5 Weeks Old and a Road Trip!

After being home for a week by myself and not getting any sleep, my mom offered to come back for a bit. It's tough to have a husband who starts traveling when your baby is 4 weeks old with two older children! I know I'm not the only one who has this arrangement, so I'm not going to complain about it, but I was just really exhausted. We got Capri started on some medication that just wasn't helping. After another trip to the Dr. we switched her reflux medication that the Dr. said would take a bit to work. Poor baby would sleep for an hour or two and then throw up and wake herself up. There were multiple times where she would have spit up coming out her nose and mouth which would choke her and she'd freak. It was SO sad to watch and scared me to death! Thankfully after several days on medicine she started doing better. 

This little beauty at 5 weeks old:

 Eskimo kisses from big brother:

 At my 6 week mark I did a tally from my pregnancy with Capri as I finally got to stop giving myself daily shots. 3 rounds of Clomid to get pregnant, 260 shots in the stomach, 245 finger pricks, 38 Dr. appointments, 20 ultrasounds, 3 other daily medications, 3 months of bed rest, 9 months of restricted exercise, monthly blood tests, 1 trip to the ER, 1 amniocentesis, and finally a C-section. I really am so grateful for modern medicine as I never would've had kids without it. My body now needs a serious break! 

 Since I was going to be by myself for several more weeks, my Mom and I decided we'd go to her house in Idaho for a trip before school started. My boys had been such troopers through months of Mom not being able to do much being pregnant and then when Capri was born. Baby was too little to take on a plane (or so her pediatrician repeatedly told me), so we drove....to Idaho. The way there took us 3 days and 31 hours in the car. My mom is a saint to drive us all the way there. It's normally a 24 hour drive, but when you have to stop to nurse every 3 hours, that makes for a very long drive. I'm so grateful my boys are so good in the car, though. They really were awesome.

My view the whole way: I sat in the middle row to hold in binkies, pass around books/snacks, and sing songs to entertain a baby.

 Here in Texas we have these little lizards all over. We have found two of them in our house and occasionally in our garage. I don't love them and am grateful for sticky pads that help us get rid of them. However, one place we did not expect to find one was in the drivers' side car door. When we were leaving my mom went to put her phone in the door and screamed when she was surprised with this guy: Eek!

 Our road tripping crew:

 Capri really did awesome for 99% of the trip. She was so predictable. If we were coming up on three hours from the last time she ate, we would pull over and she'd always wake up and cry because she was hungry. She really is such a textbook awesome baby. She started sleeping more the night before we left for our trip and I was really worried I'd jinx it by sleeping in hotels for several days. She didn't do very well the first night in the hotel, but by the time we got to Idaho she was doing better. 

That's not to say she was happy the whole time, though. I still think this face is adorable: 

 On our last day as we're in between Ogden, UT and Idaho Falls, Parker looks out the window at this and says, "Are we in Africa?!" I thought it was so funny. I'm sure we had been driving long enough that his 3 year old mind thought we were in Africa.

 Yeah!! We finally got to Idaho Falls! Before even going to my parents' house, we made an important pit stop. SO yummy.

 6 Week old little Capri at Grandma's house:

 I sent that picture to my sister in-law Bethany and she sent me back a picture of her little girl. We both think these two look a little alike! Capri on left and her cousin Kamryn on the right. Such cute girls!

Mimi comes to visit!

 We were so lucky to have Mimi come after my Mom left. The boys love Mimi and had so much fun! I was so grateful for her help and was sad to see her go. Thank you so much, Mimi!

This little girl loves to straighten her legs straight out. It's hilarious!

Mimi came with a bunch of fun ideas for the boys to do to keep them happy. Tube fun:

 Racetrack made out of tape: (excuse the boxes and pictures that still need to be put up....my house is coming together a little slowly!)

 I think they're favorite was this slip and slide thing for the backyard. They LOVE it!

3 Weeks old and hanging out inside with Mom.

Mimi brought Brody's birthday present early. He loves his new scooter. Parker hopped right on it to take a turn also! When the weather gets a little cooler, we're going to be riding scooters a lot!

Concentrating:

After Mimi left, I was sort of in survival mode for a while. Capri was having bad reflux problems and was sleeping for very short periods at a time. Since their Dad was traveling and I was trying to rest as much as I could, the boys were left to their own devices sometimes. This is what happens when two boys are trying to find things to do while Mom is trying to rest. They find old boxes of toys and have a hay day!

Don't worry, they were good sports about helping clean all of it up.

One month old:

I am loving this sweet little girl. She makes all of us so happy.

I love the little tongue she sticks out when she's sleeping. I wish I could keep her this size forever! One month:

First part of July

Oh boy was our house busy in July. We had visitors twice, Jared started traveling again, and the kiddos kept me very busy! 

Capri started struggling with reflux when she was a few weeks old. She would sleep for maybe an hour and then throw everything up and wake herself up. Sometimes even through her nose, choking herself. It was a very trying time of little sleep for Mom. My mom was here until she was about 2 weeks old. It was so nice to have her here to help me stay sane and get some rest. It was mostly just wonderful to have someone to take care of my boys and keep them happy and busy. 

I did take time to make a craft before her newborn pictures. I referenced it in her newborn pictures, but this is a better look. I'm hoping to make a shadow box or something with it for her someday. I just love this sweet little face. She's 9 days old in this picture. Such an angel!

Parker finally started acknowledging her existence a little more. He's slowly but surely coming around to this new sister of his. He has said multiple times that he wants to go back to the hospital to pick up another baby--a boy baby. Ha!

Brody asks to hold her multiple times a day. It's actually adorable because she'll always calm down when he holds her. One time when my mom was holding her, she was crying quite a bit. Brody ran and washed his hands, sat down with the boppy and said, "Here Grammy, I'll take her." As soon as he held her she calmed down and just looked at him. He said, "See, she just needed her big brother Brody to hold her." How is he only 5?! He's is the sweetest big brother. He tells us all the time that he can't wait to be a Dad and that he wants to find a job where he can be home with his family. He's an old soul in a little body. Love him!

Dad had two weeks of paternity leave and the boys loved it! We took them to the pool and Dad taught him how to do canon balls. Brody was in heaven! 

Daddy and his boys

I just love this picture. Brody found Jared's missionary tag, so he's sporting Dad's Portuguese tag and playing this bear that sings to his baby.

Parker cracks me up. He really has an uncanny ability to fall asleep anywhere. Maybe because he just goes and goes and passes out wherever. Having a baby sister is tiring. :)

This pretty little lady on July 4th. All dressed up with nowhere to go. Dad took the boys downtown for some 4th of July festivities while I stayed home with the wee one. She's still too little for crowds. I hate to miss out on things like that, but I'm doing my best to keep this sweet baby healthy! It's scary to have a newborn. Isn't she a beauty?

We ventured out on our first family walk through our neighborhood:

I think I have more pictures of this guy sleeping in random places than smiling. 

Brody's favorite picture of Capri. He laughs and laughs every time he sees this. 2 weeks old.

Capri is also Brody's new favorite subject to take pictures of:

Parker the Tiger. There is just mischief in this boys eyes all the time. He's so fun and such a rascal all at the same time. We're in trouble for making him our middle child!

I love this view of a relaxed baby after she's done eating. 3 weeks old.

3 Weeks Old.

Just a cute girl on the quilt Mimi made for her. Isn't it beautiful?! I love it!

A comparison picture of Brody and Capri (aka my look a likes). Brody on left at 5 weeks and Capri on right at 3 weeks. Looking very similar!

These first 3 weeks have been so fun and so crazy all at the same time. You quickly forget as a Mom how exhausting having a newborn is. I love all the snuggles from a baby who can't protest yet, though. I'm savoring it as much as I can!