Preston's Blessing Day...

Justin blessed Preston today in church. Both sides of our family attended and he was as sweet as ever.  I thought for sure he would need his binky, so I made Justin run back to the car to get it before sacrament meeting started. He had so much adrenaline pumping through his body he could not calm his racing mind when he started the blessing.  He felt like his words were all over the place, but for me, I was grateful to have a worthy husband who could give our little guy a blessing. 

And every plan I had of taking pictures of him in his blessing outfit came to a halt when Preston decided to have a blow out! Of course he had a blowout in his blessing outfit. Preston sure wasn't bothered by it. It is the perfect reminder to me of what my new normal has become...imperfect! Thank goodness, aunt Paige snapped a few picks of how happy of a baby he is. We are blessed to have him in our family, and we feel inadequate to be responsible for all our kids but somehow manage to keep them all alive. 

Two Months...

Someone sure loves his little brother! Ryan wants to hold him all the time and giggles at every little face Preston makes, which are many. We are now getting the smile on command and we love it! Little man has also given me a little bit of a sleeping schedule at night, which I appreciate, with two wakings. One between 12-1am and the other between 4-5am. So collectively, if I can get myself in bed, I can get 6-8 hours of sleep. We are starting to find our new "Normal" around here. 4 Kids and their schedules plus selling and building a house is no joke!

Fall Soccer has Begun...

What a gorgeous Fall day for soccer! Kate tried soccer for the first time last spring and liked it enough she decided to play this Fall. Its a nice change up from dance and she loves playing with her school friends. Her coach Ken, who is also our neighbor, is the perfect coach for these girls and makes playing the game so much fun.  Today she played against her cousin Brooke, and had here first goal of the season. Way to go Kate! I think we need to work on her celebration dance though... 

School Year 2016-2017...

Today is the First day of school! Zach is now in 6th grade at Cedar Park Middle School, Kate is in 3rd grade at Bonny Slope Elementary and Ryan started Pre-K in the 3's program at Christ United Methodist. They were all excited to get to school, and they each came home pretty happy about their teachers and friends in their classes. Zach loves the new line up of classes and enjoys the change in going to different classes throughout the day, and Kate loves that her BFF Emmy is in her class(what else does a girl need to make her happy right?!) and Ryan just loves that he has something to go and do during the day. He is going to love lunch and play once that gets started in a couple weeks. I love watching my kids grow up but I know when I look back at these photos in years to come, especially the yearly neighborhood photo of all the kids I will miss these days and this time in my life.

One Month

I woke up today and this little nugget gave me the sweetest grin. Not a complete smile on command, but I will take what I can get.  I love the snuggles and squishiness of this infant stage but it starts to get fun when they interact with the world around them. The kids love it too!   

Some Firsts...

Babies grow so fast in yet the day to day events go by so slowly for me. There are days that I wish Preston was walking and talking already, and other days that I want him to stay little forever. We have been experiencing a lot of "firsts" around here. 

Preston from day one has been so alert but really actually focused on my phone for this picture. He has such tiny features. I love him, and especially love his feet! It's official, baby feet are one of my favorite things. Kate fed him his first bottle for me, and he drank it up like a champ. This will be especially helpful when I go back to work in a month. Preston had his first check-up and passed with flying colors, gaining weight and developing like he should. He also had his first bath after waiting two weeks for his umbilical cord to fall off. Usually I like bath my kids every day, and for some reason everything I ever did with my others, I don't do for number 4. I actually can't remember or keep track of what day(s) I have been bathing him. I am so thankful he doesn't spit up a lot. And for the first time ever I was brave enough to leave you for a couple hours with Auntie Gay, while I ran some errands and got some things done. And of course you sleep better for her than you do me! You wouldn't be my child if that wasn't the case. She has the majic touch!

Cute Stink...

Aunt Mari attempted to take some newborn pictures of Preston and this cute stink did not want to fall asleep. We tried everything to get him to sleep, but the minute we tried to manipulate his body he would wake up! And being a frazzled new mom of four, I had forgotten his binky at home(duh!). I really should have ran home to get it, but was sure I could get him to sleep long enough to get at least one good picture.  In the three hours we attempted he never stayed asleep but Mari was able to take a few that we loved.  

First Week...

 Preston's first week home was pretty peaceful. Justin took the other three kids to Idaho for the family reunion, so it was just me and Preston for the week. It was so nice to be able to get a hang of things, sleep when I needed to and have some uninterrupted snuggle time before the rest of the family came home. 

It almost all didn't happen when I went to my post partum appointment three days after I had left the hospital and got re-admitted into the hospital for high blood pressure. What?! I tried with huge tears and begging to convince the doctor on call that it was situational.  They weren't buying my story and thought I could have preeclamsia. I knew I was healthy though so at 1am (on my birthday) when the baby, myself and my poor mom could not sleep in the hospital for another minute, I signed my own release, and exited the building like a crazy person! But came home and had one of the best nights sleep!

Grandma came over almost every day to check in on me and to snuggle the baby for a bit.  It was really a great week. I felt very spoiled to spend one on one time with Preston. It was like having my first all over again. I highly recommend sending the family away after having a baby. I never realized how hard it is to regain strength and sanity after delivering a baby, but being able to recover at my own pace for the week and not being forced to take care of all the kids really helped me gear up for them to come home.