brother run

saturday morning diana and i got up bright and early so that we could be ready to go!  one of the things my brother had planned during his visit up to see us was to participate in the river bank run, a half marathon that is held every year in grand rapids.  my mom, papa, diana, ledger and i headed down to grandville to cheer him on.  he had told us that he would be passing by the park between 9:30 and 10:00am, so we made sure to get there a little bit early and get a good spot.  well, with a baby it was kind of hard to meet the deadline for getting there early.  we ended up making it only about 15 minutes ahead of that 9:30 time.  it worked out fine though and we had a great view of the runners as they came down the stretch.  we stood there for about 10 minutes, scanning the passersby for chad, hoping to see him as he came around the bend.  i guess we had been looking in the wrong spot because all of the sudden he was running five feet in front of us!  he had spotted us from a distance and ran over by us, we unfortunately didnt notice him until he was right in front of our faces!  when we did see him we cheered loudly and encouraged him to keep up his great pace.  mom, so shocked by seeing chad, tried to step out and grab him- sorry mom, he's not going to stop and chat, he's got a race to finish!

a full car

on the road again!  with my brother in town for the weekend, diana and i are heading up to see him in grand rapids.  we are only making a short weekend trip, but are looking forward to seeing chad.  he hasnt been able to meet his new nephew yet, so this will be the first time he gets to see ledger.  friday after i get out of work we gathered up all the stuff for our trip.  let me tell ya, i used to think that diana and i were able to fill up the car with our junk- now the vehicle is completely filled up with all ledger's stuff too!  once everything was in the car, we got ledger ready too.  i guess he wanted to have his foot out of the blanket...

cutie

knowing that diana might be going a little stir crazy at this point, i suggested to her that perhaps we go out and do something!  she was all for it, she always loves to go out and about, especially if it means we get to go out to eat together!  well, i didnt have anything planned, but that was ok by her- she just wanted to leave that house! we wandered around meijer for a while, got a few things, and grabbed a bit to eat together.  its not about what we did so much as it is about the fact that we did it together.  we still had ledger along with us the whole time and it had been interesting to try and discover ourselves in these new rolls of 'mom' and 'dad', while making sure that i am still fulfilling the role of 'husband' and 'friend' to diana.  i'm sure as time goes on it become easier to balance these two aspects, but for now i just enjoy the chance to spend time with my first love and my new love together!

have a seat

this was one of those pictures that just brightened my day!  i was at work when i got this one on my phone- i was smiling the rest of the day!  diana decided to try out the little bumbo seat we had gotten- his first time in it.  its way too early for him to use it much, but right now its perfectly sized to have the back of the seat support his little head!

pillow tum

as our little guy grows, he spends more and more time on his tummy.  this is recommended for him as a way of building his neck muscles.  diana and i love tummy time with ledger, and sometimes we like to mix it up a bit and give him some time in his little pillow as well!  here he is enjoying his time, just looking around, tasting his hand. you know, the usual...
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looking up

i dont understand, this kid just keeps getting cuter and cuter by the day!  i'm trying my best to just enjoy these moments i have with ledger, i know he will be all grown up before i know it, and i want to be sure to remember these amazing moments as he is a new baby and i am a new father.  i've been told that it gets better as he grows up, but for the life of me i cant believe that anything could be better than right now!  if it really does get better than this, then i am going to be all set for the rest of my life!

arms up

though he loves to be swaddled, ledger can not wait to get those arms of his free!  whenever he is given the chance he throws those arms up over his head.  the more i think about it and watch others, i've become convinced that this is not something exclusive to our little baby boy, but rather it is true of all guys!  just look, next time you are at a family gathering, look at the guys after they are done eating or are just sitting around talking with the other guys- there is always one of them with their hands over their head!  in fact, its usually two or more!  i think it might be like yawning, its contagious!  i guess its nice to know that our little ledger is developing just like the rest of the guys, huh?

tum roll please!

ok, this is not normal- our little guy, only 17 days old by this point, rolled himself over!  what?!?  in case you have not had a child and are not familiar with the milestones of a developing baby, you might not know that babies dont roll themselves over until two or three months.  our boy did it in two and a half weeks.  bam!  thats my boy!  i dont have any video proof, but my wife, my mom, and i all witnessed it- it really did happen.  now, granted, it might have just been a fluke random coincidence that his uncoordinated body flailings just happened to work together this one time to allow him to do what appeared to us to be an intentional roll over, but i doubt it.  i saw him roll over, so i am calling it like i see it!
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mema's visit

diana and i were excited to hear that my mom wanted to make the trip down to visit us and spend a little more time with her newest grandson!  she arrived in the afternoon and we all got a chance to spend a little time out and about.  after getting a bite to eat over at the steak house, we stopped by 'once upon a baby' so mom and diana could do a little bit of shopping- always on the look out for clothes that actually fit our tiny but tall little man!  the problem we keep finding is that ledger is almost too small for newborn and even had to look around for some preemie clothing for pants that fit his tiny little waist.  we stopped at kohls and walmart too, but no luck!  oh well, i'm sure he will be growing out of them before he would even have a chance to wear them more than twice anyway.  we got a chance to stop by the second hand clothing store that my school runs- they have a ton of great clothing and furniture!
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grab your ear!

although he's too young to play with toys, he seems to have found something to play with:  ledger's favorite pass time seems to be pulling on his ears!  we kind of figure thats what he did to keep himself busy while he was still in the womb.  so cute!
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heads up

that tummy time seems to be paying off- look at this guy!  he's less than two weeks old and he's already up on his elbows looking around!  i had him over my shoulder burping him, and he decided that he wanted to see whatever there was to see.  this is, by far, my favorite picture i've got of little ledger!  (thats really saying something, considering i've taken about 800 so far...)  each day he continues to surprise and impress us!
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welcome, guests

its always fun to show off our little guy!  recently a few of diana's friends and co-workers from the salon have stopped by to see our little bundle of joy!  its always fun to have people stop by to see us, it gives us a chance to tell the stories again of ledger's birth.  we get to relive our fear and excitement (well, for me it was excitement, but for diana it may have been fear...) about what was to come, and share all the ways that life is different since we became a family of three (three and a half if you count the dog).  diana and i have been home bound for the last couple weeks, so we have really been happy to have the outside world come to us!

glamour shots

one of the really great gifts we got from the many baby showers we had for little ledger was from the girls diana worked with:  they got her a sitting with a professional photographer, beth fletcher, who specializes in newborns!  we scheduled a time with her as soon as we got home from the hospital after ledger was born.  we were very excited to go and get some great pictures of our little man, so that morning we dragged ourselves out of bed and drove the 30 minutes to get to her photography studio.  we were exhausted, so we were very thankful when she told us 'you two go make yourselves comfortable, i will take care of everything from here!'  ahhh, rest!  both diana and i the proceeded to fall asleep on the couch.  it was a lot of fun to watch her work, getting ledger into a bunch of cute positions.  the key to keeping a baby asleep, it would seem, is to keep them warm.  because of this, the photographer cranked up the heat, which made diana really happy!  after a couple hours of cuteness, she provided us with some subs for lunch, and then we got a few more pictures, but this time with diana and i too!  we cant wait to see the results!
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now a dad

as we near the end of ledger's second week, i am getting used to having a baby. i'm sure that there will still be times when i take stock and am continually surprised by the fact that i'm a daddy, but as for the day to day reality, i think its sunk in. when i see him sleeping in my arms i am constantly filled with joy- excited about what God has blessed us with, and eager about what is to come!

tummy time

one of the things that we have been making sure we do with ledger is tummy time!  about 15-20 minutes a day we put ledger down on a blanket or play mat and set him on his tummy.  this has been so awesome!  see, he's not really that great at lifting his head just yet, so this time is meant to give him an opportunity to build his strength and encourage him to be alert and take in his surroundings.  at first when we starting doing it he just seemed mad about the whole thing, he didnt quite get it.  but since then he has been challenging himself each day to lift up his head more and more, even looking around and turning his head from one side to the other.  diana and i lay down on the floor with him and talk to him as he begins to explore the world around him.  he usually lifts his head up for a couple seconds then rests it back down on the ground and whines for a while.  each day though he gets better and better at it, lifting his head for longer each time.  but i'm sure he's thinking thats about enough of this whole working thing, he just wants us to pick him up and hold him some more!
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my sleepy boy

sleep, sleep, and sleep.  that is a list of ledger's daily activities!  oh, and he somehow fits in that packed schedule a couple moments to look around and be awake...
here's a bunch of pictures of our little blessing as he sleeps and even some of those rare times when he doesnt...  1, 2, 3

miranda's photo shoot

diana's best friend miranda loves to take pictures, she's even got a really nice slr camera and everything!  ever since ledger was born she has been itching to stop by and take some photos of him.  when she came by, ledger was quite sleepy, which is the perfect time to take pictures.  she and diana took him to our room and set up some good shots of ledger with mom, ledger asleep, and ledger on his blanket.  all of them turned out quite cool!  some of the great shots she got are right here.

display the facts

saturday night we headed back home.  before we left though, jill asked us to stop by and say goodbye to the kids.  we figured it was on the way, so no problem at all!  when we got there the kids were still up (way past their bedtime, mind you!) so they could get one last look at their new favorite cousin!  well, it turned out that jill didnt just want us to stop by to say goodbye to the kids, she also had a present for us!  we opened it up and there was this fantastic wall hanging that she had made for us: its got all the information about ledger's birth!  how awesome!  we were just thrilled to death about such a thoughtful gift.  thanks again, jill and family, for the great gift!  ledger will treasure it always!  we've already got it hanging in our living room and plan to have it up for the rest of our lives!

aunt guests

our saturday was filled with guests!  mom had invited a few people to stop by and see our little bundle of joy.  we got to show our boy off to aunt joni, aunt carol, aunt marlene, and to my grandma.  it was so much fun to watch all those women just ooh and ahh over him!  i think my grandma said that ledger is her 37th great grandchild.  wow, now thats a big family, huh?
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proud papa

after all the festivities were over, papa finally got his chance to spend some time with his new grandson.  as we sat together in the living room, papa took a turn holding ledger.  papa enjoyed a couple minutes of just holding him and getting a good look at the future of the brink line!

cousins

after we headed back in from the egg hunt, the kids wanted to check out ledger again!  they were so fascinated by him!  the girls just wanted to watch him and touch him.  well, they had spend so much of their life playing with dolls and babies that it must be pretty neat to have a real one around!
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bjorn it up!

this is something i had been looking forward to ever since we knew ledger was coming: carrying him around in the baby bjorn!  i dont know why, but i have been really excited to try this thing out.  since we were out inside in the backyard and the kids were running around and playing, i thought i'd get some bjorn action going.  i popped our boy in it and got to walk around hands free!  granted, there wasnt anything that i needed my hands free for, but thats beside the point...

on the hunt

since it was easter weekend after all, the kids needed to set ledger aside for a while and go have some egg hunting fun!  mema and papa had gone around and hid a couple dozen candy filled eggs in the backyard earlier in the evening, so these kids were all geared up to go out and hunt down those tasty treats!  bubba found the most, but aves did a pretty good showing.  after all of them were found, they sat down and cracked them open to find all the fun treats inside!  this is an easter tradition that the kids just love.  i guess we will be starting to make traditions of our own for ledger too!
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among the brinks

and now its time to travel!  diana and i packed ourselves, our dog, and the ridiculous amount of baby stuff, and ledger into the car and headed to grand rapids.  friday afternoon we rode up so that his other grandparents could spend a little quality time with their new grandson!  when we finally arrived, (which i'm sure was torture for mom to wait for) they were just thrilled to see him!  mom just couldnt seem to get ever just how cute and small he is!  thats ok though, i've seen him every waking hour for the past week and it still amazes me!  mom quickly got to examining him ('oh, look at those little fingers!', 'look at his little biddy nose!', etc.) while diana and i settled in for the short visit.  shortly after we arrived, it was time for ledger to meet his cousins!  tim and jill got there and we were able to introduce ledger to their kids.  all three of them took turns holding him and looking at him.  they were so curious!  i hope you like him kids, cause he's going to love playing with his cousins some day!
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professional help

wow how time flies!  before we even knew it our first week with ledger came to a close.  and along with that, unfortunately, so did our time with diana's mom.  she had planned to stay a week and that week is over, so she needs to head over to grandma's house and help out there.  she was such a help for us these past few days, its going to be weird not having her around!  she is a nurse and spend many years working at teaching on the birth and baby floor in her hospital, so it has been amazing having a true professional living with us for this first hectic and confusing week!  whenever we have had a question she has been able to give us a ton of information and first hand advice.
thanks again for all the help, mom!

swingin'

it took us a little while before we tried out the swing.  it wasnt because we didnt trust it, its just that we never wanted to put him down!  finally though, we figured we would give it a try.  the first time we set him in there he just about got lost- he's so tiny!  he wasnt quite sure what to make of it right away, but there were soft blankets in there, so he got pretty comfy pretty quickly.  we've been putting him in there a little bit each day to get him accustomed to it and less reliant on his mom and dad holding him all the time.  after all, when i go back to work he's going to have to spend more time in it.  as the days go on he is getting more and more comfortable in it and now doesnt put up a fuss at all.

family comes a knockin'

later in the week diana's whole family stops by for a visit!  her mom was still with us full time, but her dad, sister, aunt, and david all came by to visit as well!  we had a fun time showing off our little boy!  its kind of nice to have absolutely no pressure when guests come over:  i dont have to worry about entertaining them, i just have to let them hold the baby!
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ledger's day out

after the doctor's office, diana and i decided to trek out into the real world with ledger for the first time!  we were both starving, so we went to mcdonalds with him for a quick bite to eat.  after that we knew we needed to pick up a few things so we stopped at meijer and got a couple more onesies for him- there was no way we were going to last on what we had!  we both assumed he was going to be a big baby so we didnt stock up on newborn stuff at all!  so, unless we want to be going to the laundry mat every two days, we needed to get more newborn clothes.  the whole afternoon we were out ledger was as quiet as a mouse!  amazing!  i dont think this is typical, so we arent planning on getting used to it just yet...

rub-a-dub

diana has bathed ledger before, but this was my first time!  oh, what a thrill!  i was super excited to give him a bath, but he wasnt quite so eager- that little stinker just hates it soo much!  my mom got us a cool little foldable bathing thing for him and it works so perfect.  we stick him on there and wash him with a little cloth and soapy water.  he doesnt really seem to know what's going on, but he sure does hate that warm water so much!  but then the best part: wrapping him up in a towel and holding him as he dries off.  you know, i could really get used to this baby thing...

doctor visit

while we were still in the hospital we got a visit from our pediatrician.  we had never actually gone to see the pediatrician before, so this was something new for us.  she was very nice and quite excited for us.  she gave us a few pointers for making the transition back to the house, and then was off!  we made an appointment to see her again the first week back home, and now we were off to her office.  its quite nice because she is only about 2 miles from the house- handy!  we got there and checked in and sat in the 'not sick' waiting room.  the place was really cool, the walls were filled with fun dr. seuss paintings!  after a short 10 minute wait, we were called in.  first things first- ledger was taken over to the scale and he was weighed and measured.  he's a little bigger than when we left the hospital, so thats good!  the doctor showed up soon after and we got a chance to really talk to her.  i tell ya, we got pretty lucky, our doctor is amazing!  i dont think i've ever seen a doctor as passionate about her patients as she is!  she did a little bit of poking and prodding and told us that everything looks good, our boy is in good shape.  we made arrangements to see her again in two weeks.  i'm sure by then we will have a ton more questions for her...

change and chill

so far this little guy doesn't seem to mind being changed.  he doesnt put up too much of a fuss when we have to change his diaper, other than it being a bit chilly in his room sometimes. he almost seems to be doing just the opposite:  when its time to go on the changing table, he takes it as an opportunity to stretch out and enjoy the view!  usually we have him swaddled up and bundled up, but when he gets the chance to stretch he certainly takes it.  live it up, kid, live it up!