Sleep

Do I look a little tired? If so, it's because I am. Having a newborn plus other children gives new meaning to the word sleep deprived. But I am happy and am always amazed at how little sleep a person can survive on, or how much strength and energy beyond our own that parents are blessed with. At least I am not as tired as I was two months ago. =)

Preston has started to sleep through the night (meaning 8:30pm to ~5am) about one out of every three nights. Not bad. The other two nights usually go as follows......

Bedtime: Nate and Jenn lay down to go to sleep around 11pm. We just get into a deep sleep around midnight when.......

Wake-up #1: wake up about 12:30am to one of the following:

1) Baylee comes into our room followed by Mckenna because Baylee either needs to use the bathroom or already has and wants us to put a new diaper on her

2) Mckenna comes into our room followed by Baylee because Mckenna wants to snuggle

So it's back to bed for both of them.

Wake-up #2: 2:30am, Preston crying, wants to nurse so I do since I'm already awake and it will take less time to just get up, feed him, and go back to sleep than to try to convince him he really doesn't need to eat until at least another couple hours. =)

Wake-up #3: 4:30am, Preston crying because he really wants to nurse this time. Apparently the 2am nursing was just a comfort nurse, so I figure again, it will just be faster and I can get to bed in less time if I just nurse him again.

Wake-up #4: 5:30am, Nate's alarm to get up for semianry goes off, then goes off at least a couple more time after each time he hits the snooze button.

Wake-up #5: 6:30am, Baylee and Mckenna in our room because they are ready to start the day. I tell them no, it's still nighttime and dark outside, put them back in their room, and lie back down hoping for one more good hour of sleep.

Wake-up #6: 7:30am, Preston and Baylee and Mckenna all up, because this time it really is time to start the day but for some reason I feel like I haven't slept at all so I feed Preston again, change all three diapers, and put on a movie in hopes that I can at least get one more hour of sleep.....

Wake0up #7: 8:30am, now that I've had over over 9 hrs of "sleep" I am refreshed and ready to start the day! =)

Sound familiar? Ah, the joys of sleep. Precious sleep.

But then I remember the sweet moments like this, and their sweet spirits and voices, and the funny things they do and say, and the great joy that comes just from loving someone else more than yourself and doing everything you can to help them learn and grow, and suddenly I don't feel so tired!

The Mall

Hot shades! One of the places we like to go on occassion is to the mall with our friends the Bairds. Between Sally and her three kids and me and my three, we are quite a site. We have people staring all the time to either wonder about how crazy we are to attempt walking around the mall with 6 kids all ages three and under or they just think our kids our cute, which they are. =)




Sally's little girl, Kate, is just three weeks older than the twins and they are best friends. No matter how many times we get together each week, they always scream with delight each time they see each other. And, it is not uncommon to find all three of them holding hands, of which they inititate all on their own.

Mckenna is definately the animal lover of the girls. One of the places we like to stop is at the pet store to play with the puppies and kittens. After trying a larger puppy that jumped up on the kids and tried to nip at them, the only one that would hold this little Pug was Mckenna. She kept saying, "come here little puppy. You're so cute." Then all the way home they talked about how "that puppy jumped up on me. It scratched me and bit me. That's not nice. I don't like that mean puppy. The pug was a nice puppy."

Another hot place to stop is the Build-A-Bear store. The girls love pushing all the buttons of sounds you can put inside your bear and picking out the shell of animals they want.

Oh, what entertainment for just a penny!

From Snow to MUD

As fast as the snow came, it melted this weekend. I think the temperature got up to around 60 degrees! Even our Frosty Snowman in the back yard melted away. The girls keep saying "he'll be back again someday." =)

Let's just say the girls didn't mind the melted snow too much because the wet made some wonderful black mud to play in!!!! This was one of the first days in a long time that it was warm enough to send the girls outside to play for more than half an hour. After almost an hour and a half, it was still hard convincing them to get cleaned off to come back inside.

Nate has made crepes for his girls several times the past few weeks.....they are delicious!!! He has been filling them with yogurt and our hand picked black raspberries and/or peaches from our peach tree that we froze. The girls love them and can eat at least two each.

True Winter

We got about a foot of snow all at once this past Wednesday which made for an interesting week. That much snow overwhelms the snow removal efforts so they delayed public school a couple times this week and then cancelled them all together a couple days as well, which meant that Nate only had to teach seminary once the whole week. He enjoyed his opportunity to sleep in a little, and made me breakfast in bed twice! Even IU closed campus one day this week which does not usually happen. I often laugh at how quickly they cancel things here because of the snow but got stuck a couple times myself just trying to get out of the driveway. Did I mention that no one has snow shovels? Nate had to try and clear our driveway enough to get the cars out with a big broom and our garden shovel. It took him well over an hour!



So, since many of the things we usually do during the week were cancelled (basketball, bookclub, library) I went to Walmart and bought another pair of boots so the girls could go out into the winter wonderland and enjoy. Did I mention that no one has sleds either? Our front yard has a bit of a hill on it, and I wanted the girls to get their first experience sledding. I attempted to make a sled out of a box covered with a black garbage bag. It sort of worked. Baylee fell face first into the snow her first step of the front of the house and was fussing the rest of the time, but at least the girls got a small glimpse of what sledding is like!






In the meantime, Preston continues to grow and grow and laugh and smile. He loves his baths and playing with his sisters.














Preston soaking in the tub.














First time in the Johnny-Jumper.

















Blue, blue eyes......












Baylee says, "We don't eat Play-Doh" but "yeah, we eat pie dough!"














I kept telling the girls just to eat a little bit so they would have some left to play with, but noticed the amount of pie dough dwindling as time went on. =)

We made Princess Crowns for family night when talking about how we are all children of God. The girls loved them!

Mckenna reading "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr. Seuss.

And, if anyone has any ideas about how to fix the formatting on my blog......It never looks the same once I post it...........sorry.

Happy Baby

What can I say? He hates being on his tummy right now, but I know it's good for him to strengthen his neck muscles so he can hold up his own head! He really can hold up his head pretty well but sure does let me know when it's time for a change of scenery.

And, most of the time he is a very happy baby. All you have to do is turn him over and talk to him, and he'll give you a smile to melt your heart.

(See movie below for some of his cute laughs and sounds.)

The girls, in the meantime, have really enjoyed the snow this winter. So much so that I finally went and bought them some snowpants the other day so they could stay outside longer. They've also discovered the wonderfullness of hot chocolate with marshmellows to warm them up when they come inside.

They still love to play with Preston whenever he is up, even more so now than a couple weeks ago. They lay on the floor next to him and share their blankets with him, try to help him roll over and put toys in his hands. He is one loved little boy! He has definately captured my heart with his sweet and joyful personality.

Some of the cute things the girls have done lately:

1) When drinking fruit smoothies that we made for family night, Nate was telling the girls not to drink too fast or it would hurt their head. Then, off course, Nate got a brain freeze. For the next ten minutes, both Baylee and Mckenna kept reminding Nate and I, and each other to "don't drink too fast. You don't want to hurt your head. Just drink it slow Daddy."

2) When playing with play-doh, the girls kept saying they were making this or that for Grandma and Grandpa. So cute.

3) They wore their I Am a Child of God necklaces that Grandma Wardell got them for Christmas to church this Sunday for the first time. Mckenna didn't let go of hers for the first hour of church and then was showing everyone her "special, special necklace." Nate had had a talk with both of them before church about how they shouldn't pull on them because they didn't want to break them, so Mckenna said, "I don't want to break it, it's made of glass." I have been telling them not to drop certain cups because they are made of glass and they will break, so she put two and two together that her necklace must be made of glass if it was so breakable. =)

The New Year

Happy New Year 2009!

This is the start of a new year with many unknowns for us. Nate is in the process of applying for several teaching positions all around the country as he will graduate in June with his Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry. We are excited and anxious to see what will transpire in the following months. I have been busy trying to organize and rid our house of any clutter we don't want to move with us, of course on the side of taking care of three children age 2 and under which fills my days with wonder, frustration and joy.

Our Christmas was wonderful, spent here at home with our little family. The girls really enjoyed opening presents this year and were willing to help Preston open all of his too. They haven't stopped playing with their new toys yet, the favorites being the pretend vacuum, harmonicas, stroller and play-doh.

Preston had his first official laugh yesterday. Turns out he is already very ticklish and just loves to be talked to and held more than anything else.

Below is a picture of one of my Christmas gifts from Nate, a shelf with flourescent lighting, heat pad, humidifier, etc. for my new found interest in plant propagation. It was a very thoughtful gift and a total surprise to me. Now maybe my Impatien flowers that I started from seed will live!

The Blessing of Baby Preston

We had a great weekend with Mom and Dad Wardell, Ally, Wade, and Dad Rawlinson who flew in for the weekend for the baby blessing of Preston. It was a touching moment to see Nate hold and bless his first son, and I was overwhelmed by how much the Lord has blessed us in our lives. If someone would have told us three years ago that we would have three children in less than three years, we never would have believed them!

Preston went through a few fussy weeks from about 2 wks until around 6 wks, but has recently settled into a very happy, content, and gregarious baby. We already cannot imagine not having him as part of our family. The girls love and adore him and really can't leave him alone if he is anywhere within reach, which is good and bad. I definately have to "protect" him from them or I will find them trying to touch his eyes, forcing him to hold toys, or eat candy, etc. =)

Ally and Wade enjoying a friendly game of Settlers of Catan.

Dad Wardell and Mckenna,
I'm surprised she doesn't have a dumb-dumb sucker in her mouth!

Mom Wardell was just soaking up the hugs and kisses.

Dad Rawlinson and Preston talking together on the couch.