Isaac is two weeks old!

Isaac turned two weeks old yesterday!

He is still sleeping well, with 2-3 periods a day where he is wide awake and ready to play!  Isaac really loves it when people talk to him, and J-Ma is especially good at this!

Elsie still asks to hold Isaac whenever he is around.  She even offers to take him when he is a little fussy!

Before J-Ma and Papa Pete returned to PA, we took a great photo of them with their three grandchildren (when did they get old enough to have 3 grandkids!?)!

And we took our first picture as a family of 5!!

Elsie's and Duncan's adventures with J-Ma and Papa Pete!

We were so fortunate to have J-Ma and Papa Pete stay with us for 16 days before and after Isaac's birth!  Elsie and Duncan had lots of individual attention, and went on a few fun adventures!  First stop was the splash park for Duncan.

Duncan is really interested in running water.  He runs little experiments with flow control, and likes to watch the water turn on and off.  At the splash park, Duncan was able to turn the wheels to change the flow rate of the water!  He loved it!!

One of Elsie's favorite activities is reading!  We had a fresh batch of books from the library waiting for J-Ma and Papa Pete.

The kids like to play "band" together.  They each pick out an instrument and play them while singing, sometimes marching around the house, sometimes including other family members in the band.  It can get pretty loud, but it is great fun to watch them play together!

Elsie and Duncan took J-Ma and Papa Pete to the farmers market on Wednesdays.  We had lots of corn...and lots of helpers for shucking the corn!

J-Ma and Papa Pete took the kids to the zoo on a nice, cool day.  They got to see the brand new baby giraffe!

J-Ma was particularly impressed with the kids at the zoo park.  It was pretty crowded, and Elsie just took Duncan's hand and helped him maneuver around the big kids.  They waited patiently for their turn at the top of the slide, and even then stayed together on the way down!  Such wonderful siblings!

They all went to the DuPage Children's Museum one day.  Elsie really enjoyed taking to all of the Elsies in the big mirror!

And Duncan had fun watching the "choo choo train."

More water experiments for Duncan!  Fill up the cup, dump it out, and repeat!

Elsie and Duncan had fun with the air exhibit making pinwheels spin.

Then it was time to put on the goggles and go into the air tube!

They played outside a lot in the afternoons when the construction next door stopped.  And since Duncan has (mostly) stopped eating the sidewalk chalk, they were able to draw on the driveway again!

Cheese!

And it wouldn't be a visit from Papa Pete without a project!  Papa Pete made these wonderful shelves for the basement for toy storage!!  Now, we just need to fill them up!  Of course, they were also a great help in the kitchen and with the laundry (and with a bunch of other small house projects!).

Isaac is one week old!

Isaac turned one week old yesterday!

So what has he been up to in his first week?  Isaac was in the hospital for the minimal amount of time - 26 hours, and then we were released to go home.  Here are Isaac and Daddy getting in some good cuddle time!

J-Ma and Papa Pete brought Elsie and Duncan to meet Isaac on Tuesday.  They were both so excited!  Elsie got to hold Isaac first.

Such a proud big sister!

Duncan was excited to "hold him" too!

Isaac ate well and slept most of the time we were in the hospital.

Once we got home, Elsie and Isaac got to cuddle even more!  I love how Isaac is already smiling with his big sister!

And at home, he still ate and slept well his first week!

Every once in a while, Elsie lets someone else hold Isaac!  Finally Papa Pete gets to hang out with Isaac while he is awake!

And J-Ma was happy to hold Isaac in the mornings so Mommy could get dressed!

Grandpa and Grandma came for a visit over the weekend.  Judging by Isaac's face, I think he has already been warned about Grandpa's crazy stories!

Grandma was as excited as Elsie to hold Isaac!

But I think Issac's sleepiness rubbed off on Grandma!

Papa Pete helped get Isaac comfy in Elsie's lap, and Duncan climbed up on the couch to be part of the fun.

Three beautiful, happy children!!

"Duncan turn hold Isaac."  Duncan is surprisingly interested in Isaac.  When Duncan sees Isaac, he gets a huge smile on his face, and comes over to be close to him.  Although in this picture, I think even Duncan is a little suspicious of Isaac's spit-up!  Oh yes - Isaac likes to spit up just like his older siblings!

Cheese!

Mommy was able to spend some quality time "socializing" with Isaac yesterday.  (A big thinks to J-Ma and Papa Pete for entertaining Elsie and Duncan!)

When he is awake, Isaac is moving his arms and legs around, trying to look around at the room.  He has already been on a few adventures outside the house, including a walk, an afternoon at the pool, and a trip to the park.

So far, Isaac is a wonderful baby.  He sleeps for much of the night, only waking up 1-2 times, and easily falling back asleep.  When he is awake, he is not too fussy, and he has no problem hanging out with lots of noise, from both our family and from all of the construction on our block right now!  Feeling so blessed to have such a wonderful family!

Welcome Isaac Albert Phipps!!

We are proud to introduce Isaac Albert, who was born on Monday night at 8:22pm.  At 9lb, 8oz, he is our lightest baby yet!  Isaac is 22.5 inches long!

We are all feeling pretty good, and Isaac can't wait to meet Elsie and Duncan!

In fact, Isaac actually slept for a few hours straight his first night!  Such and adorable sleepy baby!

Five months of Baby Prep

It took five months, but we are finally ready for Baby #3!

The month of April was dedicated to conversion of the guest room to Elsie's new princess room.  She picked pink paint for the walls, we sewed a beautiful canopy for the bed, and completed the look with matching fuchsia dust ruffle, paint accents and lamp.

We moved most of the furniture and rug from Elsie's old room into her new room.

Sleepy Elsie!

In Elsie's new room, she has her own purple bathroom!

During the month of May, we worked on Duncan's new room.  The orange paint color was kept the same, but we hung new curtains, sewed a new duvet cover, picked out a matching run, and built some new IKEA furniture.

Moving to the new room meant that Duncan got to move to a big boy bed.  After a few days, Duncan learned to stay in bed.  And now he waits patiently in his bed for Mom or Dad to get him even after he wakes up in the morning.

It took a while to find, but we procured the best fabric for Duncan's duvet cover!  Lots of balls!

Smiley Duncan!!

During the months of June and July we worked on finishing up the basement and were able to close our permit after 2.5 years!!  Jack did a fantastic job on this huge project, taking the basement from concrete walls to a beautiful livable space!!  Of course, Papa Pete and J-Ma were a big help, too!  We have a big play space...

...a great new sewing and crafting space...

...and even a small kitchen.

We also added a full bathroom to the basement.

At the end of July, we started nesting, getting the baby's room all ready for its big arrival.

We had lots of laundry to do, too!!  Such cute little clothes (but so hard to fold!).

And now that it is August 10, we are just days away from delivery day!!

Here's how number 3 compares to Duncan:
http://phippsupdate.blogspot.com/2011/05/time-to-have-baby.html

and Elsie:
http://phippsupdate.blogspot.com/2009/02/overtime.html