Father's Day 2015

We had a great Father's Day weekend celebrating our fathers and grandfathers!

Saturday we went Pineview, swam, ate, and had a great time!

Sunday we went to church and had a good lunch celebrating Sambo and Connie.

Zeke Smiles

This video was from the day we took the blueberry pictures. He was almost 5 weeks old.

I can't believe he's already 6 weeks old now!

VBS

Arabelle, Bo, and Mae had a great time at VBS last week at First Baptist Douglas!

Here's a few videos of them singing Thursday night. Arabelle is in the dark green shirt in the middle and Bo is in a blue shirt in the middle. Mae was somewhere up there on the bottom row, but I couldn't really see her.

Blueberry pictures 2015

We took our 7th annual Blueberry Picture last week with Sambo's yummy blueberries. The kids LOVE to sit behind a basket full of berries and we love the picture.

I wonder how funny it will look when they are all adults and we still make them take the picture? Ha!

 Seven years of pictures.

The first ever blueberry pic and the girls now. They've grown so much!

Zeke is 1 month old

And just like that, Zeke is already 1 month old! The first couple of weeks with a new baby seem to creep by, then things settle into some sort of a normal routine and start to fly by.

• Zeke is doing really well on our eat, play, sleep routine. He is nursing every 2.5-3 hours during the day (usually 3 hours, except evenings, it's closer to 2.5 hours). He is a gassy baby, just like the others have been. The milk comes out a bit fast for him right now, so he gulps a lot of air. We spend most of his awake time burping or bouncing to try to get the air/gas out before the next nap. He takes gas drops with his feeds and probiotics once a day. He's also been to the chiropractor a few times and I've been able to see a noticeable difference in his comfort level in the few days after an adjustment (which is VERY mild. He's always really relaxed). 

• Naps aren't great, but pretty much as expected this 4th time. He will go right to sleep once he's swaddled and bounced a bit. Sometimes he wakes up right when he's put down and will whine a minute and go to sleep. Sometimes he wakes up and cries and needs more snuggles. He will sleep about 45 minutes, then needs help going back to sleep to finish his nap. For a week or so, he would take the pacifier some when he's trying to finish his nap, but now he won't. He will suck on my pinky, so that's better than nothing.  I usually end up having to wake him up at the 3 hour mark to eat. Awake time is around 40-50 minutes right now before he's ready to sleep again.
• Zeke started sleeping in his own room this week, since we got Mae moved to the 'big kid' room. 
• He does get a bit fussy in the evenings, which is common. He really likes to be worn in the baby carrier and will take a little nap before his bath and bedtime feed. 

• He is going to bed around 8:30. He does have trouble staying asleep and usually wakes at the 45 minute mark (like his naps). Jared is the sleep master and gets him back to sleep and puts him down after a bit. He is waking to eat 2x/night, usually sometime around midnight or soon after and then again around 4, give or take an hour either way on those. One night his first wakeup wasn't until 2:30! He wakes for the day around 7-7:30. He is having some other wakeups from gas or just sleep cycle issues and needs help going back to sleep, which is frustrating!!! One night he woke up at 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, and 3:30, but only ate 2 of those times. Hopefully he can get that worked out in the next month. 
• I just moved him up to a size 2 diaper and 3-6 month clothes a day or two before he was 1 month old.
• I'm thinking he's 12 lb now. He is really getting chubby thighs and arms now!

• He has really started looking at things a lot this week. He loves to look at the fan and any kind of light. Mae can give him a good startle when she goes in for a mouth kiss. 

• Zeke tolerates a little bit of tummy time each day. Arabelle is so ready for him to be able to get on the floor and play with them!

• He absolutely HATES the car seat, just like the other kids did. He pretty much screams the whole time and will occasionally doze for a few minutes when he's tired of hollering, then get right back going. I hate it, but there's nothing to do about it, so we just keep going. We aren't on the go that much, so he just has to deal with it. 

• Aunt Kay made Zeke his beautiful quilt in navy, gray, and red and I LOVE it! I'm looking forward to taking his picture each month on his quilt. 

• We have had A LOT of help in the last month while we transition to a family of six. Things have gone so smoothly and we couldn't have done it without all the help from our family and friends! 

Happy 1 month baby Zeke! 

Personality

Mae has become such a funny girl lately. She is always making us laugh. She's been saying, "Get outta town!!" after hearing me tease Bo with that statement the other day.

Jared got some paint out for the kids the other evening and they loved painting then playing in the sprinkler. They each had a box to paint, but Mae chose a different artistic outlet....painting herself!

She said, "Look at Mae!!!".

*the last few posts have been about Mae and Zeke, but I promise Arabelle and Bo are around too. They are just doing their own thing a lot of the time or not interested in posing for pictures. :)

Mae's 2 year check up

Mae had her two year check up last week and she is a healthy girl!

She measured 36 inches tall (96th percentile) and was 28lb and 7oz (59th percentile). She had been the heaviest of the 3 kids at 2 years old! She got her toe pricked for her hemoglobin and lead test, which she was obviously unhappy about. Then she got one vaccine. The only perk was she got two suckers for all those pokes.

My one concern for the appointment was the fact that she is CONSTANTLY saying "what??" when I speak to her. So, not only do I have to correct her to say "mam?" I have to repeat myself a lot. :p I thought she may have a lot of wax in her ears because Arabelle has had that issue before, but they were not blocked. Apparently it's just a phase. I've started asking her what I just said and a lot of the time, she repeats it correctly, even though she asked "what???". Rascal!

So thankful for a healthy and active two year old!

One month

Zeke is one month old today! He has already grown and changed so much. Hoping to share his one month pictures and details soon.

Zeke's First Smiles

Zeke is 4 weeks old today and started smiling some in the last few days. It's always so fun when they start to interact with you instead of just looking at you all cross eyed. Ha!

Arabelle and I were able to get a few pictures of his smiles on Saturday.

If he didn't have me before, I'm certainly hooked now. :)

Comparison Pictures

When a new baby is born, people love to say who they think he or she favors! Most people say that Zeke favors Bo and I have to agree. Although, I think they all have favored at one stage or another. When Bo was 1, he looked JUST LIKE Arabelle's one year old pictures. When Mae was a little baby, people always said she favored Bo, but in her 2nd year, I think she favored Arabelle more. They change so much in that first year!

Here they all are as newborns: Arabelle and Bo on top, Mae and Zeke on bottom

Bo and Zeke as freshly born babies:

And here they all are in their first month. Arabelle and Bo on top, Mae and Zeke on bottom. Zeke favors Mae some in these two pictures!

And here's one of Bo on top and Zeke on bottom. 

So excited to see how Zeke grows and changes! 

These days....

These days can be long, but I already can't believe Zeke is 3.5 weeks old! Because sleep always wins out for me right now, I'll post a bunch of recent pictures and go to bed. Ha!

We are back in the swing of things around here.....Zeke naps while....

 the other kids play outside and act crazy. :)

All of a sudden, Mae is a 'big kid' now.

And Arabelle is once again, a super big sister.

Last week, the oldest 3 went to church camp during the day. The theme was Weird Animals. They each made animal masks.

I got a new baby wrap (hey, 4th kids need new things too!) and Zeke LOVES it! It's stretchy and breathable, so not too terribly hot and I can get him high enough for me to sit down once he's asleep.

Mae was saying "cheese".

Every now and then Bo will be still enough to want to hold Zeke.

Sunday morning was Zeke's first time to church. He seemed unimpressed to be dressed to go.

This week, our wonderful baby sitter has been coming from 9-1ish and the kids have been thrilled. It allows them to get outside to play, play games, do crafts, cook treats, etc. It has been SO NICE!!! I can focus on Zeke and also do one on one things with each of them while he sleeps.

Big Brother and Little Brother shirts. Zeke was hungry here, so we made it quick for pictures.

 Thankfully, Mae still takes great afternoon naps!

She wakes up ready to play. She just had to wear Bo's helmet....safety first!

And that's what we've been up to the last couple of weeks! :)