First Weeks as the Freihaut Foursome

Our first few weeks as a family of four has been wonderful.  It certainly has been a learning experience for all of us as adding a newborn to the family has certainly changed our well established routines. So many people told me that Addy will seem so old once Carter was born and they were certainly right!  She seems as though she had grown several inches and matured by many years in just a few weeks.  Addy is a wonderful big sister and loves to give Carter hugs and kisses.  She has also been a big help in getting things for Carter--diapers, wipes, toys, etc.  She thinks that Carter should always be played with, even when he is napping. 

During Carter's first week Derek was home with us and it was nice to have that time together as a family.  Having him at home with us was a huge help and also enabled us to give Adalyn lots of attention and allowed me to get some much needed sleep.  Carter is a  pretty low key baby, but also has quite an appetite.  He has been eating every 2-3 hours.  He does sleep in 2-3 hour stretches through the night and will lay down on his own, which is something Addy didn't like to do.  On Tuesday (6/2) we had Carter's first doctor appointment. Addy stayed home with her Grandma Freihaut. At the appointment Carter weighed 9 lbs 12 oz and measured 21.5 inches.  The doctor was very happy with his weight gain considering that he was nursing and said that his color looked very good.  After the appointment Derek, Carter, and I stopped for lunch at one of our favorite Bloomington restaurants--Meatheads.  Of course, Carter slept through the whole lunch date, but it was his first visit to a restaurant and his mom and dad enjoyed it.

When Carter was a week old the weather was beautiful and Addy had been itching to go out and about so we took the kids to the park for a fun picnic.  After eating and the playground we decided that since Carter was still sleeping we decided to take a quick trip through the zoo.  Addy loved walking through to see the animals and has been asking to go back everyday since we went there.  It is no secret that we don't stay home very often and love to go out and about.  Having to stay home more is one of the biggest changes that Adalyn has had to adjust to.  She is so used to us being on the go that she asks to go somewhere  multiple times each day. 

This past week was Derek's first week back to work. On Monday five of my friends from my second grade team came up for a visit. They brought us lunch and my good friend Kristi brought her daughter Charli to play with Addy. Addy and Charli went to Patty's together and have become best friends. Adalyn says that she misses Charli quite often and was so excited for her to come to her house to play. It was so nice of them to come up to visit and we loved having them. Seeing them made me think about how much I'm going to miss seeing them everyday when the school year begins. We are planning a trip to IKEA later in the summer. We have gone together in years past and it ALWAYS proves to be a great time. I am really looking forward to another fun-filled, crazy trip!

The rest of the week went pretty smoothly.  On Thursday I decided to tempt fate and take the two kids out and about all by myself.  We headed to Bloomington to look for a few clothing items for our picture appointment on Friday.  We made stops at several stores, ate lunch with Derek, and cruised the mall in our new sit-n-stand stroller. Other than having difficulty maneuvering the huge boat of a stroller through clothing racks and running into several obstacles, our trip was a success.  However, I did find out that taking two kids out on my own is much more taxing and requires more strategy than I expected!  I was exhausted from the morning activities!  On Thursday afternoon we made potty training progress when Addy went tinkle on her princess potty.  It was a breakthrough as Addy hasn't been to enthusiastic about going on the potty.  In fact, she has been just plain stubborn about the entire process.  We celebrated her feat with a sucker and by adding a sticker to her potty crown.  Hopefully this will start to be a more regular occurrence!

On Friday morning we took the kids to get pictures taken.  We took Adalyn for pictures when she was two weeks old and wanted to do the same with Carter.  I also wanted to take a family picture and several pictures of the kids together. All in all the picture session was successful.  I wasn't sure how Addy would act because she has been notoriously difficult for pictures.  She did much better than I expected.  Of course it took bribes of fruit snacks to get her to listen to the photographers, but in the end we got some good pictures!

After pictures Derek's work was having a picnic for the employees and their families at a park in town.  Derek was planning to take Addy and since Carter and I were already in town we decided to go for a while.  Carter slept in his stroller/car seat the entire time, but got lots of compliments from Derek's coworkers.  Addy was all over the place and had a blast playing in the bounce house with the other kids. They also had a face painter who volunteered to paint Addy's face.  Much to our surprise Addy agreed and Derek came home with a sleeping kitty in his car.  It was a fun time and a great way for Adalyn to run off some of the energy she accumulated throughout the week. 

Overall, our first few weeks at home have been successful and enjoyable.  Although we are still learning about and adjusting to being a family of four, we are loving every minute we spend together.