Sweet Feet

Love me some baby feet! Who doesn't love those sweet little piggies? I mean, come on! They are perfect and soft and tiny and they don't stink....yet.

And what a better way to provide some scale as to how tiny they really are than to put them next to some bigger feet. Like maybe his big brothers' feet. Yes.

Eli, Jude, and Jonah circa 2013

Eli and Jude circa 2010

one month old

Theo is one month old! What? Wait! Hard not to join the masses and ask for time to slow down or stop as the first days fly by. Theo is a sweet and easy going baby who still sleeps a lot and is mostly content. Life with a newborn is never easy, but all things considered, the month went pretty smoothly. 

Here are some fun facts about Theo at the one month mark: 

He is already growing and changing. Newborns do that too so quickly....and since he was a big{ger} baby to begin with, he seems to be getting bigger even faster than his brothers. 

I have no idea how much he weighs or how long he is, but I do know that he was only in newborn diapers for about 2 weeks...if that. He is officially in 0-3 month clothes now too.

tiny parts that won't be tiny for long

This boy makes the BEST old man faces!

Doing my best to cherish this time and at the same time not be over dramatic that it is going by too quickly....but it is! Love sniffing his head and stroking his sweet little hands and feet. Such a precious little gift. An upside to growing up is that there will just be more of him to kiss on and love. See? Silver lining. We are all loving every ounce of him.  Love our little Theo.

For fun: Jude at 4 weeks & Jonah at 1 month

Labor Day Weekend

My sister, Lindsey and her family planned to be in town for Labor Day weekend and wanted to spend most of it at the beach. This overlapped with our plans to try to get to the coast for the long weekend. I am so glad it worked out, and that I managed to get this crew packed and loaded up for our first trip as a family of six. 

We joined the rest of our family down there late Friday night, and when we woke up, it was cousin fun time! Our four boys and their two girl cousins. 

morning snuggles with Aunt KiKi....and pacis

We snuck in a few walks down to the beach with Theo, so he has officially had his first trip to the beach. You can see how much he liked it....

The glare of the sun, the feel of the subtle breeze, and the sound of the waves knocked him out every time.

Overall, Theo was a champ on his first out-of-town trip. Mommy felt overwhelmed at times trying to balance it all, but thankfully Daddy and the rest of the family were willing and eager to offer helping hands and to keep the big boys happy on the beach.

So glad we pulled it off and that we got to play all weekend with this sweet family.

(pic stolen from Aunt Z)

Aunt Kristi and Uncle Steve headed back early to spend some time with Steve's family in from out of town, and we forgot to take a cousin picture before they left.  Boo. 

I loved watching the boys create memories with their cousins this weekend. And I am confident that this was just the beginning. 

These boys love their family and love the beach. 

Meeting Theo

Theo has met a lot of his family these first few weeks. So far, everyone is as smitten with him as we are. 

Getting his first cuddles  from Grandma

Cousin Kelly Claire loved checking out all of Theo's little baby features

Pap Pap and Gramma Lil came up to meet our Theo

Sayler loves cousin Theo
(Stole this picture from Aunt Z...so glad she and Uncle Matt B. got to come in town for Labor Day and meet Theo)

Other News and Notables

Life keeps rolling right along. All kinds of fun, big, and not-so-big things happen around here. Mix all of these things in with healthy doses of playtime, screen time, homework, and whining and you get an idea of what a day at our house might look like. 

~ Jude has started reading books and isn't afraid to try to read new ones ~

~ Theo had a newborn photo shoot with Mommy ~

~ Jonah is loving his Mommy and Me time when big brothers are off at school and Theo is napping ~

~ Eli got a massive haircut ~

(a little sooner than he planned after getting 3 huge globs of play slime stuck in his hair...don't ask...)

~ Theo has decided to love the pacifier....even if it is a pink one ~

(we have since bought some blue ones too)

~ Mommy and Jonah have picnics before the brothers come home from school ~

~ Eli is super into Greek, Roman, and even Egyptian mythology these days thanks to the author Rick Riordan ~
...so much so that he has taken to creating his own togas

~ Jude has become very "stylish" and likes to pick out his own clothes ~

~ Theo took his first bath ~

Never a dull moment!

Our New Normal

We welcomed Theo home and quickly started figuring out what our new normal would look like. It has taken a few weeks to feel settled. Things today don't look too much different than they did on Theo's first day home. There is a lot of nursing the baby, cuddling the baby, changing the baby, sleeping(!!), and just sitting and soaking up the marvelousness that is the newborn stage. 

This means Mommy is out of commission a lot, but the boys seem to be handling it well. Has it been picture perfect? Nope. Nowhere close, but the boys seem to truly adore their newest brother and dote on him when they can. The acting out has been towards mom, dad, and each other...and it isn't much more than it was before Theo joined the ranks. 

Eli has taken on his role as "Mommy's helper." Jude likes to watch everything I do. And Jonah is all up in Theo's business anytime he cries. "Oh no! Mommy!! Feo's crying!!!"

Sadly, I can't sit and snuggle Theo all day long or stare at him while he sleeps...though I would if I could. Trust me. 

Instead, life goes on! There are still 3 awesome big brothers that need their mommy (and their daddy!) too. There are daily drop-offs and pick-ups to and from school. There are chores that need to be done. There are errands that need to be run. It makes the time fly by. Baby Theo is growing and changing daily. I don't like how fast the days weeks are flying by. 

1 week old

2 weeks old

3 weeks old

We are making it work. The *new normal* may not always be pretty, but we have a lot of cute to help us through...

I can't get enough of these little piggies!