Lunch in a Bucket

I got the boys lunch, and left to take care of baby for a minute, and came back to this.  Who doesn't love to have a picnic in a bucket?

A Park, Pizza and Misquitoes

One Saturday when Mike's mom was here, we did our normal Saturday morning chores.  We cleaned the house, mowed the lawn, etc.  It was so nice to feel NORMAL again!!!  That evening we hit up the Little Ceasar's drive thru and then a park. Unfortunately the mosquitoes still think it's August.  We only lasted 30 minutes before we had to leave for fear of blood loss.

Mr. Spencer

Spencer is settling into life.  He's pretty fussy and spitty, so I went off dairy.  The last month of Michael's pregnancy all I wanted was strawberry milk, and he had serious milk issues until he was 14 months old.  The last month of Spencer's pregnancy I lived off of chocolate milk.  These two boys have had lots of similarities, so instead of waiting for many miserable months of screaming, I started the dairy thing now.  Seemed to definitely help with the spit up, fussiness is still debatable.  He was really fussy for a couple of weeks, but the last few days, he seems to be getting a little better.  He has 3 times a day he's really alert, awake, happy and active. The rest of the time he's sleeping or crying. Luke got a cold, and thanks to his love of Spencer, he shared it.  Poor baby is almost over it, but I'm sure that was another contributing factor to the fussiness. He's definitely gaining weight.  From his 1 week appointment to his 2 week appointment, he gained a pound. He rolled over the first time I laid him on his tummy (also just like Michael).  He also will roll from his back to his sides. He's starting to stand up in my lap. Here's a new picture.  They change so much and so fast!!!!

My Little Girl is 6!!!

Isabelle wanted to get her ears pierced a long time ago, but found out it would hurt, so she's been waiting and waiting.  Finally a few months ago she said she wanted to get her ears pierced for her birthday.  She said she knew it would hurt but that's ok.  So we did it!  I took her on Saturday just her, Spencer, and I.  We had a fun time. When we were picking out the earrings, they recommended some to avoid allergic reactions.  She said, "I really don't want to have an allergic reaction today, Mom." Haha.

Before. All excited, but definitely nervous.


After.  She didn't even cry.  She definitely was holding back some tears, but she was super brave. All day she's been saying, "I can't believe I got my ears pierced!  I can't believe I didn't even cry!" She's been prancing around all excited. It's been so cute. She's getting so grown up!


We didn't do much other than our normal family festivities on her birthday.  She was definitely ok with it because she says piercing her ears was her "Birthday Activity."  Apparently we do birthday activities now?  Who knew? For her birthday dinner she chose BBQ chicken, corn, bananas, and pink jello.

Morning birthday festivities. She picked pumpkin muffins for her breakfast.



Present Time!  These are the presents from the boys.


Trying to get a picture with her presents, we caught some definite Isabelle personality.  Seriously cannot get enough of her.





She chose sprinkle cupcakes with sprinkle frosting for her cake.  Super easy for me!!!


Isabelle is so fun to have around.  She's generally a happy helpful little girl.  She loves pink and purple now.  Blue is totally gone.  And anything sparkly.  She's really into jewelry making and excited about adding earrings to her accessories. We sure love our Isabelle!

Life As We Know It

So we are adjusting.  All of our help left.  We are enjoying our new family dynamic but still adjusting. I'm in that awkward refiguring out priorities phase again.  It happens after every baby.  It all comes down to everything else can wait, but my kids wont wait.  They are what's important.  I'm behind on lots of things, my blogging/journaling are really the only thing that bothers me.  The rest will get caught up soon enough, but my babies won't be babies forever.

Anyway, so how are the kids doing with the addition?  Luke is still obsessed.  He is constantly in Spencer's face.  He lays there and talks to him when they are together.  He loves to hold him and kisses him over and over again. When I'm nursing, Luke is climbing all over me trying to get in Spencer's face.  I can never turn my back on Luke if Spencer is not safely behind a door with a door knob cover on it.




Isabelle, this girl is fantastic.  She handles this little newborn so well.  She is the extra hands needed for a fussy baby at dinner prep time.  She rocks and sings and paces while patting his bum and bouncing.  She is going to be an amazing mother. When he's fussy she checks his diaper, asks if he's hungry, suggests he's hot or cold, and when all else fails, she bounces him.  So cute!



And Michael....looks at him occasionally, from a distance. :)  But when he does, he's so cute with him. He will ask to hold him, but only if no one else is around, just me and him.  It doesn't last long until he gets distracted and practically dumps Spencer on the floor, after which he says, "I'm all done holding the newborn baby." He always calls Spencer, "the newborn baby."  He also tries to bring him toys.


Everyone enjoys tummy time together....well, floor time anyway. Spencer doesn't last long on his tummy before he rolls over. He rolled over the first time I laid him on his tummy. Sure enough he does every time.  He also rolls from his back to his sides. We have another mover.

Happy Lame Birthday!

Poor Mike had the lamest birthday this year (yes, almost a month ago.  Seriously so behind here!).  Spencer was exactly one week old.  I dropped my mom off at the airport early that morning, we watched conference all day.  Our good friends, the Greer family, brought us dinner that night and it was delicious! They even made Mike cake.  They brought all the food over and hung out until the Priesthood session.  I had zero presents for him to open. He bought himself something the week before, but I usually have the kids pick out stuff, yeah didn't happen. Needless to say, I felt like the lamest wife ever.  Mike was a good sport about it all and obviously understood the situation, but I still felt bad.  Next year will be better!

Giant Toddler

I was trying to get a decent picture of Spencer....


Luke came along and thought he needed a ball...so helpful...


I got some cute ones of Luke and gave up on Spencer....


Then he laid down where Spencer was and didn't fit on the blanket at all.....


When did my other baby get so big?  Just last week, Luke was so little.  Bring home a newborn and Luke feels like a GIANT!

Coolest Grandma Trick

My mom makes balloon animals.  It's pretty much the coolest thing for a Grandma to know how to do if you are 5, 3, and 2.  My mom came and helped for the last week of pregnancy and first week of newborn life.  It was perfect timing!  She rescued me from a horrible last week.  She came in and took over my house, got kids to school, fixed meals, cleaned the house, and did the laundry while I laid in misery on my bed thinking my eye was going to explode.  She even read to me at night (future post about my cluster headaches).  How about that for a great mom?!  So grateful for a mom that is willing to come and work when needed.  She still got to play a little.  They did balloon animals every other day or so, she took the kids on walks down to the duck pond to feed the ducks.  They had picnics in the backyard and read lots of stories.  Even as an adult, it's always nice to have my mom around.  She also made me chocolate chip cookies twice. :)  Yay for an awesome mom!

New Wheels

We finally have a vehicle we can all fit in.  During Mike's week off, he went and bought a van.  We are loving that no one can touch each other and we can all ride together. 

More Spencer

Some funny things about Spencer already.

The moment out of the womb, he had his legs straight and arms out.  Most newborns curl their legs to their bum, not this kid.  He likes them straight out and long.  He was so wiggly already.  Constantly moving when he was awake, not big movements, but always moving.  He was my wiggliest kid in my tummy....to the point he was more active than all 3 other pregnancies COMBINED! I couldn't believe it.  It's been fun to watch him this last week.  His movements are getting pretty big for such a young baby.  He loves to lay on the floor and kicks and waves his arms like a 2 month old.   He doesn't like to be swaddled.  In fact he gets really mad.  And has an incredibly loud cry for a newborn. 


The kids got to come up to the hospital again on Sunday to visit for a while.  The only reason his feet are up was we were touching them. :)   I love this picture of Isabelle and Spencer (and his leg rolls). He loves watching the kids.  He is so alert and awake.  He studies faces and really watches whoever is holding him.


Notice the kids....Luke and Isabelle touching and noticing the baby....Michael has the iPad.  This sums up the two times the kids came to see the baby.


Hello chub!


Luke said Spencer the first time, and it was ADORABLE!


So hard to get a real picture of what a newborn actually looks like!  Every picture, it's not quite right....This still isn't totally him, but it's close.  He looks SO different with his eyes open.

Welcome, Baby!

Spencer Jay was born last week at 9 pounds 2 oz and 21 inches long.  He has a smallish head, but fat on every other inch of his body.  Fat rolls on his legs and arms.  He even has back fat and cleavage.  While he is an ounce smaller than Luke weight wise, he is much fatter, Luke's weight was just in his head and arms.  I cannot get over his chub.  Loving it!  This adventuresome pregnancy is over!  I have lots to fill in from the last 2ish weeks as my head issues get better every day, I'm almost back to normal.

My 2nd to last day being pregnant.  I was scheduled for an induction Friday morning.  Got up before 6am, got ready to go, showed up at the hospital at 6:45 for them to tell me too many babies had been born and there wasn't room for me and to go home.....not what every pregnant woman wants to hear. While I completely understand, a phone call would have been nice!!!!  My doctor had me come in and he was beyond irritated they sent me home and rescheduled my induction for a rare Saturday induction.


I got a phone call Saturday morning, saying it was still busy, they wouldn't cancel, but they bumped me back to noon.  I was worried how long this one was going to be, as my other two inductions were 12+ hour ones. However, this baby was ready!  Things started after noon and he was born at 6:16. By far my shortest and easiest labor and delivery.  It is my reward for the last 6 months.  Haha!  Enjoy the picture overload.....




My mom brought the kids to the hospital soon after.  It was ADORABLE seeing all the different reactions. Isabelle, instant love.  The happiest big sister.  She was choking back tears.  "I'm not crying."  She said she was so happy the baby was here and trying so hard not to cry.  It was so tender.  Then later she said, "I don't know if this is a dream or if it's real!  I hope it's real!"


Checkin him out.


Luke is also completely enamored.  He said, "Baby out!"  And every time he sees the baby, over and over and over again, "HI, baby! HI baby! Hi baby!"  and "Hold it! Hold it! Hold it!"  He sounds like a broken record.


Michael asked to hold the baby once, then saw the iPad and then could care less about baby.  He sat glued to the iPad.


This picture of all my boys makes me happy.



Our first family photo of 6!  It took so many pictures to just get everyone looking at the camera!  So happy to have Spencer in our family. Spencer was supposed to be Luke's name his whole pregnancy, but when he came out, it just wasn't Spencer....This is Spencer. Welcome to our family, baby!!!!