July and James is 4 weeks

 Helen and Caroline came to town mid July and got to meet James and play with Perry and Mills!

 2 weeks old

One of our favorite people, Carol LaBorde. 

Swimming at PaPa and Nana's house

 Mauree, Ashley and Lee came to Shreveport for the day. It was so special to see them!!! Love these friends!

Alex had a work function in Dallas, so James and I tagged along. It was nice little get away--I just wish it had been longer!

 4 weeks old

 Not captured here, but James has been smiling (the real social smiles) since at least 4 weeks old. I love getting those sweet smiles! He is also more alert, can hold his head up pretty well, and really loves the attention he gets from his big brothers! James has trouble settling down to sleep in the late evenings (8pm-11ish), but after that, he usually sleeps a good long stretch through the night. I've never had a baby do this at such a young age. 

July 4th

Perry and Mills spent a good bit of time at Mae Mae's house after we came home from the hospital. They were having fun and Alex and I enjoyed the chance to rest as much as possible. We didn't do anything special on the 4th, but the boys got to shoot some fireworks a couple days later. They had a blast (pun intended), but were a little scared of the loud ones.

Suzanne's Birthday

Somehow in the middle of all the craziness of a newborn, I turned 32 years old. Thanks to great family and friends, it was a good day. Alex and I even ventured out for our first family dinner. We went to Tokyo for hibachi. The kids enjoyed it and James slept peacefully through dinner. Success!

James 1 week old

First days at home

Our family!!!!

 Handsome boy

 James' happy spot

These baby feet are so sweet!

First bath

Going Home

We left the hospital late in the day on July 2. This was definitely my shortest hospital stay.

 James wore the same gown that Perry and Mills wore home from the hospital. It was made by my grandmother for me (or Helen).

 Happy to be going home!

Big brothers were there (and very excited) to greet us!

Introducing James

Since James was born in the middle of the night, we waited until the sun came up to announce that he was a boy. Mae Mae came to visit first thing in the morning and shortly after that Cheetah and Papou brought Perry and Mills up there (PaPa was out of town and Paw and Maw were in Denton). I was so excited for the boys to come meet the baby and find out they now had a baby brother!! When they came into the room, they both immediately ran to see the baby and were just in awe. I asked if they could guess whether the baby was a boy or girl and Perry guessed girl. I said "No, it's boy! You have a baby brother!" His eyes lit up with excitement and he had the sweetest smile on his face. Mills was very happy too! 

Some of the cute things that were said that morning (mostly by Perry):

"awe, he's sooo cute"

when James started to cry, "it's ok baby; i'm right here; we're going to protect you"

"i want to sing him a lullaby"

Some of the funny things that were said:

"mommy, your tummy is so squishy"

"if the baby is out of your tummy now, why is it still big?" 

 First moments

 First family of 5 picture

 Mills holding James

 Cheetah with her grandsons

 Perry holding James

I loved all my snuggle time with baby James

Several of my friends were out of town, but we still had lots of sweet visitors while at the hospital.