My 3 little birdies

Though we have many a bad day around here, and most often I tuck the kids in bed with a big sigh of relief, everyone in awhile I fall into bed completely smitten with a bit of perspective each of my children have served me with that day.

On my bed tonight was a book from nap time with Hudson.  How I love our Mondays and Fridays (days he doesn't have school).  I don't nap with him often, but every few weeks I will lay down with him and rest.  It is much needed for me, and I love snuggling with him!   Returning to a "work outside the home job" next year is something I'm unsure of right now.  Regardless what direction my photography business leads me, I will never regret this year home with my babies.  I love sweet moments with Hudson and will miss them terribly when he goes to kindergarten this fall.

We had pizza and a movie tonight.  We watched Toy Story 3.  Porter is such a tenderhearted boy.  When the clown was telling the story about Lotso being replaced when Daisy lost him, and the baby doll was crying, Porter gravved a pillow and buried his face.  Without thinking, I jokingly pulled the pillow away and realized he was crying.  My sweet boy felt brokenhearted for these toys.  I love his tender heart.  I tend to be so hard on him sometimes, expecting so much from him and I often forget that he is just a little boy with a big heart that can be broken so easily.

And Amelia... oh this baby girl is such a love bug.   It melts my heart when she grins so big her eyes turn to half moons.  When Oma came over the other day she hugged her.  Laid her head on her shoulder and hugged her.  I love when she does this.  And she triest o give kisses.  She loves her baby dolls and loves to rock the doll crib in her room.  I love when I feed her before bed and when she is done with her bottle she pushes it away, rolls onto her stomach against my chest, burps and falls asleep.  Bellyful.  Content.  Peaceful.  Other times she just wants her bed.  She grabs her paci and practically leaps into her bed from my arms, grabs her blanket and rolls over to sleep.  When she is tired she is the easiest kid to put to bed.  She loves to give me her paci.  It is such a game to her.  She takes it from her mouth and puts it in mine and then laughs as she yanks it back out.  She is so silly.  It melts my heart.

iPhone Dump

Cuteness overload.   Love. This. Girl.  

Ella loves her too.  Yes, we have a cat!  Can you believe it?   We finally are attempting to let Ella back upstairs (her home has been the laundry room for the past... uh... year?? ever since she peed on the guest bed in teh basement).  She loves Amelia.  Amelia loooves to grab her. (I imagine her saying in her head "SHE'S SO FLUFFY I COULD DIE!" cue Despicable Me)

Dude needs a haircut.  But... he really wants to grow it out, so I'm letting him. Ry isn't happy but I think he should have a say in how he wants to look.  Let him be who he is, right?  So what if it means shaggy baggy hair.

Uhm, Dunc Doodle.... you've got a leaf tag-along.

This was going on this week... crazy kids.  Amelia thought it was pretty fun.   A little circus in our back yard.  All ours.  Jealous, aren't you? 

Gawwwwd I love this kid.  She is so cute.  Teeny tiny thing still wearing 3-6mo Old Navy jams that typically run so tiny small.

Someone feels entitled today..... Hmm....

This moose....err... pony....errr...dog cracks me up.  

Monday Porter came home from school and asked me to pull his tooth out.  EEWWW.  I did it, though.  Out with the tooth!  That'd be #4!

And while Porter is LOSING teeth, Amelia is getting them in.  She has her first tooth on the bottom!

Tell me this isn't funny?  I found it on Instagram under #Goldendoodles.  No, this is not Duncan.  Though I wish it was.  It is hilarious!

Look who is starting to crawl!  She has found her knees.  Now to figure out the coordination!

Last week I went upstairs after Porter left for school and saw this in the hallway on the dresser.  Totally stopped me in my tracks.  Makes my heart hurt for him.  

I got a text from Aubri last week.... cracked me up... "What are you doing girl"  HAHA!   SHe and I have been texting back and forth.... I send her pictures of Amelia and the boys, and we tell each other good morning and good night.  SO sweet.  LOVE IT.

Porter's Christmas List:

Nerf gun
Real Dirt Bike
I want a real shotgun
18 inch bike- green "rules" (ironically he found a bike that says something about "No Rules" Oh boy...)

Ipod Green Case
Skylanders Giants and small Wii game
Skateboard ramp
Xbox Halo 4 Game (WTF?)
Xbox for home
Tv for home in my room

Porter 2012
(sadly, the poor boy is going to be very disappointed this year...)

(I love that he dates it, too!)

Sibling love

My boys are such little daddies to Amelia. They sure love their little sis. Yesterday when I picked Porter up from school I stopped to chat with his teacher. I caught Porter cleaning out Amelia's crusty boogers out of her nose.

Many mornings he gets her out of bed and brings her to our room for me.

This morning I fed Amelia and laid her back in the pack n play. She was babbling (it was 6:30am) and I laid back down knowing she would go back to sleep. Hudson woke up from a dead sleep and got up to give her her pacifier.

They love her, they do.

Week 1: Life with Three

So far so good!  This week hasn't been to crazy, and I've really felt great after this delivery.  (Warning... TMI for males coming up).  I dreaded the healing from delivery.  However, I only tore a little during delivery and aside from some uncomfortableness, my "bottom" isn't too painful this time.

Yesterday my milk came in and ohhh that's the 2nd thing I'd dreaded post-delivery.  I feel like Dolly Parton, except with lots of extra flab around the mid-section.  Gi-nor-mous.  I even contemplated nursing yesterday but recalled the "titty twister" feeling that both nursing and pumping brought on, as well as the headache that came along with my milk coming in (for all 3 pregnancies). I quickly remembered that I like my sanity a little more than the hassle of attempting to forge through nursing.  Ick.  So... I'm dosing up with Motrin (probably a little more than I should) and hoping the weekend goes by quickly and I can have halfway normal sized boobs soon!

Amelia has been such a content baby.  She reminds me a lot of Hudson as an infant.  Like him, she hasn't cried but once or twice all week.  When she wakes to eat she just grunts and roots around.  She doesn't mind her diaper being changed, or when I'm dressing her.  She has seemed a little spitty/reflux-y but nothing that makes her super irritable.  She seems to spit up more often than the boys ever did, and sometimes gags a little or stretches/crunches up like she has a bit of reflux, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her too terribly.

I'm still adjusting to her name.  I know that sounds silly.  But even after she was born I wasn't 100% set on her name but Ryan loved it.  Although, really the only other name I loved was Norah Lucille and he really didn't like it at all (said it reminded him of "Norwegian"... "Norahwegian" UGH!) .  I had this vision that if she was blonde like Hudson she'd be Amelia and if she was dark like Porter she'd be Norah.  And, well, she's dark featured. And I feel like she looks like a Norah.... and sometimes I feel like Amelia is a mouthful.  I keep wanting to shorten it to a nickname and that was one of the reasons I loved Norah- because it couldn't really be shortened to any obvious nicknames.   The boys' names aren't nicknamey... though we call them Poe and Bess, but they're not completely just shortened from their names.   Anyhow... I don't know.  I'm sure it'll grow on me, and I do love the name but just don't feel like it fits her yet.

The boys are adjusting really well to her.  Porter had a rough few first days and I felt awful for him.  He had a meltdown the night I stayed in the hospital after Amelia was born.  My grandma said he was inconsolable and just beyond reasoning with.  And then Tuesday morning he woke up and wanted to feed Amelia and I told him he could when she woke up, thinking she'd be awake soon.  She ended up not waking up until it was time for him to leave for school so he was really upset about that.  And THEN I had told him I'd print a picture of her for him to take to school, and I'd forgotten.  I tried to print one quickly from my phone and when he brought the picture up from the printer it only printed the top inch of it.  We didn't have time to figure it out and he was melting down because everything that morning was turning out wrong.  I know he felt like I'd lied to him, but that the root of it was he was just reacting to the changes and was so excited about Amelia and things weren't happening the way I'd said they would.  I felt terrible, though there really was nothing I could do.  I did get a picture printed later and had Ry run it up to the school for him and he was so happy about that.

Hudson is handling everything really well.  He has been so fun to be with during the week and he's just such a good helper and such a goofball!  I feel like I'm having conversations with him all day and he makes me laugh so much.  I'm so happy I'm getting what feels like "one-on-one" time with him right now.

As far as 3 kids... so far a piece of cake.  However, Porter is at school all day so really it is just Hudson, Amelia and I.  And let me say... this almost-4-year age difference sure is a walk in the park compared to the boys' 2 year age difference!   Amelia has been sleeping in during the morning.  Today I was able to get the boys fed, get Porter off to school on the bus (he is pretty good at getting himself ready for the most part), and I got a shower and did my hair/makeup before she woke up.   I am dreading this fall, though, when I go back to work and have to get ready in the morning with 3 kids.  I do have a feeling Porter will be quite a big help for me though.

The baby that rocked our world

This little girl.... oh my gosh she has just turned life upside down--- in a GOOD way.  My heart feels like it could explode when I see my boys with her.  They are SO over the moon in love with her.  I'm so proud of how helpful and loving and doting they have been.  I thought it was so neat during my pregnancy to hear them talk about how excited they were to have a baby sister, but it is 10 times better actually seeing them with her, seeing their love and excitement for her.  It is such a different experience than when I was pregnant with Hudson, or when Hudson came home.  I love that the boys are close in age, but I LOVE the age difference between them and Amelia.  They are so much more aware of everything and so incredibly excited and involved in everything. 

Some of my favorite memories these first few days:

• The first thing Porter does when he gets home from school is ask where Amelia is.  Then he runs to wash his hands and asks to hold her.  
• The high-pitched voices the boys get when they talk to her.  They way they say, and repeat, "Hi Amelia!  Hi Amelia!  Hi!  Hi!  Hi Amelia!"
• Hudson loves to snuggle up next to her and kiss on her.
• Hudson loves her Diaper Champ, or "flipping trash" as he calls it.  He loves to throw away her diapers, and even runs random garbage upstairs to her bedroom to throw it away in the flipping trash can. 
• Hudson tells me numerous times a day "I'm so happy we have a baby sis!"
• Porter tries to tickle her
• When Porter feeds her, he loves to dictate when she burps.  He'll hand me the bottle and say, matter of factly, "Here mom, hold this. Will you help hold her up so I can burp her?"  And he does this 5 times or so during a measly 2oz feeding.  Its so cute.