Lucy ALL DAY EVERY DAY

I know you supposedly take less pictures of each kid as time goes on, but Lucy is so lucky to be born in the smartphone age, that every time she is doing something cute, I can grab my phone and take a picture of her. Which is pretty much ALL DAY EVERY DAY because she is the cutest thing ever. 

She is so beautiful I can hardly even stand it!

Texas baby. All she needs is a cowboy hat!

I am amazed by what a sweetheart she is. We have had hardly any crying out of her, at all. This is not an exaggeration. She will sometimes whine and yelp and very rarely actually start to wail, but man. She is easily satisfied with someone picking her up and holding her and popping the pacifier in her mouth. What a sweetheart. We keep pinching ourselves that she is such a good baby. 

BIG BIG fan of the swing. 

OH MY GOODNESS. I just can't contain it.

NOT that she is perfect. The last two days she was on a nursing strike--where she screamed and writhed and howled bloody murder every time I tried to get her to nurse. So I eventually had to give up and pump and give her a bottle before she would finally give up and be happy again. It was a really long and frustrating few days. But she started nursing again today, although she doesn't do it enough to really satisfy me that she's getting enough--another issue we have with her. She is so tiny and doesn't seem to be concerned about growing that much like I am hoping she will be. Stinker. She also is not the best sleeper in the world, but at least she's not crying while she's awake for long chunks during the night. Just awake and trying to keep us awake with her.

Her feelings about nursing the last few days. Also, my feelings.

Getting a bottle just like she wanted.

The main comment we get about her everywhere we go is "Her hair!" Because she has so much of it and it's so amazing. It's curly and adorable and my favorite thing is how it curls all around her head like an afro after she gets a bath.

But OH my goodness, she is smiling all the time now. Every time she makes eye contact with Tommy or I, she lets out a huuuuuge grin. It's the best. She really watches the boys when they get close to her, but they move too fast for her to really focus on them and smile--so far. 

Smiling and cooing at Auntie Bubba while she was here visiting.

This is my favorite picture ever. Background on my phone for forever and ever.

It is so amazing how once you have a baby it's almost hard to remember life before that baby came into your family. It seems like eons ago when we had only two kids and were waiting for her to be born. And yet she's only 10 weeks old tomorrow--barely two months old. We are still figuring out our routine--so far, we've just slowed everything down significantly and kept things quiet around here. Lots more shows for the boys (usually in the 4-5pm hour while waiting for Daddy to come home), lots more hanging out at home and not going anywhere. Today we missed a fun swimming party at a friend's house that I was kind of sad to miss--but I knew it would be a BAD idea to bring three non-swimmers to a pool party by myself and I would be too stressed out. But the most important thing is that everyone is (mostly) happy, including me. And someday we will be up for getting out and doing lots of things again!

We have three kids.

My first real outing with the three kids. We all survived!

Three kids sure seems like a lot of kids. But seriously. I am shocked, SHOCKED I tell you, by how well everything is going so far (knock on wood). I was prepared for the worst when Tommy went back to work. But it's gone so well--mostly meaning, I have been happy and not overwhelmed. There have been exactly zero days when I've gotten overly frustrated and had temper tantrums of my own (hooray!). There are a few things that are significantly helping things to go pretty well so far, I think.

1. Low expectations. I expect Lucy to want to be held all day and Graham to be throwing tantrums and Dane to be whiny... and it's fine when those things turn out to be true.

2. Not trying to do anything. I have no plans or goals most days other than holding the baby and keeping the boys happy. That fills up my whole day in general. 

3. Getting outside at least once a day. We go to the park or just play in the backyard. Getting outside is magical.

4. Making lunches in advance. I am trying to make lunches earlier in the morning and have them waiting in the fridge so that I can just grab them and throw them on the table once everyone decides they are STARVING AND MUST EAT NOW. It has made such a difference in my happiness level (and theirs). 

5. Getting exercise at night. This is definitely not a long term solution, but for now, Tommy and I are trying to switch off going to the gym in the evenings. It's awesome to get to the gym at least a few times a week.

Lucy is seven weeks old now, and we are coasting along to her two-month mark. Things are slowly falling into a routine and we are all happy about it! Things are going by SO FAST.

Camille sent the boys these stuffed bunnies, which they loved!

Lucy = adorable.

Some sleeping smiles--I love those. Plus, look at her hair.

Dane is so stylin' with his sunglasses.

Not many husbands are EXCITED to have to teach Joy School while they are on paternity leave... but Tommy was. 

Lucy's superhero name is the Purple Cupcake. (Really--that's what we decided.)

Dane loves climbing into these trees at our park. He feels so cool.

The "little kids" while Dane is at Joy School.

Dane was super excited about this carrot. "Mom, this is the BEST DAY EVER! Because I have a carrot like Olaf's nose!" Then he ate 95% of it for a snack, haha.

This happened in their room while I was nursing Lucy one morning.

There are no words. 

Graham loves his trike. He insists on riding it to and from the park when we walk there, and it takes FOREVER.

Lucy's first REAL SMILES last week!!! It was the BEST THING EVER.

Dane at the dentist office, haha.

This girl and her daddy. So cute.

So many times a day I find them reading books.

Tummy time! She's a natural!

Dane got a ladybug to climb on him and was thrilled.

Love these two brothers.

Graham lookin' sporty during Family Pizza Movie Night.

She is nine pounds now! I am soooo happy that she is growing so well. She's getting so big and looking so different than just a few short weeks ago. I feel like it's all going so fast and that she's going to be six months old before we know it. It's awesome that it's going so fast (I'd love to sleep again) but also sad (because she's so adorable).