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5/52

In honor of Miral’s fifth week and how big she seems I want to remember all the little things that newborns do that you forget about when your baby is no longer a newborn. I’ve experienced these little things twice before and still forgot about them until I saw them again this past month.

1. The little sounds babies make when nursing or taking a bottle, from mewing to growling they are all adorable.

2. The way they clench their little fists up so tight it’s impossible to clean in between their little fingers.

3. The way they curl up their little feet up to their butt when they are super comfy on your chest.

4. How they sleep best when they are on their chest or in your bed or when yourlittle hand is on their little chest.

5. The grunting at night. Oh so much grunting.

6. When you make a noise or move them when they are sleeping and they raise their hand in protest, as if you want to wake them up!

7. How much of your life is spent putting them to sleep.

8. How they always wake up crying the minute hot food is brought out to the table.

9. How they have sweet little smiles that melt your heart until you realize it’s gas and they spit up all over you 🙂

10. How amazingly precious every little part is of this beautiful little creature that grew in your belly.

Baths and Drones

Miral’s first bath in a real bath was given by…

..daddy! Miral was NOT a fan of sponge baths (is anyone really?) but she loves the bath. She likes the warm water and laying there looking all around. She doesn’t like how cold it is when she gets out (although with air off in a tropical country it’s pretty warm) but once she’s wrapped up in a warm towel she’s happy again! And she doesn’t like when mommy’s not careful and water drips on her face (does anyone really?) but she loves when you squeeze the water on her tummy.

During the weekend these two get to step in and help give Miral her baths. They love helping and are super careful with her! It’s great that they love helping take care of her. Poor Adam had a fever this week and was so upset he couldn’t give Miral kisses.

Two things to note here, first Malcolm’s outfit. I love it a whole lot. He just got those rain boots and decided they would pair perfectly with his Paw Patrol pajamas. Second he loooooves helping with Miral’s bath time. Although in typical three year old fashion, when I ask him to focus on her belly and legs (and not the face) it suddenly becomes IRRESISTIBLE to wash her face. Next time I’m going to tell him not to wash her belly and see how that goes 🙂

Is there anything better than a clean baby!

Malcolm even likes to helps put her diaper on, which anyone with a newborn knows is a dangerous roulette game of pee and poo.

Such concentration!

We transformed our guest room into Miral’s room/guest room and its great. It’s sunny and bright and the boys love hanging out with us in there. When Randy first walked in he said- I guess you knew you were having a girl. I did not, I just wanted a room that was warm and welcoming!

Here is Adam’s newly acquired flying drone. He finally earned it by doing loads of chores. It’s been all he’s talked about since he started school and saw one at his friends house. So we made a chore chart and he was so good about earning checks for this drone. In case anyone is worried, we didn’t fly it in Miral’s room….it was just there hanging out because he loves it so much. Best part about that drone is the battery lasts 7 minutes and then needs to be charged which is just the perfect amount of time.

Here is Miral’s nest. Malcolm for some reason is obsessed with making Miral nests, I am not sure where this came from but it’s pretty cute, even if mommy has to clean up the nests afterwards.

We’ve veered pretty far off from baths, so I guess I’ll end here somewhere between nests and drones.

4/52

My dear Miral Ava,

How are you already a month old? It feels like we were just in the hospital learning who you were. And now I already can’t imagine our family without you. Your brother Malcolm calls you Ava Dural and it is the cutest thing. Every time you start to cry he insists on singing you Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Your brother Adam loves to come in every morning and kiss you good morning. He loves holding you and taking pictures with you! He is so proud of you and introduces you to everyone he meets.

You are more alert and seem to be looking right at us with your big blue eyes taking in everything. You love being cuddled and love when daddy rubs your head, right above your ear. You like to be wrapped up and will sleep away the day if you are swaddled (please don’t change!). I have been gathering up some pretty cute girly clothes and I am so excited to see you in them. We even went on our first mommy daughter mall trip….you might have cried the entire time mommy was trying on clothes but I know we’ll have many more trips in our future.

I keep thinking about the little girl and the woman that you will grow up to be and I am so excited to take it all in and meet you at every stage. All our family and friends have sent you beautiful messages and gifts and are so excited to meet you. You are so loved Miral Ava and we have loved every second of this past month.

Love,
Mommy

(Poor Miral was hungry when I put her on Adam and started to peck at his chest, which the boys found hilaaaaarious)

Adam took this picture of us!

And here is a selfie of me with all of my babies.

My three loves

I have to pinch myself sometimes, it doesn’t seem real that I am the mom to these three loves. At least once a day I turn to Randy and tell him that three kids sure is a lot of kids 🙂

And that is where Kate and her magic comes on. She came in for a whirlwind two day visit this past weekend and in that time managed to motivate me to collect all three of these cuties and take some pictures. I would have probably have given up a few minutes in if Kate wasn’t there with her calming voice and tricks to get the boys to look at the camera at the same time. But boy am I glad Kate convinced me to take these pictures because I love having pictures of all three of my little ones together.

She even convinced me to change out of my t shirt and pajama pants (hey, don’t judge it was only 11 am) and put on a real shirt to take a few pictures with the baby. I have so few pictures when the babies are this young where i don’t have a nursing cover on, spit up all over my shirt or an unflattering angle of my belly in the picture that I will be forever grateful to Kate for these two sweet shots of me and my little girl.

3/52

Week 3: First visitor from out of town, Kate came to see us and meet Miral! Daddy went back to work and left us girls at home alone while the boys are in school. An even longer stretch at night- 6 hours! A trip to the embassy to get Miral’s passport. Girly clothes make an appearance finally! Trip to the pool with the boys to watch them swim. Fancy brunch out with Kate and mommy and daddy. Photo session with her brothers. Yummy tortellini in brodo from scratch made by Randy! No longer kept in by blanket swaddles. Grabbing at necklaces and toys already.

2/52

Week 2: First lunch out as family of 5, Miral and Malcolm slept through most of it so it went pretty well. First long stretch at night of 4 hours. Second doctors visit with weight gain of half a pound, new weight 8 pounds! Lots of visitors. Lots of pretty baby clothes presents from sweet friends, aunts and grandmas. First colds for Adam and Malcolm (since Miral’s birth of course, not ever) so less cuddles this week from them.

Passports

We have a lot of Miral pictures coming up. So first a picture of my two boys. These two have had runny noses s no pics with Miral the past couple of days but they are feeling better and more are coming soon!

Now, let me ask you. How many pictures does it take to get a passport picture of your two week old….. the answer is a lot! Babies do not like to look straight ahead it turns out….

None work for her passport picture, but they are all cute! And also show her cute little dimple. After three babies one finally has a one cheeked dimple like Randy!

Bringing Home Baby

After 4 days in the hospital it was finally time to bring Miral home. The hospital is right down the block so we were home in no time and walked into to decorations everywhere! The boys had painted signs with glitter and all and put up balloons and streamers everywhere. Adam even had a streamer by the front door and told me it was for Miral and me to run through, Rocky style. I’m not sure where he saw it but he was super excited about it and specific on the details. It was nice to be home with the boys in our comfy house. Still hard to believe we are now a family of 5!

Adam was like a lovesick puppy and wanted to coo and cuddle the baby non stop.

I guess you could say we are all smitten.

Malcolm had been practicing his baby skills at school and was ready to help.

Welcome home Miral Ava!

1/52

Week One

Miral came home! She started sleeping more than an hour at night. She moved into mommy and daddy’s room. Lots of sleeping and eating. First doctor’s appointment, still at her birth weight 7.4 pounds. Lots of kisses and hugs from Adam and Malcolm. Snuggles with mommy and daddy. First time out for lunch at Wildflour. First coffee at Caravan.

Meet & Greet

We were all pretty excited for the boys to come to meet Miral for the first time. We had talked about it a lot with them, so they knew what to expect. They would come meet the baby, they would give her presents they had picked out for her and then Miral would have presents for them. The presents were lego sets the boys had their eyes on for a long time, so its hard to know what they were more excited about, the baby or the legos.

We hadn’t told them what the baby was yer we wanted to do it in persomn, so when they came in we asked them what they thought, both said boy. We told them it was a girl! Adam was excited, Malcolm wanted confirmation. He asked a bit incredulously- It’s a girl baby? Then they gave Miral the presents they had picked out, a little squeaker and a little rattle and a bunch of kisses and cuddles.