May in Pictures

I grew up with a very idealized view of motherhood. I pictured bliss, happiness, sweetness all the time. While being a mother had brought me my greatest joys, and there are plenty of blissful moments filled with lots of sweetness, there are also many moments filled with frustration, annoyance, and even anger. This must have been one of those moments, because the sign I'm holding up says, "GRRRR!" 

Two weeks after Michael was born, I bundled him up in his slicky and walked from our apartment over to the BYU Health clinic for his circumcision. I can picture the walk, with the leaves starting to turn orange and the slight crispness in the October air. I got light-headed watching the procedure, which I now realize was most likely due to the over exertion of the walk over there with my slippery bundle since I'm not one to be weak at the sight of blood. I also remember Michael being strapped to the board and screaming his head off. So, this time around, I delegated the circumcision appointment to Brian.

And I just snuggled him a lot after they got back:

I snuggled with Gabe a lot during May.

 Rachel decided to try a different style of wearing dresses. It cracked us up so much!

More Gabe snuggles:

Brian really wanted to help Chelsea out with some things around the house since Thomas was gone, so he coordinated with Cal to see when he could come too and then we all headed up to Odgen for a service day. Well, thanks to too much overexertion and not enough healing, I was forbidden to help with anything, but I watched and talked to Chelsea. It was the first time Chelsea met Gabe, and she fell in love with him.

Chelsea decided that what she really needed help with was moving her swing set. When they got it, Thomas set it up right off of her patio, but she wanted it out by her back fence. Since the ground sloped back there, the boys had to dig and level it out. Cal and Brian did most of the digging, and Ethan, who was able to come as well, fixed her gate.

Taryn and David came as well, and David and Brian were able to finish hanging sheetrock in one of the rooms downstairs.

Taryn and I headed out to buy pizza for dinner

and we took Heather with us so she could pick out flowers. Mothers' day was the coming Sunday, and I knew that Chelsea was really sad about it since Thomas wasn't going to be there. The kids planted the flowers that I bought for an early mother's day present to Chelsea. Michael, Rachel, and Aaron helped too.

This last year, I got to see some of the costs of deployment. It's such a sacrifice. Our military men and women aren't the only one sacrificing. The families that stay behind also sacrifice. Dad (or mom) isn't around for birthdays, Christmases, holidays, first days of school, lost teeth, and so much more. The spouse left behind is like a single parent constantly worrying about the brood of children and the soldier overseas. It's been a hard year on my sister, and I was grateful for Brian for wanting to help her out and ease some of her burdens.

Did I mention that we enjoyed lots of Gabe snuggles in May?

Michael made this sweet sign/card for all his grandmothers for Mothers' Day, and the kids posed for a picture to send to them:

And I insisted on a picture with the three sweeties who call me mom:

Brian got me Swiss chocolate...so good!

And these beautiful flowers. I love lilies! 

We felt like we were doing pretty good adjusting to life with three kids:

I mean, look at the great help we had:

I didn't want Brian to get bored and stir crazy while he was on paternity leave, so we hired our neighbor to help Brian with some basement projects. They built the shelves for our closets

and started installing trim. This closet was our trickiest one. It had a weird pop-out and is really big. We wanted it to be our game closet, so we wanted lots of shelves. I designed it in Sketch-up and Mike and Brian made it a reality. I'm really proud of this closet. No one looking at it will even know how tricky it was to design it, because it turned out so well. One of my professors said that interior design is about solving problems, and I feel like I nailed this one!

One day, Michael was holding Gabe in the other room while I was working on something in the office. I heard Michael start reading. When I came into the living room, this is the scene I stumbled on:

We really did let Gabe sleep in his crib sometimes:

One day, Rachel, Gabe, and I headed up to the outlets. When we finished, I told Rachel we were heading home, and she stopped, threw back her head and told me that she wanted to go to more stores. I couldn't help but smile as I pictured many shopping excursions together. I'm so glad I'll have a shopping buddy! We grabbed some lunch at Aunt Annies.

It was so fun spending some time with just Rachel--and Gabe in the stroller.

Michael loves reading to Gabe:

At school one day, Michael learned about volcanoes, and begged me to make some with him. So, I did. The kids put on their mad scientist shirts, compliments of Chelsi and Ivie L and helped me make play dough, dye the play-dough, and then play scientist with the baking soda and vinegar.

I felt like a good mom for the first time in months.

Gabe loves taking baths--he has from his very first one. I love his shark hooded towel. Right now, it swallows him up, but I know it won't be long before it looks tiny on him. We've hit that point with Michael already.

On Sunday, May 15, Gabe turned a month old: 

One Sunday in May, we got together at Lea's house for a birthday party for Cole, which meant more Gabe snuggles:

I also played Poison with the boys and almost won. Almost. It was so nice to be feeling better finally!

Gabe grew way too fast in May. He had a head start on Michael weight-wise at birth, but he grew out of his newborn clothes in just over a month, where Michael stayed in them for about three months. Slow down, Son, slow down!

I couldn't resist getting Michael and Gabe matching shirts. Michael loves it. He'll tell me, "Mom, can  Gabe and I wear our  'Handsome Crew' shirts tomorrow?" Or, "Don't forget to put Gabe in his 'Handsome Crew' shirt today."

Did we also mention that Gabe likes to sleep?

In May, Rachel got her first real haircut. I kind of got choked up, even though it was really just a trim to make everything even. Still...

And since I took a picture of Rachel in the fancy hair-cutting chair, Michael wanted me to take his picture too:

And then we headed off to Target with just the four of us--our first shopping excursion without Brian (since his paternity leave sadly ended.) This is how we handled it:

Nights in May went something like this: Jammies for Michael and Rachel, teeth brushed, scripture reading, tuck Michael and Rachel into bed. Then, a couple hours of snuggling with Gabe while Brian and I watched some TV shows. And then, we'd put him in jammies, feed him, and tuck him into bed.

Gabe is a champ sleeper, and after the first week, really only wakes up once at night, eats, and then goes right back to sleep. He's such a sweet, calm little person which makes all the struggles of carrying him for nine months 200% worth it. 

Soccer

Spring soccer came quickly this year, and ended even more quickly. It didn't help anything that Michael's first game was the day after Gabe was born. He missed that game. I missed his next one or two games. This season, we saw cold weather, windy weather, and hot weather, but what do you expect for spring in Utah, right? Michael has improved a lot this year. He's figured out how to run faster, and he's a great defender. 

 He was also able to score a few goals this year too. Here's one of them: (He's on the right in the Navy uniform with black pants).

 We're so proud of him!

Closing up April

It's time for the "I don't know where else to blog about these photos" post. Some of these are from Brian's phone, and I don't even know what was going on in them. Like this one:

 My best guess? At Michael's soccer game.

Brian got 4 weeks of paternity leave, and he took full advantage:

 Okay, so it looks like he just played the whole time, but that really wasn't true. He worked so hard! He took on most of Gabe's feedings and pretty much all meals. And he loved getting lots of snuggle time with our little man.

 Brian took the two older ones to church all by himself. He got Rachel all ready, and I was surprised (though I shouldn't have been) by how well her hair looked when they got home. Brian's been great from the get-go with her and her hair, but since I started doing lots of braids in her hair, his confidence has gone down a little. He still does a great job, even with not having as many opportunities to practice. Also, here's the onesie that Rachel helped make for her brother:

 Gabe is constantly getting smothered with kisses and love.

 Michael and Rachel have both loved feeding their brother:

 Rachel loved having her daddy home for four weeks!

 Gabe is such a snuggly little guy. He loves sleeping and just melts into us to do it. He's incredibly chill and laid back. We love it!

 Sometimes, we love it so much that it's hard to lay him in his crib, but here's proof that we do sometimes. Notice the toys in his crib? Yeah, his siblings always make sure that he is surrounded by fun things:

 I have been amazed by all the help that people have given us in the weeks following Gabe's birth. We received many presents from neighbors, which I was totally NOT expecting. The biggest thing, though, was how many people wanted to bring us food. We had dinner brought to us every day for at least a week after my parents left. Our friends would ask, "When can we bring you dinner?" and I'd have to look at the schedule of when we already had meals lined up. It was a first for us! One of our friends brought dinner over for us and then brought a meal to go in the freezer later that same night. When we said, "Wow, you are amazing!" they simply said, "It's what you did for us when we had our last baby." I didn't remember that at all, and was happy to learn that before I was pregnant and miserable, I was a good friend!

Our friends, Adam and Sarah, came into town for a couple of weddings. When Sarah realized that she'd be in Utah right after our baby was to be born, she texted me to let me know that they were planning to bring us dinner and clean my bathrooms. She said, "When you came to visit us in Texas right after we had our son, you brought us dinner and cleaned my bathrooms, and that meant so much to me that I want to return the favor." I didn't remember about that either. They brought us pizza and we were able to catch up. And I did let Sarah clean my bathroom downstairs. It was so fun to see all of our kids together.

More hard work:

 Because we're crazy, we also did a lot of work in our basement. Brian primed and painted, and then tried to clean up for more work. Michael helped.  

 Michael continued to read and read and read and read. We love it!

 And Gabe continued to sleep a lot!

And then it was May...

Week one with Gabriel

We all are head over heels crazy in love with Gabe. He is such a sweet little guy. We've had some really sweet moments with him around here. I especially love seeing Michael and Rachel with him. 

My parents were staying with us for the first week home to help us out. They were awesome about getting Michael ready for school and taking him to school. My dad entertained Rachel and took Michael and Rachel on several outings--usually to a thrift store where he let them pick out a book or a toy. He also spoiled them with donuts. My mom helped so much with dinner, feedings, doctor's appointment visits, helping me pick up our Mazda from the dealership (where it had been for four weeks while they fixed a few things and installed a new transmission, which thankfully was caused by another problem that was under warranty). I was pretty tired, and horrible about taking pictures of Gabe with my parents. Fail!

 With Gabe around, everyone's nurturing instincts came out:

 Michael and Rachel constantly smother Gabe with kisses and always want to hold him or feed him.

The day after I got home from the hospital, my milk started coming in, which was not very pleasant. I find it kind of funny that when you're nursing, you have to try so hard to get your milk in. It feels like such an up-hill battle involving lots of pumping and worrying about your supply drying up. In fact, everyone says to not let your baby go more than 3 hours without eating or you could dry up. No underwire bras. Eat well. All that. And then, I found myself on the other side. I did absolutely nothing, and my milk came in anyway, and it kept coming until I was absolutely miserable. Experts said that pumping would just keep making it worse. Out of desperation, I tried pumping anyway, but that didn't help and only produced the most pathetic bit of colostrum, which I happily dumped into Gabe's bottle. I tried ice packs and cabbage leaves. I cried and cried Tuesday night, trying to figure out ANYTHING find relief. The nurse at my doctor's office suggested benedryl and ibuprofen. I was already taking ibuprofen, but I added benedryl and continued taking percuset, which I'd been trying to avoid since it made me so sleepy and dizzy. So, I spent a good chunk of my week with my mom completely drugged up and lethargic because that was the only thing that helped. Finally, after a few miserable days, my supply lessened and finally went away just over a week after I got home. 

 It was totally worth that miserable week to not be nursing though. Can I just say how much I am enjoying NOT nursing? Everyone enjoys the fact that I'm not nursing:

 I was worried that the nurses and our pediatrician would give us grief over the no nursing decision, but everyone has been so supportive, especially our pediatrician.

Remember that whale onesie that Michael made for Gabe at his shower? Well, here it is on our sweet model:

 And with it's creator:

 During that first week, Gabe also got his first bath. I know you can't tell by his face, but he LOVED it. I think he would have stayed in there for hours.  

 Getting out? Less thrilled about that one.

 Look how tiny he is:

 My parents headed home on Friday, when Gabe turned one week old. We were so grateful for their help with cleaning, cooking, and even a little painting downstairs. Later that afternoon, I took Gabriel's newborn pictures:

 I'd been planning on this newsboy outfit thing for his pictures for months leading up to his arrival, and I commissioned my sister Emily to make this outfit for me. It didn't arrive when USPS said it was delivered, and I spent several worried days upset over it and frustrated with our mail carriers for losing this important, irreplaceable, time sensitive package. Thankfully, it showed up almost a week after it said it was delivered, and I was able to have the outfit just in time. Phew! A few tears were shed in the meantime though.

 When I asked Em to make the newsboys outfit, I picked out the pattern, and somehow, Emily accidentally printed the wrong one and made these cute overalls instead:

She sent me the finished picture and I said, "Uh, they're cute, but I wanted pants with suspenders." She figured out what happened, made the other pants, and gave me both outfits. Isn't she awesome?

 Also, a shout-out to Brian's Aunt Martie for the afgan that Gabe is laying on. It was so perfect for this shoot!

 And Chelsea game me this awesome thin swaddler blanket:

 This was the easiest newborn shoot I've ever done because Gabe is just so chill. He just went right to sleep and stayed asleep, which was really nice since my studio is loaded up with furniture (so we could drywall the other rooms), and we had to do this shoot on the kitchen table, which meant I couldn't get it really roasty toasty up there. Turns out, it doesn't have to be super warm for Gabe to sleep.

On Sunday, Brian got the kids, minus Gabe, and himself ready for 8:30 church, and Gabe and I stayed home and slept. Even though he didn't go to church, I still dressed him in his tie onesie, and had to take a picture of him with Rachel, since she helped make it:

In case you missed it, we're completely head over heels crazy about our little Gabriel.