"Panda"-monium: Brooke's 8th birthday

Brooke's 8th birthday brought plenty of reasons to celebrate and not just because of her choice to be baptized. Turning 8 in our house also means Brooke is now allowed to have slumber parties which Brooke promptly took advantage of by having a slumber birthday with 3 of her closest friends. She couldn't really decided what theme she wanted between Pandas, or Princesses, or Star Wars so she decided to combine all three and have a "Panda Princess Leia" party. Brooke had all the party details planned out with me getting to test out my face painting abilities and Shan making a feast sweet enough for our Panda Princess. The girls got to make their own pizzas as well as pillowcases and Brooke even got her wish of throwing a whipped cream pie in her Daddy's face. The girls then all snuggled in on the couch for a night of movies. Needless to say, I never knew how exhausting throwing a slumber party can be for the parents but we all had lots of fun making lifelong memories!!

 

Jakie trying to force the Giant Panda into a submission

Even Bry didn't want to be left out of the panda fun

Shan was 5 days away from delivery and still managed an awesome party. Super Mom!!!!!

Brooke and Bry demonstrating their"Panda"-tude

"Just wait till they see what I've got planned for next year!!"

Lilly Progression

So it has been a few months since my last post and as LOT has happened in those months I thought I would take some time to try and catch up on things. First and foremost on the priority and request list, our little Lilly has been growing at a normal baby rate and as such  is quite a bit different than when she was a newborn so I thought I'd post a little progression of her growth over the past 2 months. This will hopefully be the first of a few posts to help catch me up, but lets face it, based on past precedent I can't really make any promises. Anyway, here is Lilly from about a week or so after being born to today with the last few pictures taken today while we were eating at Red Robin:-)

As you can see our little girl has grown quite a bit and has even learned to smile. She continues her good sleeping habits and has slept through the night sometimes up to 10-11 hours at a time. Go Lilly!!! She is just a joy to have around and we feel so lucky to have such a beautiful baby girl

First week with 6 of us

Well Lilly is now officially a week old and I thought an update was in order. First off both Shan and Lilly are doing excellent. Shan says her post op pain is currently "minimal" and she is able to get up and around pretty much like usual. She still is not allowed to drive for another week which is slightly aggravating but as I have had work off this whole week it really hasn't caused too much inconvenience.

As for Lilly, well, she is the best little sleeper we've ever experienced at this age for our family. It is very common for her to sleep in 4 or 5 hour stretches and she usually only wakes up once or twice at night which has been great for us. She is also quite the voracious eater and has only lost a few ounces since she was born instead of the normal "8-10%" which the doctor says is a very good sign. Maybe she heard us talking about how great an eater Ksenya was while in utero and decided to see if she could give her a run for her money:-) Whatever the reason we are happy we have a well rested and well nourished little girl

Brooke, Bry, and Jake also continue to be enchanted by their new younger sibling and so far no unwanted hostility has occurred between Jake and Lilly which is something we were actually quite worried about. Both the boys like to hold her for short periods at a time, but our biggest caretaker besides Mommy is our dear little Brooklyn who loves having a little sister and will hold her for hours at a time if we let her. Needless to say, she has fit right in to our growing family and we all continue to be extremely happy to have her here.

Lilly, like Jake, strongly prefers the huge green hospital binky to all others!

It was great fun to have all the kids and cousins together to come visit Shan and Lilly in the hospital. Apparently Jake is too cool for the rest of the crowd

"Don't worry sis. I got Mommy and Daddy wrapped around my finger. I'll show you the ropes."

This picture isn't really relevant but I just love his huge lips here

"Nope! You can't have her! She's mine, mine mine."

"Does this smile look natural?"

Brooke and Bry had a lot of fun with the hospital bed when we were getting ready to leave and even tried to see if they could make the bed squish them.

Cute little Lilly getting ready to go home!

So for the first couple of times using the swing we strapped her in like we were supposed to but found she didn't really like it that much. What we soon found is that if we let her cuddle up as pictured below she will stay there contented for hours. I'm guessing she likes that "still in the womb" feeling.

"See ya next time!"