First 3 Weeks as a Family of Four

We made it!! We've had multiple family members come to visit and several of our wonderful friends from church and DTS have spoiled us with meals. Here are the highlights of the last few weeks since we brought Nolan home.

Week One

Garrett loves his new rocketship from Grammy and Grandad!

Nolan cuddling with his Grammy

Grandad checking out the newest Wells man.

Garrett's first time "holding" Nolan. (Despite the rough looks on our faces, it was sweet hearing Garrett ask to hold his little brother.)

First time napping in the bassinet.

Jennifer holding Nolan

Opening a present from Jennifer and Terry

Stickers!!

Grandad and Terry are taking baby-duty here.

Hello Grandad--Hello Nolan

 Playing outside while Russ manned the grill.

Week Two

Brotherly Love

Me and my boys...

Chillin on the boppy pillow

Some quality time with his Daddy

Giving more kisses

Big brother standing watch

Week Three

Grandpa brings out the silly faces in everyone...

...and the monkey side of Garrett.

Grandma enjoyed getting to know her latest grandson.

And she snuck in some double snuggles too.

Tummy Time!!!

Cheese!

Feels good to be outside again after the non-stop heat of summer.

Fresh air

Yum. Grandpa's hand.

Nolan is learning that there's NO crying in baseball.

Garrett, Grandma and Lucy are taking a barefoot stroll in the yard.

Welcome to the family...

Customize a photo album

Rodeo 2011

While playing the Waiting for Baby Game, our little family went to the Mesquite Rodeo with our church family from Firewheel Bible Fellowship. We went last year, too, but Garrett had no idea what was going on and just wanted to get down and RUN. This year he had so so so much fun!! He was pointing out cowboy hats and animals from the second we got in the arena. In fact, he walked right up to a display of hats and picked out a Garrett-sized one for himself. How do you say no to a cute little guy who looks up at you and says, "Hat, Momma? Hat!" and then puts it right on his noggin?? Well, I didn't say no. He got himself a cute little cowboy hat. :) And I got myself a cute little cowboy for the evening. He cheered and clapped and yelled yee-haw with the rest of the crowd. He did really well sitting next to his friend Drew and only tried escaping our row a couple of times! (That's quite a feat for a 2 1/2 year old!!) All in all, it was a great time with great friends. And cowboys too! Next year...mutton-bustin!

 

This video is for you, Papa...Garrett was having a blast doing the chicken dance. Of course, he got shy as soon as he noticed I was recording. :)

Baby Sprinkle

And no, I'm not talking about the kind of baby baptism sometimes done with sprinkling water on their heads. :) Some wonderful friends of mine threw me a "Sprinkle" in honor of our soon-to-arrive little man last weekend. (I assured them that I didn't need a full-on "Shower" since we had so many of the larger items from when Garrett was born. Thus the "Sprinkle" was created.) It was so much fun getting a bunch of ladies together to talk babies and life. And they blessed us more than I anticipated...our diaper supply is well-stocked now! It was special, too, to have Russ's mom and sister there with us. :) If only this baby boy knew how much he was loved already. Maybe then he'd be more anxious to come out!!

The super-yummy sporty cake.

The diaper cake was too cute. Gotta love Mickey Mouse!

The super-preggo (me) with the cake table.

Nancy (Russ's mom), me, and Hillary (aka Aunt Hi-wee according to Garrett)

My party-planning girls...they rock! :)

Daddy and Garrett go to the Zoo

So, it's been H-O-T here in Texas. We're talking 28+ days of triple digits. Yuck. Despite the heat, my brave husband joined with a couple other families from church and went to the zoo last week. Garrett only lasts for a few hours at the zoo anyway, so we knew they'd be done after eating lunch. I was blessed to have a morning to myself while they had their male bonding. :) Garrett had a blast and all the talk around our house was about the ZOO for the next couple days. Here are a few pictures from their awesome outing.

"Beese Ball"

Garrett is in love with Beese Ball and his Daddy couldn't be any more proud. :) As everyone knows, Russ is a huge Texas Rangers fan. So when Garrett goes running around all anxious about finding his "beese ball love," Russ nearly fell over with excitement. The baseball bug has officially bitten our son. He wanted to throw his baseball. He wanted to catch his baseball. He wanted to hit it with his little bat. I tried my best to catch a few pictures of my boys playing baseball together during last night's Home Run Derby but since one of them (Hint: NOT the 30+ year old) moves very quickly and in fact, does not STOP moving ever...they're not the greatest of photos. :) But you'll get the idea anyway. So sweet to see Garrett and Daddy playing catch/throw/bat/run together. And I may not be an MLB pro or anything but I think our little man has a pretty good arm already. The aim? Eh. We'll work on that.

 Batter up!!

 

  Garrett is explaining some of the more difficult baseball concepts to Russ.

 Good catch, Daddy!

 Pitching him the ball.

 Running away with the ball.

 Awww, sharing is nice.

 Pitching him the ball...again.

And...SAFE!!

Kinsler!!

Russ and Hillary went to the Rangers game last night and--despite the heat and the sad loss--had a great time. The icing on the cake?? It was Kinsler jersey night for kids and they let Russ bring one home for Garrett!!! It's a wee bit big on him right now but he'll grow into it and it'll be fun for him to have his own jersey for the future. Go Kinsler!

Aunt Ta

My sister, Krista, came to visit last week and Garrett dubbed her Ta. So Ta she shall be. :) It's fun seeing him get excited to see her (and his Aunt Hillary--AKA Hi-Hee--who he got to see yesterday before the Rangers game!) and calling her by name. We went to the wave pool, story hour at the library, and of course, McDonald's playland. Never a dull moment when Ta's around! Here are a few pics of them playing with blocks and Ta being brave and letting Garrett brush her hair. Ouch!

I just love the look that he's giving her in this picture. He looks at her like that a lot. Especially when she's letting him climb on the bed or look out the window or brush her teeth...yes, I said teeth. She's a marshmallow. :) In the best way, of course!

Wordless Wednesday