First Born & Baby

Brandon bought me a new camera lens for my birthday and it arrived in the mail today. I like taking pictures and am interested in photography, but to be quite honest, I have very little experience and knowledge. I also like to tinker with the editing side of things and have Photoshop CS4. Thanks to my dad and the Pioneer Woman (and just goofing around on there)...I am SLOWLY learning. So, here are a few pictures I took took today of my oldest & youngest.


Ahhhh...you may remember her. This here is Jordyn. She is rarely photographed because when you whip the camera out, she's outta there! Drives me nuts. She actually doesn't look miserable here! (That's because she really wanted to go outside to play with her friends and told her until I got a decent picture of her it wasn't happening!) I really can't believe she is 12 years old. She is now taller than I am! She also wears a bigger shoe size than me!! When she isn't playing with her friends, she usually has her nose in a book.

I also can't believe that Durham is almost 6 weeks old! He is just starting to smile a little bit. He is sleeping a little bit better. Either that or I am beginning to adjust to 4-5 hours of sleep each night...sometimes more...sometimes less. On the "sometimes less" days, I tend to be a little snarly. I don't mean to be but sometimes I feel like I am running on nothing.

I am feeling much more comfortable taking the kids out by myself. We have developed a system, I suppose. This past weekend, Jordyn, Camden, Durham and I took a road trip to Milwaukee to see Brad, Mindy, & family (miss you guys!! You too, Carrie!). I was expecting to stop at least once to feed/change Durham ,but he slept the whole way to and from so we drove straight through each way.

This little outfit is very special. When I was pregnant, we weren't going to find out what we were having. Well, circumstances changed and we decided that we should. I remember telling the girls at work that after my appointment, I would text message them to let them know what we were having. I remember I dragged the text messages out for 30 minutes. I'd text "We're having a....baby." or "We're having a...boy...or girl." Anyways, I finally told them. The next morning, my co-worker & friend, Amy, brought me this little boy outfit for Durham. That was just the start of preparing for a little baby boy. I still can't believe that he is here...that he is part of our family...that this is our new life.

Out Of The Mouths of Babes

Notice the cute, little innocent smile on our 2 year old above? That smile is deceiving. Some of the things that kid says CRACK me up! So here's a conversation that took place the other day...at Pfaff's Bakery...in a public place...where other citizens of this fine town were in earshot.

Camden: Kye Kye what's that?

Kye: It's a beer truck. (There was a beer truck delivering beer to the bar across the street.)

Camden: I want to ride the beer truck.

Me: No....Shhhhhhhh

Camden: (louder this time) I want to ride the beer truck!

Me: Shhhhhhhh

Camden: (yelling now) I WANT TO RIDE THE BEER TRUCK!

Me: No more....shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Camden: Maybe later?

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On a side note...I need to give credit where credit is due. Grandpa Joe took the picture above. He's been taking lots of pictures of the kids and finding new ways to edit them in Photoshop. Today, he took a bunch of Durham and will hopefully have some of those to post soon.

Curly

Who'd have guessed Durham would have a hint of curly hair? When his hair is wet, it's all curls. As soon as it's dry, it's straight, straight, straight...then greasy, greasy, greasy! Poor kid only gets a bath every few days.

Kye told me that Durham is 33 days old today. I don't really remember life without him. Sleep and a clean house are certainly a distant memory! And although I really like those 2 things, I'd take no sleep and a dirty house over life without him. Slowly, but surely, I am becoming more daring and venturing out with all 4 kids by myself. This morning we went to the all time best bakery on the face of this earth...Pfaff's Bakery. The kids were excited because we were actually going to eat there. I was just excited that I wasn't going to have to clean the kitchen back at the house. :) After we left the bakery, we walked around the square downtown to look at the dogs. I can't really explain the dogs right now, but will try later when my mind is not mush.

Happy 33 days old, Durham. Here's what you're up to this week:

*We thought it was a fluke when you rolled from your tummy to your back, last week. Well, you surprised us and did it again over the weekend. You are a squirmy worm!

*You are FINALLY starting to figure out that nighttime is for sleeping. You have been having a good stretch of sleeping from 1:00 a.m. to about 5:30 a.m.

*Every once in a while, you give us a little smile.

*You are just starting to fall into a schedule. Yeah!

It's All In The Name

How did this basketball...

Mike Krzyzweski...

and Cameron Indoor Stadium...

play a part in naming our new little boy?

As many of you know, Brandon is a HUGE Duke basketball fan. During basketball season, we work our schedule around when Duke is playing on TV. He's obsessed...there's nothing more that I can say! Anyhoo, what does this have with naming our 4th child??? When we found out we were expecting, we threw around some baby names. Our girl name (which I love!) was easy to agree on...Emerson Grace (too bad we won't be able to use it...so anyone out there in blog world who likes that name...go for it!) Boy names are ridiculous. We couldn't agree on anything. So Brandon threw out the name Durham...he knew I wouldn't go for Duke (that's what you name a dog!) and Mike (1st name) Kryzweski (middle name) would be a bit too much. So one day he threw out the name Durham (as in Durham, NC where Duke is located...by the way, we visited there last summer and it is a beautiful town/campus). I shot him down right away...heavens no...who would name their kid after a sports team?? Well, I guess after all, that's us! After a month or so, when we still were having no luck coming up with a boy's name, we revisited Durham. Yep, it grew on me. Yep, I really love it now. Nope, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Brandon converted Camden into a little Duke fan from day 1. Camden can now tell you who the Duke coach is (a mouthful for a 2 year old!) and who all the players are. His favorite players are G & Kyle. We'll see how Durham takes to being a Cameron Crazy.

Ummmm...it's not looking too promising.

Has It Been 3 Weeks Already??

Well, I really can't believe Durham has been with us for 3 weeks now. It has gone by so fast. We are feeling hopeful that he is figuring out that nighttime is for sleeping, as he is having longer stretches of awake time during the day and sleeps for 4-5 hour stretches at night. Unfortunately, he thinks we like to party from about midnight to 2 a.m.!

He continues to be laid back, for the most part. When he wants to eat though, watch out!! He does have a set of lungs and he's not afraid to use them.

Brandon put Durham on the floor on his tummy last night. I'll be darned, the little guy rolled over on his back. I'm hoping it was just a fluke because I'm already having issues with how fast he is growing and changing...I just don't want him to grow up so fast!

Jordyn has been so good with him. Pretty soon she'll be changing diapers for me!!

Camden is so gentle with Durham. He always wants to "pet" him or hold him. When Durham cries, Camden says, "It's okay Baby Durham."

Kye's been going through Durham withdrawals. He's had a nasty cold this week and I have not allowed him anywhere near the baby. He gets so honked off at me, but he'll get over it!

Wordless Wednesday

Not Me Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

*It has not been me who has spent the majority of this past week walking around with 2 big ole' wet marks on her shirt from leaky boobs because the nursing pads are quite irritating and the girls need to breathe. No way! That wasn't me...I have way more class than that!

*It wasn't me, who tried to put the dust buster in the freezer, rather than the closet! I don't know who it was, but I PROMISE...it wasn't me!

*It wasn't me, who got laughing so hard last night I almost peed my pants. I'm not sure who has poor bladder control, but I promise that after having 4 kids...my bladder is an iron tank! It can withstand sneezes & laughs...no problem. Wasn't me! I feel sorry for that person...poor thing!

*It wasn't me, who dragged the husband and the 2 little ones out to Wal Mart at 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night to "grocery" shop...which then turned into "clothes" shopping because nothing I have fits quite right! Right in the middle of the shopping trip, one particular 2 year old boy started screaming while his mama was in the dressing room trying on clothes. Nope, I'm not sure what wife would do that to a husband but it wasn't me!