Carry On

Thomas is 5 weeks old today. 

We received a fun surprise package in the mail last week. It had a little taggie blanket in it made by YaYa. He uses it to stay warm on his many trips in the car driving kids to school. It is so so cute!! I love it. Thank you YaYa! 

Also I think it's so cute the way max always puts his finger in Thomas's tiny hand so he can give it a squeeze.  

We are trying to get back into normal life around here which means Thomas is accompanying me on a few more outings. Last week Jack had an award ceremony at school. He really wanted me to bring Thomas to show his class. He's so proud of his baby brother. The class was very good about looking and not touching him. It was fun to watch them ooh and ahh at his tiny feet and hands. 

Thomas had his 4 week check up. He weighed 7lbs 11 oz.  All that eating is paying off. He has also started to smile though we haven't captured it yet. 

I cut off one of Doug's old tshirts to make a stretchy sling. It helps me get a few things done around the house when he just wants to be held.  

we took Thomas to church for the first time on Sunday. The kids were so excited to dress him. They scoured his basket of clothes for anything that looked Sunday-ish. They all dressed him together and put his little jacket on. Tomorrow we will bless him.

Thomas helps me tuck the kids in at night and the boys like it when he lays by them and gives them kisses. 

And that's it for now. Over and out! 

Three weeks old.

I really wanted to try and post every Sunday. Oops I'm late but I'll try and persevere. My sister left on Thursday leaving me to do all of everything by myself. She was a real lifesaver while she was here. She almost single handedly unpacked my whole house.

If I look a little tire here it's because I am. 

 I still have to go through some things and hang pictures but we are doing pretty good for only living here for 2 weeks. She also left me with 2 weeks of freezer meals that I can just throw in the crockpot. She's Amazing and we miss her. 

Some nights his little man sleeps great, 4hrs at a time and other nights he's up every hour.

He also has been a little bit constipated which doesn't make sleeping long stretches any easier.

He's filling out just a little we think. His hair is also growing. He has a little tuft sprouting out at the top of his head. 

Also this kid has the longest eyelashes. And I just love how his eyebrows merge with his hairline. So cute. 

In other news Mer is playing lacrosse for school. The season is just starting and she learned how to throw and catch with a stick today. This is what some of her gear looks like.  Minus the mouth guard and the headband helmet. 

Her eye  mask cage is pretty cool. 

 The boys have been working on a puzzle this weekend. All kinds of fun activities have been unearthed since we moved. 

They tried swimming again today but didn't las very long. It's really just too cold here right now. 

 And I've managed to get a tiny bit of sewing in.  This is a quilt top for a car seat blanket for Thomas. Now I just have to finish it. 

Lots to do but for now I'm just trying to catch up on sleep any moment that I get. 

In fact I'm off to catch some Z's right now. Good night. 

Thomas is here...and we Moved Too!

SOOO much has happened in the last couple of weeks. Here's our LOOONG update. We welcomed Thomas Valton Markos into the world on December 27th. He weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19" long.  He came 11 days before he was due. Just in time to come home to our Potomac house for 2 days before we moved. This is the freshest picture we have of him. 

 I had been having painful contractions since Christmas Eve day.  We spent the days after Christmas packing up boxes for our move the following Tuesday.

The morning of the 27th I sewed up a receiving blanket and some changing mats and told Doug he better go to the library to get The Bradley method book so I could skim over it all again (too bad the library was closed).  I had been so busy getting ready for Christmas and the move that I didn't feel too prepared for this birth. Plus, I had 11 more days right?

 That afternoon I was taking a nap and woke up to a painful contraction. I felt a pop and my water broke.  It was about 2:30 and I panicked a little.  Doug quickly gave me a blessing and we left for the Hospital while the kids were all watching Spiderman.

 We got to the hospital and was dilated to a 4. Things progressed super fast and he was born at 5:12 after just 5 pushes through 2 1/2 contractions. Such a better delivery than with Luke where I pushed for 2 hrs.  Though I still look pretty beat up.

Doug went home to get the kids who were totally in awe and just so cute with him.

 Max said this was the coolest thing that he has had happen to him. He couldn't really remember the other kids being born. He loves this little guy.

ONE DAY OLD!

2 DAYS OLD. Getting ready to go home. Doug is a very proud papa. He loves this little baby so much. It's my favorite thing to watch him with him. His excitement for this little baby to come really helped me through the tough days of pregnancy. 

 We make pretty good team at delivering babies too. :)

Thomas was born on a Saturday. We came home Monday and my sister came to town to help out. We signed papers on our new house the next day.  And began moving all our packed things to the new house.

 Thursday all of the furniture and everything else got moved and then began the job of cleaning the old house in preparation for the tenants to move in on Saturday.

Amidst the craziness of the move Luke accidently cracked the glass on our front door.(the tip of a screw driver attachment flew into it from 6 ft away) on Wednesday afternoon, New years Eve. Nothing was open. It was a sad death of a Butterfly. Thankfully we had help and found a replacement glass insert on friday.

 Rachel was a life saver and helped paint and clean and move. Our good friends Abby and Greg came to help out as well.

Thomas was a champ and slept a lot.

We will miss this house. It has served us well. We lived there 10 1/2 years.

By the time friday night rolled around we were all exhausted.  Here is our last family picture. The kids were too tired to stand for the photo.

Saturday Thomas was ONE WEEK OLD.  He had peely skin, he was much more alert. This was the day we started unpacking boxes in our new house.

Our FIVE kids.

Thomas hates baths. He screams the whole time.  It tires him out.

But he loves getting his hair washed after he's all bundled up.

TWO WEEKS OLD At this point we are almost moved in. There are still boxes that we need to go through but we are 90% done. Thanks to Rachel who unpacks boxes and puts things away while I watch and nurse the baby for hours and help a little here and there.

We sure love this little guy.