Easter Afternoon...otherwise known as the day Saylor realized she wasn't the center of attention anymore

Here we are Easter afternoon ready for church- well Steve and the kids...I'm still in my pj's.

The bunny came this morning and left the kids a variety of presents and candy. (Our bunny tends to lean to the practical side of things.  Boring.)

Saylor:  swimsuit and flip-flops

Colby and Carter:  ties and flip-flops

Andrew: tie, deodorant, athletic undies...thanks Easter bunny.

It's not very often we are ready for church early enough to take pictures, but Easter is a special occasion.  As I perused the photos I took of my darling children, I noticed the general happiness decline of one certain child.  See if you can pick which one.

Dixon kids happy and ready for church.

(All Saylor quotes made up by yours truly...I just read what her face was saying)

"I love being the cutest and the youngest.  Don't you just love my new dress?  I'm so glad I'm not a boy because new dresses are MUCH better than new ties."

Hey we forgot Grady!

"Grady?  Grady who?"

 "Dang baby.  He's in my space and ALMOST touching me."

 "What?  I'm not the youngest anymore?  Why isn't everyone looking at me?"

 "This is SO unfair.  That baby gets all the attention."

 Yes, I'm so proud of my daughter and the faces she pulls.

She's a 'beaut' I tell ya.

Here are some more faces pulled by my -cough cough- delicate princess.

 I do love her...and am secretly happy she is the only girl.

Two of her might put me over the emotional edge.

...and because there are more children in this family equally good looking and picture worthy...

 Carter Dean

When did he get so old?

 Colby Colbs

I love those eyes...and the picture doesn't show them, but he has the most adorable freckles on his nose.

 My eldest and his new best buddy.  If Andrew had his way, he would hold Grady all day.

(Yes...Grady is still so jaundiced.  This picture makes it look even worse than it really is.  He has spent every morning in the sunshine.  I'm anxious to take him to the doctor again next week.)

 Andrew vs Grady

 Two thumbs up for brothers!

...just because I love baby feet.

Side note:

There are a few things I have noticed since Grady came home.

1.  My laundry has somehow doubled.  

2.  My house is now feeling WAY smaller than it did two weeks ago.   

3.  How can one tiny person make such HUGE messes?  ALL my bedding is currently being washed as Grady somehow managed to projectile poop and pee on my bed all in the 10 seconds his diaper was off.   He then immediately spit up on Steve.  

Scrub a Dub Dub

Of course we had to document Grady's first bath.

 I had the settings on my camera all wrong and the first few shots were overexposed.  (Sorry Steve.)

Turned them black and white and added a few shadows and they were salvaged!  

Whew!

 I love bathing my newborns.

I love how they smell so wonderful afterwards and I love how they sleep afterward  even more.

...after last night, Grady will be bathed every night.  No bath = No sleep for Mom until after midnight.  Not cool.

Grady didn't love his bath.

Ok, he hated it.

 But there is something about having your head scrubbed that makes newborns calm down...so I thought.

 I was alone at first but after all the screaming we had an audience pretty fast.

Saylor was the most worried about her "Grady- Grades."

I'm in heaven with with the love that is pouring out of my children for their youngest sibling.

Newborns are magical.

Other than the newborn high, how are we surviving around here???

This might be a clue.  

I came out of my room after feeding Grady the other day and this is what my twelve year old was eating.

Two leftover cream puffs- filled with melted Hershey kisses- covered in half a container of cool whip and then drizzled with Hershey syrup.

Maybe I shouldn't have postponed those meals coming in.

Sun

Grady is a little jaundiced.

I took him to the doctor today and they checked his billiruben levels.

He's at a 4.8.  

Supposedly that is pretty low risk, but the doctor still prescribed sunlight and lots of food.

(wish someone would prescribe that for me)

So Grady is spending some time sun bathing in the morning when the light shines in.

His life is pretty rough.

He had also gained all but 1/2 ounce of his birth weight.

The doctor said I deserved a trophy.  I told him I would trade the trophy for sleep.

#4 gets #2

Salor got her second haircut the day Grady came home from the hospital.

It was one of those things I had planned to get accomplished before Grady was born, but it never happened.  My parents stopped by to visit right when Saylor was getting in the bath- perfect timing.

 My dad and Saylor have a very special book relationship.

She picks and he reads.

My mom's house often looks like a library massacre if my dad has been home to indulge his granddaughter.

So what better way to get Saylor to hold still than to have Grandpa read.

 Grandpa read.

Grandma trimmed.

Saylor "tried" to sit still.

 Mom took about an inch and a half off Saylor's flowing locks.  

Her hair looks and feels much less scraggy now. (Is scraggly even a word?)

Thanks Mom!!

...not about Saylor's hair, but Steve put her and Grady's feet together.

Grady has long feet...Saylor does not.

For three years you think there would be a bigger difference.

What did I do for three days in a hospital bed?

Grady was born at 6:08 am...just as a new day was starting.

Because of this timing and a certain positive strep test on me, Grady had to stay a full 48 hours in the hospital.

We were there all day Saturday and Sunday and didn't come home until Monday afternoon.

It was a long time and I wasn't complaining about it.

But what did I do for all that time in room H3305?

As you can tell by my chart...the only plans made were to Feed, Pee and Poop.  Thank goodness those were actually Grady's plans.

(The only concerns I had on that board involved my pain meds.)

   

Most of my time included holding and loving this little man...

...and eating.

The next best thing to having a perfect little person to love after having a baby is the food.

There is something about being post-partum that makes food taste ten times better than it normal would!

Our hospital food is remarkably good and I was allowed to order whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

I think I had seven or so bowls of this stuff.

Fruit is SO much better when you don't have to wash and cut it up yourself.

After I would eat, I would stare at this perfect person.

Then I would eat some more.

Then love on Grady.

 Then order yet another milkshake.

(I won't admit how many of these I consumed.)

 In between stuffing my face and kissing my baby I would watch a total chick-flick on cable that Steve would never be caught watching with me.

It was awesome!

 At one point I told Steve, "You better get some picture of me and Grady.  Without them who knows if I was even really there?"  

(I'm the picture taker around here)

After seeing this picture I exclaimed, "Man!  When did my cheeks get so big?"

 I'm sure it had NOTHING do to with the fact I had just consumed this!

NOTHING!

Grandmas and Grandpas

We are so lucky to live in the same town as both sets of parents.

I love having both families close by to celebrate occasions like Grady's birth.

My mom came to the hospital early Saturday morning and was there for the birth.  My dad was kind enough to stay at our house with our kids overnight.

Neither of them got any rest.  I so appreciate these two!

 Grandpa Walker with his 19th grandchild.

 Grandma Walker.

 Grandpa Dixon with his 25th grandchild.

Sadly, Grandma Dixon came down with a horrible cold/flu and wasn't able to make it to the hospital.  We can't wait for her to feel better so she can meet Grady!

Grady Paul...love this face.

Family of Seven

There I said it.

We are a family of seven. 

Sounds pretty good doesn't it?

Here are a few pictures of all of us together over the three days Grady and I were in the hospital.

All of us together.

Very proud dad.

 I feel that Andrew has been the most excited about Grady joining our family.

 Sadly, Andrew came down with a cold the day after Grady was born.

He has lovingly kept his distance, but I can tell it's killing him.

I'm so excited to see the relationship grow between these two.  Grady doesn't know it yet, but he has the best buddy in the world.

My five kids together.

 

Have no idea what they were talking about here, but the expressions are priceless.

...maybe Andrew is explaining circumcision????

 Enamored

Be still my heart.

Handsome holding Handsome.

(Don't ask me what was going on with this crazy hat.  Grady had a hard time on Saturday keeping his temperature up.  We tried different hats but nothing would stay on.  This one was the worst!)

 Sunday my family ditched any church responsibility and Steve spent the day at the hospital with me. 

This is mostly what he did...I slept.

 Sister love.

 Doesn't get any better than this!

On a lighter (somewhat sadder) note, Saylor struggled a little at the hospital.

Not being the youngest and getting your way all of a sudden is not an easy thing to swallow.

There were tears...

 ...lots of them.

But who could really be sad eating a ginormous bowl of lucky charms while wearing a marshmallow shirt?   Beats me.

(And yes, Saylor dressed herself.  I now know what clothes to get rid of when I'm feel like cleaning out drawers.   In Steve's defense, she was clean as a whistle...just dressed like an orphan.)

For me, I was just happy.

I'm thinking after looking at this picture though that I might be too old to have any more babies.

 

I'll just enjoy the ones I have.