You're Cute

Real Life

After a month and a half of me asking, begging, for a picture with my three children, I finally got it! Never mind Jentry's ridiculous smile, Tucker being seconds away from screaming, the lousy lighting, clashing attire and whatever is going on with my hair.....

I absolutely love it! This my friends is real life. I will treasure the memories from this stage of life always.

37 Days

37 days of swaddling. 37 days of rocking. 37 days of completing tasks with one hand. 37 days of tending to every cry. 37 days of multiple diapers. 37 days of spit-up. 37 days of laundry. 37 days of nursing. 37 days of giving of one's self. 37 days of interrupted sleep! And then this happens....

And all of the before mentioned is forgotten. This!....This very first smile is what I will remember when reflecting on these precious days.

One Month

Tucker Jack has been with us for one month and it seems as if he has been a part of our family forever. I can not image life without him. He has been surprisingly consistent for a newborn. He is usually up twice in the night to nurse around 1:00 and 4:00 a.m and almost always goes right back to sleep. His longest stretch has been 6 hours. Daddy successfully gave him his first bottle and two more since. He loves to be held and will suck on his pacifier until the cows come home. Jentry loves to carry him around and Mason smothers him with kisses. With the ridiculously cold temperatures he has not been on too many outings but has been a good traveler thus far. His eyes are slowly becoming lighter blue and he has given us a few grins. Dad says he is smiling at him, however I haven't seen a big enough smile to consider it "baby book" official.

  

He without a doubt makes our little family complete.

More Christmas Celebration

In our family, we celebrate Christmas for approximately two weeks. It may seem excessive, however to me it never gets old. With Jentry's schedule and her 18 family Christmases, we had to wait until December 27th to have our family of five Christmas. Last year Mason wasn't quite old enough to know which day Christmas technically landed on but this year was a different story. He counted the days on the calendar on the regular and was well aware that Christmas was on the 25th. He insisted on setting out cookies, hot chocolate and reindeer food on Christmas Eve. No foolin' this three-year-old! This required some last minute shopping at Dollar General for a few extra "Christmas morning" presents to open. At least Mason is still impressed with cheap toys. Not sure what we may be in for next year.

On December 28th we loaded up and made our first road trip as a family of five. We spent three fabulous days with my family in Orleans. I always enjoy being home for the holidays but this year was especially grand with our new little bundle. Lots of coffee, cookies, puzzles and baby snuggles. 

We had a fabulous trip but by the time we got back home I felt pretty much like this...

The next day we rallied and braved the frigid temps with yet another road trip to Chip and Becky's in Lincoln. This time we celebrated with the Johnson family and had a blast playing with cousins.

So thankful we could all be together for yet another year. Grandpa and Grandma Johnson are surely smiling down on this crazy bunch of great grands.