Memorial Day Fun!

My parents generously had all of my Mom's side of the family that lives in the area (and that's quite a bit!) over on Memorial Day for a cookout and some swimming. The main reason for the party was the coming move of my cousin Rob and his sweet family (wife and 3 cute boys!) to the North West for his new job. We wanted to get together and spend some quality time with the family before they leave. This was our first outing (other than church) with our little family of four and it was really fun to get out of the house and see my family. Everyone enjoyed meeting Joel, especially my Gran who got to hold and meet him for the first time. She was in the hospital when he was born and for his first week of life, so she hadn't had a chance yet. As soon as we got there she asked for him and held him for about 10 minutes (that's a long time for a 91 year old with a shoulder replacement to hold a nearly 10 pound baby!). She sure does love her grand kids and great-grand kids :). We are lucky to have her!

All the kids and many of the adults enjoyed swimming together and the weather was perfect for an afternoon in the pool! Philip took Levi in and just like last summer he is in LOVE with the water. He was going under, jumping off the side and the steps and kicking up a storm in his special little green tube that Moe got for him (it has tractors, cars and helicopters on it!!). Levi loves his cousin Nora and really enjoyed getting to swim with her too. I see many an afternoon in the pool in our future, once I am fully recovered and Joel is a little bigger :). Unfortunately I forgot my camera (would have loved to capture all those great grand kids and cousins!!) so I had to steal a couple from my sister Kate :).

Moe swimming with the kids - notice Levi & Nora holding hands!!

Thanks Mom & Dad for a very fun evening! You treat us all too well!!

Brothers

When you have a second child everyone naturally compares the second to the first, especially in regards to how they look. This may be even more exaggerated in my case because of having two boys in a row. I have had comments ranging from "Wow, Joel looks exactly like Levi!" to "Wow, Joel looks nothing like Levi!" I think that Joel and Levi certainly look similar and are obviously from the same gene pool :) The most obvious differences are their mouths and that Levi had much longer thicker hair than Joel does. However, Joel looks very much like himself, as does Levi. Here is a comparison of both boys about 2.5 weeks old, judge for yourself:

Levi

 Joel

Every day Levi seems to grow more attached to his little brother. He talks about him often and would love to drag carry him all over the house if I would let him. I'm not sure he has an understanding that Joel is a person just like him, or if he thinks of him as more of a really fancy, impressively life like doll. Joel tolerates all the "loving" very well and usually takes a licking and keeps on sleeping :). I must admit though, that keeping Joel safe and trying to teach Levi how to treat his brother with love and respect is probably the very most exhausting thing I am doing right now. It seems odd, but Levi is who is exhausting me...not Joel! Levi is a little ahead of himself physically and verbally compared with his cognition and comprehension (in my opinion) so discipline and just giving him direction has been an exhausting undertaking. Not to mention that he has been getting up happy and ready to play between 6 and 6:30am while Joel has decided that his bedtime is between 10:30 and 11pm. Throw a couple middle of the night feedings in the mix and you have one sleepy eyed Mom by afternoon/evening! All that aside, I am loving having a newborn again, and sweet Levi keeps me laughing too. As with every stage of babyhood/childhood...this too shall pass (ahhh what a difference experience makes!) I am looking forward to watching these two learn to love each other and interact more and more...but I am loving our little family right now too and trying to soak up every moment :)

2 Weeks Old!

I know how fast the first year goes and how much Joel will change, but I still cannot believe he is already 2 weeks old! Today Joel turned 2 weeks and also had his 2 weeks check up at the doctors office. Here are his new stats :)
weight - 9 pounds 13 ounces (80%)
length - 22 inches (90%) (this confirms what I thought...he was probably a little longer than the measurement that was taken at birth...but was too wiggly to get his leg stretched out good for the nurse)
head circumference - 38.5 cm (80%)

The doctor said that Joel was absolutely perfect and handsome! Of course I already knew that :) He is doing great and continues to be a calm baby. He has started to follow our voices and turn his head when we talk. He is having more and more awake time and continues to sleep well during naps and have a couple of good 2-3 hours stretches at night too. Levi is growing more and more attached to his little brother and calls him "my Joel" and randomly states "Joel's cute." He is still learning to be gentle, but is getting better all the time. When Joel was crying during his PKU test at his check up Levi kept saying, "Joel crying...it's ok Joel." The nurses thought it was very sweet (so did his Momma). I sure am blessed to have two wonderful and very special little boys!

Here's what we did this week (get ready for a crazy number of pictures...I just couldn't stop for some reason!):

Levi has been practicing for swimming this summer by floating on his back in the bath :)

 Uncle Seth came by on his way home from college to meet Joel

 Levi has been loving holding Joel, and he is getting good at it too!

 I got in some loves and snuggles too

 Amy and Deanna (my long time friends) came to meet Joel!

 Uncle Derrick, Aunt Tam, Kadin, Kynlee and Kamryn came for a fun visit and to meet Joel. Levi and Kam had a blast playing together, and Levi soaked up the special attention (they are almost exactly 1 year apart in age) and Kynlee loved holding baby Joel

We had more visitors to bring food and meet Joel too!  Melissa, Amy & Bernd...thanks guys

 snuggles with Daddy

He is the sweetest and soundest little sleeper 

 Joel got his first "real bath" and Levi helped :)

Moe Had to Go

As I mentioned earlier my Mom took care of me the first week of being home with Joel. I do not know what I would have done without her help! She made my recovery so much better than it could have been and also gave Levi some much needed love and attention :). I pretty much did nothing but nurse Joel, nap, rest on the couch and spend some time with Levi the whole week. I didn't have to lift a finger! She cooked, cleaned, loved on Levi and helped me to protect Joel from his sometimes overly enthusiastic older brother. Today was my first day without her at my house, and we sure did miss her! Philip however was home and was a huge help! Thank goodness :) Levi asked about where Moe was several times, he loves her so very much! I know that Joel will feel the same way as he grows to know her more.

I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful mother who shows me love in many ways including taking amazing care of me and my family during a time of transition and physical/emotional stress like bringing home a baby. I hope to be as loving, caring, self-sacrificial and nurturing one day. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Momma!

One Week Old!

I cannot believe that my tiny little baby has been out in the world for a whole week! Joel is becoming more and more a part of our little family and Levi is getting better and better at "Loving" Joel gently :) Levi now loves to hold Joel and give him kisses, but he needs CONSTANT supervision and help to not be too rough. Every day is a little better, thank goodness.

I am doing well and am feeling pretty good in part because Joel usually gives me at least two 2 hours stretches of sleep (usually after the first and last feeding of the night), but mostly because my Mom is taking amazing care of me and doing 100% of the Levi duties while Philip is at work! She has also been keeping me full of water and yummy meals :). I really don't know what I would do with out her! Thanks Momma/Moe!

I ended up staying with my Parents from Friday - Monday because Philip and his Dad were finishing an unfinished project in our house...installing wood floors. Joel's 10 day early arrival threw us for a bit of a loop. We spent our first night at home as just our little family of 4 and then my Mom came and pick me and the boys up to stay for a while in Plano. I will post a pic of our beautiful new living/dining/entry/hall when the final touches (baseboards etc) are done. They did a wonderful job and I know it was hard work!
I know it was hard on Philip to be away from us, and I appreciate him working long hours to get it done so that I could recover in a normal house and not have chaos/tools all around me when my Mom left :)

Here is what's new with out little guy:
-has regained all his weight and then some (weighs around 9# 12 oz now based on our home scale)
-can hold his head up pretty well
-can stay awake for up to an hour at a time (unfortunately often in the middle of the night!)
-likes to sleep swaddled on his side
-nurses about every 2 hours (sometimes stretching to 3) for 15-20 minutes per side (much faster than Levi at this age)
-has started to make a few little coo noises

We love Joel so very much and just think he is such a cute baby...so far he has been documented just as well as Levi and we have over 200 pics from his birth and first week! Here are a few of my favorites from week number one!

heading home!

sweet sleepy grins

loves from Moe and Big Brother Levi

 2 of my favorite guys

Our Little Celebrity!

Joel has of course attracted a whole lot of attention during his first week of life! I have gotten photos of most of the people who have come to meet the little cutie since his arrival one week ago...I thought I would share them here. Thank you so much everyone for the love! We are very blessed by supportive family and friends!

Papa (Philip's Dad)

Celice & Katie

 Tania, my midwife who had to miss the delivery

 Taylor

 Travis

 Hilary

 The Steidls (Evie, Erin, Amelia and Matt)

 Moe with all 4 grandkids (Levi, Asher, Joel & Nora)

 Pop (My Dad)

 Aunt Kate (my sister)

 Great Aunt Mary

More to Share

I just realized that I never announced Joel's middle name here (in part because we have only known it for less than a week!). We chose to give him the middle name John after a very special man in my life and also Philip and Levi's, my Dad. I am so happy that Joel has a special middle name like his big brother and I know that he will grow to love and respect his Pop and be proud to share his name one day! I can only pray that Joel will have many of his namesakes wonderful traits :).

Yesterday went well and Joel is so laid back that I have been able to get a pretty good amount of rest allowing me to take some time that afternoon to do a mini Joel photo shoot! Ha! Here are the results:

Levi also came to visit his little brother again and was more interactive with Joel than their first meeting. He pointed out all his features and his hospital bracelet and even gave him a little kiss good bye. I can't wait to see their relationship grow!

Also, I wanted to update that my Gran is still in the hospital and has had several complications since her surgery last week. I would like to ask that you continue to pray for her and for a complete recovery. She is getting frustrated and depressed and it is also hard on my Mom who is caring for her (as well as wanting to care for me when I come home). Please keep Gran and my family in your prayers. Thanks!

Our Blessings Overflow!

Joel John Boyer

May 3, 2011 at 4:08pm

9 pounds 8 ounces, 19.5 inches

He has lots of dark hair like his big brother and looks like our family, but totally himself too. So far he is a very laid back little guy and is pretty easy to settle when he gets upset. He even gave me the treat of sleeping from 2-5am this morning! We love him very much and Levi is starting to show a little interest too. We are all doing well! I feel pretty great. SUCH an easier and smoother "birth experience" than Levi. I labored about 8 hours total. Got a good night rest before labor started. Got to the hospital and found out I was already 7 centimeters dilated. Labored un-medicated for less than 3 hours in the hospital and pushed about 10-15 minutes! (If you remember from Levi's delivery it was 30 hours of labor with 1.5 hours of pushing!)

We will post more pics and updates later. Please keep little Joel in your prayers. He has a heart murmur and had some testing done this afternoon including and echocardiogram. So far everything is normal and hopefully this is just a murmur that will be harmless and that he will grow out of. We know God is watching over us and him :) We just feel so blessed to have been given two very special little boys to call our sons!