The Hawks, Party of Four, First Trip to GA...

As I am throughly exhausted already, I will let the photos tell the story thus far.

We set out at 6:30pm Alabama-time on Tuesday night…

Our pilot and co-pilot for the 350 mile trip to Nana and Babu's house...

Lucky and Gracie comfortably hanging out in the back of the car...

RF in his pajamas, watching George ready to make the trip to see his grandparents...

JE doing his thing…snoozin' 

We made it to Perry about 1:30am Georgia-time Wednesday morning…with no major meltdowns, issues or problems during our trip and managed to only stop once for RF and the dogs to stretch their legs and JE to eat. 

We spent Wednesday morning sleeping in and recovering from our long ride. RF and the dogs, of course, went right to playing with Nana and Babu. 

Checking out Nana and Babu's fish pond Wednesday morning...

Lucky and Gracie lounging in the sand box...

JE, you guessed it, snoozin' away...

Homemade booster seat...

"Play baseball, mommy."

More "Play baseball, mommy" 

First official trip to Krispy Kreme for RF...

And for JE, but guess what he did the whole time…slept. 

Getting all sugared up...

Museum of Aviation at the Warner Robins Air Force Base…total boy-fest for my fellas...

RF walked past this plane on his own and then came running back to RA and I wanting to be held - it scared him a little...

Buttons that needed to be pushed…RF took care of that for us. He also was the official elevator button-pusher each time we needed to go up a floor or back down. 

"Airplanes, mommy. Want to play."

My boys hand in hand. Although when RF walked past the plane on the right he said, "Oh no. Broken, mommy." See the next photo for why...

The plane didn't have a propellor, so in RF's eyes it was broken…

"Peek-a-boo, mommy."

Airplanes!

Boys being silly...

Flying an airplane with daddy…

RA and JE napping after a long morning out and about...

RF and Charlie having a snack and catching up on an episode of Curious George...

Outside time learning how to hammer with Nana and Babu...

And watering the grass for Nana…

More photos to come as we continue our adventure...

Month #1, Maternity Photos, and a Comparison of RF and JE

JE is one month old today. Time is already flying by. 

Happy One Month Birthday, my sweet boy. 

Your daddy, mommy, and big brother love you a whole bunch. 

JE At Birth:         6 lbs., 15 oz. --- 20 inches long 
JE At 1 Month:   9 lbs. --- 22 inches long 

On Sunday, July 13 we meandered over to a local park for Papa Tad and Lola to take a few shots of me and JE in my big ole' belly. Little did we know that one week later we would be holding that sweet boy in our arms. 

The BIG Brother :-)

 A few comparisons…

Growing up...

Brothers...

JEH: Week 4 Reflections

Wow. Four weeks old already? Time flies…

1. What. A. Week.
This week was teacher work-week in Baldwin County and I worked each day getting things ready for my substitute and Homecoming. It was a major deal to get myself and two kids out the door each day by 7, but there was only one day where we ran a little (5 minutes) late. I was pretty proud of myself, although it took major preparations on my part --- up at 5AM, bags packed the night before, and some major morning teamwork between RA and myself. Hoping these next weeks at home don't negate all the training I did this week so that when I am back at work our mornings are still fairly calm.

2. Hand sanitizer --- I might as well bathe in it. There are bottles of it all over my house, in my bags and in the car. My hands are so dry from using it so much this week, but I am super nervous about JE picking up any from my school or RF's school.

3. JE was a CHAMP this week at work with me. We stayed at the school until about lunchtime each day and while we were there he hung out in the sling (best invention ever). He slept a good deal and would occasionally let out a little squawk when he was hungry.

4. Growth spurt for JE, I think. He's been super hungry the past few days and has been eating non-stop. We have our 1-month appointment on Wednesday so we'll see how much weight and length he has gained in the past two weeks.

5. I've felt much better, emotionally, this week. I think getting out of the house each day helped keep me from dwelling on how overwhelming adjusting to two kids has been. Although, I'm still not feeling 100% from the mastitis. I'm still on antibiotics and am hoping that things get better soon.

6. I'm a sucker for a good card. I love getting to set-up our Christmas cards each year and birth announcements are super special for me, too.

7. Weekends are so much fun with all of us home all day, but they are also exhausting…absolutely exhausting. RF didn't have a good day on Saturday - he was super fussy all day - which made the day even more exhausting. Hopefully we will soon get into more of a routine on the weekends like we have during the week. Right now it's pretty much a free for all as we try and recover from the week and get ready for the upcoming week. Maybe these next few weeks at home for me will allow me to develop more of a weekend routine…we shall see. 

8. Love, love, love all three of my boys. Each day there are dozens of moments that I could write about where they amaze me. I'm so thankful that I get to be RA's wife and mama to RF and JE. Super, super thankful today. 

Four weeks old today...

I promise this photo is not proof of a child labor issue. 

RF loves brooms, mops, and vacuum cleaners. RA decided to clean the porch, but RF took over and did it himself. He was busy for 45 minutes and had a meltdown when we told him it was time to go inside for dinner. Silly little boy… :-)

Saturday afternoon in the Hawk house...

Sunday morning in the Hawk house…a messy, messy little boy...

JE says, "Life is good."