Food and Football

 Adam is loving football season! He is thrilled that his Cougars are undefeated and  he is so happy when Daddy lets him stay up late on the weekends to watch a game or two. These boys are not quiet when it comes to their football games. We have lots of loud cheering in our house. 

Adam is also eating us out of house and home. You would never expect a boy his size to eat the amount of food that he does. I have no idea how we are going to afford to keep him full when he is a teenager. This was his lunch box earlier in the week. Full to the brim and he proudly reported that he ate every last crumb!

Caleb's Check-Up

Yesterday, Caleb turned 6 weeks old. He was lucky enough to get a check-up from our favorite doctor, Dr. Gwennie. He was a very cooperative patient and we are lucky to have such a good doctor in the house. She sang, "Time for your check-up. Time for your check-up" through her entire examination. These two melt my heart and I love being able to spend my days with them!

Tessa's Underground Habitat

This week for school, Tessa was given the assignment to build an animal habitat and prepare an oral report on an animal that lives in that habitat. She chose to do an underground habitat and highlight the Deathstalker Scorpion. She and Daddy worked on her habitat and report together. Tessa came up with almost all the ideas for making her habitat and it turned out great! She has been blessed with a very creative mind! She practiced her report several times for us and is all ready to do her presentation for her classmates. She is very proud of her work!

Chalk the Block

Last Saturday, we ventured out among the living and went to Chalk the Block at the Riverwoods. This was our first family outing since Caleb was born. It was nice to get out of the house and do something together!

 I knew this event would amaze our little artist, Tessa. She loved seeing all of the artwork and was very inspired. She said she wants to enter her own square next year. 

 Caleb was a trooper and did so well being out with us and the crowds. 

 One of their favorite parts of the afternoon was coloring on this old van. We spent a good half an hour here so they could leave their special marks. We did have to remind them that they could not go home and color on our cars. 

On our way out that afternoon, we ran into someone special. As soon as Gwen saw her, she went running towards Elsa saying, "My Elsa!!" Then once she was with Elsa and hugging her, she kept saying over and over, "My Elsa, my Elsa." We finally had to drag her away from "her Elsa". When we asked Gwen later that evening what her favorite part of the day was, she said, "Elsa!!"

What's Been Happening

I have not been good about blogging. What used to take me 2 hours to do, now takes me 2 days. I am slowly adjusting to that. We are all on Caleb's schedule and that has taken some getting used to. Here is a glimpse of what life at our house is like these days. 

These kids hold their baby brother any and every chance they get. They love him so much!

 Tessa has become quite the little mother. She is always talking or singing to Caleb. In the bottom picture she was talking to him and I heard her say, "So, what's  your favorite color?"

 Finally a picture with Daddy. 

 My kids have always had the best sleeping poses. Caleb fits right in with the other 3!

 These 2 big sisters were thrilled to get some early morning smiles from Caleb before school. 

 Gwen gave Caleb his first injury when she tried to comb his hair. 

We are slowly getting back to a normal bedtime routine. Very slowly. I love reading to my munchkins! And I love Gwen's face. It must have been an exciting book. 

 Mornings with Gwen are entertaining. I love watching her little imagination go crazy. Chest snuggles from my little man are my other favorite thing these days. 

 We love it when he smiles. And yes, his shirt really says that. It was our special gift from Uncle David.

 With our crazy routine of pumping and feedings every 1-2 hours, Mommy was getting very little to no sleep. A week ago I pulled a few all nighters and that eventually caught up with me. I felt like I was shutting down physically, mentally and emotionally and ended up at the doctors with a raging UTI. Thankfully, Eric was able to take a day off of work to take care of the kids so I could attempt to rest and recover. After that I knew something had to give. We have cut back on pumping and started adding more formula feedings. I am still pumping about 5 times a day, but that is manageable compared to what I was doing. Caleb is about 10 lbs now and things have definitely started to calm down for us. Thank goodness!!

Daddy made dinner a fun pizza night outside when Mommy was so sick.

 All ready for game day!

 I love to just look at him and am so thankful that he is mine!

 A wonderful, calm morning before school. These tend to be rare as we have to leave so early to get the kids to school now. We have to start loading up the car at 7:35am to make it to school on time. We say more morning prayers in the car than I would like to admit, so I am grateful for the couple of calm mornings we have had the last couple of weeks. 

 Gwen simply adores her baby brother. She is constantly kissing him. And I do mean constantly!!
She found a thermometer the other day and spent several minutes taking Caleb's  temperature on his forehead. Luckily, he is a cooperative patient.