Since you waited so patiently :)

These are not new pics, in fact the most recent one is probably two weeks old, but these are the most recent that I have. There is a reason I tell my clients to get their newborn photographed in the first 10 days. Alex has just started to smile, which is wonderful, but the poor girl is losing the hair on the top of her head (just as Jake did), has a bad case of baby acne, and her skin and scalp are flaking and peeling. :( Plus, she has watery eyes most of the time since her tear ducts seem to be blocked, which leads to lovely yellow eye discharge most mornings (we're going to see the doc for her 1 month checkup on Monday). Alex is still stunningly beautiful to me, but it will take a fair amount of Photoshop work for her to be a cover model at present ;)

So, without further ado, brought to you by the kindness of the miraculously amazing sleeping baby who allowed me to get this all done this afternoon, I present to you pictures of my favorite daughter Alexandria:






My absolute all-time favorite (until I take the next one) photograph of Alex of all time - I used this one on her birth announcements and thank you cards:




And lastly, for comic relief, I leave you with the following image:

4 Weeks Old, 4 Years Old

I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that Alex is 4 weeks old already. I feel like we've only been home from the hospital for a few days - not weeks. And add to that the fact that in six days, Jake will turn 4 years old, and I'm ready to lose my mind. All of that is a lot for me to handle. But I've had a lot to handle these days - that might be why the time is flying by.

Our days start out with me waking to one of my kids fussing for my undivided attention. As soon as one of them fusses for my attention, the other one knows that means they need to immediately fuss for my attention also. I think they have some kind of really messed up agreement. Jake has become needy lately... or maybe he was always needy and I just didn't notice until now? But I find it very hard having two people who are completely dependent on me for their survival. Plus the damn dog, who used to be known as my beloved fur baby. Now she is mostly just a pain in my rear end. I feel so bad saying that. I still love Ruthie very much and I am so glad to have her, she's a great dog, but she has fallen very far down the priority list. Poor damn dog.

Our days also end with both of my kids fussing for my undivided attention. But I have to say, we are so so so very blessed to have two great sleepers. Jake goes to bed easily, gets his story(ies) read to him and then takes a pile of books to read in bed and then eventually falls asleep. He will sleep 10 to 11 hours, and most school days I have to wake him. Alex started with a great predictable routine, waking every 4 hours or so, and then the routine changed a bit to include longer stretches of sleeping at night. It takes her a little while to settle down at night, sometimes she will take bottle after bottle, then nurse, then have another bottle, then nurse some more. We are amazed at the quantity of milk she will have at night and keep thinking, "Well I don't know why she's fussy, she can't possibly still be hungry," but we offer more to her and she takes it, and then she finally gives in and crashes around 1 am, and will sleep until amazing hours - today she slept until 8:30 am. 8:30 AM!!! That's when I had to WAKE HER to nurse, so I could stop being in pain. I don't even know how long she would have slept had I not made her wake up. SEVEN & A HALF HOURS of sleep from a 4 week old! Can I get an AMEN?!

I wish I had tons of pictures to share with you. I planned on having daily photo sessions with her, shooting all of the cool newborn portraits I always dream of taking with clients. The sad fact is that on the few days I have been able to photograph her, it doesn't go so well. Either she is fussy or uncooperative, or I can't get her to stay in position, or we run out of time. God forbid I try to photograph her when Jake is home. That is a complete disaster. Jake tries to get my attention over and over and over and over and - mommy mommy mommy mommy - are you watching - are you looking - can you get me some chocolate milk - mommy are you watching - mommy look at me - mommy can we go to the park - mommy mommy mommy!

Sadly, photo sessions don't get done while Jake is at school (thank sweet baby Jesus for pre-school three days a week). When he's at school, it seems like I am running around trying to do all of the little things that would never happen otherwise - making sure the dog gets fed at least once a day (poor damn dog), changing the baby's diaper, picking up my bra off the floor (how do they keep ending up there?), making sure there are no bottles left laying around to turn (how do they go gross so fast??), sterilizing bottles and breast pumps, holding the baby, picking up the damn trains off the floor so I don't break my neck tripping over them, letting the dog out to go potty, etc.

Everyone tells you how much harder it is to go from one child to two. And they are right. It's insane. But it's also great. I love looking at Alex at one month old and remembering what Jake was like at a month old. How Alex is losing her hair just like Jake did. How Jake likes to help me give Alex a bath, and how gentle and sweet he is with her. How sweet it is to have a little boy and a tiny girl. How nice it is to snuggle with a newborn and also see how my little boy is growing up and accomplishing so many amazing things. I'm amazed at my capacity to love, even if I am also amazed at my complete inability to get anything done. Although, I guess raising two beautiful amazing kids is getting something done.

Funny Alex Pic

This one just cracks me up, and I'm not even sure why. I feel like she is trying to hypnotize me, or commanding me to do something in this picture. Love my little nekkid baby :)

Finally! Pictures of Alex!

So it's taken me close to two weeks to take photos of Alex, put them on my computer, edit them, and put them up on the blog. Sorry. I've had my hands full - wow, two kids is a lot of work! While I was trying to shoot these, Jake managed to knock over a cup full of tea, as well as my breast pump, and spill the liquid gold all over the floor. Fantastic. The fun - and the work - never ends.

Jake is enjoying being a big brother, and loves to kiss his new little sister. I can't stop kissing Alex's sweet little velvet head either :) Jake is proud and protective and has really been a great helper. We've had a few issues with him testing his limits and acting out here and there, but really, he'd a great kid and I love him so much. Man, does he seem all grown up all of a sudden!

Okay, enough chit-chat. I know you are only here for the cute baby pictures anyway ;)

Pics from the Hospital

Jake, meeting his baby sister for the very first time!



Alex's head was so tiny in Jake's hands - which used to seem tiny too!



Me and my new baby girl on our shared birthday.



Me and my two kids! (That still sounds strange to me!)



Jake relaxing on my hospital bed, and Alex in a similar pose :)



Daddy and his two kids!



My handsome boys :)



On the second night, Jake fell asleep while visiting. We snuggled Alex up next to him for a quick photo.

One Week Old

I promise that the photos you've all been waiting for are on their way. Jake has his long day at preschool tomorrow and I'm hoping to use that time to upload some of the pictures I took of Alex yesterday. She wasn't extremely cooperative during our first photo shoot, but I think we will have plenty of opportunities along the way.

I've been having a much harder recovery with Alex than I ever had with Jake. A few complications have popped up and I'm doing my best to take them in stride and still be a good mom to my two kids, but the pain is tough to take.

I'm enjoying every single second of snuggling our new little girl. I feel like I am cherishing this newborn time more since I now know how soon it passes, and this is my last chance ever to snuggle my own one week old child. I can see how people get addicted to having babies, there is nothing like the swelling in your heart that you feel when you stare at the sweet newborn in your arms. It's like falling in love all over again.