Month ONE

The Bros:

It amazes me all that they can do now; especially Champ. Time with him has just flown by. Even though now, Bill and I feel like we really are more relaxed about everything and enjoying the infant time tremendously, it just seems like we have blinked and it is half gone. Soon Champ will be 5 months, JR is now well into "3" and Little Dude is about to be 5 in just a few short weeks. Most of our little friends start school this year, so it will be an odd transition for all of us (me included) to get used to not having mid day play dates anymore.

Almost time to start solid food with Champ, too. Where does the time go?

Month FOUR

Four months! Can it  have already been that long? It feels like Champ JUST came home AND has been a part of our family forever; all at the same time.

When I started the photo session, this is what I got:

Champ was not happy at all, so I was a bit scared I wouldn't be able to get my fun monthly photos done (and I realize too that if it didn't happen today, I would likely forget to do it another day....) Luckily though, once I broke out the blocks, Champ got super happy, per is usual self:

Then he was all cuteness with fun poses and hand moveemnt:

He is so full of energy and personality now. Tons of smiles, rolling (his first full roll was on the 16th of July!) And he is starting to scoot around on his tummy.He is in love with his little soft books, and still enthralled with his brothers. I am waiting for him to just jump up and start running after them; I know it is coming soon!

Our sweet boy, getting bigger by the minute!

Month ONE

July 1st photo; I can't believe how big everyone is getting:

Month THREE

Champ is three months now! He is smiling now and LOVES bath time. He has also become very VERY aware of his big brothers. I am convinced Champ is taking notes so he can quickly try to join in the fun!

Champ is also starting to roll a bit, though he looks very surprised when he gets to his side, and he hasn't quite made it all the way to his tummy yet. Soon though! He has also found his thumb.

After this weekend there will be no more nights in the bassinet in our room, as we are passing the bassinet on to my sister in law, Corina, who is due with a little boy in October! I am terribly sad to not have Champ sleep in our room anymore, but for now Bill is letting me keep the doors to our bedrooms open, so I can hear him just in case Champ needs me during the night.

Did I mention he is already basically sleeping through the night? He gets up around 4 to eat, and then sleeps again until about 8. OH, and bedtime is 10, so we are doing great!

Month ONE

My three cute boys posing so nicely (for once)

I can't believe it is June already. In a few days I'll be 30 (gasp!) and already Champ is 2 months old. Plus all of a sudden the other two have become KIDS, not just preschoolers or little kids, but full fledged KIDS.

They are just ginormous to me now.

Bill and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary (Yippie!) with a night free from kids (double YIPPIE!) and now for the past few days I have only had little Champ here, while Little Dude and JR have stayed at Grandma and Grandpa's.

Did I mention they suddenly seem so big to me? Talking to them on the phone yesterday didn't help any.

Anyways, I took this photo right before we left for their stay at the in-laws, since I knew I wouldn't see them til later this week. The kids got all into the photo shoot this time, with the nice one up above, and the silly face fest going on in the photos below. Enjoy!

JR (L) and Little Dude (R) thinking up poses

This is more the type of photo pose I usually get

These are "mean" faces; I tried not to laugh

These are "sad" faces; again I tried not to laugh.

This was taken as they contemplated what poses to do for me. They are such a team and I love they are such good friends. Champ is just putting up with it all.














So, yes, I usually never get all three looking at me, and generally one is making a weird face while the another starts to scream. This was supposed to be silly faces, but JR wasn't into it as much as Little Dude.




JR thought up mean faces-I can't actually tell if he is smiling or growling....hmmmm. I love how Little Dude added "claws" to his mean face-it kinda looks like Champ is making "claws" too, which Little Dude thinks is great.








Sad faces, which just make me want to laugh.

Month Two

Out little guy is two months! How did the time go by so quickly?

I realized today that I have settled into quite a nice routine, and somehow appear to have it all together. I guess that is half the battle, right? Today at the doctor for Champ's two month shots, I ran into another mom who was in awe that I had three kids under the age of 5, and had somehow gotten them to the office all by myself.

She and her husband had her 6 month old and her 4 year old little girl, and admitted they couldn't imagine taking both kids alone anywhere.

And while I completely understand the sense of being overwhelmed and wanting help, I have to say, a little part of me wanted to be smug about how well behaved the boys were (they even held the doors to the doctor's office for all of us ladies), but I know that being smug about their behavior is the quickest way to get them to show me that I truly have little control over how they decide to act.

In any case, it was fun to talk to the couple and their little girl, who seemed pretty chill, to me. According to mom and dad, she is impossible to take anywhere-I wanted to laugh and tell them to wait til their boy got older and started playing super heroes, then they would see wild, but I didn't.

I just nodded sympathetically and listened, because, really, isn't that what we all need? Just and ear now and then to let us know we are doing a good job and raising our kids OK? Reassurance that it's OK for our kids to not be perfectly behaved every second, and to hear other battlefield tales from other parents in similar situations?

I think it is important to let other parents know that we can't really compare ourselves to each other-we and our children are all different. All we can do is offer support when it is needed.

On that note, here is cuteness:

Two months, just crazy how quickly that went by.

ABC Easy As 123

Somehow an entire month has gone by since Champ made his debut. It has gone by very quickly and at the same time, has felt pretty normal.

Some things are crazy still. Like the fact it takes me 2 hours to get everyone dressed and out the door somewhere.....or the fact that laundry has somehow grown by a factor of 20 to the 10th power. Literally.

But, I am getting everyone to preschool on time, and getting dinner done, and grocery shopping done. And let us not forget just simply keeping everyone alive. That really is a feat in and of itself with two boys that are rough and tough and want nothing more than to hug their baby bro a LITTLE too tightly.

Month One

We made it a month! How did a month go by so very quickly? It really came as a shock when I realized that Champ was a month old already! So, as any dutiful parent of three would do, I pulled out my camera and took a ton of photos, in hopes that made up for the lack of photos taken all month long.

I am going to do my best to get a photo of all the boys together each month, and I'll show another group shot on the first of May, as I am going to try to get in the routine of doing it the first of each month. I've had a lot of online friends to this and it has been super cool to see all their kids change though the years and I'd really love to have the same type of photos.

So, without further ado, here are photos of Champ at One Month old: