Aside from the completely obvious difference of Adam being the first boy, watching him grow has almost been a renaissance of parenthood for me.

Not sure why exactly…maybe the sense that these opportunities to relish and love on our little ones really are numbered…

and the reality of…the fleeting moments of our little babes lives…

…it is no secret that I absolutely adore my children.  I think watching ella reach milestones was a little heartbreaking for me.  She was the first…and I often felt a sadness in watching her grow so fast…I just loved being a mother and it seemed unfair that all the beautiful moments of a baby pass so quickly.  But I loved becoming a mom…It was complete.  For the first time in my life, I was secure in my own skin.  I knew that what I was doing was exactly what was right for me.  I loved it.   It was all I wanted to do all day…just sit and watch her…hold her…and enjoy her being a babe.

14 months later…Ava came…yup, kinda quickly…and I learned with her that your heart has a miraculous ability to stretch to the infinity.  That with each new person you are so lucky to have in your life…your heart just gets bigger. I learn this best from my Mom’s dad, Grandpa Joe.  He is so wise and loves all those in his family.  So thankful to glean from him (and grandma), that it is not about sharing your heart with your children, because the love does not have to be rationed and spread out, but rather it just miraculously multiplies.

and there is always a surplus around here .

By the time Mia came, we were all pros at it all.  I swore after having Ella, I thought if I had more than one baby I would never grocery shop again…heaven forbid ever stepping foot in Target with all in tow.  Well…just as our hearts grow…so does our ability to multitask and achieve the impossible…like shopping at target, while holding a baby, picking up popcorn as it sprinkles out of your cart, managing mini-tantrums down every candy or toy aisle, and putting back all the items that magically appear in your cart when you are not looking…well, you get the picture.  We just survive as moms…and get pretty good at it!  Heck, I even enjoy the weekly target run!  It all seems to mold into the daily routine and you just take it as part of being a parent.

I feel like I have gotten pretty good at the routine, but there is something about having this wise little soul in our home that takes me back to the feelings I had when I watched the first babe.  It is so exciting and fresh in so many ways…

and I love watching all his new tricks…

like this one… (oh baby boy…you are one dangerous little soul )

this last week, Adam and I stayed home to hang out and relax while Daddy and the girls headed to a local water park.   We went out for a jog, put away laundry, cleaned up the house, and shared some enchiladas…

and while I was cleaning up…

Adam was up to his latest trick…

(this kid loves to push the chairs out, climb up on them, and then do a little dance on the table.  He totally giggles…he thinks he is so smart)!

he usually gives up after about the 15th time I get him back down again and again…

Adam, you are just such a happy little soul.  Having you in our lives and home is such a gift! We love you!

now keep your feet on the ground crazy boy!

xoxo

momma…

this little guy is busy…happy…go…lucky…the. sweetest. baby. boy. on. the. planet….busy babe…

he loves the explore the home…he is always finding things to crawl through…he esp. loves tight little places…future spelunker i am thinking…

he also loves crawling UP things…

like the stairs…

with a giggle…when the gate is down…because he knows he is not supposed to head up them by himself…

oh, hey…look, it is Mom…she can’t get me…na na na na na na…

back down on the ground, his next favorite thing is walking around like a short…short…short little old man…

he started taking little steps at like 8.5 months…

naughty…naughty…baby

he has this whole frankenstein gait to him…I love it…i hope i never forget the way it looked…

i’m outta here…

Hope your weekend is great!

Next up on the blog…a date with my Mia grace with the pretty face…AND Baby Kate turns 2…yipee…

xoxo

Tonya

my little guy started a new trick just shy of his 8 month birthday…

(future surfer???)

balance…balance…

very proud of himself…

wait…lost focus…losing balance…

and gets it back and sports a perfect “standing up in the middle of the room at 8 months old i am robbing my momma of the baby” stance

can’t even begin to put into words how much we all cherish having this little guy in our home…

hope your week is going well…

xoxo

Tonya

he is just about the happiest babe on the planet…giggles..coos…rolls from his tummy to his back…loves his daddy (who has been hanging out with him early mornings so mommy can work out…the best gift ever from daddy) …he has discovered his hands, is showing interest in food…seriously…he was trying to stick his hand in my oatmeal this morning…sleeps like a champ…flirts is up with everyone like it’s nobody’s business…

which is why when I saw this shirt when out shopping with Ella the other day…

I could not help myself…

**(you have been asking…this is a Baby Gap shirt)**

so stinkin’ cute!

(he’s looking a little guilty here…what…who..me?  Trouble already)

such a little daddy clone…

such a happy little soul…

he has sure stolen my heart…

(up to no good again in this pic…or getting ready to throw a fast ball …)

Love you son…

and don’t say I didn’t warn ya…lock ‘em up and throw away the key…we have got a little lover on our hands…

xoxo

Tonya

adam is 2 weeks old…*deep sigh*…

gonna be redecorating the blog in a bit…needing something fresh…so until then…simple watermarking…

photo faqs…(does this info help anyone???) (same info as last post as far as set up…shot 50 mm at 1.2, shutter 1/800, iso 400. (when shooting sleeping babes…Focal point on lips or nose…lips here…otherwise always on closest pupil) post processing: levels, channel mixer to desired black and white treatment, ying/yang, pro-retouch, and kubota magic sharp)

more to come of my little photoshoot…plus some really cute goodies that found themselves on my doorstep…:)

Boy…oh, boy…was I wrong…I am so taken by this little guy.  I seriously would sit and hold and love on him all day if there were no such thing as laundry, dishes, and 3 other beauties to share my attention…

Gena came last weekend.  We stole away a little time for Adam’s first photo session.  He was 7 days old in these.  I loved getting a chance to photograph him. 

(Gena also treated me to a couple pics of me and my boy.  I can’t say how much I love them.)

Thank you, Gena.  You really captured my heart in these… 

have I made it clear that I am smitten?

thankful for this beautiful little boy in our home…

such a little joy

he looks so much like his daddy in this one…

(love you Adam…)

Hop on over to Gena’s blog to see her beautiful images of Adam from our mini-session.

She will be taking a limited amount of sessions in southern Ca over the next few months at an amazing introductory rate…book her now!  email her for more details from her blog.  She is an incredible photographer…sister…and friend!

As the elevator doors closed…

…the last image I saw was a young mother being wheeled to her room on the Mother Baby Unit…a proud daddy walked with her with his eyes on his newborn and a mother glowing through the obvious exhaustion of the long night behind her…as they passed, the doors closed to the halls echoing with the lullabye that plays through the hospital as each new Mother brings her baby onto the unit.

The elevator doors open…

…I look up after my eyes steal another gaze at my newborn babe as I am being wheeled out to finally go home.  I find a woman in tears…distraught…heartbroken…she looks down at me and at the new life that I hold in my arms…I smile and she holds her face looking back at the hospital employee asking where she can find the ICU. I bit my lip as I fought back tears. The blessing of this babe in my arms, although already understood, was magnified by the symbolism of the miracle of this life.

 One life entering…the joy…replaced by another life exiting…the pain.

The balance of joy and pain and the reality of the blessing of being a mother struck me so strongly that morning.  I carried my new baby out into the world with such appreciation.

I am one of those people who look forward to the actual labor and delivery of my baby with such anticipation. The way a child anticipates a birthday party, a girl waiting for her first kiss, a family looks forward to a long much needed vacation, a love waits for letter from a romance carried on from a distance… Somehow the months of waiting, weeks of nausea, weight gain, puffy ankles, strange pregnancy symptoms and paranoia (that is for you Jase), and the work of being an expectant Mom with 3 little ones all dissolves as a faded memory as I find myself in that Labor and Delivery room.

The Day was April 18th. I arrived early…5 a.m. (maybe slept 2 hours…poor girl…I look so tired) for my elected induction 2 days prior to my due date. 

 I can still hear his fetal heart tones on the monitor.  I can hear the quiet of the game as Jason watched his favorite Dodgers while I waited for the nurse to tell me that my labor was bringing this baby down. He was in the “sunny side up” position and I had a great fear he would not descend and I would end up in the O.R. with a C-section. Worry took over my excitement when after a few hours of pitocin, he was still not descending. I let go a few tears and Jason comforted me at my bedside with a prayer and a back rub. I worried for about an hour, and when the nurse came back to the room, she found Jason and I giggling and laughing over completely random things.  We made fun of me mostly and how my nursing knowledge had made me the most paranoid and annoying pregnant woman with all my mystery diagnosis suspicions. My Nurse stood there amazed at how my worry had turned to constant giggling and told Jason, “Geez, you wanna get this girl drunk…let her have a baby.”  I just giggled and giggled. I told her I thought she should check me again even though it had been less than an hour that I was only 5 cm and he was still not descended much since my admission at 5 a.m. that morning.  I could not believe it when she told me I was ready to push. All of a sudden, he was almost here. 

After 4 minutes, I met him for the first time.  How did I ever live a moment without him in my life?  It was 5:50 p.m.  He was pink, calm, and perfect. 

Adam John…our first son…He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz and was 21 inches long.

I held him skin to skin for almost an hour and the world slipped away.

 All that existed was my little family.

A few hours later, my room was full of some of our dearest loved ones. Ava graced the room in her personal style with her pink sunglasses on and Ella practically ran to my bedside to see her brother. Mia cuddled with Grandma unsure of the strange room and bed I was sitting in.  

They adored their little brother (well, Mia waited to get excited about him when we brought him home and away from the scary hospital) and I loved their visits. 

The best moment was bringing him home and being back with the girls.  I had been waiting so long to bring my boy home…

ella was a pro at holding him right away and sings such sweet little songs when he is in her arms…

ava is so attentive to him and will be running around the room in play and stop herself to come and ask…”how is adam doing?”  She is so tender and loving…

Mia loves to kiss him and I am not over-estimating that the kid gets 100 kisses a day from her…

She says his name so cute (Ad-num) and it melts my heart…

 They love him so…I sense nothing but joy from them for this miracle of a baby in our home.

 I am so thankful for my Mom and her spending this last week taking care of my girls when I was in the hospital and being here for me while I transition to 4.

My girls love her so…

In all honesty, I do miss feeling his little kicks and hiccups and looking down on my big old belly…but am so thankful that he is here in our home.  He sleeps in my arms now…small smiles treat me every few times I stop and look down to memorize his face a little better with each glance.  I love the way he makes me love each of my little girls even more and how my heart has grown to love him so.  I love way my girls hold him and talk to him and help me take care of him.  I love the way Mia giggles when she comes to see him and how Ella and Ava dote over him like little mommas. 
 

I love to see Jason holding his boy in his arms. 

There is something about a Father holding a Son that is hard to put into words.  

 I am savoring these days..I know it passes way too fast and I can’t get over that he is a week old already. 

Life carries on and I am so thankful for the images and memories of my little ones that I adore and will always consider the greatest keepsakes of my life…

xoxo
Tonya

loving his Happy Gilmore look he has going on here…

His sisters are loving every ounce of him and are showering him with love and kisses…

I am drinking up every second with this newborn…the time passes so fast…I am so thankful for all your beautiful comments on his last post…each and every one will make it into his baby blog book

Thank you so much for letting me share…

(p.s. I am still working on a birth/hosptial post with all the details…)

for now…enjoying having grandma here to help slow down the pace a bit so we can all relish in this precious time…

xoxo

Tonya

xoxo

Tonya