Quick big sister update

Just a quick update on the girls.

There's a butterfly on my bottom, Mommy!

Catherine is getting very good at forward rolls, and without my help!  She jumps and dives into it and lands on the back of her shoulders as she is supposed to.  It is amazing!  We're starting cartwheels later today.  Catherine is also going to the bathroom by herself.  You have to watch because she'll run out of the room and then you'll hear the toilet flush and know that she took the small potty and emptied it into the big potty and you run in praying she didn't spill.  At least this is progress, right?  She is also super obsessed with the birds that come to the bird feeder.  She's always looking outside while we're eating to see which bird friends are joining us and she's trying to learn their names.  Samantha isn't as interested in what is outside, but she loves looking in the book, especially at the owls, and she likes when we take walks and see the geese and our resident heron.  My mom and I took them to feed the birds at Duke Gardens and there were about 8 babies following the girls around, it was incredible and the girls thought they were 'so cute'.

Samantha has figured out how to get water from the fridge door.  Silly me, I told Dave to make sure that the water/ice maker in the door was up high but our smart little Sam just got a stool and filled up her cup on her own.  Her new phrase is "let's do this!" and she loves to pretend play.  I can find them having a beach party on the floor with all their blankets and stuffed animals or waving their wands around making things disappear by saying "bippity bop pity boo".  Her imagination seems to know no bounds and I love that about her.  And she has gotten so tall!  Both of them have, but Sam had a growth spurt and it is not just the fact that I have Jake now who is so small making the girls look so big in comparison.  How did they get so big!?

What we're learning about Jake

Isn't he just adorable!!??  I couldn't believe how much older he looks when his hair is all puffed up after he gets a bath.  I couldn't believe he was born with hair in the first place.  And we swear it is getting lighter every day as it continues to grow.  It also took us a while, but he's finally starting to gain weight and lose the jaundice from his eyes.  We're already so proud of how well he can held his head up and turn it from side to side during tummy time.

 

 

Dave says this is Jake's 'Go to move'.  He often looks like this when he's sleeping and resting, one hand by his head, posing and saying "I'm so adorable".  

 

 

He is like Catherine in the bottom half of his face, his mouth and chin.  I can't wait to see what color his eyes turn out to be.  He likes his pacifier like Samantha and also likes to be swaddled when he sleeps, like she did.  He tries to suck his thumb like Catherine still does sometimes when she's sleeping.  He's a slow eater like Catherine but burps like a champ, like Samantha did.  He cries while he's still asleep, like Catherine still does.



 

 

But Jake also has qualities all his own.  He makes the cutest facial expressions, especially with his eyebrows and forehead.  When he does that he reminds me of his daddy.  He has even done the Zoolander face a few times.  He cries when he needs something and as we've gotten to understand his feeding needs better he's become a much more calm baby who can be put down to chill out and play and hang with his sisters.  

 

He loves his swing like the girls both did, but we're still trying to find out if he likes music.  The girls are getting along with him OK so far.  Samantha goes from interested and helping to indifferent equally.  Catherine can be a mother hen.  She wants to know where he is and if he's awake or eating, and she'll bring him his pacifier or get me a diaper or burp cloth.  My mom has gotten both of them to help hold him and that has been nice to see.  And though they picked out his name from a Disney cartoon they used to watch, if you ask them if Jake is a pirate they say "No, he's just Jake.". So, here we are, getting used to our new normal with Jacob Daniel.



Our newest addition!

That's right, Jacob Daniel Clark is finally here!  He was born May 3rd at 2:04 am and was 6 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long.  The best part of the whole thing was that he and I got to come home TOGETHER.  No one had to stay behind and no one had to leave alone.  I also got to hold him minutes after he was born, which was amazing.  I didn't get to even see the girls until they were one day old, so that was very special for me.

His sisters love him.  Catherine especially tries to help out by giving him a paci or a stuffed animal.  She's always patting him on the head when she gets a chance.  When he first came home and he cried both girls put their hands over their ears, but they don't do that any more.  Dave and I both found that so ironic because A) when they play they are much louder than he is B) they ride with Dave on the tractor C) Samantha used to cry so loudly that it would get into the back of your skull when she was an infant and Catherine would sleep right through it.  Samantha isn't as interested in being a mother hen as Catherine is, but she still says she likes him.  Both of them are fascinated that 'mommy's tummy is gone and Baby Jake isn't in there any more'.  I think they are both excited I now have a lap for them to sit on again.

We had lots of visitors, including Nana, Grandpa, Auntie Nico and her daughter Emma-Marie (who apparently will be his future girlfriend) and cousin Paige who stopped by on her way home after finals at Duke.  We had lots of calls, too.  We are so loved!

Dave dressed him up to take his first picture in Gamecock gear.  He's so excited to have a buddy to hang out with.  They also spent a lot of time learning about the NFL draft.

Heidi has gone back to her usual protective self, hanging out in his room when I feed him.  I put the girls' chairs in there so they feel like they have a place in his room and can read him books.  It seems like it also is for Heidi.

His first bath and he hated it until he got his hair done.  Then he was positively a pig in mud!  Yes, she put his hair in a mohawk.  It does that even when it isn't wet if you brush it right.  

He makes the silliest faces, his forehead is so expressive and he can make his bottom lip completely disappear.  His cry is very much like what we imagine a baby dinosaur would sound like, high pitched and screechy, but so far not as bad as Samantha was.  We're all hanging in there, adjusting to this new little gift in our lives.  Keep coming back for more pictures and updates of what now is truly the Dave Clark 5.