Four

Two months in to having four kids and I've heard two categories of questions OVER and OVER again.

1. How is life with four!? Is it awful? How do you do it?? Do you sleep?
2. Are you having more kids???? Are you done??

1. Four kids is actually easier than I thought it would be. Although, I maybe I just have REALLY low expectations at this point. Ha! Our house is louder and more messy, but it's also more fun. I think we're handling things pretty well, but we do have to start school next month, so that will probably throw everything off and make things more difficult for awhile. Going out in public with all four definitely earns me some weird looks. A woman at the park asked me which ones were mine and she laughed when I said, "Ummmm, all of them.". And a young mom at the Dr office asked me if Zeke was my first (the other kids were home with the sitter) and her eyes about popped out of her head when I said "no, fourth".  Somehow the jump from 3 to 4 makes us one of those "large families" instead of an "average" family. I LOVE having 4 kids and I think it's just going to get more and more fun as they grow up! And I figure I'll get a lot of grandchildren out of them too. :)

I usually answer the "how do you do it??" question with "I don't!". I have help....my house is CLEAN and picked up only every 2 weeks when someone cleans it for me. I clean the kitchen every night and make sure the bathrooms aren't disgusting (thank goodness for Clorox wipes!) and the kids have chores also, but the house certainly isn't anything to envy. Ha! I also have help from our babysitter and sweet church members offering to help out. I took the kids to the free movie last week and met our old neighbor and her grandson, so she helped me out with Mae. She also takes the big two kids to the free movie some weeks, which they LOVE and she spoils them with McDonald's and a park trip after. And obviously, I couldn't do much of anything without Jared! He is always offering to take the older kids places to do fun things. He also and takes Zeke in the early night if he can't settle, so I can go ahead to bed and get started on my night sleep. Four kids definitely is a juggling act and we seem to do it well together. I think there's actually less stress between the two of us with 4 kids than there was when there was just 1 or 2 kids.

2. I think we're done! I never understood people saying "our family is complete" and I still don't really like the statement. I mean, of course, we could have another and love him/her, but I think we're done. I loathe the first half of pregnancy and hope I never ever feel that awful again. I've been pregnant for 2.8 years and breastfeeding for 3.8 years (so far) with very little time between each. My longest break without being pregnant or nursing was between Bo and Mae and that was only 5 months. The big kids are getting big and I really want to enjoy the 'big kid' things with them without a baby in tow or having to work around naps. So, yay for no more pregnancy sickness/exhaustion and newborn sleep!!

Mini Moments

I am snapping pictures a lot through the week, so I'm going to try to dump them all here once a week in a little 'mini moments' post.

Mae wanted to put on Jared's chapstick the other day. Her aim was a little off. ;)

Free car wash by Arabelle and Bo. 

I was feeding Zeke and Mae hopped up beside me and said, "I read to you. Cow says moo!".

Well, Bo is a hoarder. He has this box of his 'stuff' and there is so much junk in it....dragonflies he has colored, a feather, piece of yarn, army men, money, plastic frog, marbles, a truck, a painted sun catcher, etc. I found some pieces of glass in it he found at the park and apparently brought home, so I had to smuggle those out of his box.

Silly face

When Zeke wakes up early from his nap, I bounce him a bit on the exercise ball. Mae brought her ball and Elmo over to bounce too.

Birthday candles!

Captain America....I mean, Bo.

Happy girls at the free movie.

Mae has mastered the 'cheese' smile

We love watermelon!

Is this not the sweetest smile!?

One day last week, Mae insisted on wearing Bo's Hulk shirt

Zeke napping while the kids play outside. 

Arabelle and Bo, reunited after Arabelle finished camp last week (she was gone all day and only home to sleep).

The kids were playing on Saturday and Mae came in with a purse and had Bo's pistol in it. Ha!

I found Bo 'reading' to Zeke one morning. :)

Arabelle 'drew' this by holding the picture up to the window and drawing it onto the back of the paper. She tried to sell it to me for $10. Ha!

Some days are LONG, but we do have a lot of fun!

"The New Place"

We are all excited about building a house! Jared has worked on the plans, permits, etc for months and the builders started last week on 7/13. So, that made for a pretty great birthday present!

We have been going to "the new place" to check on the progress of the dirt work for weeks now and the kids are always excited to go. Saturday Jared grilled hamburgers and hot dogs over a campfire and we had a picnic supper.

I'm not going to lie, it was hot and Mae was kind of annoying with all her "helping", which included dropping a lot of stuff in the dirt and stepping on Bo's plate. It was also funny that she kept falling down because her shoes were on the wrong feet and she wasn't watching where she walked. She acted surprised every time and said, "oh, Nae fall down!!" every time. Ha!

Birthday at the new place:

Mae's little face looks so fat! Ha! She definitely has her 'cheese' smile down.

Zeke was totally unimpressed. 

Jared did a great job with supper and the kids had a blast, so it was a success! I'm sure it's the first of many meals down by the pond! 

Zeke is 2 months old!

Zeke was two months old on Friday, July 17th! He has really lost that 'newborn' look and is growing and changing so much!

• Zeke weighed 14lb 1oz and was 25 inches long at his 2 month check up today. That's the 80th percentile for weight and the 97th percentile for length. He is a growing boy! He is the same length as Arabelle at 2 mo. and just a couple of ounces lighter than Bo was at 2 mo. 
• He is doing really well on the eat, play, sleep routine. In the mornings, he's going 3-3.5 hours between feeds,  and usually 2.5-3 hours in the late afternoon/evening. He wakes once or twice/night to nurse. Those one time/night times is pretty nice! His best night was final feed at 9pm and slept until 4am! He still sleeps swaddled in his crib.

• Zeke seems to be over that awful newborn gassy phase. He very rarely has stomach pain from gas, which has helped his sleep!
• Zeke is doing better in the car. He doesn't scream his little head off anymore, but still doesn't seem to like it. 
• He has a little 'witching hour' in the evenings. He isn't fussy really, but he wants to sleep and can't seem to stay asleep. All the kids have done this and have been going to bed at an earlier time by 3 months, so we're just hanging on and working through it. He usually is settled for the night by 10 with lots of little cat naps from 8-10. I've been waking him by 7:30 in the mornings if he's not up by then. 
• He is taking 4 naps/day and eating after each nap. Usually he's nursing around 10:30 or 11, 1:30-2, 5, and 7:30, and a couple of times between then at 10 if he just won't settle. With all that evening feeding, he usually spits up a lot too, then gets the hiccups. 

• He is still taking 40 minute naps. I don't think he's slept longer than 40 minutes the entire month. I just get him up, give him the pacifier, and bounce him a little on the exercise ball, then put him in the swing to finish the nap. It works for now and he's getting the sleep he needs. He always goes RIGHT back to sleep, so I know he needs more than 40 minute naps. But short naps are ANNOYING!!!!!

• Zeke is in a size 2 diaper and 3-6 mo clothes.
• He has really started smiling and cooing a lot the last week or so! Here's a couple of videos of him 'talking'. 

• There's no shortage of attention for Zeke around here. Arabelle, Bo, and Mae all adore him and love to get on the floor and 'play' with him. 

He is such a sweet and content boy! 

Flower Girls

Back in March, we walked down to the dollar store to buy a pack of Zinnia seeds. We had some planted in this spot last year, so we expected some to come up, but we planted a few more. Arabelle has always loved flowers and Mae is really starting to enjoy watering and taking care of flowers too.

They are both so proud of the results!

July 4th

Last Saturday, we went to Pineview to celebrate the 4th with family, food, and swimming!

Too bad it started raining about 20 minutes after they started swimming!

Papaw grilled and Mamaw made some delicious sides....I should have taken a picture of that! :p