1 Month Old

This little one continues to be about as sweet as they come.  She is alert and happy, she's a great eater, and at day 5 she was sleeping from about 10pm til 5am and then going back down for a few more hours.  I was told to wake up my other kids if they slept that long as newborns because they were slow weight gainers but she's such a good eater that I haven't worried about it and just can't believe how easy she's been.  She takes most of her naps in a rock n play surrounded by lots and lots of chaos and seems completely unbothered by it.  In fact she seems to sleep more soundly with all the noise.  It's like she's use to it or something :)  She loves her siblings and they love her and so do we!

One of the things that I was most worried about as we anticipated Evie's arrival was how we were going to manage our schedule.  I couldn't quite comprehend how we'd get it all done.  The kids start school at 8:00, Wyatt gets out of school at 11:00, and then Sadie gets out at 3:00.  So even though school is only about 10 minutes away that means 3 trips and over an hour in the car every day.  Add to that the time it takes to load 5 kids in and out of the car that many times, feeding a new baby every 2 hours, plus naps, and I just couldn't figure out on paper how it would work, though I trusted it would, and sure enough with lots of help we are finding our way and everyone is doing okay.

Grammy has taken the kids to school almost this entire first month which has been such a blessing to me.  Getting Sadie and Wyatt fed and ready to go by 7:45 felt like a big enough task initially and I've truly been so grateful for all the extra help allowing us to get our day off to a much slower start.  After a week or so of Grammy doing all the drop offs and pick ups we slowly added back in the afternoon pick up, and then the kindergarten pick up, and finally we started braving drop offs a few mornings, and finally after about a month we were back in the swing.  We also started using a grocery pick up service which has been a game changer with all these littles and the our crazy schedule this year.

It really does take a village and we're sure thankful for ours!!!

Just a few more baby pictures

In the spirit of trying to soak in all of this baby time we've taken lots and lots of pictures.  As you can see we are loving our new little one.

 These were our favorite little jammies of Sadie's and now all 3 of our girls have had a chance to wear them.  That's right... 3 GIRLS... how blessed we are!

 SADIE

HAZEL

EVIE

There's nothing I love more than watching and snuggling with this sweet sleepy baby. 

I have such great big helpers these days.  I think back to the days with just Sadie, or just Sadie and Wyatt and it was a special time with just us and our little ones, but it is also such a blessing to watch the bonding of siblings and to realize that they won't remember life without one another.  I  hope and pray that these relationships will continue to grow and that they would be one of life's greatest blessings to one another. 

 This one will always make me laugh.  I can remember asking Wyatt, "Would you like me to take her back?  and he says, "No that's okay."  I love that they are so unphased by the things that threaten to unnerve us as adults.  The fussing and crying and chaos that we try so hard to manage and avoid most of the time is not bothersome to them in the least.

BATH TIME

COUSIN TIME

Our friends and family as always have been so wonderful to drop off meals and take care of us in so many ways.  We are always so thankful during these early days for the way they come around us.

 Carter and Hazel

 Cooper and Carter

 SHENANIGANS

This one is nothing if not a nut.  She loves loves loves her sister and trying out all the new "toys" around the house, and though she's little bitty she really is getting so big.

Seriously how did this happen?  She has joined the big kids at note quite 2 years old and she just loves it.  She is now officially a big girl in her big girl bed.  How the 4 of them get any sleep all together in one room we're not sure, but so far it seems to be working.  There's usually lots of giggling and a few warnings given each night but then they always seem to settle in and we tell ourselves as we sit downstairs, fingers crossed that they will fall asleep soon, that these are the memories that childhood is made of.

Happy 4th Birthday Cooper!

It was a Spider-Man Birthday for Cooper this year.  

The morning started with "waffkles" and whip cream, Cooper's favorite and ended with a spider-man party with the family.

Cooper is such a great kid.  He's easy going, smart, he rarely complains, he loves his siblings, and he has about the sweetest big brown eyes you've ever seen.  Sometimes we actually wish he demanded a little more attention because it can be easy to overlook him amidst all the other demanding voices of the day, but we are thankful for him.  Thankful for his sweet and flexible spirit and just his overall great attitude.  I've especially loved watching his relationship with Wyatt grow these past few months.  When we drop Sadie and Wyatt at school he at times looks so bored in the back seat riding home, but as it gets closer to lunch he starts asking if it's time to pick Wyatt up yet and as soon as we pick him up it's off to playing.  I usually stick to a quiet time in the afternoon pretty religiously, but it's been hard to stop them from their games because they play so nicely and Cooper is just loving his time alone with his big brother.  He gets to be a part of deciding what to do and how to play more than he ever has before and I've loved being able to witness this special little window of time they have together this year.   It's actually been a little bit of a transition for all of the kids because where it use to always be Sadie and Wyatt with Cooper tagging along, now the boys have games of their own and big sister isn't always so sure what she thinks of that.  

We love you Cooper and look forward to another year of growing and learning and seeing more and more of who God has created you uniquely to be!

The best kind of photo shoot

If you ask me the best kind of photo shoot is a newborn one, although I'm not much of a photographer myself.  I just love looking through sweet newborn photos and have been so blessed to have my sister or a friend around to capture the precious first days with each of my babies.  My sister Amy took and edited all of these pictures of our sweet Evie Rose.

Such a sweetie this one and boy do we love her!!!