Happy 7 Weeks Baby Girl!

Couldn't resist posting these pics of my sweet little Sophie. She's seven weeks old today and is already changing so much. She can hold her head up really well by herself, and is smiling at us regularly. She listens very attentively when Jack comes to talk to her or play near her. Love watching her grow!!

Around here...

I feel like I've been MIA in my regular life since Sophie was born. Which is normal, I guess. And I expected that, so it's not stressing me out too much that I'm mostly camped out at home still, breast feeding, pumping, rocking the baby and playing with the toddler. Apparently, getting out of the house with two is going to take some getting used to. But I miss all of you, my friends I haven't seen much lately! So here's a few pics from the past week to catch you up...

Daddy has been such a help! Here he is taking
the kiddos for a walk one evening

Jack and Andre met up with the Watson boys for breakfast on Saturday...Jack thought he was such big stuff sitting with the boys in the booth instead of a high chair and munched down his pancakes like a pro!

My babies, after their bath, all clean and yummy!

Siblings for sure

And just for fun, here are some comparison pics of Jack and Sophia in similar poses at similar ages:

Jack & Sophia
Guess who was stuck in the birth canal for two hours and who went through a ten minute c-section?!! Ha!

Jack & Sophia

Both enjoyed their first bath!

Jack & Sophia
Sleeping in the sling

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Ok, cheesiest title ever, but my sleep starved brain couldn't come up with anything better. And it's appropriate :). Everyone keeps telling us how much Sophie looks like me, especially anyone who knew me as a baby (most specifically my Mum!). So I pulled out some old photos and lo and behold, you're all correct! Here are some comparison pics of me and Sophie at the same age (I'm the top photos and she's the bottom ones):


You may have to click on the photo to view it larger. The top left of me on my Nana's lap looks like it's Sophie in the picture!

Etsy Love

Mum ordered these adorable month stickers from Etsy for us...LOVE them! Here's how our photo shoot went :)

Cross eyed

That's better!

Are we done yet?

One Month Old

Our sweet Sophia Joy turned one month old on Monday. It's gone so fast already! At her one month check up she weighed in at a whopping 7 lbs 6 oz...little shrimpy thing, just like Jack. Poor baby has developed pretty bad reflux and so is now on meds...again, just like her big brother! Otherwise she has a clean bill of health, praise the Lord. She has been a very happy and content baby up til the reflux started bothering her and I have been very grateful for an easy little girl. Unfortunately, she doesn't seem to like breastfeeding (again, like Jack!), so I pump a lot of the time and give her bottles when she won't feed, which is working for us at the moment. She is still waking up every 2.5 to 3 hours at night to eat, so I'm a little deficient in the sleep department, but hopefully that will start changing over the next few weeks. I'm trying to enjoy the special things about this newborn stage, despite it's challenges!

We love you little Sophie and are so thankful for you!

New Year's Eve and the Big Reveal

My sister and her husband usually don't find out what gender their babies are. It drives us all crazy!! :) But this pregnancy, her third, they decided to have the ultrasound tech seal an envelope with the gender in it and then have a reveal party on New Year's Eve. One of Sean's co-workers, who is an amazing cook, baked the cake, with the appropriate color icing in the center and Ness and Sean cut it open at the party. So much fun!!

Boy or girl? We all voted before they cut the cake

Suspense!!!

It's pink!!! Another sweet little girl!
Ness had the girls dressed in big sister shirts and
then had one pink onesie and one blue one ready...too cute!

The inside of the cake; such a clever idea and
so much fun for all of us to witness!

We praise the Lord for another precious girlie who will join the family in March. Congrats Ness and Sean! And congrats on 8 years of marriage today...happy anniversary! You guys are a wonderful example of marriage to us all!

Boxing Day

The day after Christmas (Boxing Day, as we call it), my brother and his wife arrived at the cabin and we finished opening presents and enjoyed digging into the stockings that Mum and Dad always do for each of our families.

Steve and Rachel opening their stocking

Ness and Sean opening their family stocking


Us opening our stocking

The rest of the week we spent relaxing. Jack loved every minute spent with his cousins, aunts, uncles and Nana and Grampa. Thanks for a wonderful week, dear family!

First time in the hot tub

Drawing with Uncle Steve

Not sure where his pants are!

Hanging out with Nana and Grampa

Playing dominoes with Alexis and Michaela

We even got a little bit of snow!

Christmas Day

Christmas Day at the cabin was so much fun! Our family has never been away from one family member or others home for Christmas, so it was interesting spending the holiday somewhere different, and we had a really great time. Here's our day in pictures:

Opening presents from Mummy and Daddy first thing

Sophia got a book from Santa

Ready to dive into the pressies!
Don't you love their stockings hanging up there with the gun?

Opening his stocking (he loved "helping" Sophia with hers too)

Family photo after church
(we found a little Baptist church that had a lovely Christmas service)

And then the cousins arrived!! Ness and Sean and the girls got there in time for naps and then we all sat down to our traditional Christmas dinner around 5 pm

Jack imbibed (on sparkling apple cider!)

The kiddos with their presents from Nana and Grampa

Jack giving Grampa a thank you hug for his Thomas the Tank engine

Sophia with her pink Pickles Lovey (Jack has the blue one)

So thankful for our precious family and another special Christmas together. And for our dear little Sophia being with us this Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Although this Christmas was supposed to be one we spent up in Illinois at my parents', they very kindly came down to Atlanta for the second year in a row to be with us all, as traveling was out of the question with Sophia being so young (apparently, airplanes and germs don't mix well with newborns!).

The day before Christmas Eve, Dad flew in for the week and got to meet his newest grand-baby. So special!


Then on Christmas Eve we packed up the car and drove up to the mountains to a cabin for the Christmas week. My sister and her family arrived on Christmas Day and my brother and his wife came up the day after.
So Christmas Eve was quiet and relaxing, settling in and exploring the beautiful cabin.

The cabin had a gorgeous view from this deck

Settling in with a cup of tea

Opening their new PJ's on Christmas Eve

Reading a Bible story with Grampa before bed

Home Visits

Since we got home, Miss Sophia has had quite the procession of visitors:

Her future prince charming, Mr. Garrison Kirby,
came by to stake his claim!

His parents signed a marriage contract with us :)
We loved seeing you Gary and Heather!

And Aunty Hannah got in on some cuddles

Aunty Debs popped over for tea one morning

Andre's cousin Yuliya and her husband, Jon, came for dinner with us,
as they were passing through town for the holidays

And Liesl and her family spent the day with us, which was lovely, as they were also in town for Christmas

Jack had the BEST time playing with Sean and Liesl's boys!

Loved seeing you guys!