One Month! (And a couple days)

Oh man, I have waited way too long to post!  It's much harder to find time to sit down and do this these days.  I have a bazillion pictures to choose from and about 17 different angles and lighting options of each of those bazillion.  So I'm not going to write much to allow time for you to scroll through the pictures!

Everyone is doing great here!  Susannah LOVES John so much; it's so sweet I could cry.  She wants to hold him and talk to him all the time, and she hardly ever shows any kind of frustration or impatience when I'm nursing, changing, or tending to him.  John's growing so fast I want to cry!  (Please note that I've already mentioned crying twice...that's just where we are in life right now.)  He's already outgrown his newborn sleepers, and the doc says he's doing awesome.  46th percentile for weight, 69th for length, and 92nd for head circumference!  We would expect nothing less from our 2nd mini-Pete.


Pictures (and some videos)!

The Gilberts came to visit!

SuSu, renamed "Dizzy" by Susannah, stayed with us for just over 2 weeks after John was born--a HUGE help!

Susannah's dinner date with our buddy Barrett (not sure why there's such a huge gap between pic and caption...)

Pete and I snuck out one morning to fish while my mom was still here to watch the kids.  I believe we'd been home from the hospital a week and a half at this point...luckily the shadow from my hat conceals the dark circles under my eyes from sleep deprivation!

Our sweet girl

Susannah loved helping Dizzy give John his first real bath.

Kissing those sweet toes

Chillin' on Big Bear

Daddy and kids watching some morning cartoons

Shortly after Dizzy left, Figgy came in town to aid in our survival!  So thankful for her!

Sweet matching siblings.

Reading time.  

John's one-month picture: the look of terror often overtakes him when he hears Susannah coming near.  She can't help but smother him with kisses!

Our happy man

Probably my favorite video of Susannah to date.  Having a grand time with her cousin, Bethany:

Susannah recently decided that Call It Courage is her favorite novel.  Here is a video of her reading a passage, possibly her favorite passage, from the book:

Welcome to the World, John!

Our sweet boy, John Garrison, decided he was ready to meet everyone on May 22 at 12:45 PM.  I had been having contractions for almost a week at that point and had been sent home from the hospital once already, so I was quite thankful when we arrived at the hospital that morning around 8 that they told me it was go-time.  I very quickly asked for an epidural this go-round, which made this labor experience a tad bit different from ours with Susannah.  I do believe I am now a fan of the epidural!  I wasn't able to get it until I was almost 9cm just because of paperwork, but gracious, life got a whole lot better once I did.  And then when John popped out with that batch of thick, red hair and we were suddenly a family of four, the joy we felt (and are still feeling) is unfathomable.  I've posted the video of the birth below for your viewing pleasure.  Just kidding.  That's disgusting.  But here's an overload of pictures, along with a really cute video at the bottom:

Meeting her little brother

Leaving the hospital!

Our first picture as a family of 4!

Prettiest girl in the world, y'all

Working from home with his sidekick

First time holding Brother!

Sweet kisses at bedtime

It's hard work being the best big sis ever.  Sleeping in the swing.

She loves him so much, but only when he's not taking too much of Mommy's time.

That's the face of a boy being subjected to a sleeper with flowers, never mind the blue hue.  Whoops!

Naked time = cleaning up 4 puddles of tee-tee

Sponge bath time!

And now for the cutest video known to man:

Close Encounters

So I went to check our duck nesting spot yesterday for eggs, and this is what I found:

Yikes!  I immediately called Pete and asked if I needed to go get a gun to shoot the not-so-little egg-stealer.  He said, "You need to kill it with a shovel, but get some good pics first!" which is why you are able to see a very nice picture of a very ugly snake (you're welcome).  On my way inside to get my camera, I pumped myself up for the killing that was about to take place.  Talk about pioneer woman!  Here I am 9 months pregnant about to hack away at an anaconda.   As it turned out, the anaconda didn't like the flash of my camera very much, so it slithered away quite quickly, and I only nicked its tail with the shovel while shouting, "Shoot!  Get back here so I can brag about killing youuuu!"  It didn't listen.  So there I was with the biggest adrenaline rush ever, and I had nothing to show for it.  And on top of that, Pete informed me that evening after inspecting the pictures, the dern thing isn't even poisonous.  So now we're just waiting for it to try to eat our eggs again so we can kill it and save our eggs--not ourselves.  Still kinda cool, just not dangerous cool.  Oh, well.

Selfies and smooches on the steps

Wearing John's boots again

Once the shades go on, this girl doesn't know any other expression than this.  Mean-muggin'.

Our new after-dinner ritual: bare bottom play outside!

Running running running!

She dragged this all the way from the laundry room to tell me she wanted to bounce.  Didn't utter a word, just dragged.

"Daddy won't buy me a riding lawn mower 'cause he says lugging this thing around is good for me..."

Our new favorite word:

Singing and Creeping and 37-Weeking!

That's a very Dr. Suess-esque title, isn't it?

Well our little year-and-a-half old (as of yesterday) is beginning one of my most favorite new things to date: singing!  It is absolutely the cutest thing that she does now.  She attempts to sing "Happy Birthday," a few songs from the Elmo clips we watch daily, and "Danger Zone" (which is a hilarious choice).  She's very modest about it, but smiles SO big when she's giving it a go.  There's a video below that I took a few weeks ago to send my dad of her mimicking my singing of "Danger Zone."

Susannah's new tricks also involve walking backward and creeping like a sleuth around the house.  Both are adorable and, as I'm sure you can imagine, hilarious.  

And yes, I'm 37 weeks with Baby John today!  I got to sneak another peek at him this morning in an ultrasound because the doc said last week that I am (again) measuring too small for his comfort.  Well, the ultrasound tech said that John is measuring close to 38 WEEKS actually, to which my doctor looked at me quite dumbfounded-ly and said, "I really just don't know WHERE you are hiding this baby!"  Me either, Doc, but praise the Lord John's measuring well! So the waiting game is getting shorter, and we are getting excited.  Please pray with us that John's labor goes just as smoothly as Susannah's!

Excited about having another snuggly babe around THIS MONTH!

We love rocking.

Climbing up and down the slide all day!  And get a load of those rosy-red cheeks--definitely got those from her mama.

Swinging with our pal Barrett
 

Putting a sock on her hand because that's normal.  She does it multiple times a day.

You may need to turn the volume up some for this, as her modest voice gets so cute and quiet when she sings:

35 Weeks

First off, Mom texted me the most adorable picture ever the other day from her and Figgy's weekend here with Sus that she had forgotten to send to us while we were gone.  I mean seriously, this cuteness is a great summation of what their weekend involved:

Adorable!

Welp, I'm 8 months pregnant now, and I had my first minor freak-out yesterday.  The reality of how close we are to being a family of 4 hit hard.  Not too long ago, Susannah forced her way into the outside world at 37 weeks; I'm currently 35 weeks and a couple days with John.  Think about that.  Also, Susannah doesn't like me spending time and/or attention on anyone else; I am permitted to sit still and watch her play by herself if I am not actively playing with her, but if I so much as start a conversation with Pete, pick up my phone, glance toward the dishes in the sink, request permission to use the potty, or avert my attention in any direction other than hers, she's all up in my bidness again.  Susannah is my shadow, and I told Pete just tonight that I have never, ever experienced something so simultaneously adorable and annoying in my entire life.  It's quite an anomaly.  So yeah, I started thinking about all that.  If she's throwing temper tantrums now...yeesh.

I was able to calm myself down from these anxieties by reminding myself that (a) my mom is going to live with us for the first year -- er, few weeks -- of John's life, (b) lots of people, like 20 or so, have survived having 2 under 2, and (c) Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares on the Lord, and he will sustain you."  So bring on the new babe! (Just kidding, let's wait til 40 weeks this time.)

35 Weeks!  EEEEEK!

Snacking on the porch 

Girlfriend fell asleep in the swing!  Soooo sweet.

Tea time with her baby doll

Watering the flower beds / playing in the water

A Lovers' Weekend

(I titled this post to make every reader cringe...including myself.  Why is that word so awkward??)

Susannah had a special treat this past weekend: SuSu and Figgy BOTH came in town to hang out with her while Pete and I spent a few days at The Eastern Shore!  So needless to say, this was also very much a special treat for us.  We had a great time attempting to fish (the water temp was unfortunately too low for there to be any bites), eating some amazing seafood, sleeping in until 8 (EIGHT!!!), and talking/thinking about Susannah and John 98% of the time.

Some highlights from our adventure weekend.

Here are some of the pictures we got from the grandmamas while we were away:

Susannah entertained herself in all sorts of ways while Figgy and SuSu worked their tails off in our flower beds!

Swinging naked is normal. (As if the neighbors don't think we're weird enough as it is!)

Our little farm girl out to help her grandmamas with the help of her beloved cupcake.

A few other highlights from the past few weeks:

Pure mischief.

This child LOVES dresses, like her cousin Hannie!

Susannah walking her baby while I walk Charis, our pastor and his wife's daughter.

John is growing well!  I'm 34 weeks now and feeling great.  At my 32 week checkup, they were concerned that my belly was measuring too small, so we got to have a sneak peek at our little man in an ultrasound that afternoon.  He's measuring in the 58th percentile on all accounts, so he's PERFECT!  My doctor told me that I'm "just good at hiding babies," which is okay by me, since it's just now getting slightly cumbersome to roll over in bed or get up from the couch.  Today was my 34 week checkup, and things are still looking great!  Now if I can just do SOMETHING with his room...