Pajamas by Grandma

Grandma Linda made Kyrie & Felicity, and Lariska & Sara matching pajama sets. The girls are so excited (and so are their dolls)! Thank you, Grandma.

One Month Old

Declan at two days old.

Declan at one month old - my how he has grown!

Declan William turned one month old at 5:22pm today. Sigh. He has gotten so big. I am estimating his weight to be somewhere close to 10 lbs. (probably over) and his length to be over 22 inches (since he was 21-3/4 at 2.5 weeks). He has lately broken out in baby acne all over his sweet little face, so he isn't so adorable right now, but he will always be loveable to me. His big achievements are:

• Sleeping over 6-hours straight most nights


• Pushing up on arms during tummy time


• Reaching for things (especially my hair)


• Smiling!!! Though he isn't awake very often for us to see his beautiful gums, he has a gorgeous smile.

We are obviously very proud of our Decker and can't believe how fast time is going by.

Declan's Firsts

First day of life: May 25th, 2009

First time in the carseat: May 27th, 2009
First graduation "ceremony": May 27th, 2009 - Kyrie graduates from preschool
First night in his crib: May 29th, 2009
First movie: May 30th, 2009 - "Up"
First church service: May 31st, 2009 - Family Worship
First trip to Gma and Gpa's house: May 31st, 2009

First photo session: June 1st, 2009
First trip to Nana and Pop-Pop's house: June 4th, 2009
First time meeting Great-Gma Starr - June 5th, 2009

First time alone at home with Mommy and Daddy: June 5th-7th (girls went to Lodge for weekend)
First time sleeps eight hours straight: June 6th, 2009
First Sunday dinner at Berrall House: June 7th, 2009
First playdate at McDowell house: June 11th, 2009
First time seeing Dr. Grunske: June 12th, 2009
First baptism ceremony: June 13th, 2009 - Elizabeth Cassidy Berrall
First Size 1 diaper (as opposed to newborn): June 18th, 2009
First Harry Potter Party: June 19th, 2009


First half-smile: June 19th, 2009 - given to Kyrie
First time meeting Great-Gma Kons (and first graduation party - Jessica Kons): June 20th, 2009


First Father's Day (and Grandfather's Day): June 21st, 2009


And Great-Grandfather's Day:


First all-on open-mouthed gorgeously beautiful smile: June 23rd, 2009 - given to Nana (but, Mommy got one next!) Photo to be taken hopefully soon!

Keep Forgetting

In my sleep-deprived stupor I keep forgetting to share the link to some of the photos that were taken of Declan during his newborn session. You can check them out at the Proud To Introduce Blog (scroll down a bit - there are four photos of Declan right after the baby in the yellow hat and ending with our cutie in Matt's hands that we used on our baby announcement).

Aren't they gorgeous?!?!?! I just love Allie, the photographer who owns Proud To Introduce - she is so much fun to talk to and she was amazing with how she kept Declan asleep throughout all of the jostling and changing positions. It was a really great experience and I highly recommend her (if you are going to have a baby next year, since she is not accepting new clients this year).

Overzealous...

...is a word I use a lot these days. As in, "Kyrie and Lariska, back off a bit, you're being too overzealous!" See photo below:

Of course, they also are pretty cute with their little brother. Kyrie can be seen kissing him basically every waking moment (of his) and saying things like, "You're such a little booty baby" (whatever that means). She also has nicknamed him "Turtle". Lariska insists on continuing to call him "Baby Genghis".


Here is Declan sitting contentedly in the chair without the sisters (doesn't he look SO big???):

Of course, unknown to him is that he is never really without them!

Thank Yous

Truly, truly, truly I tell you that we are not ungrateful people. We are entirely thankful for all of the many gifts, meals, outfits, and cards that you have all sent our way. And, I am working hard on getting Thank You notes out to each and every one of you. I am so sorry it is taking me so long, but I hope you will understand that life is a little more than chaotic right now. I think we are dealing with the transition well, but honestly, I have to admit that when I have two seconds to myself writing thank you notes is not the first thing that comes to my mind...and so...they are getting finished...but at a very slow pace.

In the meantime, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Good Night, Good Day

Okay...admittedly, the night did not start out good. In fact, it started out horrible. Declan turned three weeks old yesterday and was up until 11:30pm driving me a wee bit insane. I would nurse him, he'd fall asleep only to wake up minutes later and want nothing but to nurse again. In four hours, I nursed him four times. By 11pm, he had reduced me to tears due to being stuck in a chair in one room for basically four hours straight. My back hurt, my head hurt...lots of me was in pain. But, that all changed when he stayed asleep after the fourth nursing and did not wake up again until...7:30am!!!! That's eight hours straight! Okay, I didn't get eight hours straight - I woke up at least twice wondering where my baby was and then Kyrie got up at 7am - but, come on! That's a lot of sleep! We are just hoping we can replicate this again tonight!

And today, oh today, my daughters did the most stupendous thing. They randomly decided completely on their own (or rather, Kyrie decided) to clean not only the sun room, but the playroom, and their bedrooms! Can you believe that?!?! I tried to join them in the sunroom this morning, but they sent me away saying that they had a surprise for me. When they invited me back, everything was off the floor...so okay, it was piled high on the couch and table, but they tried so hard. I explained to them that I loved what they did, but that to really clean the room the toys actually had to be put away. Shocker of all shockers - Kyrie sent me away again! They actually went forward and put all the toys away!!! Then, they moved on to the playroom, and then their bedrooms! It was so cool. I told Kyrie I was going to tell everyone I knew what a wonderful thing she did, so hear ye hear ye everyone I know: Kyrie and Lariska are the bestest daughters in the world and made me completely happy today!

Zippity do da, zippity-A. My oh my, what a wonderful day!

2-Week Appt

Tummy Time

Do you think these two are related?

Declan had his 2-week Dr. appt. today (even though he is really 2.5 weeks now). Can you believe he weighs 9 lbs. 1 oz.?!?! Dr. Grunske told us that usually they like to see babies back to their birth weight at the 2-week appt. Ha! I guess we nailed that one (his birth weight was 7 lbs. 13 oz.). I looked back at Kyrie and Lariska's records and they were both well over their birth weight at 2 weeks, so I guess we have a history of growing our babies quickly. He is also now 21-3/4 inches, which puts him in the 90th percentile! His weight is in the 75th percentile. Crazy! And, I thought he was such a little peanut.

Dr. Grunske said he was absolutely perfect (we concur) and that she didn't need to see him at one-month since he is doing so great. So...we will have to wait for the 2-month check to find out his stats again. Way to go Declan!

Declan is also doing pretty good at sleeping at night. Usually he goes one five-hour stretch followed by a 3-hour stretch. We would really love that if our three-year old Guber wasn't waking us up about four times a night. It sounds like she has growing pains, since she is crying hysterically about her legs hurting and having trouble staying asleep. Dr. Grunske told us this really is a thing that happens with kids between the ages of three and five, so we are going to start taking it more seriously (previously I had thought she was sleeping so hard that her legs "fell asleep" and were buzzing, but it should've gone away a lot faster then and shouldn't necessarily have come back the same night) and so we were getting pretty frustrated with her. Ugh. I just hope she sleeps better tonight because I am exhausted...and so is she. Poor Lari.

Photos from the week

Imagine an ear-piercing scream to accompany the look on this face. Our child is not what you would call quiet.

Megan McDowell (2) holding Declan.

On Thursday, we went to Nana's house to try out her new (to her) bouncy house. The McDowell's, Carrie Kons and sons, Cathy and daughters, J.J. and gang, and the Kons clan were all there. It was lots of fun!

The kids bounced themselves silly.

Jake holding Declan (don't you love the onesie?!)

Kyrie holding her little brother on Thursday at Nana's house.

The cousins enjoying snow cones on the deck stairs at Nana's house. We did not pose them this way! They just all went and sat together.


He's awake!

Grandma Kons and Great Grandma Starr came to visit us on Friday.

Great-Grandma Starr with Declan on Friday
Mommy and Declan snuggling Sunday afternoon

The Beckers visited us on Sunday - they brought us a yummy mostaccioli dinner. It's so nice to have such wonderful friends! Here are Jessi and Brooklyn (2) holding Declan. (Jessi is due with their first son in August!)

Bryan and Declan.

Bryan and Brooklyn with Declan

Theology with Kyrie

I am beginning to think Kyrie is going to be a theologian. She has a ton of questions about God. Obviously, this curiousity may be a result of going to Sunday School, but she asks such interesting questions...I can't imagine they talk about this stuff in Sunday School.

Tonight, it was something like this: "Mommy, how did God get to the earth in order to make the planets without a rocket ship? I think he must have ten thousand hands. Are there 97 11 100 14 people on the earth? I think he must have 89 28 12 13 hands in order to touch them all and take care of all of them."

I told her it sounded good to me!

Changed My Mind

Well, after a fun morning of having baby photos taken of little Declan and his sisters I have changed my mind - he is not a Grouch. Not really. Mostly, he just has the same sad affliction that both our girls had - gas. We are being more proactive about combatting this issue and as a result he is a bit happier. It is true that Declan does not enjoy diaper changes, or maybe it is just being cold he doesn't enjoy. He really dislikes his tummy hurting, and basically if he is awake he is ready to nurse and once he nurses he is asleep. So...he spends most of his time sleeping and crabbing for the milk. But, he is oh so cute.

I can't wait to see the photos that were taken today. Declan was being such a little doll all sleepy and snuggly. I know that some really great photos were taken of him. I can't wait! (Did I say that already?) I can't wait!

What a difference a year makes! Drew just turned a year old on May 9th:

Mark was like the Baby Whisperer as he calmed Declan down:

Carrie holding Declan yesterday