What's new?

Well, what's new?  ... let's see ... our baby boy ... Elyse's baby (Star, a stuffed giraffe that's all the rage) ... Emily's eye teeth ... this crazy 6 week paternity leave that is spoiling me! ... Where to start.  My three children are changing faster than the speed of light, it seems, and I could probably attribute it to the fact that I am still somewhat in a fog.  I have asked my husband if we will ever feel rested again.  Is it really possible?  Then, deep in the recesses of my mind, I dig out the memory of what it is like when that sweet child sleeps through the night for the first time ... when my baby's naps became seamless and predictable.  I have to cling to the promise of that day, or I think I might just commit coffee abuse for the duration of my life.

Here's the scoop on us:

Jakob

He weighed in at 9lbs, 11oz at his two week appointment, and I always feel a bit of relief to know that my babies are gaining weight.  I'm sad that he only got to wear certain newborn clothes once, but I love his chub more!  He is eating great, and his night sleep is going VERY well.  He hasn't made it longer than 4.5 hours between feedings yet, but he is good at going right back to sleep.  He still has a patch or two a day of just plain old fussiness, but the patches seem to be diminishing a little.  Perhaps it's normal for the "third" baby, but he is pretty consistently taking naps on his own already.  Could be attributed to the fact that Mommy and Daddy are busy tending to toddlers, but I still take advantage of cuddling him for a nap or two here and there when I can.  I know he's going to grow up all too fast, and I want to keep him little forever... in a way :)  Right now, Jake is only able to take 30-40 minutes of being awake at a time.  Crazy, huh?  He sure loves his sleep and his food, and that's okay if it makes him happy!  He is more alert and active when he is awake, which is fun.  The girls adore being around him, and Emily is usually close by saying, "Hey, buddy! Happy dirday, buddy! (for happy birthday) Hey, baby broder!"  Each phrase is said in her best mommy voice, too.  MELTS. MY. HEART.  Elyse loves being around him as well, kissing, hugging, patting, ... whatever.  Both girls just adore him, and it does this mama's heart good to see that!

Sweet sweet sleep!

Just had to capture the saggy cheeks!!!  SO KISSABLE!

Doesn't his expression seem a bit devious?  He did have a blowout on the way to church, so perhaps he was plotting...

I love the squishy face.

Emily

Em is on the verge of cutting her fourth eye tooth, and she is usually seen walking around sucking on her index finger.  I feel badly for her, as we've been through this with the other big teeth.  No fun!  She is still my early bird, and I usually wake up these days to her singing in her bed or saying, "Lee!  LEE!" (for Elyse).  It is quite funny, though, when Elyse is still asleep or just refuses to answer.  Em just keeps getting louder!  Emily is really into singing happy birthday to everything - even bites of her food.  Her version: "happy dirday to to, happy dirday to to..."  It's pretty fun.  Honestly, her vocab isn't awesome, but she seems to be getting more words down, and it's a good thing Jordan and I have gotten "decent" at interpretation, because to the average joe most of what she says is pretty hard to understand.  She is uncannily good at puzzles and dealing with small objects, but she still can't seem to drink out of a cup without spilling it.  Food for thought :)  She has the sense of humor of a MUCH older child, and we are in constant amazement at how fun she is.  She loves to laugh and smile (when she's not in the throw of a tantrum, which happens a bit more often these days), and nothing suits her better than an audience.  I often find her spinning circles in the living around a certain toy that she has set on the floor.. dancing to random music.. cuddling her dolls.. reading.  She is the girl of many hobbies!  My new favorite is her "yes" which is an enthusiastic "YEP - E - DOE!"  Whenever she gets something special, she yells/laughs "Oh BOY!"

Poor Jakob :) 

I've never used the word "gentle" so often.  So thankful that they love him so much.

Elyse

This child is 3 going on 10 it seems.  Her imagination is crazy, and she loves to ask about whether or not monsters are real, etc..  it's pretty fun.  I love hearing her converse.  She loves to talk with Em and explain things to her.  You know, the deep questions in life, like why Emily isn't allowed to sit on the big potty yet, or why she has to wear certain shoes.  She is my little mother hen, and I do love what a helpful spirit she has.  She loves to look in on Em if she's crying or needs help, and she is really sad when Jakob's crying for some reason.  She loves to set the table (we find stuff all over!) and help with cleaning around the house.  She pretends to go to the hospital (hostable) several times a day to have her baby (Star), and she loves when we "go" with her :)  Some of her recent funnies: Elyse said when she gets older, she wants to shave her head and her armpits.  Hmm!  I heard Elyse talking about poo at the table (not our first choice for dinner conversation), so I told her talk about something else.  She responded with, "Well, we always have to do things we don't like, Mommy."  Smarty pants :)  It is so hard not to laugh.  Getting straight answers out of this girl is nearly impossible.  She uses lots of these types of phrases: "Well, maybe, . . . " and finds a great way to either embellish the information or avoid the question all together.  AND, she has awesome facial expressions to go along with her fascinating stories.  She calls us "sweetie" or "honey" all the time, and once in a while I will remind her I'm MOMMY, but most times, it's just plain funny.  I love this stage SO MUCH!!!!

Elyse got to give Jake part of his first bottle the other day!  She loved it :)

US

Well, I am just loving having my husband home right now!  I especially needed him this weekend when I started fighting some bug... fever and sniffles, but he took care of us all like a champ.  He is genuinely enjoying the household pace we keep these days, and I am thankful for the change of pace he can have.  Seriously, this guy is never NOT doing something, so it is nice to see him nap every once in a while, and we've enjoyed watching movies when we can, or just enjoying time together outside of "date night."  Times like this make me appreciate so much how hard he works for us.  Staying at home is such a privilege I have because it's important to him, too.  Though it's not easy by any stretch of the imagination, he works so hard to make it possible.  I'm glad he can have a break from his 8-4:30 job and just focus on serving in our church and enjoying his family for three more weeks.

I do believe that even this busy stage of life has drawn us closer together.  I can see how it could potentially drive a couple apart, but we have both realized how much we need God's grace to get through this intact.  That, in turn, drives us together.  I'm so thankful for a husband that loves being a daddy, and I'm thankful that he loves being a husband, too :)  I laugh when I am reminded of the conversation we had 10 months ago in Minnesota when that silly little PLUS SIGN showed up on my pregnancy test.  Jordan's just as supportive now as he was then.  Yes, I admit, if I had my choice at the time, we'd be welcoming a baby into our family a bit farther down the road, but this was God's path for us, and I am seeing that it's seriously PERFECT.  We are tasting firsthand the goodness of God and the love of his children... Our church family has showered us with meals and gifts when we've needed them the most.  Jakob, I can't wait to tell you someday how we have seen God's grace in your little life already!  We love you, little man!

Nothing like bath time!

Welcome, Jakob Henry!

Jakob's welcome is a little overdue... Two weeks ago he decided to make his grand entrance, but, as you can probably imagine, this little blog gets even less of my attention these days than normal.  I've been asked several times what it's like (for me) to have three children.  Truth is, I'm not sure what normal is at this point.  My husband's company gives him six weeks of paid paternity leave (I know... seriously!), and I can hardly believe I get another month with him around.  SO, I have no idea what it's like to man three children by my lonesome for more than a few hours :)  In the few hours I've had them by myself, I can tell you that my mind is constantly going in three directions instead of two.  I am excited in some bizarre way to have the challenge ahead of me next month, though.  For now, however, I will gladly enjoy the time we have with Daddy.  He is so good with the kids, and it sure lessens the load. 

So, back to our sweet new baby boy... !  Jakob's due date was April 7th, and I had been hoping that I would go into labor early, as I did with the girls.  The closer I got to my due date, however, I started to think I would have him on April 10th, the day my mom flew HOME.  She took a risk in planning her trip for April 2nd - April 10th, but we all felt fairly confident that I'd have him at least by my due date.  I had been quite uncomfortable for weeks and had experienced plenty of false labor, which I knew was common by the third pregnancy.  I think all of the false labor started messing with my mind a bit, and I started to think I would never be able to distinguish the real thing when it hit!  

On Monday night, April 2nd, Jordan went to pick up my mom from the airport.  They were home by 10pm, and after we visited for a while, I felt tired enough to go to sleep.  At midnight, I started experiencing random cramps, but they weren't significant enough to keep me from sleeping, so I managed to get a few hours of sleep under my belt before the big day.  I woke at 5am and definitely started to feel consistent cramping, but it was SO unlike my other two labors, I tried to ignore it and go back to sleep.  By 7am when the girls got up, the cramps were lasting about half of a minute and were consistently coming about 3-4 minutes apart.  I was having a harder time sitting down, but the thought of spending an entire day in the hospital waiting for real labor was quite unappealing!  I was able to give my mom a rundown of the girls' schedule, get showered and packed, and by 9am, NOTHING had changed.  Jordan and I took a short walk up and down the street, and NOTHING changed.  I was getting a little worried by this point because I had talked Jordan into skipping work, and I was already feeling badly that he might end up going in with no baby news!

I finally called the nurse at my OB's office, and she asked me in the course of our conversation how many "contractions" I had.  I informed her three or four since we started talking, and she told me that they were probably not real, as there's no way I could talk through three or four real contractions.  Since my contractions with Emily's pregnancy were so different (they were grab-the-nearest-piece-of-furniture-and-hold-on-for-dear-life contractions), I was a little embarrassed when I heard the nurse tell me that.  She told me to keep them posted if they progressed, but when I then told her it was my third pregnancy, she changed her mind and told me to come into the office so they could check me out... just in case.  Jordan and I said our goodbyes to the girlies and to my mom, and we headed over to the office, which is right next to the hospital.  After waiting over an HOUR in the waiting room to see the doctor (I could totally still sit at this point and there was no change in my "contractions"), the doctor informed me that I should indeed head over to the hospital and get the party started.  

But, I was hungry.  Really hungry.  It was after 11am, and Chick-fil-A sounded like heaven.  Jordan and I grabbed some lunch and dawdled over to the hospital.  As I was digging out my chap stick from the trunk of the car, I somehow managed to slice my finger on Jordan's razor.  Side note: not a pretty scene.  Blood everywhere.  It just happened to be the same finger they needed for a print, so, OOPS!  Thankfully, it was a surface cut, and the nurses tended to me very well :)  I was just laughing that the cut hurt worse than my contractions were hurting at that point!  ANYWAY, I was admitted just after 12pm, so we settled into our room and began the waiting.  I was very sad to find out that my doctor had just gone OFF shift at 12pm, but I was very comfortable having the midwife deliver Jakob.  She came in just before 2pm and I was just getting a little uncomfortable.  My contractions (which still just felt like cramps) were still 3-4 minutes apart, but they were lasting about a minute each.  The midwife suggested we go ahead and break my water, and I was just fine with that!  I was able to get an epidural before they broke my water at 2:40, and it worked without a hitch this time :)  Lovely!

I only had one "hiccup" in my labor when my blood pressure dropped significantly, but it was nothing that some extra fluids couldn't fix.  I started to feel ready to push at 4:15, so my nurses found the midwife, and Jordan and I started to really get excited!  I started pushing at 4:30, and I had hoped that one or two pushes would work as it did with my girls... It didn't take me long to realize that this baby was a bit bigger!  After 4 or 5 pushes, we finally got to meet Jakob at 4:42pm.  He weighed in at 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and he measured 21 3/4 inches long.  I was so happy to hold him!!!  I will never forget that moment when he was plopped onto my stomach, and I finally got to see the little person that had been sharing my body for so many months.  Even now, I look down at Jakob as he's sleeping on my chest, and I cannot even imagine that this person was grown inside of me.  Crazy!

I found out afterwards that the umbilical cord was wrapped twice around Jakob's neck.  My midwife handled the delivery so amazingly, and I was glad I didn't know at the time.  God was so gracious to give us an great hospital experience, and though it's probably not nice of me to compare, I think this was the overall best delivery experience I had.  God was even more gracious to give us another healthy, beautiful baby.  We have more than we could ever ask for.  

Elyse and Emily love their brother.  I am somewhat surprised that Jakob doesn't seem to phase them at all.  They love to watch him, hug him, kiss him, etc... but they don't really do anything differently :)  Life goes on...  I am actually getting more sleep than I was at the end of my pregnancy, which is nifty!  Jakob is doing well sleeping at night (when he's not eating!), and I am so thankful for Jordan's help during the day so I can usually nap in the afternoons.  Jakob is pretty easy-going for now.  He definitely hates messy diapers and being hungry.  I'm curious to find out later this week how much he weighs, but I can tell he's putting on some weight.  I loved that he had some chub on him when he was born, and it is still so fun to kiss his squishy cheeks :) 

Jakob, we are so blessed to have you as part of our family.  God gave you to us so graciously, and we want to see you grow up to be a man who loves God with all of your heart.  We love you to pieces, but we'll never be able to love you as much as your Heavenly Father.  We pray that you will realize at a young age how much he did for you.  For now, please stay little and sweet!  ... And never lose that newborn smell.  Welcome to our family, baby Jake!