April Phone Favorites

April was a pretty busy month in this Tobler home, so naturally we have quite the lengthy round up of phone favorites!

Double fisting shakes like a champ!

 Working that play doh extruduer like a boss!

My darling friend Anna came to the house and decorated our driveway for our homecoming with Leif. Unfortunately it rained the night before we came home so it was gone when I arrived at the house. I am so glad that Mom Tobler thought to take pictures! Thanks Anna! You're the sweetest!!!

Home from the hospital and snuggling with my big boy!

Milk drunk!!! Can I please freeze time?!

First time Duke held Leif.

Loving on baby brother!

My boys!

This boy is classy!!!

I have quite the over supply and am feeling a bit like a jersey cow! I am so thankful for the ability I have to feed my baby. This is what I pumped in conjunction with nursing in two days. the bottle furthest to the left is from one side. After one week I have 120 oz in the freezer. I am very blessed!

I nurse and I snuggle all day long and it's fine by me. My house isn't a big fan but I can't get enough of this little man!

First time wrapping him to my body! I'm a huge fan!

Snuggles and smiles!

No caption necessary. Hahaha.

Jakob's CFA survival kit that the company gives him. It's crunch time people!

I asked E to "babysit" Leif while I put some laundry away. So he decided to decorate him. It was hilarious!

And that's a wrap April. Now time needs to slow down so I can enjoy this stage of life! Things are just zooooooming! Only two more weeks and the kids are done school?!? How can it be summer already?!

Jakob's Hair Chop

Jakob has been growing his hair out for several months now. But there comes a point where it just looks scruffy. He was in desperate need of a hair chop. Mom to the rescue! 

He wanted it long on the top and clean and tight on the sides, so we had to get creative when keeping his hair out of the way. 

All done! It needs some goop in it but I like it so much more! Now just to grow it out another few inches. Thanks Mom!!!

So Thankful

 Just writing this post has me in tears. My heart is so full of gratitude and appreciation for Mom Tobler and for her never ending love and service. When we found out we were pregnant I was a bit worried. I have never had a baby without Mom Tobler in the same city as me and I was concerned about doing this without her. Mom gladly said she would come help without any question. She never complained or let us know that we were inconvenient. She arrived and essentially took my burden of being a mother and a wife onto her shoulders. She cleaned, did laundry, hosted company, cooked, shopped, toted kids too and from school and was at the demanding call of the children all day long.

Not only did she play with the kids but they did fun activities like playing in the sand box, coloring eggs, going to the park,

 playing games, coloring, 

dancing, reading stories,

 walks, fire pits,

 building train tracks and most importantly building a relationship with my children. 

 I was so worried that I would get postpartum depression again. I had it pretty badly with Duke and I was terrified of the thought of having it with Leif. I don't like asking for help, I'm a fairly independent person and when I had Duke I wanted to do everything on my own. In my mind I had to be super Mom taking care of everything as if nothing had happened or changed or else I didn't feel that I had the right to be a mother to two children.

This time around however I knew that things had to be different, that I had to be different and that it was OKAY and a GOOD thing for me to just relax. Mom calmed me, took care of me and essentially saved me from myself. I don't think she meant to do anything special, she was just being herself, but to me it meant the world.

Thank you for all of your love and help Mom. I can't explain what it meant to me or to my family. I feel fantastic and I attribute and large part of that to you. We sure do love you and are excited to see you again in a few weeks!

Dukes Hair Chop

Spring has arrived and that meant that it was time for Manny's big hair chop. I have so many mixed emotions about cutting his hair. I adore his long hair, it's wild and messy and it really just suits him. Plus playing with his hair is irresistible!

But once the heat comes, he gets hot and it gets sweaty. It had also gotten to the point where it was always in his eyes and he was tipping his head back to see through his bangs. 

 We are not big fans of cutting Manfred's hair. He is terrified of the buzzer. It is a two person job... at least! So while Mom Tobler was here we decided to get it over with. I sat and held Manfred while Mom buzzed. He screamed so loud I honestly thought that someone would call social services. It was heart breaking. Poor boy! There was hair everywhere. Quite the massacre!

His luscious locks!

He wasn't really into posing for a picture but he looks so different! All grown up. We sure do love this sweet boy! He looks good no matter what we do to his hair ;).

Which One is Which?

 I always thought that Duke and E looked identical as babies and now looking back, I see similarities, but there are obvious differences. I wish I would have gotten the same pose for each baby to compare and that Leif wasn't scowling in his picture but it is fun to see the three of them and I am feeling that Leif and Duke look a lot a like. 

What a lucky Mama I am. What do you think? Which ones are most alike?

Newborn Photo Shoot

 It's funny how one's perspective changes over time. When E was born I wanted all of these photos with all of the props and we took almost 1,000 photos and in the end my favorite picture of her was simple, black and white, just her without any props at all. 

 For Duke's a used very few props and for Leif, I used one. I just wanted clean, simple photo of just him and I think that is what I got. Now here are a few of my favorites. Also note how that boy has *no* booty at all!

 I so wish he would have shown off his dimples a bit more. They are my favorite feature!

 This is the only photo a got in the pose because he moved as soon as the shutter clicked. I think it is one of my favorites though!

 Turtles are kind of my thing and now that Daddy works at a company called Tortoise Capital Advisors, turtles have become even more of a thing in our home. I really wanted to get a picture of Leif in the turtle outfit and frame the pictures of Duke and Leif as turtles for Daddy to put on his desk at work. 

 My next favorite baby feature is tiny toes!!

 So grateful for Mom Tobler who captured these last two shots!

We are so in love with this beautiful little man!