Catch Up (As usual)

Parker finally lost his umbilical cord stump last Monday (at 6 weeks, 1 day) so the next day, he got a real bath. He liked the water and didn't cry at all for his bath.

Eric & Oliver

Oliver did some painting for Valentine's Day. He would paint a little and then say "do other side" and quickly flip the paper over. I worked on explaining that when painting, we don't do the other side. By the 4th sheet of paper, he seemed to be getting it.

Oliver building legos one cold February day.

Parker is doing more smiling so I tried to get a few pictures of it. It is rather hard to catch a smile on camera it seems from my pictures :) So after the pictures, there is a video that shows some smiles (ignore my voice please:))

This weekend was wonderful- it warmed up and was in the 40s! By the end of the week, it is supposed to be in the 60s! A lot of snow already melted after this weekend and I'm sure more will this week. I'm looking forward to the sidewalks being clear enough to push a stroller for a walk.
Both boys keep doing well. Oliver is very excited about Valentine's Day this year- we are going to a friend's house to decorate cookies and exchange valentines. He got Cars valentines this year. Parker keeps getting bigger and bigger. I think we will be pulling out some 3-6 month stuff in the next few weeks. He continues to be a pretty easy baby- he is starting to have more awake time during the day, but is typically pretty content. I think he is getting used to Oliver jumping around him. The two of them do pretty good together- one day last week, I looked in the living room where they both were and saw Oliver taking Parker's hand and using it to push a button on a toy to make music. It was pretty adorable.
Have a great week!

Snow Day!

Oliver all bundled up and ready to go outside.

Oliver and Eric played outside in the snow today. We got another 4 inches of snow today and luckily it was light and fluffy- not the icy stuff that is underneath. Oliver loved having Eric pull him around on the penguin tube. They played outside for almost an hour and Oliver was not very happy to have to come in. We are supposed to get more snow tomorrow and Monday so maybe we'll be out there playing again later this week!

We have been stuck in the house for a few days and we finally got out today! We got snow and ice between Monday and Wednesday so the city was pretty much closed down on Wednesday and travel was not advised on Tuesday. We went out today for Parker's one month appointment and to the grocery store- pretty exciting stuff. Getting out of the driveway was an adventure- it was iced over so we couldn't really shovel, but not iced over enough that the car would just drive over it. So we gunned it and tried to back up and got stuck multiple times and had to drive back and forth- finally I hit reverse and Eric pushed outside and we made it out. We weren't able to make it back in right when we got home, but later in the evening, we did!

Parker's appointment went really well- the doctor said he looked perfect. Parker weighed 10 lbs, 5.5 oz and was 21.75 inches long.

Oliver has been practicing his ABC song- here is a video.

Lego Creations

Today I thought I should have taken Parker's month pictures in Oliver's new chair so I took one of Parker in it today.

Parker and Oliver in little brother, big brother outfits.

Oliver loves playing with legos. Yesterday, he walked up to me with this lego creation and said it was stairs and an elevator. Those are two of his favorite things to build. He also likes to build beds and houses.

One Month Old

Parker is one month old today! The time has flown by. Here are some of the things Parker does at one month old (this is mostly so when I get around to doing a scrapbook someday, I can come to our blog to collect the info :)).
-is alert for up to 1 hour at a time
-starting to smile
-likes to be swaddled to sleep
-eats every 2.5-3 hours
-is not a big fan of the sponge bath, but relaxes as soon as we wash his hair
-relaxes during tummy time instead of lifting his head
-has outgrown most of his newborn clothes
-still has him umbilical cord stump
-likes to cuddle

Catch-up

Here is an update of our last few weeks. We have been busy adjusting to life with four of us, but we are doing really well. My mom came and stayed with us for 2 weeks which was very helpful. Parker is getting bigger quickly and Oliver is staying busy as usual. Classes started back January 18 and although Eric isn't taking classes, he made this his official start to getting back into the swing of work and school. We have ventured out a few times with both boys- it is definitely different with two. I also forgot how often newborns eat.

Parker hanging out on a blanket.

My mom feeding Parker his first bottle.

Parker was baptized on January 16th. Parker's godparents are Bob and Kara. We were very lucky to have so many of our family members come. The total people who came for the celebration was 43 I believe. After Mass and the baptism, we went back to the hotel that everyone stayed at and had a party. We had a lot of fun and are pretty sure everyone else did too. Thank you so much to everyone for coming to celebrate with us.

Eric, myself, and Parker with the awesome (and delicious) cake that Wanda made.

After most people had left, we realized that the grandsons significantly outnumbered the granddaughters, so we took pictures :) There were seven grandsons and one great-grandson compared to the two granddaughters- Samantha and Sophia.

Parker in his baptismal outfit laying on the blanket that my grandparents gave me at my baptism.

Eric's family- Ally (Kaleb's girlfriend), Kaleb, Amy, Eric, Oliver, me, Parker, Sierra, Savannah, & Kaydence.

A shot of the room during the party

Savannah, Oliver, Kaydence, Sierra, and Parker

A few pictures of Parker during tummy time. He isn't very interested in lifting his head when he is on the floor. He'll hold his head up when we are holding him, but when we put him down on his tummy, he just relaxes on the floor.

Oliver wanted to feed Parker so he gave him a bottle a few nights ago. We were impressed with how well he did. I think he sat there and fed him for a good five minutes.

Oliver and Parker on the floor together. We have to be careful when we put Parker on the floor because Oliver likes to lay down like Parker, only sometimes he gets pretty close to laying down on top of Parker or kicking him in the head.

Parker has started to show us some hints of a smile. Eric caught one on camera.

A close-up of Parker sleeping :)

Oliver got a card in the mail from our friends Ashley & Tony with a big brother sticker in it. He was pretty excited about getting mail and a sticker.

Oliver painted with water colors one day. He loves doing this and went through about 5 sheets of paper.

So that is an update of life in the Shook household. I really do hope to be better about posting. I figured I should try to get another one in before Parker turns one month old (on Wednesday already). Who knows, maybe I'll be ambitious and do another one tomorrow. If not, look forward to one on Wednesday :)

We survived week one!

This post is going to be a little all over the place because my pictures are out of order. The following pictures are from Saturday when Randy, Kara, Alex, Max, Sophie, Henry, and Timmy stopped to visit on their way home to New York. The kids had lots of fun playing together and we had a great time visiting with Randy & Kara.
Oliver and Henry in matching pajamas. They were being goofy on the couch and not sitting very still.

Above and below- all 7 kids lined up in age order. Shockingly, no one was injured in the making of this picture.

Timothy & Parker- they are just over 14 weeks apart, but there is quite a size difference right now.

Oliver & Henry in their matching pajamas (above) and in their matching clothes from Grandma (below)- they are 16 weeks apart, but the size difference isn't nearly as noticeable.

Here are a few pictures from the day we came home from the hospital.

Parker in his car seat waiting to leave the hospital.

The next few pictures are from bath night tonight.

Oliver got a new robe for Christmas and was modeling it for us after his bath tonight. He watched us give Parker a bath and was mostly just interested in dipping his hand in the water.

Parker's first bath at home pictures
Parker wasn't very pleased to be taken out of his warm jammies and only wrapped up in a towel.

He calmed down when I washed his hair. He seemed to like the warm water.

Relaxed and calm after his bath. He sat this way for a few minutes, just hanging out.

Parker in his pajamas all done with bath. His hair seemed so soft after his bath.

Parker is one week old today- it has been a wonderful and crazy week. We were happy to have so many visitors- Grandma Steffen, Aunt Kathy, Aunt Donna, Aunt Coco, Amy, Grandma & Grandpa Shook, Uncle Randy, Aunt Kara, Alex, Max, Sophie, Henry, & Timothy. We are looking forward to Grandma Steffen coming back tomorrow.

Oliver is doing really well with the whole big brother thing. We had a few meltdowns today, but nothing too out of the ordinary. He is very good with Parker and when he touches him, he says "nice and gentle." He gives him kisses good night too- it is pretty cute.

We have a pretty relaxed week ahead of us- I'm hoping to get some newborn pictures taken and get our Christmas decorations down, but other than that, just enjoy our two little boys. :)