Daddy and Addie’s first game from Ellen Strong on Vimeo.

Steve and the dogs take a walk around the neighborhood every morning, and prior to Addie, I joined them on the weekends and in the summer. (Turns out Rogan’s summer walking speed is well suited to a nine-months-pregnant woman’s pace.) Before Addie was born, we wondered how the dogs would adjust to strolling beside a stroller. Answer? They are oblivious, as long as they get to spend some quality time at their favorite sniff spots.

Addie has gone for a walk every day since she turned three days old. She loves her comfy stroller (thanks Nana and Grandpa Strong!) and with the cold front that blew through Austin this week, it’s been cool enough to sneak out for a second walk mid-morning without the dogs. Below is a photo of Addie in her preferred walking gear: the SwaddlePod.

Steve and I are out on our first date post-Casey, with Casey! He seems to be enjoying his first visit to Barnes and Noble…hopefully just the start to his (future) love of reading.

Now that Addie’s cord has fallen off, we’re starting to transition into using cloth diapers while we’re home. So far, so good. Plus, they make a little bit of a fashion statement since most of the time she’s just hanging out in a diaper. Since we don’t have the jean diapers this is the next best thing!

Little does Addie realize how precisely she is measured, monitored and tracked. Since her birthday, her every move has been logged into Total Baby, an iPhone app Ellen uses to keep track of her. Here’s her first week of inputs vs. outputs:

Based on these metrics, it looks like little Addie should be posting some big weight gains!

We’ve been so lucky to have our family in town to welcome Casey into the world. My arms will get quite a workout soon, though, because he’s been held and snuggled constantly for the past week! Here are some of his biggest fans.

Here’s a few photos from Addie’s birth day!

Addie had her first sponge bath on Friday night! We did our best to make it as painless as possible: the kitchen was toasty warm thanks to the presence of Steve, Em, Grandma, and Ben, not to mention the brownies baking in the oven. Still, she wasn’t the biggest fan and our grand plans for a luxurious sponge bath quickly turned into a hurried rush to wipe her down. Once she was bundled up in her hooded towel, all was well again. We’ll try again tomorrow…

Casey Strong Connor was born at 9:15am on August 9, 2010 (8/9/10!). He came into the world with some healthy lungs that were promptly shared with us. After laying on Mom for a bit, we got him weighed and cleaned up. He had his first meal shortly thereafter as Grandma Strong and Auntie Em welcomed him.

After making footprints and wrapping wristbands on all of us, Casey went with Dad to the nursery to get his first bath while Mom was moved to a recovery room. Bath time involved more lung exercises and plenty of compromising photos of a bubbly baby. After some time under the warming lamp, Dad and Casey rejoined Mom and the family.

Great Aunt Jeanne joined us to say hello to the new family member. Cousins Katie and Megan brought lunch for the family and kisses and cuddling for Casey. The party died down mid-afternoon and the newly-formed family bonded while feeding and testing out newly found diaper-changing skills. Day drifted into night but the routine seemed already well-established as Casey settled into life in the outside world.

We were given the stamp of approval to leave the hospital on 8/10 after Mom and Casey got a clean bill of health. We headed home around 6:30pm after rush hour died down.

Casey was greeted by a welcome party at the house. Aunt Beth and Austin had just arrived in town and were staying at a neighbor’s house for the week. Ben and Rogan, newly-displaced pet-children charged the door as they hadn’t seen Mom and Dad for a few days. After some quick dog playtime in the house and through to the backyard, Casey was brought in and onto the dining room table. Ben promptly began a nose-led mission to determine the source of new smells and sounds emanating from the carseat. Little did he realize that this small bundle would cause the demise of his household title as most-cuddled/coddled. Rogan was next. True to form, he furtively licked any baby body part he could readily access.

With dog greetings done, we prepared for nighttime, something that used to consist of darkness and sleep but is now occupied by an eerily similar schedule to daytime. Welcome home, Casey!