Spring Break 2012

While Mama was home nursing every 3 hours and watching crazy John-John, Alivia and Will got to see Texas with some of the best guides around: Mimi and Grandpa!

My parents planned some serious adventures for the week and Alivia and Will had an absolute blast. It is so fun to see them enjoy being with my parents - I think the feeling was mutual because Mimi and Grandpa remarked that they had a great time as well.

Here was the itinerary for the week:

Sunday - Rodeo/Carnival with Mimi

Monday - to Bertram, spend the night

Tuesday - morning in Bertram, afternoon at Waco Zoo

Wednesday - overnight in San Antonio on the River Walk

Thursday - overnight in Carrizo

Friday - morning in Carrizo, head back to Austin in the afternoon

Saturday - rest and relax in Austin!

Both Alivia and Will said their favorite activity was visiting Carrizo. Riding the ATV and exploring the property sounds really fun. They even found some antlers and saw lots of wildlife.

All decked out to head to the Rodeo

Alivia was brave enough to try this contraption!

I'm impressed!

Dominoes in Bertram

Popsicles at the zoo

Headed to San Antonio

Beautiful flowers in Carrizo

Riding the "Mule" (ATV)

All the kids at about 4-5 weeks old

Alivia - I am struck by how much (dark!) hair she had

Will - this picture makes me laugh. . .he was HUGE!

John - seeing this reminds me how he was definitely not sleeping well at this age - notice the double swaddle and numerous pacis around the bed!

Baby Matthew - 4 1/2 weeks

First Smile at 4 1/2 weeks old!

Baby Matthew has actually been smiling for awhile, but this is the first time someone has caught it on film. And he seems to smile much more at everyone else but me. Hmmmm. . . .

Oh, and we all still cannot figure out who the little guy looks like!

Matthew is 4 weeks old!

We recently went for our 2 week check up (but actually he was 3 weeks old at the time). Here are his stats:

height: 21.25 inches (50%)

weight: 9 lbs 4 oz (50%)

head: 37.25 cm (50%)

Needless to say, Dr. Dawson commented "Well, we all know he is feeding well!" I was shocked to see he was already over 9 pounds! He is sleeping pretty predictably from about midnight to 5 am which is AWESOME. I don't recall the other kids ever sleeping that long this early. I have to really cluster feed him and hold him from about 7-midnight, but that is OK with me since he sleeps for 5 hours afterwards. I also feel that by that time of the night I don't have a huge supply of milk, so we have been giving a bottle of about 3 oz of either breast milk or formula.

Alivia and Will have gotten used to the idea of having him around and love to hold him every now and then. John likes to try and sit in my lap while I am breastfeeding which can be a bit tricky at times. :-)

Grandpa Day at the Ranch with Will

Grandpa likes to take Will for special days at the Ranch every now and then on Mondays. Today they went to Bertram and did all sorts of boy stuff. Grandpa sent this picture of Will with their catch of the day.

And when Will walked in the house he was holding a severed raccoon foot that they had collected from a trap. I promptly put it in a plastic bag and made Will wash his hands. Needless to say, they had a great day!

Matthew - 16 days old by Jill Bee Designs

My sweet friend Jill came over to photograph Matthew to add some newborn shots to her portfolio at Jill Bee Designs. Lucky me! I love the shots she took. . .

Thank you Jill!