Daddy's Girl

Nat has always said with each pregnancy that he would like a little girl so he could have a daddy's girl. I always said I was good with my boys. I will say that seeing how different he is with Natalie has made me fall in love with him all over again. This little girl has her daddy wrapped so tightly around her finger I am shocked. It is a bond that I LOVE to watch grow. I am aware that I will have to be the voice of reason when it comes to Natalie and her requests because I am thinking daddy will say yes to everything. She is one lucky little lady to have the daddy she does!!

The best kind of nap.

Pumpkin Patch

Right after Natalie was born Nat decided to take the boys to the pumpkin patch for some fun. They took Nana and had a blast. I was jealous when they got home and I saw all the pictures.

Not sure who is having more fun here!

One Fun Nana

Going on an adventure.

I love that the goat's horns lined up so well on Ty here. :-)

Who doesn't love a donkey?

Ty loved the corn box. His little pockets were FULL of corn when he got home. We may need to fill a baby pool with corn at Papa's farm. SOOOO much easier to clean up after than a sandbox.

Roommates

Myles and Ty are officially roommates. It has been about 3 weeks and I have to laugh because it SEEMS that they have seriously bonded more now that they are sharing a room. They still fight, but I can see them being silly with each other more which has never happened before. We have had many nights already where I hear them giggling and I will go in there and they both drop in their beds and try to act like nothing was going on. Makes me laugh that they even know that that is what they should do. One night I came in to find Myles had turned the lamp on and was reading a book to Ty. LOVE IT!!! 11 pm was the latest they stayed up being silly and I truly didn't mind it a bit. I was happy they were happy together. That is what naps are for right?  Nat and I have also started reading to both of them at the same time and then just having them go to bed at the same time. We had been each taking one and reading to them or trying to put Ty down first and then quietly bring Myles in 15 minutes later. This is so much more fun because it is a family activity AND it takes so much less time and is less stressful. I am hoping tonight goes as well. One issue I was worried about was when Ty gets up he is up and he is ready to get out of bed. Myles on the other hand would sleep until 9 am every day if I let him. I was worried Ty would wake him up too early and he would be a beast. It has actually been the exact opposite. Ty wakes up and yells "Mama" in his gruff old man voice and by the time I go get him Myles is awake and ready to get up too. If I try to wake Myles up there is ALWAYS bribing going on in order for me to get him out of bed. So Ty is now Myles' new alarm clock. This morning Myles actually got up BEFORE Ty did which really has only happened about 4 times. He came out in the kitchen and said, "I even beat Tyler at getting up today". He was so proud of himself. Nothing like a little competition right away in the morning. :-)

Ty is no longer a baby. The best part of this bed that my parents gave us is that it really is a crib just with a twin sized mattress. He hasn't figured out how to climb out yet and I am hoping he never does. :-)

Getting ready for family reading time.

 This is the brotherly love I was talking about. The quality of the pictures is terrible because I was so shocked they were hugging I just fumbled trying to get ONE picture of it. (BTW that adorable hat Myles is wearing was made by my sister-in-law Amanda.  http://amandamitchellphotography.blogspot.com/)

 

I love watching them grow closer and reaching an age when they play together!! Pretty sure we are the luckiest parents EVER!!!

Big Boy!

Ty has been growing by leaps and bounds it seems lately. One big change is that he has he gotten a new big boy haircut that seems to have changed his look all together. He also seems to have gained about 10 lbs, but I think that has more to do with Natalie being so small than him actually gaining any weight. :-)
Right now Ty can count to 10 by himself, sort of sing the entire alphabet (A few letters may be missed here or there), and now sits at the table with the rest of us instead of the high chair. He also LOVES to sing. Loves it. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and The Itsy Bitsy Spider are his two favorites right now.
The biggest change has been his vocabulary over the last 2 weeks. He repeats nearly everything we say, literally, and has learned the word WHY. I love it because when he asks why he says it with a smirk almost like he knows he is being a bit of a stinker :-)He is already making it difficult to be serious by flashing his smile just when Nat and I are trying to tell him to do something. I blame Nat for this because I am pretty sure he did this as a child as well. All Nat and I can do is cover our mouth and then leave the room to laugh. I am pretty sure he knows he has us figured out.

Before

After

1 Week Old

Our sweet Natalie is already a week old! I wish I could say I didn't get all nastalgic about it, but I did. I HATE (Yes I said HATE, and I meant it!) how quickly time flies. I know each stage presents new fun aspects, but if I could slow down the clock I WOULD!! Natalie is one sweet baby and really only cries when she's hungry. I haven't even tried to introduce the pacifier to her because she is just so chill and doesn't need it. She is also eating like a champ and has even given me a couple nights of 4+ hour stretches between feedings. I am still trying to figure out how the nurses and doctors expect a mom of 3 to "take it easy", but whatever. I am cherishing my snuggle time with Natalie more than I allowed myself to with the boys. I've learned all to well that this phase blasts by way too quickly. Seriously...we are SO BLESSED!!

Oh Boy Oh Boy.....

We have a girl!!!! Natalie Faith Mitchell was born on Wednesday at 10:20 a.m. She weighed 7lbs 4oz and has her daddy wrapped around her finger already. She seems to look A LOT like Myles and I am beginning to wonder how my kids can all look SO much like their daddy and nothing like me! Good thing I married up.
Having the surprise of not knowing what she would be made the delivery process much more bearable because I knew that the more pain I had the closer we were to finding out if it was a little boy or girl. The epidural was just as fabulous as I remember and still can't quite understand how people can do it without one. Nat's hand was nearly broken in the process, but luckily this mama got her epidural and was returned to the land of bliss just in time. Once I had the epidural I napped until it was time to have her. Nothing like waking up from a nap only to have a baby in less than 5 minutes. I LOVED the look on Nat's face when my doctor said it was a girl. It took him a minute to process it all and then the smiles came!
So far the boys have responded better than I could have imagined.Myles truly is in love. From the first day he saw her at the hospital he kept asking if we could bring her home. Now that we are at home he keeps kissing her every chance he gets and says "I just love her". Ty is not nearly as in love, but he has been very gently with her which is not something we are use to. :-) Ty has found that whoever is holding Natalie is the person he wants the most. We are working on the balance between giving him what he wants and teaching him this is  his new life. :-)
In all honestly I was ready for a boy and am still shocked that we have a girl. I was petrified at having a girl because of what is to come when she is in middle school, but now that she is here I feel nothing but blessed. She will have two big brothers who will protect her, Nat gets his little Daddy's girl, and I get my sweet girl to dress up and be MY partner in crime. :-) I have not done laundry in days, my dishes are piling up, and all I want to do is snuggle my daughter and be together as a family. If you want to come over and visit, PLEASE feel free, but for now, don't expect a clean house or a done up mama. You WILL find one HAPPY family thanking God by the hour for the INSANE blessings we have been given.

One last family picture before we are a family of 5!

If only there were words to describe how happy I am to have gotten rid of this belly. I keep looking at Natalie and saying "HOW DID SHE FIT INSIDE ME?" It sure does explain why she was in my ribs for most of my pregnancy.

Meeting my little lady for the first time.

One happy little boy meeting his sister for the first time.

Giving birth is SO exhausting!

Love the joy you see in his eyes!

Natalie's first visitor. It is been simply AMAZING to have mom here.

I really don't know who is more thrilled that we have a girl, Myles or Nat.

Seriously....How blessed are we???

Our sweet girl. Look at all that pink!

Our new family!!!!!

Natalie Faith Mitchell 10/12/11 7lbs 4oz

 

39 weeks

We are officially at 39 weeks and COUNTING!!! Any day now we will finally get to meet baby Teeny!!

Still can't quite wrap my head around having another one in the mix, but can't WAIT to experience it!! We are some kind of blessed!!

Florida Trip

I have been slipping on my blog a bit and I am CERTAIN some of you are wondering if Myles ever made it back from Florida yet. (Can you feel the sarcasm). Well rest assured he did make it back with lots of stories to tell. I think it was an AWESOME learning experience for both Nat and I. We realized we really are better parents when we are together and able to be a team. Nat also learned WHY I do some of the things I do as a mom and that they aren't as silly as he had originally thought.
Myles started out the week LOVING every second of the beach. When I told him on Monday I was missing him and ready for him to come home he said,"I can' t come home yet. I'm having too much fun". By Wednesday he told me he really missed me and by Thursday he was crying on the phone that he wanted to come home NOW! I felt so badly for Nat at that point because there was nothing he could do about it. Sometimes a little man just needs his mom. It was a hard trip for Myles since he was gone from me for the longest time since he was a baby, he didn't have very many of his toys, and there were no kids there for him to play with. I do know he had a blast though and I am so happy he and Nat got to have some one-on-one time. I know I was surely ready for him to come home though. I am hoping we will get to do this trip next year as an entire family, but also think about having THREE kids at the beach for a week could be interesting. We shall see.

This is literally 5 minutes after they got to the beach. Myles went straight for his suitcase and was ready to go.

I swear that little boys could play in the sand for HOURS every single day and not get tired of it. I know at out house the sandbox was by far the best addition we had to playtime.

This is some good sleeping going on!

Nat took Myles to his very first movie while they were there to try to distract him from the fact that he wanted to go home. They say the Lion King and he said Myles did quite well. Myles was not a fan of the hyenas at all. I still don't know why all Disney movies have to have the REALLY scary scenes when they know their main audience is under the age of 8....I am obviously way too soft.

Funny story....Nat and some of the others went out for ice cream one night. Nat said Myles was eating his ice cream when a few "girls" walked up and were talking to him. Right after they left he took a lick and the entire chunk of ice cream fell on the ground. Tears started of course, but the nice lady gave him a new one for free. I think this happens to every little kid at some point.

The new skill Myles learned while away.

Ty was greeting Nat and Myles with a smile and balloons when they got home. Who wouldn't want to come home to that face?