Grandma Jo

My mom spent the week of May 8th through the 13th here with us.  We all loved having her here with us.  Here is a picture of Carson snuggling with Grandma while holding Alex.

Mom would take the boys on walks each day.  She took Carson to preschool.  She took Alex and I to his first Doctors appointment.  She took Alex and I to have his pictures taken.  She took Andrew to soccer practice.  She played games with the boys, Monopoly below.

She helped change Alex's diapers.  She prepared meals for us.  Did I mention that she played with Andrew & Carson?  They loved having this time with Grandma.  We were all a bit sad to see her go.  Thanks Mom!!

Taking Off My Training Wheels

(I wanted to have the song Taking Off My Training Wheels by Justin Roberts playing somehow as you read this post but I can't figure out how to do that.  So if you open this link in a new internet page and click play, you can listen to this song as you read...or not....up to you!)

We were thinking that the bike Carson usually rides was looking a little small for him.  We debated about bringing up the next stage bike from the basement or taking off the training wheels on this little bike.  So we did just that, took off the training wheels on his bike. 

These pictures were taken Saturday morning May 7th.  Chad worked with Carson for seriously only about 10 minutes that morning.  He never let go of him during this time.

Don't worry, Carson was never choked or clothes lined with his shirt during this experience.  :)

And then that afternoon Carson was outside playing with our neighbor.  I looked out our front living room windows and saw Carson riding his bike all by himself!  He just took off and hasn't looked back since.  It is really kind of amazing to me!

He rides around like a wild man.  For his birthday last Novemember, Tricia & Justin got both Andrew & Carson Razor scooters.  I really think this scooter has helped Carson's balance immensely.  Or else, as my Uncle Fred would say...usually with a great deal of sarcasm,  "he's a natural athlete."  It also helps that this little bike is just that, so little.  He is so near to the ground, so he can easily start off by himself and touch his feet down when needed.  But then again, he was riding Andrew's big bike the other night!  He needed help starting off and would then ride around and would just ride up by Chad when he wanted to stop.

Remember Isaac

Please remember our good friends Rob & Sarah and their son Isaac in your thoughts and prayers.  Isaac, 5 years old, is having surgery tomorrow (June 6th) at 7:30 am to remove a brain tumor.  Please also remember his brothers too, Jonah age 7 and Eli age 1 1/2.  You can follow is journey at http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isaacsteiner/journal

Crazy Forts

I know I have mentioned Carson's love of making forts and mentioned seeing something called Crazy Forts at Barnes & Noble.  Well I found the same Crazy Forts on Amazon for much cheaper and ordered them.  And has an added bonus I had an Amazon $5 gift card from Swagbucks....have you heard of that?  I honestly can't figure out how it works, but it is an Internet site that I visit daily.  I do a few different things (answer a poll question, click on their survey site, attempt to refer people and search) all to gain Swagbucks and then I redeem these Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards.  Crazy I know, but if you are interested let me know and I can refer you.  Anyways, we gave them to Andrew & Carson "from Alex" for being such good big brothers. 

 Here is Chad building the first Crazy Fort, an igloo fort.  (ignore Carson, who looks like he is shooting at me)  All it is is these balls and sticks that you use to build the fort walls and then put a sheet or blanket over it.  One bad thing about these is I thought the boys would be able to build them themselves but it is a little too difficult but they can definitely help build.

 Building the second layer.

 And then put a sheet on top!  All done.  Carson peeking out from inside the igloo fort.

 I wanted to get a picture of the boys inside the fort.  I asked them to look at the camera...

then I asked them to look at the camera without Andrew giving Carson bunny ears...

then I asked them too at least look happy!

 and these crazy grins is what I got!

Chad even climbed inside for a minute, but I think became a little claustrophobic and quickly climbed out.

Andrew & Carson have had fun with these forts.  They have even pulled sleeping bags inside and slept in the fort overnight a couple of times!

Big Brothers

These two big brothers are the best.  They love little Alex so much.  I love the sweet way that they ask how Alex is doing.  Or how they are eager to help grab a diaper or a burp cloth or pick out his clothes - in fact they sometimes argue over who's turn it is to pick out his clothes! 

The picture on the left is from the day we came home from the hospital, May 5th & the one on the right is from the 6th.  Just 3 & 4 days old.  One day while my mom was here with us, Carson was holding Alex & sitting next to my mom in a chair.  Alex started fussing a little bit and Carson said "Here Alex, hold my finger, that will make it better."  For the first few weeks if you asked Carson what the baby's name was, he would consistently say in his sweet little voice "Alex Joseph".  Carson was also very disappointed when he had a bit of a cold and we told him it wasn't a good idea to hold Alex.  Just devastated that he couldn't love on his baby brother.

Here is Alex in his bouncy seat just 4 days old.

 

And the biggest brother Andrew with baby brother Alex.  Andrew has shown some concern for Alex.  Some friends of ours lost their 5 month old daughter this past November.  Andrew is very concerned about this.  He will often ask how Alex is doing when he gets home from school.  And has said "I hope Alex makes it out of being a baby."  So much for such a young boy to think about and process.  The first few weeks whenever Alex started crying Andrew was sure to point this out to me right away.  "Mom, Alex needs you!"  I'm not sure if he felt bad for Alex that he needed something or if Andrew just didn't want to hear him cry.  Even last night, Andrew & Carson were in bed and Alex was having his fussy streak (but then proceeded to sleep from 9:45ish until 6am!!!!).  Andrew said something like "Hey, doesn't anybody realize Alex is crying?"

Love all three of these little boys!

Life with three

When people see us now they often ask "So how is life with three?"  I think it is going ok.  No, it is going better than ok, it's going quite well. 

Is our house clean? - no
Is it at least picked up/tidy? - no way, no chance (something Andrew likes to say)
Are thank you notes written? - no, please be patient with me
Do I have lots of pictures/events that I want to post/blog about? -yes
Are there now 3 little boys who seem to be constantly telling me they are hungry? - YES!!

Alex has been a good little baby.  He is however going through a fussy streak in the evenings for the past week or two.  We can't seem to get him calmed down very easily between the hours of 7-11 (not always the entire time but at some point during those hours.) 

But then last night...let me tell you about this!  So around 7:00 he started his fussing.  I paced around the house, sang to him, rocked him, swaddled him and then took him outside.  He seemed to enjoy the hot outdoors.  We came back in and he cried some more.  Looked something like this...

During this time I wonder what is wrong.  Is this just typical newborn/infant fussing?  Is something I ate bothering him?  Does he have dairy issues like Carson did?  Or is it reflux?  On and on my mind goes.  But then at around 10:30 he settled down and then looked something like this....

so sweet.  And he didn't wake up to eat again until 5:30am!  Yes, this little 4 week old (4 weeks how can it be???) slept for 6 hours!!  I did hear him on the monitor stirring around 3:30am.  I got up and went to the bathroom in anticipation of nursing him but he never got very serious, so I laid back down.  And he must have gone back to sleep.  After nursing at 5:30 he then slept til around 9:00. (if only I could have slept til then as well but we do have 2 other boys).  But honestly I felt so good, like a new woman!  Thanks Alex!  I needed that! 
I hope to get more things updated on this blog but right now I am having a hard time finding the time to post.  Cause right now this ship is staying a float and I really don't want it to sink!  So the blog suffers but hopefully not for long!  TTFN

Alex's newborn photos

Today Alex had a busy afternoon.  We had his newborn photos taken.  You can visit the photographer's blog to get a sneak peak at a few of the photos from today's session.  Too cute! http://wilesphoto.com/blog/?p=1811

He's HERE!

Alex Joseph that is, our third little boy arrived Monday morning May 2nd by scheduled C-section at 8:50 am.  He weighed 7# 6 oz. and 19 inches. 

I was a bit concerned about the spinal because they had such a hard time getting the spinal in with Carson's birth and then I ended up with a bad spinal headache and had to have a blood patch.  But this time it went really well.  The CRNA said that the spaces in my back are really tight and he could see why they had such trouble but this time it went relatively well.

While I was taken to recovery, Chad went with Alex up to the nursery.  There they assessed him and gave him his first bath.  To me it seemed like they were gone forever.  I had only had glimpses of Alex when we were in the OR.  Here I am holding Alex for the first time in the recovery room.

My first day in the hospital seems like a bit of a blur.  The CRNA gave me some duramorph through my spinal that was supposed to give me some longer lasting pain relief after the C-section, which I'm sure it did but it also gave me horrible waves of nausea and vomiting.  And then my nurse gave me some Compazine which totally snowed me.  I was trying so hard to keep my eyes open that evening but it just wasn't working!

My parents were with Andrew & Carson and brought them down to the hospital that afternoon.  They were so sweet and so excited to see their new little brother.  Several times during our hospital stay when Andrew was there visiting, he would say "Is this a dream?"

 

My Dad & Mom holding Alex for the first time.

My parents took Andrew & Carson out for supper and to Target where they were able to pick out a little toy for Alex and they also sent up a flower arrangement for us. 

 

Chad's parents meeting Alex for the first time.

 While in the hospital this little guy was really very content.  He hardly cried.  Just slept and ate.  Chad stayed with my Monday night and during the day on Tuesday.  My parents brought the boys back to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon and then Chad took the boys home.  Chad and the boys did come back Wed. morning for a visit.  Though I missed them, it was really sort of nice being in the hospital...I was feeling pretty good by then and just enjoyed my time with only Alex.

 Me and my three sons in one hospital bed. 

Our family of five. 

 Getting ready to head home.

More to come on this sweet little one and his big brothers.

T-Ball

Saturday April 30th was the first T-ball game of Andrew's that I really was able to see.  These little 5 & 6 year olds look so cute in their little uniforms.  All decked out with ball gloves, bat, baseball hat, helmet & bag to carry it all in.  (a bit much really if you ask me!)  Here are some pics from that day.

Andrew hitting off the T.

Andrew talking to his coach on first base.

Andrew, #6, running to second base.

Andrew coming in to homeplate.

They don't really play by the rules, if a runner is thrown out, (which I don't think happens very often) they usually get to stay on their base.  Each player bats each inning.  The last batter up, all runners on bases run to home and the team in the outfield gets the ball to home and tries to tag the players "out".  Score is not kept, it's a tie each game.  But at least they start to learn the basics, where to run from base to base, where the play is at - which base, and to have fun!  I enjoy hearing Chad tell Andrew that it doesn't matter if you win or lose but it's that you did your best and you had fun....because I know he is super competitve and doesn't usually feel this way himself.

Here's one photo from his game this past weekend, May 7th.

Preparations

I had been meaning to post about the preparations we have been making for babio #3, but just didn't get around to it.

Here is a picture Andrew took of me at 37 1/2 weeks pregnant.

Below is the Pack-n-play set up in our room and my hospital bag (not packed yet)  We decided that the baby would sleep in our room until I am a bit more recovered from the C-section.

The crib in the nursery/guest room; linens all washed and the Brutus the Buckeye mobile installed on the crib.  Chad got that when we were expecting Andrew.

Also the baby car seat

Preparing for baby I got the baby clothes tote out of the basement and washed all the infant clothing.  I forgot how all those snaps & zippers sound in the dryer!  We have lots of baby clothes from when Andrew & Carson were infants, plus when Carson was a baby a friend of a friend gave us her baby's clothing.  Most of our 0-3 month clothing is winter clothing, so we have had friends and family let us borrow some summer clothing.  We are set.

On this old pie safe we have baskets of socks, baby care items, diapers, onsies, burp cloths and hats all washed and ready.

Baby equipment brought out of storage, fabrics washed and plastics cleaned.

Chad cleaned the interior of the van, moved the boys booster seats to the back row, removed one of the captain chairs from the middle row for easy entry for the boys to the back row and installed the infant car seat.

In lieu of a baby shower for us, we had a girls night out with my friends here.  We went to see Water for Elephants - really good- and afterwards went to a restaurant for appetizers, desserts and girl time chatting.  My friends have arranged for us to have meals delivered every other day for the next several weeks.  I'm sure this will be greatly appreciated!  So nice to have such a great group of friends, we feel blessed.  My friend Kim made this bouquet out of baby wash cloth. So creative.

My friend Liz made us this diaper cake.

Here I am at 38 1/2 weeks pregnant.  Only 5 days to go!

The week prior to my scheduled C-section I had an appointment for a haircut one afternoon and another afternoon I scheduled a pedicure.  I had a gift certificate for a pedicure given to me from my sister-in-law Kristy for Christmas.  What a special treat to have done when 38 1/2 weeks pregnant!

We are ready!!