Hanging Out at Home

Julia continues to love her brother Andrew. She still gives him kisses on his head and wants to hold him. The other day in the car he was crying and she was telling him 'we're almost home.' Sometimes when he's crying she'll say 'it's okay' or 'calm down.' It's really very cute! Don't they both look so cute in blue?

Julia and Andrew lying on his blanket right before tummy time.

Andrew has been doing great with tummy time. He'll turn his head both ways and lift his head up for a little bit. He's a strong little guy.

What a handsome little guy...we're quite lucky!

Concert

On Sunday evening we went to see Miss Gail and the Jumping Jam Band over in Duluth. We first saw her play at Pottery Barn Kids back in December and she was great. I enjoyed it so much that I bought her 2 CD's and we listen to them all the time in the car. They were giving out free beach balls at the concert and Julia and her friend Caroline from down the street each got one and had lots of fun playing with them before the concert started.

The girls look so cute playing with their beach balls. They both did lots of dancing during the concert. Caroline is about 2 weeks older than Julia and we love that she lives only a few houses down the street.

Pink Toes

While Daddy was taking Papa to the airport on Saturday I painted Julia's toenails for the first time. Julia has said something about my toenails being painted a few different times so I thought I would paint hers. She did a great job of sitting still while I painted them and even sat still for a little while for them to dry. I look forward to going to get our nails done at the salon someday.

Close up shot of Julia's cute toes!

Visit from Papa

This week we've enjoyed having Papa visit from New York. He came into town on Sunday to help us out and he leaves on Saturday. Julia has really enjoyed having Papa around that I'm sure she'll be sad once he leaves.


Papa was a big help when we went to the Sawnee Town Center water fountains. He watched Andrew for a bit while I was with Julia and then we switched. I definitely would not have gone on this excursion on my own just yet with Julia who is almost 2 1/2 years old and Andrew who is just over 2 weeks old.

Just hanging out and relaxing at home. Julia and Andrew kept us pretty busy this week. Julia was too busy reading her new Dora book to even look at the camera.

Just the boys...Papa and Andrew are looking good! Andrew looks great in his onesie that Nana gave him for Easter.

Pigtails

While I was taking a nap yesterday Thomas decided it was time to put pigtails in Julia's hair. He had great intentions but he had some difficulty making it look good. I had to take photos and share them since I thought it was so funny.

It didn't look so bad from the front but the back was a bit of a mess. Julia liked her pigtails so I'll have to do her hair like that soon. I must say she still looks cute even when her hair looks crazy.

One Handsome Little Man

Well Andrew is 2 weeks and 1 day old. He's such a cutie and we're having fun having him as part of our family. Julia continues to do well with her little brother and kisses his head many times a day. He's mostly been sleeping and eating and of course pooping but actually in the past two days he's started staying up for a little bit after eating rather than falling right back asleep. Hope you enjoy the photos of our handsome little man. His face actually reminds me a bit of Julia and his expressions do too.

He's awake...it's been hard getting photos where his eyes are open and he's actually awake.

Such a cute little onesie..Handsome like daddy...isn't that true! Looks like the start of a smile. Love, love, love his blond hair especially after it's been washed. Once his umbilical cord falls off he'll be taking a real bath rather than a sponge bath. I'm thinking that may happen soon...it took about 20 days for Julia's to fall off.

Welcome Andrew William Brown

Friday, June 3rd started off as a normal day with a play date down the street.

At 4:30 in the afternoon my water broke and we were at the hospital a little before 6:00 ready to have our baby boy. Here I am much happier and more comfortable after getting the epidural. I was about 7 cm dilated when I got the epidural and I can't think of a time in my life where I was in as much pain as then so I'm glad that's in the past.

After pushing for an hour we welcomed our little boy into the world at 11:44pm on June 3, 2011. Even though it was a painful experience, it was all worth it! Meet Andrew William Brown who weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long. Often times people ask how you came up with their name. Well Andrew is a name that we liked every since we found out we were pregnant with Julia and William is Thomas' middle name and his fathers name. Here's our little guy getting checked out from the Special Care Nurses since I ended up having a fever during delivery (which happened when Julia was born too). I guess it's just the way my body reacts to the epidural and the whole experience of having a baby.

My first chance to hold my little guy. I was so thrilled to finally hold him and meet our new bundle of joy. I must say he's so cute.

Here's our little guy with us in the recovery room. It was quite a different experience of having him with us in the room as compared to when Julia was born since she was in the NICU.

Thomas went and got Julia on Saturday and brought her to the hospital so she could meet her little brother. I must say she LOVES her brother.

Andrew had to stay in the hospital an extra night due to me having a fever during delivery so I was discharged on Sunday and we went back on Monday morning to pick him up. Definitely not easy going home without him and we had to experience that all over again since Julia had to stay an extra night when she was born too. Julia was quite sad when we had to leave him at the hospital on Sunday night. It was much better going home as a family of 4 on Monday.

First car ride, Andrew slept the whole way home.

Daddy and Julia welcomed Andrew into our house.

Andrew looking so cute all stretched out in the pack and play which we're keeping downstairs. Don't you just love his onesie? I bought it since Thomas likes to play the guitar even though he doesn't often get the chance. Such a cute going home outfit that will go in his memory box.

Our handsome little guy with his eyes open.

Julia LOVES to hold Andrew and she's been doing a great job of being gentle with her baby brother. It's definitely very cute to watch.

She gets such a kick out of touching him or if he touches her when he moves his arms or legs.

One of Andrew's first diaper changes at home.

On Tuesday he had his first sponge bath at home. He's such a little cutie with his blond hair..I just love it! His eyes are dark blue right now but I'm sure they will get lighter just like Julia. We feel so fortunate to have Julia and now Andrew in our lives...we really are very lucky parents.

37 weeks 1 day

Thus far our little boy has made it one week longer in utero than Julia. All seems to be going well except I feel huge. We're glad we made it to June since that's the month my dad was born and 37 weeks since that's considered full-term. It could be any day now and we're excited to meet the little guy. I just noticed that if you click on the photo to make it larger you can see the timbers that Thomas put around the playground and how he filled it up with mulch. The playground looks great in our backyard.

Julia has been great with the baby ever since we told her. We know she's going to be the best big sister around.