tummy time

I don't even know what to say...

Cute right?

If you get close enough for him to focus on you, he doesn't look cross eyed!

His jaundice is slowly improving.

Perhaps I'll give him a mohawk for church...

the complete bunk

Noah had been sleeping in his room on the top bunk for about 2 months, awaiting the time for Evie to move in below him. That time is here.

Once Samuel was able to be discontinued from his bili-blanket, I wanted the option of putting him in his crib at night. So we made the switch about a week ago. Evie is now sleeping in Noah's room on the bottom bunk! The first night she was up a couple times but it's been fine besides that. And Samuel is indeed in his big-boy crib.

the name

Just about a year and a half ago I wrote this post, though it was a little vague. I was feeling "low" and ended my thoughts with a verse from Job:

JOB 1:20-21: At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship and said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
and naked I will depart.
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away;
may the name of the LORD be praised."

I was referring to a miscarriage. I had been so excited to be pregnant with our third child only to have it taken away shortly after we found out the good news.

Then it was back to waiting for God to bless us with another child. It seemed to take forever. We even talked to Noah about if he would like another sibling. We prayed for another child.

One day while I was getting dressed in May 2010, Noah looked at me and remarked, "Mommy, your tummy is not big." I told him no it wasn't b/c there wasn't a baby in there. I asked him if he would like to pray for a baby and he agreed. We all came together and prayed for another child. I became pregnant within the next day (or two or three). I know this b/c I was charting. God answered our prayer. And more specifically, God answered Noah's prayer.

So that is the reason we named our new baby Samuel. It means "asked of God" or "heard of God."

Plus, I have always really liked that name.

tag

The 2nd weekend of February brought us some pretty gorgeous weather. After church Terry and the kids spent the afternoon in the backyard playing basketball and Tag with a couple youth group guys. Samuel even spent some time out there wrapped tightly with a hat on but then he went to bed and I took pictures (sorry they're so blurry - i won't be using the fast action option again I guess...or perhaps the lens was dirty. i dunno).

Levi and Luke playing Around the World

Base is a mound of dirt right behind the kids

Evie was It but didn't seem to understand the idea. She just kept chasing Luke in circles but would never tag him no matter how many different ways we tried to explain it to her. Perhaps she just liked the special title of It.

Looks like Terry is It but is slow moving b/c of the flip flops he was wearing. It was quite muddy out but he just wouldn't put on better shoes.

Luke was It at this point and Terry was attempting to make it to Base with Noah and Evie. But Luke jumped on his back and since Terry had no traction in his flip flops, they both fell onto the muddy ground. They got up laughing but were quite a mess.

Nice rear Terry. Kids thought it was pretty funny too =)

a first meeting

A week and a half after Samuel was born, Terry's parents were able to make it down to meet the little man. They were so helpful to have around. Gramma kept the kitchen tidy and they both tag-teamed meals. Now that's what I'm talking about!

Here's Grampa holding Samuel for the first time!

getting to know one another

Just two days after we returned home from the hospital with Samuel, I came in our room to find Terry, Noah and Evie all admiring him. He was still connected to wall b/c of the bili-blanket so we couldn't walk around with him - he looks like a Star Trek Borg with that tube coming out of his pajamas.

Nice orange, peely, rashy skin. Still a cute boy though! He's grown already.

Even the dogs wanted in on the action - my parents were still here with Bo.

I think we all like Samuel. And check out how long Evie's hair is - it's never been cut. She's got all her baby hair still =)

Evie was tucking the blanket around Samuel. She's a good big sister.

bath time

Here is a shot of Samuel's first bath - a sponge bath. Noah did not like the crying so he was covering his ears. I dunno what it is with my kids, but they always do a lot of crying during baths as babies. It's probably my fault...but the water is a good temperature I swear!

He did like the warm water on his head though...mostly.

This was Samuel's first tub bath since his cord had fallen off. I won't allow all the big kids in the bath again with him, but we managed alright.

Since Samuel was overdue, his skin is all peely, including his scalp. Gotta scrub all that away, which he doesn't like. This musta been right before he started wailing.

This is more like the typical bath experience.

cheeky punk

My sister and her fiancee have been here for the last couple days. We all went together to the donut shop for breakfast this morning. Terry's cousin and kids were there so that was fun for our kids. Also, there was a group of ladies with one little boy about Evie's age there. He kinda toddled over to our table and was looking at us. He then came up to Evie who unabashedly said to him, "Get away from us." Poor little guy ran away back to his table.

Terry took her over to apologize - he made her apologize. Then the ladies asked me what happened b/c they couldn't understand what he had told them. They laughed and laughed when I told them. What a punk that girl is! We had a little talk about that.

going home

Samuel was born on Tuesday Feb 1. We finally went home Saturday Feb 5 due to Samuel's jaundice which was holding at 12.4 again that day. We were ready to go but I was also nervous. I'm always scared when bringing home a new baby! No nurses to help me at night anymore...

Ready to go!

Walking to the door.

Loaded up with THREE kids!

We drove 3 blocks and were home =)

Noah wanted to hold Samuel right away. Then he insisted that since he was a big boy now he didn't want any toys in his room. So he and Evie ran up and down the stairs taking all his toys down to join the others (his room had overflow in it - some baby things and some bigger things).

Evie went up to her room and got her 1 year old sandals and tried to put them on Samuel =)

Dave said we needed a bili-blanket so that arrived later that afternoon. Ug. How I loathe the bili-blanket. Samuel had it for 8 days and he's still jaundice.

See how he glows?

hospital day 3 and 4

Here is Evie visiting on Day 3 (biliruben 12.5). Noah would sit on the love seat and play Angry Birds and Evie would come look at Samuel.

Day 4 - biliruben 12.4. Cutie! He's looking more like himself now - less swollen. The red spots on his skin are that rash.

He started getting pretty good at sleeping in the bili-bed.

And here are some shots of my room. It's kinda funny but it started to feel like home. I stayed with Samuel though I could of course have gone home - I didn't want to without Samuel though.

And Terry was great enough to stay with me every night too - the love seat pulled out into a bed. Staying in the hospital was a little boring, but otherwise it was pretty great. I had every meal brought to me. I had visitors when I wanted them. I didn't have 2 other active kids running out their energy around me. I could read as long as I wanted (had to read HP since that's all I had!). And best of all, the nurses cared for Samuel in between feedings at night. They always said he slept so that made me feel a little better. And I slept wonderful in the hospital!

hospital day 2

Oops - these first 3 photos are from day 1 during the birthday party. I forgot to include them. Terry is taking a photo on his cell phone to send to facebook and his parent's email.

Gramma is helping Evie to hold Samuel for the first time. She was pretty excited to do so.

She looks a little unsure here, but Evie was and is pretty excited and pleased with her baby brother.

__________________________________________________________

Day 2

Samuel had his circumcision done this day and he was not happy about it. In fact, he was very fussy all day and his mommy was super stressed out, not to mention emotional and hormonal. I was wondering what kind of baby he was going to be! Thankfully, he did much better the following days.

This isn't the best proof photo, but Samuel developed a rash called Erythema Toxicum that was especially evident on his eyelids this day. Erythema toxicum is a common, noncancerous skin condition seen in newborns with the main symptom of a rash of small, yellow-to-white colored papules surrounded by red skin. It looked like he had little pimples all over his face and chest. On Day 2, Samuel's eyelids were affected. Perhaps due to the crying from the circ.? Anyway, not the best day for a photo op...

Samuel's biliruben level began to spike already on day 2 (9.3), which really wasn't such a surprise since Noah and Evie did the exact same thing...for weeks. And weeks. Ug. Bili-blanket here we come. It's our way apparently - lots of dark hair and jaundiced skin.

-----Nurse Eva time. Jaundice is caused by excess biliruben in the babies blood which turns the skin and eyes yellow. Biliruben is the bi-product of broken down red blood cells (newborns have more of these) that can't be excreted do to an immature liver or something to do with breastfeeding. Since all of our kids have done this, I think it's something to do with my milk, but it's harmless unless the biliruben level gets above 20 or 25. -----

So Dave started him on a bili-bed. I had never seen this before but it was pretty neat, except that I couldn't hold Samuel. And as I said before, he was fussy! It was a long day. My arm got sore from holding the pacifier in his mouth. Poor little guy.

We had many visitors - another benefit of being in town. I snapped a shot of just one group though - Terry's aunt JoAnn and cousin Tawnya. They came while the bili-bed was being set up. They left b/c of the crying that ensued!

A woman came taking pictures for the paper. Terry took this photo, which was actually better than what they got. We sent this shot in and it was published the following week. Their photo will go in for March.

that first day

After Samuel was born we were moved to a different room. It ended up being the best one they had which was great since we were there for 4 days due to Samuel's jaundice.

It took Samuel a little time to get the hang of nursing which surprised me. Evie took to it immediately and easily. It took some work and time with Samuel, while Terry slept in the chair, which is what I wanted to be doing. I finally got him to sleep and tried to take a nap too.

Here is that sleeping hours-old newborn Samuel with aunt Stephanie's blanket to keep him warm.

We kept remarking that Samuel didn't look that swollen from the birth process. Looking back at these photos makes me think he was. His eyes are puffy and his face a little rounder than it is now. Still beautiful though! Oh, and you can see that little flake of skin on his forehead - his skin was peeling all over his body. Actually, he still is peeling over 2 weeks later. That's b/c he was overdue, overcooked.

I might have slept for like 20 minutes (I'm a poor napper) before breakfast arrived and shortly after, our kids! Noah and Evie did not have mommy and daddy there in the morning to get them ready so they knew something was up. Plus, Gramma and Grampa had big news for them - their baby brother was born! Right after breakfast (845am!) they came right over to the hospital which is only like 3 blocks from our house. I was so glad we stayed in town.

Here is Samuel during his sponge bath. All the nurses fussed over him, having a lot of fun with his hair.

They brushed it =)

Then I got to smell him - love that smell. Also, you can see from this photo how observant Samuel is. He really looks at you, studies you. Noah was a lot like that too, had this serious look on his face all the time. Samuel might be less serious and more deep... We'll see though.

Gramma and Grampa brought the kids back after dinner for Samuel's birthday party. I had bought a cake per Noah's request weeks before. This was one of the first times Noah held Samuel.

Then they moved to the love seat. Samuel started crying shortly after this and Noah did not like it. He looked up with this concerned look on his face and yelled out, "Someone cover my ears!"

The cake - yum. I look a little drugged. But hey, I had given birth and had almost no sleep during this day.

Snuggle