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.

Factoids

Yesterday I came down for breakfast and grabbed a glass of water.  Seeing this, Sam said to me, "Did you know that H2O is the scientific name for water?"

I told him he was pretty smart, and he replied, "I know.  That's because I got glasses."

He often tells me factoids that he learns on his favorite TV show (Zoboomafoo) like: "Did you know that a hippopotamus can open its mouth 3 feet wide?" or "Did you know that dogs are hunters by nature?"

My recent favorite was when he said to me, "Mom, you always need to be sure to give big-horned animals their space....or they will butthead you."

Merry Christmas from all of us!

Look who else got glasses!

"Now the whole family is smart because we all have glasses."

That's what Sam said when he got his glasses. I don't know where he got that idea. It's amazing how automatic it seems to be for glasses to give the impression of intelligence, even to a 4 year old. 

I guess when you can't spell, it's hard to understand the concept of a homonym....or is it a homophome? Either way, Seth and I got a pretty good kick out of the following conversation.

Elena: I want to wear my pink dress.

Me: I think that dress is a little too small for you.

Elena: It's not two small....It's not even one small.

Looks like we're getting a White Christmas!

We took the kids to the cities this weekend to go to the Mall of America, visit friends and swim in the hotel. It's a good think we hit the mall fairly early Saturday morning; by the time we left, we could hardly walk through the mall because there were so many people.

 

We had a good time, but the snow slowed us down a bit - especially considering our tires have terrible traction - and we had to spend an extra night at a hotel in Glencoe. 

 

Unfortunately, there was no pool, but Elena went outside and played in the snow in the parking lot for about 45 minutes.  Sam was too cold...it would help if he would let us put proper clothes on him.  He still dresses himself in a tank top and shorts everyday, and no amount of reasoning will convince him to do otherwise.  He tried going out with his snowsuit today, but every step he took went up to his thighs and before long, he fell over and couldn't get up so I had to come out and rescue him.  It reminded me a lot of the little brother walking to school in A Christmas Story. 

 

Back to our trip home from Glencoe: it was a long ride home and we saw a lot of cars in the ditch, but we made it. 

Now we can hunker down and enjoy the snow. And buy new tires.