first words

When you are the fourth in line, sometimes life is rough. 

Big brothers take your toys. 

Or big sister won't let you chew on her markers. 

But sometimes life is easy... too easy.  You never have to do much to get attention. 

After a year, you still don't feel the need for walking or talking because you have brothers and sister around 24/7 to bring you every toy or tell Mommy you need a snack. 

Until one night you're up a little late and something shiny catches your eye.  You point up at it, look over at Daddy and say "buffoon!!"

That's another rough thing about being number 4, sometimes boys have to play with princess 'buffoons'

ONE!!

I know, I know, it's cliché.  But there is usually a reason for cliché.  I can't believe it's been a year already!  My little guy is growing up and entering that mystical time of toddlerhood. 

Zac has finally figured out how to crawl on his hands and knees rather than slither like a snake on his belly.  But the cake I made for his and Joshua's birthday party sure fit him well.

You know, they say (whoever "they" are) that later babies learn to walk and talk later.  In Zac's case that seems to apply as well, because there is never any shortage of brothers or sister or cousins to help him out.  He even has a cousin to share his birthday with!

What a blessing it is to watch this little one grow and to help him become the man that God wants him to be.  I pray we are up to the task.  Who knows, he might even become a football star! 

(But I think he'll have to stop chewing on the ball first.)



Dirty Baby

Zac still has an interesting little army crawl.  No hands and knees for this guy! It makes for a very dirty baby some days and Sunday was no exception. We were at a cookout with some old friends and Zac was insistent that he was going to play in the dirt.  So I let him. 

Crawling on the patio around the firepit is certainly an easy way to get covered in soot!

And a baby that slides along the grass, will never be clean!

Look at those little black feet!

Teeth!!

Isaac has had a rough couple of weeks.  Lots of crying, very little sleeping.  A month ago, he had just the very beginnings of 2 teeth.  Today, at eleven months old, he's working hard on number 7 and 8.  I'd be grumpy, too, if I had 6 teeth slice through my gums in just two weeks!  But they sure are cute!

Zac at 10 months:

He's SO big!!

Mummum is a favorite word, no mama or dada (at least with any intention) but he's decided dinnertime is very important and "mummum" is about all he says until his mouth is full.

(yummy blueberry muffins from the blueberries we picked last month!)

He noticed stairs for the first time on Saturday.

(he also climbed stairs for the first time on Saturday)

Still loves his momma and big sister, but he's starting to warm up to other people now. 

But he's pretty happy on Momma's back. :)

He got his first tooth on Friday, 10 months and one day.  But he won't let anyone check it out. 

He's gotta keep chewing instead.

Get Moving!

Isaac is 8 months old today.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a good picture of a moving 8 month old?
This was the first try. Probably a bad idea, trying to get him in the commando crawl. (Please ignore the blue glow from the tv: Daddy was playing Wii)

Here he stops to play. Maybe he'll slow down enough here. Nope.  The toys are way too interesting to look at mommy's camera!

Quick! He's looking!  Never mind.

We almost got this one.  But not quite.

He's taking off again.  No luck Mom!

6 months is half a year

Wow.  That's all I can say.  Well, not all I can say.  Really I can say a lot.  But "Wow!" Isaac is six months old today. 

He's growing up so fast. He just learned to roll over a couple of weeks ago and already, I'm having to get after the bigs for leaving toys out.  He's not quite moving yet, but he's rolling with a purpose and I'm sure it won't be long before he can get anywhere he wants.


He's starting to tolerate other people a little better, Daddy in particular has become pretty fun.  Zac even teased me a little the other day when I tried to take him from Kevin.  It was just a tease though cuz he is definitely a momma's boy through and through. 


I've been thinking back over the last six months and how fast it seems this little guy is growing, but how much the next six months have in store for him.  Today was the first time he got to play on the ground (still on a blanket) outside.  The kids and I took him for his very first walk just last week.  He's only gotten to experience the outdoors as the cold place we have to go through to get to where we're going.  How fun will it be to introduce this little person to the beauty of God's world rather than the four walls man made?  He loves playing with his stuffed toys, but how awesome will it be the first time he pats a real dog or sees a real bird?


In six months, God has grown this little tiny bundle into a fun baby with real personality. What will the next six months bring?

This is the face he reserves for his mommy, his most favorite person. 

Look at those eyes sparkle in the sun!

Yeah, I know it's been a while...

But instead of writing about my life, I've been out living it.  So I hope you'll forgive me for my absense.  In the meantime, lots has been happening around here so here's a little update.

You missed Isaac turning 4 months, so here's a shot of that.

                   

He started getting really smiley and happy about this time, but he wasn't really fond of Mommy's big black growth *read: camera* on her face.  But sleeping baby photos are fun anyway, right?

Also, Zac has lost quite a bit of hair and is now sporting this cool mohawk look.

Someday, he's gonna use this shot as an arguement for a real mohawk, I just know it.

What else...  oh yeah, we got a Nintendo Wii a few weeks ago.  The kids love it, and I'll confess, I do too.  We do try to limit screen time, but at least this encourages a lot of activity.  Jadon has the most innocent face begging for the Wii don't you think?

Oh yeah, this guy got a new job!

Kevin is now officially a financial consultant and he's loving every minute of it!  I don't think I tell him enough how proud I am of him.  Love you honey!

So that little recap brings us to now.  Zac actually turned 5 months old yesterday so we had another little photo shoot last night.  I leave you with my favorite shot from that one.  I just love this little guy!

Emergency Bath!

Some days are really exciting around here.  Although, I guess that depends on your definition of exciting.  Today, we had a diaper explosion that required an immediate bath for little Zac.  He's really not too fond of bathtime, but today, he managed to calm down pretty quickly.  Of course, I try never to miss a photo opportunity and today was no exception.

Right out of the sink and onto the bed.

Not too bad if you have a warm towel and a Mommy to dry you off.

Pretty happy when he's all lotioned up.

I just can't resist baby feet!

Of course, around here bathtime is just an excuse to take a nap. He's all tuckered out. Gotta love sleeping babies.

Milestones

Well there is certainly lots going on around here these days.  It seems like my boys have all decided they're going to grow up this week.  Today happens to be Micah's birthday.  Happy Birthday Micah!!  He got to spend his sixth birthday looking for deer in the woods with his Daddy.  What a fun day! 


While Micah is getting a little bigger, he's still the same ball playing kiddo he's always been. But he has certainly added a wealth of football knowledge as well as a serious interest in soccer recently.  So far, his size doesn't seem to be impeding his athletic ability much.

Micah's baby brother also just happened to turn two months old today.  Just look how cute my boys are together.  At least they're cute when they want to be ;)


Isaac has changed quite a bit over the last month.  He still doesn't like the car, but now he does tolerate it under certain circumstances.  We've even discovered that he will take  a MAM pacifier if we insist, but usually he'd just prefer a blanket and a cuddle.  The best part of this new two month old baby is the smiles.  He's decided he loves to play with us first thing in the morning, right after breakfast that is.  He'll smile and laugh at anyone who comes to him for a good ten minutes if he's just eaten.  Baby smiles are just the best aren't they?!

Now for Jadon.  His birthday was last month, but he's decided he's not to be left out of the growing boys' club.  We had an unusually calm week, so he and I spent the better part of Monday through Wed in the bathroom on the potty.  And believe it or not, my boy is potty trained.  If you ask him, he'll be sure to tell you big boys go in the potty and babies go in the diaper.  And Jadon is definitely a big boy!!

Some days I just can't stand the fact that my kids are growing up so fast, but most days I'm so proud.  They are great kids, aren't they?

A month already?!

Little Isaac turned one month old yesterday.  I can hardly believe it.  I know that sounds cliché, but really, it seems like he was just born the other day.  At the same time, so much has happened in the last month.  For one thing, he's gotten really big!  He weighs about 10 lbs already, although I don't know exactly, but he's really starting to get some fat on him.

He's not a paci baby, much to his father's dismay, but he's a great sleeper (at least he is during the day).   He sleeps through all kinds of running and fighting and playing all day long.  I keep joking that we need to have Micah and Jadon run through the house in the middle of the night to get him to sleep better.

For the most part, he's really a happy baby.  He really only cries when he's in the carseat.  This is the face he makes as soon as he's buckled in.

Yesterday, he cried most of the way home from Camp Akita.  That's really too bad since we have to drive 20 minutes just about anywhere we go.  Hopefully, he'll get a little more accustomed to that soon.

This is Zac's favorite place to sleep. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture, but that's what happens when the 7 year old has the camera)

I made a bunch of these slings before he was born and we both just love them.  It's a really great alternative since he hates the carseat so much.  And he's certainly easier to carry around than lugging that heavy seat everywhere.

The big kids just love having a baby brother.  They are all eager to help and are constantly asking to hold him.  Every once in a while, the ugly green monster rears its head, but not very often.  I'm sure the day will come, but we're all having a great time right now.  Hopefully that will last a long time. 

Growing, Growing, Growing

I actually posted the birth story yesterday so I could post this today. 

Isaac was 7 lbs 15 oz at birth, my second biggest baby (Chloe was 8 lbs 3 oz, Jadon, 7 lbs 12 oz and Micah 7 lbs 5 oz).  At 10 days old he was 8 lbs 2 oz.  At 2 1/2 weeks he was 9 lbs.  Who knows how big he is today, but I would not be surprised if he's already pushing 10 lbs.  He really likes to eat!!  So Friday, I decided to document my little porker.  Although any excuse to take pictures of my baby will do, right?

Number Four

While I realize this post is a little late in coming, I thought I'd fill in a little info about our newest addition.  Isaac James was born Tuesday, Sept 15 at 6:05 pm.  Although I had been having strong contractions pretty regularly since Sunday morning, they never really got to the point of actual labor until Tuesday afternoon.  Every time I thought they might be going somewhere, they'd slow down to about 20 min apart or even stop completely.  Tuesday morning, I woke up at about 4:30 am and had pretty regular contractions about 7 or 8 minutes apart for several hours.  I even went so far as to ask Kevin to hold off going to work until they slowed down to 10 to 12 min apart by about 9am. 


After lunch, I put all 3 kids down for naps and laid down myself.  At that point, the contractions were coming just under 20 minutes apart and were really just a nuisance.  All that changed at about 3:30pm.  Jadon got up from his nap a little after 3 and I got up soon after.  In the next half hour I had 3 or 4 contractions that were only relieved by walking around the house.  Ellen came over for some reason I can't remember anymore but she had to follow me around the house in order to have a conversation because I could not stop pacing.  At this point the contractions were still 8 or 9 min apart, but they were definitely more intense.  So I called Kevin and asked him to come straight home after work.  Then Ellen, Megan and I took the kids to the park.  I figured I had more room to pace there and maybe it wouldn't look so funny. 


Soon after that Kevin came home and grabbed my bag and headed to the park to pick me up.  We got to the hospital at about 5pm.  I was only 3 cm dilated, but the contractions were coming fast and furious at that point.  The nurses kept talking about when I got into "active" labor, which blew my mind because I couldn't figure out how much more active it could actually get.  My midwife was not on call so the OB came in a few minutes before 6.  My water still hadn't broken, so she thought she had a little more time.  In reality, she had no time to spare.  My water broke before she had a chance to do it herself and along came Isaac James. 

His delivery was a little scary because the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, and so tightly that they made me stop pushing so they could cut it off before he was completely delivered.  Thankfully, he is just perfect despite the momentary panic in the room.

Jody and Mark came by shortly after his birth so Jody could document our newest gift.  What a blessing he is! (And how great to have so many photographers in the family!)