A Baby: My Most Adorable Fashion Accessory

I'm into holding my babies and they're pretty into being held. When Caleb was a baby, I "wore" him in the Moby wrap (Absolutely recommend it to all you mamas out there. Although a structured carrier is my preference once baby is about 20 lbs. or so). It certainly made things more convenient but it wasn't something I had to do. Then 17.5 months later came Gideon. At that point, it was a necessity. To care for two babies, the little guy had to be worn. Now that I have three kiddos, if the littlest didn't get worn, nothing would get done. So, yay for babywearing but that's not really the point of this post. I wanted to record some of the things I do while babywearing in order to look back on this season of my life and remember what it was like; so without further ado...

There are some of the expected things that I wouldn't have given a second thought prior to having children:
-wearing a baby while taking a walk
-wearing a baby while grocery shopping
-wearing a baby while setting the table/putting out food
-wearing a baby while vacuuming (this one is actually great for getting itty bitties to sleep)
-wearing a baby while blow-drying my hair

(sidenote: I recently saw a man on an HGTV show wearing a baby while hitting tennis balls...definitely NOT something I would recommend doing)

Then there are some other times I wouldn't have anticipated being two-headed:
-wearing a baby while pregnant
-wearing a baby while sleeping (I can guarantee that baby will not roll off the bed when wrapped to your body)
-brushing my teeth while wearing a baby (it takes some maneuvering to spit with a child strapped to your body and not spit on the child)
-eating while wearing a baby (all the crumbs that wind up in the baby's hair, poor thing)
-bathing other children while wearing a baby
-rocking another child while wearing a baby
-wiping another child's bottom while wearing a baby
-carrying another child while wearing a baby
-cooking/baking while wearing a child (I just have to remain very aware of how close baby is coming to the stove, make sure there's no splattering of grease, etc)

And the doozy?
-wearing a baby while using the bathroom...sigh; when nature calls and baby's finally sleeping peacefully, one goes to extremes she never dreamed of

I had a Baby...Again

Back in September, the tenth of the month to be exact, I gave birth to a sweet little red-haired baby. Her name is Eden and she's now quickly approaching the five month mark. I've been putting off writing her introduction because I wanted to include her whole birth story (check out Caleb's birth story here and Gideon's here) but I've finally accepted the realization that writing her birth story isn't going to happen right now. It will eventually, just not right now. The short version goes like this...

-I started having contractions around 4am or so
-I called the midwife around 5:30ish
-I called my parents (who live 2 hours away) to come hang out with the boys
-I waited a few hours for midwife to arrive at my home
-birth assistant and midwife arrived; parents arrived shortly thereafter
-I labored throughout the day, urging baby girl to come quickly
-I labored some more
-I paced around my bedroom, I made some jokes, I complained that things were taking too long, I willed baby girl to come sooner rather than later
-I leaned on Matt (that's how he knew I was getting close)
-I pushed some
-I changed positions
-I whined
-I pushed some more (this time with a primal grunt/yell)
-Out came baby girl's head
-I said the following ridiculous thing as I looked down to see baby's head out (remainder of body still inside me) "Why is she not crying??!!" to which the midwife calmly replied, "Your baby hasn't been born yet." (I give myself a bit of a break here since my other two effortlessly slid out after I cleared the head.)
-I pushed out the rest of my little girl, she cried (1:37pm)
-I snuggled her up and delivered the placenta
-I climbed into my bed
-I got some minor stitches while nursing my baby
-I showered
-I ate a samich

That's about how it went, missing some details here and there of course. Come to think of it, maybe this does suffice as a birth story. I'll have to ponder that.

Anyway, she weighed in at 7 pounds 15ounces; my heaviest baby yet. She was 21.25 inches long; my tallest newborn as well. Here she is:

Eden, soon after birth

Eden being weighed


Obligatory new baby pictures follow:

Mommy and Eden

Daddy and Eden

Brothers loving on their new baby sister

Caleb Turned 4 (in August) then Started Pre-K and I'm Late Posting about It

Here it is January of 2014 and I have several posts that I've yet to get to...just little things like my baby boy turning 4 as in almost 5 as in almost elementary school age as in I might die if this child continues to grow so darn fast!!! He also started Pre-K and then around the same time, I had a baby. You know, little things like that. I'm so behind on blogging but I'm going to try to get back into it. Those are famous last words though. I've said this before and  here I am 10 months after my last post.

Anyway, Caleb turned 4 years old!!!! How did I become the mom of a 4-year-old? And how did I become old enough to be the mom of a 4-year-old? Enough about me though.

Caleb's stats from back in August (he's significantly larger now and has recently gone up a size in clothing):
-42 inches tall
-42 pounds

He's a big kid! On top of being big, he's super-smart and super-curious and can certainly be super-challenging at times. He loves all things Star Wars even though he has never seen the movies and he's enthralled by Angry Birds. He has listened intently to Matt tell him the plot of Star Wars and he has memorized characters and storylines. He's persistent, stubborn, loving, and sensitive. He's astute and reflective.

one week

one year

two  years

3 years

4 years

He started Pre-K in September and he has really been loving it. He goes only 3 days a week (3 hours each of those days) but he is exhausted by the end of those 3 hours, generally falling asleep in the car on the 12 minute ride home. He has made his first "best friend" and he's so cute when he talks about how they play during their time together at school.