6 weeks!?!

Parker has been with our family for six weeks now...I can't believe it's been that long and then I can't believe it's only been that long. People always say shes so little. Well she is but she is also about two pounds bigger than when I had her?!? She's starting to get a little personality, cooing when we least expect it which I LOVE!!!! Of course we still have our fussy periods and our every 3-4 hours throughout the night, but between gripe water, lavender baths and lotion every night we have decreased the length of her colic, or whatever we want to call it. Having already had two go through this phase, I never thought we'd have to come up with so many new and different techniques with Parker, but that's what makes us love her too. She keeps us on our toes :)

The stickers become monthly from week 4 on so I don't have any fun onesies....not for two more weeks...but enjoy these shots I got of her. All dressed up for mommy's birthday!

Grandma & PawPaws

I took the girls up to my parents last weekend partly because it had been a while and partly because I needed some help from my Mom, yes that does happen even as we get older. My parents knew it had been a rough couple of weeks with the newborn and I was tired to say the least. So on Friday night my parents kept Parker while I went in to my sisters house to get UNINTERRUPTED sleep. A rare, great thing in the life of a new mama. So I got over ten hours of sleep on Friday night. Saturday night I stayed up with my mom until about 1130 then she took Parker to her room. Again, TEN HOURS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course I had to wake and pump but that is nothing compared to the hour process of feeding and pumping and then getting her back to sleep. It was a PERFECT weekend. I even got to nap, see some friends, and get Parker's pictures taken on Sunday. Perfecto!!

Grandma was crazy enough to have a sleepover on Friday night so all seven grandkids!!!!

I came home Saturday morning to them playing ring around the rosies...

Mason and Gweny laugh so hard doing this with the older kids...

PawPaw and Grandma never even let me hold Parker which was in a way nice, after six weeks of not being seperated it was nice to be free, play with the older kids, RELAX!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aunt Jess got in some major snuggle time too, when Mason let her of course!

That would be a smirk from Ms Parker...

Mason even took a turn!

I love that my kids have three houses outside of ours that they would rather be at, I think it speaks volumes about our family and friends. Between Miss Hollys (their sitter), Grandma and Pawpaws, and Grandma BeBes I think they honestly wouldn't miss our house?!?! It's so nice to have people that are willing to help and love spending time with our hooligans...

Seems like just yesterday we had little Evan that we spoiled non-stop. Now all the grandkids barely fit on the couch and when Parker is no longer in a lap, they probably won't!!!

They are all growing up too fast. I understand how crazy my parents must feel about how old me and my siblings are!!

Routine

I know this continues to be a theme, but with Parker being here for six weeks now we work daily on getting ourselves into a routine, which I fear will never return :) We went from the older girls down at 730/8 and Mommy and Daddy time to well no sort of routine with Parker to be had. We do still get the older girls down by 8, before the crying begins :) Then Parker either cries for 2-3 hours to sleep from like 11-5, or sleeps all evening and then stays awake all night. I know this phase will pass, I just hate being so out of control within my own house. Even with her colic she really is a blessing. Small moments of laughter or coo'ing make us fall in love with her over and over. Her sisters cannot get enough of her. The biggest challenge is channeling their energy to be helpful. Gweny is my diaper and wipes getter and Hadley helps with the morning feed. They have to feel useful I understand, but sometimes it's intense how much they want to help. Mark was being silly with the camera...

"I am mad mommy..."

"But Happy now"

Crazy face...with crazy hair.

So rough being me.

"Somebody help!!!"

Trying to watch her show and feed...a true multi-tasking woman.

"I want to help mommy..."

Joy

We continue to have fun adjusting to our family of five...with the newest "little sister" shown below :)

Gweny stayed home with Parker and I while Hadley went to tumblebees two weeks ago. We took a super long walk then hung out listening to the storm roll in. Gweny is such a character when her older sister isn't around talking for her...

Someone's been watching me pump frequently....hahaha such a great picture.

"What Mommy, I pump" she told me!!

So little in Daddy's strong hands...

The girlies were invited to a fairy birthday party last weekend so we got all glammed up and left sissy home with daddy while we went to play!!

So stinking sweet!!

Strike a pose!

Love these angles :)

Loving her sissy!

Me??

Always a silly girl!

Oh My Parker

So entering my sixth week of maternity leave (she is five weeks old tomorrow?!?!) I would think I have some sort of routine and be really productive throughout my free days (free meaning no Hadley and Gweny) WELL THAT IS NOT THE WAY IT GOES?!?! I somehow have been less productive this week than ever before. Parker is continuing with her little night spells...last night staying awake from 1:30AM on?!? Finally letting me get some sleep at 7:30. This is after three nights in a row with a five hour period of sleep on her part with pumping and sorts I got like four consecutive hours. I am going crazy trying to figure out how to make it better and have to keep reminding myself she can't help it and doesn't have a clue what she is doing, just listening to what her body tells her. My body is telling me I am WORN out. On a better note...she has officially cooed for both Mark and I which is always soooooo fun getting to hear her voice and know her personality (outside of fussy gussy)!!! She is such a blessing to our family : )

My love with his littlest love :)

One day at a time...

We continue to adjust to life with five versus four. We've found giving the older two girls some individual time can work wonders. For Hadley it's tumblebees which is a gymnastics/ tumbling class which she talks about all week and shines like a star in class. We've also begun preschool screenings which has her thrilled!!!! For Gweny gets a date with whoever isn't with Hadley at tumblebees. We even decided this week she will go in the recreation course that is in the building with Hadleys class to play for the hour!!!

 These girls are awesome big sisters and have adjusted to the change as best as can be expected.

I am so proud of them!!!

Hadley is such a little diva!

So Big

One month literally just flew by. Parker is such a good baby. Granted she has her little (long) nightly fit but you know what, crap happens. Otherwise she is a good baby and of course we are beyond blessed that she is healthy and the older girls can sleep through her crabby hours (yes I did say hours!) Mommy is a little rundown but realized she was needing a nap during the day. Errands and housework have to wait because four hours a night (broken up?!) is not enough for me to function on. I have allowed myself to get rundown and sick which isn't good for anyone. So back to daily morning naps which are fun, even when you wake up to hail like I did this morning.

 Our photo shoot yesterday went perfectly as always...the key is feeding, bath then quickly dressed for the photos, but it works like a charm. The real adventure will be when we sit down to have professional shots of the family, I'm sure that will be a trainwreck.

There is an addition in some of the pictures this week, thanks to the lovely Ms Diana, Bri's mama. I have a pillow like this for each of my girls :) It helps to show her growth throughout the next year!

As always.

 Enjoy and ignore the cross eyed shots. In one more month no more crazy eyes.

 And if you want any printed just email me or text me and I will send you the file.