park.play.baths

Richmond was a warm 60 degrees this afternoon, so we decided to head to our favorite local park and soak up the sun a bit. It was Oliver's first trip into the outside world. He slept. But Tiki and Charlotte had a great time together and I was able to got some proof of that.

Checking out the ducks by the lake.

Somewhere inside those blankets is a little boy...I promise.

Charlotte trying to call the ducks over to her. "here ducky ducky"

Elmo even decided to show up at the park. Peek-a-boo!

Can you tell that Charlotte loves her Tiki?

Charlotte thinks it is really funny when they both wear their hoods.

We have had a couple of busy days getting settled with Oliver. We finally decided to give Oliver his first bath at home. We grabbed a chair for Charlotte so she could be up close. It was pretty fun for everybody.

He did pretty good. Not too much whimpering at all.

Well maybe just a little bit. I love this shot from overhead.

A fun shot of everybody.

Getting dried off by momma.

This one makes my heart melt.

Then we headed to the bathtub so Charlotte could get cleaned up from our fun day.

We recently introduced bubbles and she asks for them just about every night.

She still loves the bath crayons we got her for Christmas.

The hands on her chin cracks me up.

Another overhead shot on the changing table.

Oliver drifting off...

Charlotte hasn't wanted to hold Oliver yet, but tonight she agreed and several great pictures and memories resulted. She even sang him a few notes of twinkle twinkle little star.

We had a great day today. Here's to more firsts and more memories made.

-jay

oliver...go to your room.

By the time is Oliver is born, we'll only have about 4 months left in Virginia. With that in mind we made a conscious choice as we hunted for a short term rental house back in the fall. It's a three bedroom house that is already packed to the gills. We took the upstairs larger room and made it storage, Charlotte has a room and we have a room. So do the math with me...1+1+1=3. Yep, no room for Oliver, but we planned it that way. For those of you that have ever had a newborn, they tend to sleep a lot during the day and night time can be hit or miss between feedings and adjusting to their life on the "outside". Consequently, we decided that Oliver could just share our room. I mean, even if it goes horribly bad, it's only four months, right? So here you go. We took our modest bedroom closet and made it Oliver's room. I like it. So does Charlotte. She even asks to go into Oliver's room already. Charlotte and I put the crib together and the rest is Melissa's handiwork. Oliver's quilt, an old string of lights, some aviation themed objects and a little bunting and bam, one room for  a newborn boy. Check it our for yourself.

We found some fabric baskets that will act as storage. If you look close you can see a cute little plaid shirt on the right poking out that's waiting for Oliver's arrival.

These planes and clouds are my favorite. In a boring white closet they add a soft touch and something fun for Oliver to stare at as he dozes off to sleep...fingers crossed.

A closer look at one plane. I love the simplicity and the detail. Living by an airport her whole life, Charlotte knows planes. She knows what they sound like and what they do. Before we hung these up Charlotte was buzzing them around our room making her best jet sounds.

Well I would show you more of Oliver's room, but that's all she wrote. We also have the string of lights on a dimmer switch so we can have just the right amount of light for late night diaper changes and feedings.

Charlotte and I were shopping at Sam's Club the other day. We needed some size 4 diapers for her and while we were in the baby aisle my eye caught a box of diapers marked not with a number, but with a letter N. N for newborn. It seems like yesterday that we were buying our first box of newborn diapers for Charlotte. In a few months we will celebrate her 2nd birthday. With a little more experience and confidence under my belt I'm so excited to see Oliver for the first time. There is nothing better than being a husband and father...

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like arrows in a warrior’s hands.

How joyful is the man whose quiver is full of them!

proverbs 127:3-5

-jay

ready or not...here comes oliver

Sometimes babies come before their due date. Charlotte came 10 days after her due date. With a scheduled c-seciton this time around we have an exact date. Now we all know that Oliver may decide to show up earlier, but at least this time we have an absolute last possible date. So that does that mean? It means we need to start getting ready a bit. Charlotte has no idea that her world is about to change here pretty soon, so these trips to our neighborhood park a even more special because she won't be an only child much longer.

Melissa had a snow day at school on Friday and Monday was a holiday, so all of a sudden we had a four day weekend on our hands. When we moved to our temporary house we were sure to leave all of the baby stuff in a a pretty accessible part of the house. We packed Charlotte a mess of toys, snacks and other fun things and headed upstairs to dig out all of the baby stuff. Melissa is pretty organized when it comes to most things, so we were able to find what we needed fairly quickly. We sifted through some of Charlotte's newborn and 0-3 month clothes to see if we had anything neutral in color. We found the bottles, baby bath and other things like the swing. Charlotte has been cozying up each night and rocking a bit. Hard to believe, just two years ago, she barely took up half of that thing. Can you say wedding day slide show pic?

Melissa has also been working hard on Oliver's quilt and joking that Oliver can't arrive until the quilt is done. I commented that if he comes early we'll just have to bring her sewing machine to the hospital so she can finish it before we come home. We picked out the fabric a few weeks ago and used the same design as Charlotte's quilt. When Melissa was pregnant with Charlotte she finished her quilt in November. Can you say second child? The four day weekend allowed us to get a lot of things finished and Sunday night the quilt was complete. Here are a couple shots of the quilt, Charlotte and the dogs. When I have the camera out I just can't resist. Stay tuned for more Oliver centric decorations. Since we'll only be in Virginia for a few more months (that sounds weird), Oliver will be living in our bedroom closet, which we are calling his room. It is small, but it will be decorated, so check back for pictures so you can see his "crib". Ok, I'll stop now.

The chevron fabric on the back will be fun for a baby's eyes.

This fabric reminds me of Charlotte and Oliver playing a few years down the road.

Another shot of the back.

Please excuse Charlotte or maybe her parents. She slept with her hair things in. Also, yes those are her zebra print pajamas, with a fleece hoodie overtop.

Jack's nose.

He's a good looking boy.

Abby is only 8, but she's starting to show her age a bit. Thanks for stopping by!

-jay