SHOES!

I got out Hailee's 'next size up' clothes today- there were lots of shoes- both new and old, too big and too small, but this little girl with a foot fetish was in H.E.A.V.E.N!!

Baby Steps

So Hailee has literally denied the existence of Jace thus far.  He is a month old now and she has no desire to hold him, touch him, or really, even look at him.  It's not that she's angry at him or acting out, she's just totally denying that there is a baby in our house!

But today, I was feeding Jace, and she was in his room with me as usual... as I feed him I have her point to her eyes and ears and nose and hair and she gets out books and I point to the pictures with my toes (which absolutely thrills her!)- and she babbles the 'words' right back at me- it's really helping her language development I think.  So today we were in his room, and she happened to see some of his shoes in his closet... and even though she was only looking at his feet, she connected with her baby brother on some level... it's a start, right?  Trying on some sandals...

 And how about these sporty shoes?

Baby steps Hailee, baby steps.  Soon, he'll have you wrapped around his little finger like the rest of us...

Verbal

"MINE!"  Yes, that's right.  She has another word.  And she screams it anytime you touch anything of hers... or that she's recently touched... or seen... our thought of.  Great fun.  At least it's progress!

Pioneer Day

The boys wanted to go our stake's pioneer day celebration, but Nathan had plans to go golfing... so what was I to do?  I strapped Jace into the front pack and we had a sweaty great time!  After breakfast and the parade, Bryson and Dallin wanted to ride the horses- Eli and Hailee did not.  They were both very interested in the horses, but this was about as close as Hailee wanted to get:

 Waiting in line for their turn...

 Who needs a horse?  Hailee and Eli found their own 'ride'...

 Finally!  Bryson was so sweet and let Dallin go first...

 I'm pretty sure Bryson had plans for a more adventurous ride than he got...

It was so stinking hot out there... when we got home I was beyond exhausted.  The kids pretty much did whatever they wanted for the rest of the day...

Loved

Jace has some pretty awesome artwork adorning the walls in his nursery... 

"Sweet Jace"

"Dallin holding Jace in his rocking chair" by Dallin

 "Cute Jace"

"Mommy holding Jace" by Dallin

 Little Jace:

"Jace in his carseat" by Dallin

"Me and my brothers playing on the playground while mom pushes 'the new baby'" by Bryson, drawn before Jace was born

I can't read the title of this because it's written in Eli's imaginary language...

 "Eli and Mommy and 'the new baby' playing outside" by Eli, before Jace was born

What a lucky boy to get to look at these pictures when he gets his diaper changed and dressed

He is certainly well loved!

Baby? What Baby?

Dallin and Eli are smitten by Jace...

Hailee just loves feet.  She's still in denial that Jace exists.

Daddy and Jace love snuggling...

Hailee just loves feet.

Nap Time...

I just love this sequence:

2 weeks old!

Our littlest man is officially 2 weeks old today.  What can I say? Time flies...

Some things about Jace right now:

He is an awesome sleeper. He's already going 4-5 1/2 hours at night between feeds!  He typically goes 3-4 hours during the day.

He is am awesome eater. His latch is still a little lot painful though... He usually eats for around 15 minutes per side and would eat much longer if I'd let him.  When he was 3 days old I already had lots of pumped milk and I needed a break... So I offered him a bottle... the boy downed 3 ounces like it was nothing.  And, he rarely spits up- even better!  I can already see him filling out... bittersweet.

He h.a.t.e.s. having his diaper changed.  Even if he's just wet and of don't have to wipe him... screams the whole time.

Other than diaper changes, he's a pretty content little fellow... Oh, unless I have to interrupt a feed half way through to deal with the chaos that inevitably only breaks out when I'm feeding him...

His brothers adore him... they love to hold him and talk to him and even just stare at him if he's sleeping in his bouncy seat or swing and I've issued a "do not disturb" mandate.  Hailee on the other hand, she could still not care any less about him... "baby?  What baby?" is her philosophy.

His actual due date is tomorrow.  So glad I had him 2 weeks ago!

Big Girl Bed Update...

BTW, It's been a couple of weeks now since we moved into her big girl bed... and she still is just as good as ever- she says in at naptime and bedtime and as a general rule, stays on her bed until I come in her room after she wakes up- then she hops off by herself... such a funny girl!

First tub bath

His umbilical cord stump fell off while we were camping at barely a week old (definitely my youngest to loose it!) so when we got home, I couldn't get him in the tub quick enough!  

Initially he seemed to like the bath...

but it quickly deteriorated...

I'm sure he'll come around *wink*

4th of July Camping

Go ahead, make your own subtitles.  I'm going to take a nap (ya, right...)

We had a wonderful time.  I got a lot more rest than I would have at home, the weather was great, thank heavens for our trailer!

Boots

Hailee has been diggin' eli's camo rain boots... She wears them all over and walks surprisingly well in them!  I can't get enough of her in 'em...

Am I crazy?

Never mind that I have a 6 day old baby... I had stuff I needed to get for our camping trip tomorrow!  And since it took all morning to get out the door, I decided to stop on the way and get lunch... The kids were ANGELS! (we had a little talk before going in) And yes, I got a lot of stares...

A rose by any other name...

Ugh, picking names is so hard!  I had determined that NATHAN had to pick the name this go-round... he had plenty of 'suggestions'... he really did try...

I had the feeling about halfway through this pregnancy that the babys name started with a 'J'- seemed a little strange that I knew the first letter of his name, yes, but when I told Nathan, he said he'd been thinking the same thing- but Jedidiah and Jaques just weren't doing it for me, though. *grin*

It wasn't until fairly late in the game that I came across the name 'Jace'- when I mentioned it to Nathan, he looked up the meaning- it means "healer"...  I interpreted it as a medical healer, along the lines of a doctor... I liked it.  Jace wasn't a definite pick, but we didn't go to the hospital with any other name in mind, and when he was born, I still liked the name.  Nathan reminded me, before we decided on Jace, what the name means... healer.  And it really sealed the deal... It wasn't a secret (and I am ashamed to say) that I was disappointed when we found out this time that we were having another boy.  I was so sure we'd have a girl- I'd said many times, that with our first three we were just trying to have a baby, but with Hailee, we were trying for a girl, which we tried to repeat this again... I wanted to give Hailee a sister... so she could have the same special bond that her brothers have, and that I have with my sisters... and so that I could use all my cute, pristine girl clothes again!  I so wanted to get rid of the boxes of stained and faded boy clothes crowding my attic.  But when this sweet boy was born, none of that mattered- his peaceful spirit truly did heal my heart.  So when Nathan reminded me of the meaning of Jace, I knew it was his name.

Coincidentally, a neighbor pointed out to us a few months back that thus far, our kids names are alphabetical... Bryson, Dallin, Eli, Hailee-- so Jace fit with the OCD pattern.

As for a middle name, we've always chosen family names-
Bryson LaMar - Nathan's middle name is LaMar, as is BOTH of his grandfathers
Dallin Ross - My maiden name
Eli John - After Nathan's father
Hailee Diann - My mothers name

A few days before I delivered, I was driving down Bowdish, thinking of family names that could be used as middle names- I was leaning toward a name from Nathan's mom's side of the family, so I was going through relatives on her side (of those I know and could remember)... and then I thought of her mothers maiden name- Robinson.  I liked it.  A little nontraditional, but I liked that it incorporated a lot of Nathans mothers family- 'Robinson' - Nathans maternal grandmothers maiden name; 'Robin' - Nathans mom;  'Robert' - Nathans moms dad... so it's like he's named after all three of them... all wonderfully amazing people.

He's our little Jace Robinson-