Phone pics!

I take an endless number of pictures on my phone so here are a few of my recent faves :) Declan has taken over every camera memory I have available..........and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

Cute little hat the Marshalls sent Declan - I'll take a pic in the full outfit soon! He's so serious....

Ready for a ride, mommy!

Always with the tongue and the big scared looking eyes!

Might not be swaddling him anymore but I think he's pretty comfy............

And finally my idiotic bosses :) I took the little picture bouquet Paul made for me into the office and this is what I came into the next day - my bosses decided to put their pics in there as well because they felt left out and now as Kevin says, "I have all my boys in one bouquet" :)

Tummy Time!

Declan much prefers to play like a big boy and stand (with mommy or daddy holding his hands of course) or just be on his back so he can see everything around him than be on his tummy - makes tummy time not a very fun experience for all involved. The best way we've found to get this done is put him front of a big mirror so he can see this most handsome little boy :) Thus, the video.......

DB Tummy Time

GO WAKE!

dreaming about one day being a superstar wakie :)

ALMOST caught a smile - he's not a big fan of the camera......

Swaddle no more!

So I will admit, I'm a freak about Declan's sleep and him getting enough during the days/nights and what seemed to be working for awhile was the swaddle - aka the straight jacket. It was beginning to become a bit of a nightmare though because he's a strong stinker and the only one who could swaddle him as tightly as he needed to be so he couldn't get out was Paul and Paul isn't around all the time to do that! When we have people watch him or if it was just me it seemed he would get out and wake himself up and not sleep - grrrrrrr...........so finally our awesome daycare provider, who was also having serious troubles with the swaddle decided to forego the swaddle and see how he did and the first time he slept 2 hours for her (by far a record at daycare) so ever since then we've been mastering the art of the no swaddle and he's been doing GREAT. Surprises me every day :) He's just getting better and better and older and older..............

The Swaddle:

The No Swaddle: still extremely comfortable boogar

5 minutes later: out like a light

And just in case you're wondering what Declan's sleeping in, its probably the best baby gift we've been given to date (thank you GiGi!) Its called the "Snuggle Me" and that's exactly what it does - Declan's slept in it every single day since we've been home - the first week he slept in our bed with the trench but after that first week he's been sleeping very soundly in his crib, in his trench. The link is below just in case you are looking for something like this yourself or just looking for a great baby gift. It's BIGTIME and I would highly recommend it to anyone with a newborn.....

THE TRENCH!

A PERFECT MOTHER'S DAY :)

What a day :) Slept in until the boy woke up (about 9:45am - after a brief intermission around 6:30am) and then we just hung out until daddy got home from his soccer game! Declan was so smiley and happy all day and actually gave me his first belly laugh tonight during his bath!!!! What a day to do it :) Way to go boogar................
So my sweet husband - he did it again :) Of course he had to make a theme and the theme for this Mother's Day was "flowers"..............so Friday he sent me some beautiful tulips, Saturday I woke up to a yummy breakfast and a handmade bouquet of pictures of my boys, and Sunday along with making a fabulous German dinner for me and my Colorado mama - he made a "sunflower bouquet" - in quotes because it was acutally CUPCAKES..........holy smokes and they were ridiculously good :) Maggie actually walked right by them when she came over because she thought they were real flowers! Ha - how crafty is my husband, I swear. This is what I have to live up to - good Lord what am I gonna do for Father's Day?????????? HELP!!!!
In any case - it was a perfect weekend and more than ever, I was so bummed when Sunday night came around. Each week just gets better and better with my boys, and I'm cherishing every second we have together. I know "it won't be like this for long........."

Gorgeous flowers from my awesome husband and parents!

Paul and I and his "sunflower bouquet" - of which I've already eaten almost every last cupcake.....

My Colorado bro and sistas.........

My Colorado mama and very dear amazing wonderful friend, Maggie

Cuddles on the couch - Declan's way more interested in his little froggy friend

My former "little girl" and my current little boy!

Gotta keep up the tradition - he wasn't as excited about it as mommy and daddy though!

I'm gonna miss this..........

I had one of those moments/hours last night that I hope I remember forever. We had just come back from Goody, Keller and Kara's graduation party and Declan was pretty hyped up from all the ladies so of course, he was pooped but didn't wanna sleep and woke up early from his nap. I went upstairs to help him fall back asleep (we've been working on him falling asleep ON HIS OWN so that was the goal when I went upstairs) but I figured, what the hell, I literally have nothing better to do.......I'm just gonna hold him and rock him until he falls asleep. I re-swaddled him, put in his passy and starting rocking and he was asleep in about 5 minutes. That's when I thought, well I should probably be the consistent, good mother and put him back in his crib but no way, all I want to do is hold my baby................so we rocked and he slept in my arms for two and a half hours and ever so often I'd look down at his peaceful perfect face and tears would come to my eyes. It was just one of those nights, I didn't have anything else pulling me in a different direction, I could focus everything I had on Declan and I did just that. It was heaven, right here on earth.

He used to sleep on Paul and I when he he was reallllllllllly little but he hasn't done it in so long because he's getting too big and antsy for it but I tell ya what, last night was just perfect, my baby in my arms sleeping away.....................I really do, I hope I remember last night for the rest of my life because there was no crazy night time trying to figure out dinner after a long day of work, clean dishes, give baths, prepare for work the next day - nothing. It was just me and my sweet baby boy taking a nap while the sun went down. Perfect.