Surprise: New Blog!

Last week, in the middle of uploading photos from our Columbus Day trip to Amish country, Blogger informed me that I had reached the limit on free photo storage. Bummer! Brandon found out that Wordpress offers about 3 times as much photo storage, so we switched over there. 

So far, I don't really like Wordpress. It seems much more complicated to use than Blogger, but it's probably just me, I'm not exactly a computer whiz. It's taken us a week to even figure it out and get a basic "theme" that's easy enough to use. What the heck is a "widget" anyways??? I much prefer Blogger's simplicity and lack of options. Either way, I'm too cheap to pay $2.50 a month to keep using Blogger. So here's the link to our new blog:

http://ofamilley.wordpress.com/

Happy Boy

Another video of Elliott showing off his sweet little smiles. Best part of my day :-)

Nats Game

We had originally planned to go to a baseball game while my sisters were here but it was rained out, so we finally got to take the boys last night. Jack and Cullen LOVED it! The Nationals won too, apparently they have the best record in baseball this season- who knew?

Sometimes, I think Cullen's lack of ability to control his emotions can be a bad thing (like when he's angry or disobedient) but sometimes it's one of my favorite things about him. When this kid is excited, the whole world knows! :-)

Jackson shoveling down popcorn... which he then barfed up all over his bed and himself the next morning. I should have known something was wrong when he said to me at bedtime "Mommy, my tummy hurts. It's all full of popcorn." I told him to go to sleep and that he'd feel better in the morning. Wrong.

Elliott did great at his first baseball game!

Not sure what his problem is. He's probably just mad that the popcorn's gone.

I am just now noticing that Jack is eating popcorn in like every single picture. No wonder he got sick from it...

Look Who's Smiling!

Elliott's been giving me small smiles for about a week now. At first I wasn't sure if he was really smiling or not, but he does it so often now that he's convinced me. I gave him a bath this morning while his older brothers ate breakfast and he was smiling so much! He sure does love his bathtime!


 

Tummy Time

 The only reason it's that quiet is because this was taken during his big brothers' nap time.

Craziness

A typical night around here

Jack and Cullen sure do miss Violet!

Elliott

I can't believe he's almost 6 weeks old already! How did that happen?!? A few things we've noticed about our boy:

* Very laid back... most of the time. He certainly has his fussy moments (or hours) though and I still haven't exactly figured out how to best soothe him during these times. It happens because he's overtired and can't put himself to sleep or stay asleep very long. I'm currently re-reading all my baby books and getting a refresher course on how to soothe a crying baby.

*Very alert. He is much more alert than I ever remember Jack or Cullen being. Even in the hospital, I noticed him following Brandon's voice when he walked across the room. At 2 weeks, he followed my hand for a few minutes as I waved it around his face. He will move his entire head to look around and see where noises are coming from. His favorite things to stare at are lights and faces.

* Loves to be around people and be held. He routinely starts crying when we're all in the kitchen eating dinner and he's been left alone in the living room. Once somebody picks him up and brings him to the table though, he's happy as a clam. And there's only been a handful of times when he hasn't been nursed or rocked to sleep. I really need to get working soon on this whole "drowsy but awake" sleep technique or I may be in trouble.

* Has incredibly good head/neck control for a newborn. From the day he was born, Elliott was flinging his head all around trying to look at stuff. It freaked me out at first, so I had to learn to keep a good hold on his neck at all times. Now he can hold his head up steadily for a few seconds at a time. He's also already rolled over from his tummy to his back a few times.

*Loves his tummy time. He practically does a cute little push-up and holds his head up to see what's going on. When he gets tired though, he usually just lays there calmly looking around. Sometimes, I put him on his tummy to calm him down when he's fussy too and he usually falls asleep.

*Great eater. When we left the hospital he'd dropped down to exactly 7 pounds. By his 2 week appointment though, he was back up to 8 pounds, 15 ounces. And  last week at his 4 week appointment, he was 10 pounds, 9 ounces. He seems like a giant to me compared to Jack and Cullen who didn't reach 10 pounds until they were 8 weeks. He wants to eat all the time too. Thankfully, he does go for longer stretches at night, but during the daytime he often still wants to eat every 2 hours.

*Light sleeper. After he's fallen asleep on somebody's chest, it's hit or miss whether he'll stay asleep if you lay him down. And he will often wake himself up when he moves around in his sleep. I've found loud white noise (like the vacuum), a tight swaddle and the swing to be the best help for getting him to sleep longer. I'm considering getting one of those noise machines though.

*Still has bluish/gray eyes but I'm sure they'll turn dark brown like his brothers' eyes soon.

*Loves bathtime. Unlike his brothers who screamed hysterically, he didn't cry at all during his first bath. His eyes got really wide and he splashed around a little with his arms- it was obvious he was totally enjoying himself. I love babies fresh out of the bath, it's one of my favorite smells in the world!

*LOVES being outside. Which is perfect because his older brothers do too. Our new afternoon routine is to take a blanket out to the front yard and sit for a couple hours while J & C ride bikes and play with the neighbor kids. Elliott could stare at the sky forever!

Jack and Cullen still adore their brother. So do Brandon and I :-) 

Cousins & Sisters

Renee, Anna and Violet have been here visiting us for the past week. Last Friday, we took the kids to the zoo for the day which can be summed up in just one word... craziness. I suppose trying to take 4 kids under 4 anywhere at all is crazy in the first place, and the zoo is certainly no exception. One thing I've learned on my parenting journey so far: you've just got to laugh at the chaos and roll with the punches. If you can do this, you will actually enjoy your time with your kids, despite all the frantic, exasperating situations you find yourself in. This, combined with a lot of prayer, gets me through the day. And I really do have a lot of fun with my kids :-)

We also took Violet to our favorite playground.

Cullen

Jack

Auntie Anna with all four of her niece and nephews.

It almost looks like Elliott is smiling in this picture

Two pretty girls

Anna and Cullen

Vi and I

At the airplane park after we dropped Auntie Anna off

Like mother, like daughter. Seriously, its a little creepy how much Violet looks like Renee as a kid. Sometimes, I feel like I'm seeing my sister as a child all over again.

I'm a Lucky Lady

Sometimes I still pinch myself when I think of how blessed I am to be called 'Mommy' by these three boys! God is so good!

Last Days of Summer

Our last trip to the pool this summer!

We went to Annapolis with Auntie Rachel when she was here. It was absolutely perfect, gorgeous weather that day! We had such a great time walking around, it's one of our favorite places to go.

Of course, we got some ice cream before we left.

And a couple pics of Elliott, just for good measure :-)

My other sisters and Violet are here now so there's not much time to blog with 4 kids under 4 running around our little house. We are having lots of fun though- the cousins are so cute together!

At Last!

Well, one of my summer goals for Jack and Cullen was for them to learn to swim. And with just a few days left until the pool closed, they finally did! It didn't look promising at the beginning- they refused to even get their eyes wet. But persistence paid off! Here's video proof:

This one is Cullen. (Don't mind the weird lines in the video. Our camera is old and something about the glare from the sun causes those sometimes.)

Cullen again

Jackson

Now if only they'd remember how next summer!

Fun With Nana

My mom was able to fly out and visit us for the first time since the twins were born. It was so good to have her here and see what our everyday life is like here. We took her to the splash park of course - so sad it's closed for the year now!

I am loving my new Ergo! It's seriously the best!

Elliott just chilling out on the couch. He could sit here for over an hour just staring out the window. I love this kid!

At our favorite playground

And wouldn't you know, with less than a week left until the pool closes, Jack and Cullen finally learned to swim! Like, really swim! I'm so darn proud of them!

We took Nana to the Dulles Air & Space Museum to see all the awesome airplanes. Here they are in front of the space shuttle Discovery.

And here they are with their Dad in front of the SR-71 Blackbird. This is their favorite plane, Brandon's too :-)

It was an exciting week around here. Thanks Mom for coming all the way here and helping us out. My clean house especially thanks you too! Also, a huge thank you to Renee and Jon for taking care of Grandma for the week so Mom could visit us! We know it was hard work so thank you for loving all of us and doing that!