Gray at 1 month

This little girl is a chunk.  She is actually similar to Oliver as a baby, except now he is so tall and skinny it’s hard to remember.
Height – 21.5 inches (75%)
Weight – 10 lb 3 oz (75%)

She has already been smiling at us for a couple of weeks, which always makes all the time worth it.
So three kids.  It’s a lot of work.  I’m not really sure how our family compares to other families with three kids, but I do have a story to explain just what my days can be like.
I’ll set it up.  It’s Halloween, a very busy day.  Oliver, Gray and I have just gotten back from visiting Bella at school for her costume parade and Halloween party.  Bella was not having a good day and was very fussy.  I thought about bringing her home with me as we left school.  But that meant loading her wheelchair into the car and getting all three kids in, and then unloading everything when we got home.  I decided that just getting the two younger ones home and having Bella ride the bus would be easier.
This puts us home a little after 3 pm.  Now I have a very hungry newborn, and not enough time to feed her before the bus arrives.  I go ahead and decide I will do a partial feeding.  Now Oliver knows when I am feeding Gray, he can get away with a little bit more because it will take a lot for me to stop feeding her to discipline him.  He’s smart enough to use this against me almost every day.
So as I’m feeding Gray he is off in another room.  I’m pretty sure he is up to no good.  I finish up Gray’s partial feeding just in time to watch for the bus, and locate the mischievous Oliver.  Just as I see the bus pull up, Oliver is waking towards me telling me he has pooped his pants.  And it’s a huge mess.  I have to leave him in the bathroom with instructions to stay put, because I have to get out to the bus to collect Bella.  I also have a newborn in my arms who is fussing because she hasn’t gotten her fill of food.  Oh and it’s cold outside.
Of course we get back inside and I have to make some decisions.  I have a fussing 7 year old who basically wants out of her wheelchair and to lay down and fall asleep, she needs me to make all this happen.  I have a fussing newborn who wants to finish eating.  And I have a somewhat crying 3 year old who has made a huge mess in his pants and in the bathroom.
That pretty much sums up my time with three kids.  Feeling outnumbered and always needed.
In case you are curious #1 cleaning up my poopy son, #2 getting Bella out of her school stuff and onto the floor, #3 finish feeding Gray.

Bella

I did not get the greatest one month pictures of Gray.  On my first attempt she peed and pooped all over the outfit she was going to wear as I tried to change her diaper.  So instead of pictures we took a bath.
This was our second attempt and she did not want to take pictures…she wanted to eat.
So let’s compare.

Hall Pass and Halloween

I’ve given myself a pass.  A pass at what you might ask?  A pass at everything.  We are 6 weeks in having Gray in our life and it’s keeping me extremely busy.  So in order to survive I have given up on keeping the house clean (not even remotely clean I tell you), cooking dinner, working out, and doing any projects.  The days keep going by quickly and life is still happening.  We actually have been quite busy around here as we head into the holiday season.  So here is a little recap of the last month or so.

One of the most frequent questions we get about having 3 kids….how do the other kids feel about the new baby?

Oliver as previously mentioned loves her.  Too much.

Bella does her very best to ignore her, even when we try our very hardest to put the two of them together.

Jesse took Gray’s first week of life off from work to spend time at home.  We wanted to enjoy some nice weather and fall activities so we headed to the farmstead.  Silly postpartum mom who just got out of the hospital, what were you thinking?  I was thinking I was finally starting to feel better, so I could enjoy life again.  Except I did too much too soon and paid for it with a long recovery….just sayin, take the time to spend at home and fully recuperate.

A pony ride for Oliver. 

The second weekend home we decided to venture out to a pumpkin patch.

Oliver just smile normal.

It was very windy that day, so we were all bundled up.  I have Gray hidden underneath my sweater.

Taking a tractor ride around the field.  What you can’t see in this picture is Bella.  Bella was absolutely done with this trip and Jesse was having a hard time even holding her on the wagon.  She even managed to knock his sunglasses off and they had to bail off to grab them.

Next up was weekend three, which was a quick trip up to Nebraska for my brothers wedding.   My sister got some family photos of us….maybe she will share at some point!

The next day the cousins headed to the fire department and the station guys let them climb into the truck.  Oliver was in heaven!

Then of course we can’t forget that our own Kansas City Royals made it to the world series.  So for the final game we all ventured out to the stadium to do a little tailgating and watching of the game.

All I can say is too bad they lost, but they had a good run.  Oliver bawled all the way back to our vehicle as he thought we were going into the stadium.  Not that he really cares about baseball or had a clue it was the world series, he just wanted to go into the stadium. 

The very next night was Oliver’s preschool “trunk or treat”.

So you all probably know that we love to go all out for Halloween.  This year it did not happen.  Horror…..I actually bought Oliver’s costume.  And seeing it, I know why I usually prefer to make their costumes over buying them.

Oliver was a dinosaur.

But he didn’t want to wear the head.

Bella had a costume parade at school, so on Halloween morning Jesse put her costume together.

Bella was a blackjack dealer.  She was not happy about having to wear a hat.  Or having to participate in general.

Oliver has my old digital camera and has been having fun taking pictures.  He was very excited to take pictures of Bella and all her classmates.

He also took her place and participated in her class party, I hope they didn’t mind, it certainly made his day.

That evening was so cold that the girls decided to stay home and Oliver and dad went out in the neighborhood to trick or treat.  They also managed to sneak in “carving pumpkins” at the last minute.

Week four and our little chunk is officially a month old.  I will do a separate post to talk about that.

Week 5 and we decided to finally celebrate Bella’s birthday.  We had bought passes to cosmic mini golf back on her birthday, but due to my “very pregnant at the time situation” we didn’t end up using them till now.

And yes, I always seem to be wearing Gray.  When you already have to push one stroller, its too much trouble to push another one, so in the baby bjorn she goes.  Luckily she likes it and usually sleeps the whole time she is in it.

So basically Bella just rode around and looked at the lights.  She seemed to enjoy them and I noticed her actually looking around quite often.

Luckily the place was nearly empty and Oliver just ran around to whatever hole he wanted and would throw around his ball.  On occasion he would push with the club, but usually he just used his hands.  He had a blast.

Jesse and I actually played the course.  It was pretty easy, but I have to admit is was a pretty good family activity.

Happy Birthday Bella!

Some extra random pictures.

Trying on Oliver’s monkey hat makes her look like a little Ewok.

And of course big brother is ALWAYS nearby.

Although Bella doesn’t really seem to notice her new sister, she certainly can provide entertainment for her.  Who needs a play gym when you have a person who will hold up toys for you.

So in regards to this hall pass thing.  I may or may not be blogging the next couple of months.  You just might have to hang on long enough to see more of these long recaps.  I will tell you I have projects lined up and I’m itching to get started on them.  I’m pretty sure I have other things I need to start doing first though, like say cleaning the bathrooms and making pumpkin muffins.  I really can’t let this season go by without baking something out of pumpkin!  And let’s not forget the advent tree countdown to Christmas is coming upon us very soon.  Jesse and I need to start brainstorming ideas.