My Very First Mother's Day

I think Mother's Day is my new favorite holiday. I've never been a gigantic fan of "Hallmark Holidays," but I love the fact there is one day set aside every year to say "thank you" and "I love you" to moms. Jason, ever the supportive husband and father, prepared a lovely lunch for my mom and I. He also brought home some flowers, a card and a gift certificate for a spa day. Thank you honey!
We didn't intentionally color coordinate, but I guess great minds think alike.

I think mom is lobbying to change the name of the holiday to Grandmother's Day! We have to check her bags and purse every time she leaves to make sure she's not trying to smuggle John Thomas out the door. It is one of our greatest joys to provide our parents with a little grand boy to love on.

I guess since he spent most of his life there,John Thomas feels really comfortable snuggled up on my belly. It's so hard for me to believe it's already been three weeks since he was born.

He also loves it when we read to him. No kidding, he actually looks at the pages and seems like he's paying attention. I'm not trying to suggest that he's a prodigy or he'll be reading within the next few weeks, I just think it's cool that he seems to enjoy it.

Although Chester got to go to the park almost everyday this week, he is going to great lengths to lobby for our attention at home. Hopefully this week we'll get into some sort of routine that everyone can be happy about.

One Happy Family

We're finally getting settled in a bit here at the Kirkpatrick homefront. Translation: My body has started adjusting to the hormone overload and the interrupted sleep cycles, Jason has learned to dodge John Thomas' attempts to saturate his shirt and use his "inside voice" after eight p.m., and Chester has begun to ignore the cries instead of barking in unison (which I'm quite thankful for).

These pictures are courtesy of our friend from Nashville, Sarah Gilliam. She and her husband wanted to give us a baby gift we would cherish forever. She drove in to take his picture on Monday morning. These are just a few of our extremely cute little boy. You can see some others at http://sarahbgilliamphotography.blogspot.com/ .

One of the things I miss the most about work is my daily walk with Sarah. However, she has been able to come by every week to get her quality time in with John Thomas. As evidenced by the picture, he loves his Auntie Sarah. She has a little less than three months to get some more practice in before Charlotte gets here!

How sweet is this? Chester and JT napping together. Now if I could just figure out how to squeeze in an afternoon nap, we'd all be well rested.

First-Born Sons

John Thomas' first full week home was a learning/adjusting period for all of us. I learned that having help from family and friends is one of the greatest gifts in the world. My mom stayed with us this week after Jason went back to work. Thank goodness, because I totally took for granted taking a shower, drying my hair, putting on make-up, checking the mail...
Saturday, Jason's parents (Grandma Molly and Grandpa Danny) came in to meet their new grand boy. They both fell in love at first sight. An interesting aside is that Jason's dad is the first-born son, Jason was a first-born son and John Thomas is a first-born son.

You may notice not one, not two, but THREE wet spots on Jason's shirt. That's right, John Thomas squirted dad three separate times during the course of bath time on Saturday. I'd say it's only the beginning of the body fluids we'll be covered in over the next several years.

Here is our little cutie taking his maiden voyage in the swing (thanks Mimi, Jen, Katie, Cara and Mere). He loves it!

Molly (Jason's mom) is going to stay with us the rest of this week. I am already thankful. We got to go to Home Depot today and buy some flowers. She also made a mean chicken casserole for dinner tonight. I don't know what I'm going to do when all my help goes home.

I think Chester is trying to find other ways to occupy his time, since his mom has been so busy. However, when John Thomas starts crying, Chester starts bringing him toys in an attempt to pacify him. The record so far is three toys (frisbee, bone and squirrel). I hate to think of a 5 toy fit.

Hello World!

As most of you have undoubtedly heard, John Thomas came screaming into the world thirteen days early, on April 14th at 10:40 p.m. He weighed 6 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. It was easily the most wonderful day of our life!

I realize this is a face only a parent could love, but he truly is the cutest thing I've ever seen. I know I'm overly emotional/hormonal but I've written him a letter I'd like to share.

Dear John Thomas,

I loved you before you were born. The day I saw the "+" sign, I was positively enamored. The first time I heard your heartbeat was music to my ears. What a joy to watch you grow from a lentil to a lemon and feel all the nudges and kicks along the way. I was counting down the days before we'd meet, but like your mother, you must have grown impatient. You made your grand entrance in record time. How blessed we are to have such a precious gift. You are our love. I can think of no greater proof of God than your sweet face. Welcome to the family son.

All my love,

Mom

Jason has been truly AMAZING. He has changed almost every diaper, he helps me feed, runs errands and is the most supporting and loving father and husband I could ever wish for. John Thomas is surely a lucky little boy. These last four days have such an adventure and I can't wait to watch our family grow and make all sorts of new memories.

I'm pretty sure this is the best I've looked in the past four days. We've had some visitors and company and I hope they don't mind the "all natural" look of no make-up, pj's and unkempt hair. Hopefully I'll be able to pull it all together before too many days, because I'd hate to scare the baby. Thank you to everyone who came by, brought food and held our sweet baby boy.

Mom got to come to the hospital on Wednesday night. I'm pretty sure he's already got her in the palm of his oh-so tiny and cute hand. Not only is he their first grandson, he was born only days before her 60th birthday. I know she was happy with her gift from us this year. Happy 60th Birthday Grandma!

Chester is still trying to figure out how he is going to fit into the picture (so to speak). I think it'll take a little time for our first stinker (Chester) to adjust to having to share Mom and Dad's love with the new cutie on the block. As long Chester can still lay on the couch and gets a little love here and there, he's going to be just fine.

Spring Fever

This week was absolutely fantastic! I was home for Spring Break all week. I managed to make a major dent in a serious to-do list including: finishing the nursery, washing the car, trimming the hedges, walking everyday, writing nearly 40 thank you cards, grading essays, spreading grass seed, lesson planning for my maternity leave, working on a base tan and going to the doctor twice. Speaking of, our last ultrasound was on Monday and John Thomas is positioned head down, over 20 inches long and weighs approximately 5 lbs. 15 oz.

We spent the weekend with my mom and dad. As usually, we ate well, played bridge and spent lots of quality time together. It was a restful and rejuvenating weekend. By the way, we prepared everything on the platter except for the broccoli salad. It was yummy! Good luck on your interview tomorrow dad!

Another perk to having the parents over for the weekend is the extra set of helping hands. Dad and Jason spent part of the day on Saturday tilling our garden and getting it ready to be sown.

Chester also likes it when mom and dad come over because they bring his best friend in the whole world, Ozzie.

The neat thing about dogs is they can play tug-of-war for thirty minutes, growl at each other and after it's all done, they want to start all over again.

Jason made a day trip to Nashville on Sunday to participate in the Christening of his God daughter, Stella Vernon. Not only did he have a great trip, he also brought home all sorts of baby gifts from some of our Nashville friends.

I think Chester might be missing his BFF (bestest fury friend) or maybe he knows that Spring Break is over and mom has to go back to work tomorrow. I'm sure a good nap and a puppy treat will help him cheer up. As for me, only three more weeks of work before we welcome home John Thomas!

Let the Countdown Begin

What a great week! My colleagues at school threw me my final baby shower. While we still have a few items to get, I am very thankful to all of the staff who supported us and our new family.
This cake was as delicious as it was cute.

Yesterday was the beginning of the one month countdown. As you can see from the picture, John Thomas is definitely getting bigger. I go tomorrow for the last ultrasound. We'll get his estimated height, weight and position. My favorite part is just seeing and hearing the heartbeat!

On a different note, I discovered that my broccoli from last season finally came up. It was supposed to be about half a row of produce and you can see what we're actually going to harvest. Who knew broccoli was so resilient?

You may have noticed there weren't any pictures of Jason this weekend. He went on a golfing trip with some friends. I'm glad one of us got to go somewhere for Spring Break. While I was home nesting and watching basketball, I also gave Chester a much needed bath. As you can tell from the picture, he will try to look as pitiful as possible to get out of taking a bath.

Showered With Love

I capped off a busy week with some much needed time with my college girlfriends. Because they live in Austin, Nashville, Cincinnati, and Cleveland--we don't get together as often as we'd like. My friends are the closest thing I have to sisters, so I cherish our relationships very much.
Mary, Meredith, Jen, Katie and Cara threw me and John Thomas a baby shower on Saturday. Although it was a relatively small shower, I had nearly all of the most important women in my life in one room. Beyond the fabulous ladies already mentioned, my mom, mother-in-law, Gay (2nd mom), Sarah (famed photographer and sidekick), and Angelina (great friend from church) were there too. I am seriously overwhelmed and blessed to have such a wonderful group of ladies to call my friends and family.

Jason's mom, Molly, and my mom are ecstatic about meeting their new grandson. He will surely be traveling in style in his shiny and cozy new stroller. We also received a "pack n' play," swing, Boppy and handmade slipcover and some accessories for a mommy pump.

This little cutie, Ellie, was the star of the weekend. She is such a sweet-tempered little girl. I think she was actually posing in this shot. It's definitely an advantage to have friends with children who can pass along some sage advice, and at this point--I'm all ears!

The only thing missing from my wonderful weekend was some quality time with my two favorite guys. I'm pretty sure they managed in my absence, but they definitely acted like two guys running the house.--sleeping in, chilling out, eating wings, and so on.

Chester was feeling a bit more feisty this week. I guess he's getting excited about warmer, sunnier weather too.