Cousins Came to Visit

Here are a bunch of pictures from the last couple of days. Friday night/Saturday we went to the lake b/c my brother and his family were coming into town to meet Jason. As always, plenty of fun was had by all. I'm so glad that Brittny and her kids live close now so they could come up too! I think it was the first time all summer we have had all of the cousins there. 

Sophie loved holding Jason. Here she is doing "this little piggy..."

Christopher has always been so good at holding babies. 

Here he is with Pop, making Jason say "Christopher." It was precious!

Sweet baby boy. :) 

The Armstrong clan got in about 8 pm Friday night. Drake was so sweet with baby Jason too!

Sophie and AM playing on the beach while the boys were tubing.

AM and some of the dogs watching the boys in the tube.

Love this girl!

These two have quickly become best friends. LOVE it!

Drake and Christopher

Popsicle time!

This was so funny. Love watching what kids think of. For some reason, Sophie and Drake started hooking up their plasma cars and AM's stroller with leashes. They spent forever getting it just right.

Then Hunter and Christopher had to pop in and see what they were up to.

It was so fun having everyone together, even if it was for just a short time. Thank you Kyle and Caroline for making such an effort to come see us. They got here Friday night and had to go back to Nashville Saturday afternoon!!

Then, drumroll please...

AM has now finally held her baby brother!! And just like I imagined, now that she has, she wants to all of the time. She was so sweet with him!

I love how she is checking on him in this picture. She really is a great big sister.

And last, but not least, here she is proudly sporting her Daisy Duck pajamas! She LOVES Daisy. I have a feeling tonight it will be the Minnie Mouse pajamas that also came in the set. 

Showing us that Daisy is on her shirt!

OK, nap time is over, gotta run!

Big Sister!

Anne Morgan is full of funny things these days. She has taken to being a big sister much faster than I expected and she is so proud! One of the cutest things that she is now doing is putting herself to bed. She has always been good about going to bed. Lately she will go to her room with all of her stuffed animals and dolls and let us tuck her in, kiss her good night and then she tells us to lock the door (which is on the outside for when we need to keep her in there, which doesn't usually happen) and shut it behind us. That was pretty funny when she started that. WELL, once we brought Jason home she decided that it was time to start putting herself in bed. She goes to her room, doesn't let us in, and then locks the door, kisses us through the crack of the door and shuts it on her own to then get in bed all by herself! Precious! She is growing up too fast. 

We haven't been in the car too much, but when we have she has gotten better about fussing for her movie and her juice. It used to drive me crazy! And I'm sure it will return, but for now, it seems that if she asks once and I tell her no (for the movie) or that she is out of juice then she just takes it for that and moves on. Guess she knows she needs to be a good example for her baby brother!

She is so good at helping Mommy take care of her baby brother. If it's time to change his diaper, and that seems to be all of the time, she runs as fast as she can to his room to help. She hands me the diaper every time and then puts the dirty one in the trash. And she HAS to do it! I don't mind though, it's so cute!

Jason is growing himself! He is so sweet, isn't that nose just precious?! I think so! 

Nothing gets past this girl. She picks up on everything! This was last night when she was talking to Jason. She was telling him that it was time to go. Notice, she has all of her necessities. She knows Mommy always has her bottle of water, phone, purse and baby!

And when it came time to take the baby on a stroll in the back yard, once again she knew what she needed. Her water bottle and...

of course her phone in the canopy of the stroller!

She also learned how to pedal her tricycle yesterday! No pictures yet, but I'm sure there will be many bike riding pictures in the future. She loves to ride!

She starts "school" next week. I'm anxious to see how she will do. She will be there Tuesday and Thursday mornings and has several friends in her class. I was nervous to sign her up, but the way that she has taken to all of the new changes in our house lately I think she will do great!

Jason's First Week!

We have had a great first week with our new baby. I am so incredibly blessed to be the mommy to two special children. They fill my heart with such joy. I know that sounds cheesy, but it's true!

It's hard to believe that Jason was born just one week ago. In fact, as I'm typing this, he still wasn't even born. I can't remember life without him though. He is so precious and such a good baby. 

Anne Morgan has made me so proud. She is such a great big sister. She loves her baby brother and is a great helper for mommy. She RUNS to his room every time I say that it's time to change Jason's diaper so that she can help. So far she hasn't been jealous at all which is what I was worried about. In fact, she has shared some of her favorite things with him. And one of the cutest things is how she makes sure that he has his blue doggie lovie. She is so particular about this, SHE has to give it to him, she won't hand it to you to lay on him. When she notices that he doesn't have it she runs to find it and bring it to him. I can't believe I don't have a picture of it. I'm sure there will be plenty to come though. :)

 AM and Mollie watching over Jason and making sure the bouncy seat is on

Trying to give Jason his paci, which he doesn't really care for. That's frustrating for her! 

But she is so sweet about it.

Enjoying some sunshine in front of the window. 

Love having a crib with wheels that we can move around so easily!

Yesterday my mom, Brittny and the kids, Christopher and Sophie came over. We had so much fun. We went to the pool, of course Jason and I just sat in the shade under the pavilion while they all swam. I wish I had taken my camera to get pictures. AM loved getting to play in the water with them and it made me happy since I can't swim for 6 weeks. 

Then Christopher and Sophie wanted to hold Jason. It was precious!

Christopher wanted a turn, but Sophie said she wasn't finished.

 She told him to just hold his feet! It was hysterical!

Sweet cousins (AM was napping)

Christopher got his turn

Sophie is geared up and ready for Auburn football! We bought these for AM but haven't decided which to keep so Sophie tried them on for us. Needless to say, she loved them and when they left our house stopped by J&M to pick one up for herself! :)

Be back soon! I've got some updates on AM all of a sudden stepping into her a 

big girl role but don't have time to write any more. Oh! And she is starting "school" two weeks from today! I was worried, but they way she has handled the new addition I think she is going to love it! She has handled change really well. I'm so proud of her!

Finally!

I apologize for not posting anything yesterday. It was a crazy day, crazy wonderful! I didn't have a chance to post anything on here until it was time to go to bed...and I was going to bed. :)

I am going to do this quickly before the next visitors get here in a few minutes but I wanted to share some pictures of our new little man. He is perfect. :)

We arrived at the hospital at 5 am to start the process. It took a little longer to really get started (i.e., break my water and get an epidural) b/c there were quite a few babies being born yesterday! I will say that I have now felt true labor contractions. I was ready to get the epidural! (When I had AM I had the epidural before I ever felt any painful contractions.)

Once they broke my water it didn't take too long! We thought for about an hour it may, but then all of a sudden it went quick. Put it this way, the nurse checked me at 10 am, I was at 5 cm and she said she'd check again in 2 hours which would have been noon. After watching the monitors, she decided at 10:45 to check me and I was at 8 cm so we called the doctor to tell him to head this way. He left his office at 11, and Jason was born at 11:31! I wasn't due to even be checked for another half hour!! I was more nervous this time than last just b/c last time went so smoothly, I knew I couldn't be so fortunate again. Fortunately I was! Once Dr. Phillips got to the room, he chatted with my dad for a minute then told him, Gic, Chasidi and Chelsi he needed to check me. Once he did, he said it's time to push, he's right here! WOW!! I couldn't believe it! The rest of the grandparents and AM weren't even here yet. 

We are so blessed to have a healthy, perfect baby boy. He is so tiny, a good bit smaller than his sister. 

He scored a perfect 10 on his APGAR!!

Jason Davis Howell 

11:31 am August 2, 2011

6 lb 14 oz

19 3/4 in long

 Very first picture with Mommy

 Big sister meeting him for the first time. She was more concerned about Mommy 

in the bed with stuff hooked up than she was about him.

 Daddy getting to hold Jason for the very first time.

 Big sister wanted Jason to see her new puppy and puppy had to give him a kiss. :)

He is such a blessing. He is nursing great, it is truly amazing to watch what an instinct it is. He is so tiny right now, I know it won't be long and he will be a big boy! How quickly you forget the itty bittiness though! I love it!

We will head home tomorrow and I'll add more pictures. 

Yippee!

Tomorrow is the day! We are heading to the hospital at 5 am tomorrow morning! This is the first time I have ever posted from my phone so I'm testing it out. I will post again tomorrow when he is here. Please keep us in your prayers, next time I post I will be a mommy to a precious little girl and a brand new baby BOY! :)