Hannah is one month old!

I can hardly believe Hannah is already one month old. How are we doing?

Well, I think I am finally recovered from the c-section. At 3 weeks I was still hurting a good bit and almost went to see the doctor to make sure everything was okay. I ended up getting a little cold (imagine! I got sick!) so I put off the doctor visit a couple of days and lo and behold got to feeling better (my incision and my cold). I still have twinges of pain but nothing big.

I am so thankful to be feeling a little more normal, being able to do things around the house, and even get out with the kids. I have even done some errands with all three kids--we bought shoes for Claire one day, went to Walmart another day, and ran errands with Chris's grandmother another day, plus probably a few other things I can't think of right now. The key for me is to only attempt one stop with all three kids, and don't expect them to move quickly. We just have to take our time and do things as if we have nowhere else to be. Small errands completed with no yelling are a huge victory for me!

Most days we stay home, because it's just easier! Hannah nurses every 2 or 3 hours during the day (and during the night too...can't wait until that gets better!). She poops just as often, so we change alot of diapers. The days can be a blur at times.

The first three weeks Hannah was pretty laid back, but a couple of weeks ago she started getting congested (she caught my little cold), and if that didn't make her miserable enough, she got an ear infection after a few days. An ear infection at 3 1/2 weeks old!! My poor baby is on antibiotics now, and if there was any shred of doubt, we now know for sure she is a member of the family! Ear infections galore in our household. (Claire actually got one when Hannah was just four days old! Ugh.)

Hannah has been pretty fussy the last week or so and I'm not sure if it's just gas or still her ear or fighting sleep, or maybe even acid reflux. I'm trying not to overreact to a fussy baby, because some of it is normal, so I'm just watching her at this point. She really likes to be held, and putting her down is becoming a problem. Thank goodness for the swing--she will stay in that when she's sleepy. I really enjoy holding her--she is so cuddly and smells so good--but sometimes I just need to get things done!

Okay, on to some pictures! She has so many faces!


She finally got to take a real bath, and she doesn't really like it yet. She will soon!


She still doesn't smile at us, but sometimes smiles in her sleep.






Aaron and Claire love her so much. One day I laid her on my bedroom floor for a minute (a sure way to get A & C to swarm around her!) and they brought her toys, and were asking if she liked the truck or the baby doll best.




This picture just makes me laugh! The funniest part was right after I took it, the flash scared her and her arms flew up in the air!


Lovin' my sweet Hannah Rose!

Ahhh...the love!

One day Claire wanted me to play dollhouse with her, and Aaron wanted me to watch what he was creating with Legos. So I sat in their bedroom floor and played. Then the baby woke up! So I brought her in there with us, and she fell back asleep. Rather than carry her back to her bed, I just laid her on Claire's pillow for a few minutes.




The kids immediately thought it was great and climbed up next to her!


Trying to get a good picture is hard!

Happy Father's Day

Our kids have a great Daddy! We love him so much!

Today the kids tramped into our room just after 7:00 asking if they could give Daddy his Father's Day surprises. We had made him a card with a nice poem, then Aaron went crazy drawing him pictures of trucks. He had me draw dotted lines for him to trace--and he did a garbage truck, a pickup truck, a forklift, and a street sweeper. They also did one sheet together with glitter designs--Claire did a heart and a kitty, and Aaron did a garbage truck (shocker!). Aaron also wanted to make Daddy lots of bugs out of pipe cleaners (I think he really just wanted an excuse to use the pipe cleaners and googly eyes), so they each made him a spider and a worm. I told Chris I didn't get that much for Mother's Day--they really adore their Daddy!! Aaron was also very excited to bring home lots of crafts he had made at church, including a really nice "Daddy loves me" frame.

Daddy got a nice nap on the couch while watching the US Open, so all in all it was a great Father's Day for him.

With Aaron...


...and Claire...




...and now Hannah!


More of my favorites...I had fun looking through all the pictures to find ones with Daddy in them!

Why I love this little girl

Isn't she just the cutest? Her sweet little voice more than makes up for the whining and fits we endure each day! (She's at THAT age.)

Tornado 2009

Friday, June 12, 2009 is a day I won't soon forget!

I was piddling around the house, while the kids watched a couple of DVD's we had gotten at the library that morning. My neighbor called, and said, "I can see your TV through your window, and I see you're not watching the weather. I wanted to make sure you know we have some big storms headed our way, and they've been dropping tornados." I had no idea it was even about to rain! So I checked the radar, and was amazed at the line of green and red that was headed our way. I turned off the DVD and onto the local weather, and they were showing the camera over the Mississippi River as the storm blew in. I could see it was a really strong storm!

I went to the backyard and picked up all the stray toys, and made sure the sandbox was closed. I called Chris at work, to see if he was going to try to head home a few minutes early to beat the storm. He was staying put, mostly because he didn't think the storm was going to be that big of a deal.

The kids and I gathered in the hallway, with some library books and flashlights, and I had my laptop trying to figure out how I could watch the local weather on my computer. (Anyone know how to watch streaming TV live on the computer???) Then the power went out, so I put the computer away and we sat and listened to the storm, and I tried to read books with the kids. I was texting Chris, "I am FREAKING OUT, power is out, storm is strong" or something like that. At one point it got kinda still, then started hailing and I heard some roaring and it sounded like my front door was being sucked out. I figured it was just strong winds.

A few minutes later my neighbor called and asked, "You okay???" He had watched the entire thing from his garage and said it was the most violent storm he had ever seen, and most of it seemed to be through already. I went to the windows and started assessing the damage. There were leaves everywhere, our playhouse was knocked over, the sandbox blown open, the slide knocked over, and we had lost half of one tree. I could see many of our neighbors were much worse off--huge trees down and shingles blown off. (We have a new roof so it held up well!)

Later we found out it was an F2 tornado that went right through our neighborhood. I can still hardly believe that it went right by our house while I held the three children closely in the hallway. We have two huge oak trees in our front yard, and we are so lucky we didn't have one of those land in our house. We have friends who completely lost their house, and many more who have extensive damage. I am counting my blessings today!!

Saturday morning we went out to get breakfast, since the power was still out and we had nothing we could eat. I took my camera and got some pictures out of the van window. Aaron was pretty shocked at all the damage. Chris overheard him once talking about the "big tornado", and Claire said, "Yeah, the big tomato." So funny!

We spent most of the day at Mimi and Pa's house, since they had power. It was a good day of togetherness. Chris helped the neighbors cut down a tree and drag limbs. Our neighbor got a generator, so we got to plug up our freezer and refrigerator sometime Saturday morning, which was such a blessing. We got power back Saturday evening, and were able to come home and sleep in our own beds. We were so thankful for that!




Here's a link to some really good pictures I saw on Facebook. Much better than my pictures, and you can see the damage around town.

A beautiful song...

One of my favorite sounds is a group of kids singing "Happy Birthday" to their friend. I have watched this video many times since Saturday, and sometimes I like to just close my eyes and listen. Such a sweet song!

Oh, and Aaron was getting on to his friend Sydney for trying to blow out his candles. She'll get to blow hers out in just a few days--they are only 11 days apart and have known each other their whole lives. So special!

Aaron's 5th Birthday

Aaron has been looking forward to his birthday since the day after Christmas. It's a good thing he has a birthday in the middle of the year, so we can spread out the gifts evenly! When he found out it was June 1, he could hardly contain his excitement because he knew his birthday was only 5 days away!

Since his birthday was actually on Saturday, we decided to do his birthday party ON his birthday, even though I was only 11 days into recovery from having Hannah. I knew I could count on help from family and friends, and I was planning a pretty easy party. I had bought almost everything in early May, so the only thing I really had to do was make the cake--because like my mother did for me, I insist on making birthday cakes for my children. Aaron chose a construction theme for his party this year, and he wanted a dump truck cake with dirt and worms in the back. Here's how it turned out--a little hoopty but he loved it!


Aaron was soooo excited when he woke up on his birthday. He came to our bed just grinning, and announced that he was now FIVE! Then he said to Daddy, "But I think there is a problem. I don't seem to be any bigger than I was yesterday." We cracked up laughing, as Daddy assured him that he was indeed just a little bit bigger.

He spent the morning playing in the mud while Chris cleaned up the backyard for the party. What an ideal way to spend the morning!

When he saw he had 2 presents from Mom and Dad, I tried to get him to wait until the party to open them, but he talked us into letting him open one present. He chose the one that rattled--which turned out to be a Lego Recycling Truck set that he has been wanting for quite a while. He's never had an official Lego set--all of his Legos are hand-me-down from my brother's collection--and we were amazed at how well he did following the instructions to put the truck together. He and Chris (and Claire!) worked on it while I finished the last minute details for the party.


When all our friends and family started arriving, the backyard filled up fast! I had hoped to have some of the party in our side yard, but it was hot and sunny and just too miserable out there. I'm thankful for a shady backyard! The kids had fun in the sandbox (and we now need more sand as it got spread all over!) and on the swingset.


I never knew so many kids could fit in a turtle sandbox!


When a bunch of kids start swinging on our rickety swingset, an adult has to hold one side or it start rocking!


I had also brought out several of Aaron's construction and garbage trucks to use as decoration, and those were a big hit.


Hannah enjoyed sleeping through the entire party, in Aunt Ginger's arms.


Uncle Ed came dressed as a construction worker, complete with "Taylor Construction" hats--one for the foreman (Aaron), and one for the gopher (Ed).




Aaron had a couple of games planned, but it was kind of difficult to coordinate all the kids for the game, especially as hot as it was. This was "dirt scoop relay" which we did in the sunny side yard.






We went back to the backyard (and lost the attention of most of the kids) for "tool belt relay".


The kids had to put on a tool belt (made by my friend Amber--aren't they cute?) and fill them with tools, then hand it off to the next person to do.




Time for cake and ice cream!


Mama with her big boy!


The family, minus Hannah.












Now for Aaron's favorite part...PRESENTS!!!




He had lots of helpers!!






His big present from Mimi and Pa--a digger!!


Then just as we were finishing up, Hannah woke up, and got to meet her cousins and some of Aaron's friends.


After the party, Claire, Hannah, and I crashed on the couch! I got teary eyed at the sweetness of the moment. Post-pardum hormones have me crying alot these days!


We are so blessed to have three beautiful children, and I can hardly believe our first baby is now a 5 year old little boy. Happy Birthday Little Man!

Little nurses

I have a whole series of posts I want to do about Aaron's 5th birthday, which was Saturday. But I haven't gotten it all together yet, and I just found this video on my camera from early May, so I'm sharing it now. Enjoy the craziness!!

PS--I typed this whole post one-handed because Hannah is already rotten and only wants to be held tonight!! :-)

Beautiful Baby Hannah

I love taking pictures of my babies! Still trying to capture that elusive "sleep smile" that she occasionally does.





My favorite so far:


Found her thumb!


Where'd it go?




Enough pictures!






What a troubled look!