Austin Turns 3/ Sleepover in the fort/ Reading Made Fun/ Smiles from Alyssa!

Austin Turns 3!

It is hard to believe that our Austin is big boy three now! We celebrated his birthday with Poppie and Grandma Barbie and even Grandma Rae Rae was there from Idaho! Austin requested Macaroni and Cheese for supper so mom and I found and made the dish from scratch. It actually tasted pretty great! After dinner, we played some fun games like "Don't Eat Pete" and "Hot/Cold" while on the hunt for minature kit kats. It was a great evening and we all really enjoyed seeing Austin so excited and happy!

Austin blowing out the candles

Austin loves his new sister! Opening GiftsPoppie and Jaxson playing "Don't Eat Pete!"Singing to our birthday boy!

(Jaxson tried to steal the show here....)I got a bat and ball!!!!

(you all need to know that Austin has a potential profession as a baseball player. He can hit it amazingly well for being just barely 3!SLEEPING IN THE FORT

On Saturday, it was quite cold outside in the morning so the kids found a huge box in the basement to play with. The next thing I knew, it became "the fort." They LOVED cutting out doors and windows and slipping through. By nighttime, they requested a sleepover in the fort so we dragged it into the boys' room. The ceiling was off at this point, but the kids had a blast! Two of the three made it through the night! Austin came in around 3:00am and was finished with his sleepover....

READING MADE FUN!

The other night, I asked Taylor to read her books through before she read them to me. She asked if she could read to the baby. The next time I saw her, this was what I saw:
Now who wouldn't enjoy reading to an audiance like this?SMILES FROM ALYSSA!

Oh, and how she has been trying! And succeeding! It is so hard to capture the perfect smile. As I uploaded these, I thought, "Man, these pictures don't even capture how cute her smile is yet!" Oh well, another blog entry for another day.....

Another shot of Austin with his baby.

What I forgot about newborns.....

10. A newborn's spit comes in all consistencies, from runny to curdy

9. A newborn knows no schedule and therefore, I lose my ability to control what and when

8. A newborn has the ability to chew a hole in my nipple that even caused my doctor to gasp outloud a few days ago

7. A newborn reminds me of a little mouse

6. A newborn has the most delicious smell in the world, period!

5. A newborn can squirt poop on Dad better than any younster I know

4. A newborn begins smiling somewhere around the 6 week mark which means we are in heaven right now!

3. A newborn loves to be held, cuddled and loves to sleep on chests

2. A newborn, whose only ability to communicate is to cry, can make one drop everything he/she is doing and run to the child's side (sidenote: this ability is lost once they become toddlers and throw tantrums)

1. A newborn creates a new bliss, high and joy that I am so very blessed to experience again!

The flip side of having a winter baby.....RSV!

Last Saturday morning, the boys woke me up holding their ears and crying. I called the doctor on call and made a quick appointment. I was already worried about the baby since she had started to cough a little bit in the night. An hour later, the doctor concluded that the boys had ear infections and Alyssa had a cold. Her cold became worse over the weekend so we took her in on Tuesday morning to be checked by our doctor. When he examined her and took her oxygen levels, he told me she might be going right in to the hospital for a few days. He was pretty certain she had RSV. He tried a breathing treatment with her which worked so well that he sent us home with a nebulizer to do these same treatments every 3 hours and a pass to go to the hospital as much as needed to have Alyssa deep suctioned.

That was Tuesday. And so our lives have been for the past 4 days--doctor's visits, hosiptal visits, pharmacy runs! On Wednesday, when we went in for a follow-up appointment, we learned that Alyssa had double ear infections on top of the RSV. Dave went to the doctor as well as he had double infections too! That means that Taylor is the only one in our family not taking an antibiotic.

It is so scary when your child struggles to breathe. Alyssa will get coughing and become plugged up when she needs to take a breath. We go to the hospital twice a day right now for the deep suctioning and we are only doing the breathing treatments 3 times a day. I am hoping for a bit more sleep over the weekend since Dave should be home more.

Thank Heavens For Little Girls......

Alyssa Jean Lindsay

2009

One of my neighbors called me on Wednesday and wanted to know if she could come take some pictures of Alyssa and the kids to build her portfolio. I know what these things cost so I agreed very quickly! I feel she really captured how we feel about the newest member of our family. Here are some of my favorite pictures:

The Lindsay Kids

2009 Lindsay Kids Feet!
Sweet Little Girl!

A Mother's Love....

Cute Little Feet

Love This Little One!

"Hush, Little Baby...."

Taylor

(sporting the cute shirts Dave bought each of the kids for when Alyssa came home)

Austin and "his baby"

Taylor and "my sister"

Jaxson and "my girl"

We Can't Get Enough Of Our New Girl....!!!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind.....all in a very good way, of course! Alyssa is a great baby. She fusses when she is hungry or needs a diaper change. I had forgotten how quickly a newborn goes through diapers. Unreal!

I currently spend most of my day protecting the baby from being overly loved by Jaxson and Austin. They want to touch her and hold her ALL OF THE TIME! It was cute for the first week; now it's WORK! :) Austin calls her "my baby." Jaxson calls her, "my girl." Taylor calls her, "my sister."

My mother stayed with us for the first 10 days. One morning, I awoke to a quiet home. I had heard mom getting Taylor off to school around 7:30am so I didn't bother to arise. So at 9:00am, I wondered why our home was so quiet. I walked into each room and couldn't mom nor the boys. It was snowing like crazy so I glanced out the dining room window. There was mom and the boys, building snowmen on our driveway! The boys gave out long before mom did. She loves this type of stuff-

On our first Sundayhome from the hospital, Mom made ribs and wanted to invite Dale and Barbara (Dave's parents) over to eat with us. We were extra excited to have Cindy and Carson come with them! Here is Carson checking out his new baby cousin:

VALENTINE'S DAY: Here are some pictures of the kids.

BEST GRANDMAS IN THE WORLD!

Grandma Barbie with Alyssa

Grandma Rae Rae

(This picture was taken as she was leaving. She cried and cried...and I did the rest of the day)

We love our Grandma!

Justin and his family came by as well. Here is Jana and the girls with Alyssa!

She's Here! Alyssa Jean Lindsay

On the morning of Monday, February 2nd, the phone rang at 6:00am. It was the maternity ward letting me know that I was going to be induced at 7:30. Since I had hardly slept a wink through the night, I decided to relax in the jetted tub for a bit. Mom made us some toast, eggs and juice before we left for the hospital.

When we arrived, they got me all hooked up, broke my water and told me to relax and watch TV. After about 2 hours, I was checked and was only dilated to a 3 1/2. Dave called his mom and told her we were going to be there for a while and not to rush. One hour later, they check me again and I was at a 4 1/2. The nurse predicted I would have the baby by 2:00pm.

Since it was about noon, Dave decided to go have a burger at the hospital cafeteria. While he was gone, I started getting the shakes and wondered if I was progressing more quickly. When Dave returned, they checked me again. It has been about 45 minutes and I was dilated to an 8. Dr Saunders said, "Let's get set up and ready to go." Dave quickly called my parents (who had just ordered their hamburgers) and told them they might ought to hurry. Ten minutes later, I was at a 9 and we were wondering if Grandma Barbie was going to make it! She did! About 15 minutes later...............our baby girl was born! She is the biggest yet: 9 lbs 3 oz, 21 1/2 inches long! Tons of dark hair too!

When Dave got back from watching her get cleaned up, he exclaimed, "Jode, she even has back fat!" We love every little layer of baby fat already; her cheeks are just the best! Mom and Dad brought the kids over to see the baby with some flowers and a balloon for me! They were so excited to see their new sister!The next day, my dad hurried over to the hospital because I needed somebody to help me walk around. It was so fun to have some one-on-one time with him.!Poppie and Grandma Barbie came to visit us in the evening. It was a nice, quiet evening and I just loved it!On Wednesday afternoon, when we pulled up to our home, this is what we found- the kids there to greet us with a sign put up by our neighbor, Dana!Yes, our newborn smiles! We were eating dinner tonight and Alyssa had some gas and kept making these cute faces. I caught the perfect look!

Oh, how we LOVE this baby!

Dave and Austin giving the baby some kisses!


Dave LOVES pictures of him with his kids! Can you believe we are a family of 6?

Austin and Alyssa

Taylor and her baby sister!

Jaxson and his girl!

We can't get over how much Alyssa resembles Taylor! Check this out!

Our little heartbeat.....

The first night home was a joke! Everytime Alyssa would let out a peep, both Jaxson and Austin would FLY out of their beds to see what was going on. Austin finally settled down around 2:30am. Jaxson was still so excited and in love with his new baby that he was wired until 4:00am, when mom took over so I could get some sleep!

On Thursday, our 1st full day home, I took a nap and awoke feeling a bit strange. The next 12 hours I spent in the bathroom with a flu bug that was horrible! Thank goodness Dave took the kids and I had my mom to help hold Alyssa because I was a mess! Today, Friday, has been great! I got up early and made breakfast for Taylor before school and then mom sent me back to bed for a few hours. I actually showered today and have been able to spent time with my boys.

I want to wrap this post up with a quick thanks to all of you for your encouragement, kind words and prayers for our family. These past months have certainly held challenges and trials for us but we feel that heaven's blessing have been poured out on our little family!