running on fumes

It's amazing how so much can change in just a moment.

Here's what our family looked like just 12 days ago.

(Please try and ignore large blimp on the left...)

Right here would be a great place to insert a picture of our family of five,

but unfortunately we don't have a good family picture yet.

Sorry.

However, I'll just tell you that this past Saturday we had our entire family in the car together for the first time and it felt so complete. I looked back and saw all three of our kids lined up in the backseat and my heart swelled with joy.

For the first time I felt like we were all here.

No more waiting for our final member.

We are all here.

And it is such a great feeling.

On another note, Millie celebrated her 2nd birthday last Wednesday (the day we brought Tate home). My mom was thoughtful enough to bake a cake for her and we had a little family celebration that afternoon. She was pretty excited about her new tricycle that's just her size. It was raining, so we let her ride it in the house.

I think she had more fun pushing Addie around on it. She was laughing so hard.

Aunt Mary sent a wonderful package in the mail. She knit these adorable slippers for the girls, which they LOVE! She also knit a super cute sweater, hat and booties for Tate, but he's a little too small for them right now. We'll be sure to get a picture of them once he's a little bigger to model them for you.

You would think the girls would get tired of having a new baby around, but they're about as excited as they were the day we brought him home. They love holding him and he seems to like them pretty well too!

Grandpa Cornie got to meet him for the first time at my niece and nephew's birthday party on Saturday. He was pretty proud. Only his 2nd grandson, but he has 5 granddaughters.

Nana Brooks flew in on Saturday afternoon. She couldn't wait to get her hands on her new grandbaby! This was the first time she got to hold him at the airport.

I am breast-feeding, but we wanted to be sure he would take a bottle since I'll be having jewelry parties some evenings and so we can feel free to get away if we need to. So here he is taking his first bottle. He took to it right away like he'd been doing it all his life (which of course, was just about 7 days...)

My little hunk.

This outfit only lasted about an hour before he peed all over it. He wore 4 different outfits this day because he kept peeing all over everything. I'm finally starting to master the diaper changing. I just have to keep a washcloth ready to put over him before he squirts all over me, himself, the ottoman, the carpet and the couch. Yes, that happened for the first time yesterday.

Last night was the best night we've had so far. He was awake for about 3 hours before I fed him at 11 before going to bed. Then he slept until 3 and then again until 6:30! It was AMAZING!!!

Not so sure that's going to happen tonight since he's been sleeping all evening. We tried so hard to wake him up, but he is a heavy sleeper! Before last night he was waking up every 2 hours or less to eat. That meant only an hour or so of sleep for me in-between. Ugh.

I think he sees me as an open-all-night cafe. But I'm not. This cafe wants to close at 11 and not open until 7, but I guess I'm not the boss...

Well, I'd better hit the hay. We're having the girls' combined birthday parties this Saturday and I've got a castle cake to attempt to make tomorrow!