5 Weeks.

Lexie found her thumb this week.

 

 This cutie is now weighing in at 9.5 lbs.  

We spend a lot of evenings like this.

 While I'm nursing Owen entertains himself with what he can find. This time there was less mess and more laughing. Here he made a cage. Laundry baskets are right up there with boxes for endless hours of toddler entertainment.

 These are the faces I get while nursing, ok, only sometimes. Love that Owen.

Yesterday I went back to my first aerobics class. Lexie and I made it to Boot Camp on class (my old class that a friend has been subbing for me.) I did not teach, we simply went as gym enthusiast who were ready to get back at it. I only had to hold Lexie a third of the time. I was really hoping she would sleep through it all but she was wide awake! So the rest of the class she layed on my mat and hung out. I thought who is this baby, she is never this content. I suppose with the loud music and sounds of ladies working out she felt at home. We did spend most of our pregnancy there.

I'm planning to go back to teaching in about 2.5 weeks. Still haven't decided if I will be able to teach 2 days or just one. I'm waiting to see how Lexie does before even thinking about hiring someone to help with her for me to teach. There's no way I would leave a colicky baby with someone who doesn't love her and our family.

I've also dived back into the Baby Whisperer book. I'm not going to lie. Having a little one that cries so much shakes a mommy's confidence. I'm going back to the basics and this book is a must have. We're working on our E.A.S.Y routines and figuring out our little ladies personality and cues. Right now we're pretty sure she is the 'spirited' one, yup that sounds about right. So for me, I'm working on learning her cues and trying to catch them before we get to meltdown mode. Now when her tummy hurts, there is no catching anything, you just hold her and rock her and we all suffer through it. I wish I could fix it all.

Last night she slept for a five hour stretch. Heaven. We've had several meals brought to us this past week and that has also been heaven sent. I'm grateful for those who have asked and just showed up to help us. We've needed it.

Hugs, A

The Kiddos Fancy Shamcy.

Our first day back at church in the Sandbox.

We managed to only be 15 minutes late.

A combination of jet lag, nursing a newborn and rallying the troops out the door.

Lexie slept through all of the meetings thanks to a milk induced coma.

It's nice to be back.

The boys were so excited to see their friends and go to Primary.

I was excited to introduce our new baby girl.

Here are our kiddos in their Sabbath day best all fancy shamcy. 

(I would normally say Sunday best, but we go to church on Fridays.- yeah welcome back to the Sandbox.)

Lexie 4 weeks old.

Hands Full.

37 hours total travel time door to door. 

3 Airplanes.

2 Layovers.

1 Layover spent in an airport hotel -Best $200 we ever spent.

10 Dish barrel boxes.

3 Car seats.

1 Stroller.

2 Carry ons.

3 kids.

We had our hands full, but we made it!

 More impressive may be the fact that we got everything in the back of the Suburban. This picture is missing a few things we already took in the house.

Every inch had something in it. If you look at the floor you can see the extra car seat base and stroller.

  Our welcome home posters from Franca and her kiddos. The boys were so excited to see our front door decorated!

We had a 7 hour layover in Dubai after our 16.5 hr flight from L.A. This is where we decided to get a hotel room inside the airport. It was worth every penny. We were able to take showers, freshen up and I was able to nurse Lexie in the comforts of a room and not in a hard airport chair outside the gate.

This also gave us a chance to let Mike leave us somewhere safe and run down the carry on we left on the plane -yikes! But lucky for us we got everything back. The hotel room gave the little lady and I a chance to stretch out and get some rest. At the same time, gave the boys a chance to run a muck in the safety of the room. Carter had a good time with the Itouch, we have pictures of everything in the room, including Lexie and I snoozing away.

It's nice to be home and sleeping in our own beds again. We've been back Safe and Sound in the Sandbox for about a week and have no desire to do that again anytime soon. At least until August.

Hugs, A

First Month.

The first four weeks our new little girl have come and gone so fast.

An entire month.

We started in Idaho and are now back in the Sandbox that we call our Expat home.

Not very many newborns have passports and have already traveled the world.

Might I add, she did amazing on the plane.

We love Lexie.

She loves to have her hair washed.

She likes car rides (not her car seat and not when the car stops.)

She likes to be held and snuggled.

She loves to be snuggled in her minky blanket.

She sleeps pretty well, we can usually get a four hour stretch most nights. 
She still gets the hiccups atleast once a day, just like she did when I was pregnant.
She loves to be stretched out and prefers to sleep with her arms up and out.

Alas she is not an easy baby.

She nurses well and has from the beginning.

But she has reflux like the boys had and spends most of her day crying.

Understanably, because her tummy hurts.

At this point we think it's a bit of colic too.

For the first few weeks we would spend most of the night holding her while she screamed.

Now she does this in the afternoon instead of nightime.

The prevacid is helping and we're buying our time until this colic thing is over.

That happens at three months right?

Owen loves to pet her and give her kisses.

Carter is concerned about where she is.

Mike is already wrapped around her finger and likewise she's already a daddys girl.
I'm enjoying having a little girl and the fun things, like bows and flowers and headbands and dresses that come with it.
Lexie is  our littlest baby.
Infact she's spent her first month wearing newborn clothes, which the boys never fit in to.
On day 3 she was only 7 lbs, down 10 ozs from birth.
In another 10 days she got back to birth weight.
Then at 3 weeks she was 8.11 lbs.
The week before we left to come back, my mom and I spent a few days buying smaller clothes because I had really only purchased bigger sizes expecting her to be more like the boys.
She is perfect the way she is.
It's only fitting that she be a bit more danty and smaller than the boys.

Here are some photos from Lexie's first month.
Coming home from the hospital.

 First Few Days.

 Weeks 2 and 3.

3 weeks. On our last trip to Target.

Blessing.

We blessed Lexie on March 4 in Mike's home ward. The blessing circle included Mike, Grandpa Val Dille, Uncles- Bryan, Paul and Brian McDonald, our good friends, Todd B., Tom P. and Mike T.

Lexie was an angel the entire meeting and during the blessing. She slept through it all. It was a beautiful day and her dad gave her a beautiful blessing. We are thrilled to have our baby girl here and so happy we were able to share this special day with our friends and family.

Our Family of Five.

 Proud Parents.

 Baby Lexie. My mom made her blessing dress from the train of my wedding dress. My grandma Mouser sent Lexie the blessing bracelet. How lucky she is to have so many women who love her.

 This was the first baby blessing of our children that my mom was able to be there for. So happy she was there. 

*We've made it back to the sandbox and have been here for a week. I haven't had time for much between newborn and jet lags, unpacking, nesting and just life as a family of five. I have a lot of updating to do. But that too, will come in time. Hopefully sooner than later*

Hugs, A