Washington DC

We made it!!  We are the crazy people who take 3 kids, one who is 4 weeks old, on an airplane for vacation.  The flights were great, minus the not so happy lady who sat down next to me while Declan was crying and proceded to go on and on about how we had stolen her mother's seat and she now wasn't going to be able to get any sleep.  Chris finally stepped in and told her we didn't steal her seat, but she wasn't buying it and finally moved to another spot on the plane.  After she moved, Declan calmed down and slept the entire flight!  The big boys were great and it was actually a relaxing flight.  When we got there, we realized we had so much stuff and getting to the rental car and into the rental car was a little bit of a trick.  We had Brandon pushing the stroller, Chris with 3 suitcases, and me with Declan and his car seat trying to get to the rental car, yes, we are the rif-raf.  

We got to our friends Joel and Shauna's house in Virginia and have been enjoying the cool, dry weather and great company ever since.  The boys have been doing well, treating their 2 year old daughter Kylee pretty well (it is a good thing she is tough, she has been knocked over a few times playing) and just going with the flow.  We went to the Air and Space museum by Dulles airport and saw all of the planes, the first space shuttle, and lots of other cool things.  Tomorrow is the next part of our adventure when we head to Williamsburg for a few days.  We love vacation!!

My Big Boys

I am so proud of them. They are taking all of this in stride. They are pretty used to Declan and the way he changes things in our family, and they love him. Brandon is always talking to him, wanting to give him his pacifier, hold his finger, and he is so curious about when he will do things like talk, crawl, play with toys, etc. Ryan just thinks that everything he does is funny, and he has taken over Declan's little baby bath tub. He wants to take a bath all the time now, but only in Declan's tub. The fascination with me nursing Declan is starting to wear off on them too, they have each only asked once if they can drink milk from mommy too, ummm, no, that is for babies only. They even took Declan to donut day this weekend, the Saturday tradition for Daddy and the boys. It was so cute to watch the four of them walking down the street on the way to the donut shop. I just love my family!

Baby Paparazzi

Everyone needs a personal photographer, and I am so thankful that my friend Amy loves to take pictures so much. She has totally outdone herself getting some of the cutest shots of Declan and my family with him. She came over today and did a little impromptu photo session and I am amazed once again at her talent and how cute my baby is. I hope she never gets tired of snapping photos of him, because I am getting spoiled with all the great pictures of him, and he is only 2 weeks old. Thanks Amy!!!

Sweet Baby

Declan is almost 2 weeks old and he is a dream baby. He is content and calm, a good sleeper, great at snuggling, and just perfect for our family. I guess third children know that they need to be good and give their poor parents a break. I know he may not stay this easy going, but for now, we are really enjoying it and just thankful that he has made it so easy to have 3 boys. He even likes playing the Wii.

He's Here!!!

Declan Jacob Topf arrived at 12:32 pm on Thursday. He weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces, oh my gosh, he is huge!! He is almost a whole pound bigger than Ryan was, and he was two weeks early, I guess he would have weighed 10 pounds if we had waited until his due date. And, the other surprise is that he has light blond hair. None of us can figure out where this kid came from. Anyway, he is soooo sweet, so snuggly, so cute, we are in love, love, love with him. His big brothers have welcomed him about like we thought they would...Brandon was very skeptical and stand-offish for the last few days, but finally held him last night, and Ryan was thrilled that he was here and told me, "Mom, thanks for having baby Declan." He wanted to hold him right away and even helped give him his first bath in the recovery room. I will now just give you pictures since I know that is the reason that you are all here. We are a very happy Party of Five!!