2 Months

Finley is two months old today. 
I feel like I came home from the hospital, blinked my eyes and here we are already.

I’m really loving having a baby in the house. 
Especially this baby.  He’s so sweet and easy going.

Our next doctor appointment is in another two weeks, so we’ll find out how much he’s grown.  I would guess that he’s around 13 pounds, maybe more.  As you can see, he doesn’t miss any meals.

Speaking of meals, we’re breastfeeding exclusively and have settled into somewhat of a routine.  He’s been eating every three hours during the day and every two and a half(ish) hours in the evening.  He kind of cracks me up when he eats because he slurps and grunts and then burps ridiculously loud.  He’s such a boy.

As far as sleeping, he’s still – fingers crossed – going to sleep around 9PM, waking once around 4AM to eat and then going back to sleep until around 7:30.  Sometimes at the 4AM feeding, he will nurse for about 3 minutes and then fall back asleep, so I suspect that he may drop this feeding soon.   He’s still sleeping in his little bassinet in our room and has taken a few naps in the crib in his room.  Shawn was just asking me when we’ll move him into his own room but I’m in no rush.

Finley’s been giving us lots and lots of smiles, coos and even a few out loud giggles.  He loves to lay on the floor and “talk” to us.  He especially loves to watch Hannah.  She can always get him to smile.

His smile melts my heart!  It’s hard to catch a picture of him smiling because as soon as I get my camera out, he gets all serious and stares at it.

He loves to be in his swing, his bouncy seat and worn in the Over the Shoulder Baby Holder.  We alternate these throughout the day, depending on where we are and what we’re doing. 

(And apparently, he doesn’t mind being posed in a laundry basket while he’s sleeping either.
He’ll thank me someday.  Maybe.)

We’re on the go a lot, but Finley and I spend some days just hanging out at home while Hannah’s at school.  Shawn’s been in Poland most of this week so today while we waited for him to get home we went into Luxembourg city to one of our favorite spots – The Chocolate House, which is directly across from the Grand Ducal Palace. 

And just like that, two months have flown by. 
I can’t wait to see how he continues to grow and show us his personality.
We love this little guy so much! 

Mother’s Day

We had a quiet day, celebrating my mom, Shawn’s mom and my grandma (from afar). 
I’ve been so blessed by my two little people.

Here’s a look at past Mother’s Days:

2008

2009

2010

In between these two pictures, this happened.  
Now that I am completely on the other side, I’ve gained perspective and am able to see how it stretched my mom-heart capacity in love and appreciation of my beautiful, healthy little girl.   

2011

2012
Not long after this photo was taken, we learned that we were expecting again.

And eight weeks ago today, exactly fourteen months (to the day) of the due date of the baby we lost, we welcomed a little boy to the world and I became a mama again.

We are blessed beyond measure.

Faire Le Pont and Other Randoms

Thursday was a holiday in Europe, so pretty much the entire country of Luxembourg closed up shop for the day.  It doesn’t seem all that worthwhile to have a Thursday off, go to work for one day and then have a weekend, so on Friday, a lot of people do what the French call faire le pont, which means to make a bridge between the holiday and the weekend.

And that’s exactly what Shawn’s doing today.

But let me back up a minute.  Yesterday, Shawn and Hannah took a little day trip to Paris.
That’s the beauty of where we live – it’s just a short train ride away.  It seemed like an awful lot of work to take a 7 week old baby, so I stayed home with Finley.

I didn’t even realize that we were both wearing stripes until I posted this picture.  He looks kind of concerned about it.

Unfortunately, Hannah’s school doesn’t like students to faire le pont, so she had to go today.
Shawn came along with us and there’s not much that’s more exciting to her than having her daddy come to her school.  

After dropping Hannah off, Shawn and I had quiche, pastries and hot chocolate at a little café while Finley slept.

Then we headed into the city center to drop off/check on/fill out some paperwork pertaining to Finn’s birth.  Having a baby in a foreign country?  The registrations, forms, paperwork and whatnots and whathaveyous are endless.  ENDLESS, I TELL YOU.

But it was a lovely day, and the paperwork went faster than we anticipated.

And while we continue to faire le pont today, I’ll leave you with some tidbits of what else we’ve been up to this week.

Last Sunday was beautiful so we spent the afternoon along the Mosel.  We’re standing in Luxembourg and just across the river is Germany.  Finley rode along in his Over the Shoulder Baby Holder and loved it.

Hannah’s been practicing her “high frequency” reading words.  In a princess dress, of course.
“Mom, today we’re going to work on digraphs.  You know, when two letters get smooshed together to make a sound, like shhh…”

My sister sent Hannah a Topsy Turvy – one of those As Seen On TV things that grows tomato plants upside down.  I’m the only one in this house who will eat tomatoes, but she didn’t really send it for the sake of growing produce in our backyard.  No, she sent it so that we could hear Hannah say
“tah-mah-toe” in her British accent. 


This was the scene in our neighborhood on Tuesday.  As we were leaving Hannah’s school in the afternoon, a big rain storm came through and by the time I got both kids in the car and the stroller into the trunk, or the boot, as they call it here, my jeans and shoes were soaked completely through.  A few minutes later, the hail started and left our street and front porch covered in pellets of ice.

Did you know that in Europe they call bathing suits swimming costumes? It cracks me up.  When I came across this I almost bought it because, I mean, Finley was born in Europe, so it’s probably totally appropriate for him to wear baby Speedo, right?  But then I just couldn’t do it.  I went with the American style board shorts instead.  Which is also the kind of swimming costume his dad will be wearing this summer.  No Speedos for these Americans, thank you.

Shawn: Hey I left my ear buds in the pocket of those jeans I wore on Saturday.  Will you get them out before you throw them in the wash?

Oh, you mean the jeans that I put in the wash TWENTY MINUTES AGO?
And those ear buds?  Those right there?

I love that Shawn and I send each other little texts and emails throughout the day, but it looks like he’s started to delegate this.  Thanks, Siri.  You sure know how to make a girl feel special.

Baby In A Mug

Sometimes an internet fad is simply too good not to follow.
Have you heard of Baby In A Mug?  Or Baby Mugging?
It’s simple, really.
All you need is a mug.  And a baby.
I just happen to have both.

I made that mug in a pottery class in college.
(Holla liberal arts education.)

So I felt obliged to give a shout out to Shawn’s alma mater as well. 
(He neither made a mug, nor took a pottery class in college.)
(For the record.)

9 Miscellaneous Things

1. We’ve had some beautiful days here in Luxembourg, perfect for long walks and scooter riding. 

2. The little mister at 5 weeks.  He’s seriously such a sweet baby, easy going and totally chill.
He nurses about every 3 hours during the day and every 2 hours in the evening. 
And I know that NO ONE IS GOING TO BELIEVE ME and I’m probably going to ruin it by writing it, but this babe has been sleeping the sleep of angels since we’ve been home from the hospital.  For the first few weeks, I was setting my alarm to wake up during the night to feed him.  I mentioned this to his doctor at his one month check up and she said, “You don’t need to do this.  Let him sleep.  He’s not going to forget to let you know when he’s hungry.”
For the last few weeks, he’s been falling asleep around 9:30 and usually waking just one time, around 4:00AM for a feeding and then going back to sleep until around 7:00.  But the last two nights, he has skipped the 4:00AM feeding and slept right until morning.  I told Shawn that because of the things I went through during the pregnancy –  ridiculous all day sickness during the first trimester and then losing my dad when I was 33 weeks – that the Lord knew exactly what our family needed and blessed us with a calm and good sleeping baby. 
He has really been our joy after sorrow. 

3.  Speaking of sleeping, this little girl loves to get all tucked in with her spotty dog.

Some people say that she looks a lot like my sister, Traci.  Or, No Blog Traci, as I call her.
(The girl seriously needs a blog.  She’s got stories people would pay to read about.)
Top: Traci at age 5.
Bottom: Hannah at age 5. 
We have some strong genes in my family, don’t ya think?

3. Last week we took Finley on his first trip into France, to a little town called Rodemack.  It’s an old medieval town and I could look at the buildings all day long.

I mean, how cute are the aqua shutters and front door?
Love.

4.  We also took Finley on his first trip to Belgium.
Okay, it was just to Ikea, but whatever.
I wore him in the Over the Shoulder Baby Holder and he seemed to like it.

5. So we also did some babywearing at Hannah’s ballet class.
(That’s Hannah standing in front of the teacher.)
Finley slept through the entire class.   
Clearly he doesn’t appreciate the arts.

6.  One of the things that I’ve never quite felt completely comfortable with is driving in Europe, even after living here for 1 1/2 years.  But I realized that I must be adapting and getting over it because outside of Hannah’s school this week I parked my car just like a European – half on the street and half up on the sidewalk.  And I had no qualms about it. 

7. Navy and green were the order of the day for this big sister and little brother in their unplanned and coordinating, but not matchy-matchy outfits.
(Yes, it’s a sweater vest.  On a baby.  I die at the cuteness.)

8.  Saturday nights sure are different than they used to be.
I love Finley’s little foot sticking up out of his bathtub.
Have I mentioned how much I love his baby feet?
(In fact, he’s hanging out next to me right now and I just took off his socks to look at them.)

9. Finley is 6 weeks old and where has the time gone?  This week I packed up my maternity clothes for good and put them in a box to be donated or passed along to whichever of my friends should happen to need them next. (Anyone? Anyone?)  And then I started to feel a tiny bit sad that yes, this is the last baby for us but I reminded myself of something I heard on The Simple Mom podcast.  No matter how many babies you have, there’s always a last one and at some point you will feel that twinge in your heart that this is the last baby – if you have two or twenty babies.  So I’m really focusing on soaking up as much as I can of my kiddos right now.  I don’t want to miss Hannah reading her “high frequency words” in her British accent or any of Finley’s smiles and coos.  There’s really something about a baby smiling at his mama, isn’t there?
These are the things that I’ll hold in my heart for a long time.

Hey There, Birthday Boy

We’ve spent every birthday together since before I was old enough to drive.
If you’re keeping track, that’s 19 years.

 
Today’s celebration included a homemade cake baked in our tiny European oven (that randomly quits working and then magically repairs itself), our chubby baby boy and our little girl wearing a tap dance costume, tiara and a cape.

Happy birthday to my best friend.
Here’s to many, many more.
I love our little family and I love being a parent (and a foreigner) with you.

One Month

Our sweet Finley is one month old today.
Can you stay this little forever?

 
I wonder what he dreams about? 
He makes the cutest little squeaks when he sleeps.

He loves his big sister…

He didn’t even seem to mind when she put sunglasses on him and glitter in his hair.

He loves lounging in the tub.

And has started giving us some smiles.
This onsie, or baby vest, as they call them here is totally appropriate.
We had Finn’s one month check-up yesterday and homeboy weighs 11 pounds and 2 ounces.
(As an aside, this baby vest totally confused a German woman today.  Little?  Big?  Well, which is it?)
(I can’t wait until he wears the one that says CHICKS DIG ME.  If that doesn’t confuse the non-native English speakers I don’t know what will.)

Besides a couple of newborn bedtime shenanigans, he’s been a great sleeper so far.
Fingers crossed that this lasts.

So, what else has he been up to over the last month?
Well, at 2 weeks I put real clothes on (aka NOT YOGA PANTS) and we took him for his first trip into Luxembourg City.

And at 4 weeks, he saw his first (of many, I’m sure) European castles.
(Sorry, Finn.  Your parents are nerds.)

Clearly he wasn’t all that impressed with Vianden Castle.
He was all I’m so over this.

He loves his daddy!
(And his daddy is pretty crazy about him, too.)

And I can’t get enough of his itty bitty baby tootsies.

Seriously.  I tickle them every single day. 
I can’t stop.

This guy is the perfect addition to our family and we love him so much!