Meeting Declan.

Last Wednesday, the Jackson Family took their first big trip up to Charlotte to do some shopping at IKEA and to see the Bourke Family. It was the first time Finn & Declan, the birthday buddies, met. What a fun day! Finn did amazing the entire trip up & back, as well with our time at IKEA. The parents all enjoyed talking all things baby and comparing the two kiddos. It's amazing how two little guys born less than 12 hours apart are so different, yet much the same.

At one point Janae asked me if I'd been pooped on much; my reply was, "I don't think I've actually been pooped on once yet, but there have been some close calls". I spoke too soon because right as I finished saying this he let out a doozer that leaked onto my shirt and skirt. Ouch. I almost brought extra clothes but didn't.....lesson learned. Thankfully it easily washed out. 

Two nursing moms & their boys.

Fathers, Bobby & Lyle, doing their fatherly duties.

And introducing Declan Nash Bourke; Finn's birthday buddy.

We have an 11 pounder & a less than 8 pounder in this picture. 

Both so incredibly adorable, huh?

Finn always seems to stop crying when another baby/child cries. He just says, "hey, why compete?".

lauren

Staycation...

Today marks the start of the official Jackson Family Staycation!! We are spending some quality family time at home for a week together. Whooohooo! Lyle got home this morning from his last night of his 2.5 week call/not being home run. I expected him to need to go to bed right away and make up for lost sleep, but NO! He got almost a full night's sleep and is ready for the day. What a great way to end the run and to start a break...not having to catch up on sleep too much!

Now he gets to spend a week of some good quality time with this adorable little guy!

And me too! 

Tomorrow we have plans to head up to Charlotte for the day to run some errands and to see Finnley's birthday buddy, Declan. We'll get to spend some time with our friends Janae & Bobby and ooooo & ahhh over our almost 3 weeks olds. Stay tuned for some pictures of that day's events!

lauren

Sunday, Sunday

I haven't been sleeping very well the past several nights; waking up at 3:00 and then not being able to fall back asleep, the cats wanting to be fed and go in and out through the back door, and some random meowing and pawing to get my attention. Oh the cats. One in particular at the moment. Hopefully tonight will be better. So anyway, needless to say, I'm taking a lazy Sunday because I'm exhausted. The lack of sleep is catching up with me. Lyle went up to West Virginia for the weekend to do some rafting and kayaking with some old medical school friends. That left me with a weekend to myself. Hmmm, starting to become the norm these days. At least I'm getting good at it.

I have kept myself busy though. Yesterday I went up to Charlotte with some girlfriends to do a little shopping and to dink around a bit. Oh how the shopping is good in Charlotte! What a fun girls' day. We even met up with some of Camille's friends from when she lived up there and had lunch....a lunch that lasted three hours! What fun. We also did some maternity shopping for Diane who's four months along now and needed to vamp up her work attire. I was fairly good and was able to resist most things that caught my eye, but did walk away with some minor purchases. I got this quilt at West Elm to go under our white duvet. Lyle gets hot and I get cold, so it's nice little bonus (and cute too).

I also found this great long sweater vest type top at Anthropologie for a steal. They were having an "additional 25% off red line items" sale. I practically got it for free. Can't wait to wear it. I'm sorry I don't have a picture right now; I couldn't find it on their website. Must-get-camera.....

I'm ready for Lyle to get home tonight. I think I'm going to make us a yummy dinner. Light but tasty and fairly easy. This is what I think I'm going to make: Shrimp Tacos With Black Beans (another Real Simple idea). A few changes will take place: saute the shrimp rather than pan fry them with the cornmeal crust and not add the chives ( I don't have any, plus they're not my favorite). I'll let you know how they turn out.

lauren