Samuel's Newborn Pictures

These pictures were taken when Samuel was two weeks old by my amazing friend Caroline:

Isn't he a doll? He's just as sweet as he looks.

He smiled at me!

At the end of a very long, difficult day (and probably the beginning of another long, difficult night), Samuel smiled at me! And it was beautiful. I know babies aren't supposed to be able to smile quite this early, but I'm positive that he smiled deliberately at me. I was holding him on my lap facing me, and we were looking into each other's eyes, and his binky fell out of his mouth. I smiled at him, and he slowly, sweetly smiled right back at me! It was so heartwarming, and such a relief after a hard day. I felt so thankful.

Two-Weeks and Twenty-Two Pounds Later

Samuel was 7 pounds 2 oz. when he was born, and I was anxious to find out how much weight I lost in the delivery. The fact that I couldn't zip the second-trimester maternity jeans I'd tried to wear home from the hospital probably should have tipped me off...but still I was optimistic and excited to find out how much weight I'd lost! So as soon as I got home, I stepped on the scale, and found out that I'd lost a grand total of...drum roll please...SIX pounds! What?! How does that make sense?!


Anyway, I was pretty disappointed to say the least, but in the last two weeks (and three days), I've had better luck. In fact, despite the inevitable difficulties I've had nursing the little guy, he gained a whole pound by his two week check-up, and I'd lost over 20 pounds!


In other updates, Samuel is a little angel. He only cries when he's hungry or sleepy, and he's very easy to comfort. He watches us curiously when he's awake. He rolled over from his stomach to his back twice today. Tommy and Joey love his "funny hair" and his tiny feet that sometimes wriggle their way out of his pajamas. We just adore him. It's been a typical tiring first two weeks (thank goodness we survived), although he's not as distinctly nocturnal as the other boys were. We've received a lot of service from friends in our ward and from our parents, which has been great. Tommy and Joey have been pretty wild and unruly, but we attribute that just as much to being couped up in our house in these sub-zero temperatures as to the arrival of the new baby. Jon is really enjoying his new job, and I'm enjoying having him home during the afternoons.


Here are a couple of pictures...and we'll have some darling professional newborn pictures to post soon.

Typical Joey

The Greatest Blessing Has Arrived!

Announcing Samuel Jonathan Holt! Born Thursday, January 6 at 9:10 pm after a quick, painful labor. 7 pounds, 2 ounces, Very cute, Eats and sleeps like a champ (so far)! We adore him!

Speaking of blessings...

Jon got a new job!!!

He'll be starting Monday morning as an in-house attorney for an energy software company called Open Access Technology International (OATI)! We got the news two days after Christmas and are thrilled! Thanks to all our family and friends who have shared their support and prayers over the last several months.

In other news, we had a very enjoyable Christmas. We celebrated Christmas Eve with Jon's sister Rebekah and her family. The kids acted out the nativity, with Tommy playing the part of Joseph and Joey playing a shepherd. They were so reverant and cute. We spent all of Christmas Day at home relaxing with the boys and their new toys. Jon accomplished his one goal--to stay in pajamas all day long! The only drama of the day occurred late in the evening when we thought Christy was going into labor. The contractions stopped at about midnight, though, and we have no new baby yet.

Here are some recent pictures of the season. Hopefully they'll convince you all to move to Minnesota!

On a recent warm day, I finally took the boys outside and Joey spent the entire 45 minutes riding his trike up and down the driveway...he'd REALLY missed it!
Tommy, on the other hand, spent the entire time climbing and sledding up and "over the hills of snow." The snow banks are so deep that he even managed to play atop our mailbox (until I made him get down)!

Just for the family record...the boys' presents from Santa this year. Of course, they ran obliviously past them Christmas morning to get candy canes off the Christmas tree!

Our traditional visit to Culvers to see Santa this year went much better than last year. Notice both boys are smiling! (Joey was still a little hesitant until Santa offered him a candy cane. Then they were the best of friends.)