Cousin Mania!

There has been a burst of babies in our family in the last few months . . .

Mila - Cousin Melissa's little girl born last summer

Nicholas - Cousin Kirsten's baby born born in September

Lucie - Cousin Owen and Caitlin's little sweety born in October

Baby Jude in November

Noralynn - Cousin Shea's baby born just a few weeks ago

And Shaneen's baby girl due any day.

5 cousins all within a 6 month span! Bring on the family get-togethers!

Owen and Cait brought Lucie for a visit this weekend. Ellie thought having 2 babys around was even better than 1

These little (second) cousins are too cute. They laid on the playmat and swatted at eachother.

Lucie is just 6 weeks older than Jude but at this age it's a HUGE difference. She can hold her head up and is very chatty.

We're planning a summer vacation together and there's no doubt these 2 will be crawling and stealing eachothers toys by then!

Sick but sweet

What a week we have had! This cute little boy had to spend a night at Children's Hospital for RSV last Friday. RSV is a nasty virus that is 'just' a cold in big kids and adults but can cause breathing problems in babies.

Poor Jude had a terrible cough and was working so hard to breathe we had to take him to the ER and he was admitted for observation. Watching him get an IV placed in his little hand was torture but, thankfully, the experience didn't seem to scar him and he continued to grin at all the nurses.

Luckily, he made a swift recovery and was discharged the next day.

Here a few gems from our photo shoot last week before he was sick.

Love Day

Who cares that there is laundry to be folded - This boy is laughing!!!

On our Valentines Day agenda:

• Love notes on the bathroom mirror
• Helium balloon bouquet for the little girl
• Beef bourguignon braising in the oven
• Handmade heart shaped placemats
• Prosecco!

Jude cooing, Ellie cooking

There's no doubt we have 2 cute kids!

Jude making gurgle-y baby noises

Ellie making dinner WHILE singing (yes, still singing Christmas songs!)

The funny thing about time is . . .

I've been thinking a lot about time lately. Probably because the passage of time is so apparent when I can practically see Jude growing by the minute.

My feelings towards time are a dichotomy. Part of me wishes these moments would last forever - I love newborns (their sweet smell, how they will lay on your chest contentedly for hours (HOURS!) and how a quick nip at the breast will usually solve any problem) but on the other hand I crave the days when it's just me and Drew in our king size bed.

I hate to wish away the days away - it seems to be an unspoken rule of motherhood that you are supposed to cherish every moment - but these days are hard! Every ADL (that's nurse speak for activities of daily living, i.e. teeth brushing, dressing, eating, etc, etc, etc) takes my complete involvement. It's exhausting! I get up, get dressed, get Ellie dressed then get Jude dressed. I get Ellie breakfast, nurse Jude then eat my own breakfast. I go pee, help Ellie go pee, then change Jude's diaper. Whew! I'm tired and it's only 7:30am

There's rumor that one day kids learn to do these things on their own. I mean, really! One day Ellie will get herself dressed and maybe even put her pajamas in the laundry basket? One day we won't spend 1/3 of our income on diapers? That sounds like a true utopia to me!

I've heard it explained that as children grow up their crises get are fewer but more serious in nature. Sure, the teenage years are no picnic but at least those crises don't arise 47 times per day (as is our current average).

Jude is certainly our last baby so my focus right now is on trying to find a balance:

Enjoy the last few months of baby-dom while wishing they'd both grow up just enough to learn how to wipe their own ass!

Now THAT'S the truth!

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!