All Smiles

Sooooo, I got the first camera captured smile from our little Sammy last week (you'll see it in the last picture of this post). He's been smiling for a couple weeks now and let me tell you - it really makes the hard moments and long nights worth it. Seeing a glimpse into your child's personality as a newborn is a gift. I can't wait for the future...belly laughs, hearing his voice, all of it! Grant is quite the lucky big brother because Sam seems to save most of his smiles when he comes into view...too cute!




Pardon the spit-up covered shirt and up-the-nose shot of my man Grant...oops!

Date with Daddy

Wanna swim daddy??

Dates with our kids...something that Tim and I have talked about since the day we knew we were going to have more than one child. We've made time to do it and it has truly been priceless. Tim took Grant to one of our favorite parks in Indy - Holiday Park...you MUST go. Biggest, nicest playground in the area and beautiful surroundings! I know they had a great time and I managed to hold down the fort while they were gone (and finally get a few quiet minutes to catch up on my blog!). Can't wait until Lilly and I are doing regular spa dates when she's old enough!!

Baby Johnson

Tim and I love our small group - we are surrounded by amazing Christian brothers and sisters. One of the greatest blessings we've been able to witness is the addition of children into these couples' lives. Maggie and Derek will be welcoming a son in Septemeber and we had a chance to celebrate with them at their baby shower over the weekend. I was crazy enough to volunteer to make cookies and I am SOOOO glad I did. It was a stress reliever and I love the way they turned out!

Congrats to the Johnsons!

Pause Button, Please?!

If someone finds it, please send it my way. My baby is already 1 month old...time just passes too quickly! I guess that's why I am SO completely grateful for these 12 weeks off to focus on my family and my family alone. Priceless!

We've been running around a little less these days with the crazy heat, but we're still managing to get out. Over the weekend, we headed to Eagle Creek and spent the afternoon hanging around the marina complete with a picnic lunch. They had a great time seeing the boats and a rowing regatta that was going on while we were there. I can see us in a few short years spending time there teaching my babies how to sail! Yay!

$2 and a Baby Pool

This is all the ingredients it takes to entertain my sweet Grant and Lilly. I'm getting creative these days to fight boredom of being home with mommy and daddy everyday. Thanks to the $1 cans of shaving cream at the dollar store and a baby pool!!

Week 2 and 3

By now, we all seem to be in somewhat of a routine again with our family of five. Sam has been a true joy, but we've had our ups and downs too!

One of the not so exciting moments (selfishly for me) is going on a completely dairy free diet about 2 weeks ago. Similar to our experience with Lilly, Sam started screaming the entire time he was awake...it was miserable for everyone. He seemed so uncomfortable and NOTHING worked. After a few days of many tears and lots of frustration, I decided to try and cut out dairy...very hard for me. Long story short - I have my baby back!! No more whipped cream, Frosty Boy shakes, Klondike bars, cheese, sour cream, milk, and the list goes on...pretty much all of my favorite things. Oh, the sacrifices you make as a mommy!!!

Sam seems to change more everyday and we are so excited to watch him grow. He started smiling more this week, but only Tim has had the pleasure of seeing it face to face. I told Tim I was jealous he got the first smile and his sweet response: "well Sam can't smile at you when your boob is always in his mouth!" Well , yes. That's quite true! Ha ha ha!

On a side note related the constant hours at mommy's milk bar - Sam is taking a bottle like a champ!!!! I got some good online advice that we had about a 2 week window to get him used to it. We tried and it was like nothing changed for Sam. He did great and I got 2 hours out of the house yesterday to get my hair done with zero worry! Thanks honey!

I'm working on being just as good at taking pictures of Sam as I was with Grant and Lilly. My new BB Blocks are going to help me with that project. Many thanks to Jenn!! You can find them here...aren't they cute?! Great gift idea!

Happy 2 and 3 weeks Sammy boy! We love you!

Superdaddy Tim

I'm not even sure "Superdaddy" does Tim justice. I just have to brag on my husband for a few minutes and let him know how much I truly appreciate him...

One of the many reasons I married Tim was his sincere and obvious commitment to his family, which I knew would transcend into him becoming a great father. The moment all three of our children's slippery, pink bodies came into the world it was obvious he would fill the role of a fantastic father perfectly. Tim has gone above and beyond - again and again and I refuse to take for granted the blessing of him to our children.

It's been especially obvious over the last three (crazy) weeks. We haven't stopped running all over Indianapolis looking for the best playgrounds, socializing, entertaining, shopping, etc. The only reason we can do it all is because of him...and that's the truth. He has been WONDERFUL with Grant and Lilly. They're a handful, but he handles it with poise and patience.

You always hear people say behind every good man is an even better woman...well behind THIS woman is an INCREDIBLE man! I pray that if you're a wife, or hope to be one someday, that you would be blessed by the same gift.

Fun 4th!

We had a packed weekend for the holiday! One thing I know for sure: we have NOT let having three very young children slow us down!! We made our rounds to a birthday party, a neighborhood cookout, and two pool parties...a ton of fun and great to see all of our friends.

Grant and Lilly have all the sudden taken to being in the pool, which is definitely a bit of a challenge with three children. Tim has his hands full whenever we're near water! Grant has very little fear of the water and took his first plunge off the diving board (in Tim's arms) this weekend...glad I wasn't watching or even knew about it until after the fact. Not sure mommy would've signed off on that!!

Hope you all had a lovely holiday weekend celebrating!