Sleepy First Two Weeks

In the first two weeks of Luke's life, most of the photos I've taken of him capture him asleep. I've tried to take a few of him with his eyes open, but as soon as I start snapping photos, that's when he realizes that he's hungry.

4 days old -- PJ checks out Luke

6 days old

And here's what my other boys have been up to while Luke has been sleeping...

1 week -- Three handsome boys

10 days old -- Big yawn

11 days -- Wanting to eat and growing a little impatient12 days -- Finally some open eyes! 13 days

2 weeks

Introducing Luke Timothy!!!

One week ago on July 7th, we welcomed our third little miracle into our family. Luke Timothy arrived at 3:06 pm, weighing in at 6 pounds, 14 ounces and measuring 20 inches. He had lots of dark brown hair and dark blue eyes, and pretty much everyone agrees that he looks like his big brother Tyler when he was a newborn. We thought the same thing about Nathan when he was born, so it will be interesting to see who Luke favors as he gets older.

It was a very fast labor for me. I started having really intense contractions around 12:30 pm, but they were about 10 minutes apart. I went ahead and called my mom to have her pick up the boys because I didn't want the boys to see me in active labor. At that point I thought I still had a few hours to labor at home. By the time my mom arrived to pick up the boys less than an hour later, my contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart and I was on the phone trying to convince a nurse at my OB practice that I should be heading to the hospital, rather than to the doctor's office as she had suggested.

It's a good thing we left for the hospital right after we sent the boys with Nana because we didn't have a whole lot of time to spare when we arrived. We checked in at 2:15 and at 3:06 we were meeting our little Luke for the first time. It all happened so fast that a lot of what happened that afternoon is a blur, but I will always remember hearing my doctor announce, "It's a boy!"

"Luke" was on a very short list of names that I had picked out earlier in my pregnancy, but I could never get Tim to commit to any boy names. It was easy to sell the name to Tyler and Nathan because they're really into Star Wars right now. (Tyler actually wanted to name the baby "Anakin Skywalker". I told him that was not a possibility. Other than the fact that it's just a weird name, the initials would spell a bad word). The week before we had Luke, Tim finally realized that we hadn't picked out a boy's name. I simply told him that, if we had a boy, I was just planning to convince him that Luke was the right name. I figured he wouldn't tell me "no" after I did all the work to bring the him into this world. Sure enough, when my doctor asked if we had a name for the little guy, it was Tim who told him that we'd be calling our new baby "Luke".

Luke's first photo

When Nana and Papa brought Tyler and Nathan to the hospital to meet their new little brother that evening, they were so excited. They both thought he was so cute.

Tyler's comments: Hi, Luke! I like his little hands and little feet!

Nathan's comments: Aahhhh, he's so yittle! I yike his yittle tiny tippy toes! I have big tippy toes.

Home for the first time

This first week has felt like a whirlwind. I haven't attempted to do much this week, other than feeding and changing Luke, sleeping when I can, and helping Tim with my big boys when I'm "free". (Good thing Tim could take the week off from work). Right now Luke likes to sleep all day and have his awake time in the middle of the night, so I'm pretty sleep-deprived. Hopefully he'll get some kind of schedule sorted out in the coming weeks. Despite the exhaustion, I'm trying to enjoy these first few days while Luke is still scrunched up and wants to be held like a ball against my chest. Having been through this twice before, I know just how quickly this time will pass and I don't want to miss the opportunity to cherish these early moments with my little Luke.

July 4th Weekend

To be perfectly honest, we didn't think we'd really be celebrating Independence Day this year. We thought we'd be at the hospital or at home with a new baby. Apparently this baby is going to make us wait a little longer. While my due date isn't until Saturday (4 days from now), Tyler and Nathan were both a week and a half early. We're not used to waiting this long, but I 100% trust in God's timing and I'm trying to be patient.

To celebrate the 4th, we first went to a party for our church small group at Dawn and Stacey's house. Everyone brought a dish to share, and our wonderful hosts set up a big water slide in their backyard for all the kids. Tyler had so much fun going down the slide again and again, and he kept asking his brother to join him. Unfortunately, Nathan fell asleep in the car on the way to the party and was just too cranky to work up the desire to go down the slide. While he never warmed up to the slide, he eventually became his happy self and enjoyed playing with all the other toys at Dawn and Stacey's.

As we've done for the past few years, we celebrated the 4th with my family on the 3rd. The city of Garner always has its big bash on the 3rd at Lake Benson. We'd been planning to have a picnic at Lake Benson again this year, but it was just too hot this year, so we stayed at Mom and Dad's for a change.

My Uncle Ray and his family came, too, and my cousin Lissa flew in that same day all the way from Saipan. I haven't seen Lissa since our wedding (9 years ago tomorrow), so it was a very special treat to see her on Sunday. She's in town for a work related conference, and she's staying a little longer to visit Dan (her brother) and his family in Fayetteville. It was so nice to spend some time with all of our family who were there and, of course, we had to take a group shot to help us remember the occassion.

Me & Lissa

Cousins: Dan, Jonathan, Me, Lissa & Colleen

Father's Day Fun

The Pittmans were nice enough to host a Father's Day gathering last Sunday that included us, my parents and my brother's family. We didn't know, however, that they had a big surprise for us.

We'd been at their house for a few minutes just chatting and getting settled when the doorbell rang. I didn't think anything of it, assuming it was just one of their neighbors. It ended up being my cousin Dan, his wife Donna and their 2 kids. That was a surprise, but not entirely out of the question because they live in Fayetteville. The real shocker came when my Uncle Ray, Auntie Elaine, and my cousin Colleen, who are visiting from Saipan (a tiny island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean near Guam), came around the corner. Uncle Ray is my mom's brother, and although he comes this way at least once a year to visit Dan and his family, it's always a big deal when we get to see family who flew across an entire ocean!

In addition to yummy "hobo dinners" for all of us, the Pittmans provided several fun activities for the big and little boys. There was a water balloon fight and a water gun fight, along with croquet, horseshoes and washers. I managed to get a few photos of the balloon fight, but between being super pregnant and wanting to stay dry, I could only get so close to the action. The little guys had a blast going after their dads and uncles.

It was a nice way to spend the afternoon and evening, and of course it was a real treat to spend time with our extended family. We might even get to see them again for the 4th of July...if we're not in the hospital welcoming a new baby!

Time for Battle

In my last post I mentioned that Tyler received foam sabers for his birthday. I've recorded one of the epic battles between Tim and the boys on the camcorder, but tonight I took a few photos. Like I wrote before, Tyler and Nathan hold nothing back when it comes to their attacks on their dad. It's a very effective form of excercise for all three of them.

These photos also show Tyler and Nathan with their new haircuts. While we've had great weather (i.e., cooler temperatures) this week, the past few weeks have been incredibly hot, so I decided it was time for their summer hairdos. Yesterday I broke out the clippers and took off LOTS of hair from each of their perfectly round heads. Even with the break from the 95-degree heat and a new haircut, my Nathan can still sweat up a storm. The good thing is that he doesn't seem to notice when he's having this much fun!

After their saber match with Daddy, they quickly switched back to being their sweet selves so I could get a couple pictures of their new haircuts. I didn't even have to tell them to put their arms around each other--they just did it on their own. So cute!

Tyler's 5th Birthday!

Tyler's birthday, June 4th, fell on a Saturday this year, so that worked out nicely. We kept our celebration plans simple, but still tried to make it special for our big birthday boy.

We started the day with a sibling class and tour at the hospital where I will be delivering the baby. I delivered Tyler and Nathan at a different hospital, so I thought the tour would be beneficial for both Tim and I. When crunch time arrives in a few weeks, it will be very helpful to know where to park and check-in.

The class for the boys was just a bonus. The class leader talked about the proper way to hold a baby and the different things the big siblings can do to help Mommy and Daddy take care of the baby. Then they each got to make a craft to welcome the baby.

While I helped Nathan make a sign that said "Happy Birthday", Tyler chose to spell out "Batman" on his. Funny boy. I'm not sure what that has to do with the baby, but he thinks the baby will like it.

Lunch was a special treat for Tyler. He chose to go to McDonald's (or "Old McDonald's" as his brother calls it every single time he sees the golden arches anywhere) because he wanted to get a Kung Fu Panda 2 toy in his happy meal. He also raves about the sliced apples as if we don't have sliced apples all the time at home. He doesn't even like the caramel dipping sauce that comes with them, so I'm not sure what makes them so special. In any case, it was his birthday, so he got to pick where we ate.

That afternoon we met Nana, Papa, Uncle Jon, Coop and Gabe at the movie theater so we could watch Kung Fu Panda 2. My boys are big fans of the first Kung Fu Panda, so they'd been talking about watching the sequel for months. Tyler wanted to sit between Uncle Jon and Cooper during the movie, but before they arrived I snapped a photo of Tyler and Nathan looking so happy.

According to my brother, Tyler had a huge smile on his face for most of the movie. He just loved it, especially all the fight scenes. Nathan sat by me, so I could see for myself that his eyes only left the screen a couple times, and that was just to get more popcorn.

After the movie, we paused in front of these 2 movie displays. How could we pass up the opportunity to take a picture with Green Lantern and Optimus Prime? Superheroes and Transformers are 2 of my boys' favorite toys, even though they've never seen any of the live action movies.

Cooper has held a special place in Tyler's heart from the time Tyler was just 1 year old. Four years later and they're still good buddies.

Right after the movie we all headed back to our house to have dinner, cake and ice cream! Auntie Becki and Eliza met us there, too. Tyler picked out a Star Wars cake from SuperTarget, which Uncle Jon referred to as a "big boy cake". It's true--any cake that has prominently displayed weapons has to be a big boy cake. The light sabers even lit up by the touch of a button. Tyler also picked out his own balloons from Party City. I just told him how many he could pick and he took it from there.

After cake it was time for presents. Since Tyler and Nathan's birthdays are exactly 5 weeks apart, I felt like we had just been through all of this by the time we got to Tyler's birthday. The guests probably felt the same way, but Cooper, Gabe and Eliza were still so excited to see their cousin's presents. Nathan was more interested in the Luke and Darth Vader figurines that had decorated the cake.

Tyler received several Lego Star Wars gifts because that's what he wanted. He LOVES Legos, especially the Star Wars sets. He's really good at putting the sets together, even though most of them are for 7 years+, and he and Nathan both love playing with the little Lego men.

One of his favorite gifts was the Lego Star Wars C3-PO watch that his cousins gave him. He can't tell time yet, but having this watch just might help him learn.

Other gifts included a construction worker costume that I got at TJMaxx on clearance after Halloween last year (hence the bright orange vest in the photos above and below) and foam sabers that the boys can pretend are light sabers. I originally got them so the boys could use those in their pretend play in place of the plastic baseball bats they normally use, but we found out that they much prefer to team up against their unarmed dad. At the end of the day, it's the best game for squeezing out the last bit of energy they might have (and by "they", I mean all 3 of them). Can you guess what Tim wants for Father's Day? If you guessed his very own foam saber, you'd be correct. He has taken quite a beating lately because his boys don't hold anything back when they're going up against Dad.

And one more picture of our big 5-year-old. I already know I'll be able to count on him to help me when the baby arrives. He already looks after Nathan and does so much to help his little brother. I'm always hearing Tyler tell Nathan, "I can help you," whether it's turning on a light, helping him with a toy, or drawing a picture of Star Wars characters just so that Nathan can draw their light sabers. What a good big brother!