Oh you know I looked cool at the grocery store just now. Wearing my baby, using my reusable bags, buying organic fruit and milk and flaxseed bread. Do you think the Snickers bar in my cart ruined the image?

Today Evan is 6 weeks old! He's starting to smile a little, adding some coos to his vocabulary, and going through his second big growth spurt. Here are his stats from his doctor's appointment today:

Weight: 13 lb 6 oz (whoa!)
Height: 23 inches

I do not trust their height measurement, considering he was 23 1/4 inches long at his cardiologist appointment 2 weeks ago. Measuring a baby's length isn't an exact science, and as Andy pointed out, you might measure too short if they won't stretch out their leg, but it's unlikely you'll measure too long. So I'm putting 23.5 inches down in the baby book (once I get one!)

Evan continues to be a good sleeper, with the exception of these growth spurt days when he feels the need to nurse every hour. I'm a lot more low key about that this time around, among other things. I have a better grasp of the concept that "this too shall pass," and so I just accept my fate of parking myself on the couch with Evan all day long, knowing it will only last a few days. Until the next growth spurt, that is! It's a small sacrifice when I think about helping my little guy grow up big and strong. I'm just happy and blessed to have him here with us.

Andy mentioned that we were finally able to do some work on our yard, which had been desperately needing attention since we moved in 4 1/2 years ago. Even moreso since we dumped two truck loads of dirt onto it several years ago meaning to do some landscaping, but then Andy's car engine died and ate up our budget. Ever since then we've had a lovely little hill in our yard, but no more! Now we have beautiful grass coming up, and we couldn't be happier. We can't wait until we're able to use the yard. Noelle asks every few days if she can run in the yard yet. Almost, sweet girl! And you won't even trip over all the random holes anymore.

See before and after pictures of our yard here. We'll be sure to take more pictures when all the grass has come in!

We're 5 weeks into life with two kids at home, and I thought I should write a bit about how it's going. For the most part, my fears of not being able to hack it have proven to be unfounded. Most days we all get along just fine, moving through our day just like Noelle and I did before Evan was with us. I actually find myself playing with Noelle more now than I did before, trying to involve her in all the things I have to do to care for Evan. Yesterday she was feeling a little clingy, and so when I had to change Evan's diaper while she was eating lunch I let her bring her plate into my bedroom so we could still be together. This made her VERY happy.

Evan really really likes being in his bed for naps, which I cannot complain about after all we went through when Noelle was small. However, it does make it a little more difficult that he isn't quite so portable. I usually end up having to get him out of bed to take Noelle to school and pick her up, and he's not a fan of that. As a rule he doesn't tend to fall asleep in the car, so if we want him to sleep in his seat while we are at church or Bible study, we have to rock the carseat. In his bed at home, he will often fall asleep on his own after being swaddled. I was amazed the first time I saw this. Babies can actually do that??

If I can time a feeding right before we go to bed, around 10, he will only wake up once around 3 and then not again until 6:30 or 7. Then he'll go back to sleep again while I eat breakfast and shower! It's an ideal schedule, which I know will probably change tomorrow, since that's what babies do. So I am getting a lot of sleep considering I have a 5 week old, and that makes a big difference in how well I can manage the two kids together. By the way, aren't they adorable?

People always ask me how Noelle is doing as a big sister, and I have to say she is great. She loves her baby brother. If he is crying in the other room she will say, "I'm coming Evan!" and run to his rescue. She sings to him when he is fussy, holds his hand while I change his diaper, and just generally does whatever she can to care for him. She is going through a bit of a rough patch behaviorally right now, but I really don't think it has much to do with Evan at all. She is almost 3 (wow!) and absolutely acts like it. Her friends the same age are going through the same things, so I am confident she'd be acting just as poorly without Evan to blame for it. Andy and I are working on a few things to try and help her through this stage with as little trauma to us all as possible. Our next step is a marble jar reward system, we'll see how it goes!

So, overall, life with two has been pretty good! We love our growing family, and feel confident now that it can handle a few more additions in the future. A friend said the other day that she wasn't sure she could handle the insanity of two vs. one, and I said honestly I don't feel any more insane than I did with just Noelle. She is currently the one giving me the most grief, after all. I know that Noelle and Evan (and their future siblings) will all take turns in that role. Along with their father. :) Being a stay at home mom is not exactly what I thought it would be, and some days I so wish I had a job I could leave the house for, but I really do love my kids and I am thankful that I have the opportunity to have this time with them. It can be a thankless job, but it's a job I am committed to, and the little moments like the one pictured above make it all worth it.

Just wanted to throw out a quick update on our family...

Jaime, Noelle, and I are finally over our respective sicknesses and feeling better. Evan is back to sleeping better. You might know that for his first three weeks, he was only waking up an average of once a night. Well, Jaime and I earned that once a night from having to deal with Noelle's sleep vagaries for over a year. Problem is that we got used to it, and then he started waking up more than once, and not going back to sleep after eating. After seeing how much he weighed at his last cardiologist appt (11.4 pounds, the chunk) we just attributed it to a growth spurt.

Some of you might know that our entire yard is (was, but I'll get to that in a minute) a disaster area. It was uneven, and bumpy, and full of weeds. We finally worked it into our budget to have the yard redone. Jaime and I hired a local company to kill our grass in both the front and side yards. They then came in with a Bobcat and leveled out the whole thing, as well as cut a spot right by the driveway which can be used as a parking area for visitors. They then seeded the area and layed down straw to help the seeds germinate. Lastly, they tore up our horrible sidewalk and replaced it with fresh, new concrete.

I've been watering it now for over 2 weeks and we're finally starting to get grass coming back in. It's like a beautiful bird who's just gone through the first stages of molting. They look terrible while it's happening, but you just know what it will look like after it's all said and done.

We had an appointment with Evan's cardiologist yesterday, and the news was better than we expected. He said he does not need to see us ever again! Evan's aorta does not show any signs of narrowing, it measures normal, and everything looks great. He said if we wanted to be extra cautious we could follow up in a year, but that he doesn't think we need to come back at all. He said to have our pediatrician monitor Evan's blood pressure and let him know if anything came up, but said he saw no reason to think his aorta would ever become a problem. Praise God! Thank you all for your prayers, we're so thankful that our little guy is in the clear. He also weighed in at 11 lb 8 oz yesterday, what a chunk!