All of us here in the Murray household are smitten with our little Miles. It's been two short weeks since his arrival, but it only took one look for all of us to fall completely in love with him. There are so many things we love about Miles. We love the way he sleeps so peacefully. He is still trying to catch up on the three weeks he missed out on in the womb and spends the majority of time sleeping. The few precious moments of awake time I get with him each day are special to me, but for now I am happy to watch him peacefully sleep.
We love his Mr. Magoo eyes and wrinkly skin that he hasn't grown into yet.
We love his long and skinny arms, legs, fingers, and toes.
We love when he has a slight smile on his face. I like to think he's happy to be here with us.
We love how he looks like a little burrito when he's swaddled up.
We love how he falls asleep after eating with his legs folded across his stomach. I think he might have been squished inside of me that way.
I'm not the only one who loves Miles. Mason is a very proud big brother. After meeting Miles in the hospital for the first time, Mason came home and asked to print out some pictures of Miles. He carried them around with him all day and showed them to everyone who asked about his little brother. That night Scott sent me this picture of how our sweet big brother fell asleep.
Mason stops whatever he is doing when Miles is awake and gives him his undivided attention.
He loves to sing and read to Miles to help him get smart.
Brynn has done really well adjusting to having Miles around. She has been so understanding as I haven't been able to lift her for the last two weeks because of my c-section and instead of being carried has been happy to just hold my hand. She likes to help me with diaper changes and bathes, but leaves if Miles starts to cry. Sometimes she just wants to be close to me, though. This is what Miles' 3am feeding has looked like the last three nights.
Brynn has wandered upstairs while I'm feeding Miles, cuddled up on my legs, and fallen back asleep. And yes, she really sleeps with her hands like that all the time. I am so proud of how well she is coping with this big change.
As always, Scott has jumped right in as a fun and loving Daddy. He claims he does much better when they are old enough to play with him, but I think he's a pretty great dad, even to a newborn.
Life is good.
* Aren't those first three pictures amazing!! My talented sister-in-law, Whitney, once again shared her talent with us and took some 1 week pictures of Miles before heading back to Arizona. Thanks Whit!
Whether I like it or not my oldest child is growing up before my eyes. This has brought with it some good things and some challenging things, but isn't that true of all phases our children go through? The last two months I have relied heavily on Mason's help. When I'm tied down feeding Miles and Brynn needs something, Mason will usually step up and get her a drink of water or get down the toy she wants, or just help entertain her while I'm busy. Through all of this, he has become very independent. Unfortunately, with this increased independence he sometimes takes the liberty to do things that I would rather he not. He has a hard time understanding that just because he is capable of doing something on his own doesn't mean he no longer needs permission to do it. This has created quite a few power struggles between us. 
Mason is an amazing older brother. He is so good to Brynn and includes her in everything he does. She truly is his little sidekick. I'm not sure who loves it more, Brynn or Mason. The other day Mason was mad at me and decided he was going to go live at his friend, Tanner's, house. He disappeared into his room for a while then emerged with not just his backpack, but Brynn's backpack all packed for her because he was taking her with him. I thought it was pretty sweet that he couldn't leave her behind. In case you were wondering he didn't even make it upstairs before he was in my arms telling me he wanted to stay in our family. Phew. 
Mason is interested in many different things right now, but his reoccuring favorites are crocodiles, star wars legos, octonauts, Cars 2, and Hot Wheels. He seems to wake up each morning thinking about one of these things and his whole day's activities and projects are centered around it. His favorite activity is to print out coloring pictures off the computer of whatever he's focused on that day and color them. 
He is a coloring maniac. He is very meticulous in his coloring and likes to color things the "right way." We gave him a trapper keeper for Christmas to keep all his pictures in, because he wants to keep them all. We're talking over a hundred pictures, easy. When his trapper keeper is full we help him thin them out, which is a hard and emotional process for our little hoarder. He forms such strong attachments with things. I'm a little bit worried that these tendencies are going to land us on Hoarders, but we're working on it with him.
Friends have become a very big part of Mason's life. He has some good friends at preschool and in our neighborhood. When these 4-5 year old boys get together their silliness is often more annoying than cute, but I think we better get used to it because Mason loves to be a silly boy. It's hard for me to no longer have complete control over what Mason is exposed to as he spends more and more time surrounded by peers. He has learned, and I'm sure taught, both good and not so good things from these peers. But he's a good boy and I know that he is capable of making good choices. One thing he has been introduced to is video games. I personally hate video games, but have had to find a small place for them in our life. In my dream world Mason would rather read books than play video games, but right now that is not the case. He is still doing great with his reading and is currently reading on a first grade reading level so I guess I shouldn't worry too much about it. Once again I guess this is all just part of him growing up and gaining independence. 
Mason's coordination and interest in sports has tripled since playing soccer last fall. We have had Mason in a couple sessions of swim lessons this winter. It has been so good for Mason to have something that gets him out of the house and lets him expend some energy. I think Mason may have found his nitch with swimming. Not only does he love it, but he's pretty good at it too. He has learned how to do the basic front crawl with side breathing and back stroke along with several tricks like doing back flips under the water. He is already asking when he can be on the swim team. Unfortunately he's not quite old enough yet, but I'm excited for that to be a part of his life in the near future.
We think Mason is a pretty neat kid and are glad he's a part of our family.
I was originally going to title this post "My Little Girl" but I immediately heard Brynn's little voice correcting me by saying firmly, "No, I a BIG girl!" as she often does. The last 2 months I feel like I really have watched Brynn go from my little girl to my big girl. In all honesty, she has handled the transition to 3 kids better than any other person in our family. She has taken all the changes in stride and it has brought out the best in her. Since this post is a spotlight on Brynn I'm going to gush about her a bit, okay, a lot.
Brynn is such a smart girl. She has already mastered all her upper and lower case letter recognition along with all their sounds. She knows all of her numbers and I don't even know how high she can count. She is always mirroring Mason and pretends like she knows how to read and write. In actuality she is well on her way to writing her name, doing a great B and r, and also can write several other letters. After listening to a book once or twice she wants to read it to you and will recite it back amazingly well. I have realized the secret behind her intelligence is A: she has an incredible memory. She hears something once and it sticks. B: she wants to be just like Mason and he likes teaching her things. I got her registered for preschool next year and she asks me daily if she gets to go yet. 
Brynn has never been obsessive about things like Mason is, but I would say the thing she likes the most right now is animals. She fills her bed up each night with so many stuffed animals there is hardly enough room for her to squeeze in with them. Her favorite animals are kitties, tigers, doggies, and piggies. She loves going to the Bean Museum and so I can't wait to see her at the zoo with live animals, but she'll have to wait for it to warm up a little.
Which brings me to her relationship with Mason. She completely idolizes Mason. She is his little shadow and is always two steps behind him. The best part of my day is watching those two play together. But she's not just a great little sister anymore, she has really grown into her role as a big sister, too. When Miles was first born she didn't mind him, but didn't really give him a whole lot of attention either. The last few weeks she has become much more engaged with Miles. It's like she realized he's here to stay so she better get to know him. She is so sweet with him and gets so excited when he smiles at her or touches her with his flailing arms. Basically what I'm trying to say with all of this is Brynn has turned into the sweetest little girl in the world. There are no terrible twos happening here. One of my biggest concerns right now is making sure Brynn gets enough special attention. I try so hard to take advantage of when Mason is at preschool and Miles is sleeping. Even though it often means giving up my shower that day, I know the time I spend building a snowman with only Brynn is way more worth it. 
I'll leave you with Brynn's typical goodbye saying, "I love you later, I love you the most!"
I am so in love with this little boy that most days I feel like I'm going to burst as my senses take in all the sweetness that is Miles. Seeing his deep blue eyes starring up at me. Hearing the little sqeaks and grunts he makes. Feeling his tiny body curled up asleep on my chest. Smelling that perfect heavenly baby smell. Kissing those chubby cheeks of his. Watching a big grin spread across his face in response to my voice. It makes all the sacrafices motherhood requires completely worth it. 
A few things about Miles at 7 weeks.
What's a party without games to go along with the theme? Mason planned some heart activities for us like decorating the windows with heart decals (now perfect Valentines decorations) and playing pictionary with heart shaped notepads and heart pens. The party ended with Heart shaped ring pops as the party favors for everyone. 
The party was a complete success, but the best part was spending it with the people I love most.
Brynn helped make the whole day special by saying, "Happy Birthday, Mom!!" every time I walked in the room, and randomly serenading me with the Happy Birthday song. 
Miles started off my day in the best way possible by giving me lots of sweet smiles.
Mason: Look, Miles is doing the pledge!! 
Rachel: Look who fits in his 3 month clothes. 
Rachel: Just found Brynn asleep on the fireplace. Apparently she did need a nap today. 
Scott: Here is a picture of lots of gators and turtles laying on a rock. The other picture is a gator swimming in the water.
Rachel: How do you like my haircut. I cut off 4+ inches but still left it long.
Brynn: Appletore...Baltimore...Whose your friend...Dad!! Ptew!
Miles: Look, Dad, I'm doing pilates! Feel the burn!!!
Mason: Optimus Prime and Rapunzel balloons at Provo Beach Resort on a date with Grandma and Grandpa.
