2 Months (inc. Good and Blessed)

This boy!  He hit two months a couple weeks ago and he's doing so great.  At his checkup he was measuring two pounds bigger than either of his older siblings at his age, and almost as tall as the tallest.  He just seems so big already, about the same size as his four-months-older cousin!  He's starting to get some nice rolls too so all together he's a very cuddly squishy smiley boy, and such a good baby (which we definitely recognize, and for which we are ever so grateful, especially as the two others seem to have taken things up a notch, perhaps in an attempt to balance out how good the baby is, but also probably just because they're acting their age).  He sleeps and eats and etc. just about how he should and he'll occasionally make little talking sounds and he's just about to roll over.  I sometimes feel like he is more smiley at Mommy, but it does make sense.  It occurred to me recently that this is the first baby we've had during which time I have worked away from home, so I guess I was just lucky to spend more daytime hours with the first two and now I'm getting the experience that most working dads do.  Ah well, it just makes me appreciate our Daddy-Son time all the more.

Pictures!

Snuggling up during the summer work party at the 

He slept most of the time but I'm sure he enjoyed it.

Fresh clean baby! OoO

Good and blessed!  (See the drawing I did of this here.)

So cooperative for his Blessing Day photoshoot!

I mean really.

YESSSSSSS nightmare.

Sunday drawing buddies.

Sunday napping buddies.

Little fox at 2 months.

 See you in a few weeks!  We love him more every day if that's even possible!

(ALSO, I'll go ahead and say here that after a few weeks of several calls with insurance and the hospital and various people I did some negotiating and explaining after discovering only after we were discharged by the receptionist nurse at his bilirubin checkup that the hospital where he was born wasn't in our network [and WHY didn't anyone ever mention or even seem to notice this, including our doctors who DO deliver there???], and they were actually REALLY helpful and managed to cut our in-network/out-of-network charges significantly.  Sometimes a few calls can mean the difference of a few grand.  Sometimes.)

Month 2, inc. Good and Blessed

The Poppy has reached her second month mark, and we're just as glad as can be that she's doing very well.  At her appointment yesterday she reported a little more than average weight and quite higher than average height, and she's eating and sleeping and everything elseing quite well.  Her hair is dark and long, her bright eyes are usually looking around and taking everything in, and she will often look at us and talk to us and smile and laugh, and is generally just more delightful every day.  She has her moments, but they never last too long once we realize what's wrong (though The Wife may report something different after being up with her certain calm but wakeful nights...) and fix it all up.

Just a few photos to show how our beautiful girl is looking so beautiful.  And as per usual you can see The Wife's detailed and photorrific month 2 update here.

She is such a beautiful little sleeper.

She loves her big bro already!

BB and LS.

Oh man, these two.

Last week we had her baby blessing, which turned out very nice.  Many people were able to come attend and participate, she fussed for a second before the blessing started, but shortly after calmed down and didn't make a peep the entire rest of the time.  The weather was perfect and it was so nice that we could have our get-together right there in our own back yard (after many hours of yard work the day before).

The blessing dress that finally was discovered.  I love how she looks like a little ballerina.

The fam with the daydream (a variation on the traditional nightmare).

Photo shoot!  The pictures were too adorable for words to adequately describe.

WHAT DID I SAY??  This is just a smattering of the cuteness, and it's already a total overload (the kind that it's good to have).

So there you have it.  We all love our darling little girl more than tongue can tell and are amazed at how big she's already grown.

A quick sketch done on a cool app, using my stubby finger stylus on my sister's phone canvas

Good and Blessed

Last weekend we had a couple of significant events in the family, kind of at more or less opposite ends of the youth Church milestone spectrum, so I thought I would just post about them together.

First, on Saturday, a bunch of beloved family went to the temple to see oldest nephew Jordan receive his endowments in preparation for leaving to serve a mission for the Lord in El Salvador and Belize.  The Wife stayed at home with The Boy, but Jordan had plenty of support from loved ones, and after the insanity that was us trying to get all of us into the same session due to overcrowding (for reasons) settled down, we worked it all out and it was really nice (and then we ate in the cafeteria which is always delicious).  It was very splendid to share this experience with him, and I can't believe he's already a better part of the year toward 19.  Yikes.  I remember when this boy was born and I ran around junior high shouting "IT'S A BOY!" to my friends so much that it sort of became a Thing.  He will be a super missionary, and he will be missed.

There were more people present than in this picture, but some of them left before dinner to get back to their little ones.
Also, the lesson learned here is that my phone takes less than ideal pictures.

I tried to adjust the colors in Photoshop for a few minutes.

Luckily the subjects are cute anyway.

Second, the following day we at last gave The Boy his baby blessing at church.  We thought it would be good to wait just a few weeks, and it worked out since Julie's dad happened to be in town that weekend.  So many friends and family came to witness the blessed event, and I actually recorded audio of it for posterity (someone recorded and transcribed mine and I always thought it was nice to have years later), but I won't post the whole thing here -- the general gist was that he's a lovely boy and he'll have a really great and inspiring life.  So he is now good and blessed and official (with the Church at least, with the government, almost), and it was a very interesting experience overall.  Afterward we went to a nearby park and had an epic picnic of snacks and cheeses.  This is definitely the first time I've been in charge of throwing this kind of party, so we had a few concerns about whether or not there would be enough food and if I would be able to supervise the making of a satisfactory Nightmare (this caused far more stress for me than it really should have), but it all worked out and everyone brought such delicious sides and such to go along with the standard (delicious) sandwiches.  I tell you, Costco has some pretty nice lunch meats and sliced cheese.

Emily's phone takes much better pictures than mine does.

He didn't make a peep the whole time.

It turned out to be a huge success!  (Julie's Dad was so amazed by the entire concept of this particular family tradition.)  The addition of BCEs was, if I do say so myself, inspired.

We must eat it.

Everyone who stood in the circle.  We missed you Todd, Jonny, KC and Jeff!  And Tyler and Bruce!

Oldest and youngest boy cousins!  The Boy will be so much bigger when Jordan comes home.

This family are we.

Amber loves a baby, so she snatched up The Boy, and then Cami and her newborn Nora came along and then this happened.  Baby smooches all around!

Emily and KC and their three poopsies were heading out after a nice long visit, and I managed to get a great triplets picture.  They have come a long way since their newborn days almost four years ago.

And then, lest he should, erm, mess up his nice white blessing suit, we put him in this other new getup, which is also adorable.

Then the next day we decided we should take some pictures of him IN said getup, so here they be:

ARGYLE (sort of) SWEATER VEST.  Pretty much exactly what I had in mind when I imagined what we should put him in.  Thanks for the blessing present, Ma!

He looks like he might be about to fly.

Black and white feet for ultimate effect.

Squinty smile, hee hee.

This is probably pretty much my favorite picture of him ever.

:D

This boy is so loved.