Big Friday Night!!!

Since Daddy works high school football games on Friday nights, Declan and I usually relax at home and catch up on housework. This friday night, we decided to show off Declan's awesome Halloween costume at Nana's house! I channeled my mother's creativity and made the garden gnome costume myself! Declan loved the costume for all of five minutes and then got too hot and cranky. WE removed the costume and he was in a much better mood after that.

We then ate a little dinner and went over to spend time with cousin Charley and cousin Elias. Elias was a wild man and showed me all of his fun toys. While we were there we had a baby photo shoot with cousin Charley, who is only 1 month younger than Declan and about 5 lbs lighter.Both babies were squirmy little buddies until we arranged them next to each other. They both melted into baby relaxation immediately. It was so sweet. I think they are going to grow up to be thick as thieves if tonight was any indication.

I hope all of you bloggy loved ones are well and have a happy Halloween!
Love,
The Englands!

the day after...

Declan had shots yesterday. He was a little cranky baby bear yesterday.

Today, our little cranky bear decided to hibernate. It's better than crying, I suppose. When baby bear DID wake up today, he was sure hungry! That little bear melts my heart!!**sigh**!!

just thought I'd add

My son is so handsome he could be a baby supermodel. I could be humble about it, but, as my friend Misti in NYC says ,"Why lie?"

Oh the horror!

Declan had his 2 month shots today. He threw the biggest fit I'd ever seen while the Doc was examining him and this was BEFORE the shots. It was almost as if he knew what was coming. The Doc said our fella looked great and meeting all of his milestones. Declan spit out about half of his rotovirus vaccine (It was oral) and the rest were given by injection into his chubby little thighs. He cried his little heart out until I nursed him. He calmed down as soon as he latched on and then he slept the whole way home.
Here are his stats so far.

AGE: 2 months on the nose
WEIGHT:13 lbs (this is 78th percentile weight for age)
HEIGHT:22inches (this is 22nd percentile height for age)
HAIR COLOR: Reddish brown and he still has all of it but his head is getting bigger so it's spreading a little thin on top. WE are seeing new growth, however.
EYE COLOR: Dark blue-ish, gray-ish green-ish.
HAS MOM'S: Cheeks, chin, mouth, smile
HAS DAD'S: Eyes, nose, hairline, dimple and appetite!

Stay tuned for more crazy England antics!

Because one day he'll be an adolescent...

And I'll need something to hold over his head...

We had a big weekend...

Ben was called away to work one of the medic stations at the Marine Corps Marathon (ooh-rah!) this weekend. He left on Thursday and was so sad to leave because it was the first time he's EVER spent the night away from Declan. He was heartbroken to leave us and we were as equally sad to see him go. Thursday night it was just Declan and me and the girls all by ourselves. We did alright, I think.

Friday, my dear friend Jan came up for a visit and she brought Declan SUNGLASSES!!! Woohoo! Jan stayed until this morning. We went hiking on the trails at Ijams on friday afternoon and then the three of us went to dinner.

Saturday we decided to make an early start of it and drive up to the aquarium in Gatlinburg. Well, early starts don't exactly happen as planned with a little 2 month old snuggle bug so we didn't get out of the house until 11:30. And we made the mistake of taking the interstate instead of Chapman Hwy. Sad day! 4 HOURS LATER we were barely past the visitors center in Gatlinburg . We decided that we'd rather outlet shop than drive the 45 minutes it would take us to get to stoplight five in G'burg only to spend $20 a head to get us in to see the aquarium (which was likely just as overcrowded as the traffic). So we turned it around and headed back to the outlets. We did a little shopping. Declan was a total trooper up until we went into the maidenform outlet. In typical male fashion, he got overwhelmed and flustered surrounded by all of those mysterious female underthings and had a total meltdown. We got out of there pronto and packed ourselves and our goodies up in the beetle and headed back to the house where we unloaded, fed and changed the baby in the quiet of his own room and felt settled enough to pack it all back up and go get Mexican for dinner...ARRIBA!

It's Sunday now and Jan has left after a fun filled weekend and Declan is sleeping in his crib. There is a load of diapers running in the wash and Daddy is still in DC until the marathon is over and he can come home (a LOOOOOONG 8 hour drive) to us. We had a great weekend but we are both tired and cranky and Declan needs some man time with the Daddy.

my newborn son...

My beautiful newborn son is now nearly 2 months old... which means he isn't a newborn anymore. As you can plainly see, he is so beautiful he makes my heart ache for a dozen more just like him. He's growing so big and so fast right before my eyes and I wish I could live in the moment better or stop time just for a second to take him all in.

Here are the updates for our darling Declan.
He is sleeping from 7:30 pm to 7:00 am with a "wake-up and nurse" break around 11:00pm and 3:45 am and he eats and goes right back to sleep. This is much improved from the "wake up and nurse" breaks that occurred every hour to hour and a half. Ben and I both find we love him EVEN MORE now that he lets us sleep longer (haha)

His smiles are about a 50/50 ratio of gas to true amusement now.

He grasps and pats my shoulder and pulls Ben's chest hair.

He whacks at toys and clutches his frog lovey at bedtime.

He holds his head up VERY well but every now and then swings it around like a belligerent drunk baby... Don't worry, we haven't let him into the liquor cabinet yet (We only let him get milk drunk, people!).

Also, you should know, he aces his "tummy-time" work outs. We are having so much fun with this little fella that we can hardly stand it.

Love,
The Englands