Lia's Birthday Party

On Saturday, Colin took Jackson and Cooper to Lia's second birthday party. The Bells live in North Richland Hills, which is about an hour from here. I stayed home with Charlie and my mom in a quiet house. The boys had a great time.

Elmo came to the party.
Jackson is actually sitting behind the girls - not quite making it in the picture.

Cooper was happy sitting at the table getting fed. That is until Elmo showed up to the party.

He was terrified.
Colin assures me that he comforted him, and picked him up...
Even though it appears he just left him on the couch to cry.


Keep in mind that they boys were running on very little sleep. On Thursday night they went to bed aroun 10 pm while Colin got the ac to temporarily work. On Friday night, they went to sleep around 12 am in a hotel. Despite that, they had a blast at the party. After the party was a different story.

Elmo made balloon hats and things for all the kids.
How cute is this?

The balloons were a hit.


Here's Ann, Lia's big sister.


And the birthday girl - trying on her outfit that we gave her.


Jackson enjoyed the icing on his cake.

No AC

So, tomorrow my mom is leaving. I'm a little nervous about my first week flying solo. If Charlie doesn't cry all day, I think I'll be fine. This week he has been a little grumpy. Lots of spitting up and gas. Not much happy time. He's waking up from his naps to burp or spit up, and it's a little frustrating. I'm trying to look at the bigger picture, and not let it get me down. It's hard sometimes with the lack of sleep and hormones going crazy. On top of the adjustment to 3 chlidren, our AC went out again on Thursday night. Colin got it to work enough to keep us cool that night. On Friday the AC guy came out around noon, and said he needed a part and would be back in a little while. So, we just assumed that he would be back in a few hours. Around 9 pm he showed up. Worked on it for a couple of hours, then realized he needed more freon at almost 11. So, at this point, Colin took the older boys to a hotel and they were all asleep around midnight. It was just too hot for us to put them down upstairs in their bedroom, and it was pretty miserable downstairs too. Around 12:30, they got it working. It was still too hot to sleep upstairs, but my mom, Charlie, and I slept downstairs with fans. When we woke up around 4 am (it was time for Charlie to eat), we were cool and we were able to go up to our beds. What a mess. I came close to having a nervous breakdown, but think I have managed to not go crazy, yet.
Here are the boys sweating it out on the couch. (They do have diapers/underwear on even though it looks like they are totally naked). We let them watch about 4 hours of television to keep them calm. Of course, Cooper only watched about 10 minutes, but Jackson zoned out for several hours. It helped keep them from melting down. Poor guys were exhausted.

Charlie didn't seem to mind too much.

Cooper was delirious.

Here are some random pictures from earlier in the week. That's Nutella on Cooper's face.

Visit from the Louis'

On Tuesday Rebekah, Henry, and Margaret made the drive from Arlington. It was so wonderful to spend the morning with them. The boys had so much fun playing together. Rebekah made us a delicious dinner and dessert. YUM! What a treat! I wish I would have taken more pictures - but I did get a few really cute ones of Henry and Margaret - it's not hard to get a good picture of these two - they are so adorable. I would love to have Henry's rendition of "Take me out to the Ball Game" on video. He is precious. And Margaret is so beautiful! Just look at those eyes!

Bedtime

Normally Jackson and Cooper are in bed around 7 or 7:30, but since Charlie arrived, and it staying light outside for so much longer, we've been letting them go to bed later. They love getting to play in the backyard after dinner - and it's actually shaded by that time in the day. Colin got a few great pictures from the other night of the two rascals. I hope that since they are going to bed later, they will actually start to sleep later, too. We'll see!

Little, Big, and Bigger Brothers

Here are some pictures from today. I recently made the boys shirts that say, "little brother" "big brother," and "bigger brother." Cooper's got peanut butter all over it not long after he put it on, so his didn't make it into the pictures :) Maybe next time.

Lately

Life is good here. Colin is off for the rest of the week, and my mom will be back on Sunday for a week. So far it has been a really smooth adjustment. I could have lived without the broken AC and hotel stay - but other than that, it's been great. Charlie is doing well. He is spitting up alot, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him. I'm just really hoping it stays that way. I don't know if I can handle a year of reflux again. Been there, done that : )

Here's the proud biggest brother holding baby Charlie.

Last night we made tacos, rice, and guacamole - the boys LOVE it. Who knew? We have to stop them or they would eat the whole bowl. It was only 6 months ago when Jackson would have had a nervous breakdown if we offered him something green and lumpy. He is so great at trying new foods now, and he's such a good eater. Granted, he takes his time. Sometimes he sits at the table in the morning for 45 minutes. It can really drive me crazy, but at least he's eating ... and eating ... and eating.

Cooper passed on the chips, and just ate spoonfuls of the guacamole.

mmm... tacos!

And popsicles for dessert.

Out and About

Over the past few days, we've been trying to do something fun with Jackson and Cooper each morning. Cynthia, my mother-in-law, and Colin have taken them out and I've been hanging out with Charlie at home.
They've been to the library, the park, and plenty of trips to the store. They loved the duck pond-


And they've spent plenty of time playing in the backyard -

Colin and I took all three boys for ice cream at Baskin Robbins -


Yesterday everyone went to the farmers' market in downtown McKinney. Charlie and I stayed here, and enjoyed the quiet house. After I gave him a bath, we had a little photo shoot in the swing. I'm so in love with this little boy.

Home Sweet Home

We're so glad to be back in our house.

And to have another beautiful, healthy baby boy.

Birthday

Saturday morning I was having contractions (like usual), but I noticed they were 3 minutes apart, and not subsiding as I walked around. I started thinking this may really be it, but didn't want to ship Jackson and Cooper off unless I was sure. So, we just hung out around the house, cleaning things up and getting a bag for the hospital. Finally, around 11 am or so, I decided we better go. So, my friend Heather came and picked the boys up and took them to her house to play and have lunch. THANK YOU HEATHER! And then she brought them back to the house and our sweet, sweet neighbors sat with them through naptime until my mom and brother arrived (a little after 5pm).

Charlie took his time, and arrived at 7:30 that evening. Jackson and Cooper were waiting in the lobby. They weren't sure what to think of their new brother - but were definitly interested. Here are a few pictures of the monkeys in the hospital room -

Not sure what is going on with my face here...

Spinning the stool all over the room

Hide and seek with the curtain

Jackson the next morning ... repeatedly asking me how baby Charlie got out of my tummy. Don't think he is satisfied with my simple answer of "the doctors took him out."

hmmph.

Uncle Daniel and Cooper

And here are some pictures of our newest addition -


Daddy's little boy

He's got the dimple in his chin, too...

Hospital tshirt was a bit small... as were the newborn diapers

Hanging out in bed. He looks SO much like Jackson.

And here is Charlie ready to go home from the hospital. Wish I could say we headed home, but it turns out that our AC decided to break on Sunday afternoon. So, even though they had already cut off Charlie's security band, and we were ready to leave, we had to stay another night in the hospital. Jackson, Cooper, Grandma, Uncle Daniel, and Mawmaw all stayed in a hotel that night. No one got much sleep. Now we are all in another hotel (the rooms weren't available anymore). It's been an interesting first few days with three little kids and not able to be at home. Hopefully by 5 pm we will be at home.
More to come : )