4 Years before Thing 3

 Every little girl dreams of what she will be when she grows up.
 All I ever wanted to be was a wife, a mommy, and I wanted a big poofy white dress wedding!! 

On September 25th 2010 I got that dream come true! 

I was already a mommy and Michael's bride when we renewed our vows with all of our family and friends in my white dress with my beautiful wedding party...so all my dreams had come true!

Look how tiny Things 1 and 2 were back then!! 

From our 1st look early that morning to our reception that night it was everything I wanted!

 I am so thankful for everyone who was a part of this perfect day, and still a part of our lives today!

 Now 4 years later while I can hear the sweet breathing of our brand new baby this big day is just a happy memory of one of many dreams that my husband has gone out of his way to make my reality! 

Happy 4 Year Part 2 Anniversary Michael James Reece!

3 Things go to the Airshow

Things 1, 2, and 3 got to spend their Saturday at Daddy's work watching The Gunfighter Skies Airshow!

 Things 1 and 2 went exploring while mommy nursed Thing 3!

Watching the show with dad! 

 

Walking the Flightline with mom!

Thing 2 sitting with her daddy!

My Crazy kids cuddled up on this Queen sized blanket watching the show

Thing 3 hanging out in his stroller people watching when he and mommy left the flightline to go shopping with Grandma for the planes that were too loud for his baby ears!

Thing 3 is 1 month old!

I am continually in awe of how fast time passes. 

Tomorrow our little man will be 1 month old! 

Height/Weight: Our Happy baby Boy is growing to fast :( 

At his 1 month pediatric appointment this week he was weighing in at 9lbs 8 oz, and is 24 inches long. 

Routine: We started "baby steps" on making a schedule this week. Seeing I am home with James during the day, but still enjoy sleep we started with the evenings. Between 5-6pm I cuddle up and feed him, so he is awake and happy while we have dinner and go about our evening. Then when he starts nodding off (usually about 7-8pm) we give him a bath (we are still only sponge bathing), change him, and play with him. This gives us another 30 mins to an hour of awake time. Then I feed him again and put him to bed. 

The rest of the day I let him eat and sleep on demand which is working great :)

Sleeping: James loves his sleep! He sleeps from his last feeding for about 5-6 hours. Then again till I wake him up to feed him in the morning. During the day his favorite place to sleep is on mommy or daddy's chest which we are all to happy to allow most of the time. Otherwise he loves his Rock'n'play Sleepers that his uncle Bobby and Aunt Stevie gave him. To transition him from sleeping with me to the sleeper in our room I just started putting the shirt I wore each day next to him and he passes out! 

Eating/Feeding: Other than the long stretch at night he eats about every 2-3 hours for about 30 mins. He is so great about eating! He will nurse with or without a shield, with or without a cover, and will take a bottle no problem! I am still the only one who feeds him, and I don't see being willing to give that up for awhile. 

Sizes: Like I said he is growing! He is in 0-3 month clothes now, but still in NB diapers. 

Milestones: He is developing so many habits and cute little personality traits already! 

Like when he nurses... If he is wide awake he will stare at me and have his hand wide open on me, but when he is falling asleep / almost done he grabs his ear :)

He is learning to hold his head up and likes looking around, so unless he is nursing he doesn't like to be held like he would be eating. He likes to have his head up :)

He has also developed the best "grumpy face" for when he doesn't want to be awake, but is doing it for mommy anyways ;)

Better than his grumpy face is his "Tickle face"!

Here is a picture of all 3 of my beautiful babies

I am one blessed Mama!

Sunday Shenanigans at the park

Sunday was James's 1st time going to church, so we had lunch and went to the

 Hyde Park Street Fair after to celebrate.

Baby was happy and alert most of the afternoon while the older kids had fun running around, looking at booths, and climbing trees. We finally didn't miss anything while packing the diaper bag, and James is getting really great about letting me nurse him with my cover :)

Happy Boy watching his brother and sister climb the hill

Me with big sister and my little sleepy bug

Big brother talking to his baby

Daddy talking to his monster man... look how strong his neck is getting :)

Me with the love of my life! 

My monkeys :)

We ended the day with goodies ice cream and a blow out...
When we got in the car James started crying (which is so unlike him)
Mike pulled over and I picked James up. He stopped crying made the most awesome face...
I looked down and there was poop everywhere!
Luckily we had packed everything needed to clean the disaster.
James was now in a great mood and big bother and sister laughed THE WHOLE WAY HOME lol
All in all it was a funny experience to end a wonderful day as our family of 5!

Newborn Pictures

I posted James's Baby Airman Pictures Thursday, and his Pictures with Mommy and Daddy yesterday. Here are some more of my favorites from his newborn photo shoot! 

Mommy's Little Love Bug

Daddy's Little Football Star

 The newest member of the 266 RANS

All because 2 people fell in love!

Seeing this month marks the 4 year Anniversary of the day Michael and I renewed our vows I thought that it would be fun to recapture our Love stick photo with our new sweet addition. 

Here are some of the pictures that we have of the 3 of us from his newborn photoshoot! 

Baby Airman

Now that we have sent out birth announcements here is a sneak peak at James's newborn photos :)

Thank you!

Tonight Mike and Jenna are on a daddy daughter date watching a football game, so I am taking some time while my sweet boy is sleeping to work on birth announcements and thank you notes. And I am just overwhelmed with gratitude for the people who have been so wonderful to our family since James was born! It has been a busy amazing few weeks, and there are so many who have been  apart of making them so special. I don't want to let too much time go by without making sure we say Thank you!

Thank you to our families! Both Mike's and my mom made us frozen meals, so we didn't have to worry about cooking. My sisters Grace and Eva scheduled their lives around waiting for James to be born, so they could help while I was in labor. My sister in-laws Mandy and Stevie both brought us food and snacks, came to visit James at the hospital, and came to help multiple time after we went home! Mikes dad came into town to spoil us and  James! Mike's grandpa gave us bags of fresh veggies and gave me the most beautiful flowers!

Thank you to our friends! Especially Sara and Becky for being there for me through Labor. Then taking care of me multiple times since we have been home! Thank you to all our great friends who brought us meals! I know that it is not easy to make Gluten free food when you don't eat that way, and we have had some amazing meals! 

Thank you our 266 RANS family for the sweet flowers, bamboo, and the tonka truck for James that you all signed! So thoughtful! The picture is for you guys ;)

Thank you to my DHW family for all your gifts and warm wishes! Oh who won the Guess when Baby Reece will be born pool?!? :)

Thank you to everyone else who has sent well wishes, gifts, thoughts and especially prayers! 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! 

Thing 3 is 2 weeks old!

It was exactly 1 year ago today that Mike and I decided to start trying for a baby, and as of yesterday that dream come true is 2 weeks old!! 

Height/Weight: James had his 2 week appointment today, and has already grown. At his appointment the day after we left the hospital he was weighing in at 8lbs 4oz, and today he is 8lbs 12oz and 22 inches long! 

Routine: We don't have a set in stone routine yet, and that is mostly because we don't need one. Both Mike and I are on leave from work, so we are just spending this time loving on our boy. Mike went back yesterday for a day, but is back at home with us for the next few weeks :)

While I am writing this he is catching some zzz with Baby! 

Sleeping: I am not sure how I got lucky enough to have 2 kids who love sleep enough to start life sleeping through the majority of the night, but it is so nice! Just like his big sister at his age baby James likes to be wide awake in the evening then sleeps from last feeding for about 4 hours, and then from that feeding for another 4. Seeing he is still sleeping in our room (and will for awhile) I just pick him up for some cuddle time, feed him, and he is back to sleep with in the hour! Mike gets up and gets Jenna to school then comes home and brings me breakfast, so I can eat while I feed our baby. It has been so nice! 

Eating/Feeding: Breastfeeding is going remarkably well this time, I've had no major complications or issues which I'm so grateful for! I also pump, so that when we are out and about he can take a bottle (though I won't let anyone else feed him...it is our thing). I was worried this approach may cause him to not like nursing, but so far up close to mama is his prefered way to eat!

Sizes: He is definitely newborn sized clothing still! We bought very few of this size and tons of 0-3 month clothes, but he swims in them. Thankfully we don't have to go out much, so he spends most of the time in a onesie :) I hope he stays tiny for awhile I am just in love with it!

Milestones: It may be that are older kids are 7 & 8, so it has been awhile since we have been around an infant. Or it could be that we are both so enamored with him that we get excited by everything that he does... But Mike and I are so proud of how strong our little man already is. He is already holding his head up, will look to the side if he hears us, and has the cutest grip when he gets ahold of something! He also found his thumb, which as much as it may be annoying in a year is so stinking adorable now! 

My favorite is that even so young he already knows me. He hears my voice and can follow me in a room. If someone else has him when he gets hungry he will be so upset, but just by me talking to him he calms down. I am loving having a mama's boy!

Being a mommy really is the best!