Good news! The "rock-a-bye" chair DOES hold 3 kids.

We had to try it out today just to make sure. And who knows the origin of the whole rock-a-bye thing? what is "a-bye" anyway? and is it "bye" or "by" Whatever the case, I think it ends up being my kids first words.... "mom, rock-a-bye me" 

17 days until your big blessing day Emery and you are leaning a little on the chubby side!  I mean look at those cheeks! And that double chin! Lets pray there's not a 3rd one by then. I guess we'll have to start cutting down to 3 meals a day instead of 74, so you can fit into a dress. 

 Ok, I think you are darling no matter how chubby you are! "and if that blessing dress don't fit, momma's gonna buys you a new one quick."

As cute as you are, how come a sleeping baby is even that much cuter? Or prettier? or something? It's like their skin turns soft and creamy and their lips lay just right and they turn from "cute" to beautiful!

Kinda like I do....

Sorry, I had to.

I know it's very inappropriate. It's just amazing how cute babies are when they sleep and how not cute adults are. I don't know, maybe you are cute? But we have a lot of sleeping pictures around here and I can't find one with creamy skin and pretty lips! Mike likes to snap pictures. Not perty.

Baby's first day of church

With the boys I really enjoyed taking my "time off" of church ;) but for some reason I've been anxious to get back this time,  so we didn't wait as long with little Maybell. Maybe it's because I hear the voice of my friend who lives in Ohio making fun of all the Utah Mormons who take 3 mo off church each time they have a baby. I won't argue with that, it's true, we do. She had her baby and had to be there the next Sunday. That's what happens when you are in a small branch and don't have enough people to pick up the load. You're a better women than I Shannon.



OR



Maybe it's because she has cuter clothes than the boys and so I need a reason to wear them! Before she doesn't fit into them! :) Here she is in her first dress. I bought this a few months before she was born and drove Mike crazy because I couldn't decide if I should get the NB size or the 0-3 size. I wanted the NB size because everything is soooo much cuter when it's tiny. But after taking it back about 6 times I finally settled on the 0-3 mo. Good thing I did. This girl is chunking right up. She'll be 4 wks on tue, but is growing out of things faster than I can get them on her.



Do you love her bow? I made it 10 min before church, out of silver Christmas ribbon :) By the 2nd hour of church I realized it didn't look right. Oh well.

Another slew of pix

Will be forever grateful for doing these while our boy had teeth!

 I'm not really a big bow gal, however, for some reason I just love them in pictures

 She wasn't a very shape able and mold able baby which makes it hard for the poor photographer who takes the time to form her only for her to come unraveled before she can snap the picture

 I do apologize for being so busty!!! We really weren't planning on being in any pictures or I would have chosen a different top. Sorry, I gotta feed this baby some how, which makes it so I can't really fit into anything I own! Oh well

He broke

I had to give myself a week before I documented Ivan's unfortunate event, so that I wouldn't be overly and unnecessarily emotional about it. As if the broken collarbone wasn't enough to worry about, we got to have a little accident with Ivan too.

A week ago the boys ran smack into each other. Jack's head just meets Ivan's mouth and BAM, his big, hard head caved in Ivan's teeth. Talk about a nightmare. I know there are far worse things that happen and I don't mean to make a big deal out of it, but it was pretty much the worst night of our life. We saw them hit and I knew it was in the mouth and so I thought Jack was going to have a big chunk out of his head. Just the opposite. Mike picked up Ivan and mentioned blood so I thought he'd have a little cut in his mouth or something, but I about threw up when Mike opened his mouth. It immediately swelled up and there was a lot of blood and it was all purple and it looked like the left side of his face/mouth was so far caved in he looked deformed. I thought for sure it would be permanent. Our neighbor is an orthodontist so we had him come look at it just to make sure we didn't need to do anything about it that night (it was about 8:30). 

Ivan cried until he fell asleep. It's amazing how much pain you feel when you think your kids are in pain. We couldn't stand the thought of the injury, but even more so, we couldn't stand the thought of our little Ivan in pain. We wondered how the night would go, luckily Ivan slept the whole night. I slept a bit, but Mike laid awake next to Ivan all night.

By the next morning it actually looked a TON better. This picture makes it look like no big deal. He seemed good in the morning. Didn't seem to be in pain. As we loaded in the van he made mention of all the "popcorn" coming out on the tree's. Very proud of him for noticing at such a time. I couldn't think about anything else besides his mouth.

Now you see them....

 Now you don't!

It really isn't a big deal and it happens all the time to kids, but I'll be honest, it's been a very sad week, not for Ivan, but for me and Mike. I was more physically sick about it the night it happened, but couldn't feel anything else until we knew what could be done about it. I finally broke down after we left the dentists office. They pulled the 2 front teeth and we just have to wait and watch the other tooth. When we got in the car Ivan started to cry, "I want my teeth back in." Mike and I both cried for about 2 days after that moment. I know, I know, it's not that big of deal and it could be worse, but there was still this sense of loss. Even though it's just teeth, it was still a part of him and that was gone now. It surprisingly makes him a little different, kinda like we lost our old little Ivan and have this new little Ivan. That sounds really, really strange I know. I can't quite explain it, not that we love him any different, it's just kind of an end to one time of life and things seem different. I also think it seemed like a big deal because of the way it looked that night. I can't get that image out of my head. When you look at him now it's just 2 teeth gone, no biggy, but when I look I see that mental picture of the way it looked the night it happened.

ANYWAY, he's been really good about it and I do think he looks cute. His s's have turned to "etheth."  I heard him talking to the baby after and he was going to give her a kiss. He said, "Maybell, you need some kitheth?" then he repeated the word "kisses" a couple more times like he was noticing he couldn't quite say it right and then he looked at her and said, "well, my kitheth are kinda weird right now." 

We love our sweet boy and I love Mike even more. It's been nice to bond with him over the past week in a way we really haven't. He's such a great guy!

Three weeks

Our baby girl is 3 weeks today. I told you she just keeps getting cuter!

 It's definitely different bringing home your 3rd baby than it is bringing home your first. Life just has to go on as usual, which requires your attention, which means baby # 3 gets less attention. I feel like the past couple hours today have been the first couple hours, since we've brought her home, that I've had any quiet time to just hold my baby (and blog). Jack took a long nap and Ivan was over at Charlie's and it was a nice couple of hours of piece and quiet.



She's sweet and a good baby. She kicks her legs until she rolls onto her side. Not really like she prefers to be on her side, it just happens as she's squirming around.

 I always told myself that if I had a girl I wouldn't focus on her looks. I'd choose words like, "you're so smart" or "your so sweet and fun," but I find, "you're my pretty girl" seems to roll off my tongue without my noticing. I do love to look at her. She is a little angel and the boys are soooo good with her. I don't feel like they maul (sp) her to death or that I have to keep them away from her. I often find Ivan saying the sweetest things to her. One day he was telling her that he was her big brother and that if she needed him to hand her something he would get it for her. Another day he was looking closely at her face and saying, "are those diamonds in your eyes?"  And another day he said, "little Maybell, did you know you're in love with us?" Almost every time he comes over to her he says to me, "she's just a little cutie isn't she mom."  He's had a little cough and so I tell him not to kiss her face and so he always asks me first before he goes over to see her and he's good about kissing the back of her head.

 She is awake a lot more. She just gets this really pleasant look on her face almost like she's smiling at you. (I'm not the only one who has noticed). She does prefer us to be around, rather than alone in a room. She is just a bundle of joy for sure!

Bows

Such a fun accessory I didn't have with the boys!

She broke

Turns out they gave us a broken baby! Our poor little Emery girl has a broken collar bone. I can't find the receipt so I doubt we'll get our money back, maybe just in store credit?

Mike kinda noticed in the hospital that her little right arm seemed kinda limp. But of course you second guess yourself so he didn't really say anything, just figured he'd forgotten how it was to have a newborn. So a week later (mon night) I was holding her and thought the same thing. It seemed like her arm was really twisty or something. The pajama's she had on were a tiny big so I thought it was just the illusion of the extra material twisting. I didn't think much more about it until Friday. I was watching her all day and she just wasn't using her right arm. I stewed and fretted about it all day and finally about 8:00 that night I took her in. Sure enough, xray shows her little clavicle bone is broken. From the birth I guess, which is really crazy because they broke my water and about 45 min later I literally pushed twice and she was here. Not a traumatic birth at all. I don't know what did it. I was watching the birth in the mirror and when she came out the doctor did turn her pretty dang fast I thought he was going to break her neck..... so I'm guessing I was right and he just about did!

So how about that. Who do you know that had the same thing? And do tell me how fast it healed and how it was no big deal! :)  They say it's common and that they just kinda heal on their own. We do hurt for our tiny thing though.

Oh she's been so fun and so good. She doesn't cry about it at all.