Three boys = three times the blessings

Merry Christmas!! We are so blessed! Our boys are great and we love being their parents! Christmas was wonderful--the boys enjoyed opening gifts and spending time with family. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family (it's also my dad's birthday) and Christmas Day with AW's side of the family. The boys did well, and of course everyone loved seeing Jonathan.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005929&l=813a1&id=1598040755

Enjoy the pictures! Merry Christmas! We trust you had a great holiday!

25 decibels

Jonathan passed his follow-up hearing test this morning! We are thrilled! Turns out he just had some extra gunk in his right ear when they did the first screening in the hospital. This morning, the audiologist did two tests and they both showed that his ear is just fine! She started with 75 decibels in his ear, just to measure how much brain activity there was, and then worked down to a more normal level. She said most hospitals screen newborns at 35 decibels, and she went down to 25 decibels with Jonathan, and he was still able to hear that very well. We are thrilled with the results and so glad that this is over. Thank you for praying for our family!

"Snow" much fun!!

We have snow! And Jackson and Joshua love it! We came back from the doctor's appointment this morning and got to play in the snow before lunch. The boys loved it!! I gave them squirt bottles filled with colored water so they could paint in the snow, and they loved it! We made purple snow, and blue snow, and orange snow---every color, except yellow! =)

Jonathan is almost back up to his birth weight, just two ounces shy, which is wonderful!! He is learning how to eat and is doing pretty well. His brothers love him and want to hold him all the time and give him kisses! We are blessed!! (Now, if we could only handle the boys' extra meltdowns and Jonathan's night and day confusions, we would be fantastic!!)

Diaper bags and hearing tests

Jonathan is a week old today! It's gone by rather quickly and, while we'd love to say rather smoothly, it's been a time of transition for all of us, and those times are never easy. Things are getting better and hopefully the tantrums will end and life will just become "normal" (if there is such a thing with three boys). We could always use more sleep, but that will probably be true for the next several years! Today is Jonathan's one-week check up so we'll see how much he weighs and if he's back up to birth weight, or close to it.

Monday we have a hearing exam for Jonathan. He didn't pass the initial newborn hearing screening test they did in the hospital, so we have to go see a specialist. Jonathan's left ear is just fine--it's just the right ear that needs to be rechecked. The nurses at the hospital said that most of the time the reason newborns don't pass is that there is still "gunk" in the ear from delivery and that at the re-screen, it has usually cleared itself out and everything turns out just fine! That's what we're praying for!!

On a totally different note...I am on a hunt for a cute and roomy diaper bag. It's got to have enough room for three kids' worth of stuff and also enough pockets for sippies and bottles, etc. I know there are enough mommies out there so I am hoping to get some cute recommendations! Please send me your suggestions!! The bag we currently have just isn't big enough for three kids!!

Gingerbread houses and cousins

Decorating gingerbread houses is so much fun, for me and for the boys! Jackson really gets into the decorating and loves making designs with the candies! This afternoon, Jackson, Joshua and Mama went downstairs to work on our house and left Daddy and Jonathan upstairs to watch some football! Joshua didn't last long, but Jackson and Mom had a great time! The pictures are fun--oh, and the roof fell off at the end, but no worries, Daddy used his skills and put the house back together! Then Auntie Krista came over with the cousins to meet Baby Jonathan and to drop off dinner for us, which is just wonderful! We managed to get all seven cousins on the couch for a group picture! Super cute!

The sides are up and we're getting ready to start decorating our gingerbread house!Jackson and Joshua hard at work!
Jackson said the gumdrops he was using were "stoplights."
Sprinkling on white sugar sprinkles to make snow on the roof-top! Fun!!
OOPS! The roof collapsed, but it is still a great house! Good work, boys! Thanks, Daddy, for fixing the roof!

All seven cousins looking super cute! That's seven cousins, ages seven and younger! Jackson and Jonathan! Can you feel the love between these two? It's wonderful!
Joshua's turn to hold Jonathan! Both boys have really enjoyed holding their baby brother!

A family of FIVE!

We have been home with Jonathan for a day and a half and things are going well. Jackson and Joshua are adjusting as well as can be expected--just a few more tantrums than normal, but overall, still pretty good! Jonathan is a pretty good baby, except that he (like every other baby) has his days and nights mixed up, so we aren't getting much sleep. Busy during the day with Jackson and Joshua, and then up at night with Jonathan makes for fairly tired parents, but we are okay!!

Mommy, Daddy and Jonathan right after he was born and cleaned up!

Jonathan just a few minutes old.

Jackson and Joshua meeting their baby brother for the first time! How sweet!!!
The four main men in my life!! I am one lucky woman!!
Hello, Sweet Boy! We love you, Jonathan! Welcome to our family!

Sick kiddoes and a week to go!

I am so ready to meet this little guy that I can barely stand it! Every little (or intense) contraction makes me wonder, "Is this it?? Is it time to go to the hospital?" Sadly, the answer up to this point has been a big, fat NO! I am just ready for him to be here and for us to begin that next chapter in our lives, where we become a family of five and learn how to live with each other and take care of three children. We are set to be induced next Thursday or Friday if he doesn't arrive on his own before then, which I'm pretty sure he will!! As much as I want this baby to get here, we are now dealing with two children who seem to have the stomach flu! Not so fun to be cleaning up vomit when you are nine months pregnant! ICK!! Joshua threw up last night and then again this morning, and this evening it was Jackson's turn. I hope that they make it through the night without any incidents and that the worst is over!! They both went to bed acting better, more like themselves, so I hope that's a good sign. The biggest highlight of the day-- AW's parents brought over dinner so that we didn't have to cook!! What a huge blessing! Thank you!! Thank you!!

Christmas Program!

Jackson's pre-school class had their Christmas program last night and it was so cute! Jackson would much rather be in the background taking everything in, than in the spotlight. His teachers would always tell me that although he knows all the words and motions, he chooses not to sing along with the group. Okay, so that's him--we never pushed him to be something different! I didn't know what to expect from a group of 3-year-olds performing in front of 100+ people, but he just hoped that he would have fun! Jackson was super cute during the program! He didn't sing--just stood there with his hand in his pocket, almost like he was too cool to participate!

Waving to mom during the "smile and wave" part of the program! What a great idea!

Looking super cute in his Christmas outfit and hopefully thinking "this isn't so bad!"

All done! Getting help from his teacher going down the steps!
I took this video of the last part of the program where all the kids were singing Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus while holding a grumpy Joshua, so I'm sorry about the shaky parts! Jackson was waving to me when he saw me, but I couldn't wave back at him because my hands were full, so I think he was starting to get sad about that. At the end, he did participate by wishing everyone a "Merry Christmas!" I asked Jackson what his favorite part of the whole program was, and he answered, "The cookies!" There were cookies for everyone in the church lobby after the program! We're proud of our Jackson--he did great!! (but of course, I'm biased)