February is Over

& that means my baby boy is 14 months old.
My happy boy is usually all smiles.
He still loves food but now he's just picky about what he wants.
He can now climb off the couch without falling on his head.
Can still only say mama, dada, wawa, & what we believe to be "Word World".
He can sign more & all done.
He has 8 teeth. His 9th (one year molar) is coming in now.
He enjoys playing outside.
He noticed Jimmy & keeps trying to touch him which I didn't expect.
He melts our hearts with his open mouthed excitement.
He can pout with the best of them.
He's getting bigger everyday but he's still my baby boy.

3 Days Old & Already Dating

Today you got to meet & have photos taken with your 1st girlfriend. Could just be the wishful thinking of two mamas who gave birth 1 week apart but we can hope, right? At 1st sight we just got a lot of tears from Miss Lorelei, but you two soon settled in to laying together & Lorelei even got fresh with our guy. After torturing you both with photos, I was lucky enough to get a photo with my new little one. And don't think I forgot Johnnie. Today you turned 29 months old. Only one month until you are 2 1/2 years old. I wasn't home to get a picture of you but I will get one tomorrow. Instead I want to share this photo taken of us the last night before I came to the hospital to deliver your brother. I kept trying to explain to you that I was leaving for a few days to have your baby brother & you just kept holding your pacifier up to my stomach & saying "I share MY with baby." You know what you like & you are very good at expressing your opinions. Daddy says you sure miss your mama. Every morning you wake up asking for me & every evening you come in the house looking for me. The whole time I have been in the hospital you have been really sad laying around in the evening watcing your tv show until it's bed time. Well don't be sad big guy. I will be home tomorrow & I can't wait to give you the world's biggest hug & my camera is in Johnnie withdrawal so I hope you are prepared. I love you!

More Photos from Yesterday

Jimmy is doing well. The pediatrician came by this morning & said that everything looked great. I was able to get up this morning & my pain level is not awful as long as I move slowly. Jimmy's 1st night was okay. My sister Kimberly stayed with me because they leave the baby in your room 24 hours a day now. Rick went home to take care of the boys for the night so poor auntie stayed here to help me pick up the baby all night which was often. After each feeding he would stay up for a little while but as soon as you put him down to sleep he would either start crying or fall asleep for short periods of time. No more than 20 minutes straight all night. So I'm a little tired but hoping that his days & nights will switch soon. So I wanted to share some more photos from yesterday. These aren't great because they were taken while I was laying in bed. Here's daddy with his new baby boy! Meeting Grandpa, Auntie Kimberly & Auntie Kayci.

And Without Further Adieu

Our path to our baby boy. We left our home at 6:45am anxious & excited to head to the hospital. We arrived on the 3rd floor, Labor & Delivery at 7:20 am ready to get started. By 9 am (my scheduled surgery time) everything was done & we were just waiting on the doctor to arrive. I was finally taken in to the delivery room at 9:25am, given my spinal block & being operated on by 9:35am. After a lot of tugging & some pressure we heard that beautiful high pitched cry. James Patrick Bolander was born at 9:50am. We had originally decided that his middle name was going to be Thomas. Then while laying in the room to be operated on Rick asked me what I thought of the name Patrick. It's his stepbrother's name & he had a dream last night that we used that name. I liked the name so I said we should wait to meet him. In the delivery room I overheard the surgeons say "If it's Patrick it must be Monday". Turns out they were talking about the anesthesiologist but I saw it as a sign & that's how we officially made our decision.

He weighed 8 lb 2 oz & was 19 1/2" long. A full head of black hair, long fingers & toes & once he opens his eyes for a longer period of time I will be able to share the color of his eyes. He is such a sweet baby. So far he barely cries & has spent most of the day sleeping. I'm not getting my hopes up that he will continue to be this mellow but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

My Precious Boys

You are asleep right now. When you wake up tomorrow morning daddy & I won't be here but instead Auntie Kayci will be with you. We will be checking in to the hospital to have our new littlest love. The next time you see us we will be a family of 5. You boys will officially outnumber us.

Johnnie you are going to be a big brother again but I imagine it will be different this time. When we brought Joey home you didn't understand that he was staying. You pointed out all his body parts to us & kept trying to feed him your bottles but you were so young then. Now you are a year older & I think you will completely understand that this new baby boy is here to stay. To steal your toys, to follow you around & to accept all the love I think you plan to offer him including all your hugs & kisses.

Joey you are becoming a big brother which seems so strange since you are still such a baby yourself. You have never known what it was like to have the house all to yourself & I don't think you will ever remember a time without a big & a little brother. As young as you are you still have so much you can teach your little brother. You are a very happy little guy. Always smiling, playing, giggling & giving open mouth kisses.

I can't wait to meet your baby brother, to hold him for that 1st time & to see him with the two of you. It melts my heart to know that in less than a week our house will be full of that new baby smell, that little (LOUD) cry, new experiences & most importantly another brother for you guys. I'm so excited for the two of you to meet him & to begin the rest of your lives of fun together. You boys bring so much happiness to my life & make waking up each day that much better. I love our life together & can't imagine how much happier I could be. But I'm very excited to find out. I love you both dearly & thank you in advance for your patience for those hours in the 1st few weeks that I will have to dedicate to your little brother. Sleep tight my babies. Mama loves you! Here are some of our last photos together with your little brother still in my belly. You both have been sick this week so your daddy & I have spent a lot of hours awake with you in the middle of the night. It was hard to get photos with both of you because Johnnie was so under the weather today but I'm really happy that I was able to get photos of each of you.

Last Minute Catch Up

In two days I will be checking in to the hospital to have a baby so I decided to post some of the photos from this past week before my life becomes too hectic.

Monday was a holiday so of course the boys got to sleep in. Joey actually slept until 7:30am & when we went in to check on him around 7 this is what he looked like. Such a sound sleeper. The complete opposite of Johnnie & myself. It was raining that morning & there was a pretty rainbow outside our bedroom window. Doesn't it look so nice set against those power lines? Joey was under the weather last weekend & he is now back to his normal happy self. Smiling again & playing with his toys. And Johnnie was his normal self. Not smiling for the camera & playing with stuff that he shouldn't be playing with (daddy's checkbook). Hope you are all having a wonderful Saturday.

10 on Tuesday

1. My kitty cat Batty is crazy. He was running around like mad upstairs tearing apart a bag. Then I heard him coming downstairs carrying the bag, but then I noticed that he had torn a hole in the bag & was stuck in that hole. 2. Sometimes our evenings stray from our typical schedule. On this particular evening we came home & both boys were so tired that we took them upstairs to get ready for bed right away. Johnnie got a bottle while Joey tried with little success to stay awake.

3. 4. 5. 6. Johnnie loves my computer. He likes to climb up to my desk & act like he's typing. Sometimes he will settle for coloring at my desk but more often than not he wants to type.

7. 8. On Saturday for the first time ever which seems weird now that I write it Johnnie & I went for a walk without a stroller. I don't get to take him for walks everyday so on the weekends we usually go for longer walks & therefore use the stroller. Well nowadays Joey naps for a few hours in the morning so I take the opportunity to spend alone time with Johnnie. We walked to a nearby park to play & spent a lot of time trying to teach Johnnie to walk instead of run. About a block from home I figured out why we use the stroller. He wanted me to carry him home which was not easy in my state, but we had a great time.

9. Yesterday afternoon during our holiday off Rick & Johnnie spent some time relaxing on the couch. Rick was trying hard not to fall asleep but failing. 10. And meet Lorelei Love Laughrey. She was born early yesterday morning & she's just adorable. She is now anxiously waiting to meet one of her future boyfriends in a week.

Guess Who Finally Went

POTTY! I couldn't believe it. This morning I was changing Johnnie's diaper at 8:10am. When I took it off of him he jumped up & said I go potty. Well he does this a lot now. He climbs upstairs by himself, sits on his trainer potty, does nothing & then stands up & flushes the toilet. So today after hearing the toilet flush I went upstairs to put a diaper on him. To my amazement there was actually pee in the potty & Johnnie standing there saying "I peed in the potty." I offered him a treat for doing it as encouragement but he said no thank you & went back downstairs. It may not happen for awhile again but I hope it does. Here is a picture of him a couple months ago when I first tried to introduce him to using the actual toilet.

Some of the Reasons I Love Today

Valentine's Day is my favorite day of the year. I love everything about it. The fact that it is all about LOVE...what's not to love? Everything is pink & red including our front door welcome mat & my dish towels, to name a few things. My boys make me beautiful arts & crafts, including nice drawings, painted hand prints, & cute letters. (Technically they're for both Rick & me, but tomAto, tomato) And this year we discovered that Johnnie must just not like chocolate because when I made him pink vanilla cupcakes he ate the whole thing all while wearing his cute Be Mine hat he made in school. Then of course there is the love of my life, my beautiful husband. No matter how busy he is, he always makes time to celebrate this day for me. This afternoon a bouquet of flowers arrived & they were beautiful. I was smelling them & then caught Joey smelling them too.

Tonight we went to Kincaid's Steak & Seafood house to celebrate not only Valentine's day but also our last dinner out for a little while since baby J is making his debut in 9 days. I hope all of you had a wonderful day full of smiles & love.

Valentine Treats

My boys are celebrating Valentine's day at the daycare center today. To help them participate in the festivities Joey is giving Spongebob Squarepants lollipops away. Johnnie is bringing cupcakes in to share. He specifically told me that he wanted to bring PINK cupcakes so here are the fruits of his mama's labor. And just to make sure they were edible my sisters & I tasted them last night. And I promise you they are.

10 on Tuesday

1. 2 more weeks until my baby boy arrives. My OB appointment went well today. For the 1st time ever I showed up 15 minutes early & was walking out of the office within 20 minutes. Unheard of. All of my other appointments for all 3 pregnancies have ranged from 35 minutes- 2 hours. Happy Day. Strong heart beat of 133 beats per minute. Head down. And kicking nonstop.

2. I don't really have a lot going on outside of getting ready for the baby's arrival. Finished hanging up all of his clean clothes today & folding all of his blankets. I can't get over how much clothes you accumulate when you have 3 babies of the same sex over time.

3. I bought Johnnie a new potty for his bathroom. It's white & sits on the floor. When he saw it, he kicked it & told me "No like it potty. I like diapers. Give to Jojo." Okay, so maybe he's not ready yet. I was just hoping to get him moving in that direction so I could just be changing 2 babies in diapers. Doesn't he look like a big boy who would be ready?4. The next night he was willing to sit on the potty with his diaper on. And with no pressure from us he wants to sit on it all the time without his diaper but doesn't seem to have an interest in actually using it. All in good time, right?

5. Lately bath time is ending later & later because the boys are enjoying playing together. This means that Joey is exhausted when he gets out. He will usually lay down on the towel on the bathroom floor or just put his head on my shoulder when he's done. 6. But as usual he usually perks up when the camera is around. 7. Johnnie has started imitating things he sees in movies. His favorite these days is "The Curse of the Were Rabbit". There is this scene where the rabbit stomps his feet & Johnnie always jumps up off the couch to follow along.8. And after the stomping the rabbit picks up a tree & throws it & of course Johnnie does too.9. It gets harder & harder everyday to get photos of Joey. As soon as he sees the camera he comes running toward it.10. And just like a lot of babies, Joey loves his lovey. His stuffed froggie blanket that he chews on until he falls asleep.