Quiet Time

The girls are having a big day today!  Their Daddy is taking them to their first professional baseball game!!! They are going with some folks from church to see the Reds play tonight!  That is such a big night for them!  They cannot wait and are so happy to be on their way finally!  They have been counting down since Father's Day in June (that is what we got my hubby for Father's Day). 
Meanwhile, the Professor and I are at home.  He is napping and I am.....relaxing!  I love it!  I got some fairly good sleep last night and now have some alone time!  Normally when he is napping I am trying to cook, clean or give some time to the girls.  But for now I have zero claims on my time.  The Professor is taking me out for dinner tonight so I am free to just relax!  It feels great! 
I have no real news to blog about though so I think I will just keep this short and sweet.  I hope everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

The Professor

We have given Baby 3 his temporary blog name.  He will be The Professor...until he gets bigger and then we may rename him based on his personality.  For now though, he is The Professor.  My husband dubbed him this because he likes to give this one eyed stare and we affectionately refer to him as "Professor Stinkypants" because he likes to go potty....a lot!  Thank goodness we are using cloth diapers! LOL!  The Professor is doing really well!  He is sleeping 3 hours at a time at night and having periods (briefly) of awake play time during the day.  He never seems to be awake and happy for longer than 20 minutes, but he is so cute during those times!  He has JUST started making little cooing sounds at us (but not very often...maybe once or twice a day).  The Professor is very sweet and snuggly and prefers being held to just about anything =).  He is probably on his way to being spoiled!  Hope you enjoy the pics!  Check back in a week for his 1 month photo shoot!

2 weeks along and a few new favorites!

Baby 3 is already 2 weeks old!  Like with our girls, this time has been flying by!  We are still adjusting to life with a newborn again.  For the most part things are going really great though.  I am just now recovering from a round of mastitis.  That is not a fun thing to endure.  I am also learning how to get meals cooked with a baby who seems to want to nurse all the time! LOL!  Mostly it involves quick meals (like peanut butter sandwhiches) or crockpot recipes (YUM!).  My family is flexible and understanding and they are just happy that we all eat together.  Since it has been over 5 years since we had a newborn, much has changed in baby land.  I thought it would be fun to blog about my new favorites.

1. My Bravado Silk Seamless Nursing Bra!  It was on the pricey side when we bought it but I knew I would need one and this happened to be at a Buy One, Get one Half Price sale.  I tried this one and a different brand and wish I had just gotten two of the Bravado.  It is SO comfortable!  Every nursing mother wants a comfortable nursing bra since you wear one 24/7!  It fits so nicely under tank tops (I had a July baby so needed this!).  I have been thrilled with this bra and wish I had known about it 7 years ago!

2.  Our Giant Jogging Stroller .  We actually bought this before we were pregnant.  We are HUGE advocates of getting just a good jogging stroller and not bothering with any other kind.  We never use the others.  We wear the baby in a Snuggli or (when old enough) a baby backpack.  This jogger though has been great even for our newborn!  I have already been out on several walks.  Every time I take it out I find another reason to love it!  A good jogger is worth the money you spend on it.

3.  Our Fuzzibunz Cloth Diapers!  We have quite the variety of cloth diapers here, but so far the Fuzzibunz top our list!  They are soft, easy to use and easy to clean.  Even my husband prefers them!  I must also say my husband has jumped right into the world of cloth diapering with me and we are enjoying more than we expected to!

4.  Our Baby Einstein Play Mat.  This was actually given to us (it was used).  I really thought it would not be any better than the old one we use to have.  But I have been surprised!  Baby 3 already loves it!  He has spent up to 30 minutes at a time laying there staring the bright toys.  His sisters enjoy laying beside him and "teaching" him about what he is looking at.  It is easy to collapse and store and the bright colors draw his eyes and he just looks so happy when he is laying there.

5.  Last but in NO way least, my Udder Cover nursing cover!  I got the Jones patterned one.  I got it before we knew the gender.  I might have gotten the Carson or Porter if I had known but I am happy with the light colored fabric in this heat.  While I do not care for the name (LOL!) I could not be HAPPIER with my nursing cover!  With the girls, I never once nursed in public.  Now I take our baby boy where ever we need to go and my cover is with me 24-7!  I just wish I had more than 1!

What are your baby favs?

The Hippie Does Camp

We took the Hippie to her camp which was exactly 24 hours long.  We were so nervous dropping her off.  Leaving her was very difficult.  I was convinced we would be getting a call from the counselors, but she made it the whole time!!! They said she didn't say 10 words while she was there.  We were disappointed to hear that.  But she had a great time anyways!  They said they had never seen a kid have more fun than her. They said she never stopped smiling the entire time!  They were all in love with her (how could they not be????)!  All the teens were fawning over her and hugging her (she tends to bring this out in people).  They said she was so good but got a little aggressive when they played with water balloons! Ha!  This did not surprise us at all! LOL!  I am so pround of both our girls for having their first Christian Camp experiences!!!!

Finding the Balance

I can honestly say bringing home the third baby has been so much easier than the first two.  I know someone, it may have been my friend Belinda, told me the more you have the less impact it really makes to bring them home.  It has been true for us.  Both my husband and I are much more relaxed and we have a better idea of what to expect...what is realistic and what is wishful thinking!  It is still a daily effort to find the right balance.  Between a husband, two girls and a nursing baby...plus school, cooking, laundry etc.  I think slowly I am finding my new limits and each day the baby grows a little more content and seems to be on a fairly predictable schedule of nursing every three hours.  Today has been the best day by far!  The baby was up every three hours during the night (midnight, 3 and 6:30).  He ate and went right back to sleep.  This morning my husband had an early meeting so it was up to me to feed the remaining four of us.  The baby played on his activity gym thingy and I got breakfast for the girls and I and even had time to eat mine before he got fussy!  Then we all got changed and did school.  I came home and made lunch (a yummy chicken chili) and now the baby is napping and I have granola cooking!  I never would have been able to accomplish even this much when the girls were newborns!  Now if I could find time for some pictures.....  I am hoping this weekend we can do a photo shoot of the girls and their brother!  Check back over the weekend and we may have some posted!  Happy Friday everyone!!!!!

Adventures with a boy

I had my first "boy" moment the other morning.  The baby woke up and he was poopy.  So I decided to change his diaper alone.  Up to that point my husband had been helping.  Those with a newborn boy can relate to all the steps involved in those early diapers.  I had a washcloth covering his privates and was busy cleaning his bottom.  I start to remove the dirty diaper and he begins pooping again...managing to hit both the already dirty diaper and the changing pad as well.  I was ok with this and just shifted him around, cleaned his bottom (again) and put the clean diaper under him.  I got the alchohol for cleaning his cord.  Finished that and got the cream for his circumcision.  I had the lid off and was ready to squirt it on.  So I bravely removed the washcloth.  He promptly shot pee all over me.  It flew over my should and covered our comforter!  I actually found it quite humorous!  I went downstairs with my shirt still wet.  My husband was like, "What happened to you?"  I said, "there was a battle and the baby won. Oh and you may not want to go into our room!"  It was very funny!  My sweet husband then went and got everything cleaned up and in the wash for me so I could feed the baby.  I had to call my best friend Belinda, who is raising 5 wonderful boys, she was laughing and said that has happened to her even with her current baby boy!  I must admit that did make me feel better!
Other than that things are going amazingly well with our baby boy.  The girls are totally in love with him and always wanting to hold him and kiss him. In fact, they were disappointed that he cannot sleep in their room.  The Genius said to me, "Mommy, I know he cannot sleep with us now.  But when he sleeps all night long could he please share our room?  I know when he gets older he will not want to be in a princess room with us but until then could our brother be with us?"  How can you say no to that?  They do not seem jealous in the least and his crying does not bother them.  They just want to help make him feel better.  He is nursing really, really well and the past two nights has slept amazingly!  We have begun our adventures with cloth diapering as well.  We are already learning that we have favorite brands and some diapers just do not work with him.  He looks pretty cute with his diapers on too!  Later this week I will try and blog his birth story and more from he first days here with us.  Hope everyone is having a great week!

Baby 3 has arrived!!!

Time for some pictures of our wonderful baby boy and the VERY proud big sisters!!!! Enjoy!!!

Ahhh the adoring fans!!!!

Our handsome boy!!! Check out his smooth ride!

Newest member of the family

Family

The Genius had 4 family groups during her time at camp.  Each group was able to choose their own name.  I was asking her about it.  She told me the other three Family groups were called....."The Family of Christ", "The 12 Disciples" and "The Disciples".  So, I was left wondering...what name did her family group choose?  Ready for it.... "The PT Cruisers" LOL! My husband and I were laughing so hard!  We got so tickled at that!
We are rapidly approaching the end of the day and no action with the baby yet.  I have had several contractions today but nothing that felt very serious or anything.  Feel free to post some comments on guesses for his weight etc....  The girls were 8.5 and 8.7.  Will he be smaller, about the same or larger?  Our youngest was 2 weeks early and 8.7.  It could be interesting! 

Camping Queen

Yesterday evening we got to go and pick up the Genius from her 3 nights/4 days of church camp!  We were SO excited to go and get her!  We sent her letters and emails but had no contact with her during those days.  Between her Selective Mutism and needing to keep her scar covered with zinc the whole time we were plenty worried.  We went to the pick up area and walked in.  I spotted her sitting at a table.....talking to an adult!  Then the camp dean, nurse and a few others made a beeline for us to tell us that she started talking about 30 minutes after we left and DID NOT STOP the entire time!!!!  I could have cried I was so ecstatic!  What an answer to prayer!  She had a great time!  We loaded up her gear and she took us on a tour of the camp.  Her favorite parts were swimming, the canteen and the singing.  She did not like the food or the fact that they had to have a rest time every day.  I think her highlight was the second night of camp.  They took the kids to the pool around 10 p.m., put up a big screen projector and showed the movie "Cars" while the kids swam!  They were up until midnight!  After we had her in the car we asked if she wanted to go back and she said, "Whenever I can."  I said, "well how about tomorrow?"  She said, "No thanks,  I think I want my regular bedtime." She went to bed around 8 last night and woke up a few minutes after 8 today.  She was ready for some homemade granola and milk!  I think the poor girls about starved while she was at camp.  I guess 1 meal was so gross to her that she asked to make a peanut butter sandwich!  I am so thankful we were able to send her and so excited to see if she is reaching the end of her Selective Mutism.  The next camper will be the Hippie. She is going for 1 night.  Neither my husband nor I think she will make it through the night there, but she is excited to go so we shall see!
No baby boy yet, but he will be here within the next 12 days!