Such a good Big Brother!

With four kids the night time routine can get a bit hectic between dinner, baths, brushing teeth, cleaning up, etc.. Each kid has their own responsibilities to help with chores and this night Colby & Abby finished quickly.  When Scott and I walked into the playroom this is how we found the two of them.  Colby was reading to Abby waiting for Dylan to finish.  

Big Brother teaching Little Brother

Before the kids even came into our room this morning to say they were awake I could hear them through the monitor playing.  I was feeding Blake so I was happy that they were keeping themselves occupied.  After a little bit of time I realized I didn't hear them anymore and they still had not come in to see us.  Scott was getting ready for work and as he was heading to the kitchen area I asked him to find out what they were doing.  This is how he found them....

This bench is in our dining room and Colby said he was teaching Dylan how to camp out.  Too funny and very sweet!  Love when they play so nicely together. 

Arts and Crafts

After a hard day yesterday of feeling overwhelmed, tired and bad mommy to my three older kids I decided to have a bit of fun with the kids today.  They have been asking to paint and because it is messy I push it off every time they ask.  Plus I would rather do it on the days Abby is in school but that also never seems to work out.  Of course the day I decide to dive into this Blake cannot seem to get settled.  Leaving the kitchen several times to check on him I knew I was asking for it when Abby had full range of the paint and paint brushes.  Dylan took it upon himself to replenshes his paint when he thought he needed more.....reality he was just adding to his pile.  Colby was painting away with practically no issues! As for Abby I think she may have used her body to paint :-)

Colby's robot

Dylan's train

Abby's scribble

Homeschool Lesson for the Day!

So I bet you think homeschooling involves teaching phonics, reading, writing, math, etc... But today it involved teaching my kids, at a young age, about why Gods creatures are laying very still on the back porch!  Yes they went outside to play and I was changing to go out there with them.  Colby comes in and says "mommy there is something important I need to tell you...there is a bird dead on the back porch and he is really small!"  I respond with "what? your kidding me?" Nope no joke here poor little bird laying on the back porch, eyes open and as still as he could be!!  Colby then ask "how can he be dead if his eyes are open?".  Let the lesson begin.....

So I gently explain that he could have flown into one of our big stone planters or a cat could have gotten him.  When things die they don't always have their eyes closed.  I call Scott to tell him that not only will he be paying for the Harkness Kids therapy (another story about Simba eating a bird in front of them) but our own kids therapy.  I ask him what I am supposed to do and he says to bury the little fellow! Here we go into the woods to give this little bird a peaceful place to rest. 

In the middle of the play food that kids were to be cleaning up

Hole mommy dug for the bird

The cross we made for his grave

Kids praying for the bird

Blake's 1st Bottle

Blake is 3 weeks old today so I decided it was time to try a bottle.  Colby & Dylan have been asking when they get to feed Baby Blake so today was their big day.  Blake took the bottle like a champ and drank 3 oz.  Unfortunately about an hour later he was fussy and seemed hungry so I nursed him.  Not sure if its because it is cluster time or if he just got tired of the bottle.  Lets hope it was all about clustering :-).  Daddy started giving the bottle first then showed Colby how to do it.  Dylan wanted to then decided Colby could keep feeding Blake.  Finally Dylan came around and wanted to feed him too.  Love having everyone so active in taking care of our new addition. 

Since I came home from the hospital I have been pumping extra each day to stock up some of mommy's milk (200 oz as of today) so that I can get time away.  Yes it sounds like a lot but honestly it goes so fast!

Only if it was this easy!

There really are no words for this.......



Sweet Baby Boy

Ok so this may seem like I am obsessed with this baby boy and maybe I am but in my opinion he is so darn cute.  I wish so much that I would have started this blog when Colby was born because I can promise that all the other kids would have had this many pictures as well. 

First night at home

Raccoon finally arrived!

Kids wrapped him up like a Hot Dog

Full, Fat, & Happy

Sleeping on mommy's chest

Raccoon Hat and Raccoon

In mommy's arms sleeping again....
favorite place to sleep!
Mommy isn't complaining too much :-)

Blake will be 3 weeks on Sunday which is so very hard to believe! He has been a good baby so far and eating like a little piggy.  He weighed 7lbs 15oz at birth 20.5 inches long. When we were discharged (9/6) he weighed 7lbs 2oz then two days (9/8) later he was back up to 7lbs 10oz.  At his two week check up (9/19) he was whopping 8lbs 15oz and 21 inches long!!! Wow he is plumping up nicely!!!  Dr Connolly said he should be going 3.5-4.5 hours at night by now.  Unfortunately he was still getting up every 2.5-3 hrs.  Just as we were about to start a little baby boot camp he has given me a long stretch two nights in a row!! The last two nights he ash eaten at 9:30PM and didn't wake up til 2 am the first night then 3 am the next night.  Now I just have to hope this is a trend not a fluke!

Getting out of the House!

Seriously I am not sure who is having a harder time being cooped up...me or the kids.  Since I am trying to slowly get back out there and get some exercise I took the kids for a walk.  OK so you are wondering how can I do this with 4 kids and only a double stroller?  Before Blake was born Colby would ride his bike while Dylan and Abby would ride in the stroller.  I have encouraged Dylan to ride his bike too but he could barely make it two doors down so he always jumped in with Abby.  Today Dylan made a big leap and wanted to ride his bike too.  Off we went and I was making bets in my head on how far we would get before he complained of being tired then asking me to carry his bike.  To my surprise he did great!!  We went about a mile and a half! May not sound far to some but for a little boy who can barely walk around the corner to the park this was a big deal.  Now he is ready to get a bigger bike like Colby has.  Abby was in the stroller by herself today while Blake stayed home with Nana. 

Taking a break

Racing each other

Abby's ride....where's baby??

Spinning their tires as training wheels are on curb!
Colby was spraying water all over Dylan :-)

Blake, Declan, & Amelia

Today I had the chance to get out and have lunch with Shannon & Nikki.  We went to Nikki's house and shared bringing different parts of our meal.  It was nice to sit and talk about what each kid was doing and our different challenges we might be having.  At the end of the play date we did a mini photo shoot of the three kiddos.  Its going to be so neat watching them grow up together.  We hope to get pictures of them each month to see how they have grown.  Little Amelia is going to have to get some tips from Abby so that she can keep up with all these boys!

Declan 3 weeks

Amelia 2 weeks

Blake 2 1/2 weeks

Baxter and Blake

Blake is going to be one protected little child in our house.  Colby is worried that the swing is going too fast (on the lowest setting), Dylan hears him cry and thinks he needs to eat, and Abby has to know where "baby" is at all times and she wants him to have his raccoon, pooh bear and blanket. 

But who would have ever thought that a cat would be so obsessed with a baby?  Baxter loves anybody and everybody especially babies.  He does his best to be next to Blake as much as he can unfortunately for the cat I have to be sure he isn't going to suffocate or squish him to death. 

Snuggle time with Daddy

Daddy calls Blake "little poops" but we laugh because he should be called "little toots" since he passes gas all the time.  I find it rather ironic that he calls him that since he comes by the gas very naturally.  Scott is known as the general :-)! Its so sweet to see him all snuggled up with his daddy.  He is so little against daddy's chest.  We are trying to get all the snuggles we can right now because before we know it he will be too big to sleep on our chest! It goes by way too fast.

My three boys

Colby and Dylan are so excited to have a new little brother.  They always want to hold him, kiss him, and want to help "settle him".  If they are playing with a toy they want him to have one too or if they are watching a TV show they want him to lay with them.  Its is so very sweet and so very cute.  This one day they asked me to get the camera and take pictures of them with Baby Blake.  So here is their little photo shoot.....

Blake's 1st Bath

It was a family affair! Everyone wanted to be involved with making sure Blake was squeaky clean.  Daddy made sure the event was being videoed along with some pictures.  Mommy made sure that no one put too much water over Blake's head.  Abby sat in the sink and basically slung water all over the bathroom wall vs rinsing Blake off.  Colby and Dylan basically did the bath with very little help from mommy.  Such an amazing time to see the kids wanting to help with their new baby brother and seeing the joy in their faces.  Unfortunately Blake wasn't too thrilled with his bath :-(.