Friday's Fave Five #17

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Living To Tell The Story

1. One ridiculously happy, content, ADORABLE baby....





...and a big brother who obviously adores him.





2. One-on-one time with Big Brother, who is evidently tired of seeing the camera out all the time. See the animals I made??? I'm pretty proud.

I do treasure time with Andrew these days and have to remind myself that he still needs some snuggle and play time with Mom, despite how independent he is! I need it, too...he is my baby, after all.



3. My friend who came over to watch Big Brother while I went out to have blood work done, then showed me how she makes blondies. YUM! She even washed some dishes for me!! So sweet.



4. An order for 17 robot-themed birthday cards for a friend got me back into "crafty mode." It was fun to get back into the card-making groove!



5. Day after day of fun play-dates...BECAUSE A FRIEND FROM CHURCH LOANED US THEIR VAN FOR THREE WEEKS! When I prayed last week for a van, I should've been more specific! :) We desperately need another vehicle but it's funny how God provides in the meantime!! Andrew loooves riding around town in the van and going new places with his baby brother.

We are so blessed! Hope you all had a terrific week as well!!

Latest & Greatest

Father's Day celebration at a local park. I know the boys had more fun than the dads did but we all had a great time. Here's my brother and his family, plus the three of us on the train.



Me and the boys on Father's Day. Yeah, I know it was Father's Day but I'm not dressed with someone else holding a camera very often!!



Having a friend over to show me how to make "blondies." I learned a few good tricks and they're delicious with pecans!



Making cool Lego creations with Big Brother. He calls this "exercise" and I have no idea why. Although for me, the brain power to do this IS a work out!!



Filling an order for 17 robot-themed birthday party invitations for an old friend. It was nice to "get my crafty on" after a long hiatus.



And basically enjoying every moment of THIS. Can you believe Little Man is 6 weeks old???





It's hard to want to do anything else all day other than try to get THIS response.



Yep, I'm in love!!

Friday's Fave Five #16

Read more entries over at

Living To Tell The Story

A day late! :)

Sorry I've been MIA for so long...every Sunday, I'd suddenly go, "Oh, no! I forgot my Friday post!!" Life comes atcha fast!!

#1 is of course that ETHAN IS FINALLY HERE!! :)

He arrived at 8:12a.m. on Tuesday, May 12th weighing 8 lbs. 6 oz. and measuring 21.5". I had an amazingly wonderful (natural) birth experience and he is perfectly healthy in every way. He's a great sleeper and eater (which is all he does, anyway) for which we feel very blessed. As of 2.5 weeks old, he has already gained a pound!

You can check out pictures from these prior posts:

Newborn/hospital

First days home

Week 1

Here's a good recent one of "Mommy's New Man" at about 11 days old.



#2 is that we've been house-sitting for my hubby's aunt, two blocks from our house, for the past 10 days. She has cable TV and a pool so we've been camping out over there and having a blast! It's been nice to have evenings of just hanging out and enjoying each other instead of the inevitable chores and to-dos at home.

Andrew has especially enjoyed his "night swims."



#3 is that we got to host Memorial Day at the aforementioned aunt's house for my folks and my brother and his family.

Here's Ethan in his patriotic outfit.



And my and my two boys!! Yeah, turns out I don't own a red shirt.



Here's the whole fam enjoying the pool. Perfect Memorial Day weather!



#4 is that I've been anxiety-free for a week now and have even had my appetite back for the past several days. Food tastes good again!! I am very grateful to be feeling back to my normal self. Now I've just got to focus on staying healthy and eating well for my hungry baby!

#5 is that I'm back to my pre-pregnancy weight already. That is, my pre-pregnancy weight from 3.5 years ago!!

The last two months of this pregnancy were marked by anxiety, profuse sweating and a lack of appetite. The only upside is that I dropped the actual pregnancy weight within a few days, and was back to my weight from 3.5 years ago (that was after a lot of effort on Weight Watchers, by the way) within a week or two. Of course I still have the "jelly belly" but at least I don't have a bunch of poundage to lose. Here's me, two weeks postpartum. Yes, I'm showing off a little.



There are about a million other wonderful things I could mention about the last week and we truly feel so very blessed to be in this season of life right now. I love my boys!!!

I look forward to catching up with all of your latest now!! :)

Baby, baby

Hi, all!! Nope, there's not a whole lot else going on over here except lookin' after this little guy and keeping Big Brother entertained. I doubt I'll be blogging about much else for a while!! :)

Here's some recent photos from days 6 & 7!

It's a naked baby!! He looks so big to me!! One week old.



His feet with Big Brother's.



Heading to the pediatrician, 1 week old.



Us! don't I look dopey with happiness?? :)



Little monkey face.



Sleeping so soundly. Don't worry, I only let him sleep on the Boppy when I'm right there with him.



8 days old. He looks so chubby to me in this picture! He's already changing--eek!!! Oh, how time flies...enjoy every moment, that's what I'm trying to do!

new baby pictures

First day home.



Brother love.



Puppy pajamas.



Adored by his brother.



Owl outfit.



"milk face"

Baby pictures!!

Here he is!!!



Just born!!



8 lbs. 6.4 oz.



Snuggle with Daddy



Andrew meeting his little brother for the first time.



My three boys.



Naked before his first bath.



Mama love in recovery.



Heading home!