Christmas in Texas (lots of pictures!)

A few days after Sam finished his last final, we decided to drive down to Texas so we could be with family for the holidays. We hadn't originally planned to go down, mainly because we weren't sure how everything would go with the new baby and how I would be feeling. I still wasn't quite at 100% but I felt strong enough and things with baby had been going well enough that I felt like I could make the drive. We stopped about every 3 hrs or so to feed him and tried to keep our stops as short as possible. Finally, on the Friday before Christmas, we made it to Jeff and Michelle's house in Pearland and the fun began! And I will admit, it was very nice to have family helping out with Ivy and providing fun distractions while being at home and nursing all the time, haha.. 

We stayed there until Christmas, when some of Jeff's family came down with the flu! Sam and I were very grateful that we had gotten flu shots just a couple weeks before and didn't end up catching anything. But with a newborn baby, we didn't want to take any chances so we moved our stuff down to Mom Robinson's house (just down the street) and spent the rest of our trip at her house.  Ivy and Marshall actually ended up getting some sort of little virus/cold anyways but it wasn't the flu and both were feeling better just after a few days, thank goodness...

Just relaxing around the house:

Dad and Trish stopped by for a visit one night before heading out to Durango:

 

Christmas Eve.. This was the best we could get of both of them by the tree with a wiggly toddler and a tired newborn, haha:

Christmas morning!

 

 

 

Later that day we drove up to Kelli's house for dinner with my family. I didn't get any pics with my camera but got a few good ones from my sis Kristin:

Announcement and Ivy

Hope everyone had a great holiday season! More updates coming soon, just wanted to post our Christmas card for this year...

Took these pics of Ivy the Sunday before Marshall was born. Just wanted to get some cute ones of her in her pretty Christmas dress. Love my sweet girl. 

Library Day with Santa and Goodbye to Mema

Back in December, just a couple weeks after Marshall was born, our local library had their annual "Breakfast with Santa" day for the kids. Ivy had been needing some one on on mommy time so I decided to pump a bottle and leave baby home with Mema (Sam was studying for finals) and take my girl. It was so much fun! We are so lucky to have amazing librarians who really care for the kids in this area. Miss Cindy read some stories while the kids ate their breakfast, then they had a few coloring/sticker activities, and afterwards, they had a little area that the kids could go talk to Santa. Ivy wasn't quite sure about sitting on his lap, but she was excited to get the bag of goodies that his penguin helpers were giving out. Hehe. Then a few days later, we received a letter in the mail from Santa, himself! (the library sent them out) Thought it was super cute.

Just a few days later, we said goodbye to Mema and drove her down to the Knoxville airport. We are forever grateful for everything she did for us while she was here!! It really was soo helpful to have her help, especially during those last few days when Sam was studying his heart out for finals. We were sad to see her go but decided that since all had been going well with Baby and my healing, we would drive down to Houston later that week to celebrate Christmas in Texas! 

Life at home

 

We got home from the hospital on Thursday afternoon (Dec. 5th) and welcomed my sisters who came into town for baby boy's arrival. It really was so fun having them here and although I was a little loopy at times, and hormonal at other times, I really appreciated the company. I think it made those first few painful days much easier. Ivy was a bit overwhelmed for the first day or so, just with so many changes happening and the fact that I couldn't help her as much as she was used to, but she seemed to adjust fairly quickly. 

Marshall is as sweet, cuddly, and laid back as a baby could be and he is a great nurser, so far. He still sleeps pretty much all the time and cries hardly at all. I'm really thinking (hoping) that this is just his personality. I don't even have to really rock him to sleep when he's tired. After eating and a few minutes of wake time, he fusses a little so I wrap him up and he just drifts off. Still figuring out the nights but I know that will take a little time. And he at least gives me one 4-5 hour stretch every night(sometimes two). 

A big thank you to my dear sisters, Kristin and Kelli, for making the trip out here to visit us! Even though it was just for a few days, I loooved having them here (and yes, we missed you Kari!). Also, an even bigger thank you to my mom who has helped out a TON since she's been here. It has made the adjustment to normal life much easier with her help, especially with Ivy, and ESPECIALLY while Sam has been away studying this past week for his finals. Only one more test and we get daddy all to ourselves for three whole weeks! Can't wait! 

Ivy loved having her Aunts in town. Especially Aunt Kelli who would play "popcorn" for her whenever she wanted, hehe: 

 

 

Eyes open! 

So far, Ivy hasn't show very much attention to Marshall unless I say something specific about him. But I'd rather no attention compared to negative attention so we are on the right track! haha... I hope there will be many more moments like this in the future, though:

And in other news, the day we came home from the hospital, Sam had his championship intramural flag football game and they won! Undefeated through the whole season! Woo! Way to go Monstars. Ya'll rock! These boys crack me up: