Two weeks!

It's hard to believe it's been two weeks since Aaron's birthday! We have each managed to catch a cold from one another (except, fortunately, for Aaron, who up until now has managed to dodge the bullet). This and lack of sleep has slowed us down a fair bit, and we haven't been quite the shutterbugs that we usually are. But we managed to capture a few gems in the last week or so.

Two Weeks

Adjusting

We are slowly adjusting to life with two little ones. Aaron needs to be held, a lot. I find this difficult if I need to be helping with Jacob or basically doing anything besides feeding. The breastfeeding is going very well, which we are very thankful for. Each night has gotten a little easier, as well, with Aaron only waking up twice last night to feed. Hooray!

Jacob is also adjusting to sharing our attention. Now that Nana and Papa have gone, we have started to see some negative behavior from him, but for the most part, he's been really good. He's still as adorable as always. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of days:

Adjusting

A few more of Aaron

I found a few more pics on my iPhone that are good--close up with eyes open. So here they are:

A few more Aaron

More Aaron

A few more pictures since yesterday's post. We're home from the hospital now, thankfully, but Nana and Papa will still be here to help out for a little while.

More Aaron

Welcome, Aaron Joshua Stiles

This morning at 8:27AM, we had a new arrival to the Stiles family! Aaron is 8 pounds and one ounce, and mama and baby are both in excellent shape. The labor was a little longer than Jacob's, but everything worked out well in the end. Aaron is hungry, good at latching and not tongue-tied, for which we are very grateful.

We are amazed at the similarities between Aaron and his big brother when he was a newborn. Jacob had darker, thicker hair, but their facial structure is almost identical. It's really uncanny.

Aaron Joshua Stiles

Trains!

Jacob's friend Noah loves trains. Jacob has had a chance to play with his train set when we go over to play. So, yesterday, after nap time, I pulled out the set that I had from my teaching days. Jacob played with it the entire afternoon and evening, barely pausing to eat snack and dinner. He was so excited to show John when he got home from work, and they played all the way until bedtime. His first words this morning after "good morning" were "play trains." He loves his trains.

Our living room is completely back together again. You would never know, except that corner no longer has the faux finishing that the rest of the room does. We are very thankful to have our house back together and clean again. We are only 8 days away from the due date, and know that this little man could come anytime. He will probably come closer to next weekend, so I keep finding stuff to keep me busy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

trains

Bad Timing

Okay, so rarely is there "good timing" for a leak in your wall, but seriously, 2.5 weeks before this baby is due? Everything was ready, everything was clean. Not anymore. I am no longer begging for this kid to come. I am telling him that he needs to stay put for a while.

As I write this, they are tearing out the wet drywall in the corner of our living room, and we are waiting for a plumber to fix the leak in the slab. Yes, slab leak. Which means jack hammer. There goes clean. There goes ready. John reminds me that 3 weeks from now would have been even worse, but still. In my nesting pregnant brain, this is just not good. I'm so not in control, and never will be. Stay calm, Mandi. Stay calm.

The Waiting Game

The nursery is ready. The car seats are installed. The double stroller is assembled. The suitcase is packed. The refrigerator has been scrubbed and the back yard weeded (yes, these last two were important must-do items, in my pregnant brain). And now we wait. 20 days and counting.

Here are some pictures of the preparations, along with pictures of Jacob at his first concert. Jana Alayra is a local Christian music artist, doing mostly children's music and she came to our MOPS group last week. Jacob loves listening to Jana in the car and had a wonderful time.

Getting Ready

Hopefully, our birth announcement post will be very soon!