereignty of God while he gave me the epidural and I shared with him a small portion of our story and the meaning of Jude's name.

We will never forget Meesha! She was so kind to all of us and such an advocate for the patient. 

We found this banner at Walmart for $1 that said "baby shower" and printed out new letters to cover it with Jude's name.

First story time with both of my boys.

Taking our Jude home!

"Mama Sue" is a longtime friend of Stephen's family and helped with Jude's delivery. She was a mentor to my mother-in-law and kept Stephen in the church nursery as a baby. 

He loves his thumbs!

Not so happy about being put down.

So ready to take these boys HOME!