The First Month (October - November)
I've actually been pretty good about taking pictures of Lucas - trying not to have him succumb to the curse of the second child. He makes great faces. These were taken less than a week after we came home from the hospital.
Oma (my mom) was here for about a month, starting right before Lucas came and staying until early November. Olivia was pretty nice to her for the first bit and by the end she was...not. Here's a (blurry) picture from the nice time of the three of them together:
Almost every photo I have of Lucas this first month he's sleeping. He must have slept 22 hours a day.
Here's him all dressed up for his first walk (this was about two or three days after we came home from the hospital). Poor Alaskan kid needs 347 layers just to go outside. Also, this "0-3 month" snowsuit is a BIT large on him.
Glad we got a bigger car!
Lucas isn't much of a hand sucker, but when he does, it's always the middle two fingers. So cute!
He loved it, obviously.
Halloween was a lot of fun! Olivia was a fairy. She loved her costume and I think we're still cleaning up glitter.
We got some good use out of it. The weekend before Halloween, we did Trick or Treat Street in downtown Anchorage so Olivia could trick or treat at the mall outside of the cold. This year it actually wasn't too cold outside, but it was still nice to let her show off her costume without a jacket inside.
I got a sweet giraffe onesie that I could fit Lucas inside in the ergo carrier. Kept us both nice and toasty!
Andy borrowed a friend's Olaf costume. Olivia thought it was the coolest.
I decided I was a dead ringer for April, the pregnant giraffe everyone kept watching on the internet this past year.
We carved pumpkins...
And we also did trick or treating at the zoo, which was a lot of fun. I don't have any pictures from that...
Here's Lucas' costume. Nobody ever saw it because he was always in the carrier.
The day after Halloween, my dad came up to visit for a few days. He is known as the Nielsen baby whisperer and he and Lucas took to each other instantly.
I don't think these photos were actually taken that close in time to each other, they just took a lot of naps. So sweet.
Family resemblance much?
It was also my Dad's birthday when he was up here! Olivia helped decorate the cupcakes.
We had a lot of fun with Oma and Opa visiting! We were sad to see them go!! (well...mostly. This is Olivia just as they were leaving for the airport...because we asked her to take a picture with Oma and Opa).
We remembered to take pictures each month. Here are his one month photos - you might remember Olive always took hers with a stuffed bunny - Lucas will be taking his with his stuffed monkey that Olive picked out for him and gave him at the hospital when he was born.
I tried to do one with Olivia, too, but it was disastrous.
More baby faces from random photo shoots:
The Second Month (November-December)
The day after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree. It was really fun, but having it up until Jan 1 made it feel like Christmas lasted forever. Which I think is good and bad. Olivia was SO excited for Christmas this year. She pretty much single handedly decorated the tree.
The ornaments were rearranged on almost a nightly basis.
We took a lot of festive pictures with the hopes of one of them being good enough for the Christmas card. Here are some highlights (I took about 715 photos)
We bought Ripley and Olive matching elf costumes to go with Lucas' Santa outfit (Ripley actually REALLY enjoyed his), but Olive refused to wear hers, so that kind of messed with the planned theme.
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| Ehh maybe we won't try to get all three of them together... |
The winner!! (I enjoyed actually taking time to edit this photo after I took it. Usually I just slap them up on the internet...okay let's be honest, I'm barely doing that these days).
Ripley. What a good dog!
Fro enjoyed watching us torture the dog.
Two month photos from December 12th! I also got some stats since he had a scheduled appointment with the doctor:
Weight: 5lb 10.15 oz (5th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (46th percentile)
Head: 40 cm (74th percentile)
Though he's skinny, the doctor was happy with his growth chart and he's doing well without any formula supplementation which makes feeding so much easier. Good job, Lucas! Also, the day before he turned two months old, he started rolling over (belly to back) YIKES! Somebody wants to keep up with his sister (or knows he needs to be mobile to survive!)
Best. Baby face. Ever.
Finally caught a smile! He is such a happy baby.
Month Three (December - January)
Some life photos (which may be from November, December and January...):
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| Olivia loves being a big sister. She's been really great with Lucas since day 1. |
More male bonding:
Hey look a picture of me with the baby...and I even washed my hair. It's a Christmas miracle.
Olivia's been really into baking lately. Cranberry muffins have been a favorite:
Olivia started back up with swim lessons. She loves them!
We took Olive bowling for the first time - it was a big hit! she's taking after her mom (and Oma, and great-grandma). She picked up her own ball and pushed it down the little ramp all by herself every time. We definitely need to do this more often - excellent winter activity!
I sadly hadn't bowled since we moved up here, but I maintained my #1 rank in the family (not that it was hard! ooh...didja hear that, Andy??)
We've taken some family walks, even though we've had some super cold days. Just gotta bundle!
We made a trip to see Santa! ALL SMILES!
Andy's parents came up for Christmas to visit and to meet Lucas. We had some pretty days! We also did Zoo Lights while they were here (which I have no photos of...nice job, Kristy) and that was fun, even though it was like 12 degrees outside.
I don't know how, but I have no photos of Christmas! It was total chaos, Olive got a million presents, and she loves them all, but no pictures?! Parenting fail...
Right after Andy's parents left (literally the same day) Lauren and Garrett came to visit us. We had a lot of fun!
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| Cider tasting at Double Shovel Cider Co. YUUUM |
Lauren and I got pedicures while she was here (and Lucas tagged along)
We drove out to Portage and Girdwood to do a little close to home sightseeing. We even saw Dall Sheep along the highway. Here's a family picture (minus one baby) at Portage Lake.
Baby time! Their visit was waaaaay too short. Come back soon!
January has been pretty quiet so far, just mostly enjoying baby time and sticking close to home. Here are some more fun "life" pictures:
We are about THREE FEET low on snow this year (this means it will snow three feet in March...mark my words). Recently we got a nice little dump and I took Ripley for a walk in it during the day. He loved it:
I didn't so much (look how wet I am! It was like 36 and snowing. Gross). Thank god Andy's old coat fits over both me and Lucas in the ergo.
Naked baby!
We put Lucas in Olivia's bed the other night and they both LOVED it. But then I got out the camera and look at these serious kids. Can you tell they're related?
This is my phone screen saver right now. I love this picture more than anything.
Olivia wanted to "read" to him. He is never upset around her. He loves being with her and listening to her, and she loves being a big sister. We are so lucky (I know...it will not always be this way!)
The other night Olive built a pillow fort and invited Lucas in. She thought it was hilarious!
This picture perfectly highlights the weirdness of his hair right now. He has this spiky baby hair that is slowly receding backwards and new fuzz is growing in. Blonde? Red? We can't tell quite yet.
And here's the THREE MONTH photos from a few days ago. How is he already three months old?!?
He can roll over from belly to back pretty consistently now.
Ripley wanted to get in on the photos, too.
Lucas is so alert and still a really (mostly) happy baby. We had some rough days/nights sleeping this past week, but today was a pretty good one and he seems to be back to his usual self. He's generally smiling unless he wants to eat or sleep, which is really nice! We're settling in really well to being a family of four and I'm looking forward to another month home before I head back to work.
You're all caught up! Life is good! :)
