Things are looking up

I survived 16 days without a second vehicle. I was pretty close to a breaking point, but managed to hang in there. I was thrilled when we finally got our car back - Colin drove it to work and left me with the van today. FREEDOM! Our AC is working great (for now), and the washing machine also seems to have pulled through and is keeping up with all of our laundry. Things are looking up. Charlie has some pretty fussy moments, but I think the Prevacid has helped a great bit. I also have adjusted my way of thinking. I am not trying to put him down for naps in his room as much. He will go to sleep great, and is fine with me putting him down in his crib. The problem is that he wakes up 10-15 minutes later crying -needing to burp and/or spit up. Then I get frustrated because I am downstairs with the older boys - usually just getting started doing something with them (lunch or playing or coloring) when I have to run upstairs, and try to get the burp out, and then get him to relax and go back to sleep. Meanwhile, Jackson and Cooper could be getting into all kinds of trouble downstairs. So, recently I have just put on the Baby Bjorn carrier or the sling, and Charlie can doze and when he wakes up every ten minutes to burp, he just falls back to sleep. The only downfall is that my back is killing me. He's probably about 13 pounds. The other drawback is that Cooper and Jackson don't really get much time with my full attention.
But, overall, we're functioning better!
So, here are some pictures from the last week or so ...

Look how smart my little engineer is - making lincoln log houses without any help.

Cooper was trying out the bumbo seat.
And playing with his "ni-ni" (night-night = blanket).

Adrienne and her girls came over to play and keep me sane yesterday

(Colin left for work around 5:30 am, and then didn't get home until 10:30 pm).

Our friends, the Buckleys, came over for a visit today.
Cora took a turn holding Charlie. She's going to make a great babysitter in a few years!