decorating the tree

this year, the girls had fun decorating the christmas tree with us.  i let my control freak perfectionist self {mostly} go out the window and didn't move all of the ornaments around.

 

the girls added the balloons as ornaments too.

they didn't stay on too long before they had to come off :)

little man slept through the whole thing...

november

when we were at my parent's for little man's baby blessing, b got a couple towels from my grandma and part of my grandpa's scriptures.  she carried them around all weekend (and then at our house for at least the next week.  she also thought it would be fun to try on grandma's glasses :)

 



b snuggling with little man.  she has a natural mothering instinct in her.  it's very cute to watch her with him.



first smiles/the rest of october

october was an eventful month around our house.

i had my 2 week postpartum checkup as well as my 6 week.

c had his 2 week checkup where everything looked great.

i went in for weekly INR checks - boy were my numbers all over the place.  i don't think we once got them normal.  i had to keep switching my dose every week.  the gal at the front desk and i are on a first name basis.  the pharmacy may or may not recognize my car when i pull up to it.  thank goodness for drive through pharmacies when you have three kids.  whoever thought of that needs an award.

 the mister has been having some right side abdominal pain that won't go away.  it's not his appendix, which is what they all (this isn't our first go around with this) start to come too at first - "well, that sounds like your appendix.  it's too late in the day for us to do any tests here, so you should probably go to the emergency room.  you don't want that to rupture, because then you're going to have bigger problems."

after the last time we heard something similar (it could be your appendix - if it gets worse, you should go to the er), we opted to skip the er because we were fairly certain at this point that if it was his appendix it would get worse and we could face the hospital then.

so he went back to a different doctor after the weekend was over to see if they could figure anything else out.  so far, all they've come up with is that it is inflamed lymph nodes.   (like the last time)  thankfully, after another trip or two to the doctor because the pain won't go away, they've referred him to a specialist.  he had a colonoscopy done and we're just waiting to hear results at this point.  let me tell you though, the mister is hilarious coming off of those drugs.  i had a great laugh driving him back home.

little man loves to sleep on the mister's or my chest.  love that little guy.

it snowed and dumped about 8 inches of snow the other day.

this is what my backyard looked like:

the girls couldn't wait to get out there and play in it.

while they played out in the snow, this is what little man did for me.

meeting little man

my parents took the girls for us while we were in the hospital.  it was a good thing that they had already agreed to keep them the entire week, since we ended up staying in the hospital longer than anticipated.

 

we made it home about fifteen minutes before the girls arrived with grandma and grandpa.  they were more than a little thrilled to meet little man.

 

this picture melts my heart - that is where b looked over and saw that i was home too :)

m holding little man for the first time

b holding little man for the first time

checking out little man in his crib (which he doesn't like)

 

we were able to have lots of help during the first week we were home.  the mister's mom came up for a few days to help out with the girls (and brought up a ton of freezer meals that my sister in law organized!!), then my mom came back up for a few days to also help out.  we're so grateful for their willingness to help.  i'm sure it didn't hurt that there were 3 grandbabies to love on too.

my dad snuggling with little man.  he got little man to sleep when he was being difficult and wouldn't let the rest of us hear the end of it.

 

the girls love having a baby brother and try to smother snuggle him to pieces.  we've had to enforce some ground rules so no one gets hurt.  b especially loves having little man around.  this girl is a natural mommy.

m's first haircut

 this little missy needed a haircut - bad.

she had the little mullet thing going on and her hair was driving me nuts.

 

 

and since they won't let us take a picture of one and not the other:

swim time

the girls had been bugging us for.ev.er to get their little pool out so they could "swim."

they had been carrying the tube and wings around the house too, so they couldn't get in their pool without them - at least that's what they thought.

 

so the mister got out their pool for them and let them have at it.

curls

the girls have been asking me to curl their hair lately.

they both stood still too while i curled it - and the little stinkers have hair that i'm insanely jealous of and it stays curled.

 

 

and i had to throw in the last picture.

classic stinker face from m.

that girl has an attitude.

b's drawing

this little girl has been drawing like crazy lately.

she finally "realized" that she doesn't just have to scribble and it's the cutest thing.

this was her rendition of cats today:

 

 

i sure love this girl.

four

my baby turned 4 today!  where did the time go?

i remember when we first found out that we were pregnant with her after trying for so long.

and now she's 4?

 

happy birthday baby girl.

even though you try to deny you're my baby, you always will be.

 

bikes

the weather has been a little nicer lately, so we took advantage of it and went out and rode bikes.

the girls had a blast and can't wait to do it again!