Six weeks in.  This is our life.  And we are still adjusting.  To say the least.  I feel like I should have the hang of it by now.  I definitely don't.

Over the summer I got so used to doing posts about all the things we DID.  Well, we aren't really DOING anything these days.  These long, never-ending, tedious and tiring days.  Yeesh!  

But I still take pictures.  And have to blog them.  So here they are.

I set down the little chub monster for a minute, and was surprised to come back and find him asleep.  He's cute.

Samuel is a very kind and attentive older brother.  He loves doting on Em, and he is great at teaching O a thing of two.  Like how to turn anything into the drums.

Finally got some chubby smiles on camera.

Samuel has been fascinated by climbing trees for a long time.  He has expressed often how disappointing it is that we don't have any climbing trees in our backyard.  One afternoon, he came running inside bubbling over, "Mom, Mom!!!  I finally learned to climb one of our trees!!  Hurry, you got to come see.  But first, I need to get some protection for my eyes.  It's very dangerous work to climb trees."

Owen loves to "cuh-der."  This day, he was seemingly inspired by my spray painting mat on the driveway.

I love those smooshy cheeks.

Chubalubs still hurts a lot.  He has good days and very very bad days.  Erik is good at calming him down and comforting his bubbly little tummy.  But you can still tell he hurts.

Did I mention he's chubby?  Scrumdiddlyumptious.

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!

The Christmas Post and VIP Christmas Program now available with video.  My cute kids.  In live action.  Love them.

It’s been a great summer.  We’ve had a month of swimming lessons, weekly playschool, daily trips to parks all over town, and one big camping/boating adventure.  We’ve had visits to the childrens’ museum, 2 dinosaur museums, 3 different canyons, Jumpin’ Jacks, Seven Peaks, Thanksgiving Point, the aquarium, the parade, the carnival, the zoo, the reservoir, the movie theater, the farm, and a few different pools.  We’ve had countless popsicles, picnics, barbecues, water parties, play dates, ice cream cones in the car, fireworks on the driveway, and lazy days watching movies with the AC blasting. 

But now the nights are cool, the mornings are getting darker, the days are pleasant, and the tan lines are fading.  Preschool starts next week, gymnastics starts the week after, story time starts back up at the library, and the Primary Program is fast approaching.

So we say goodbye to Summer.  It’s been a good one.  We’re sure going to miss it.

Lots to catch up on.  5 posts to follow.  Hopefully a couple more coming soon.

Lots have been asking, so here’s an easy outlet to fill you all in.

The boys and I have been in Colorado with my parents since Tuesday, and it looks like we might be here at least until next Tuesday.  So, what I’m reporting is just what I hear . . . I’m sure Erik can give you a better run down with more details.

The bathroom vanity is still out in the loft, but putting it back is all that’s left for the master bath. 

Our kitchen floor has been replaced.  The appliances (dishwasher, fridge, and stove) are all sitting in the front room.  

Right now, the dry wall has been replaced, patched, sanded, and textured.  It was supposed to get painted yesterday, but the crew got caught up on another job and never made it.  Erik has taken on the task of painting himself.  And the sweet sweet man let me choose a new color, instead of just color matching like the restorers were going to do.  So that means, instead of just painting the spots that were cut open, Erik is painting the entire downstairs.  Love him. 

A crew is coming in next week to replace the carpet pads.  Now I’m just trying to convince Erik we might as well bite the bullet now and get new carpet.  Just drops in the bucket at this point.  It’ll have to be done before we move anyway.  He’s not even close to being sold on the idea.  [*Edit to add* Um what?  Erik's out carpet shopping right now.  Wahoo!!]

Then comes the clean up crew to fix up the carpets (wouldn’t need to do that if we had new carpet), dust, wash, whatever.

Ideally, this will all be done by Wednesday.  Sure am looking forward to having my house back!

We’re still adjusting around here.  But really, things are going better than we could have hoped . . . one of the bonuses for keeping awfully low expectations!   I miss my blog, but let’s face it, I’ve got priorities.  Here are some pictures from the last 2 1/2 weeks that I threw together while Erik and Sam ate pizza on paper plates for dinner.  Like I said, we’re still adjusting.

Owen’s first bath; a family affair.  We didn’t fight Sam when he insisted on being naked, too.

Big Brother Samuel helping out Little Brother O: holding him, testing out his toys, and poking him in the face.

More sleeping Owen.  Though his sleep patterns are so random and unpredictable, we can almost always count on finding him in some funny, awkward position.

Our family of four, plus the heroic, life-saving Grandmas!

Owen loves to suck his fingers, loves to chill, loves to make funny faces with his pretty lips and blonde eyebrows, but does not love being in his carseat.

Lots more to write, hopefully I’ll get to it soooometiiiime!!

I was 3 cm 80% effaced.  Baby is still sitting super high, which makes me super duper uncomfortable.  Lots of “contractions” but not the ones that are going to do anything.  Blah.  Had a good freak out moment last night, so I took off to Target for almost 2 hours to unwind.  Felt lots better with a renewed sense of optimism by the time I got home.  I love Target.

Today . . . who knows?

Buuut . . . I am 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced.  Who knows, those stats don’t necessarily mean anything.  Doc did tell me when contractions start getting regular to pretty much come right in, since I had a quick 6 hour labor with Samuel (and it was only that long because he wanted to come out waving, so I pushed for 2 1/2 hours).

Still at least 1,872 things left to do and get ready before baby comes.  But I’m thinking 2 weeks tops.  Ack!!

They go a little something like this.

And Sunday afternoons are for blogging . . . at least THIS one was.  Lots of posts to follow.