The Rectordays

  Yay little buddy - today (Christmas day!) is your ONE month birthday! This month has been just a whirlwind... I can honestly say that I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like only a moment ago we were in the hospital with you, snuggling up and getting to know you... and yet at the same time, I feel like having you home is so familiar as if you have been here for much longer. You are an ABSOLUTE delight... the perfect addition to our little family and we love everything about you! I just cannot get enough of you - the newborn stage is just so fleeting and honestly, one of my favorites. You are so precious, so small, so sleepy... I guess having Eleanor and seeing the busy-body that she is makes me truly sentimental for the short time we have you as our "baby".... a few things I want to remember about your first month of life: *We came home from the hospital when you were four days old... Dot-Dot had moved in to help us seeing as I am not supposed to lif

Word! 5 calls to the Peditrician 4 hours sleep (in a 24 hr. period) 3 gasping, chokings 2 sick babies And a restless heart for the night... I start you all off with this familiar song of the season to help contextualize our recent lives. My and Karen's anxiety and stress has risen greatly over the last few days due to Eleanor's double ear infection and sinus 'stuff' Tripp has come to have. We have argued, prayed, asked for help, resisted help, googled, argued, prayed... it's kinda like shampoo. Rinse and repeat. One huge frustration of mine these last several days has been Eleanor's appetite, or lack there of. She lost 1.5 lbs since our last visit to the hospital, a couple weeks before Tripp was born. People, she only weighed 19 lbs to start, and she's 16 months old. In reality she runs around all day like a crazy woman, talks a lot and then crashes for a nap, wakes up, runs around the rest of the day... shampoo. But as she began to get sick she

This past week we loaded up the kiddos and headed to the Galleria with Mindy to take our annual pictures with Santa.... last year, Eleanor and Lucy were so young (Lucy was a content bean the whole time and Eleanor smiled like it was her job) so I was REALLY excited to see how Eleanor would respond this time. Is it bad that I was hoping for a picture of a mini-meltdown? I mean, those pictures are priceless. Well, Lucy did not disappoint - girlfriend is all kinds of scared of Mr. Bowl Full of Jelly - hilarious! Eleanor and Tripp, well, they aren't too impressed.... Santa neither excited nor scared Eleanor... she pretty much sat stoic on his lap without much expression while Tripp snored away. I mean, Santa looks more excited than either of my kids! Ridiculous!   The girl taking the "official" picture had a little noise maker to get Eleanor's attention... instead of smiling, though, Eleanor simply wished the woman would give it to her.   "How much longer, M

On day 5 of little Tripp's life, we decided it was time that Momma gave him his first bath at home... it just feels so cruel to take this warm, snuggle monkey... And slowly prepare him for a warm, albeit stunning experience... I know they bath them in the hospital, but this first bath always makes me so nervous for our punkins! Look at that blond hair!     And here comes the water....!   Surprisingly, Tripp handled his bath much better than his big sister Eleanor did.... he definitely cried, but no screams and really more like little wimpers...   Look at that pouty lip, to. die. for.!   Since big sister Eleanor was napping during his bath, we decided to give him a paci to keep him from really wailing.... so our content little bug just let us finish while he sat back and relaxed!   All bundled in his warm towel and ready for his lotion massage!   And our clean little duckie... just too much!  First bath = success!

Following Tripp's birth, we realized what a great blessing it was that he was born on a holiday weekend.... friends and family were able to come and visit, but it was a little more spread out than when we had Eleanor and everyone had to get their visit in on Sunday before the work week started. Seeing how tired we were, it was really nice to have a slow and steady pace of visitors throughout the weekend and not a mad rush! (I hate that I didn't get pictures of everyone.... thank you to the many more that came, we love you!!)....   Our swollen little bug the next morning....   Pamie came to visit her first grandson.....   Dot Dot and Grandpa Mike with their two Grandbabies.... Like Eleanor's pink poodle rocker, our amazing friend Junior brought this precious rocking horse and flower arrangement up to the hospital the night Tripp was born.... so darling!!   The Rives family.....  We LOVE our hospital - seriously, I was looking forward to my stay just