SuperBaby!!!!!!!

Seriously, we were starting to think this kid was invincible.  Feeding every 3-4 hours.  Never fussed for more than a few seconds except for the obvious tired hungry poopy reasons.  Happiest baby ever, we actually call him Mr. Happy, it's his real name.  Giggly and soooo ticklish.  Asleep by 8:30.  SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT.  And by that i mean actually sleeping the entire night not waking up once until just after 6am when i would awake with a panic thinking "Who stole my baby?!"  

But there had to be a catch.  No baby can be this perfect.  And we soon discovered his kryponite.  Teeth!  Dun Dun Dunnnnn.  Fussy fussy fussy.  At fourth months and 1 day old his first little pearly white started poking through, the one next to it a few days later.  Neither of the other boys were bothered by it much so this is all new to me.  So now he wakes earlier than before, and some days we nurse more often just because that's what makes him feel better.  And something must be in his mouth to gnaw on at all times.  But it's all good.  He's still the sweetest little soul i've ever met in my life.

He's growing like a weed too.  Was 13lbs at his two month appt., just had his 4 month appt. and was over 15lbs.  Just gave him a bath tonight, which he loves but he makes such a mess it's maddening.  The baby tub fits perfectly sideways in the kitchen sink, but he kicks his chunky legs so forcefully that water splashes all over and floods the counter and soaks me.  I need to start training him to sit up so he'll be able to do it on his own early hopefully and then i can have him sitting up in the big bath.  I'm sure it'll happen faster than i can imagine.

And here's your overload of pics for the time being...

It seems i have another book lover on my hands.

How do you choose just one picture with this much sweetness?

Not loving the wind so much

First trip to the zoo, loving the sea lions

First Haircut, said goodbye to the mullet!

Mud

Some days I just don't know where to start.

Everyday

At least once every day, i feel like giving up, throwing in the towel.  Too much to do, too many demands.  Whining crying piles spills mud repeating reminding disciplining praising playing praying cleaning sorting smiling laughing crying-again prepping cooking feeding changing cleaning trimming brushing hugging holding nursing teaching loving kissing dressing driving reading whining-some-more pausing.  Still trying to perfect that last one.  Not much time to pause and reflect on the the beauty of it all, working on what it means to do that exactly.  Everyday i'm thankful, but forget to think so.  Everyday i'm stretched.  Everyday i beg God for wisdom, more patience.  Everyday is one that i'll never get back again, and everyday they're worth it.

Things We Learned on Sunday!

1.  Oliver will be gassy if i eat tacos the night before.


2.  You may NOT pour room temperature water into a glass pan that has been cooking a whole chicken for 20 minutes.  It WILL explode into a million tiny pieces.  In your oven.  Maybe this is something i should have already known.


3.  Redoing a bathroom takes at least 7 days, not 2.


4.  Even though he's eaten it a bazillion times with no problems at all, we think Joey is now allergic to tuna as well.  Our couch with puke all over it is pretty convinced of it.


And the fun part of life is that this stuff all happens at the same time, all the time.  Lucky for me dad happened to be over and helped me clean up glass from all over the kitchen.  And he mowed the lawn for joe.  And microfiber cushion covers can be machine washed.  And Oliver was his usual happy self within an hour.  And then he slept through the night.  Good ending!

Joey telling us the flash is too bright.

Already showing off some muscles

"See my dinosaur baby, see dinosaur?"

Sweetness

Sleepy

I love

I LOVE... my baby Oliver Moses.

I love... that my boys love Oliver too.












































I love...  my baby's delicious face.


I love...  that he sucks his thumb.

I love...  that he fell asleep on his own tonight in his Moses basket.


I love...  my friend Holly for giving me the idea to warm up his bed with a heating pad. (i take it out right before putting him down)


I love...  that he is so perfect and sweet that he almost makes me want to have another baby.  (That's a big fat ALMOST people)


I love...  that when he stirs in his sleep sometimes all i have to do is hold his little hand and his body relaxes again into rest.


I love...  feeling his snuggly warm body next to me in bed knowing this will be the last time i get this privilege of caring for something so small.


I love...  watching all my boys sleep and the quiet of night that makes me forget about all the stresses of the day that seemed insurmountable.


I love...  that i'm not as down in the dumps as i was, even if it was only for a couple of weeks.  It's good that i can think of things that i love.


I love...  my husband, who shows me who Christ is through his love.

I'm so cute. I'm so cute. I'm so cute!

Ian Update

Ian Update:
Oh my word - EMOTIONAL! This kid will melt down at the drop of a hat.  He's not sensitive, just very emotive. Just in the last month we've seen a few drop to the floor tantrums.  Those are a first for me because Joey never did that even once.  He's warming up to the new baby as best as he can, but i think there's a bit of a protest going on inside his itty bitty heart. Been trying to find time for moments with just him, reading books or playing catch w/ the football (his favorite) but it's hard to balance it all.  Thankfully he has his brother to spend most of his day playing (fighting) with.
The way to his heart might have to be through his stomach, for the time being anyway. After i broke his heart again by taking him out of Joey's preschool class to go home, I excitedly tell him we can have a snack in the car and i'll race him there. Tears dry up as instantaneously as they appear and we're off and running- as best we can anyway while holding hands and carrying an infant car seat. In the van, i give him the whole box of cheezits to hold all by himself and i'm back to being his favorite person in the whole wide world. I'm guilty of using this tactic another time too as i lure him with the mention of a brownie at home that we won't tell his brother about.
I would love to stop at a playground or take him somewhere where he can learn and experience new things, but we need to go home to feed the baby AGAIN. I remember the guilt when Ian was born feeling like i was short-changing Joey, and now we're back in a familiar situation. I know it's good for them in the long run to have these brothers for a lifetime though so i'll get over it.

Despite his tough exterior, Ian can be sooooo sweet, I think mostly due to those big brown beautiful eyes of his. He can give you a look that will melt your heart. Some fun things about him now- he likes to say he's Batman and do his own interpretation of the theme song as he loudly thumps through the house. All his answers to questions now are either "Ummmm YEA" or "Nope". Has always been into accessories and if there's a hat or pair of shoes or anything that looks like it could be worn somehow, he will try it on. Yesterday he figured out how to put my sleep eye mask on his head, velcro it under his chin and was calling it his helmet. This was after joey told me Ian was trying to wear it as a bra. His favorite to put on though are his boots. Most the time they're on backwards, but it's one less thing i need to to do to get out of the house so i think it's great. He also insists on putting on his own pants now, and often you can find him walking around with a pair of joey's underwear over them. After a bath recently, he came across a pile of clean clothes, put on a pair of my pink undies, and was running up and down the hall. I promise not to tell his future girlfriend. ;O 

One thing's for sure, he's an original, no doubt about that.