October 28-31, 2011

Such a fun fun weekend.  I love having special things to do and I love our family.  So put them together, and it's a great combination. 

Friday I had Erik take off work, since Sam had the day off school and his family was coming into town that day.  And that evening was our ward Halloween party.  The boys were super excited to dress up.  Owen's favorite thing about his costume was his tail.  Anyone who talked to him over the next 4 days while he was in costume heard about it.  "Ha, yeah, I got a tail, see it's right here."  I was surprised how often I had to explain that Em was a wizard.  Whatever.  The boys were so well behaved all night.  They waited in line patiently for chili and hots dogs, ate their dinner, helped clean up, sat perfectly still and listened intently to the police officer's safety speech, and followed the crowd nicely during the trunk-or-treat.  It was particularly fun for me to watch Owen, who took it all in silently and seriously, but very keenly aware of everything that was going on.  It was great to have Erik's parents with us there, too.

Saturday afternoon the Mutters arrived.  We had first planned to go up to Thansksgiving Point for Cornbelly's then decided to stay local.  We went just up the street to Jaker's Pumpkin Patch, where they had two different sized mazes, a hay pyramid, a petting zoo, corn pit, and a tractor ride.  We got some pumpkins, then spent the rest of the day at our home and in the backyard.

Sunday was the reason for family being in town.  At church, Emmett was given a name and blessing by his father, with both of his grandfathers, and a few close friends in the circle.  Afterwards we had all of our family and friends over to our home for a little brunch.  It was so fun to have everyone together to celebrate our newest little guy.  I was once again very touched by how much love and support our friends and family offer us.  We are so so blessed.  But gosh darn it, we didn't get a single family picture.  And I only got one picture of Emmett at that!!  Kind of makes me a bit sick to my stomach actually that I missed out on that big time.  But at least we still have the memories, right?!

That night, Sam and I figured we had better carve the pumpkins.  Erik was at a church meeting, and Owen wanted nothing to do with it.  So Sam and I had ourselves a grand ol' time.

Then Monday was Halloween!!  I seriously love Halloween.  We had one last gymnastics class that morning, then Sam went to school.  A bit later, the other two boys and I met him there for a Halloween program.  It was silly but sweet.  Samuel was so very concerned I wouldn't be there.  When I came in, I waved to him, but he must not have seen me, because when they all stood up to start, he was very close to tears and said, "But my mom isn't here yet!"  So I called out, "Of course I am, I'm right here Sam!!" and that time he saw me.  And the relief that washed over his face might have made my heart flutter a bit.  So after the program and sharing treats, we decided to visit Erik at work.  Erik was cute, and took the boys around to show them off.  Some of the ladies thought they needed to give them candy, so it was a good start to the trick-or-treating.  One guy thought they needed a trick instead of a treat, so he gave them each a whistle.  Yeah, thanks for that! 

At home again, we made dinner and waited for Erik to get home.  We gobbled down our pigs in a blanket and set up the tripod super quick so I could have at least one picture of all 5 of us from the weekend.  Definitely not our best.  But whatever.  Erik took the two older boys out trick-or-treating.  I wish I could've gone, too, but we figured it was be best for me to stay home with the baby and hand out candy.  Once they got back, Samuel and Owen were both just as excited to hand out the candy as they'd been to get it.  By 8:30 the candy was gone, so we turned off the lights and enjoyed a little time going through the loot before sending the hopped up boys to bed.

October 9, 2011

Oh this squishy little baby.  We love him so so much.  His tummy still hurts him, but not near as often or as bad; it's usually just for a bit before bedtime.  He has really good awake time, and will hang out quietly in the bouncer, swing, or playmat for good chunks of time.  His neck and back are getting very strong.  He holds himself up great.  He has found his fists and loves to devour them.  He drools.  He blows bubbles, and both of his older brothers think that's funny and worth pointing out every time they see it.  He coos and makes sweet noises if you're listening for it.  He has such a darling smile, and always has a big one for his daddy when he comes home.  If you're lucky, you might get to see his squinter, where his fat smiling cheeks make his eyes squint almost shut.  And ooooh those cheeks.  Mormor called them bulldog cheeks.  I could kiss and nuzzle them all day long.  There are still a few 0-3 month sized clothes he fits into, but just barely.  He slept in his own room last night.  It was time.  But still a little sad to let him go . . .  you know, clear to the other side of the hall.  He doesn't have a good nickname yet.  I'm working on it.  Sweet smooshy little Emmett M.

I went a little crazy with the pictures.  Then I couldn't bear to edit any out.

Two months stats: 12 lbs 15 oz (62%) and 23 inches (75%)

Samuel 2 months, Owen 2 months, Emmett 2 months.

September 9, 2011

Remember when I told you what a sleepy baby Emmett was?  And how he hardly ever cried?  Yeah, that was soooo two weeks ago!  Poor little Em is gassy gassy gassy gassy gassy!!!  He has much more awake time now, but I spend most of it soothing him or trying to calm him down.  Bummer.  I'm watching closely what I eat and so far I don't see any "trends" so if the unhappiness continues much longer, I'm going to have to buckle down and start cutting things out to see if I can peg what's hurting this little babe so much.   His sleep is still awfully inconsistent and completely unpredictable.  Nights are rough.  Emmett is often up every two hours or less.  But at least he goes back down pretty easily, except for usually one time during the night when it's the gas keeping him awake.  Then he can be up for an hour or so before settling down and going back to sleep.  For another 90 minutes or so.   

But when he is awake and content, Emmett is a darling beautiful so so cute little boy.  Emmett changes more and more each and every day.  And guess what?  He might even be a bit chubby.  Seriously!   He is smothered constantly by both of his doting big brothers.  His favorite place to be is up on someone's shoulder.  He likes to look around and track things with his big blue eyes.  He has started cooing and making sweet noises.  He makes funny faces.  He also smiles!   Real smiles.  And boy, do they melt our hearts!  We like this baby.  A lot. 

I saw a largely pregnant lady tonight.  I've almost forgotten what that was like.  In only two weeks. 

Little Emmett M. has changed so much.  I swear he changes a bit every day.  We have decided that above the nose, he looks like Owen.  Below the nose he looks like Sam.  And that solid nose is all his own.   

Seriously, check out that schnozzer.

Emmett has really started to "wake up."  He is still a very sleepy baby, although there is also still no consistency or predictability to it.  But his awake time is much more alert and aware.  His eyes are so bright and he's really starting to take things in.

Tummy time!

Emmett makes all sorts of cute faces.  He raises his eyebrows, crinkles his forehead, and even gives us funny little smiles.  (The gas kind, right?  Because when I kiss his little neck and tell him I love him, he can't possibly be smiling for real.)  Though not nearly as much as the first few days he was born, he still makes cute little popping sounds with his mouth.

Emmett really isn't a crier.  He starts to fuss when he's hungry, or when he wakes up and we wait too long to get him.  But really, he is our mildest baby so far.  The most I've heard him cry was on the way home from picking up Grandma B at the airport the last 15 minutes, and today at his check up when he got his tongue tie clipped.  (But it was being held still and the doctor's hand in his mouth that made him mad, because as soon as he was done and back up, he was totally over it.)

Emmett does this awesome poop dance.  He starts squirming and making noises while his tummy churns, then his whole body kinda jumps, his arms and legs stretch out right on cue with the big rumble in his diaper.  I don't know why I think it's so funny, but it's made me laugh out loud at 3 am.   

Of course I am forever scarred by my first two underweight children and my crazy psychological issues, so feeding/eating is a constant anxiety.  I cry to Erik almost every day about having to poke and prod Em to practically force him to eat, and why won't my babies just get big and fat, and why can't this part ever be easy, and blah blah blah.  Well, at least my crazies were put to rest (for now) at Emmett's appointment today.  He weighed in at 8 lbs 13 oz and measured 21 inches.  Everything looked great and checked out fantastically! 

Emmett is really really cute.  We like him a lot.  Two weeks down.  We can do this.

I am alive.  My kids are alive, too.  All three of them.  I'd call that success for week one.  Nevermind that my mom was here the whole time, and Erik has only been back to work for 2 days, and we've had dinner brought in two nights in a row.  I'm still counting it as score ONE for Al-dawg.

I can't decide who Emmett looks like.  When he was first born, all I saw was Owen.  But then I'll look at him and see nothing but Sam.  So I guess for now we'll just say he's a good little mix. 

Emmett is a sleeeeepy baby.  I have to wake him up regularly to feed him.  I have to poke, tickle, and pinch him to keep him awake while he eats. He will sleep in the swing, in his carseat, or in his bed.  He has had a few very awake periods, usually once or twice during the day.  Then he has a fussy period at night, anywhere between 10 and 2.  He pretty much wakes up every 3 hours at night to eat.  But really, right now there is no schedule and it's pretty much unpredictable.  But a sleepy baby is an easy baby, and makes the transition to being a mom of three kids fairly painless.  So far, anyway.

Life IS still very different around here, especially now that Erik is back to work and we are in between Grandma visits.  Samuel and Owen are used to doing something every day.  Sam has asked me so many times, "So what's today?  A pool day?  A park day?  A friend day?  A field trip day?"  Uhhh . . . how about a stay at home and watch TV and then a movie and then more TV day?  I have been so thankful for friends willing to borrow Sam for a bit, and also for a big backyard to toss the boys into when they need something new to do.  But I do feel pretty guilty about how boring our life has become.  My poor neglected bored unstimulated kids. Oh, and let's not forget over-tired.  Very very over-tired.  Their naps and night times have gone all wonky, too.  Sigh.  I'm sure we'll figure it out eventually.  There's always week two . . . or three . . . or . . . you know.

No one would have made it out alive this past week without Mormor.  She did way more than just hold my cute baby.  That just happens to be one of the perks of being a grandma.

Sleepy sleepy.

I love how interested both of the boys are in Emmett.

Owen has gotten a lot more Daddy time than he's maybe used to, but when Mom isn't an option, Dad isn't so bad.

"Om nom nom."

First bath at home.  No pics of the actual bath.  It was very fast.  He pooped.

"Yeah, I'm the easy one."

August 9 – August 11, 2011

38 weeks 5 days.

So Erik wrote a great account of the birth day.  If you haven't read it yet, CLICK HERE.  He did a great job with all the details.  When Erik gave me a blessing the night before, he mentioned that I would be able to get through the trials of the day.  I figured it meant the trial of birth, not the trial of sitting around waiting to give birth!  It was a long day, and so different from each of the other two experiences, but I like that each boy gets his own special story.  It was really strange to be prepared for it and not be going to the hospital in the middle of the night.  My body is pretty speedy at this labor stuff (once I'm getting my pitocin) so again, they took me off it.  With the other two births, things stopped moving along, though, so they put me back on.  This time, I didn't need it once I went off.  So the last little bit was all me.  Also, this time around, they put Emmett on me right away, and Erik got to cut the cord.  Niether of those things has happened before, so that was really neat, too.  We had some really nice quiet time in the delivery room afterwards, just the three of us, before we all took Emmett to the nursery to get cleaned up, and then got myself dropped off in our new room. 

Snuggles, before and after a little clean up.

Getting a bit cleaned up, and weighed.  He was so so tiny to me.  I thought he was like 6 pounds.  I couldn't believe when he weighed in over 8!

I did it!  And look what I got for it!

In the nursery.

Sweet moment.  Love this new baby.  Love this man.

I really enjoyed the hospital stay.  In fact, I was really looking forward to that special time.  With Samuel, we booked it out of there pretty quick.  No reason for us to stick around.  With Owen, we took our time, recovered and relaxed a bit, then headed home after our 48 hours were up.  I wanted to do the same thing this time around.  Erik was so great complying with all my requests and sleeping on that horrible pull out chair for two nights.  My mom was spectacular to care for the two olders.  The boys visited me both days in the hospital.  I can't tell you how amazing the moment was when the door opened and Erik walked in holding a big bunch of balloons (that my mom and the boys had gotten the night before), and each boy came bouncing in with a present for the baby (also something my mom did with the boys) just grinning and staring at Emmett and me with big wide eyes and huge grins.  Each boy got a chance to hold the baby, and we visited for a bit before Emmett had to head to the nursery and Erik took Sam and O home for lunch and a nap.

O wasn't quite sure what to think at first, but once he saw Sam totally comfortable and at ease, he was ready for his turn.

Very interested in the diaper change.

Quiet time with Mom.

Erik went home and brought the boys and Mormor by to visit me in the hospital again the next morning.  Then we spent the afternoon checking out, and getting a nap in ourselves before leaving the hospital.  The evening was pretty low key at home.  And dare I say, normal.  Emmett is really such a good little baby.  And a sleepy baby!!!  He is sweet and snuggly and oh so kissable.  Both of the boys are smitten by him.  And so are we.  Happy little party of five! 

Several times I would need to pass off Emmett, asking Erik to either hold him or put him in the baby bin.  Erik always chose to hold him.

First photo of the FIVE of us.  Pretty sure I love how crazy and not perfect this picture is.  That's just who we are.  And I love it.

Getting dressed!

Just waiting for the nurse to discharge us.

Going home!!  Hope you're ready for this, Emmett M!