Baby Sullivan | Week Twenty Five

Sullivan will be 6 months old in a few days and we are preparing for a new year. I keep coming to the realization that we definitely do not have a newborn anymore. Sully grows a little more every single day. I'm always surprised when I go to feed him in the early hours of the morning and he seems to have grown even within the night hours while he sleeps away in his crib. It's hard for me to believe that we are already almost half way through his first year of life. I truly feel like I was just big and pregnant, wobbling around in our home praying that his delivery would go smoothly. I feel like I was just in the hospital, waking with him every few hours to work on nursing and learn how to be a mother to two little kiddos instead of just one. He fits into our family so well and I am so thankful. 

We dove into feeding Sullivan his first food last week. I thought we went with sweet potatoes but I didn't read the jar well apparently. His food food was officially some carrots. Overall, he did great. A bit messy, but that's to be expected. He went for it and I think he will be a good eater of solid foods just like he is a good nurser. I would really like to expand his palette a lot more than we did with Marin as he grows. Marin would literally eat the same 3 things all of the time and has a hard time expanding her horizons. I need our second child to not survive on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cheese. I know, every mom probably says that, but seriously. I hope to introduce him to a lot more foods that we did with Marin. 

That night after we fed him his first solid food was pretty rough though. It took us about 2 hours to get him to finally fall asleep. His poor little tummy was pretty upset and not used to the solid food yet. We haven't tried again, honestly...but I hope to dive back in this week. I plan on not introducing new food so late in the day too. That was our first issue. Poor guy. We are going to take this one meal at a time. 

He is also working on cutting more teeth. His has one on the bottom that is slowly popping out of his gums. I can feel some top teeth making their way out as well. This is all so foreign to me because Marin was so late in getting teeth. He's already a biter and I'm sure we are going to have to work on that. I hope to breastfeed him for at least a year and he needs to be nice to me. 

Week Twenty Five. 

Here's Marin at Week Twenty Five. 

Hollen Holidays | Thanksgiving 2017

Around this time of year, I always try to take a morning and write down the things that I am thankful for. I wish I didn't always need it be around the Thanksgiving holiday to remember to take the time to do this, but this holiday is always a great reminder of how sweet life truly is. 

In this season of our lives, I am grateful and thankful for....

The sunrise peaking over the house across the street, slowly revealing glorious colors to welcome the new day. The heat that is moving through our little home. Our home....every room, every nook, every cranny. Every unpainted room and cat-scratched piece of furniture. Our overflowing fridge, freezer, and pantry. The new van in the driveway and the realization that I get to rock the mom mobile once more. My voice. My mind. My body even though I am still tired and getting over being sick. Even though my body hasn't bounced back hardly at all since having Sully. My C-Section pooch. My stretch marks, my tiger stripes. The early morning hours before my family starts to stir. The children warm and cozy, sleeping in their beds. Marin's spunk and imagination, that challenges me most days and makes me a better parent. Breastfeeding Sullivan in the early morning glow of his night light. nap times. Meals at the table. Trips to the library. The holidays. The fact that we can afford Christmas presents. The roof over our heads. The balance in our bank account. Our jobs. The flexibility of my job. Quiet time. My Bible and the warm cup of coffee beside me. The changing of seasons. Bath time for the kids. Taking a walk with the double stroller. Spending time with Ryan after a long day, decompressing. Lunch with the great grandparents. A Sunday off for New Years. Leading and playing worship music. Marin's preschool. Being able to pay all of our bills. Grandparents. Dishwashers and clothes dryers. Books that challenge me. Music that moves me and reminds of another time and place. Cooking a good meal. A glass of wine. Vintage City Church. 

I could go on and on....

We have a lot to be thankful for. 

Our Thanksgiving this year started with breakfast at home. I made cinnamon rolls and bacon. We drank a lot of coffee. 

The rest of the morning was spent picking up the house, feeding the baby, making green bean casserole. I tried a new recipe this year...it was okay. I think I'll go back to the classic dish next year.

We went to the Hollen's house this year for our Thanksgiving meal. We usually trade off every other year. Next year will be my side of the family. 

Marin talked about eating turkey all week and that she would try it out. She was pretty impatient waiting for everything to cook and be ready. She kept sitting at the table a good hour before we actually ate, anticipating the meal. Go figure though, she didn't try a single bite of turkey. What a goober.

As part of the centerpiece for the meal, the Hollen's had a bring a book or two that we were grateful for. I had a hard time narrowing it down but I brought Long Days of Small Things: Motherhood as a Spiritual Discipline and Present Over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living. It was a cool way for us to discuss how books have shaped us. I can go back and talk about the seasons I was in when I read these books.

Obligatory Food Picture on Thanksgiving

Ryan brought The Hobbit, or There and Back Again and Marin brought Corduroy.

It was a wonderful day full of family and too much food. I am so thankful for our families and our full bellies. 

This morning I tried to convince Marin that we could have a special treat...apple pie at ten in the morning and that we should watch Elf. But, she's crazy and didn't touch her pie and didn't want to watch Elf. Come on, kiddo. Jump on the day after Thanksgiving train! I just offered to let you eat dessert in the morning. Oh well....

Baby Sullivan | Week Fifteen

I was wiping the bottom of one of our adorabe children today and it hit me....this is where we are. This is part of who we are. This season of my life doesn't completely define who I am but it helps define parts of who I am. If someone had sat me down 10 years ago and told me that I would be married, working at a church, own our home, and have 2 small children under 4 years old...I probably would have laughed you out of the room. Back then, my grandiose vision contained dreams of traveling the world, playing music, taking photos, living in the northwest. My dreams didn't really consist of cleaning the bathroom, conquering mountains of laundry (how many people live in my house? I want to know!), dealing with toddler tantrums, and fussy babies. 

But, here we are. I am right here, in this moment of wiping bums and noses. I am right here in this moment of scrubbing down the carseat after Sullivan had a major explosion at the grandparent's house while I was working at church. I am right here, playing out in the leaves with my preschooler, holding the baby in my lap and watching Marin slide her Barbies down the slide. I am right here with the sun on my face, longing for this fall season to stick around for a while longer. 

Would I like to be traveling the world, being creative? Of course. But, I'm also totally content where I am right in this very moment. I never wanted to admit before that one of the callings upon my life was to be a wife and mom. I honestly used to think that was an excuse to not succeed in my career or passions. Now, I see it as one of the most important callings of all. I don't care what other people think about that anymore. Certain aspects of my creative life are in a stand still right now. I see that, I feel that pretty much all of the time. But, the fact that we get to raise our children without having them in daycare 40 hours a week is the biggest blessing we have right now. I still get to work full time but still get to be home with my kiddos throughout the week. I don't take that lightly. I am super blessed by a job that allows me to do just that. 

The next time I start to feel the ache of my former life before becoming a mom, I just need to open my eyes to where I am in this season. I need to be okay with reheating my coffee for the 800th time in the last few hours. I need to be okay with the sand dumped all over the living room rug from Marin's boots because that means that she was out playing and learning and living. I need to be okay with the 4:30am feedings and cherish them with everything I have because they will disappear soon enough. I need to soak in the mornings when Marin has to give me multiple hugs before sitting down to eat breakfast. 

Sullivan is fifteen weeks old today. We've had many diaper explosions the past few days. I've scoured Pinterest far too much for ways to get poop stains out of baby clothes. He's asleep next to me on the floor of the basement as I write this and we are surrounded by an explosion of toys, thanks to Marin. Tomorrow, we are bringing snack to preschool, I am a teacher for the morning, and Ryan and I are the music teachers. 

10 years ago, I didn't think my life would look like this now. But, I'm so grateful that it does look this way. 

Baby Sullivan | Week Ten

Last Wednesday, we took Sullivan to his 2 month old check up. I cannot fully grasp the fact that we have a ten week old already but here we are. I was so curious to find out how much he weighed and how he's growing. As it turns out....he has no problems with growth. This wasn't a surprise to me because every morning I go in to get him out of his crib, he has grown a bit more. He eats like a champ, still every 2.5-3 hours. Sometimes I can stretch is to 4 hours, but that's pretty rare. 

We have a huge baby. I'm not over exaggerating at all. He arrived large and he just keeps growing. Sully is in the 90th percentile in pretty much everything: weight, height, and head circumference. He is 2 months old and weighs 14 lb., 6.7oz! He has grown 3.5 inches since he was born. Just to paint a picture of his size, our daughter, who is going to be four in February, weighs 30 lb. right now. Little Sully, who isn't really that little, is half the size of his big sister! He's also pretty tall so the doctor wasn't worried at all about the weight gain. It's such a relief to have a baby that gains weight well and not have to have the discussions with the doctor about the need to gain more weight. He's going to be the size of a football player when he gets older. 

Marin started preschool last week and I am so proud of her. We didn't have any tears on either day. As long as mommy and daddy escape out of the classroom at a quick speed, she seems fine. She's ready to go play and learn. I really believe that this will be so good for her. She needs to be out of the house and around other children. I know she will find confidence and independence in this new journey. It's good for us as parents and for her as a growing child that learns so much more when she has the opportunity to explore the world around her. 

I officially returned to work on Sunday at church. This was my first full Sunday on the clock and I was praying that everything went smoothly. I was a little anxious about feeding Sully on time and pumping and still actually being able to do my job. I woke up at 4am (ouch!) and fed Sully. I put him back down, took a shower, got ready for the day ahead. Before I left for work around 6am, I pumped so that Ryan could feed him at 7/7:30am. During our first service, I went into the nursery and fed Sully at 10am. Marin and Sully both left after first service with Grandma-doo and Grandpa-doo. They fed Marin lunch at Culvers and fed a bottle from my pumping stash to Sully around 1-ish pm. I got the kids home, put Marin down for a nap, and pumped. Whew. We made it. No one died. Everyone was fed and well taken care of. I know I couldn't have pulled it off without my wonderful husband getting both kids to church and Ryan's parents taking the kiddos after first service. It all worked out fine and I know we can handle Sunday mornings!

It felt so good to be back at work. I'm so thankful for that, especially due to the anxiety I was feeling leading up to the end of my maternity leave. Everything has worked itself out. Our schedules are pretty busy heading into this fall season, but my heart has been overwhelmingly full lately. I cannot imagine our life without two kids now. I have an awesome job that I got to return to with ease. Life is good. 

The crazy family. 

Week Ten. 

Hollen Photography | Little Natalie

Katie and I have been in each other's lives for a very long time. We met at a youth group event many years ago and have been in each other's lives in some capacity ever since. We ended living together in Washington and experienced some of the best and hardest moments of our lives. I photographed much of that journey. I photographed her engagement. I photographed her wedding. We worked together in healthcare. Now, I was able to photograph their baby. I was getting super emotional as I edited these photos the other day. We have all come so far. We have been through so many things in the past 15 years of our lives together. They hoped for little Natalie for so long and now she is here. We may not see each other nearly as often as we once did because life has gotten in the way, but I count myself blessed to know these good people. 

We are now at the point in our lives where our friends are getting married and having kids. It's been a quick shift to that season in our lives and I have enjoyed being able to capture it along the way. I haven't done a ton of newborn photography so this was a fun adventure. Little Natalie is so adorable and makes me have baby fever big time. Someday heart, someday sooner rather than later. 

We also, of course, took some adorable little naked baby bum photos but I decided not to post her adorable little tush all over the internet. 

I would like more shoots like this one.