Gotta love those school photos!

The school now does pictures in both the Fall and Spring.  I was hoping for better luck with the Spring photos.  Although Elena's Fall photos turned out great, she got to them before I did with a scissors and cut them as you would expect a 5 year old to do.

Elena picked out a beautiful outfit to wear for her school pictures.  The pose we chose would show her from head to toe so we picked out a fancy purple dress with sparkly tights and black dress shoes.

Since she wears her boots to school, I put the black shoes in her bag so she could put them on at school.  Unfortunately, she forgot they were there and she put on her Dora the Explorer gym shoes.  Needless to say, they look a little funny with her dress clothes. I'd put the picture up, but I don't want to violate copy right laws.

I just thought I'd set the record straight for any who see the picture - I did my best, but there's only so much a mom can do.

I guess it could be worse: she could have worn her huge, bright pink snow boots.

We had Charlie's baptism last weekend. He was the first of our children to be baptized by Seth's brother, Jason, who was ordained a deacon last Spring. I told the local family about it, but forgot to tell anyone else until the day before. My apologies to the out-of-towners who should have been notified.  If it makes you feel any better, my parents forgot to tell my dad's 8 siblings (and his mom, I believe) that I had even been born until I was 2 weeks old.  It must be a 3rd child thing...



Check out these handsome boys!

With godparents Maria and David

This isn't from the baptism; I just wanted to show you his chubby cheeks.

Togetherness

This is how many of Charlie's feedings look (for the comfort  of the viewer, this picture was taken during the burping stage):

I'm hoping at least one of them will outgrow this before we have any more kids.  I can handle 3 on my lap; 4 would be a stretch.

This is only 6 months overdue

I haven't gotten around to uploading any pictures since the last time I wrote on here so I'll do some catching up.  I failed to put pictures on here from Sam's first time as a ring bearer in August.  A year after Elena was flower girl for my cousin's wedding, Sam was in Seth's cousin's wedding (in the same town, even). And just as Elena was paired with a shy ring bearer, Sam was paired with an even shyer flower girl who would not pose for any pictures.  I did manage to catch a few of them together when she wasn't looking, though.
Anyway, Sam did a great job as ring bearer and he will get to do it again in May for his godfather's wedding. He even stood up front with the groomsmen for over half the wedding - until I heard him turn to the best man and say, "I don't really want to stand up here this long."  So I motioned for him to come and sit by us. Lindsey (the bride) sent us a few great pictures so here they are at last.

Sam and the flower girl:

 There must have been a little feedback on the microphone:

And here's one of my favorites.  Although it looks like he has to go to the bathroom, he was really just flinging the pillow between his legs. I didn't realize he had been doing this during the wedding until we got the pictures. I'm sure it added a nice touch to the ceremony:

Violet Lice

Sammy: Mommy, this is Violet Lice.

Me: Violet Lice?

Sammy: Yeah.

Seth: What is he talking about?

Me: I think he means Fur Elise (it was playing on the CD player)

Charlie!

We have all been enjoying our first week home with our newborn. Charlie has been a wonderful little baby - so far he has been our easiest baby, though I know things can change quickly so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.   I'm sure once all the wonderful food people have brought us runs out, things will get trickier as I add meal prep and extra dishes to my workload - I just hope Charlie likes his sling!

The delivery went well – very similar to Sam’s.  Thursday night I knew it wouldn’t be more than a couple of days before the baby came.  Of course I stayed up until midnight even though I knew I should have gone to bed sooner.  By 1:30 the contractions were regular enough that I couldn’t sleep so I labored in bed as long as I could to let Seth sleep.  I woke him up at 6:00 and we were at the hospital by 7:30, which was great timing because Janice, Seth’s sister who is a labor and delivery nurse, had just started her shift.  We’ve been lucky to have a nurse that we knew for all three deliveries.

Just like Elena and Sam, Charlie was posterior, which kept labor at a stand-still for several hours. He eventually turned (somewhat) and joined us in time for lunch.  I was exhausted towards the end, but at least this time, Seth didn’t miss an entire night’s sleep like he did with the last two. And I was so excited to meet our little boy that I didn’t mind the tiredness.

After having Charlie, I was reminded of something we discussed in a Bible study 6 years ago.  We were reading Genesis and came to the part where God says to Eve, “in pain you shall bring forth children…”  Initially it sounds like God just wanted to make women suffer as punishment for sin.  Whether you read the story of Adam and Eve literally or symbolically, I think another interpretation makes much more sense: it’s a message about love.

Great love comes through great sacrifice.  If we are unwilling to make sacrifices and give of ourselves for those who we love, we will not experience love to the fullest.  Labor pains also teach us that out of great suffering can come even greater joy – a joy so great and so profound that the suffering ends almost instantaneously (assuming all goes well). 

Though it is not forgotten, there is no bitterness left at the memory when the newborn baby is held for the first time.  As I hold little Charlie and think back to the few times during labor when I turned to Seth and said, “I really don’t want to push this baby out…” I think about heaven (as much as anyone can think about something they’ve never seen) and how any suffering we endure while we are here will seem insignificant compared with the glory to come.

I’ve spent the last week reveling in this profound love (and also a good dose of oxytocin on a regular basis – who needs drugs?)  It’s pure heaven.  I’m enjoying this honeymoon stage though I know Charlie will likely remind me again and again in the future that love requires sacrifice. For the time being, his big sister and brother are taking care of that on a regular basis, especially as they adjust to this big change.

Here are some pictures of the last week:
 

10 days old - he's filling out quickly!

"He's the cutest baby brother I ever had!"

That's what Sam told me this morning about our newest addition to the family:

Charles Leo was born on Friday, Jan 18th at 12:23 pm.  He was 6 lbs 15 oz and 20.5 inches.

Charlie and Mom are both very healthy and happy! More info to come.....

Make Believe

The kids were playing make-believe tonight.  As far as I could gather they were playing pirates fishing on a ship or something.  I wasn't paying attention too closely, but I overheard the following.

Sam: No, I don't want to be your squid.

Elena: Not my squid, Sam, my slave.

Sam: Ohhhhhh.....OK.

I'm thinking Sam doesn't really know what "slave" means.

Sorry I've been neglecting you

I know I haven't posted for awhile, and once the baby comes, it may be awhile again. So here's a video to tide you over.  It's from a year ago so Sam was 3 and Elena was 4.  They were getting ready to go outside and once Seth started putting their boots on, they sort of petered out.  I never posted it on here as I was hoping to get a video of them singing more, but they never would cooperate again so I guess this is the best it's going to get. Enjoy!

Just For Fun!

If you want to make a guess on when the baby will be born, gender, etc., go here and click on Enter New Hunches. I haven't come up with any award ideas for the winner yet other than a pat on the back, but I'm open to suggestions.