Yesterday we had our first outing as a family of four. We went to the National Zoo and followed it up with a trip to our favorite Mexican restaurant, Cactus Cantina. The trip went almost too smoothly and we had a blast! We were joking that everyone should take their 8-day-old baby to the zoo. Harper spent the entire car ride there talking about the “tigers,” but we arrived 15 minutes too late and the exhibit was closed for the day. However, much to our surprise, the new indoor panda habitat was open and Harper spent literally an hour running from panda to panda shrieking with delight. She brought along her stuffed panda (free with our annual zoo membership) and was so excited to see a real live one that looked just like her toy. She was even grabbing random strangers and pointing aggressively at the pandas until they acknowledged them!

Roman was quite a trooper and slept almost the entire time. He woke up briefly in the panda habitat and I had the pleasure of nursing him while standing up (thank God for air conditioning!) After pushing two gigantic strollers uphill in 90-degree temperatures, and we are now very excited to purchase a double stroller:

Today I took both kids to the pool – my first trip out with both of them. Luckily our pool is less than a mile from our house, so it really wasn’t a huge deal. Harper was very glad to get out of the house for the afternoon, and Roman slept in the shade the entire time. Harper was so excited when we arrived that she jumped right into the pool with her shoes on!

Harper also decided that it was perfectly okay to throw a towel into the pool, and added extra water just to make sure it was soaked:

Today Roman is officially one week old, and what a week it has been! We came home from the hospital on Monday and immediately found out what it is like to be a family of four. We spent the first few days at home helping Harper adjust to not being the center of attention. She is very sweet with her “baby Ro”, but has been expressing a little attitude that is, shall we say, less than perfect. Luckily a few minutes of Sesame Street usually puts her in a better mood, but we are trying not to overuse the TV. Each day has been better than the one before, so I guess we are headed in the right direction.

La La stayed with us until Thursday and was not only a huge help with Harper, but also prepared enough food so that I won’t need to cook for several weeks – hallelujah! Portman worked at home most of the week, and then went back to the office on Friday – my first official day on my own. It was actually a lot easier for me to be by myself with both kids – it was more “normal” for Harper to have a quiet house, and I liked figuring out a schedule that will work for the 3 of us.

So far Roman has been an amazing baby. He is incredibly easy going and has not had a single crying fit yet. He sleeps well at night, only waking up to eat, and then falls right back asleep. I can honestly say that it was harder being pregnant than it is having him at home! I’m still waiting for the bubble to burst and for him to scream all night, but so far so good.

So… onto the photos. The only downside so far is that I have no time to take photos of the kids. I can see why 2nd, 3rd, and 4th kids have fewer and fewer photos and often don’t get a baby book. It’s really hard to keep up with! There are lots of photos on SmugMug, but here are a few of the best ones:

Harper testing out the bouncy seat, for old times’ sake, and trying on Roman’s new outfits from Aunt Jenn and Uncle Dave:

Last night we went out for spicy Thai food, and just like last time, that prompted a speedy and efficient delivery, cementing Caitlin’s title of “Pregnancy Barbie”. At 10:58 AM on Saturday, July 19, 2008, after only eight minutes of hard labor, the latest installment in the Wills clan was born. It happened so quickly that we didn’t have a name for about four hours.

However, once we got to know the little guy, we settled on Roman Patrick Wills.

Mom and baby are doing well. Harper is loving life as a big sister, although I think that’s because her 18-month-old brain has not yet fully processed how much her world is about to change. Roman is sleeping, eating, and acting exactly like a ten-hour-old should.

Photos are being uploaded to SmugMug as you read this.

I finally had a chance to go through the photos from the past few months and there are several new galleries on our SmugMug site. I also realized that this may be the last time I upload just “Harper” photos, since in a week or so there will be 2 of them!

Feeding Ducks

Harper – June Photos

July 4th Weekend

We spent July 4th weekend in Wintergreen with La La, Big Daddy (aka Pop Pop – we can’t decide), Portman’s mom (Nonna), and Uncle Julian. It was a beautifully cool, quiet, relaxing weekend – just what I needed with only 2 weeks to go! Harper was in heaven with a much larger house to explore, and La La bought her a new stroller for her babies, which kept her occupied for hours. Here is a photo summary of the weekend, starting with Harper and Portman’s venture into the hot tub. Harper kept declaring that it was “hot” (duh) and opted to sit on the edge and eat a chip while Portman soaked:

We made a brief appearance at the Wintergreen July 4th Festival, where Harper had her caricature made and we attempted face painting. It turns out she does not like strangers painting her face, so we ended up with a very small star instead of fireworks:

Harper played a lot of “bonk” with Pop Pop and spent some time trying on her daddy’s clothes:

The highlight of the trip, for Harper, was definitely her new stroller. She spent hours and hours pushing “Melmo” around the house and the deck:

Finally, as we were packing up the car to leave, we plopped her on the deck with a basket of La La’s curlers, which as you can guess were a huge hit:

More to come, including a video of Harper dancing with the singing gopher from Caddy Shack…

Harper really likes to climb into small spaces (cabinets, bags, baskets) and last week I caught her attempting to stuff her entire body into a vegetable colander. She actually managed to get both of her legs into it!

Earlier in the month I found her eating her snack in a basket in the living room:

She also, as I’ve said before, is very into dress-ups and pretend games, and waltzed into the kitchen the other day wearing a beach towel as a super-hero cape. I guess that’s better than wearing my underwear around her neck!