six weeks

My June Bug is 6 whole weeks old today! She's really fit in to our family so well, and we all love having a new daughter/sister. Meghan's newest trick is her full face grins! She's been smiling at us since just over 3 weeks old, but I'm finally starting to be able to catch them on camera. These still aren't great shots, but here are a few of her showing off her newest talent.

Smiling at Mama in her arms

It's the sweetest thing when Meghan smiles at her big Sister and Brother!

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She's also growing by leaps and bounds, and is quite the chunk. Here are her newborn and one month teddy pics side-by-side for comparison. She was 9 lbs 6 oz at birth, 9 lbs when we brought her home from the hospital, and 10 lbs 8 oz at her 2 week check up!! Chubby babies are the best. :)

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I don't know if it's that Meghan is our easiest baby yet, or if we're just comfortable as parents now, but I really can't complain about life with a newborn. She's sleeping pretty well and we've just started trying to get her on a schedule this week. Grammy Wilhite comes to visit us next week, and then school starts the week after that, so we'll be ready to get our routine down. All in all, at her best times and her worst times, we love having our little Meghan Clare around. She's a real joy to know and love - all 3 of my kiddos make my Mother's heart feel complete!

Sleeping the hours away... sweet dreams, my love.

the tooth fairy visited our house...

Moira lost her first tooth on Monday night after dinner, and she was SO excited. The tooth fairy brought her $2.00 for her first baby tooth, although Moira was told that she might've gotten a bit more than usual, since it was her first lost tooth. My baby's growing up!! Oh, and the one next to it is now wiggly... stay tuned! ;-)

busy, busy, busy

This Summer has kept us quite busy with all sorts of fun activities, and no time to blog about them! So, I'm trying to catch up. Here are the picture albums (click on each picture) from our most recent adventures... edited a bit, so you won't be looking through our pictures all day. ;-)

Blueberry picking with Ian and his preschool friends while Moira was at Church Day Camp

Tagging along on Moira's Day Camp field trip to Old MacDonald Petting Zoo

And Moira's birthday trip to Point Mallard water park

6

Can it be true? Wow. My first-born is a whole 6 years old. Gone are the days of being a baby - Moira's a bonafide little lady now! And what a sweet little lady she is. I absolutely cherish being the Mommy of such an amazing little girl, and in honor of your birthday, here are 6 reasons why I love you so.

1. Just look at you. There's no faking that sweet spirit you can so easily see shining through your eyes. I love how genuine you are, and how readily you share all of yourself with those you encounter! You're so happy and fun, and it's a true joy to be your Mommy and watch you grow into the beautiful young lady you're becoming.

Sweetly entertaining yourself at your Red Robin birthday dinner tonight!

2. Both Ian & Meghan are SO blessed to be your little brother and sister, because you're such an amazing big sis! You sincerely love your siblings, and it does this mother's heart good to see you playing and giggling with Ian one minute, then comforting and loving on Meghan the next. I hope you always keep your family first and take care of each other.

You loved your little sister from the moment you laid eyes on her... I cherish that you have such a big heart with so much love to give.

3. Since you were a little girl, you've always been my social butterfly, but I've especially enjoyed watching you mature and make some real friendships over the last year. Not only are you a wonderful, caring and fun friend, but I'm so pleased with who you've chosen to make friends with! I pray that you will always make such good decisions when choosing friends, and continue to be such a compassionate, loving and joyful friend.

Enjoying the girly sweetness of childhood friendships.

4. You're so smart! I love watching you learn. I worried over the last few years, watching you develop, that I may have passed my perfectionistic streak on to you. I'd see so much of me in you when you refused to try something new, unless you knew you could do it perfectly on the first attempt. That's why it's been such a joy to see you conquer that in school this year and embrace the learning process!! You're reading and writing, you're learning to swim, you've taken on the monkey bars at the park with no mercy, and you're always so full of curiosity and the desire to learn. Keep it up girl! It's okay to fail, as long as you pick yourself up, learn from your mistakes and keep on trying! :) I love you.

Learning to swim at the local pool this Summer... and looking cute at the same time!

5. Could you be any more of a drama queen?! Some times this gets you into trouble, yes, but mostly we love watching your imagination come to life so vividly through your play. I love seeing you take after your Daddy in this way. Like him, you're so full of life and really have a way of expressing yourself in such a unique way... I hope you'll always be such an individual and animated! Your sparkle makes me smile.

Being "attacked" by a Great White in the shark cage at the aquarium!

6. What a girly-girl you've become! I'm having so much fun with all of your girliness lately - painting toe nails, hairstyle requests, picking out your own "cute" clothes, faithfully carrying around your own little purse, and loving anything that's glittery and shines. Yet, you'll still wrestle with Daddy and play T-ball in the backyard with Ian... and why not? You can have the best of both worlds! You're such a pretty little thing, but you never forget that it's what's inside that truly counts - and you, my dear, are beautiful inside and out!!

Girling it up with glittery face paint at the Renaissance Festival.

A short video clip of the "big news" from our birthday girl today!

We pray that you'll continue to grow into the sweet-spirited young lady that you're already becoming. May you bear much fruit as you grow in the Lord, and always keep Him first in your heart. I treasure these moments while you're still my little girl, and hope that as you'll inevitably keep growing, you'll always let me be your doting Mommy. We love you with all of our hearts, and we always will.

Love, Mommy

almost four weeks

Here are some of my favorites from our photo session today. I can't believe my baby is almost a month old! You've captured all of our hearts, Meghan.

Chattanooga Aquarium

We went to Chattanooga on Friday, for a 4th of July weekend excursion, to explore a bit and visit the aquarium there. It turns out Chattanooga is a pretty neat city, with lots of family friendly things to do - and for a short 2 hour drive, definitely worth visiting again and again! We plan to go back and check out their super cool Children's Museum (you should've seen this thing from the road), art district, river boat tours and lots more. The aquarium was pretty neat, with some hands-on exhibits for the kids, a wide variety of river and ocean animals to study, and an IMAX theatre where we saw "Under the Sea 3D." We had a great day, and all the kids - including Miss Meghan - were very good. We heard lots of oohing and ahhing over the baby, and people stunned that we were out an about with her at two weeks. We just chuckled... life goes on, ya know? Here we are...

(Click on the picture to see our album of pics on picassa.)

two weeks old

Meghan is two weeks old today, and it's already hard to imagine life without her. We went to the pediatrician's office today to do another newborn screening (the state of Alabama requires two) and for a weight check, and our little girl is a whopping 10 lbs 8oz already!! She's gained over a pound in two weeks since her birth, so I can definitely rest assured that she's getting enough to eat. ;-) She still sleeping quite a bit during the day, and even at night, after a bit of restlessness around the time I'd like to be going to sleep. Of course, we'll get her on a schedule and all of the worked out (I hope!) once she's a wee bit older, so I'm not too concerned. The big kids are still loving having a baby sister, and they've been so helpful too! We've really lucked out with such great kiddos - all 3 of them! Here are a couple recent pictures for your enjoyment.

Daddy & Papa were finally able to put the big kid's swing set together during their stay.

I think Moira and Ian like their birthday present!

Here's the first picture in the "incredible shrinking teddy bear" series I'll be taking over the next 12 months with Meghan. I hope to have a cute mini-album with all the monthly pictures together by next June.

Our first family of 5 picture after church on Sunday.