early outings

kara wanted to take advantage of grandma carole's 9 day visit to practice an outing or two with the new family. we took a short trip to one of kara's favorite nearby places, brookfield zoo.

harry and the penguins

kara figured the 3:2 ratio of adults to kids would equal a successful, take-it-easy trip. jude enjoyed his time with grandma and daddy but for kara the trip revealed how difficult or impossible this outing would be without them.

family at the zoo

she spent the first 30 minutes nursing and changing harry in a convenient private area of the children's zoo. still to be determined is how in the world she can occupy jude during the time harry needs to eat on the go.
fortunately the issues did not need to be solved on this trip. after a pleasant picnic lunch, jude had fun following the over/under path of a free roaming peacock.

jude as peacock

a few days before we managed a simple walk around the block.

trial run of new stroller

the short outing was a good chance for kara to get fresh air and break the cycle of nurse, sleep, eat...and for the boys to try their new double stroller.

the new way we roll

we decided to go with the baby jogger city mini double. at 27 inches wide it fits through most commercial doorways and it is compatible with our maxi cosi carseat.

1st walk, 8 days old

harry was underwhelmed by the whole thing...he slept the entire walk.

let's compare

it was special to bring baby harry home in the same outfit worn by his brother jude when he left prentice hospital back in 2008. here's a look at both:

baby harry

baby jude

harry ready to go

unhappy jude heading home

2008 leaving the hospital with judeready to load harry

more visitors

when we talk about folks meeting harry, we can't forget about george the dog. poor thing already went through the huge transition of jude. and now he's been kicked out of his sleeping spot in our bedroom for the baby bassinet once again.

seems wrong to call these cat naps

George is handling it all remarkably well. he came running if harry cried for the first day or two but now he seems to take it in stride. we are still working on where he sleeps at night. its some combination of the living room, the bathroom rug and occasionally crammed next to our bed.

among the other special visitors in the early days, grandpa scott and nana jane.

with 4 day old harry

we are grateful they could make the trip from champaign to meet the newest addition to our family for several hours. grandpa scott resisted the temptation to 'check harry's hips'.

who is bigger?

who is bigger...doll or baby?