·:[ David and Claire’s Blog ]:·
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I have purchased a new house this week. I admit it is a kit house, but still it’s a quaint Cambridge Cottage (SKU#CB633B48). Brynn loves it, and has been playing in it in the backyard the last couple of days.
My mom is in town this week, and by popular demand I have added some more photos of Evan, Brynn, and the rest of us. I hardly make it into any photos myself, being behind the camera most of the time, but who wants to see me anyway? I have been cooking up a storm lately, and it has been quite relaxing and therapeutic. When you’re cooking, and especially with 3 or so courses, there really is no time to think about anything else. So for a couple hours that’s all you’re doing and everything else doesn’t matter or exist. And I really like the challenge of making it all end up ready at exactly the same time. Tonight I made a Bolognese sauce, as I wanted to use up a ton of vegetables that we bought at the farmer’s market. This week I have made Cod Creole, ginger pork tenderloin, and leg of lamb. I found some new ways to cook butternut squash on the grill as well.
There’s some real cute photos of Brynn holding Evan, so make sure to check them out!

I just added some more pictures of Evan to the Gallery. And I threw a few in of Brynn for free!
Now if Brynn could just understand that I was up late doing this, and it would be nice if she could sleep in tomorrow…

Well Evan is now officially more than a week old. The little differences between Brynn and him are starting to show. For instance Evan doesn’t particularly like the swaddle. When we do swaddle him, he fights vigourosly to get his legs out and cries a lot. With Brynn it was the only way to get her to sleep. Evan sleeps all the time, and is a very snuggly baby. Brynn slept a lot, but not all the time, and when she was awake she was very active. Evan likes to just chill on his mommy’s chest listening to her heart beat. I think he has a low voice like mine, but Claire is not convinced. Evan seems to have more arm control than Brynn did after one week. He can already suck his thumb, and he can pretty much hold his head up, although I wouldn’t say he can lift it up yet. He can definitely shake it back and forth no problem.

 Another amusing difference is spit-up. Brynn was never a spitter so we are used to just slinging the baby over our shoulder for burping purposes, without worrying about our clothes. Evan, on the other hand, is a major spitter-upper and we can’t seem to remember to keep burp clothes handy. All our clothes have little puke stains on the shoulders.

So it turns out that Brynn, Evan, and myself are all born in May. I had a good birthday today. A healthy, happy, hungry baby is a great present too! So far Evan is behaving quite well. He eats and sleeps, and that’s about it. He doesn’t even poop that much at this point. While I’m anxious to speed up time and see the person he will become, I also want the opposite- to freeze time and enjoy him just the way he is now, as it won’t last forever. I have taken more photos of him that I will post here and in the gallery tomorrow. He is definitely the victim of second child syndrome, but at least I’ll try to have as many photographs as the first child! The whole deal is a lot less stressful now that I somewhat know what to expect and what is normal. Claire is still recovering from the delivery, but getting better every day.

Evan Connor Valentine has arrived!
He’s a boy, 8 lbs even, 20 inches long, and born at 12:30 PM today!
Mommy, son, (and dad) are doing well.