Words cannot express:

How amazing this product is:

The swaddle me blanket by Kiddopotamus (I have seen these for years and thought they were ridiculous and "who uses these!?".........

Holy Cow! I bought it after talking with a friend and I am living proof today that it is incredible. After sleeping for 5 hours straight for the first time in about 8 months (you know, even while pregnant I had to use the bathroom at least every 3 hrs at night!) I am a new woman and my baby is a new baby. Sawyer slept from 11 pm til 5 am and that's after I woke him up (I know, bad idea- but I had to feed him....) we are all happier and functioning better today

Also- he has been asleep in his bassinet for an hour now which is no small feat.... He sleeps like a jewel in his glider because it keeps him cozy, but until this morning he would wake up after about 10 minutes in his large abyss of a crib, even with blankets around him.

All I can chalk it up to is this new swaddle blanket that velcros and keeps that baby swaddled perfectly!
Thank- you Liz and Kiddopotamus :)

Mid-sneeze

Yes- are these clothes piled to the left of him.... they are! That's how little we have used this thing so far.... The swaddle me is underneath his white/red blanket

6 years and 2 kids later...

We're happier than ever and going strong! We enjoyed a delicious dinner at Texas Roadhouse and exchanged some fun gifts

PS- Someone may or may not have gotten a little teary when reading the above book I made for him....

PPS- In the little blue box were some great "return to Tiffany and Co." earrings. They are perfect :) Luke did very well..... !

Christmas 2009

We did Christmas different this year- at first it was a little hard to think of not going home, but it actually turned out really perfect :) We started out with Christmas Eve with Mindi, Gaige, Jane, and Jonah's house. We had some delicious soups and desserts, read the Christmas story, and opened pajamas and gifts from eachother. The next morning, we woke up at our house and opened presents. It was very nice, calm, and relaxing. After presents, we made a big breakfast of french toast and bacon and then opened up our stockings. Believe it or not, Ava was totally done with opening presents by the time we got to our stockings and we ended up opening her stuff in her stocking! We ended our Christmas day with a fabulous dinner at Benihana. Sawyer slept through pretty much all the day's activities, which was good- especially at Benihana so that we could limit any germ exposure :) We had such a good time making new family traditions and thought it turned out really fun!

Our only picture from Christmas Eve....

Our presents- thanks to both our families for the great gifts! We were totally spoiled

I wasn't trying to pose so lamely for this picture, but it shows my great headband, "team Luke" shirt, jacket, and Uggs I got from my parents

Luke's new Spy sunglasses- he was totally surprised and really excited!

The Jump-o-lene......

Benihana:

Peaceful baby

Another great photo shoot!

These literally take my breath away! As always- my friend Jeanette did an absolutely perfect job :)

Sunday best

Here are us girls in our new Christmas church outfits. What a fabulous tradition.

- not pictured: Luke and Sawyer since they stayed home. We won't be returning to church as a whole family for quite some time....

If you have one of.....

These:

Then you need these:

#1: swaddle blankets (you can pretty much use anything!) we didn't swaddle Ava because we were so bad at it, but this time we were determined and it has made a HUGE difference in that length of time Sawyer sleeps :)

PS- My babies tend to spit up like you wouldn't believe. I hate bibs and didn't use them for Ava. Result: spit-up stained outfits and multiple outfit changes daily. I caved with Sawyer and it has made life a lot easier. Plus- there are some cute and fashionable bibs out there these days!

#2: Huggies has again revolutionized diapers.... These newborn diapers have a line down the front that goes from yellow to blue when there is ANY amount of urine present. For the first few days of a babies life, they barely urinate- but you need to know if they do and this is like the only way to know....

#3: The Fisher Price Soothing Motions Glider has changed our life with 2 kids now. It's the only things our newborns would stay asleep in. It allows them to be cuddled and to also sleep slightly reclined- which is especially good for our reflux kids. It also will glide back and forth and play music which is handy in the middle of the night to catch a little more sleep before feeding :)

#4: A fantastic big sister!

1 month old!

Time flies after a baby is born! Things are still going great and we are all very happy :)

Visitors

We are pretty much quarantined here at the house until Sawyer is 3 months old! After having to deal with RSV at 2 weeks with Ava, we aren't taking any chances. We're avoiding crowds until February and aren't even going home for Christmas.... We're sad to miss our families, but happy to start some traditions of our own :) So if anyone wants to catch a glimpse of our beautiful baby boy- they have to come see him. Here are just a few our our visitors this last week.

Christmas time is here...