Lucas - Week 4

Lucas has grown quite a bit in the past week. I'm not exaggerating when I say he outgrew his newborn sizes overnight! He's awake a lot more of the time now and is starting to have such a little personality! Along with his alertness, he's fussy for several hours each evening but one night that meant he slept an extra hour for me at night. I'll take that! We moved into our new home over the weekend which I thought was fine but it was a lot harder than I thought. I shouldn't be lifting heavy boxes or furniture quite yet so that meant there was a lot for Jason to have to do on his own. We have SO MUCH STUFF! How does one couple plus new baby and two animals accumulate that much stuff !? We also had terrible weather for the move - really cold and snowing which made for a wet evening. Jason just kept plugging along carting box after box and moving each piece if furniture. I said this when we did the move to Colorado but wow did he look good driving that big truck! He did such a great job moving everything and without complaint. Made me so proud to be his wife. We are so very grateful for our friends, Jake and Jaimie, to help us with the move. Jake volunteered several hours on Friday night to help Jason unload while Jaimie was home with her two boys all while getting over the flu herself. Huge thank you to them for helping us! 

Lucas now has his own bedroom that I can't wait to paint and get situated. We sure didn't have to wait long living in our small apartment before we got into a house! God is so good! Lucas didn't sleep the best our first night in the new place but who could blame him after the day we'd had! Over the week he has taken a liking to laying flat on his back instead of at an incline in his rock and play or bouncy seat. We've done tummy time (his neck is already so strong!). This week was a little hard on me because the focus had to be on packing, the closing, moving and unpacking. I found myself missing Lucas so so much and just wanting things to be "normal" so I could cuddle and love on him. I don't think we'll be seeing normal for a while with the amount of unpacking we still have to do but by the end of the weekend I decided enough was moved in and I NEEDED spend more time back with my new buddy loving on him. Everything will get put away in the right time but Lucas will only be this age for this long and before I know it I'll be back to work when I don't have the option to love on him (tear). 

Bilirubin update is that it went up a tad from last week but not enough to need lights but means we'll have to go back to lab AGAIN to get more bloodwork. Poor little guy! Thankful it's just for jaundice and not something serious. As annoying as I think it is to go every week I know it's nothing serious and really is just that, an annoyance. 

Lucas, I absolutely love being your mom, thank you for all the snuggles and patience as we're learning how to raise you! 

                          

Our friend, Cheryl and Brooklyn came to visit Lucas

                                   

Another bath! I'm starting to get the hang of bath time so it's much faster. I wouldn't say either of us are enjoying bath time but we get the job done and since he gets so cold afterwards (even though I crank up my space heater) it allows us with some guaranteed quality cuddle time to warm him up!

                               

Morning snuggle time with Mom

                              

                             

On our way to the closing! He's still really good in the car! 

                                

Waking up with Mom - my favorite time with Lucas! 

                                 

First morning at our new house, Lucas is taking in all the new sights! :)

                        

Love

At my baby shower, friends and family decorated onesies. Lucas is starting to fit in them. He sported this one to get ready for Grandma Cindy's arrival next week.

Super Bowl

I was hoping I could post this picture with a post of the Broncos winning the Super Bowl the year Lucas was born but sadly that's not the case. Lucas still looks adorable in this picture! 

Lucas - Week 3

Week 3 Lucas still slept a lot which was great for me and Jason because we weren't too sleep deprived yet! We had Grandma and Grandpa Snowden here for a full week so Lucas got a lot of extra cuddles that week! He met more of our friends and we went on another outing to the dog park since we're still not allowed to really get out due to how bad the flu is here. Our weather here has been amazing (40-60 degrees every day - Sorry Chicago friends!) so we are so thankful for the opportunity to get out when we want. We also had a follow up to his bilirubin levels and weight check.  His levels haven't gone up but haven't gone down as much as they'd like to see but there wasn't a need for lights so we were super happy about that.  I make Jason take him to get his blood drawn every time, breaks my heart when he cries! He weighed in at 7 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches...our little growing baby! Another amazing week with our sweet love!

 Meeting Aunt Jen, Jason's step-sister! Thanks for making the trip down to visit!

So yeah, this isn't a picture of Lucas but I'm documenting our family's week too!  My first glass of wine!  It went down way too fast and was delicious!  Grandma and Grandpa Snowden watched Luke so Jason and I could go on a date.  Our baby was only 2 weeks old but Jason and I think it's very important to take time out for our relationship to keep it strong.  And how often do we get a babysitter here in Colorado!?  We went out for sushi and had a great night together.  I think we were back home within 75 minutes of leaving - HA! After dinner I was practically racing to the car to get back home to snuggle Lucas but I am so glad we got out and enjoyed each others company and delicious sushi! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for babysitting!  

So content loving life!

Grandpa Snowden getting some last minute snuggles with precious Lucas before they headed out

Lucas LOVES cuddling on his daddy ( I love love love these two boys!!)

Heading out to the dog park - while he doesn't look thrilled to be heading out, he really does well in the car seat!

Lucas and Mom on the walk - Love

Family photo - Lucas slept through the photo and walk. Cooper is having a blast chasing dogs and sprinting all over the park

Love

Sweetness

Lucas meeting our awesome neighbors from upstairs!

Nightly snuggles before bedtime with dad

I want to thank all our friends and family who have sent cards and gifts the past few weeks! Our mailbox has been FULL every day with love from so many of you and we are so grateful to have you all love on Lucas, we certainly feel the love from miles away!  Thank you all so much!

Under Contract!!

As if we don't have enough going on with a new (adorable, sweet, lovable, amazing, wonderful best-ever) baby...Jason and I are under contract for HOUSE!!!  If you have read probably even one post on this blog you know how much we have wanted a house since we left Chicago and God willing, this is finally happening.

Last year we were in the market for a house but after searching and taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University we decided to pay off my grad school loans and wait on the house. While we knew this was the "right" thing to do, it was incredibly hard not knowing if and when we really would ever be able to move into a house. Then we got pregnant and the thought of having Jason working from home and needing an office and the baby having to share his office as his nursery wasn't the ideal situation. (especially considering we want our family and friends to visit and they would need a room or somewhere to put a bed!) So we decided to start looking at rental houses and quickly learned that the rental market here is very expensive! (our rent is also going up significantly in April if we were to stay here.)  We took a look at our budget and the amount of money we have saved since the loans were paid off and figured out what we could afford. It wasn't near what would buy us for what we want in a house but we had enough to start looking and a mortgage would also be around the same price of renting a house if not less. We started our hunt, (love Zillow!)

We looked at a Hud house and while Jason really loved it, I wasn't 100% sold and it was a gamble because there would need to be a lot of work put into it. We found a few more houses we wanted to see but in this market houses are off the market in sometimes just a day or two. All the homes we wanted to look at were already under contract!  (seriously the market here is ridiculous when you're the buyer!)

Jason found a home he liked that I had already passed driving by before her suggested it and I decided I didn't like because it was a corner lot off a through street. But I went to appease him. From the second we walked in the door we were in love! Let me just say that our new price range was well under what we ever thought we would need to spend to get what we wanted in a house. We had looked on Zillow plenty and even by looking way east (which we didn't want) we still couldn't find more than a 3 bedroom or it would back up to a major street and a million other things (needing major updating, 1 car garage, terrible location, bad schools, a tri-level, no back yard, no basement, etc.) This house had EVERYTHING we wanted! Everything and then some. It's 4 bedrooms - Jason can have his own office and each of our kids (we would like to have 2) can have their own. It has a finished basement too with a bathroom downstairs, who wants to visit!? The yard is small but typical of Colorado and there is plenty of grass for Cooper and the kids to play. Plus we're within a mile of a huge state park and reservoir and Coopers favorite dog park. Everything has been updated including bathrooms and kitchen. There's a huge bathtub for me! It's in the school district we want and is very centrally located by a highway, tons of shopping and restaurants very close. There's amazing mountain views and just has everything we want! The only downfalls is the kitchen is tiny and it's off a through street and is very close to a major street. Being that we're from Chicago the noise of traffic won't bother either of us and it's really not even loud! Everything else is just perfect and for the price that we offered is just amazing that we're getting everything we wanted at a price we can afford! Praise God!

Please keep us and the closing in your prayers.We originally were scheduled to close 2/28 but the sellers are moving early so we bumped it up to THIS FRIDAY! Lucas is going to have his own room as early as this weekend! We are just so excited!

Lucas - Week 2

Week two with Lucas was wonderful! Lucas has been such and easy and fun baby! He is just so easy-going and happy. The first week we thought maybe it was because he was sick with his jaundice but this week has proved that he is just a super happy, loving baby. We are taking full advantage of his easy-going personality because I KNOW this isn't how the first couple weeks are supposed to be!  He sleeps through the night except that he obviously has to be fed and changed every couple hours (we try for at least three but he doesn't like going that long.) He falls asleep during every feeding which means I am up more than half the night feeding but he rarely ever cries. So how awesome is that. Even when we change him, he doesn't really full on cry. So very thankful for a happy baby! Enjoying it while we can! We have many many more years with him to challenge us so we'll take the calm while we can! Love him to pieces!

So sweet!

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa Snowden 

Our little southside chicago boy in his way too big jacket! 

(Again we didn't have a small enough jacket since we didn't 

have newborn sizes so we made do for our walk outside)

Jason and I took him to the dog park for one of our first outings for a nice walk

Look at that new dad!! That Ergo fits Jason really well - such a great daddy!

Big brother Cooper was beyond excited to get out and run a little!

Morning routine now consists of feeding Lucas then extra 

cuddles before we start our day. I have to say, waking up in the 

morning to this little guy is the best feeling in the world, 

even if he is taking all my sleep away all night long!

Bath time!

Warming up after bathtime!  His hat was a gift from a co-worker. LOVE it!

So cute!

Love this little boy!

Lucas - Week 1

 Day 2 in the hospital - peaking a look at his new surroundings

His "going home outfit" :)  This was one of only about three NB sized clothes we had as the doctors kept telling us he was measuring sooooo big! I didn't even have NB sized diapers at home!  Oops, learned my lesson on that one with a 6 lb, 13 oz baby!

We're ready to go home!  

 Arriving at home - we introduced Cooper (and Sam at the top of the pic) to Lucas; Cooper was very curious. (and still is!) Funny story...when we give Cooper a bone he will often bury it with his nose for later. He also does this with his food. So at one point we had Lucas on the bed and Cooper had jumped up there. Well Cooper took his nose and tried burying Lucas! I think Cooper just wanted Lucas to go away for a little while.  

Off to the doctor and to get lab work done which became a daily occurrence for the first week with Lucas being jaundice.  It was exhausting walking into hospital every day (only a couple days after giving birth) and so sad seeing poor Luke being stuck every day.  He was such a trooper though, barely cried each time!

Loves his Snugglebunny bouncy chair

While waiting for his bilirubin lights which weren't delivered when they were supposed to be, Lucas enjoyed the Colorado sun in our room.  

The goggles Luke had to wear while under the lights.  It was not all fun and games at all having him have to be under the lights for 24 hours but these goggles made us laugh and cheered us all up!  Lucas did not enjoy them one bit but they looked so cute they proved he is super excited to be born in Colorado where he can go skiing and boarding as often as he wants when he is a little older!

Lucas levels were bad enough that he needed to be under the lights until his levels were better.  The night they were supposed to be delivered the lights were never dropped off!  (Jason had called a couple times and the guy was really sketchy...we were slightly sleep deprived too and it was late in the night so there wasn't much we could do.) In the morning we called the doctor who was concerned about Lucas so we had to get more blood work done and learned he was close to needing to be hospitalized.  The place where the lights were coming from called super apologetic telling us they would be investigating what happened and the lights were dropped off almost immediately.  That was a long day and night because Lucas didn't want to sleep in the little briefcase-like bed (can you blame him!?)  There was a sheet that was supposed to protect his face from the light and whenever that brushed his skin he would hit it or start crying and it was nearly impossible to get the sheet not to rub against him.  Jason and I took turns sleeping next to him but it was a long night! We were so thankful the next day to learn that he wasn't needing another night under the lights.  (At his two week appointment today we learned his levels are just below what would need the lights again but not quite there. We'd like the levels to have dropped a lot more than they have the past week but at this point we're still in the clear.)

Lucas got his first (home-made!) stocking cap from our friend, Sarah.  That says Cubs too!  A home-made Cubs stocking hat!!  He wears this on his couple walks he has been on. :)  Thanks Sarah!!

Just a super cute pic of our sweet baby chilling

Off to our first walk outside!!

Lucas has his eyes open! A very rare occurrence in his first week of life! 

He is just the cutest little guy ever! We are so in love!!!