Soccer sheer exhuastion

I have these pictures on my phone from last Saturday, and every time I look at them I smile and sigh. The boys did so well at their first soccer games. They ran and ran and ran, and were so excited to be with their friends and high-five their coach. No wonder that on the way home, they were tuckered out.

Benny even scored a goal! It was enough to send him over the edge into dreamland.

A great night

For all those worried about our health and sanity after yesterday's post, things are so much better today.

We napped like the dead yesterday, and everyone slept all the way through the night last night, even Andrew. Well, I woke him to nurse him at 3:15 AM before I left, and he woke up at 5 AM just to smile and wiggle for JB -- but that was OK because JB crashed into bed before 9 last night!

Max and Ben slept in until 7:40 (if only they would do that on Saturdays) and Benny was happily eating oatmeal when I called a minute ago. Phew!

A sleepless night

6:30 PM Benny has not been feeling well for 2 days. Fever, slight cough. He starts to fall asleep on the couch after Family Home Evening (boring lesson from mom?)

7:00 I tuck Max and Ben in a half-hour early.

7:45 Andrew wakes up after his evening nap. I nurse him while watching Dancing With the Stars. Thankfully he’s not too cranky/colicky!

8:15 Andrew falls asleep again. I, foolishly, decide to postpone going to bed in order to fold laundry while finishing DWTS and the Jazz game with JB.

9:15 I go to bed.

9 something I hear Benny crying downstairs, JB goes to comfort him. Twice I think.

10 Andrew wakes up again for more milk. He loves it. Can’t get enough. Thankfully he goes back to sleep easily.

10 something In my haze I hear Benny crying again. I go to comfort him this time. Max says “I can’t sleep momma! Benny is too loud.”

11 Benny still won’t go back to sleep, so in my tired state I, foolishly, bring him into bed with us.

11-1 AM Benny kicks, coughs, and asks when he can get up and watch shows. He must not know IT’S THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT. But I keep holding him because I know he’s not feeling well.

1 AM Andrew wakes up to nurse. What the what? Why not wait until 3 like normal, huh, HUH? I tell Benny to come out to the couch with me.

I lay Benny down on the couch and cover him up. JB gets him something to drink and stumbles back to bed. Andrew gobbles down a feeding while I get a crick in my neck as I nod off.

1:30?? (I didn’t have my glasses on) I slip Andrew back in the crib and put another blanket on Benny who has now fallen asleep on the couch.

3:15 My alarm clock rings. I push snooze for probably 45 minutes, then jump up, grab my things and sneak out the back door so I don’t wake anyone up on my way to work. I figure I’ll brush my hair and teeth later, and pray I have matching socks on.

Later I found out from JB the following:

4:15 AM Andrew woke up again. (Is he going through a growth spurt??)

5 Andrew goes back to sleep after some milk and good smiles for JB (thank goodness for that smile).

6 Benny woke up again. JB turns on a show for him and stumbles back to bed. Benny calls out for oatmeal (at least his appetite is coming back).

7:30 AM Max comes upstairs, after sleeping in 30 minutes longer than usual. He’s the most rested and refreshed one of the house!



I’m posting this at 12:30 PM at the end of my work day. From 1-3 this whole house had better be asleep!

Sundays

Oooh, I just want to kiss all of these cheeks.

Max loves to hold Andrew.

My boys really are so good to me on Sundays. They do try their hardest to be reverent at church -- well, Andrew thinks through his tummy but we try to deal with that the best we can with Daddy on assignment in another ward these days. I've had some wonderful help from people in the pews around me.

I did have a tricky moment while teaching Sunday School last week. Andrew woke up under the desk, hungry and grumpy before he was supposed to. So I gave the teens a New Testament word search while I was gone. They were still there when I came back, thank goodness! I really have a great class.

Benny has had some troubles sitting still all the way through Primary but is working on it. I love when they tell me the things they learned: "Jesus loves me!" is my favorite. They also have scripture-reading charts they are very serious about filling out. I pray every night they will grow up to be good boys who want to do what is right.

Suprised

My sweet little baby always looks surprised when the camera comes out. I think he thinks we are the papparazzi or something.

How did they find me? I'm just chillin' in the Exersaucer.

What's that you say? Both ears still infected? Bother.



More antibiotics? Double bother.

Am I still chubby? Oh good.

Here JB tries to coax a smile out of him for the camera. He smiles all the time at us. Just not at the Nikon.

Soccer starts

Look who is excited to play soccer!

This will be Max's third year and Benny's first. Ben can't wait for the first game. Max on the other hand, was a little scared for his very first game 2 years ago: here's that post for a walk down memory lane. To show how much Benny has been dying to be on a team, here's a post from when soccer started last year.

They had orientation on Saturday -- basically they got the schedule and the parents figured out who would bring treats when. They also got their uniforms and picked a team name. Max will wear red and black this year.

Our friend Greg has agreed to coach again this year. His son Lincoln is on Max's team again.

Greg asked the boys to think of things that were red for a team name. Max said, "Firefighters!" Then the boys' suggestions came fast and furious. "Fire!" shouted another boy. Then, "Dynamite!" and "BLOOD!!!"

They picked The Dynamite. Greg wouldn't let them vote on Blood.

Benny's jersey is green. His coach will also be Greg, bless his heart, because his twins are also on the team. They picked The Leprechauns for their name.

Doesn't he look a little like a mischievous leprechaun?

Me on TV

I did a story for TV again this past week. Here's the link where you can watch the video.


I felt good about my writing and my delivery, and thought I could really get the hang of TV.

Then I watched it later.

The camera angle... well, let's just say if my baby had been awake and watching at 6:30 AM he would have loved it.

3 months old

Andrew is now 3 months old, and easily fits into 6 month clothing. But when I pulled out some jammies from storage, look what I found!


Those older brothers were hard on clothes.

Good thing he can now fit into his new U of U jammies from our friends.

Did you know some 6 month clothing says 12.5-16.5 pounds on the label? He may outgrow them soon! Just look at the chub.

He doesn't skip meals. He had a rough time though earlier this week when I went back to work. He barely toook the bottles I left for him and was sad in the morning until I got home -- then he nursed and nursed. But around the middle of the week, he figured it out and became a much happier baby. He likes hanging out with Daddy and his older brothers now that he knows he won't starve!

I'm in love, I'm in love

The song "Accidentally in Love" by the Counting Crows is sung a lot at our house. Lame band, but it's a good song and it's the opening credits of "Shrek 2." Max knows how to use the remote control now, and he replays the scene over and over. I mention this, because the part "I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love" is how we feel about this baby boy.


You my as well know I thought I was having a girl. The pregnancy was so different, and I always thought I would have two boys then two girls. When we saw the ultrasound, part of me wondered what I would do with a third boy. Now I know -- I hug and kiss him and nurse him and rock him and sing to him and smile at him and just love him to bits. I even want to eat his cheeks or chubby thighs.

And I like it when JB takes pictures of him in a photo shoot.

Ummm, mama? Some help?

I'm slipping!

Here we go....

Thanks!

A letter to My Three Sons

(Max and Benny holding Andrew a few weeks ago)

Dear cute boys,

As we have talked about, I'm going back to work starting early tomorrow morning. My 12 week maternity leave is up, and they really want me back (shucks). But I have mixed feelings -- on the one hand, I love what I do. I love being on two radio stations, and I love the new opportunities to be on TV and write for the newspaper. It's a great company and I work with great people.

Plus they have great benefits. And health insurance.

But on the other hand, I have really loved these past 3 months at home with all of you.

Max, I liked walking to school in the morning with you if the baby wasn't nursing at the time. I like poking around the house with you, Benny, my little shadow. And I love curling up next to your warm little soft body, Andrew, around 6 AM when I bring you into bed with me.

But don't worry my boys. Daddy will be with you. He will continue making your lunches, Max, and walking you to school. He'll just take your brothers along each time now. I'll pick you up when school's out at 3 PM.

He will continue to be your morning buddy, Benny. And Andrew, don't worry, Daddy already knows how to handle a bottle and he always has hugged and rocked you just right. I'll pump for as long as you want it. Or a year, whichever comes first.

So I won't be there when you wake up because I have to leave reeeaaallly early. But I'll be there at lunchtime. Just be good for Daddy. Let him get some work done -- he has to help people get mortgages. And Benny and Andrew, if you could take a nap with me that would be great! Please? Cool.

I love you all.

Mommy

Updates

I took Andrew back to the doctor to check on his ear infection. The right ear is improving, but now the left ear is infected. I feel so bad for him! Poor baby.

He's also still congested, and sounds like he's purring sometimes. His doctor doesn't like to see ear infections in a baby this young (he's 12 weeks old on Saturday). We have to go back again in two weeks for another check. The Dr says it could be from his stuffed up nose, or it could be an allergy. But if it doesn't clear up Andrew may have to go to an Ear Nose and Throat Specialist, and maybe we would have to get tubes put in. Gulp.

We have another round of antibiotics now for him to take morning and night. I have to tilt his head back, and slowly drip it into the back of his throat, then rub his neck so he swallows and doesn't push it back out with his tongue. It's quite the ordeal.

But the good news is he is otherwise healthy and smiles and coos and nurses just fine. He's now 15 pounds 5 ounces, meaning in 2 weeks he gained 13 ounces!

Update #2

He's doing great in his own crib. I will admit I cried a little the first night he wasn't in the bassinet, but he has been sleeping 6 hours in a row across the hall. I put a humidifier in there and I really think it's helping him. JB is sleeping again, which he needs.

The ears however are messing up my attempts to teach Andrew to fall asleep on his own. If I lay him down and he cries, I quickly scoop him up again because I'm not sure if his ears are bothering him.

Update #3

It snowed again earlier this week. Lame. But it's melting fast and we have beautiful blue skies. The kindergarten teachers called with a recorded message saying "Today will be a snow day." Being from Missouri, I thought for a second they must have canceled school or something. Then the message continued, saying for the kids to bring their sleds and snow boots because for recess they were going to go sledding. Oh, that kind of snow day! They never cancel school in Utah I have found.

Max had a blast. He rushed to school and the kids all quickly compared sleds and chattered away about their big day ahead. His poor teacher is a saint, because when Max gets excited, he gets loud. Very loud.

Benny's stats (and I'm a liar)

Benny had his well-child checkup recently. At 3 years, 2 months old he is 37 pounds (89th percentile) and almost 42 inches tall (99th percentile). His body mass index is 15, which is 25th percentile. He's getting taller and skinnier.

He had a shot in his leg, the Prevnar vaccine, and JB says he did really well. When he came home he announced, "I manned up mom."

Just for kicks we measured ourselves on the wall in the laundry room. Max is almost 49 inches tall, JB is 6'2" and I am 5'6".

Wait, 5'6"? I've been saying 5'7" for years. Years and years.

Well, I guess it's not the only thing that's not quite true on my Driver License. "Honest officer, I just had a baby! And I stopped dying my hair...."

Sledding (for the last time?)

It snowed a bunch last week then melted a few days later. But the day of the snowfall was perfect for Max and Benny to go sledding down the perfect hill near their cousins' house. JB took along the close-up camera lens; I stayed home because I'm ignoring winter and refuse to believe it still continues. I also didn't think the baby wanted to go sledding.

Isn't my niece Jane the cutest thing?

So's my Benny-boy. I love this picture.

Here is a great action shot of Emily and Benny hitting the slopes together.

Another pose from my funny Max.

They then all trooped inside for hot chocolate, and now want me to make it "just like Aunt Collette."

A letter to my baby

Dear Andrew Rockwell,

Thank you so much for sleeping 6 hours in a row the other night! (Hurrah, cheer, yippee). The only problem is, you did it after staying up until midnight. If you don't remember, you were grumpy and colicky the whole time (boo, hiss). You are 11 weeks old tomorrow; it's time to end the evening cranks.

Also, you are kind of loud when you sleep. I know it's not your fault you have a cold; that loving 3-year-old older brother of yours just can't seem to keep his hands off your face. But it's affecting my sleep. I keep leaning over to peer into the bassinet but you are sleeping soundly. Just loudly.

And about the bassinet -- you are getting too chubby for it! The warning label says it has a 15 pound weight limit. I kept Benny in it until he was 5 months old (see this post and this post from three years ago), and he also being a chubby baby may have weakened the joints a bit. That and we accidentally piled stuff on top of it when it was in storage. It's a teensy bit wobbly.

So here's the deal. Tonight we are going to start a bedtime routine, say around 7:30 or 8 after those older boys are tucked into their beds downstairs. And we are going to try putting you in the crib across the hall from our bedroom upstairs. I say try, because this momma is a big softie and will probably let you come back into my room. Probably into my bed. But, as you've noticed, your father is over 6 feet tall, and he gets kind of crowded out when you are in there. So bear with me cute stuff, here we go.

Love,

your momma