6 weeks!

Baby Jude is 6 weeks old!

He's 11 1/2 pounds, 22 inches long and is even wearing some 3 month size clothes.

But most importantly, he smiles!

The first one caught on camera!

I have my camera attached to my hip trying to catch those gummy grins!

The good, the bad

and the HORRIBLE!!

I certainly don't want this blog to become a parade of sappy, sugary posts about how perfect our life is! Life with a toddler and a newborn is tough!

So this post is dedicated to detailing a few of those REAL moments, even the awful ones.

Life with the baby:

The good: He smiled last night! Drew and Ellie were playing peek-a-boo with him and he really and truly smiled! Hopefully, we'll catch it on camera soon. The bad: Mr. Man is not the fabulous sleeper I was hoping for. Since Ellie was the worst sleeper possible I really thought we would get a near comatose kid this time around. Not so. Jude usually wakes every 1-3 hours with the 3 hour stretch only coming once a night if we're lucky. The horrible: Little baby Jude has decided to show us his version of the evening grizzlies. Just about the time we sit down for dinner, Jude starts to fuss and wiggle and cry. This makes for a a very stressful evening with Drew or I standing and bouncing the fussy kid while we shove a bit of food in our mouth.

Our friend Chris, getting his dose of the evening grizzlies.

Life with the toddler:

The good: She loves loves loves dress up! Her dress up box was a Christmas gift and she's made good use of it so far! I love seeing what princess creation she will appear in!

The bad: Bedtime seems to have gone from smooth sailing to very rough waters. She comes out of her room a half million times with requests that range from reasonable to ridiculous. Commando parenting has begun on this front so hopefully progress will be reported soon! The horrible: Ahhh, three-berty. Yep, that's right - puberty hits about a decade early. This girl has an attitude rarely seen outside the teen years. She's currently spending a good portion of her days at the end of the hall in the naughty spot. Hopefully, this will mean she will be a strong and passionate woman, right???

Life with the Nobles: The good: Drew changed his schedule to working 5 days a week instead of 4. That means he's home in the early afternoon instead of the late evening. So far, we love it! Ellie and dad get some playtime before the sun sets and Drew gets to hang out with Jude before the grizzlies set in! The bad: Drew and I have come to discuss the finer details of sleep deprivation. One is no longer just "tired" the more important questions are . . . Are we a bit dazed and dozy or incredibly, ridiculously exhausted? The horrible: Saturday night, we had the not-so brilliant idea to go out for dinner. So we packed up the kids and went to a boring Mexican restaurant. The goal was a hot meal and a change of scenery. Unfortunately, Ellie had to go pee twice right when the food came, leaving the once sizzling fajitas lukewarm when we returned from the bathroom (where she wouldn't actually go pee because she was nervous about the small stalls). Jude woke up about about 2 bites into the meal and Drew had to stand and rock and bounce him. So much for a change of scenery - we see this scene every evening at home!

So that's it. Current life with a 5 week old, a 3 year old and 2 exhausted parents. Some moments are very sweet, some are hilarious and some just plain suck!

1 month

Our little baby boy is 1 month old!

It's so cliche to say 'time goes so fast' but it really does!

Life has changed so drastically from having a kid to having KIDS! When I look back on this month through a sleep deprived haze - a few good moments stand out . . . The blissful, exhausted, triumphant moments after birth, Ellie patting and shhing her little brother to sleep, Jude's sweet milk breath . . .

But there's been a few bad days too . . . Jude puking more than it seems possible for a newborn to puke and then Ellie slipping in it! An incident forever known as the 'puke-and-slide'!

We are starting to see the first glimpses of smiles crossing his lips. Can't wait to post a photo of him beaming from ear to ear!

Why doula?

One of the biggest questions I was asked during this pregnancy was . . .

"Why are you having a doula?"

Even natural childbirth supporters often didn't understand the difference between a doula and a midwife.

Drew and I never questioned the fact that we would hire a doula for this birth and I'm so glad we had one of the best!

For Jude's birth we were lucky enough to have Penny Simkin as our doula. She has been a doula and childbirth educator for over 40 years and is internationally renowned and recognized!

Penny arrived at our house at about 2am, just a few hours into labor and she was with me for every contraction. She suggested specific coping techniques for the different stages of labor and engaged Drew and my mum to help with these techniques.

The role of a doula and midwife are so vastly different and yet compliment each other perfectly. Our midwife, while very nurturing, was there to manage the health of both me and Jude. She was often using a Doppler to listen to Jude's heart rate and constantly making observations to monitor my labor's progress. Penny was able to look directly in my eyes and be present with me during the toughest contractions.

It's amazing how every person at my birth filled a specific and supportive role. I can't imagine it without Penny!

Penny and Jude, nearly 4 weeks old.

Growing Boy!

We are used to petite babies in this family! Ellie was so little but her little brother Jude won't be little for long!

Yesterday, at our midwife appointment he weighed in at 10 pounds!!

Here he is at 2 days old. He has some of the newborn puffiness but he still looked relatively lean for an 8 lb baby.

And here's our 10 pounder.

Getting very chubby!

Double chin and rolls everywhere!

Days

Our days have been filled with playdates lately.

It's so great to have friends with kids the same age. They understand that when I'm slurring my words at 11am it's because I'm sleep deprived . . . not drunk.

Ellie and Ali are 2 peas in a pod. Both big sisters to newborn baby brothers.

Baby boy's first pair of jeans!

Even when he's pissed cuz I'm taking photos instead of picking him up - he's still the cutest little bean.

3 cheers!

for grandparents!

Today was Drew's first day back to work so the grandma's came over to help out!

Bath time is still a 2 man job. But luckily baby Jude loves it.

MaMop has spent the night the last 2 nights and taken Jude for a 4-5 hour stretch. Ahhhh, sweet sleep!

Direct Ellie quote: "Being a grandma is hard work! Cuz first you have to be a mommy."