Pumpkin Painting

Daddy's Girl

Mission accomplished

All three kids and I ventured to the store today. I had been dreading doing this, but it had to be done. I know people do this all the time, but for some reason, I was finding the thought overwhelming. Anyway, we did it and it went really well. The kids were on their best behavior which helped tremendously. Pierce rode in the front part of the shopping cart and didn't complain that Madelyn got to walk. Madelyn walked and kept up with me and didn't wonder off. Isabel slept in the sling(highly recommend, by the way). We were in and out in under 45 minutes, and now I know it can be done.

Notable quotes from this morning

"Sometimes life is an accomplishment." (A friend, commenting on trying to get the kids out the door for the morning.)

"I don't want to have good manners." (Pierce, as we were driving to get Madelyn from school. He was demanding I turn on his CD.)

"God made it." (Pierce, pointing to his private area.)

"I need a nap." (Madelyn,, after being disciplined.)

"Mommy, you need a nap." (Madelyn after I raised my voice in frustration.)

"But I love her." ( Pierce, after being told to stop touching Madelyn. Madelyn was not enjoying the head rub.)

AND, it's only Monday afternoon.

My Dilemma

If Isabel goes to bed peacefully between 7:30 and 8:00 with the other kids (like she did the last two nights), then she wakes up at 3:30 am and goes right back to sleep after I feed her. (I tried letting her cry for a bit to see if she'd go back to sleep, but no luck.) I really enjoy having some down time in the evenings, but I really don't like the 3:30 wake up call.

If Isabel screams her head off like she did most evenings before these last two (from 8:30/9:00 until 10-10:30), then she sleeps until 6:15. That is fabulous, but the late evenings can be a bit stressful.

I contemplated waking her up last night around 9:00, just to let her scream it out, but I was hopeful that she would sleep through the night. (We do feed her at 10:00 pm but she barely wakes up for that.) However, after two nights of the same thing happening, I figure I have a decision to make: either suck up the 3:30 feedings for a while or wake her up and deal with screaming for an hour or so at night before I go to bed.

Any thoughts?

One-month old!

I'm wondering how it's possible. How can Isabel be a one-month old already? Sunday was her "one-month day", and these pictures were taken then. I've made a habit of taking our kids' pictures on each of their "month days" for each of their first years.

We went back to the doctor today. She's doing well and has passed her birth weight (Yea!). She also got one shot (Boo!). She now weighs 9 lbs, 14 oz. and is 21.75 inches long. Some may think I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure she's smiling already. I've had several witnesses, including non-family members at our MOPS meeting last night. She's sleeping great and has a very fussy period from about 9-10:30 every night. By that I mean all out screaming and nothing will console her. However, once she falls asleep, she's out.

We're doing well, and amazingly, we're surviving pretty well without my parents here. They were such a huge help! Thanks, Mom and Dad!!!!! I haven't been to the grocery store in over a month. I'm still wondering how I'm going to get there today. We MUST get milk, and I'm trying to figure out how to do that without hauling three kids with me.

Enjoy these Isabel pictures!

Snuggle time with Isabel

My little squirrels

The kids have gotten quite a bit of entertainment from gathering acorns and placing them around the yard for squirrels to find. Madelyn and Pierce decided to make a "jackpot" for them.

Family Pictures

My parents brought their camera

We have a mild obsession with this tree:

Joe Cool:

At least they're both looking at the camera:

Baby girl:

Just FYI

The lack of pictures on my blog of my third born is not my fault. JD left the camera at his parent's house when he took the kids camping last weekend. Picture taking and downloading will resume once we get the camera back this coming weekend.

My parents are visiting now and the kids are loving the attention. I hope I can stand them when all of the visitors stop visiting.

Two-week check-up

By now, I can pretty much write the script for our kids' two-week checkups. "They are a little slow on the weight gain. Come back in a week for a weight check." "Wow! This baby is so alert. What do you do with them when they are so awake like this?"

Yep. I've heard that with every kid. Three different doctors, three different kids, pretty much the same response each time.

Isabel is up from her 4 day old weight check (8 lbs, 13 oz) but not back to her original birth weight (9 lbs, 10 oz). Today she weighed 9 lbs, 4 oz. I'm not worried, but I like to be cautious, too. Unfortunately, I'm having to supplement breast feeding with some formula, but I'm trying to remedy that.

She's doing pretty well at night, as we're getting 3-4 hour stretches between feedings. The main issue is that it takes almost an hour to feed her, wake her up, feed her some more, change her diaper, and feed her some more. If I could stay in bed until 8:30 every morning, I would feel great, but Madelyn and Pierce need me, too.

We really are doing quite well. I hope this continues once JD goes back to work on Monday.