Welcome to the family, Jackson Davis Bryan!

Congratulations to Heather and Davis, little Jackson was born on December 17th, 2008.

We can't wait to meet you little fellow! Glad that Mommy and baby are doing well.

Catching Up Part III-Happy Birthday-Giving

We tried to teach Piper to say Happy Thanksgiving, but to her anything with Happy in front of it must be a birthday, so she coined her own term, Happy Birthday-giving.

Bube and Grandaddy came to spend the whole week of Thanksgiving with us. They came in the weekend before, as Ger had to be out of town for work, and I much appreciated the extra sets of hands with the two kids, as I wasn't quite ready to fly solo with them yet.

We had a very relaxing week and even got some extra sleep, as Bube and Grandaddy stayed up to do one of Boone's feedings and also got up with Piper in the morning. Thanks Bube and Grandaddy! Grandaddy took Piper for lots of walks outside to explore, taught her to use the crow call and played with her play-dough with her. Bube made Piper a new "motts", a new hat and taught her what "tickle me soft" is, and it's now one of Piper's favorite things.

Piper tried blue crabs for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed them. She still to this day says, "I eat crabs...deeeeeelicious!". It took all of us picking crabs to keep up with how fast she was eating it. I think it's safe to say she's hooked.

Here's a few other pictures from the week.

Catching up: Part II-Boone

So here's a brief recap on the first few weeks of little Ottie Boone's life.

Our time in the hospital went very smooth and we were anxious to get home. Here's a few shots of some proud grandparents.

Piper came to the hospital to meet her new baby brother and was quite interested in him. I think she thought Mommy and Daddy got her a new doll.

We got home on Sunday, November 2 and the whole family was glad to be reunited.

We had our first doctor's appointment the next day, since Boone's bilirubin was elevated when we left the hospital. Here he is all ready for his first outing. The brown item of clothing he's wearing is actually a vest, but it's so big it looks more like a dress right now (sorry Daddy!!)!

We found out his bilirubin was still going up, so his pediatrician decided to put him on the bili lights, but offered us the option to do it at home, so he didn't have to go back into the hospital. So someone came to the house and brought us the lights and Boone got to "glow blue" for about 6 days.

He also had a tail during this same period of time.

While I think that the color blue suits him, I'm not so sure about the tail.

He had a follow-up appointment on Friday of the same week and his levels had peaked but were still elevated, so we had to continue the lights for 24 more hours and then were thankfully done. So we got the all clear and didn't have to return until his 2-week well check up.

During that same we he also had his first bath.

Grammi also spend several weeks with us just before Boone was born and after to help us out (thank you, thank you!). Fafa would come on the weekends and Uncle Fran was able to come one weekend as well. Here's a few shots from their time with us.

My 6 weeks of maternity leave flew by and I had to return to work part-time on December 15. It seemed much too soon to be away from the little guy all day. Fortunately, we got him into a daycare much closer to home, so we hope that a spot for Piper opens up very soon so they'll be together. Here's a shot of his first day and two of his teachers, Ms. Starr and Ms. Emma. He seems to be doing great so far and gets lots of snuggles from all his teachers each day.

So far Boone is just the sweetest little fellow. He's pretty easy going, loves to smile and is very interested in the world around him, particularly looking out the window. He's definately a snuggler and loves to be layered up with clothes and wrapped up in soft blankets.

Boone's also a big fan of his paci, but his busy little hands often cause him trouble as they tend to knock it out of his mouth on a regular basis. However, he's gotten quite good at holding on to it through hick-ups. Here's a little video of his new found talent.

Catching up: Part I: Piper

Piper is just continuing to grow and change.

Over the last several months, she's started talking in full sentances, which makes conversations so much fun. It's also interesting to hear her begin to express herself and participate in conversations going on around her. She's definately a talker, she generally starts talking while still laying in bed in the morning, continues all day and talks or sings herself to sleep at night.

Some of the sentances we here most often are:

What dat?

I do see Boone-Buddy (her special name for her brother).

I do myself.

Piper a silly goose.

I do eat waffles.

I close de door.

I go outside.

Her singing continues and she's learning more and more songs. Some of her current favorites are: John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt, Frosty the Snowman, Happy Birthday, 1-2 Buckle my shoe...

She's getting more and more into dress up and literally anything in the house is fair game. She's also started taking in interest in trying to dress and undress herself, so she currently spends A LOT of time at home in a diaper or half dressed, as convincing her to keep her clothes on is sometimes a challenge. Here's a few of some of her more interesting outfits lately.

While wearing her Daddy's hunting clothes, she announced, "I do unting."

We're also considering trying my goggles in the tub, as she seems to love wearing them and it might be a good compromise for washing hair, as pouring water over her head is now not one of her favorite things. Most nights she can be found hanging her head out of the tub just to avoid this activity.

On the surface the above looks like a normal shot, in reality, the "capris" she's wearing are really her little brother's first pair of blue jeans.

She also had her first haircut, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

She's also already asking to get another haircut, she tells me often on our way home from school that she needs a haircut, a trim to be exact!

She also in the last month or so has starting sitting on the potty and has actually made a few deposits while sitting! Her interest tends to come and go and we're just going with that for now, but we know she can do it, it's just a matter of working towards something more consistent. Although, we have found a new motivator recently, she's very interested in wearing big girl underwear and wants to go pick out her very own, so that seems to be her current motivation for occasionally sitting on the potty.

Piper is also very excited to have her new brother at home. She's very sweet with him and loves to give him kisses and hugs and tickle his feet. Whenever he cries she tells me "Boone ungry, Mommy, feed im". One of the biggest developments in her life as a result of Boone coming home is that all her baby dolls have officially switched from being bottle-fed to being breast-fed! As she is breast feeding her doll, she tells me "I feed baby Mommy" with a huge smile on her face.

Bube has made Boone his own set of "motts" (crochet blankets), and Piper is testing them all out to be sure they make the cut for her brother and are suitable for snuggling.

All in all, it's sweet to see her with her brother and to know that neither of them will ever remember life without the other.

Still here...just need to get caught up

Wow, can't believe it's already December 7, my how time flies. So we are busy in the midst of sleepless nights, early mornings and lots in between and the blog has taken a bit of a back seat. But rest assured, we will be back better than ever very soon, and looking forward to getting things caught back up.

Boone is here!!

Well, the Hitch family received the best Halloween surprise possible this year...

Ottie Boone Hitch was born October 31, 2008 at 2:17pm.

Boone weighed 6lbs 7oz and was 19 3/4in long.

Everything went great with the delivery and he's just the sweetest little man.

Here's a few of his first shots...

Just before we left for the hospital, around 4:30am.


First picture with Mommy and Daddy.

Happy Halloween!

Here's a shot of the family of pumpkins Piper picked out at our recent trip to the pumpkin patch.

And here's the one she made a school.

We also carved one of the larger pumpkins. Here's the side we carved.

And here's the side Piper decorated. As soon as she saw that nice flat orange surface she just knew she had to get her "cojours" out and create a masterpiece.

Supervision Required

Piper's new favorite perch in the house in on one of the stools in the kitchen. She can get up high and monitor all that's going on around her. She recently supervised Grammi making pancakes and even lent a hand with the mixing.