Picture-less Post

TODAY Jonathan took some adorable pics of Jay in his new embroidered onesies from aunt Kim but it's late and I have a low battery so I will post them tomorrow.

This morning Kelsey arrived in our bed at 5:30AM to request for more apple juice. We operate a full-service, open 24/7 kitchen around here, you know. Daddy was in the shower but she waited for him to get out. Then he left and she took his spot on his side of the bed. It actually worked out well, because she didn't wake Calla up this morning. (Normally Kelsey wakes up Calla as soon as she is up.)

Calla took advantage of the lack of alarm clock...and slept until 9:45! Crazy!! After 13 and a half hours of sleep, she should have been ready to learn how to read or recite a chapter in Romans or something. But she settled for eating cereal at 10am. Nice life, Calla!

This morning the girls played in their sandbox...it was a hot, sunny day. It is such beautiful weather! I am not looking forward to fall.

My friend Kate had asked earlier this week if Calla could come over this afternoon for a playdate, so we decided to meet at the park across the street after lunch and let the kiddos play before she took Calla home with her.

Calla and Kelsey held hands as we walked over. We were about ten minutes late, which is going to be a theme in my life I feel. We were actually on pace to be early, but then Jay woke up hungry and had to nurse. I feel like I've never been a punctual person anyway (kids or no) and so I don't get too stressed out about it.

The park was fun but got hot fast. I put Jay in the bjorn and he was a big fan - fell asleep right away. Kelsey Mae got sad when Calla left with Braden and Kelsey Ann. She kept saying, "Me? House?" (As in, "Can I go to their house, too?") I cheered her up by promising her a popsicle after we walked back home, and she seemed to think that was worth cheering up over. She even went down for her nap very easily, and slept two hours.

I hung out with Jay this afternoon and pretended he was my only child. I've been reading a book my mom gave me by Dr. Dobson called "Bringing Up Girls" and realized that now I'm going to have to buy the "Bringing up Boys" book. Oh brother! (-:

Kelsey woke up from her nap and shortly after we left to pick up Calla. Jay was awake in the car, but only started fussing the last thirty seconds of the drive. So I nursed him while Calla got buckled in and by then he forgot why he was sad. I put him back in his seat and he fell asleep on the way home.

We pulled into our driveway right before my friend Kris dropped off dinner for us. I feel like it was yesterday that she had her son Ben (her fourth) and I was dropping off a meal for her! And there he was, looking all big and grown up in his infant seat. (Well, "big" and "grown up" are relative terms.)

We popped the pasta in the oven and it came out just as Daddy got home. Daddy only had an hour with us before he had to leave for a leadership meeting for youth workers at church, but he made the most of it! We ate, he held Jay, then quickly gave the girls a bath. I did the dishes while he hung out with all three of them in the bathroom and I realized what an easy-going fellow Jay is - he just hung out on Daddy's lap and acted totally cool with all the splashing chaos that is Calla and Kelsey in the bath.

His good-naturedness continued as I read the girls books before bed...he was so tired, but I nursed him and he fell asleep as I read Winnie the Pooh. I got to be honest - I've read it so many times I probably could have dozed off myself.

Callaism~

~ Kate's mom, Gigi, was at Kate's house when I picked up Calla and Calla asked me, "The next time I have a playdate, can I go to Gigi's house?" hahaha.

Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey wanted a purple popsicle, but Jay was fussing and the first one I grabbed out of the freezer was orange. So I gave her the orange one. She handed it back to me and said, "No! Purple!" I gave it back to her and said, "Look! It IS purple!" Poor girl will never learn her colors.

Having Company & Being Company

below: tummy time

above: Jay seeing who would blink first. He lost.

below: propping his paci in with his blanket.

below: His furrowed brow. He always looks worried (even when he's asleep).

TODAY we had on the calendar that my friend Suzi was coming over for a visit, so I spent the morning trying to maintain order (aka, keep an organized house). Jay is usually awake for a while in the morning, and he did not disappoint today. He got to the point when he wasn't very happy unless I was holding him, so I plopped him in the swing and plugged in the vacuum and parked it next to him - blaring. This is a trick aunt Rin taught me from the putting-Calla-to-sleep-days (Calla Rachel Brust was the world's least-sleepy infant - she fought sleep like it was the plague). Jay did not fall asleep, but he sat calmly in the swing. The vacuum will do that to you. ha

Suzi and her son Eli and infant Hannah (Hannah was born on July 13 - almost exactly a month before Jay) came over at around 11, with Chick fil A. Yay. Eli hadn't been here before, so Calla gave him the grand tour (including a very detailed tour of her clothes closet - "here are my dresses, here are where I put my shirts").

Suzi and I sat in the back room with the babies while the three older kids played outside in the sandbox. I could tell Calla considered Eli to be "Kelsey's friend" since she kept referring to the two of them as "the little kids" (she is barely taller than Eli). The three of them had a great time!

We took a break for lunch and then they played some more. It was really nice for the girls to have some company today. Kelsey even kissed Hannah on the face, which probably would have been better appreciated if Kelsey hadn't had a runny nose.

I watched Hannah and Jay while Suzi used the bathroom and thanked the Lord I didn't have twins (both started getting fussy at the same time). They left as Jay started to break down; he had a nap in his crib but woke up and was still tired and decided to express his tiredness in crying. The nice thing about Jay is when he's sad about something it's always very easy to figure out why; I think he's a very easy, predictable baby in that respect.

This afternoon Kelsey napped and Calla hung out with me and Jay. It's kind of nice to have a slice of the day with my oldest and youngest together. She is very gentle with him, and extremely helpful in general. She is not near as affectionate with him as Kelsey is, but I think it's because Kelsey is just more of a hugs-and-kisses type! She is always laying on big smackers all over Jay's face.

When Kelsey woke up, the two of them returned to the sandbox. Thank goodness for that sandbox! Then they moved onto crafts...and then Little People...and then baby dolls. They had a lot of toys out and I couldn't help but wonder where we will fit the boy toys. A baby girl would have been much more practical as far as space-saving ! haha (no new toys)

At 5:45, we were invited to our friends' the Adams for dinner. So at 5, I started thinking about getting out the door. It always takes so much longer to get out the door with an infant! Thank goodness Calla puts on all her clothes/shoes and the shoes that Kelsey cannot put on herself, Calla can help her with. So I pretty much dictated to them what they needed to do to go from my rocking chair (I was holding Jay). "Bring me your brush," "Can you put this in the diaper bag?" "Please pack some tissues" etc.

We got to Brian and Emily's house just as Daddy was pulling in. Their son Grant was riding around a tractor (a pedal-one!) in their driveway. I am much more interested in little boys now that I have one, mainly so I can look at them and think "how do I do it with these people?" ha

We ended up staying at the Adams for over two hours and it was so fun. Jay slept most of the time in his infant seat. Calla and Kelsey played with their kiddos - they did crafts and spent a lot of time holed up in Ashlyn's room playing dress up.

We seriously weren't there for longer than ten minutes when Calla and Kelsey came downstairs wearing this:

Kelsey's dress is a shout out to Uncle Caleb (it's from China).

The Adams kids recited a couple Bible verses before dinner which I thought was a good idea. (You can imagine Calla and Kelsey just sitting there and staring at them, wondering how they know such wonderful things.) And Ashlyn starts her first day of preschool tomorrow, so Calla was interested in hearing about that. She asked me if she will go to school when she turns 5. (Ash is 5.)

We haven't been out at people's houses much since Jay was born, but he really makes it easy! He didn't fuss once, which I thought was so unusual for a little newborn in the evening like that. He was wide awake on the car ride home and didn't make a peep. He really is so alert when he is awake; I even hung an infant seat toy up for him which seems odd at this age but he loves looking at it. Maybe there's more going on in that tiny little head than I'd think!

We got home and Calla and Kelsey spent the usual ten minutes agonizing over which pajamas to wear to bed. Oh my, the big decisions in life.

Callaism~

~ I asked Calla if she wanted to go outside and carry in the mail from the mailbox for me. She was delighted. She went outside and opened the mailbox to survey the situation. She brought in a handful, dropped it on the floor and said, "Mom I'm going to have to take a few trips because my hands are...my hands are just so small." ha!

Kelseyism~

~ Kelsey saw Brian Adams grilling broccoli in a vegetable tray on the grill and said, "Broccoli! Calla!" (I think she meant to say, "Calla loves to eat broccoli!" but why use five words when two will do. ha)

Noise Violation

below: looking serious (his only look)





below: working on his pacifier technique



below: sleeping at church yesterday

TODAY was a rough morning. Jay slept well, but the girls kept annoying each other so finally I announced we were heading outside. It was 80 degrees and cloudless skies and there was no reason we should have been stuck in the house to annoy each other.

Jay was taking a long morning nap, so I packed lunches and the girls and I got dressed (this is now a mid-morning ritual, as opposed to first thing!) and I carefully transferred him from the swing to his infant seat. Fortunately, he stayed sleeping! We drove to a nearby park, and he stayed sleeping until we were 30 seconds away. (Although poor boy woke up hungry and when he wakes up hungry he wakes up SAD!)

But the girls seemed so pleased to be there...I nursed Jay and they got busy playing. I texted some friends to see if they wanted to join us and four or five showed up with their kiddos. It was just the perfect park day.

And that's how it was going (perfect) until Kelsey tripped over her flip flops and fell flat. Only her knee was scraped, but you would have thought she had landed on a bee hive. She was hysterically crying. I think she was tired (I was seriously checking her head for some major injury that I may have been missing - she was that LOUD). I held her on my lap for it least ten minutes - she was refusing to get down - which is exactly what we were doing when Jay decided to make his presence known, wake up, and begin wailing himself.

Well needless to say, Kelsey was not at all thrilled about being set aside so I could tend to Jay. In fact, she had stopped crying but resumed it with even more gusto than before. I could honestly feel every person at the park's eyes on me, probably wondering "why is that mother torturing her children?"

I think Jay was just sad because he had woken up (who could have blamed him? Kelsey's cry was like a fire engine siren in his ear) and wanted to go back to sleep; whatever the reason, he began crying and crying and I figured if the majority of my children were crying then - majority rules - we would be headed home. A blissful 45 minutes at the park!

So I put Jay on my shoulder, decided to ignore Kelsey (she now had snot gushing out of her nose, just adding to the pathetic look) and went to call Calla and tell her it was go-time. Not so fast! I could not find Calla anywhere. I tried calling her name, but let's face it my efforts were pretty worthless. My yelling doesn't hold a candle to the newborn + shrieking toddler combination.

My friends at this point were taking pity on me and asking how they could help. My friend Brooke gave me a bandaide for Kelsey to see if that would help. Bandaide? Pacify an outraged Kelsey Mae? Apparently not.

My friend Kate finally found Calla, with her daughter, tucked away in the playground equipment. She offered to keep Calla at the park and bring her back to my house later. Oh that was so nice! Calla was thrilled. Turns out cranky Calla, the reason we got out of the house at all, got to have the best day of anyone! ha

Well I pushed a shrieking Jay in the infant seat, and held a screaming Kelsey, and took the loudmouths to the minivan. I put Kelsey in her seat and listened to her continue to cry while I nursed Jay. He calmed, I put him in his seat, and I drove home. I didn't have to bother with Jay's white noise machine because Kelsey was providing plenty of white noise. She actually cried herself to sleep on the way home.

I put her right in bed, tucked Jay in his crib, and cheered myself up with an ice cream sandwich. (Yes, I realize these type of rituals will have to end if I ever want to fit in my jeans this fall - the ice cream sandwich part, not the naptimes.)

My friend Jenny texted me from the park and asked if she could take Calla home with her after the park playdate to hang out with Norah. She was bringing me a meal anyway so she could drop Calla off as she did that....a meal and a playdate in one day? I will never be able to repay her.

Kelsey woke up from her nap and spent most of her afternoon enjoying being an only child. She kept asking where Calla was, but in the meantime she had a fabulous time playing in the sandbox without anybody bossing her around.

Jenny and her kiddos dropped off dinner at 4:30 or so. Calla came home SO TIRED. Playdates really zap the life out of her. Jenny told me they had a great time, and Norah filled me in on everything they did (LOTS of crafts). I picked up right where they left off, and set up a craft for Calla and Kelsey to do until Jonathan got home.

In the meantime, Jay slept for over two hours in his crib. I put him on his tummy, which is a first, and turns out he likes it. I am not going to be ready to put him on his tummy at nighttime when I can't be checking on him, but he can pick his head up and move it from side to side to get himself comfortable and really seems to like his tummy. Who wouldn't? I can testify from 9 months of pregnancy that any sleep besides tummy sleep is restless sleep!

Daddy got home at 6 and we ate the dinner Jenny prepared, bless her heart. He had to return some wireless device thingie he's been working on so he took Calla and Kelsey with him so I could have a half hour in peace and quiet with my son! (Well, it wasn't necessarily peaceful but it was quiet!)

I wrote an email to my friends at the park, expressing my dismay over Kelsey's loudness. (I cannot overemphasize the VOLUME at which she expressed her outrage. Unprecedented, really.) Kelsey put in her two cents. (Not really.) It said: "Kelsey would like to apologize for any temporary loss of hearing she inflicted on the public through her screaming/ shrieking at the park today. Other minor Injuries sustained may include but aren't limited to: split ear drums, migraine headaches, rattling in the ear canals, and muscle soreness/cramping running away from her. The town of Wheaton, coupled with the community of Stonehedge, has slapped her with a fine for her violation of Article XVI in the Rules & Regulations (specifically, the noise ordinance). She promises to wear a muzzle on future visits to the park."

Jonathan brought the girls home as I was changing Jay's diaper and then bid us goodbye. He helps with the youth group on Monday night. I decided his exit would make a good segway into the bedtime process, which I cut short (no books). The girls put on their pajamas and went to bed. It took them a good hour to fall asleep, but Jay and I tried to drown out their noise/messing around by watching TV. It worked for the most part.

Three hours later, Kelsey woke up in a pool of her pee pee. I had forgotten to put a diaper on her. Gross. I went ahead and changed the sheets - with Calla still in bed. That is a feat! Kelsey laid on the floor and fell back asleep while she waited for me. Ha.

I hope you all had a QUIET day.

Boring

tODAY I cannot upload any pics because I am typing this (slowly) from my phone. The wireless Internet isn't working so this will have to do. It least we have power! I know a lot of family/friends on the East Coast do not, thanks to hurricane Irene.

Fortunately today was pretty dull anyway! We got out the door for church only a few minutes late, and believe me the effort getting there was not dull! Jay was not feeling cooperative!! I kept telling him to work with us here! He is usually pretty low-maintenance, but this morning he wasn't very happy unless he was being held.

Once we got to church, daddy and Jay went ahead to save me a seat in Sunday school while I dropped the girls off at their classes. They are always so excited to be there that they don't really notice me when I say goodbye. (although Calla always walks in shyly.) Daddy checked on Kelsey between services and told me she was sitting on a teacher's lap.

Jay lasted through the worship part of the service, but then he woke up hungry and so I took him to the crying room. Well he must have read the sign on the door because he cried all right. He often fussed after nursing and before letting out a big burp, and today he nursed and then cried but no burp was coming. Then his cry turned into a wail and the wail into a "meltdown" and he became so worked up that I couldn't help but feel we were disrupting the crying room! I've never had a baby too sad for the crying room! But I took him out and walked around outside and eventually, randomly, he stopped. He must have ran out of steam because I hadn't changed anything I was doing.

Well he slept awhile after that - all through picking up the girls and during the noisy car ride home and even long enough that the rest of us could enjoy our lunch. He woke up after that and after feeding him, daddy had him most of the afternoon. Kelsey napped, Calla planned her birthday (again, not sure what she's going to talk about when September 10th has come and gone!) and we spent the rest of the day "laying low."

We had a welcome-to-the-neighborhood coupon for free pizza (Shh don't tell them we moved from within the neighborhood! Ha) from a local pizzeria so daddy and the girls went and picked that up. Yum. The girls played outside in the sandbox (it was a beautiful day) and after dinner daddy gave them baths.

I put them to bed and then Jay and I worked on thank you notes. My dilemma with thank you notes is that I never have people's addresses. I need to break out an address book and actually write them down for once.

Hope you survived hurricane Irene okay!

Callaism-

- calla looked at Jay and said, "he looks like Merle Stoltzfus." Jonathan and I thought this was hilarious!!

Kelseyism-

- Kelsey was running around the yard nursing her baby. Tricky! Not everybody can do that! (-:

Jayism-

- jay took a nap in his real crib for the first time today. He said the mattress could be firmer but it'll do.

Kelsey Nearly Drowns & It's Good Her Mother is not an EMT

TODAY Jonathan and I woke up super groggy after our long night. Kelsey has a cold and was coughing up a storm and kept waking up. So finally, after she had cried and come over to our room several times, I let her sleep between us. That didn't bother me too much (I don't think it was very comfortable for Jonathan). However, Jay decided to have a rough night too - he cried a lot and woke up often and I was so tired sometimes he'd be crying and I'd be forgetting why (did I feed him lately?? is he hungry?? is he crying bc he wants to go back to sleep?). I tend to get so disoriented at night! At any rate, I am hoping for a better night tonight!

Today also marks the start of our first weekend as a little family of 5. We are working on getting our bearings! (-: Daddy went to play basketball this morning (yes he asked me if it was ok) so the girls and Jay and I had a pretty typical morning until he got back at 9:30. We didn't do much else besides eat breakfast. When Jonathan got home, he took the girls outside so they could watch him mow the lawn. They sat dutifully on the front steps watching him like they were watching television. Jay slept in the swing while I took a shower.

We all ate an early lunch so we could head to the pool. This is the second to last weekend that it is open, so we decided to go today. It was the perfect weather day for taking Jay since it was only a high of 82. I don't like having him out when it's too hot.

He must have really liked the pool because he slept the whole time. Jonathan and I took turns with holding him/sitting by him (he was in the infant seat, not on a lawn chair - just to clarify) and playing with the girls.

below: Father/son chilling at the pool.


I can't go in the water so Daddy swam with the girls some. He and Calla did the water slide. This was the first time he's seen Calla go down the water slide. She was so excited to show him!

I was on sand duty with the girls.

Sand duty is pretty easy, because the girls are so busy I don't have much to do other than make sure they stay in the sand. Ha

I did bury the girls' hands and feet, at their request.

Kelsey was cranky after her rough night coughing, so we left at naptime at 1:30 and she fell asleep immediately in the car on the way home. Jonathan and I could have used naps of our own, but we didn't have time for that because we had a Sunday school picnic to attend as soon as Kelsey woke up. Actually, daddy squeezed in a quick bath for Calla and Kelsey and then we left.

The family hosting live on an acre of land (everybody was ooohing and aaaahing like an acre of land is tantamount to a sprawling horse ranch or something...I seriously heard three or four people ask the homeowners how long it takes them to mow their grass. lol! I guess when you've lived your life on a postage stamp-sized lawn, an acre looks like 12-hour mowing job). They also are avid yard salers apparently and have a TON - I mean TON - of kid toys. It was like Disney World. Two huge kiddie pools, one with a big slide attached. They had an awesome swing set. They had a few of those plastic slides. They had several bicycles and riding toys. They had it least a half dozen of those motorized cars (those were definitely the hot item), including some that seated four kids! They had a huge trampoline. And a million and a half balls and soccer nets and...it was the kind of picnic where adults could barely tear their children away.

Calla and Kelsey were SO busy the whole time. I don't think we would have spoken to them except we had to intervene and feed them dinner. There were plastic playhouses (a favorite of Calla's) and they also spent a lot of time riding passenger in the motorized cars (Kelsey kept switching to various boys' cars...I couldn't believe her little toes didn't get run over).

Jay couldn't stay awake long enough to enjoy motorized cars...he was in the infant seat for a while and then woke up, so Jonathan held him for a long time. I took a couple turns myself. He nursed for about a minute at random points in the evening. It was 80 degrees so it was really a perfect evening and I didn't have to think about him being too hot/too cold being outside.

below: Jay staring at a snap bracelet that Calla set up at the changin table so he'd have something to look at while I changed his diaper. Pardon all the clothes at Jay's head. I like him to have lots of neck support. (HAHA just kidding; it's really bc I have to buy more hangers and until I do the clothes have to pile up somewhere!)

below: Calla loves her baby brother and is SUCH a big help. She even helped me give him a bath today while Kelsey was sleeping. He wailed the whole time. Not really taking to the water.

I did have one scare while we were there. I changed my girls into their swimsuits and told them they could do the slide into the baby pool. One of the baby pools was actually pretty deep - above Kelsey's waist - and had a big yellow slide going into it. There was a big group of 3-5 year old boys doing the slide over and over and my girls decided to join in. Leave it to Kelsey to just climb right up there and want to go down - I made her hold my hand because I wasn't sure how deep it was. Well after a few times I realized it wasn't too deep, but I wanted her to hold my hand since the slide got her going so fast that I was sure she'd go under if I wasn't there.

Well at one point I held her hand as she went down, then let go as usual so she could walk over to the side and climb out to do it again. In a split second, a 4-year old boy went down the slide and right into Kelsey. He plowed right over her and she was under the murky water (the hose water had turned brown from all the dirt and grass the kids were dragging in there). Plus the pool was big enough that there were several children's rafts and it least four kids (including Calla) just standing around in there.

I am not exactly sure why I did not dive into the water and get her. I honestly don't think I had enough time to think because suddenly my friend Ryan was jumping in and fishing her out of the water. She came up choking, but found her breath pretty quickly because she burst into tears. Aww she must have been so scared! My friend Jenny ran and got a towel for her and I wrapped it around her just as she peed all over me. I'm not sure if she peed because she was scared or if she had been holding it, but I was covered in grassy water and pee.

But I was so glad to be holding her! I was so grateful for Ryan and his amazing reflexes. I told him that we are going to have to make him her official godfather now. (-: Haha. He was very gracious about being so wet (it helped that it had been his son who plowed into her).

I told Jonathan about the incident (he was holding his son at a completely different part of the property, since it was the size of a cattle ranch, missed the excitement) and he said, "Well why didn't you go in after her?"

Oops. I am not sure if I really am THAT slow at processing things, or if I froze because I was scared, or if Ryan was just super quick....but I am pretty befuddled about that myself. I am thinking it's good I am not a volunteer EMT or something. I'd just be standing there.

I dried Kelsey off and she recovered quickly. She got busy complaining about being cold so that was a distraction. I put her in her dry clothes, and Calla as well, and the two of them jumped on the trampoline for a while. (That's so much safer. Yeah right.)

The picnic started winding down at 7 or so (yes, you know you are in a Sunday school with families of young children when the picnic is set for 4-7pm) so we took the girls home and put them to bed. They were so tired! That was just the time that Jay was waking up for a feed and a diaper change. Daddy also trimmed his nails. Daddy is always on nail-trimming duty around here.

Tonight I am definitely thinking of all the fam in PA dealing with Irene! Right now they are under a tornado warning too...an earthquake, hurricane and tornado all in one week ! Crazy!! Y'all are welcome to come visit me out here!....oh wait, you already did.

Jay's 2-Week Doc Appt.

TODAY we decided to stay home and conquer the laundry. I thought that may be enough for one day's agenda! Turns out, I set my expectations too high. At 10am, Jay had been awake since 8:15am, I hadn't eaten breakfast yet, and both girls were in their pajamas. Yikes.

Jay often goes long stretches of being awake, followed by two long naps (during which he squeezes in a 5-minute feed), and then repeat. It's kind of an interesting cycle...I will see if it sticks! I just wish I knew when he woke up at 8:15 that he'd be up and happy until 10am; otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered trying to put him back to sleep at 8:45....and 9:15...and 9:30....

I think he would have slept for a very long time except his sister Kelsey woke him up (in her defense, he had fallen asleep in the swing) at 11:30. He was not pleased. Neither was I. I made lunch for the girls and then decided that we might as well forget planning our day around putting Jay to sleep and let him fall asleep on a walk to the park...

below: our parade to the park....Kelsey didn't seem to mind that she couldn't see over Jay's infant seat.


It was the PERFECT park day. It was a high of 82 or 83, and sunny, and zero humidity, and we were all loving being outside. Jay apparently was loving it too...enough that he stayed awake most of our time at the park. He dozed off a couple times, but would always be awake five or so minutes later. I've noticed that he hasn't had a good nap outside of his bassinet. This may be a problem for the third child! Yikes!

Calla and Kelsey were VERY good sports about being at the park with a mom who was tied to the picnic bench. I was keeping Jay happy, and worried that the girls would not be pleased with this new distraction. Usually I am giving them "under-dogs" on the swing or catching them at the bottom of the slide or helping them get a drink out of the water fountain. They didn't seem to notice too much. Kelsey asked me to put her in the baby swing as soon as we got there, but when I told her that I couldn't because I was holding Jay (who had been crying in his infant seat - who cries in such a comfortable seat? haha), she just ran off to go down the slide. That-a-girl.

below: two girls with nobody to push them!

below: What Jay was doing instead of sleeping....staring at my hooter hider.

I gave Kelsey a push (holding Jay) and she practiced pumping. It looks hilarious: (Calla is also pumping, although you probably wouldn't know that)...

We spent an hour or so at the park before walking home. Then I put Kelsey to bed....she took forever to go down for her nap. Jay was also taking forever to go down for his nap (although he took a really long one once he did). I was bummed that Kelsey took so long to go to sleep since we had a doctor's appointment at 4pm and I really didn't want to have to wake her up for it....

...but wake her up, I did. She seemed in pretty good spirits. I literally picked her out of her bed and put her right in her car seat. It's a shame she didn't have to go to the bathroom before we left the house because she ended up using the pink potty in the car (a boo emergency). Jay slept on the way to the doctor's, and woke up in the lobby. Poor little guy was hungry, but of course they called my name the minute he woke up. He wailed during his little weigh-in and measurements. Fortunately I knew he wasn't starving because these are his new measurements:

Weight: 8 pounds, 10 ounces (40th percentile)

Height: 20 1/2 inches (44th percentile)

The doctor was impressed with his growth (so was the nurse). He said, "well obviously nursing is going well." And actually it has - Jay cries less after nursing (probably because he burps faster). Speaking of which, I was able to squeeze in some nursing once the nurse left and before the doctor arrived. That is, until Kelsey announced she had to use the bathroom AGAIN. That girl!

The doctor promised the girls stickers, and they were on their best behavior. They sat nicely on the bench reading books, with their babies on their laps, and were very excited to see Daddy at the end of our visit. He came to the office from work since we were headed to Mema and Opa's for dinner.

{Sidenote: the reason they do a 2-week appointment, despite that Jay was already up to his birth weight at his appointment last week, is because often times heart murmurs don't show up until then for some reason. This was according to the doctor.}

Jay was sad by the end of the visit. Poor fellow. We got in the car and drove the hour up to Mema and Opa's. The girls kept busy snacking on goldfish. I sat in the middle and held Jay's pacifier in his mouth. (I forgot my duct tape.)

We got to Mema's around 6. She was hosting the whole family in honor of Ben going back to school on Sunday. We are not sure when we are going to see him next, so it was nice to spend time with him! Everybody was so eager to see Jay, but he did not put his best foot forward. He hadn't fallen asleep until right before we arrived, so he was pretty sad after waking up from his short nap (right in time for dinner). He nursed, then launched right into a long crying spell. I took him into Mema's room and he settled down immediately and I put him down for a nap on their bed. I think he likes the peace and quiet. Goodness sakes, so do I.

We had a great dinner...the girls are enjoying interacting with Braxton more and more. Braxton took his first steps yesterday so he had some moves to show us. Calla has noticed that she is having more competition for toys from her cousin and sister; Aunt Courtney asked her to do something with her and Calla told her, "No I can't; I have to guard my toys." Nice generous spirit, Calla.

Jay woke up sometime after dinner and I put him back to sleep, which is when aunt Courtney and Mema got a chance to hold him. He slept and slept until it was time for us to go, when he woke up hungry. We have got to work on his timing a little better!!

On our way to Mema's, Calla had observed that Uncle Kurt is "so attentive to me" and sure enough he spent a long time playing hide and seek with the girls in the basement. I told him before we left that I owe him for babysitting! It felt nice to be on "newborn duty" again. Of course Daddy gets the short end of the stick since he now has two to watch while I am busy with Jay.

The girls fell asleep on the way home...Jay was actually the last one to fall asleep after some fussing. But eventually we were 3-3 for sleeping children! Yay!

Kelseyism~

~ Tonight at dinner Braxton let out a big sneeze and Kelsey asked him, "Okay? okay?" She likes to check with people after they cough/sneeze. Opa said, "She's so caring!" (-:

A Day in the Life of a Cranky Mother

These are the pics I used in birth announcements for the three of them....any comments on who you think Jay resembles? (Calla v. Kelsey?)

Calla...

Kelsey......

BOY......

TODAY I woke up probably the most tired I've been thus far! I tried going to bed early last night ("early" = 11pm) and Jay heard about my plans and did his best to abort them. He succeeded. He also had some tough time falling asleep each time he woke up, mostly due to discomfort after nursing. The advantage of having a fast nurser (he takes about 5-7 minutes TOTAL) is that it's...well, fast. The disadvantage is that he is working out the kinks of inhaling his food...he usually has pretty bad gas pains and some nasty burps. Kelsey had the same thing so I am pretty lowkey about it. But his crying is pretty sad at 2am. Sad for everybody involved.

Anyway so I woke up pretty cranky. I should have warned the girls. As it was, they didn't seem to notice and proceeded to act naughty. In retrospect, I'm not sure if they were acting naughtier than usual or if I just had no patience, but the combination was pretty ugly. Exhibit A: Here, girls, look at these books while I take a shower. Response: Lots of fighting over the same two books (I had handed them a pile of like 20).

And the difficulty with Kelsey is she says/shrieks everything at a very high volume. She doesn't just act annoyed at Calla, she acts OUTRAGED. It's hard to even know if Calla is doing something wrong or if Kelsey is just being her noisy self. But her noisy self doesn't jive well with putting/keeping a newborn asleep. As a result: cranky mother!

Thank goodness my girlfriend Brooke texted me this morning inviting me and some friends over to do the slip and slide at her house. I had conflicting thoughts about this - I thought it may be too ambitious to get out of the house but I realized halfway through the morning that if we DIDN'T get out of the house I may lose my mind. Ha!

It took some planning, but we packed lunches and headed over at 11:30. Jay, bless his heart, had just nursed and dozed off on the drive over. What a love. And the girls had such a fabulous time. We stayed a couple hours, and it felt so nice to sit on a towel and chat with friends while Jay snored away in his infant seat and my girls had some time away from their crabby mom.

Brooke had set up the baby pool at the bottom of their sliding board, and the kids got some pretty decent air going down the wet slide into the pool. Even Kelsey did it (I held her hand the first couple times). The water in that little pool got so yucky! Lots of grass! But then the kids loved taking turns with a little net to get all the grass out.

Brooke fed the kids popsicles, and at naptime we packed it up and headed back home. Jay had just eaten and was awake during the five minute drive, but he sat quietly. He was so easy on me today! I am not quite sure why I was so crabby!

Well now I remember....we got home and I fed the girls the lunch that they had neglected while having fun in the sun. They I put them to bed, which resulted in lots of messing around and spilling drinks in their bed and getting out of bed and laughing and then crying and ....eventually, mommy punishing them and giving them spankings before they eventually...EVENTUALLY...fell asleep. Well, Kelsey fell asleep. I wouldn't have gotten so flustered during all this if Jay wasn't overtired and wailing himself. There was a point when all three children were crying, and I wasn't sure if I should join in or perhaps just set them all in a safe place and go outside and eat a bowl of ice cream. (Don't worry, I didn't do either.)

My friend Jenny was texting me about my day just as all this was going on and I responded HORRIBLE. So bless her heart, she asked if I wanted her to babysit the girls for an hour after naptime or so in order that I "get my bearings." Haha. I told her I lost my bearings when the baby popped out. That's two weeks I've been missing my bearings for those who are keeping count.

Anyway, during naptime everybody slept peacefully (except Calla, who kept busy with an alphabet flash card game Mimi bought her) and I cleaned the house. They woke up and I felt much better about life in general. (-: And then my friend Brooke brought dinner over (yes, she hosted a playdate AND cooked me dinner in one day - she is Supermom) and I felt even better. (-: It's amazing how a meal will do that to you!

So we decided we would go over to Jenny's, all four of us, and visit instead of take her up on the "babysitting" idea. Although it's the thought that counts and I owe her big time for even thinking of that! The kids played nicely and Jay slept nicely and as I drove home after some adult conversation, I thought perhaps the day was not going down the toilet after all.

We got home and Daddy arrived home, and we all enjoyed our meal from Brooke. Then Daddy graciously offered to take the girls to downtown Wheaton to watch for trains/look at the fountains/walk around/visit the candy store while Jay and I hung out at the house. Well Jay slept through our first mother-son date, but I got a lot done. And the kids came home, I read them books, and they fell asleep in their beds within a few minutes (ok, ok...to be honest...Kelsey did get one spanking for screaming my name when I had told her to be quiet)....but, anyway, at the end of the day I realized I didn't have so much to be cranky about after all! Phew.

It goes to show that bad days happen and being cranky certainly doesn't help anything. Being a mom of small children certainly keeps my prayer life active! (-:

below: Kelsey giving her baby " a bath"

below: the victims of a cranky mother

A Photo Shoot & Mimi Leaves

Yesterday was a busy day because Mimi and I had a lot to accomplish in our last full day of her visit. Two weeks is such a long time to be away from home, so I really really appreciate all the sacrifices my mom made to spend so much time here. Between playing piano in weddings and kicking off the year as the director of women's ministry at her church, my mom has a busy September so I am sure there was a lot on her mind while she was out here but for all we knew she was only thinking about us. (-:

It was raining yesterday morning and if we would have waited around for the rain to let up, we would have been waiting around all day. It stormed, and once the storm blew over mid-morning, the five of us ventured out in the pouring rain to Target. I needed to buy some breakfast and lunch food, as well as some supplies (wipes/toilet paper). I am not looking forward to my first errand with all three children; I felt like Mimi and I had our hands full even with the 2 adults-3 kids ratio! Jay slept for some of the trip, but he doesn't seem to take real good naps while we are out and about...it least when compared to the naps he takes back at home in his beloved bassinet. I ended up nursing him under my hooter hider while pushing the cart of two children + empty infant seat around (Mimi had the cart that actually held our purchases! ha).

We got home at lunchtime and then put Kelsey down for her nap right after. Tuesday afternoon we knocked some more things off our "to do before Mimi leaves list," including a photo shoot of Jay and his sisters. She also worked on taking off the broken towel bar in our bathroom (did I mention she is a Mimi-of-many-talents??) as well as ironed two weeks worth of shirts for Jonathan. If you see him after two weeks, he may look a little wrinkled. Just kidding! Mimi stayed inside with Jay after it stopped raining so the girls could play in their sandbox outside while I did some weeding. A friend brought over dinner, which she was heating up just as Daddy got home.

After dinner, Jonathan and I slipped away to go to counseling while Mimi got the girls in bed. She read the girls some books, and kept calling the "dwarfs" in the Snow White story "potatoes." Sometimes Mimi can be weird! Anyway, I was reading it to Calla tonight and she recounted the potatoes incident and just thought it was the most hilarious thing.

Tuesday night Mimi and Jay and I stayed up so late watching HGTV/TLC, our two favorite channels. Jay is not a big fan of HGTV...I feel like he is usually wrestling a burp or fussing when it is on. Case in point: tonight I didn't watch any TV (except the news) and he slept peacefully in my arms. (-:

Our Photo Shoot:

Exhibit A: Our Little Man

below: I think he's pretty precious (-:

Exhibit C: I think this is my favorite

Ha! Let's throw the girls in and see what happens...

Exhibit A: Not a fan of head-patting, apparently

below: Oops! Guilty of taking out the pacifier.

below: Can you tell this is not a professional photo shoot???

below: Calla going with the wide-eyed/surprised/expression

below: Lots of love, but lacking some professionalism with the background there, Mom

below: hugs. Too bad we can't even tell what Calla is hugging. Could be her pet rabbit for all we can tell.

below: kissing Kelsey

below: smiles

Like this, Mom?

WEDNESDAY.............

TODAY was the sad day! Mimi was going home. I told Calla on Tuesday night as I was saying goodnight to her and she said "Oh I am going to miss Mims." She told Mimi the same thing this morning as the two of them snuggled up on the air mattress. I am sure Mimi is ready to trade in that air mattress for her king-size bed! ha. See? We try to make our visitors ready to leave when it's time! haha

This morning I edited photos from Jay's photo shoot the day before, and didn't squeeze much else in besides a shower and breakfast before we were getting ready to leave. Somehow Mimi cleaned my house and packed up all our belongings in the same amount of time. The girls were sitting in the minivan at 10:30, ready for departure. Jay had just woken up and I fed him and changed his diaper...he should have been ready to settle down for a nap.

but, no, somehow the car ride was too exciting and (according to Calla) he stayed awake. He started crying as we got closer to the airport, which made me a little nervous. I had flashbacks of Kelsey screaming bloody murder from her infant seat (from a NEWBORN-age!) but fortunately Mimi calmed Jay down and he stayed calm as we hugged and kissed Mimi goodbye and even on our trip all the way back to Wheaton (he fell apart again about a mile from our house). Somehow our low-key morning made Kelsey tired, because she fell asleep on our way home at 11:15 in the morning. Oh my! I wasn't sure what to do. I hoped she would transfer from the car to her bed, but I was washing her sheets from an unfortunate peeing-the-bed incident from the night before so I had to put her in my bed. Well that - coupled with Jay complaining from the living room - and Kelsey's nap was history.

I fed her a hot dog (lunch #2; they ate lunch #1 in the car) and then an ice cream sandwich (yes, a healthy combination) and put Jay down for his nap. He spent most of the afternoon sleeping in his bassinet. He was in there for over four hours, just waking up for a five-minute nurse and two-minute diaper change. That boy was a dreamboat. I set the monitor up at a window so I could hear him if we were outside, and then I sat out on the deck with the girls for a couple hours while they played in the slip and slide and in the sandbox. They had such a fabulous time.

Since Jay was sleeping so well, I felt ambitious and at 3:30 when the sandbox was losing its luster, I brought the girls in and took them right to the bathtub where I gave them a bath. I was combing their hair and dressing them when Kelsey asked to go back outside. THat girl loves being outside! It was over 90 degrees and hot out - the hottest day in three weeks according to the weatherman tonight - but Kelsey must embrace the heat. (-: Calla's little face was tomato-red. ha

below: Sisters................

Sisters in a Sandbox:

below: Calla took this (she was trying to be artsy-fartsy)

below: Calla lined up these buckets and had Kelsey pose. Kelsey missed the memo.

Next up...the slip and slide....

Definitely more slipping than sliding going on.....

below: After baths, I let the girls sit out on the front porch and blow bubbles. You can't tell, but I curled Calla's hair. She wanted it "wobbley" like Kelsey's.

Before dinner, we had some company. My friend Julie and her three kiddos stopped in. They dropped off some clothes that her son Blake had outgrown, which was very thoughtful of her! It was fun for my girls to see some friends. Kelsey was not feeling like a very gracious host; she got all bent out of shape when Blake was playing with her baby doll. We are going to have to work on manners (preferably on a day when she's had a decent nap!!).

below: waiting for the Van Rossums to arrive

below: Calla basking in her new hairdo

Jay finally rose from his coma at dinnertime, of course. Nice timing, buster! just kidding. (I realized when you have baby boys that you are suddenly calling adorable newborns hideous nicknames such as "buddy boy" or 'buster" or "stinker" or "little guy" or "pal" - it's horrible! little girls get "sweetie" and "sweetpea" and "babydoll"....) I fed Jay and fixed dinner while I head his sisters at bay with a Yo Gabba Gabba episode (every time I put teh TV on to get something done I feel haunted by the words I read in a book once: "Never use your television as a babysitter." oops)

Daddy was working late, so we ate dinner by ourselves. Jay was not taking to the Moby (he loved it while I was nursing him in it, but couldn't get to sleep in it - I will work on it when I don't have Kelsey Mae in yelling distance), so thank goodness he settled to sleep in the swing so I could eat dinner with two hands. Then I read books to the girls and put them to bed at 7pm. Sharp!
below: feeding each other dinner

Daddy got home at 7:30 and the girls were still awake. He ate dinner and we were chatting in the back room and they were still awake at 8:30. I am not sure how you can physically stay awake for that long while laying horizontally, but somehow they did it. They fell asleep at some point before 9pm, and i hope for their sake that they don't wake up early! Who am I kidding? I hope for my sake! But anyway, hope you all are having a great week!!!