Evan--1 Month

Our little baby boy is already 1 month old! It's crazy to me how exciting it is to finally have our little one here and then a month later, it feels like he's always been here. We really couldn't ask for a better baby. Evan is so relaxed and chill and he pretty much hangs out fuss free most of the day. The only time he starts to get upset or restless is close to the time he needs to eat or when he needs a nap. He is eating 4oz of formula every 3 hours and for the past 3 nights he has slept from 12:30 am-5 am and then he goes back to sleep until about 8 am which is a blessing when Josh is out of town. He is definitely out of newborn clothes and wearing 0-3 and 3 month clothes. His hair is still long and he hasn't lost any of it yet and his baby acne is starting to clear up. His eyes are such a pretty shade of blue and I'm really hoping they stay blue! Evan started smiling on purpose this past week. It takes him a little while to make it happen but it's worth the wait when it does :)

Here are a few pictures of the big boy!

Nicolle 

Adjusting

  With a new baby this summer also came the season of traveling for Josh for work. He is now a member of the bridge inspection team which means he will travel to places like Nebraska and Oklahoma to inspect bridges. It's a good opportunity for him to do something different with the company and something he enjoys but on the flip side he has to be away from home. Traveling for work isn't something we ever really expected but it is a blessing that I stay home otherwise I may have lost my mind if I was still working! Who am I kidding... I'm on the verge of losing my mind daily :)

Watch and enjoy!
http://youtu.be/F3je9jQf38c

  My sister told me about this and I laughed out loud the entire time I watched it...maybe because I relate to it so much right now! I love my kids more than anything but they have become pros at testing my patience the last couple weeks. I know they are still adjusting and every day I try to think of activities or something we can do to keep them engaged and maybe on some better behavior. Evan is such a chill baby so hopefully we can start doing some more activities to keep everyone happy. I have some things in mind and I will let you know how it turns out ;)

Nicolle

Family of 5

The first week home was busy of course. We were all trying to figure out how to be a family of 5! We had a couple visitors every day to meet the newest addition to the family and everyone who stopped by was kind enough to bring a gift/diapers/outfits. We are so thankful for the generosity of everyone through this transition. It's so nice to know we can count on our family and friends to help out when/if needed.

The first day or so, Aiden wasn't really interested in Evan and basically just ignored him but he finally gave Evan his binky once when he passed by and the next day he wanted to love on him and eventually he wanted to hold him. Now he loves on him and is very concerned when he cries or fusses. Aiden loves to say "Hi buddy!" and give him kisses. Isla is so excited to have him here now. She looks forward to her time to feed him and hold him every day. She helps me when I need diapers/wipes etc. It's nice that she is old enough to do little things like that. I'm happy and surprised with how well the kids are adjusting. Of course they have their moments when they are wanting some attention and I try to give them just as much love as I did before the baby. I often find myself in awe when all of the kids are in the living room and I realize I have 3! And that I carried them in my belly. It's an amazing miracle.

Josh was able to stay home for the first week and the kids and I really enjoyed having him home! Isla is such a daddy's girl anyway, but I really feel like Aiden bonded with Josh on a whole new level and it warmed my heart to see that. Aiden is such a lover and he has definitely been loving on Josh more. Josh and the kids tackled some projects while he was home too. They planted our strawberry garden, blackberry bushes, raspberry bushes, tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro. I'm not Josh take care of our funny farm as he calls it. We were also having trouble keeping the birds out of the strawberries and when Josh asked Isla what she thought we should do, she suggested all on her own to put a scare crow in the garden so that's just what we did!

We did warn a few neighbors to not panic, and that there isn't a small child outside in the garden lol!

Evan has had no trouble adjusting to home. He is apparently used to listening to the kids scream and carry on because he just slept right through it all! He did have what I call "Smelly belly" which was his umbilical cord not drying out completely and smelling really really bad. The pediatrician said it wasn't infected and that it just needed to be dried out. She recommended using a blow dryer on the cool setting to help dry it out. The first time I turned on the blow dryer I think Evan thought his life was ending but then as the air blew on his belly he just laid there completely relaxed! The umbilical cord stump has since fallen off but it's not completely healed yet so we have to keep an eye on it. He sleeps so much more than Isla and Aiden did that sometimes it doesn't feel any different having 3. At least for the first couple weeks. He is starting to stay awake for longer periods of time now and he will let you know when he's hungry! He must think he needs to be really loud in order to be heard over the other two :) Other than when he's hungry or getting his diaper changed he really doesn't get worked up and he's pretty content.

Evan had his two week well-check on Saturday and he is back up to his birth weight and everything else checked out fine. He is eating 3 ounces of formula now every 3-4 hours and he will sleep for 3-4 hours at night.

Here are a few pics from our first couple weeks :)

Sleepy smiles

Evan William Downing

Evan William Downing finally arrived on Saturday, May 17th at 2:25pm. This was the first and only time we were induced to deliver a baby and it was so strange to drive to the hospital without being in intense labor. We were as relaxed as we could be and just walked in to the hospital ready to meet our new little man. It took about an hour to get me hooked up to everything and my mom and dad arrived a little while later. My grandma and her husband also came to wait for Evan to arrive. I labored all morning with mild-moderate contractions. Much like the ones I'd been having for the six weeks prior. I was pleasantly surprised as I anticipated the pitocin to make it very uncomfortable. After a while, the Doctor came in and broke my water. Then I went from being pretty relaxed to very intense labor in like 2.5 seconds! I waited it out for a little while and then I asked for the epidural. The whole process of receiving the epidural takes a while so although it was only an hour, it felt like an eternity! When the epidural kicked in, it was only about 30 minutes later and we were ready to have a baby! I pushed for about 25 minutes and Evan was here. He was really purple and he didn't cry right away but he did start crying and I finally had my baby in my arms. There is nothing in this world compared to that moment and I will forever remember that moment with all three kids.

Evan William Downing

Born at 2:25pm on May 17th

9lbs 15.4oz

21 3/4 inches long 

Josh's reaction when he arrived was "He is a meatcake!" and that was pretty much the reaction of everyone in the delivery room. I have no idea how I carry these giant babies and neither does anyone else. As I hold him now, I wonder how in the world he fit in my belly!

After some time with our new baby boy, Josh let the family in and everyone was in love. Dennis and Grandma Downing arrived just as Josh was bringing everyone back. After some snuggles and love from everyone it was time for his bath. Barb arrived with Isla and Aiden when he was done and warming up in the bed. Shortly after they got there, the nurse explained that she wanted the NICU nurse to take a look at him because he was breathing fast and working harder than he should be to breath. After the NICU nurse looked at him she said he would need to go to NICU for a little while for observation and she would be back in a couple hours to update us. A couple hours later, he was still breathing fast and they decided to keep him overnight. He spent Saturday night, Sunday night and Monday night in NICU. The first night he had to have a feeding tube but they were able to take it out the next day when his breathing rate slowed down a little. The pediatrician was very kind and explained everything the best he could which was basically that Evan just needed time. He swallowed a lot of fluid during his delivery and he needed time to clear it out. I was discharged Monday and we had to leave him at the hospital which is no easy thing to do! Josh and I went back to the hospital at 9am the next morning and Evan was already out if NICU and waiting for us to pick him up! We were only at the hospital for 25 minutes and then we were on our way home with our baby.

Although nobody wants to experience NICU, our experience was good. The nurses were very kind and helpful and the pediatrician was as well. I was confident that Evan was receiving the care he needed and our questions were never left unanswered.  

And now we have a family of 5! I never would have imagined this in my younger years but I couldn't be happier that this is our life now. It's amazing.

Here is the link to the rest of the pictures from Evan's arrival into this world :)
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0BbuGTlo1Ys30Q

Aiden's 2nd Birthday Party

Well..... I'd like to say his birthday party was a huge success and he had so much fun and was upset it was over but that would be a bold faced lie! I've scaled back on birthday parties this year. Just keeping it simple with gifts, cake and punch but Aiden wasn't having it. Maybe he wanted a big blow-out bash! I knew when he woke up that morning that it was going to be a challenging day but I hoped for the best lol. 

This year his birthday was Mickey Mouse themed. He has had such a love for Mickey Mouse that there was never another thought on how to celebrate. We just had a family party so when everyone arrived we started to open gifts. He had absolutely no interest in opening gifts. We had to make all the silly faces and act like the crazy people to get him to be just slightly interested. I opened all of his gifts for him and the cards and he just sat in Papa's lap with a sad face the whole time. So I thought for sure he would be happier about the cake. He was still not happy as we sang the birthday song to him but alas he was happy when he got to eat the cake and ice cream. All with his new beach towel around his neck. 

On his actual birthday we made pizza and cupcakes and sang him happy birthday again. He seemed a little happier that time but I'm starting to think he's not quite the attention lover like his older sister is :) 

Aiden---2 years old
He weighs 29.2 pounds and he is 34 inches tall. He talks so much now and seems to be expanding his vocabulary every day. As much as Josh hates it, Aiden loves to play dress up with Isla and the boy LOVES shoes! I've never seen anything like it. He loves his boots, dress shoes, and most recently his new flip flops. He would sit on the swing all day if he could. He loves his back-pack and cars. He has started to try to color specific object instead of the whole page and speaking of colors he is doing really well identifying colors. He has also started recognizing some shapes like hearts and stars. The way he says "cute" is indeed very cute and he has quite a booty-shaking dance. He is still an excellent snuggler and he is happy, funny, handsome and unpredictable. He makes every day into a journey that we can all learn and grow from. We love you Aiden Lynn!

 Naturally this is my favorite picture :)

Easter Weekend

This year we spent Easter in Grant with Papa and Grandma Downing. Isla had been with Nannie the couple days prior so we also got to bring Harper with us to celebrate Easter. It was a very busy weekend but full of fun. The kids enjoyed their time together and with Papa and Grandma of course. We spent almost all day on Saturday outside. We started off by helping Papa put a new rail on his front porch and the kids were quite the little helpers! There was an Easter egg hunt at the convalescent center where Hilary works so we took the kids there to "hunt" the eggs which were actually just pieces of candy spread across the lawn :) The kids went on multiple golf cart rides and that evening we went to a friend's house to feed baby goats. Aiden wasn't too sure at first and really wasn't sure when the baby goat used his finger as a bottle lol! It was hilarious and he may or may not have chucked that goat later but they enjoyed playing with the goats and lambs.

Of course that night we colored Easter eggs and it was a race between Harper and Isla to place as many stickers on their respective eggs as possible! I think at one point Harper's egg had a stack of stickers at least a 1/2 inch thick but we did use ALL of the stickers and manage to get everyone bathed and in bed. The Easter bunny magically put together baskets and placed them for the kids to find in the morning :)

On Easter morning the kids tore through their baskets and made a disaster but they loved everything in them. We ate breakfast and got ready to go to church with Grandma. We took up almost an entire row at church and we had all 4 kids there so we were a sight! After church we headed to Grandma's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt and more Easter goodies. The kids played and played and were pretty much beat by the time we packed up to head home. It was a successful Easter!

Here is the link to the pictures from Easter

http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=90692e874fc3bb846276141d224b0f78&sid=0BbuGTlo1Ys3wA

Isla's 100 day school project

I must say I had a proud parent moment on Tuesday when I dropped Isla off at school. Her project was one of two hanging on the door to enter the preschool. A while ago her preschool had a 100 days of school celebration and the kids were to make/bring something to show the class that symbolized 100. Now in the letter that was sent home about the celebration it said you could bring 100 M&M's or a snack that equaled 100 etc. I considered those options and decided that this was a project for Isla, not me :) What would she really learn if I made a snack or counted out 100 pieces of candy for her to take. And even if she helped count out the candy, she would be more focused on eating the candy than the purpose of the project. SO I bought some supplies to make a project and we worked on it for two days! Now was she overly excited about it? Maybe not but by the end she was proud of it and that's what mattered.

The project she completed was gluing on 100 pom pom balls to the signs that said 100

She counted them out mostly by herself. I did guide her into counting them out into piles of 25

And there it is hanging on the door with the other really cool project that was a monster with 100 eyes! 

She did come home with a big bag of candy so she got to enjoy that part of the celebration too :)