“I shall call him ‘Squishy’ and he shall be mine, and he shall be my little Squishy”…
Author: kristenperreault
brothers
A few bits of adorableness to make your Monday morning brighter…
This is what I mean when I say we are working on gentle- by the way, Charlie was fine and not hurt at all. This photo does make me laugh though :)
the tree- update
The tree is up and in the house! It’s not fully decorated yet but the lights are on and I could sit by it for hours.
Jay was thrilled to “help” Daddy string up the lights and could hardly wait to rip open the boxes that held them. His helping turned into using the light strands as car roads but he was thrilled none the less and was so excited when the “kissmas tee” came in the house, his squeals and giggles were infectious.
I didn’t think that it was possible to enjoy this time of year anymore than I already did; boy was I wrong! Seeing it through your child’s eyes makes it a thousand times better :)
we got our tree!!
We got our tree, we got our tree!!!
Yesterday Jamie, the boys and I headed out to pick up our Christmas tree. This is pretty much one of my favorite days of the year- I LOVE getting our tree! It’s outside waiting to be brought in after it falls a little- can’t wait until it’s in the house and strung with lights :)
2 weeks…
Charlie,
Two weeks ago Thursday you surprised everyone by coming 10 days early. You were ready to be in the world and weren’t going to wait on anyone; not even for your Mama to pack her hospital bag. In hind sight, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Your Daddy did a great job of packing everything that we needed while we were at the hospital (he sent me photos from his phone to make sure that he had everything right) AND I have already had two precious weeks with you- what more could I ask for?
I am over the moon for you little man; you are precious beyond words and continue to take my breath away daily. As I write this you are snuggled in on my lap and along with the soft Christmas music I can hear your tiny baby snores… bliss. Wrapped in two blankets and bundled in your southern miss hat you snooze and I am amazed that you are mine and that I get to be your Mama. It has taken a while for us to get to know you; you are so different from your brother and so alike at the same time. You love to be snuggled up, the cozier the better- hence the two blankets, but you don’t want to be swaddled tightly like your brother did. You like to have one or both arms out of your blanket and near your head (this is a Daddy pose little one and I think it was passed down from Pepere). Your cry is louder than Jay’s was and you make these brief little hiccup noises and grunt a bunch where Jay sounded more like a pterodactyl when he was your age. You are a great eater, nursing almost every two hours during the day and less so at night (I thank you for this) and growing like a bad weed. You weighed in at 8lbs 12oz when we were at the doctor today, having gained 14oz in 2 weeks- wow, little one, wow! You have a round little face that I recognize from my baby pictures, soft squishy lips and the same button nose as your brother- you are cute, I mean really cute :)
Being a family of four has taken adjusting to. It hasn’t been a smooth process and we are nowhere near over the adjustment period but we are continuing to work out the kinks as we go and taking it one day at a time. Jay was a bit jealous when we first came home from the hospital and mostly chose to ignore your existence but he is warming up to you daily. He refers to you as ‘baby Charlie’ (I really need to get that on video- it’s precious), brings us a paci when you are crying and hugs and kisses you from time to time- although the hugs are more like head locks at this point. We are working on the concept of being gentle with him- I promise; hopefully it will catch on soon. I can’t wait to see how your relationship will continue to grow and I hope that you will become fast friends.
I can’t cuddle you enough and don’t want to blink because I am afraid that when I do I will open my eyes and you will be a toddler (it happened with Jay- I swear) and I don’t want to miss a minute of this tiny squishy phase. But at the same time, I love seeing you grow and change before my eyes, what a miracle. I can’t wait to see what your personality is going to be like and already can’t imagine all that you are going to do with your life. I have big dreams for you little man, big dreams indeed…
I love you more with each passing day and am so excited to see what tomorrow will bring. Thanks for coming early to meet us, I love you.
Love,
Mama
p.s. Your two week stats from the doctors visit today are as follows, you know for posterity’s sake…
8lbs 12oz, 21 inches long- and both are in the 50 percentile- but anyone that has been able to cuddle you knows that there is nothing average about you ;)
the lists can wait…
Lately I have been quite concerned with checking things off of a “to do” list. With the holidays fast approaching, a new baby’s arrival pending (or at least it was) the white board on the fridge and lists (yes that is multiple) on my iPhone have been a revolving door of things to do. Prepare some meals for when baby arrives, stock pantry and toiletry cabinet, purchase Christmas gifts, work on the handmade gifts we are giving this year, do the laundry, clean the house, steam clean the carpets, finish photos- personal and otherwise and this isn’t even the half of it… The lists went on and on and when I or Jamie checked something off I was able to add another two or three things to replace it. To say the least it began causing me stress, I would check the lists before bed and make adjustments before my head could “shut off” for the evening and sleep. I would worry that I wouldn’t be able to get it all done and felt guilty when I didn’t end up accomplishing much during the day. Heck, I even stopped taking as many photographs of our day to day because I didn’t need (want) to add any more photos to the to be edited stack…
It has taken me a while to realize it (and I am not sure that I have fully grasped the concept yet) however I am surely working on it but those kinds of lists won’t ever end and they are not what is important. There will always be laundry to do, a house to clean, another project to be added to the to do list; what will end is the time when my children are small, a time when they want me to be there and need only my undivided attention.
Charlie came 10 days early surprising all of us and catching me with an unfinished list. Since he has arrived I have been forced to slow down, to let my list go unfinished and to focus on what really maters… my family. My time with Jay is more limited now so I am trying to be more deliberate about it and trying not to multitask while he is around. I am spending extra time reading stories, playing with cars, stopping to really listen when he talks to me or wants to show me something, helping when he asks in his sweet little voice “help me Mommy, help me”, and grabbing the extra hug or kiss when he slows down long enough to give them. I am trying to just sit back and enjoy all of the time I am getting with Charlie- to cuddle him, shower him with kisses, to enjoy the 3am and 4am feedings, to marvel at just how tiny and perfect he is. I am trying to appreciate (outwardly) all that Jamie does for me and the boys and sneak time for the two of us whenever possible. I am making an effort to pick up my camera and shoot until my heart’s content because even if I don’t get to editing all of the photos I have taken, I will some day and regardless of when I get to them I will be grateful that I took them- that I captured the tiny baby smiles or a little boy engrossed in his “fast cars”. I will want to remember those moments, the ones that only last for the blink of an eye. So while realistically my to do lists won’t be vanishing any time soon, I am not consumed by them anymore and I have started to add to do’s of another variety… like go to to the park, play cars and cuddle in the hammock ;)
And because all posts are better with a few photos, here’s a few of our little Charlie…
twice as thankful
We have twice as many things to be thankful for this year…
Wishing you a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving; may you share it with those you love.
more from Canada- our last day
Our last day in Canada was pretty quiet but very nice for that same reason. We headed over to my Uncle Doug’s house so that Bradey and Jay could play together. While the boys played I headed out with a small group to do some shopping before we left to come home (I wanted to hit the roots store and the grocery store- to pick up a few fruit snacks that we can’t get here), and then everyone came over for Chinese food at the end of the day. It was a really nice way to end our trip- simple fun and quality time with family. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a better trip. We loved being there, really enjoyed the time that we were able to spend with my family and left regretting that we can’t do it more often.
Here are a few photos from the boys playing together. Bradey has a ton of really cool toys that Jay loved playing with. The highlights were probably the two John Deere tractors that he has in the backyard. Jay rode with Bradey, was pulled by Bradey and also took the tractor for a spin on his own. The tractor photo is one of my favorites of Jay right now- I love his proud smile in it!!
more from canada- dinner and games
Here’s a few more from Canada… After our zoo trip we headed out to my Auntie Trish’s house for supper. Everyone met out there, even those who didn’t go to the zoo, and we all had dinner and played bingo. It was a great night and really fun to just relax with everyone. At some point after (maybe before- I can’t remember) my Uncle Keith pulled out some remote controlled cars that my cousins had when they were little. Jay was in hog heaven watching them and playing with them!
more from Canada- the zoo
I know that it’s probably a little late to still be posting photographs from our Cananda trip. Especially since we have been home now for over two months; but I still have a few that I really want to share so hang in there- ok?
One of my favorite things that we did while in Calgary was go to the zoo. It’s a wonderful zoo with all kinds of animals and Jay LOVED it! It has fun kid parks, really amazing animals and Jay got to take his first ever carousel ride (which he loved). Jamie and I really enjoyed it as well, it honestly makes me jealous of Jacksonville and their zoo… By the way my personal favorite animal was the giraffe. I seriously could have stood there all day long and been pleased as punch, it might have been the playful baby that was bouncing around their area chasing birds or just that they are so majestic looking- I am not really sure but I was like a kid in a candy store and even requested we stop one more time before leaving the zoo just to see them again.
the perreault family 