Brooklyn Joyce Baldwin

Brooklyn Joyce Baldwin was born on September 15 at 7:43 A.M. She was 6 lbs 14 oz and 19 1/4 in long. She's absolutely beautiful. Everything with her birth went well. After they cleaned her up and brought her to me she was very awake and looking all around even with the very bright OR lights. Her brothers and the rest of the family met us in the recovery room. Blake was instantly into checking her out and Ben was unsure at first. I think he was more worried about why mom was in a hospital bed with all these wires connected to her. He definitely warmed up when the boys came to visit later on in the day. Brooklyn and I made the most out of our hospital stay. Our nurses were great and took good care of us. Her jaundice levels were a little high and her weight had dropped a lot, but both issues resolved themselves pretty quickly. We enjoyed many visitors (which I will blog about next) and my dad made sure I was supplied with many outside meals to avoid the hospital food. Blake and Ben loved to come visit us and hold their little sister. Ben was definitely glad to be able to claim the title of Big Brother. The hospital stay was great, but it was nice to get home and begin a new chapter in our lives as a family of 5.

Here are some pics from her birth and our time at the hospital.





















Blake taking a picture of Mom and Dad with Brooklyn


Mom and her 3 precious kiddos







About to head home


First car ride

First Day of Kindergarten

Blake started Kindergarten on Aug 24th. He was very excited to start school. He is lucky to have 4 neighborhood kids and 1 boy from soccer in his class. This is really crazy since there are 7 Kindergarten classes. His teacher is Ms. Wolfe. I have only heard great things about her, so I'm excited and happy to have her as Blake's teacher. I handled the big day ok. I know he is ready and will do great. His school day is very long, 7:45 - 2:45 so we do miss him much of the day. Ben really misses having his brother around after having such a fun summer. We also have had to adjust to the earlier mornings and look forward to the weekends much more now. I can't wait to see what this year holds. I know Blake will learn and grow so much this year!

The brothers. Ben wasn't too happy about the photo op.

Blake and Ms Wolfe

Blake's 6th Birthday

Blake turned 6 on Tuesday, August 11th. I still can't believe that I have a 6 year old. Time really does fly. What a fun 6 years!!

We celebrated his birthday all week. On Monday, I took the boys to Build-A-Bear to make our very first bears. They enjoyed getting to pick everything out. I did manage to get them to pick out different bears from each other, but their bears have the same Dallas Mavericks uniform. They weren't really cooperating for a picture.


On Tuesday, Blake got to choose where we would eat for dinner and Dickey's it was. Kids eat free on Tuesday so this was an added bonus. After dinner we came home to open a few presents. The presents were opened after having a bath, so that is why they are in the underwear. I wasn't a big fan of this, but was too lazy to walk back upstairs and get some clothes.

On Wednesday, we met Blake's friend, Hayden, at Amazing Jakes for some pizza, rides, and games. Blake really liked the bumper cars and riding in the rockets.


Then on Saturday we had his party at Planet Pizza with a few friends. It's an indoor amusement park with rides, games, and a big soft play area. Everyone had a great time and it wasn't too stressful on me!

Riding the ship with Grand. This was before the ship really started going. He wasn't all smiles then but did ok. Ben on the other had was rather upset. Needless to say, the Baldwin boys didn't ride the ship again.


Blake and Walt on the roller coaster

Brent, Mr Mike, Blake, and AJ on the bumper cars
Carly, Brynna, and Addy

Hayden
Blake and Taylor
Brother Air Hockey game


The Tiger cake Blake picked

Blake has brought so much joy to our lives for 6 years. We enjoy seeing his personality develop and can't wait to see what the Lord has planned for his life!