January Sunshine

Yesterday was a beautiful day outside, especially for January.  Thank you God, you knew just what I needed on a Friday after a long week of being couped up in the house with the kids!  We went outside and played for a couple of hours and the boys were running around finding dandelions that were hiding in the yard.  Who knew that dandelions could still grow under the right circumstances in January???  Learn something new everyday!  Maybe God will bless me with a couple more of these glorious days before spring comes.

Meet Mr. Sleep Sheep

The youngest little guy got a new friend for Christmas, the "Sleep Sheep".  Oh and let me tell you...he's not only a friend to the baby, but to mommy and daddy as well.  Who knew a furry little sheep could help him sleep so well.  This soothing little companion has 4 different sound settings: rain (which sounds rather annoying to me), ocean (baby's personal favorite!), stream (pretty relaxing), and whale (now this one's just plain weird).  I've been thinking that when we take our annual family vacation to the beach this summer, baby will probably sleep the whole time because the ocean sound and sleep now go hand in hand for him.  Anyways, I do highly recommend a sound machine for anyone who has a newborn with difficulty sleeping at night, it has been a lifesaver for us!

Yep...He's a Keeper

I could just stare at this tiny face all day long, and I practically do, in between cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, diaper changes and chasing the other two around!  We have all fallen in love with our newest addition.  Since my older two couldn't be more different, it is exciting to think about who he will become and what type of personality he will have.  What we've gathered so far is that he is quiet...well, kind of.  He doesn't cry often, but when he does it has the loudest volume I've heard from his age.  I think he's just competing with the general volume level of our household, which tends to be at a pretty high level.  So I guess you could say he is already adapting pretty well to his surroundings...Yep, he's a keeper!

Christmas Card Fun!

Every year since my oldest was born, I take pictures of the kids and have them printed on Christmas cards.  Each year as I add children to our family and they become more mobile, it becomes increasingly difficult.  This year I worked on the portrait over the span of 2 days...enough said!  I probably took over 50 pictures and in each one at least one of the boys was crying, blinking, picking his nose, hitting his brother, etc. I finally gave up and settled for the above picture, the one below is an example of a reject!  I have a whole new respect for professional photographers!

Baby Boy's Arrival

Our newest addition is finally here and we couldn't be happier.  On November 28th my big pregnant self rolled out of bed the best I could and thought, "wow, I've lost control of my bladder... great!"  When you get to the end of a 9 month pregnancy and you are about 50 pounds heavier with raging hormones and a signature waddle when you walk, not much comes as a surprise, including loss of bladder control.  The more steps I took the more I lost control and it only took me a few steps to realize that it wasn't my bladder, but my water had broke!  I was extremely excited as it was becoming increasingly difficult to await the arrival of my new little man.  We headed to the hospital around 11:30.  I wasn't having many contractions on my own, so around 1 o'clock they induced my labor and the game was on!  A few hours into labor I recieved my epidural at 7 centimeters and within 30 minutes baby boy was born after about 10 minutes of pushing.  There is absolutely nothing like that first glimpse of your baby...NOTHING!

Sunday Morning Secrets

The boys woke up early Sunday morning before church and came toddling into our room to make sure we were up too.  The hubby and I were both trying to get ready so I put the boys up on our bed and turned on some cartoons and they rolled around and played for about 20 minutes.  It melted my heart and this picture says it all.  Amidst all their usual fighting, pinching, hitting, knocking down and screaming at each other, it reminds me that they really do love each other!  Or, they're just forming some sort of alliance before the third boy gets thrown into the mix!

Halloween fun

I'm a few weeks behind on blogging, but I've finally mustered up the time and energy to make a new post!  Myself, the boys and the hubby really got into the Halloween festivities this year.  The oldest boy decided months before October that he wanted to be a pirate and since I love a good theme, I instantly decided they had to go as Peter Pan and Captain Hook.  Since I'm not one of those to make elaborate home-made costumes, and since every store you went into from Septemeber on had a wide variety of Pirate costumes, we went with some store-bought pirate garb that my mother-in-law found on clearance.  Now, the Peter Pan costume was a little trickier.  I looked everywhere and had no luck on a tot-sized Peter Pan costume.  I finally found the perfect little hat at a party store, ordered some green tights on-line and cut up a green t-shirt and brown felt for the rest...and there you have it, an adorable little Peter Pan, red hair and all!  Under my food/flowers/favorites tab you'll see some pics of the spooky treats we made for dinner on Halloween night.