I got nothin'

I usually know what I want to write about when I sit down to blog. Not today. I don't know what I'd like to say but felt like writing anyway. I looked through the recent pics on my camera for inspiration. Can't go wrong with this one.

I can't say enough how much I'm enjoying this little guy. Yesterday the older two were napping and Hayes just wanted to be held. So I rocked with him and just snuggled him in close for a good two hours. We both liked it. He's already lost his newborn look and is on the verge of grinning at us, I think. He's five weeks old and before we know it we'll be celebrating his first birthday and marveling at how fast a year went. I just want to soak up his baby-ness.

And I found two pictures that reminded me exactly why I like to blog. Harris wanted to sit next to Hayes the other day so they could both "listen to a story." Here they are, both listening.

Walker was napping, fyi, so that's what he's not pictured. Anyway, so I was reading this page. Take a look at all that's going on in this pic.

Lots of action. When I was reading this page and showing the pic, Harris stopped to comment on what was happening to the mommy and thought her ear might hurt. Do you see the mom with two kids on her lap getting her ear mangled by a screaming baby??
Out of all the action in the pic, that's what Harris noticed and commented on. He is such a mini-Tom. I love that he's compassionate enough to notice something like that at the ripe old age of four. One fun thing about this age is that he's old enough to articulate exactly what he's thinking. The other day he used the words "actually" and "humongous" in the same sentence. Sometimes it's like talking to an adult. Until he says something about poop.

I posted this devotional on facebook earlier this week but I'm still thinking about it. If you don't go read the whole thing, it's talking about the miracle at the wedding, where Jesus turned water to wine. The event planner, who was responsible for every detail, didn't even know what had happened and thought the groom had supplied the wine. He had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. The point is that Jesus gives grace and miracles even if we don't know where they came from or attribute them to the right source. It made me really want to examine my life and see what blessings I've been overlooking.  So, my prayer is that I'll see the hand of the giver more in the everyday blessings that we have. The story of water to wine wasn't a miracle of raising someone from the dead or an incident that had a huge eternal impact. This was just making a wedding day more special, and Jesus cared enough to do it. He's in the everyday as much as he's in the "burning bush" moments and I want to have eyes to see that.

One huge blessing right now is our babysitter. She loves our boys and knows them better than anyone besides Tom and me. Before I quit work, it made no sense to me why a stay at home mom would require help during the day. Wow, I definitely understand it now! It's just 9 hours/week but it's the difference between surviving each day vs enjoying this time with my kids. The other day I took Walker to the park for some 1:1 time and we both had a blast. We played with a basketball and just goofed around and I think he liked the time with just me. There's no way that would have happened in the midst of taking care of two others. I wish I'd had my phone to record his b-ball skills. Every single time he tried to throw the ball it bounced off his forehead but that didn't deter him at all. He would just toss it, then immediately duck and cover his head with his short little arms. I shot a basket and it bounced off the rim and hit him squarely in the head. He giggled. Bless his heart, he takes a beating and just keeps on going.

Today we took all 3 to the park and everyone had fun and enjoyed the perfect weather. I could have done it alone but it would have been very stressful for me, which makes things tense for the boys too. Walker wanted to run on the paths, while Harris had to visit the porta potty, and Hayes has to be drug around in his infant seat, so it's just a lot to coordinate at the same time. And after dragging Hayes all the way to the porta potty for Harris, he took one look at it and said, "No thanks, I'm fine. Can you close the lid? This is GROSS." I don't blame him. It also helps to have someone to watch Harris and Walker while I feed Hayes.  I think God designed nursing, as hard as it can be, to give the mother time to relax and focus on nothing but the baby. Why else would you sit down for 30 minutes out of every 3 hours to do nothing productive? You just wouldn't. I'm trying to view that time as a gift rather than an inconvenience and using it to pray over my kids instead of play on the Internet.

However, I did watch the entire series of Downton Abbeytv :) If anyone would like to discuss the Crawleys and Granthams, please call me.

And since there are no pictures of Walker, I'm posting the only one I have. He is such a busy little person that he got tired of waiting the nanosecond it took my camera to click on and ran off.
I just feel the need to prove that he gets photographed too.

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and clever in their own sight.
Isaiah 5:21

Naptime!!

All 3 of my peeps are asleep! Hallelujah! Well, two are sleeping and one is loudly making airplane noises in his bedroom. Close enough. Tom is officially back at work and I'm on my own. Yesterday was my first day and it could have been better....but it also could have been worse. We got a trampoline over the weekend and that was a lifesaver. Harris and Walker aren't heavy enough to bounce very high so they really can't play that rough on it. Not any rougher than they already are without a trampoline, anyway. I will say, there's been a small amount of blood. Very small.

That is one happy boy. I am so thankful that the weather has been nice! I thought it was going to rain on us all week and that would have made for a loooong five days.

What was nerve wracking about my first day solo was that Hayes wanted to be held while he slept. He has napped in his swing and bouncer before, so I'm not sure what the issue was. Every time I put him down he'd scream and the instant I picked him up, he'd stop. He's napping in his bouncer right now so that's a good sign. I love to hold him but I really need two hands at times. I just re-read that sentence and had to laugh. There really shouldn't be a need to explain that it's beneficial to have two hands but it's somewhat rare lately. Anyway, Harris was a big help to me. He got out his step stool and was getting things out the fridge for he and Walker. At first he loved being a big helper but by the end of the day, it was old news. He finally told me no when I asked him if he wanted to be helfpul again! I don't blame him. I kept him pretty busy.

One thing that kept them happy was online preschool videos from youtube. Has anyone ever done these?? A woman runs the show and you pause them every few minutes to elaborate on what she talks about. Sometimes it's the weather, letters, songs, days of the week, whatever. Harris was into it but Walker really wasn't. Regardless, it was an easy way to do something together that was fun and educational but not stressful to try to coordinate. It's definitely a step up from watching a movie, which was what I was afraid we'd be doing all the time.

And we had a photo shoot yesterday. A friend gave me a baby gift of shirts for all three that coordinated to have their picture taken. Wasn't that a good idea??!!?!? Thank you Aimee! I really wanted a pic of the three together and worked hard to get it. It's blurry because I was falling down to try to make them laugh. I had to turn on a movie because it's the only way Walker would sit down without fussing. Here's the best one.

Have you ever seen three cuter little guys?!?! I haven't. Love this.

Does Hayes look concerned about his situation in this one? And cheesy Harris is working the camera.

I have several of Walker escaping.

Until I finally turned on a movie to keep everyone in one spot. They were watching UP and apparently something slightly upsetting was happening. Even Hayes looks a little bothered.

That's when I started using Tom's trick and dramatically falling down. It works better when one person falls and one takes the pic. I think from now on I'll be the one taking the pic :)

Then it was naptime. Check out what Walker needs to get to bed. He just picks up trains until they're flling out of his hands.

There are more trains that just permanently stay in his crib. I don't know how he has room to sleep in there. I love this pic of him, with that sweet face.

And this was the very first time Harris held Hayes. Look at his face. Do you think I should have handed over a newborn to him???

Here's Harris holding newborn Walker. For some reason, Harris looked a little more reliable at 19 months than he does at 4. Why is that???

And they're in the same chair. All our pics will probably have that same background. When I put them on the couch, they start playing with pillows or rolling around. In the chair, there's a better chance they'll stay where I put them. And lining them up on the floor or outside....forget it.

Picture overload. Here's hoping the rest of spring break goes smoothly!!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Phil 4:6

We're Still Here

Oh my goodness. Life with three kids 4 and under is BUSY. There are several things I should be doing instead of blogging but I wanted to write down some random things before I forget this stage. I know we'll settle into a routine but we're definitely not there yet.

Today is Tom's last day home....<sob>. It has been wonderful to have him home. We have had people bringing us meals twice a week and that has just allowed us to stay in our little bubble for awhile longer. The reality of life will come back soon enough. We have SO enjoyed him being home and spending time as a family. He usually takes the older two and gets them breakfast, while I sleep in a little (since he can't help during the night with feeding) and then we have the morning to hang out. The entire house has been  napping during naptime and that's what's kept us going, I think. I am so, so thankful Harris still naps. Or at least plays in his room and allows us to nap. With people helping out with dinner (TREMENDOUS BLESSING, thank you!!) and both of us available to entertain the older two, this has been a sweet family time. It's a little sad to see it end and know real responsibilities start Monday morning but at the same time it will be good to get into a routine and figure out how things are going to work with three.

Tom left me just with Walker and Hayes the other day and that was sort of a disaster, and that was only 2/3 of the brood!! I had the bright idea to let Walker paint in the bathtub, while Hayes napped and I straightened up our room/cleaned the bathroom. Sweet little Walker pooped in the tub, so while I was trying to clean up that mess, Hayes woke up and was crying. Walker was still dripping wet and needed a bath in a different bathtub, so I moved the circus to the boys' bathroom, threw Walker in the tub, tried to get Hayes calmed down. Meanwhile, there was still a mess to deal with in the original bath, Walker was upset because I had to take his toy away to disinfect it, and Hayes had worked himself up to the point he was bright red, he was so angry. Nice. Those things just happen with toddlers and babies......I had sort of forgotten. There will obviously be more movie watching than normal in our immediate future.

One thing we've started doing that really helps is lettintg them play in the garage. That's easy because I don't have to take Hayes anywhere and they can still run around and get some energy out. Walker plays a game where he lays down and pretends to be asleep, snoring. He keeps playing that in the garage and gets FILTHY, laying on the floor, but whatever. Yet another thing I wouldn't have ever thought I'd allow. And they've also had more juice boxes than normal because they will sit down and stay there for however long it takes to suck it down.

Harris, out of nowhere, has started giving the "double thumbs up with the tongue," as he calls it.

I could easily have 100 pics of this pose, but I'm usually holding a baby now and can't operate the camera one handed. It's his little gang sign and he flashes this all the time. I don't know where he came up with it but it's hilarious! I'll be so sad when he doesn't want to do it anymore. A couple of times Walker's done it too, just to be like his big bro.

This is the only pic I have of the three of them! Hahahahaha.

Harris is nervous to hold Hayes. He did it once and then said, "Maybe I'll do it again at Easter, because that's a looong ways away." They both like to be around Hayes and want to interact with him, but that poor baby needs a helmet to survive their affection. They're constantly running into the bouncer, bumping the swing, or grabbing his little feet.

Here's Walker going in for a kiss.

Hayes is a trooper. We drag that bouncer all over the house because little Hayes can't really be out of our sight with his big brothers on the loose. At least he'll never, ever be bored.

Harris got a little lion for him at the hospital gift shop when he came to visit. He is constantly dancing that lion right up in Hayes' face. We finally hid the lion for awhile because we were afraid Hayes would be in therapy as an adult, with nightmares about lions.

Here's a pic of the little one.

And one other thing, the DAY we brought Hayes home from the hospital, Walker started climbing out of his crib. Nooooooo!! That's the one thing I knew I could count on, is for Walker to stay in his crib till we got him out. I had visions of naptime going away and Walker coming in our room at 5 am every morning. As it turns out, it's been fine. He climbs out occasionally, but always naps and usually just calls for us. Whew.

All in all, we're doing really well. Harris and Walker love their brother and are more or less adjusting to the new normal. There have been a few growing pains but I think part of it has been being off schedule and not knowing what to expect, too.  Hayes sleeps pretty well (ANSWERED PRAYER!!), so between that and naptime, Tom and I are relatively rested, considering we have a newborn. I'm very thankful for our "village" that checks on us often and has given lots of moral support. And food. We have three boys, bringing food will ALWAYS bless us :)

Can't wait for everyone to meet little Hayes! He is precious! I'm just so,so happy that he's here and am awestruck that we've been blessed with three beautiful and healthy boys.

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
Phil 1:27