What Day Is It?

I'm going to be straightforward- I have more or less lost track of time.  Dave was home for a few weeks to help get everyone adjusted and to be home for the holidays.  He went back to work this past week so it was my first real test of being with the boys all day long by myself.  I figured I could handle it, but my one big worry was that the boys would wake up that first morning of Dave going back to work and just freak out that Daddy wasn't around.  I made sure that Dave gave them ample warning to help everyone adjust to his return to work.  Anyway, we survived.  The hardest thing to deal with is that the boys run wild when I am nursing Zeke- they know I am in a compromised position and they take full advantage of that.  Little stinkers.  The other hard thing to deal with is that Ethan has had a cold the past few days.  I've been trying to limit Ethan's contact with Zeke, but that has been almost impossible- Ethan just loves holding and kissing and hugging Zeke.  So at this point I'm just trying to get Ethan to not cough or sneeze directly on Zeke.  Yikes. One bummer about having a winter baby.  Oh well.

Look at my boys! I'm so proud of my family....

Zeke

Christmas Zeke

Evil Genius Zeke

 

Zeke is now 3 weeks old.  We're starting to get to know him.  Zeke is the noisiest baby we've had. Emery was positively quiet- he never cried. And I thought Ethan was a noisy little man, but Zeke has got Ethan beat.  He squeaks and squawks at everything.  We've started calling him Zeke the Squeak.  (By the way there are way too many nicknames that go with the name Zeke- it kinda cracks me up).  Ezekiel looks a lot like Ethan did when he was a baby, but it looks like Zeke may have light eyes instead.  The first week with Zeke we were up until 2 am just trying to get him to go to sleep (he'd wake up as we were getting ready for bed).  Now he's settled into a much more decent routine.  Starting next week we're going to try to get back on our old routine of getting the boys into bed early and we'll try to get Zeke into bed at the same time.  (Right now I'm still in the mode where I like him in whatever room I am in at the moment).  Ethan and Emery are doing great with Zeke as well.  We were wondering how Em would do with a new little brother and Em is great with him.  Em just likes to sit and watch Zeke sleep and he's really good about being soft and giving Zeke little kisses. It's quite cute.  And Ethan just loves crawling all over Zeke. 
Anyway- December just passed so quickly.  My sister, McKenzie, flew down from Portland for the weekend before Christmas.  The original plan was that she was going to come down for the delivery (it was kind of fun to be holding Zeke on the day we had been planning on him arriving).  We had so much fun hanging out and she got to spend a lot more time with the boys. She was also there for my fancy Christmas dinner.  We like to have a fancy dinner on Christmas eve (this year we did it on the 23rd so McKenzie could be there).  It's kind of my thank you to our family members for all of the love and support over the year.  Plus it's just kind of fun to set the table with the nice dishes and make a big deal out dinner. I also grew up doing the fancy dinner on Christmas Eve so it's my way of continuing that tradition.  Our newest addition to that tradition is sitting down and watching Muppets Christmas Carol with everyone in front of the fire.
Christmas was amazing.  It was so much fun to have the boys looking forward to Christmas morning.  Getting the boys into bed the night before was pretty much a nightmare, but the following morning was great.  It's also probably the last year we'll be able to sleep in (the boys were up at 7:30 am).  We started Christmas at our house and then went to Grandma's for brunch.  Christmas dinner was up at Dave's sister's house for Spanish Dinner- my favorite dinner of the year.  We have Paella, Croquettas, great bread, etc.  I'm drooling right now just remembering it.  It was a quieter dinner this year- all of the cousins are getting so much older so they run upstairs to spend time together leaving the adults to talk. 
And that pretty much brings us up to the present.  We're probably not going to do anything for New Year's Eve (the other night I was passed out on the couch by 9.30) so it will be a quiet weekend (at least Dave will have another 4 day weekend- I am seriously spoiled by the holidays). 
I think I am adjusting well to having three kiddos now.  Well 2 kiddos and a new born.  I'm not much of a morning person on a good day and the idea of being up with a baby throughout the night and then waking up at 6.30 AM with the big boys sounded a little daunting, but we've been making it work (big thanks to Curious George on Netflix and my ipad).  I've been enjoying my maternity leave as well- I know it will go too quickly, but oh well.  I've been doing all the random projects that I think about throughout the year but never have time for.  If I knew how to finish a basement I'd probably be down there framing it if I could. :) It's been fun being able to play with the boys as well and not have to worry about fitting in a few hours of work amongst the housework and regular life activities.  The being said, I'll still enjoy going back to work.  Have I mentioned how awesome the people I work with are?  Since I've been with VOA I've gotten married and have had three kids.  My coworkers have thrown me a wedding shower (even though I'd only been there for a month at the time) and a baby shower for each of the boys.  One of my coworkers mentioned throwing me a baby shower for Zeke and I told her if I go to another baby shower for me it will be handing out the baby stuff, not the other way around.  So for this baby shower instead of getting baby stuff my coworkers got me a gift certificate for a 2 hour massage- so awesome! I'm seriously blessed to have such a wonderful place to work and to be able to go work with such wonderful people. 
Oh and today I took all three boys to Walmart- by myself. :) It went pretty well- and I didn't cry this time. The first time I went to Costco, Dave went with me and it took 2 carts and 2 adults and by the end I still felt overwhelmed.  As we sat down for lunch afterwards I burst out crying in my pizza (so embarrassing!) but it was kind of my wake up call that my much loved routines were going to have to change.  Anyway, I think I'll survive 3 boys. :)
Well- now it's on to January and 2013.  Crazy. I remember the craziness of celebrating the New Year for 2000 (as a senior in high school- so young!) and now it's 13 years later and it doesn't feel like it's been that long.
Enjoy the pix of the boys!

Em watching a movie (I just thought it was so cute the way he was cuddling with the pillow).

The boys playing a game together.

We found Em curled up next to Ethan one night.  I just thought this was so darling.

Ethan and Zeke checking each other out.  Ethan was just laying next to Zeke, but Zeke rolled up on his side to get a better look at Ethan.  Ethan switched sides and Zeke rolled onto his other side as well.  Super cute. 

Zeke and Auntie McKenzie taking a nap together. 

Look at that boy! Still hasn't lost his hair (hopefully he'll keep it). 

These boys were curled up together on the couch watching a movie-

they're actually sharing a blanket too!

Em dumped out Zeke's clothes, dragged this into the bathroom and played in it while Ethan was showering. 

Daddy and Zeke.

It's a baby!

Surprise! I am writing this blog post with a fresh baby in my lap.  Really.  He wasn't supposed to be here for another few weeks, but I am so happy to have him sitting here with me.  Our newest family member is Ezekiel Christian- born at 12.01.  He weighed in at 7 lbs, 4 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.  A good size and weight for an early baby. :) And fun fact?  We decided months ago that we wanted to name him Christian after Dave's brother, and they now share a birthday- how's that for timing?
Last week was an interesting one- I think I subconsciously knew that Zeke was going to be coming along because I started doing all the little things I had been putting off (except for things like cleaning my house- oh well).  One night I woke up in the middle of the night completely uncomfortable- everything hurt. I spent most of the night awake just wondering if I could please be done with the pregnancy already.  That day Ethan and I got the last of the baby stuff done- we packed hospital bags for me and Zeke, put up the bassinet next to my bed, and made sure everything like that was ready to go. 
The rest of the week was just me maintaining- not really having the energy to do much, but still trying.  The day I went into labor, we had gone to the Aquarium with a friend of mine that had just had a baby.  It was fun to get out of the house.  I had been wanting to take the boys out for one last "field trip" before Zeke arrived and it turned out that the Aquarium was it.  We had lunch at the Aquarium and then wandered around and looked at all the fish (I was really just trying to wear the boys out so I could go home and sit on the couch for a while).  When we got home, I got my much needed couch time.  And I realized that I had been having contractions- consistently.  I chalked it up to being maybe dehydrated or worn out from the Aquarium.  Then they got a little more intense.  I sent Dave a text message asking him to make dinner that night because I just wasn't feeling up to it.  I mentioned that I was having some painful contractions, but nothing to get worked up about.  Dave elected to come home early and relieve me of the boys so I could rest.  Finally at 4.30 I decided that maybe I should start tracking the contractions.  Just for fun.  I wasn't convinced I was in labor.  Turned out that I was having contractions every 3-4 minutes and they were getting more uncomfortable.  I just didn't want to get everyone excited, show up at the hospital and be told to go home because it was either false labor or too early to do anything about.  Dave cooked dinner and I ate mine, his, and the boys.  I also mentioned that we'd probably be going to the hospital that night.  Dave was shocked and asked me how often my contractions were happening.  I told him every 3 minutes and they were getting more painful and Dave was not pleased- he thought I should have mentioned something earlier. :) (maybe I should have?) Anyway, my mom came over, we grabbed our bags (good thing we packed them earlier that week) and took off for the University Hospital. 
Dave drove like a demon to the hospital (I'm glad it was 6.45 and not rush hour traffic).  We got there and got up to the labor and delivery triage area.  I was initially dilated to 2 1/2, maybe 3 cm.  I wouldn't be admitted to the hospital until I was a 4 (that's when doctors consider you in active labor).  I had to wait an hour (a very long and painful hour) to be checked again.  Thankfully I was a 4 at the point and was admitted.  Then I had to send out the texts that I was having a baby that night.  My little sister was supposed to be there for the delivery- we had it all planned out- she was going to fly down the day before I was induced and was going to be there for the whole thing.  The hardest thing was letting her know Zeke was coming early. 
Labor progressed really quickly.  At 11.30 I was a 7 and my water broke.  That's when things got crazy- even though I had an epidural the contractions were still painful- the pain meds just couldn't keep up.  I had told the Doctors earlier in the night that I thought Zeke was going to show up at 12.02 AM and they laughed.  They thought he would be here earlier than that.  Anyway, within 30 minutes of my water breaking Zeke arrived.  I was right- Zeke arrived at 12.01.  The doctors all teased me that I was holding back just so I could be right about his arrival time. :) If anyone had told me that morning that I was going to be having a baby that day I would have just laughed.  We were totally surprised by this little boy's early arrival.
Anyway, Saturday morning was followed by a second surprise.  My first visitors of the morning were not the boys like I had been expecting.  Instead, my sister, McKenzie, (who was supposed to be flying down in a few weeks) and her husband, Doss, walked through the door (I could almost start crying again just recalling this).  When my sister got my text she was just crushed- we had both been looking forward to her being here.  But Doss was like "why don't we just drive down there?" Neither of them had to be at work the next day.  So they left dinner on the table, packed up their dogs and got on the road.  They drove through the night so that they could be there in the morning- I had no clue.  They were the first to hold Zeke after Dave.  I was so completely thrilled. 
Next Dave showed up with the boys.  We knew Ethan was aware that Zeke had arrived but Dave & I were both curious about Emery's response.  Both Ethan & Emery climbed up in bed with me to meet their brother. Ethan was so happy to finally meet Zeke and to be able to hold him. Ethan was talking about how excited he was to be able to play with him and do "Ring Around the Rosie" and hold him. I thought it was really cute when Ethan asked who was in my stomach now and if Zeke would go back.  Emery was fascinated with Zeke- he was very soft with him and did want to be close to him and look at him.  He also wanted to examine his little brother by poking him (this has now been upgraded to petting and saying "soft" at the same time).  It was very darling to see all of the boys together. 
It has been an amazing weekend and now we're all home together, learning how to be a family.  Dave has the next few weeks off.  The boys have been loving it and I have been loving it.  Zeke is a great sleeper during the day (if only he slept at night like he does during the day).  So I have been up pretty late at night with Zeke and Dave has been letting me sleep in.  Dave has also been distracting the boys for me when I am feeding Zeke or trying to take care of myself.  It will be hard to see Dave go back to work- the next few weeks are going to go way too quickly. 
We (Ethan and I) took Zeke in to the doctor for a wellness check this morning.  Both Ethan & Emery had to spend time under the bili lights and I wanted to make sure Zeke was doing okay.  Zeke had also lost close to 10% of his weight after his birth so I wanted to make sure he was getting it back.  Good news- Zeke gained a whole pound in like a day so now he's back to his birth weight and he won't need the bili lights either.  We've got a nice healthy boy!
Anyway, I am thrilled that my little family is complete now. It is going to be so much fun to watch these boys grow up together.  And given the time of the year, Zeke's birth hits home in a special way- it helps to drive home the message of Christmas and helps me to really think on the Lord's love for all of us.  I don't think I ever really understood the Lord's love for us until I had a child.  Now it seems that I am so much more open to lessons and learning and what the Lord is trying to teach us.  Dave and I have had so many conversations where we have remarked about how we understand so much better what the Lord is trying to tell us or how patient he is with us now that we are trying to teach our own children.  And with Ezekiel's birth so close to Christmas- just thinking of a baby Jesus and precious and innocent that little baby is- it really helps to open my heart to the meaning of our celebration.  And it makes me admire/revere everyone involved in that momentous undertaking.
And that is our little boy. :) Oh by the way, fun fact about the boys' names: Ethan means Strong, Emery means Home Strength and Ezekiel means the Lord with Strengthen.  I just love how each of their names is tied together. 
And now for pictures!

Meeting Zeke for the first time.

One proud daddy.

One surprised followed by another- Zeke meets Auntie McKenzie

The first family photo with Zeke.  Time to retake all of our Christmas photos. :)

Ezekiel Christian meets his name sake- Uncle Christian

We actually got Uncle Doss to hold Zeke for a little bit. :)

 

This big brother is totally in love.

Thumb sucker.

Grandma and Zeke

So glad Zeke decided to arrive on Friday- ahead of the snow storm that followed. 

Up at the U it looked like a blizzard (this was the view from my room).

Wide eyed and bushy tailed.

Em loves his little brother too. 

Look at those skinny legs! Such a tiny baby.

I'm still stuck in November...

I didn't post last Sunday, so that means I have two weeks of catching up.  Not that there has really been that much interesting that has been going on in the past few weeks. 
We did have Thanksgiving, and that was pretty awesome.  We made the long trek across the street to my sister's house.  :) I made my favorite side dishes and she made the Turkey.  That is an exchange I am okay with.  Anything to put off doing the Turkey another year.  It was fun to spend the afternoon with my family (we do Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve Dinner with my family and big Spanish Christmas Dinner with Dave's family so we never have to figure out where we're going to be).
And that was followed up by Black Friday.  Dave and I aren't ones to really do the whole "Black Friday Shopping" thing, especially since it started on Thanksgiving Day this year.  But we do like to slip out after the crowds are down and see if there's anything left that we might be interested in (namely socks, yes, it's lame, but I love that Smiths has socks for 50% off).  I guess I'm lying- this year, Dave and I did have something on our list for the Black Friday shopping (and the timing was good too).  A few weeks ago, while I was up trying to handle a temper tantrum from Ethan, Emery decided it would be a great idea to steal my hot chocolate and drink it over my lap top (my fault completely for leaving my mug of hot chocolate sitting next to my lap top).  Enough was spilled over my lap top to kill it.  I turned it off and set it aside to dry, but the damage was done.  When I finally booted it back up the keyboard was dead, but I was able to salvage my picture files before the computer died completely.  So, long story short- the Black Friday deals for laptops came at a convenient time and I was able to get a new one without a hiccup in my work schedule. 
Last week was rough.  Dave had a 5 day weekend so I knew it was going to be hard for the boys when he went back to work (not to mention hard for me).  Sure enough Tuesday was pretty rocky.  And Friday was another rough day- the type of day where I couldn't pinpoint where everything went wrong, or specifically what was wrong, it was just a crappy day.  Know those kinds of days?  I think I gave up halfway through the day and just went into survival mode- made sure no one was going to kill themselves or someone else (myself included) and basically did the lowest level of required parenting.  I definitely don't get any stars for Friday.  One of the best pieces of advice about parenting I've heard/read has been that your perfect or ideal day is a moving target- your best may not be the same from day to day.  I really try to keep that in mind when I think about what a crappy mom I am being on a specific day.  Not as an excuse so much, but as an I'll get this tomorrow type thing.  I'm sure that will be my mantra once baby #3 comes into the picture. 
And life goes on... We're officially getting ready for Christmas and doing the last of the baby things that need to be done.  The room is now ready (more or less) for it's new occupant.  Ethan is super excited and keeps throwing toys into the crib for the baby.  Ethan also found some sheets of felt that I had used for a project once and made a baby blanket. I thought that was super cute.  I still need to pack a bag for the hospital (not that I am expecting an unexpected trip in the middle of the night) and I need to get the bassinet set up in our room.  I started stocking up on diapers as well... So, short of baby arriving, we're good to go on that front.  We asked the boys the other day if they were ready for another baby brother- Ethan was excited and Emery fervently shook his head no.  I am really interested in seeing Emery's reaction once he meets the baby for the first time- especially when baby comes home with me. 
And we are more or less ready for Christmas.  Friday (my most recent crappy day), Dave came home and treated us to dinner and took us to buy our Christmas tree (we still do a real tree).  It actually helped turned my mood around significantly.  We got the tree up and in water on Friday night and decorated it Saturday morning.  We then tried to take our annual Christmas photo in front of the tree and couldn't get a good one of the all of us together.  I really hate having my picture taken when I am so pregnant.  There's never a good "angle" or "side" or whatever.  I'm just all over fat.  Everyone else looked great though. 
Anyway.  So the boys are doing great.  Emery is seriously getting like 3 or 4 teeth in at the same time- he's got 2 molars coming in and 2 front teeth.  Poor kid.  Em has become the master of crawling into bed (between Dave & me) without waking either of us up.  It's really hard to get him back into his bed when we do wake up and he's snoring away between us (I'm too tired and I just don't care and/or he just looks so angelic laying there that it seems mean to move him).  I tell myself we're only going to be able to snuggle like this for a few more weeks so I am trying to enjoy it. 
Ethan is a spitfire.  What a boy.  He can be an angel one moment and the beginning of a bad day in the next.  I need more sleep or patience or better parenting skills or something.  Dave took Ethan Christmas shopping for Emery's Christmas present last weekend.  I've really been trying to push to spend more individual time with each of the boy- I guess start good habits now?  They seemed like they had a great time. 
Oh, my one attempt at good parenting this week- I took the boys to the Discovery Gateway on Thursday.  Ethan used to have such a good time there and I was thinking it would be a fun little adventure for the boys while we could still easily go.  I used to like the Discovery Gateway- last winter we had a 6 month membership (we usually just go when it's cold out), and Ethan and Emery seemed like they had so much fun.  The membership makes it worthwhile to go- we had to pay the full price at entrance (and I even had a coupon for a free admission) and it's just overpriced (in my opinion).  Ethan was immediately bored and kept wanting to go on to the next thing.  I felt bad for Em who was just trying to keep up with Ethan.  The one thing that held Ethan's attention at all was the helicopter outside.  I think the next time we go back it will be with just Emery and Ethan can stay home. 
And now that it is December it means I can count on my fingers and toes the days until this little one arrives.  I am okay with that.  But to be honest I am having some anxiety about that.  I think that's pretty common though.  And the worst of the pregnancy symptoms have been setting in- the swollen fingers and toes, the fat face (and body), the insomnia at night and lack of energy during the day.  Oh boy, I am just a general mess.  And to throw in 2 little boys at the same time... Yikes!  To all of my friends that have 4 kids- I have no clue how you do it.  Congratulations, you are a better woman than me. :)
Dave's 2 classes are coming to an end- Dave has one final this upcoming week and the other final the following week.  He is looking forward to the break between semesters.  We're still discussing the plan for him for the next semester.  He is hesitant to have to attend class on campus (as opposed to online), but it might be a necessary step.  Wish him/us luck.  That could be interesting. 
Oh- and I sat in on Dave's primary class today.  It is always so amazing to see Dave teach.  He is really amazing at it.  You can tell he has that spark that makes a good teacher.  The kids listen and respond to him.  I also have to say that the kids in our neighborhood are amazing.  Seriously, I couldn't have hand picked a better group of kids for my boys to grow up with/around.  It's one of those blessings that almost takes my breath away when I think about the alternatives and just how lucky we are.  There's a little girl in Dave's class that my boys are just both totally in love with.  It's so funny... they both totally light up when they see her in the hallway at church or when she's walking around the neighborhood.  It cracks me up.  And she's great with them- she always talks to them and helps Dave & me out with them if the boys try to run off. 
And now for pictures...

The boys counting the change we saved up all year for Christmas.

Flowers from Grandma and Grandpa for my birthday

Ethan setting his own table for Thanksgiving.

Daddy Time- Emery is totally passed out.

Discovery Gateway helicopter.  

Daddy sticking the lights on the tree.

Ethan & Emery contemplating ornaments

(for every ornament that Emery put on the tree, he took down 2)

Finished Christmas Tree.

Ethan & Emery were totally stoked to see Grandpa.

(Em's new trick is that he loves taking off his pants- I have the hardest time keeping them on him).

 

Our attempts at a Family Christmas Photo.

Grandma & Grandpa with the boys.