1st Christmas Program

Last week the boys had their Christmas program at school. This is their first one, as the 4/5 classes are the only ones that put on a program. Andy and I bet that our kids wouldn't even get up on stage once they walked in and saw all those people there. Much to our surprise, they did come in and go up on stage. No crying!! Then it started down hill. Don't get me wrong we are very proud of them because they did stay up on stage the whole time. They even picked up their instruments and put them down when they were suppose to. That is all they did and I mean all they did. No motions, no singing, no jingling, and no kazooing. That's all ok because they were not sitting with Andy and I and were not crying. Andy is a very shy person and as a child I was very shy and still am at first, so they do get it honestly.

They are in the matching white sweaters (Carter on the left and Cale on the right).




Here everyone is playing the kazoo except our sweet boys.

Once again, everyone is bending to touch their toes except ours.

They are at least standing and holding the bells.

Baby's First Christmas

I loved taking these pictures of Cale and Carter when they were babies. It was our Christmas card picture that year. The one I used for them was actually on my film SLR, it was that long ago! Hard to believe what can change in four years. Mack is just so photogenic! If I wasn't so scared of him picking up something from the photography places then I would take him to get his picture made. I may do it in January when it dies down some. I feel kinda guilty because the other ones had monthly pictures for awhile, but I try and make myself feel better by saying that at first it was summer and there was no swine flu epidemic. Hopefully Mack won't care and will think my photography skills are better anyways.

At the bottom is one of Cale and Carter in the same pose and hat. They were a little older too. I do think that Mack favors them, but I think he looks different too. One main difference already is that C&C had very blue eyes for a long time. Whereas Mack's eyes are already dark either a brown or greenish brown, it's hard to tell.

Well here are some pictures from my handy work as a photographer.

This one is Cale and Carter (obviously). They were almost 7 months old in this picture.

The Finished Product

I realized after my last post that it didn't include any pictures of our tree decorated. Well, here are a few. The first couple are of the day we decorated it. I was able to let the boys help some. I had the lights on and half of the ornaments up when they woke up from their nap. Then I let them help me do the rest. This is a big step fro me since I have OCD and all the ornaments have to be in just the right spots. I resisted rearranging and only moved a few that were all on the SAME branch. When I noticed that we had to go over one ornament per branch. I still walk by and find two or more on a branch and know that they must have been messing with the tree. I do have a lot of ornaments that play music or light up and so it is rather hard to resist, but after about 100 times of seeing or hearing it they don't mess with it any more. Andy and I got a new ornament this year and it is the good ole RV from Christmas Vacation and you press a button and it says a couple of Cousin Eddie lines from the movie. That is a classic.




The shirt says it all for this sweet baby

Christmas PJs-- I wanted to get all matching, but was too cheap.
Cale and Carter are wearing the ones from last year and Mack is wearing some that Andy's secretary, Amy, gave him.

O Christmas Tree

While in Sparta for the second half of Thanksgiving we visited a Christmas tree farm and picked out a tree. I absolutely love doing this!! Growing up we always had a crappy artifical tree. My parents wouldn't even go to a lot must less a farm to buy a real one. So we always have a real one and every couple of years we journey to the mountains to do a choose and cut tree. It is a really fun experience and I think everyone should do it at least once. The farm we usually go to added a little hay ride this year up to the trees. It was a lot of fun!! The weather was great that day too!! Sunny and just right for picking out a tree.

Happy Thanksgiving...A Little Late

It has been a crazy long time since I have posted anything! We have been really busy around here with the boys and Christmas shopping and then there's all the normal everyday stuff. Life is really busy!! I can't imagine having any more kids, because I feel like I barely have time for three. This is very strange to me because I didn't even feel this busy when the boys were babies. I just felt very very overwhelmed. Now if feel like there is a never ended mound of laundry and cleaning all the time!! It feels like the whole 3-4 hours the boys are at school everyday is gone before I know it. I don't know how, but it seems like I have errands to run everyday. What do I do?! It is probably that I forget stuff and have to make another trip out. Yes I do make lists, but I always seem to forget to put something on my list. Then when I get the the store I realize I might have a coupon and decide to wait until I find it. Now I have just given up on the coupon. If I am at the store then I buy it so I don't have to come back. One day after getting the baby strapped in the Bjorn I realized I forgot my list AND my coupons. I went ahead and shopped and forgot many items that day.

The big boys are doing really good. They still amazingly love the baby and always want to talk to him. They are beginning to read even better now which is so cool! they read a card yesterday and knew all but a couple words. It is still really cool to hear them play together. They play so nicely and love each other so much.

The baby is doing good. His jaundice FINALLY cleared up! I really thought he was going to be yellow forever. At his 2 month check up he weighed 12 lbs 6 oz. He is definitely a big boy! His night time sleeping has gotten better. I guess it was never terrible, although he did have his bad nights every once in a while. He has slept through the night several times, but mostly just wakes up because of his pacifier and gas or to have one little feeding at 3 or 4. He is totally sleeping in his bed all night long. No more trips to the swing!! He still sleeps great during the day. Which is something the other ones never did. I read the other day where they should sleep at least 5 hours during the day and Mack actually does that if not more. Cale and Carter maybe slept 2 hours total during the day and I am not exaggerating!! Mack is just really laid back and only really cries if hungry or gassy. He loves playing on his activity mat thing and is laughing and smiling a lot.

Here are some November pictures. I will try and get a slide show made with more and try and be better with posting.

An attempt at a Christmas card picture.


Mack at 2 months

Thanksgiving

Happy Baby

Mack is seriously one happy baby! Not that Cale and Carter weren't, but I don't remember there being happier times until they were 3 or 4 months old (probably my fault because I was so stressed out). This is hpw this baby looks the majority of the time. Yeah, he cries and especially when he is hungry! He does get fussy when he has gas or is really tired, but mostly he goes to sleep pretty good. He unfortunately doesn't sleep super long yet at night.
I think he eats too much, if that is even possible. I found an Enfamil thing yesterday and it said at 2 months 2-4 oz and having 6-8 feedings per day. Well Mack is almost 2 months and has been drinking 4-6 oz of breastmilk and 8-10 feedings per day for a while. I really wish he would start going 4 hours always at night and during the day. Most nights he goes 4-5 hours, but the last two nights he has gone 3 hours all day and all night. I feel like all I do is feed him and do chores. What I have two other children? Just kidding, I do pay attention to Cale and Carter. Today we wrote stuff and colored. Tomorrow I am going to attempt to get a good Christmas card photo. I really wanted an outside shot, but it is suppose to rain and the Shutterfly deal ends tomorrow. Well Mack just woke up and it has been exactly 3 hours since he last ate, so he should start up any minute.

A New Challenge

(this is the only picture that had everyone's eyes open.)


It has been almost 7 weeks since I had Mack. I can't believe it has been that long!! Everyone is always telling me how good I look, but I'm like really?!? I don't believe them. I can't fit into a single pair of pants (these include the ones I had the winter after I had Cale and Carter). With C&C I did gain a lot more than I did this time, but I ended up only weighing about 10 lbs less this time because I started off weighing more. Make since?
So I am little depressed that I still have 20 lbs to lose. My mom and Andy couldn't believe how much I weigh because I really don't look like I weigh that much. I guess I just hide it well with the black and big clothes I have been wearing. It is really hard knowing what I started out like 5 years ago before having C&C. I know I am older and have now had 3 kids, but always being small makes it depressing when the weight doesn't just fall off. I do have to work really hard to lose weight and I had to work really hard last time and this time I am just getting started. I just wish there were more hours in the day!
I had a jogging stroller for Mack to use while the boys were at school, but after the first use the front wheel was not working right! I knew I shouldn't have listened to Andy and got the cheapest one and it was the same brand of jogger I started out with with C&C and hated. Now I am on the hunt for a better one, but not the $400 one that I want. That is crazy expensive! I started back with my wii fit last night. Andy thought I had the math wrong when I put in my goal amount of weight to lose. That is until I told him my weight and what I weighed when I got pregnant. Then he was like, oh. See it is bad even though it doesn't look too bad. My goal time is 6 months meaning I will have to lose a pound and a half a week. That is not going to be possible! I don't diet. I do have the Eat This Not That and try to order or buy the healthiest option of the things I like. Iam really going to have to lose weight by working out though. We'll see if I can keep this up or if it will fizzle because other things like come first.
It is a lot harder to get things done with 3 kids. Also like the other two, Mack is a spitter. Not as bad, but bad enough that I do a lot of his laundry and he loves to spit up on me when I am wearing my one pair of normal jeans. I had my vow not to spend money unnecessarily, but I can't keep washing and wearing the some jeans everyday. I just don't have time. I did have to buy this one pair and a couple shirts because of nursing nothing really fits me between my boobs and belly being larger than last winter. I really did forget how awful this part was after having a baby. As if sleep deprivation, loss of brain cells, and tons more to do isn't enough you also have no clothes that are flattering to wear. Some days I don't care and throw on sweat pants and then I do not have a tee shirt that fits. Ugh!! Well I have 20 lbs (or more) to lose and lets see how long it takes me. It took me 5 months to lose about 30 lbs last time, so hopefully it won't take too long!

My Littlest Pumpkin

Here are some of my favorite recent pictures of Mack. He is the happiest baby! Most of the time when he is awake and not hungry he is so smiley. I remember once the boys hit about 3-4 months they were pretty smiley in the morning before they got over tired. Mack sleeps much better than they did, so he seems much more content. I really think that it has to do with the fact that we are much more relaxed this time and things went pretty normal with the pregnancy and delivery and coming home. He does look a lot like Cale and Carter, but he also looks very different. Some faces he makes I see them at this age, but sometimes I see a totally different person. I guess it is just like the boys who are identical, I think they look very different.

Pumpkin Patch

Two weeks ago we walked down to the pumpkin patch. The boys picked out these hideous bumpy pumpkins. They are definitely unique. It's a good thing Andy refuses to carve pumpkins because those would be a little tricky. A lot of pictures lately have Cale with his eys closed. I don't know if they are closed because he blinked or is squinting. He reminds me of Earl on My Name is Earl, who always had his eyes closed in his pictures. These are some where his eyes are open, but every picture has one just like it but with Cale's eyes closed.


Carter

At One Month

It has been too long! Here are some pictures of the boys. Mack is a month old. This is also the first time Cale held Mack and Carter held him longer this time. At Mack's one month check up he was already up to 10 pounds 5 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long!! He is growing so fast. He looks even bigger now! The boys are still adjusting well to Mack. They love him very much and try and hug and kiss him all the time. Cale is always talking to him. Carter has been very helpful in getting me stuff. Mack's jaundice is getting better. He still has high levels, but at least they are coming down.

Here they are with our annual Big Pumpkin shot.

Cale holding Mack for the first time.

Carter holding Mack.

One Week Pictures

I have a friend from high school that is now a photographer and she came to our house when Mack was a week old and did some wonderful newborn pictures of him. They all turned out so good!! Here are a few and it has been hard for me to decide on which ones I want because they are all so cute.

Her website is Tina Marsh Photography. When you check out her website, go to Galleries and Moms and Babes and you will see more of my sweet baby Mack. If you need any pictures done then I highly recommend her! She has done the best location pictures and all her pictures look so good!!