Foster turned 3 weeks old last Tuesday (the 8th.)  He is such a precious baby.  I will say that he has become a little bit more vocal within the past couple of weeks!  The first two weeks, he barely made a peep!  He is growing like crazy- definitely much quicker than Emma.  He LOVES to eat.  I will update about Foster more in his 1 month old blog post in just a couple of days.  For now, here are a couple of 3 week old pictures!

Emma got to go on a very special outing with her best friend Aubrey last Sunday.  Aubrey and her mommy picked Emma up for a date to go see “Curious George.”  Emma LOVES Curious George books and was very excited to see him in person.  Jamey (Aubrey’s mom) said it was pretty funny because both girls kept asking “Where’s Elmo?” during the event because last time they were there, they saw “Elmo Live!”  They didn’t quite understand that this was a completely separate event and Elmo would not be making an appearance!

I wish I had gotten a picture of Emma with Aubrey but I didn’t… here is Emma before they picked her up.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…  Emma LOVES her daddy.   We crack up because she truly misses him if he leaves to get a haircut one afternoon a month!  She is so spoiled to have him at home all day every day.  And honestly, we think he is spoiled also to get to watch her grow up through all of the fun and not-so-fun stages and moments. :)  He sees it all. 

Since Foster has been born, we have really noticed that Emma savors her ‘undivided attention’ time with each of us.  Until now, she has been an only child!  She is used to having us all to ourselves. While she adores Foster, she also adores us and we see her craving our attention.  Within the last couple of weeks she has started waking up from her naps and asking to be held by mommy and daddy.  She then cuddles on the couch with one of us and finishes up her nap. :)  Here she is cuddling with daddy.

These aren’t the greatest pictures of mommy, but I had to share…

Robin took these pictures of me with the kids the past couple of nights.  Anytime I am holding Foster, Emma wants to cuddle as well (who knew it would just take having another baby to make Emma cuddle with mommy and daddy!) Our dog has also begun to be a little needy- requesting to sit by me anytime I’m holding Foster.  He did this right after Emma was born too!

Looking at these pictures, I realize that my lifelong dreams have come true.  I’m married to a wonderful Christian man, and I have two wonderful children (and a sometimes-wonderful dog)!  What more could I ask for?  All my life I’ve dreamed of being a mommy, and here I am.  I pray that I will strive to live “in the moment” and cherish the blessings that HE has given me. 

We officially made our first family outing when Foster was 10 days old.  It was the day after Thanksgiving and we met my family for lunch at Red Robin.  Foster did great- he just requested to be fed at the end of our lunch. :)  I love the 2nd picture below- Emma sneaking in a kiss- she does this about 50 times every day.  She loves her little brother so much!

My mom’s brother Danny, and his son Dillon, got to come to Tulsa for several days for Thanksgiving.  Technically, I guess Emma and Dillon are 2nd cousins.   Emma absolutely LOVES Dillon and likes to do everything that he does.  We are always so impressed with the way Dillon is so sweet to Emma.  It seems like he doesn’t mind at all playing with an almost 3 year old little girl.  Here are some pictures of Emma and Dillon hanging out.

Playing in the pack-n-play together:

Dillon drawing for Emma… I love the football diagrams on the right side of the board!:

Emma, Foster, and Dillon:

Emma watching Dillon play on the computer:

Dillon, we’re already looking forward to seeing you again NEXT Thanksgiving!  We love you!

Pops and Gigi have become avid travelers since the arrival of Grandkids! Too bad they don’t earn frequent flyer points for driving from Texas to Oklahoma!  They drove to Tulsa for Foster’s birth on November 17th and then turned around and came back to Tulsa a week later for Thanksgiving.  We were so excited to have them here and were very sad when they left.   We were so grateful for all of their help when Foster was born and during Thanksgiving.  Here are a few pictures from their Thanksgiving trip.

Gigi and Foster

Pops reading to Emma

More cuddle time… 

 Gigi, Emma, and Foster:

After much pleading from Emma, we finally put our Christmas tree up on the evening of Thanksgiving.  It is so neat to watch the joy of Christmas through the eyes of a child.  This is the first year that Emma has truly been so excited about Christmas.  She LOVES Christmas trees and was so excited to have one in our house to look at all day long.  Her eyes just lit up when we turned the lights on!  Here are some pictures of her decorating our tree.

We are still missing a tree topper and Emma reminds me of that daily.  I have it on my list for this week to get an angel or star for the top of the tree. :)  Other than that, our house is decorated for Christmas and I am loving it!  This is truly my favorite time of the year… especially with a newborn baby to cuddle!

Emma started Thanksgiving Day off by watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV.  She loved the floats, the dancers, and the singing.  Here is a picture of Emma watching the parade- she requested to have her Dora table moved in front of the TV so she could eat breakfast while watching the parade! She also requested to be waited on by Daddy during the parade- what service!

Here is Foster all bundled up and ready to head to Nana’s house for Thanksgiving lunch:

Nana’s beautiful Thanksgiving dinner table… by the way- the roses were giving to Nana by us.  What was the occasion you ask?  She passed her National Board Exam for teachers- this is HUGE!!!  We are so proud of her.  What a relief and what an accomplishment for our Nana.

And her is Nana, aka. Martha Stewart, finishing off our Thanksgiving feast.  She had been so sick in the days before Thanksgiving but somehow she and my Aunt Judy managed to pull off a wonderfully delicious spread of food.   My mother-in-law also brought sweet potatoes which Emma LOVED.       (Please notice in this picture that my mom is overfilling the gravy boat- this was her one flaw this year, she just got carried away I guess!)

Here we are sitting down to dinner.  Foster slept in his carrier during the entire meal- what a nice baby to let me eat. :)

After lunch we just lounged at Nana’s house, watched football, browsed the Black Friday shopping ads, and played cards.  That evening, we came home and put up our Christmas tree.  (see the next blog post!)

Emma continues to be a wonderful big sister.  If I have any complaints, it is that she is TOO helpful… often reminding me… “Mommy, you need to change Foster’s diaper.  Mommy, do you need to pump milk for baby Foster?”  Mommy, I’ll hold him for you.”  Wherever he is, she is RIGHT THERE with him. :)  The only time I have seen baby Foster smile so far, it has been at the site of his big sister.  Here are a few more pictures of Proud Big Sister and Baby Foster bonding over the past two weeks…

I love this picture of Emma with here hair in sponge rollers with Foster… this will definitely be in her wedding slideshow someday. :)