Newborn pictures

These pictures may be a tad late getting on here but I promise they were worth the wait! We were able to get newborn pictures done right away after leaving the NICU. It took a bit of time before I was able to meet up again with our photographer to pick out our final selection but I am so, so happy with the pictures we got.

I warned our photographer before coming that we may have limited options as our kids may not be cooperative. She assured me that we would be fine and would definitely find a way to get some good ones. Our experience started off with a bang. Literally. While we were getting Jayden ready for our first picture, we heard a loud bang. We looked over to find our son had fallen and next to him was a knocked over tripod and camera. Our photographer handled it all well and the camera was not broken but that was definitely a hard moment for our family. Despite the rough start, we enjoyed the rest of our time there. The kids ended up loving having their pictures taken!

And Jayden was definitely the star of the show. He slept through the entire session, 2 diaper sessions, and several cloth wrap switches.

We are so thankful for these pictures and a screenshot of our children at this age.

2 Month Update on Baby Jayden

 This little guy just hit the 2 month mark yesterday. It's been a wild ride for sure but we are so in love with him. Jayden is proving to be one of the calmest, most patient babies ever. He has no problem waiting on me as I am constantly interrupted to care for his siblings. He makes life so fun and is so hard to not hold all day long. The chores can wait, right?

 We are so thankful for God giving us this little boy, who just may be forever treated like the baby. And I think he is already aware of how "babied" he will be.

 Sleeping continues to be one of his top daily priorities. He is a great sleeper and still spends most of his time snoozing away. He does make sure to still get up every 2-3 hours for eating. I'm hopeful this will be the baby that sleeps full nights early on (may be wishful thinking considering how long it took the other 2 to start sleeping all night).

During the day, while baby Jayden sleeps, we continue with our normal routine working on school activities, completing art projects, running around the house, and solving mysteries only a 2 year old and 4 year old could dream up.

 We are so anxious for spring to come and get back to spreading our wings outside again.

Until then, we will settle for fires in our fireplace, board games, and staring at this sweet 2 month old.

Thank you for picking us as your family Jayden. We are so grateful and blessed because of you. You are more loved than you could possibly imagine.

Date Night with Our Children

Once a year, our town's YMCA puts on a special dinner and dance for fathers and daughters. This was the first year Payton was old enough to attend and she was so excited for her special date with her daddy. She meticulously planned her outfit and took most of the day getting ready and thinking about what all she would do that night. I helped her get dressed in her room and we had daddy knock on the door to "pick her up." 

Her daddy surprised her with a rose and she was so excited for this small gift. We waved at them as they left and it hit me hard that these years are going so quickly. It won't be long before we are preparing for school dances, dates, and outings with friends. I wish I could slow time down. Or keep my kids from growing. But, I can't. For now I just thank God for this time with our kids and the chance to be their #1 priority for a bit.

On the flip side, I am looking forward to seeing all the great things my children choose to do in life. It's one of life's great blessings being able to watch your own children grow.

With Payton and her daddy gone and my mother-in-law visiting for the weekend, I decided to take Riley on a date with me and my mother-in-law would watch Jayden.

We had a blast together. While Payton and daddy danced the night away, we chose to get drive-thru and eat at the park. To make this plan work, we had to eat in our vehicle as it was too cold to get out. Riley didn't mind. After eating, we walked down to see and feed the ducks. Then Riley decided we needed some dessert so we went on another quick trip for ice cream. He thought it was the greatest night. And he's right, it was a beautiful night.

Jayden slept the entire time grandma had him. She was okay with that. He chose to wake up when mom came home, which worked out really well.

We woke up this morning to snow on the ground and are spending the day lounging and baking for the week. Both Payton and Riley keep telling stories about their dates last night and plan to have more date nights soon. 

We couldn't agree more.

Have a great Sunday!

It's Quiet on Here

With the birth of a new child, it should almost be expected for things to be quiet on here. That isn't necessarily the case in reality for me. Our household is busier than ever and I am constantly demanded by my 3 children. It's beautiful and draining and crazy busy.

In the last few weeks, we continued to bond as a family and enjoyed having my husband home. We had a snow storm hit our area which gave us the opportunity to enjoy snow.  Our kids are obsessed with sledding, eating snow, digging snow caves, and building snow men. On repeat.

After 6 weeks at home we had to unfortunately send my husband back to work. We are so, so fortunate that he works for a company that gave him so much time off but we still weren't ready for him to make the return. Our house became a bit quieter in some ways but the workload piled up for me as I took on the days solo again. His presence has been greatly missed.

With so much sickness continuing to go around in our area, we continue to stay home as much as possible. I have found many inside activities to keep us busy and we try to sneak out for 10-15 minute intervals. I seem to spend more time bundling up the kids than we spend outside but it's totally worth it for a bit of fresh air.

We did sneak away to the park during one warmer afternoon to take a look at the ducks.

I stayed in the vehicle with Jayden as it was still too cold for him. In many ways, I think we are all looking forward to spring!

Jayden continues to grow and we love taking turns taking care of him. It's been amazing to watch my children bond with each other.

We've had family visit the last few weekends but this weekend will be a quiet one for us. I wouldn't have it any other way and can't wait to hang out for a few days with these 4:

They are demanding pizza and movies, as usual. I'm thinking we may tie this in with a game night as well.

Happy Friday!

One Month Update on Baby Jayden

Well, little baby Jayden, we made it 1 whole month. It's been fast and crazy and came with all the emotions that a person can possibly have. We are so glad you're here. We can't stop staring at you and watching you grow. 

The first half of your month was spent in the NICU and came with so many challenges and blessings for our little family. We spent the last half of the month at our home as a family, the way it should be. Baby boy, you bonded our family more closely than I could have ever imagined. We are so thankful to God that he chose you to be in our life.

You are so expressive. It's very clear to us that you love having your siblings around. Sissy loves to hold you constantly and picks out most of your outfits. Your big brother pats your head, kisses you, and likes to remind you of who he is. 

Since Jayden endured so much during the first few weeks of life, our doctors have recommended we try as hard as possible not to get sick as this could cause major issues for Jayden's health. It has been a challenge being home so much but it has also been so sweet to just be together as a family. When the weather is good, we all get outside for fresh air.

I carry Jayden in a baby carrier and have him so snug and warm that he typically sleeps the whole time. A snow storm came in yesterday and we are now stuck indoors. The big kids have been staying busy with coloring, school work, play-doh, and any other activity I can find for them.

We did sneak out last week to get family pictures done. I took this picture on my phone:

This picture makes me so, so excited to see what the photographer got. I think she is going to give us way too much good stuff to choose from.

If you need us, we will be found at our home snuggling our beautiful 1 month old baby boy!

A Review of Our 2017

Happy New Year! We had a blast celebrating with our children at 6PM with dinner together, some sparkling grape juice (served in fancy wine glasses), and family game night. We knew I wouldn't make it to midnight (and I surprised everyone by making it to 9:30) and the kids stuck to their early bedtime routine. I actually can't think of the last NYE that I made it to midnight.

Each year, I make a video of our year and the result always ends up making me shed a few tears as I watch. This year does not disappoint. It's long though so be warned. I had the hardest time cutting my videos down for this one. This has been quite the year for our family and God has been working so hard on us all. It's hard to leave anything out when there were so many ups and downs.



It's a beautiful life. We wouldn't trade it for anything.

Another year of dancing like nobody's watching (or not caring if they are), singing, game playing, and loving each other hard. It was a also a year of being surprised with a 3rd pregnancy, finding out we were having a boy, and then going through the ebb and flow of emotions while in the NICU with our newest baby. It's something unpredictable and in the end is right.

We are having the time of our lives.

2017, you were a good year. We can't wait to see what's in store for us in 2018.

Our 2 1/2 Weeks in the NICU

It is so hard to believe that we only spent 2 1/2 weeks with our baby in the NICU. In so many ways, it felt much much longer. Jayden was in good hands though and we trusted the staff that helped us during our stay.

Staying away from home for so long was especially challenging but we tried to keep the 2 big kids entertained. We were very fortunate to have my mother-in-law help us daily with our children and my husband had family living in the area. They were a lot of help as well and hosted Christmas for us.

We were gifted (by a complete stranger to our family) certificates to Build-A-Bear with the mission to build a bear for Jayden while he was in the NICU. We all wrote notes to put inside the bear for Jayden to find when he is older. It was the sweetest gift that our family will treasure always. The timing was also impeccable as we completed the teddy bear the day before he had a big test to make sure he had no leaks in his esophagus from surgery. The next day, he passed his test!

Santa came to visit Jayden at the hospital and our 2 other children loved seeing all the Christmas trees set up at our housing site and the hospital.

After learning to drink milk from the bottle, Jayden was finally able to be sent home. We loved our views of the bustling city (quite the contrast from our country views) but it was time to leave that picture behind us and finally start adjusting to life at home as a family of 5.