Gamma's Birthday

My mom's birthday fell on Easter this year, so we celebrated the night before her actual birthday.  We went out to dinner downtown and Jackson slept through most of the meal.  It was delightful.   

The, we headed back to our house for dessert and champagne.  My daughter has almost as big a sweet tooth as my mother.  These two had their fill of cake and icing. 

Then we put on Pandora and danced the night away.  We played oldies from my parent's high school days.  They sang along as we danced around the living room.  Tessa was in hog heaven. 

Jackson got a kick out of all the excitement too.  We let Tessa take a few twirls around the dance floor with him.  She loves her baby brother so much. 

I think my mom had a pretty good birthday, we sure enjoyed it.  Happy Birthday Gamma!

Easter Egg Hunt

Our Sunday School had it's annual Easter Egg Hunt the week before Easter.  Billy and Vicki have a great yard where the kids can run and play.  At the start of the egg hunt, Tessa is still finishing a strawberry that she snagged off the buffet table.

This little guy was obviously not ready to hunt eggs.  Miss Tobie is always happy to hold Jackson and give us a little break.  

Tessa proudly showed us the eggs that she found.  I think there were only about five in her bucket.  That's ok, she'll find lots of eggs at my mom's house next week.  

Billy grilled for us and we ate outside and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  The kids played and the grown-ups had a chance to relax and chat.  Look at Tessa's smile, she has lost so many teeth!  It's just another way she is growing up on me.      

Soccer Season Finale

Soccer season is over and the jury is still out on how Tessa liked it.  But she sure looked cute while she was out there and she had fun.  Here are a few action shots of her on the field.     

Tessa is not particularly aggressive.  She would much rather encourage a friend or cheer for her team than charge into the middle of a group of girls fighting over the ball.  I get that, I don't think I would want to get into the fray either.  I only asked that she try hard and pay attention to the coach which, for the most part, she did. 

At the little awards ceremony, Coach Tim complemented Tessa on her good attitude and sweet smile.  He said he loved coaching her because she was always happy.  That's just one of the many reasons I love being her mom, she's such a sweet and happy kid. 

I am personally relieved the season is over.  We are, perhaps, a little overextended with ballet, tumbling, speech, soccer and a newborn.  Tessa loves to be busy, but this schedule might be a little too busy.  



Three Months Old

I don't know where the time has gone!  All of a sudden, this big boy is three months old.  He is sweet and snuggly and loves to be held.  He now weighs 15 pounds and measures 26 inches long.  He is so handsome.    

He's not only big, but strong too.  Look at this head control!  When he's on his play mat he tries so hard to roll from back to front.  He has long since mastered rolling from front to back. 

Such a happy little face!  I love our nighttime routine of taking a bath, putting on jammies, reading stories in my bed and then snuggling together.

The last part of our routine is tucking in Tessa.  We all go to her bedroom, I lay Jackson in her arms and we say our nighttime prayers together.  This is usually my favorite part of the day.  Seeing my two children cuddled together and listening to Tessa pray to God brings tears to my eyes.  Although sometimes we are late getting to Tessa to bed and Jackson is doing his loudest hungry cry.  Then I don't hear much of her prayers.  But most nights, it's a sweet time I treasure.       

We then all take turns kissing Tessa good night.  There is an order to this process, Brother, Momma, Anabelle and then Daddy is last.  We have pared down the nighttime routine because it was getting a little out of hand.  It used to include kissing stuffed animals, applying Band-aids, checking under the bed, closing doors, taking fake medicine called "water medicine" and so on.  Tessa is not actually sleeping in this picture but since I was taking photos this night, she pretended she was sleeping.  In reality, she sleeps with the covers all the way over her head and every stuffed animal she owns, plus a few books, stuffed under the blankets with her.     

Aunt Kristin Visits

Aunt Kristin came to visit and meet the newest addition to the Bobbie family.  Jackson is a sweet snuggler and Kristin was happy to hold him.

I really appreciated having a "wife" around the house for a few days.  She cooked for us and stocked us with freezer meals.  Having two kids herself, and another on the way, she was also a great resource for me.  I asked her about a million questions, mostly about nursing and sleeping.  Jackson eats like a champ but he is still not sleeping!  I started a sleep log thinking that maybe he slept more than I was giving him credit for.  Nope, he only sleeps about ten hours a day.  That's five less than the doctor said he should sleep at this age.  No wonder I'm so tired!  We took it easy and mostly stayed around the house.  One day, Kristin treated us to pedicures.  That was wonderful.  I could have stayed in that massage chair at the nail salon all day.  We also shopped and bought Jackson new clothes.  He is growing so fast!  On Sunday, we had lunch with my parents and they were glad to get to see Kristin too. 

The weather is finally getting nice and I'm so glad to say good-bye to winter.  We took pictures on my parent's deck.  These are some happy grandparents. 

Back to Work

There are no pictures to commemorate the sad milestone of me going back to work.  I had one bonus week of maternity leave because the patient volume was low last week.  But, today I had to face the music and go back to work.  Jackson was all sweet smiles and I was a mess this morning.  My sweet and compassionate daughter was so concerned about me because I was crying.  She hugged me and told me it would all be okay.  My mom is taking care of the kids while I work.  So I know they are in good hands, but it's still hard to leave.  To make the transition easier for me, my mom brought Jackson up to the hospital at lunch time.  I was able to hug him and feed him and get my baby fix.  I have a great job that I love and since I only work one day a week I didn't think it would be this hard.  Maybe next week will be easier.  Right now I'm just glad to be back to my real job, taking care of my precious babies. 

St. Paddy's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  It's a cold and yucky day and we have no plans except to wear green and take pictures.  My mom made the kids (I get tickled every time I use the plural) tams.  It's like a beret with a puff ball on top.  Jackson's bib says "a wee bit Irish" which is actually true.

He looks so handsome in green on his first St. Paddy's Day!

Tessa, my bonnie lass, looks great in green too. 

In other news, Jackson has learned how to hold a rattle.  I'm so impressed with his motor skills!

2 Months Old

Jackson is now two months old.  His check-up went very well.  He is long and lean measuring 25 inches long (>100%) and weighing 12.6 pounds (57%).  He had shots in each thigh and we were told to return in two months.  Now that we are bathing in the big tub, bath time is more fun.  

Mister Man is sleeping a little longer at night but he is still feeding at least twice during that time.  He is also not napping very well.  So we are all totally sleep deprived.  Happy two months!

Family Pictures

We had formal family pictures made.  Jackson needed to take several snack breaks but otherwise, the photo shoot went great.  This photographer is excellent but expensive.  Since he did Tessa's newborn pictures, I wanted him to take Jackson's newborn pictures too.  That way the style of our pictures would match.  I'm very pleased with the results.

Soccer

Tessa started soccer this spring.  She runs very fast and has lots of energy so it will be exciting to see how she likes soccer. 

We requested to be on a team with lots of Tessa's friends from church.  This makes soccer a social event for Tessa as well as a sport.  Coach Tim is amazingly patient teaching them how to play.  Tessa will have practice once and week and games on Saturday.  Go Zebras!