blessed

My favorite picture ever. hands down.  The 3 in the middle, I LOVE them a lot + the guy on the end is pretty wonderful to. 

We have been through some stuff lately. Hence the lack of posting. It's been hard. REALLY  hard at times. But tonight we are soaking in the good news we got today. Carter had an MRI and the results were positive.  Things could have been different but they are not right now. Everyone seems to turn to prayer when the times get tough and let me tell you we have been praying like there is no tomorrow. And people we don't even know have been praying... like people in other states?!!!  The power of it amazes me.  Thank you. Who knows what tomorrow will bring or the next day or the next.

 But today, it ended good. 

Everyone is healthy and that is all that matters in the world. 

little love

He is one big guy. He had his 2 month appointment this week. He is doing so great. Still climbing on the weight charts. He was 13lbs 7oz,  90th percentile for weight and 75th-90th for height. So big and healthy.  He got his first round of shots and slept like a true baby on Tuesday night...went to bed at 9:30 slept till 2 then back down again until 7. I felt like a new women with all the rest I got that night. But by Wed he was back to his old tricks of getting up much much more often than that. His favorite thing to do is eat. He still really likes me, a lot. He is doing much better with his reflux.
 We are very thankful for this. 

I adore him. 

Simply cannot get enough. 

xoxoxox

Want to squeeezzzz him!!!! 

2 months old

 Chase was 2 months old yesterday.  As you can see he is smiling up a storm, it absolutely melts me.
                He is not the best sleeper in the world but is a great snuggler because he hates being put down. The last few nights have been really rough. Thank goodness for my iphone & the Internet it keeps me entertained all night when he seems to be waking up every hour.  There are LOTS of things I will miss about the newborn stage of a baby but the lack of sleep is most certainly not one of them. It's amazing how you can forget how tired to the bone you can feel when you have a new baby. I totally blocked it out with the twins.  He continues to grow like crazy, I am curious to see how much he weights at his 2 month appointment next week. The twins love him & he loves them. They all 3 take a bath together and it is so cute they are surprisingly gentle with him. The longest I have ever been away from him has been 4 hours when I went to get my hair did.  And I am not anywhere near ready to do any longer than that.  I am just a little attached.  I  L.O.V.E  him like crazy. 

. 

a first

We had our first big 'blood' incident as parents on Monday night. Jerame was playing as only Dad's do with the twins some kind of wrestling game and they had a little accident. Chloe fell flat on her face and bite her lip bad. I will admit I lost it for a brief while as she was in hysterics with a mouth full of blood. There was a lot of blood. The bleeding stopped quickly but initially it looked like she had bite through her lip with the amount of blood there was. But after the bleeding stopped we found it wasn't quite as bad as we originally thought. But since  it was on her face we opted to have it checked since it looked deep enough to possibly need stitches. So off we went to urgent care and luckily the Dr. thought that the wound  only looked  superficially deep and that she wouldn't need any stitches. So we were sent on our way and stopped to get Chloe an ice cream on the way home. 

 I am feeling like we need to ask if they offer punch cards at urgent care, the ER & our pediatrician's office. It seems like we are at at least 1 of the above on a weekly basis. 

Very thankful for medical insurance.  So other than a fat lip and a Daddy that felt terrible everything turned out just fine! 

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving at our house. Jerame's Dad came into town and stayed with us, it was his first time meeting Chase. We ate, drank and had lots of fun.  It was a fairly relaxing day with the exception of 3 year old tantrums, trying to potty train a certain little boy (i.e. cleaning poop up off the carpet) and taking care of a newborn. But really that is no different from any other day around here :) 

We got all the sides catered from Whole Foods so that took a lot of the stress out of cooking. Jerame still roasted the turkey and I think if we had to do it again we would just get the turkey from Whole Foods as well just to make it super easy. We even did paper plates not a lot fancy about this year!  But as always it was so nice to spend the afternoon & evening with our family. Lots and lots to be thankful for this year. 

 

The youngest and the oldest

 We celebrated Chase a few weeks back as the newest addition & youngest member now of my Mom's side of the family. We also celebrated my Grandpa's 81st bday the same evening. 

 It was a special evening!   

 

 Chloe was thrilled about the birthday cake! 

week 6 & 7

Chase is  7 weeks now and we are getting into a nice a little groove with this precious  guy. I even did the park with all 3 kids by myself this week. The best part was that it went really well! He is smiling and responding to us. He is a pretty easy going baby with the exception of when he gets hungry or tired. He tends to fight going to sleep and sleeps the best when he is being held. I am getting to know his signs of when he is getting tired and how to get him to sleep. He is not a fan of being put now which is difficult when the twinnies need things. He has had several bottles and takes them like a champ. He is sleeping ok, the longest stretch he will do is 4 hours and then does smaller stretches throughout the rest of the night. I am tired but feel better than I did. He is almost out of 3 months stuff and into 3-6 month size. 

He is such a snugly baby I am so in love with him. His tummy & reflux issues are doing so much better now after being put on some meds. He still spits-up all the time but at least he doesn't seem to be in as much discomfort. It just means lots of laundry for me. 

5 weeks

(taken at 2 weeks old) 

 This little guy is not so little. He had his 1 month well check today and he weighed 11lbs 4oz...gained 3+ lbs in a month, which is a lot.  Pretty amazing with how much he pukes. He is now in the 95th percentile. He is wearing clothes that Carter wore when he was 3 to 4 months old.  It's no wonder though because he feeds all day long & all night long. Nursing has come so easy this time around and I am really enjoying that time with my sweet little guy. Nights are still really hard. 2 hours of sleep at a time (if I am lucky) is the new 8 hours.  Thank goodness for coffee in the morning. He is still very congested & coughing  from the cold he got when he was 5 days old. It's been so heart breaking having a sick newborn especially since he really hasn't known anything different in his whole life so far.  I imagine he will have a very well established immune system by the time he is the twins age.  I am still working on the whole 3 kids thing...I have my moments of feeling like a rock star and I think well, this is not so hard after all....and then others that I feel really overwhelmed. 

One thing is for sure 3 kids is good for us :)  I have yet to do an outting by myself (where we get out of the car) with all 3 of them.  We'll see when I get brave enough to do that! 

Our 3 sweet kiddos 

bus riders

They ride the bus to school and can't get enough of it.  As I am sitting here massively sleep deprived I  can realize that before I can blink Chase will be the size of them. 

Sad & happy how fast it all goes. They really are turning into kids. 

I love them to pieces! 

4 weeks

Chase is 4 weeks old now....which means it's been 4 weeks since I slept more than 2 hours at a time! This little guy has a tough time at night. He seems to sleep like a champ during the day but when nighttime comes around he gets a tummy ache (from what we can tell). He is up most of the night grunting, puking, eating, crying, pooping and then repeat. Poor little dude seems so uncomfortable. This morning he literally went to sleep the minute the twins woke up but had been awake doing his thing since 4:30 am. I think I might have changed his clothes 7 times last night because of the puke.   I took him to the Dr. last week because I was getting concerned about the amount of spit-up that comes from this little guy. I mean with the amount that comes back up I just don't see how he can be digesting anything. But he in fact is getting lots to eat and weighed in at 9lbs 14oz (jumping from the 50th percentile to the 75-90th). He is actually looking a little bit chunky lately! I LOVE chunky babies. So he checked out healthy and there is no weight concern, which was reassuring. There is a question though on whether or not he my have reflux but it is puzzling because he seems to be more comfortable during the day than at night.  So I am hoping that with his one month check up might come some answers for us about his poor little tummy issues.  Chole had terrible reflux and we were able to treat her once we finally figured out what was going on so I have hope that we can make him more comfortable soon.  Other than all that he is doing so good. He really is a sweet little guy. He is just starting to make serious eye contact with us and make little cooing  noises. I love love love when they start interacting with you a little bit...it makes being awake all night not quite so tough.  I have been eating up every snuggle with this guy. He sure does love his Momma. I can't believe when people ask me how old he is I am now saying 4 weeks. I had a sitter for the twins last Friday and Chase & I went to the Nordstrom sale. I absolutely love going places with just one baby. It is so peaceful. I just never got to experience that with the twins because I always felt like it was such a fiasco trying to go anywhere when they were this age with the bottles, double stroller etc.  I am finding it such a treat to be able to just enjoy this little guy. Plus I think any 2nd or 3rd baby seems easier than your first.  So despite being really tired we are doing good.  Pics from my phone from the last week or so! 

Halloween

Chloe was Strawberry Shortcake & Carter was obviously Superman. I thought Carter would be thrilled to wear his costume but as it turns out he is not so into dressing up for Halloween. It was like pulling teeth trying to get this kid to wear his costume. He refused to wear the cape and would not let me buckle the back. So he ended up wearing a backless Superman costume. Whatever works right?  You would think I would have just given up but I was determined to at least get some pictures of him in it. He looked so dang cute in it! I couldn't even bribe him with candy (like you can most kids) because he doesn't eat candy. Anyway we had a fun evening trick-or-treating with the Andrews family and we also made an appearance at Daddy's work during their little Halloween party.  I am still working on coordinating getting out of the house with the 3 of them and throw in trying to get 3 year olds in costumes??? Forget about getting anywhere on time.  

 this is what Chase did most of Halloween :) 

2 weeks

Time is going so fast I am eating up every bit of this newborn time as I know it goes so fast. Chase is such a good baby and loves to snuggle with his Momma. I am a tad bit obsessed with this baby I think!  I just can't get enough of him.  I want to freeze time! 

My two little guys 

first week

Things have been pretty low key around our house since we got home from the hospital a week ago Monday. Jerame has been off of work so we have been in a little bit of a honeymoon period enjoying our new little addition. He has pretty much been manning the twins while I take care of the baby most of the time. We haven't been up to much but it feels like time is flying by.  I am really enjoying having a baby around the house again. I had forgotten so many things about what it's like having a newborn. I can't get enough of his newborn smell, sounds and warm little body. The twins came down with a pretty nasty cold while we were in the hospital and promptly passed it on to all of us including Chase. It has been so sad watching a 1 week old baby sneeze cough and have a runny nose. It is just impossible to keep the germs away from the baby as the twins are constantly touching his hands and face. He is still feeding really well though and is happiest when he is eating. We had his first Ped appointment on Monday and he had already gained back his birth weight and then a little bit to, 7lbs 12oz. The first few nights we were home he was sleeping like a champ for a newborn but things have not been quite as awesome for the past few nights. I hope it's just the cold and he will go back to being a good sleeper but I am not going to hold my breath. I am still getting better sleep than I did when the twinnies were first home with us. The lack of sleep is tough but I realize it's not going to last forever

 Jer took me out for dinner for my bday on Friday the 7th little did we know what would be happening the very next morning. We had planned for the twins to stay the night with my Mom & Jerry that night as sort of a practice run for the following weekend (when he was scheduled to be born).  So it really worked out perfectly because they were already all set to go.

31st bday and about 12 hours before we would meet baby Chase

 touching our baby for the first time such a wonderful moment 

 I cried when the twins came to meet Chase it was a moment full of so much emotion for me...my babies meeting the new baby. I had already  missed them so much and was worried how they would feel about everything. They did so good though and were really excited to meet him. So far they have both done really well adjusting to having a new little guy around all things considered. 

All set to go home!  We stayed 2 nights in the hospital and both Jer and I were so ready to get home

1st bath at home 

 

That flash is bright Mom

Crazy, cute and wild twinnies...these two are quite the handful right now.  Chase sleeps through most of the crazy antics around here I am sure he got used to all the noise when he was in my belly so it's probably what he is used to. It's just so different than it was with the twins when we would make the house super quiet for them to sleep. I am not sure this baby will ever know what 'quiet' is! 

meetings Pops

 celebrating my belated birthday at my Mom & Jerry's house with our THREE kids (wow!)

 Papa

 Nana 

Grandma