Staycation Part 1

We went on a completely spontaneous staycation!!!  It was fun.  Sometimes it's fun to just make a plan and go for it.  Chad really wanted to see Danny Gokey at a county fair on Wednesday night.  He had to be down in the city on Wednesday though and usually he doesn't get back until late...except this Wednesday he was done early and was home by 1:00!  I told him we were all going to go to the fair since he was home early and I knew he would be heart broken if we didn't go.

Luckily, my mom was at our house and helped up pack up because we didn't have much time before we wanted to be on the road.  We did Priceline to book a hotel room and hopped in the car only about 15 minutes past the time when we wanted to leave.

We did the fair on Wednesday night where we met Danny Gokey!  Chad, of course, has met him multiple times, I have met him once, but neither of the boys had met him.  Jordan knows all his songs because  Chad listens to the CD so much and was excited to sing along.  It was awesome that we all got to meet him...AND he actually held (our) Danny!  Super fun.

Jordan just helped me upload these pictures and pointed to each person in this picture and said: "Mommy, Jordan, Danny our baby, and Danny Gokey!"

Stranded at the Drive-In

Our friends invited us to go to the Drive-In on Friday night.  I was nervous to go because it has been sooooooooo hot lately and let me tell you, breastfeeding when it's hot, outside, under a hooter hider is not really my idea of fun.  Chad convinced me to go though and I'm so glad we all went.  I would have been sad to have missed it.  

On the way, we stopped at the cutest little candy/chocolate/ice cream shop.  It was great.  I remember having passed it before but I had never been inside.  It was awesome to see Jordan's whole face just light up at the sight of all the candy...but it was even more fun to see how excited Chad got.  (Not that I was completely giddy myself...)  We loaded up and then headed over to the drive-in.  

It took a while for the sun to go down so the movie could start but the kids had fun playing in the back of one of our cars.  Jordan has been getting together with Alex and Maddy almost weekly for two years now I would say...it's crazy now that I think of it, but it makes sense when I think about how close they are.  It seems like every time we go somewhere Jordan asks if Maddy and Alex are going to be there!  

They wouldn't smile for a picture but I think this is just about equally as cute!

Chad was teasing them and giving them high fives through the window and acting like they were killing him.  He is so fun to watch with the kids, he just cracks them up every time.  It's kind of hard to see Jordan, but he's there, too.  Love it!

Jordan and Alex

My sweet Peanut!!!!

My little string bean was there, too!!!!!!  He slept the whole time!  (...but I did have to feed him once and everyone was lucky it cooled down so I wasn't too cranky about it...)

We got great spots and were pretty close to the screen.  We saw Despicable Me which I loved.  I didn't take any pictures of the concession stand but it was built low into the ground and it reminded me of the movie Grease.  Love that movie!

I just have to add that if you haven't been to a drive-in movie recently...or ever...or ever that you could remember (like me) then I definitely recommend searching out your closest drive-in and heading over there.  While you're searching, see if you can find a chocolate/candy/ice cream shop on the way!

The Green Monster!!!!!

My friend Emily from Canada was talking about Green Monsters and I finally decided to see what it was all about.  We are already a smoothie family and have been making smoothies since before Jordan was born...but we've never made GREEN smoothies!  Basically, Green Monsters are smoothies made with spinach or kale.  Chad made a Target run last night and this morning we whipped up our first Green Monsters!

Chad made me the virgin and then made his with strawberries and blueberries.  We were kind of scared to see what the spinach would taste like but it was really good!  It tasted like banana milk to me.  Super yum!  I could totally see myself drinking one of them every morning.  So far today I have felt great and I do feel like I have extra energy - that's something considering I was up twice in the middle of the night to feed Danny! 

Jordan had his with banana bread from Gramma!

Party of Four

I am having too much fun taking pictures of Danny and our family of four!  We were having fun before he got here, but life is just different now that he is here.  I love seeing Jordan treat him so sweetly.  He always comes in to check on him first thing in the morning and he wants to know if he's awake and kisses him before he leaves to go anywhere.  It's awesome.  

It's interesting how much our life is the same and how much life does go on with a new baby.  It sounds weird, but I had no idea what to expect as far as how Jordan would react to Danny and how Danny would fit into our lives.  I have to say there are some crazy times - when there are lots of visitors, when Jordan isn't getting enough attention, when Danny is starving nonstop - but overall, things are going well.  I miss getting to be doing fun things with Jordan and Chad but I'm glad I'm not out in the heat at the same time...and it's so nice to get things straightened up around the house and to snuggle with Danny.  When Jordan is home, it's nice that I can put Danny down after he eats and he'll sleep while I play Yahtzee with Jordan or play computer games.  Chad and I haven't had too much down time for ourselves, but when we have (when my parents or our friends, the Garneau's, have taken Jordan - THANK YOU!) it has been nice to sit together on the couch and watch a show or to talk about how cute our sons are.  One thing I absolutely love is coming home from a trip out when both boys have fallen asleep and I carry Danny in the house with his carseat and Chad carries Jordan in.  It's amazing to me that we now have two boys and how awesome it feels!   

Danny lost his umbilical cord 

and has a belly button now!

Jordan showing Danny how to do a puzzle!

Just plain cuteness!

Out for a walk!  I got Danny all bundled up in my Moby wrap that I love!  Of course, Jordan didn't want his picture taken!

Rockin' and Rollin'

I know it's crazy to believe, and I wouldn't even believe it myself if I hadn't witnessed it FOUR times!  Yesterday, Danny rolled over three times in a row from his stomach to his back and then he did it again this morning.  He's been sleeping a lot today but he did do it this morning.  Here's the video so you believe me! He had been on his stomach for a while and he did start with both hands in front of him and he first got his arm under him and then rolled over.  On my honor!  Oh, and the video takes a while, he doesn't flip until the end so you have to bear with my video-ing until the end if you want to see it!

Brothers

"Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero!"

-Marc Brown

Jordan's First Face

Last night, Jordan and I read his Toy Story book that has a magnetic board connected to it.  Usually I read the story and draw the pictures while Jordan watches.  This time he tried drawing some of the pictures though.  I coached him through drawing a face and he did a great job!  It's the first time I've seen him draw a face that actually turns out looking like a face.  Usually he started with a round scribbly eye and then it just keeps getting scribblier and scribblier (it might be a word...).

Of course, he drew it on the magnetic board so I was sad that I wouldn't be able to keep it forever and ever and ever...so I went to find my camera!  Here it is.  It's so cute and I just adore it.  He's growing up!

 

My Own Little Photographer

Last night I pulled my old camera out of the closet because our point and shoot just isn't cutting it when it comes to taking great pictures any more.  I love my old camera.  It's a digital but it's nice and clunky, kind of like a mini-SLR and the pictures are just sharper and more colorful.  It's a tiny bit slow, which makes it hard to take pictures of kids, but I'm trying it anyway.  Jordan saw me with the camera and was all over it.  My dad and I have the same camera and Jordan immediately asked, "Is that Papa's camera?"  I told him it wasn't, that it was mine, and he wanted to push all the buttons.  We were about to read books and there were no batteries in the camera so I told him we would look at it later.

After I got batteries in the camera, I had Jordan sit with me on the couch so I could show him how to work the camera.  It was so sweet to have him climb up onto the couch next to me, he seems to always be on the go lately and it's rare that he sits calmly with me (unless it's to read books before bed).  So, I showed him how to turn it on and how to pop the flash open and how to zoom in and out.  He'd rather look through the eye hold than look at the digital screen, it's so cute.  He wrapped his little fingers around the camera so he could actually take the picture.  Since then he has been excited to be a photographer and has been taking pictures.  It's so cute.  Here are some of his great shots so far!

We took this one together while on the couch. It's of Danny, but I love Jordan's piggies in the corner!

Self-Portrait!

Toys!

First he put his dad's hat on me, then he took my picture!  Kind of a little too close up...

This one is my favorite!

Here's one I took of him while he was taking a picture of me taking a picture of him.  I just think it's so cute that he loves that camera.  He took it to my aunt's birthday party tonight, I can't wait to see the pictures he gets!

Bella Baby Photography Rocks!

I am so excited about the pictures we had taken at the hospital!!! They now offer photography by Bella Baby Photography right there in the hospital.  When Jordan was born they took pictures in the hospital but they weren't by Bella Baby, and somehow we didn't fill out the right form or something happened and we didn't have any hospital pictures, just our own pictures.  I was so excited when I saw the brochure because all the pictures were beautiful.  I was not disappointed!  (The only crazy thing was that Jordan had a gigantic meltdown just before it was time to take the pictures so we didn't have that many that worked out with him in them...but he still looks sweet in the ones we got!)

I still can't believe he was born with blonde hair!  Jordan was born with a full head of black hair and Danny has blonde hair.  Jordan had dark, almost black eyes, and they eventually turned dark brown and Danny right now has dark blue-purple eyes for now.  We waited so long to meet Danny and now that he is here it's so fun to see him.  I could just hold him and stare at him all day.  I am so excited to watch him grow and see how he's going to change!  

If you want to see the other pictures that were taken you can e-mail me and I'll give you the information. 

Our New Little Bean

I am so happy that our little baby is finally here!  We could not be happier, it feels so great to be home with him!  Here's the story!

Friday morning I was off to the hospital super early!  Here's a look at my belly before we left the house...it wasn't as big as when I was pregnant with Jordan, but it did feel big!  

I was induced, so when we got to the hospital they got me all hooked up and started the Pitocin.  This picture was after the contractions were going and I had asked for an epidural...hence, the smile on my face.  You can see the strap with the monitor on my belly to watch the baby's heartrate.  I loved being able to hear it loud and strong throughout the whole thing.  The baby was moving a lot even thoroughout everything going on!

Here's a picture of Chad, too!  He was happy that the baby was coming!!!

After I had my epidural I didn't feel much until 10:00 a.m. when I started to feel some pressure, like a really faint contraction.  When I had Jordan, that meant the contractions were really, super, strong and he was ready to be born.  I kept telling the nurse when I would feel a really strong contraction and then the doctor came in to check me...and basically told me not to cough because the baby was ready to come out!  

Chad was laughing at me because I was so calm and laughing...they weren't too excited that I was laughing because the doctor was still getting all ready.  At last, they were set and we waited for a contraction, I pushed once and the head came out...then the baby just kind of slipped out!  It was crazy!  I still cannot believe how insanely easy it was.  I had a pretty easy delivery with Jordan, but you could barely even call this a delivery.  

This is the baby right after coming out!  Here HE is!  It's a boy!  Daniel Heath, born July 2nd at 10:51 a.m.  He was 7 pounds, 13 ounces and 20 inches long.  

Being weighed after he was cleaned up!

Proud Daddy!!!!

Proud Mommy!!!!

Danny