Happy One Month Nicholas!

Nicholas James is one month old today!

Where has the time gone?

Little Nick goes to the doctors on Monday but I am sure that he is way over ten pounds and growing like a weed! Newborn clothes were too small about a week ago. 

He loves to eat and be carried around. Anything else he is not quite happy with. Honestly, he is a bit of a fussy baby. 

BUT, he is still pretty cute. 

He has great head control already and smiles everyday. It's that random, newborn smile but I still look forward to it. His smile and those cute little newborn sounds. Especially after he sneezes - he makes the cutest sigh like sneezing was the hardest thing he ever had to do. 

Baby Nick only sleeps about two hours at a time - if I am lucky. It has led to quite a few long nights - and days. I keep telling myself that it does gets easier! 

It is hard to believe that he wasn't even here a month ago considering he makes our family feel so whole. 

Welcome to the World Nicholas James Jr.

I would like to officially introduce Nicholas James Jr. to the blogging world!

He was born January 21st at 5:40pm, weighing in at 9lbs and 20 inches long. Besides being much larger than anticipated, he was born happy and healthy after a twelve hour induced labor and about 20 minutes of pushing. I know it is not something said very often, but I had an incredibly easy labor. I was so comfortable after my epidural that I rested till it was time to push and once it was time to push - I did just that. I was literally told to stop pushing because it all happened so fast. After having to push for four hours with Marlee, I learned my lesson and was determined not to let that happen again. 

The next day we were sent home and the rest is history! I forgot how exhausting newborns were which is why I thank God for coffee every Sunday at church. I also thank Him for giving me two beautiful, healthy children. I wake up feeling so blessed everyday. 

Ok now for a little picture overload. Let the cuteness commence. 

My husband Nick was amazing as always. The best birth partner I could ask for. 

Headed home!

Marlee was not 100% sure what was going on - or if she was going to like this new baby. She kept her distance that first day. 

Big brother was all ready to hold him though! 

My three kiddos - so much love. 

Big yawns!

And lots of funny faces. 

My two angels asleep at great-grandmas house on baby day. 

Marlee was starting to warm up to baby Nick within a couple days. 

 And is now 'her baby'.

I questioned myself numerous times during pregnancy whether I was going to be able to not only handle having three kids but if I was going to have enough love to share with all of them. It is very clear now that although the days and nights are long, my heart has never been so full of love and happiness. I not only feel capable, I have never felt so strong. I love being able to share myself with my three little ones. 

So lucky to be a mom. 

Goodbye 2014! Hello 2015!

Goodbye 2014. Cannot say that you will be missed. 

Hello 2015. A new fresh start. 

I have been praying for some energy lately and God finally answered my prayers. I woke up today feeling great. Nick and I finally made some last minute purchases for baby Nicholas and now we are officially ready. Car seat is ready. Bassinet is set up. Bottles purchased. Boob pump located. Closet organized. Diapers opened. We are ready for you baby Nick... more than ready ::hint hint::

My last day at work is the 15th so technically I can hold off till then but I am not going to cry over him coming early. I never remember being this ready with Marlee. I actually recall wanting to keep her in my belly forever. At this point, I cannot wait to have baby Nick in my arms and my family all together. 

A new year with new life. Cannot think of a better way to start it off. Hopefully my next post will be a 'Welcome Nicholas' post! Stay tuned!

Merry Christmas from Marlee and Me

Let's start this post by being positive since if you know anything about my feelings toward Christmas, it is a rare occurrence to be positive about it. With that being said, Christmas was really nice this year. 

Weather was beautiful. No snow = no dangerous driving around with my family in the car. No snow = no cold, wet feet after walking in and out of the various errands a mother must run. No snow = no shoveling or salt tossing in order to get up my drive way. I could seriously do this weather all winter long. 

Family was obviously the best part of holidays. Everyone was getting along. Everyone came over to the house on Christmas morning to celebrate, eat breakfast, and open gifts. It was really nice and hopefully a tradition we can keep. Being able to see everyone open gifts with such excitement and joy was a wonderful way to start the day. 

This post could easily turn into a novel with all the fun things we did to get ready for Christmas day. We did the usual traditions of visiting Santa, making cookies, and cutting down our tree. Marlee was not sold on any of our traditions. She did not like Santa (takes after her momma), was not so sure about what was going on at the tree farm, and thought icing cookies was some kind of awful torture that she wanted no part of. The pictures though make it all worth it. Sometimes you just have to laugh when those kodak moments you imagine go differently as planned. 

First up is Light Up Downtown Canton where we went to meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus. 

Waiting in line was a breeze. Marlee was a in a great mood and looking so cute in her Christmas hat. 

It went downhill really fast.

Nailed it.

Isaac is a natural. He asked for candy... candy. 

Ok lets try adding Marlee back in...

Nope.

Ok enough torture - cookie time.

Cookies and hot chocolate! Our favorite. 

Next up was cutting down the Christmas tree at Pine Tree Barn in Wooster. Poor Marlee was very confused with the whole trip and her face definitely showed it. I could not get a smile out of her the whole trip. It probably did not help that her coat was a little big and she kept falling down in the mud. 

Her face says it all - "What the heck are we doing?"

I tried so hard to get a smile out of her.

Finally found our tree and Marlee still was not impressed.

We were able to get it home and it looked great in the living room. Marlee surprisingly did not pay any attention to the tree. She did not go near it at all. Like having a giant, shiny tree in the house was normal to her. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining but I was honestly surprised. 

Last but not least was the cookie decorating. I was not even going to do cut outs this year but Nick reallllly wanted them so I gave it. It literally took me weeks to complete since batch one 'chilled' in the refrigerator a bit too long and I had to make another batch. 

Needless to say, Marlee liked being around the icing of the cookies but did not want anything to do with the actually icing. Keep in mind, she hates getting her hands dirty. She was 100% content on her one little pile of icing on the table and I was of course 100% content on her contentment. 

Her faces though are seriously hilarious. She is not shy on letting her face speak for itself. 

Family pictures!

Marlee and her pile of icing. No cookies. No sprinkles. Just a little bit of icing. 

Nick tried to spice it up a bit and give her sprinkles. She did not approve. 

Seriously so distraught over this process.

I did get one smile out of her. Love that hair Marlee!

There is no way that I can look at these pictures and not laugh. She really did not want the green icing. 

Overall, it was a great Christmas. It is nice to enjoy it with family and remember what the holidays are really about. The toys and clothes and cookies and trees will all fade but the memories truly last forever. 

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and Merry Christmas! 

Till next year, 

xoxo

Marlee and Me