Joy

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Picnic Dinner

This weekend Josh was gone in the evening so I took the kids (first time I have had to write that instead of girls) to Tumbleweed park to play and have a picnic dinner.   
We got there at 6pm and no one else was there,  it was so wonderful.  
It is so beautiful that time of day.

The girls rode their scooters, 

played on the playground and zipline

and we had our fancy dinner of peanut butter and honey sandwiches.

Jack was so good!  He barely fussed even though it was that time of the day.

He mostly watched his big sisters.


 He did try swinging and seemed to like it.

Everyone was having so much fun we stayed long after the sun went down. 
 It was a lovely time I don't want to forget.

Saturday, April 23, 2016

All about Jack

Jack is 7 weeks old!   We love this little guy! 
 
He has been our best baby yet....BUT, he is still pretty high need.  Ugh! Newborns are so..... worthless.  There is no other creature on earth that is as helpless and high need at birth than humans - and the helplessness lasts for SO long!

Jack is generally easy going but he gets really gassy and fussy at night around the time I need to be making dinner.  With the girls we tried SO MANY different colic or anti gas medicines and none of them worked but when I heard good things about this...

 I realized we hadn't tried it yet (probably because it is $20 a bottle)  but it actually works!  He loves the taste and immediately calms down to take it.  He feels so much better afterward. ... no more screaming.  It is kind of gross to give to him because it is black - it has charcoal in it.  It leaves a nice black residue on his lips and his diapers are....interesting. 

The poor little guy is not very blessed in the looks department right now.  Maybe you think that is mean for a mother to say about her own child but hey, I am just being honest.  I am not so blinded by love that I am oblivious to the fact that he is not good looking.   But that's okay, we love him anyway and take comfort in the fact that his sisters were not that great looking newborns either and they turned out okay.

 Claire - 
In fact he is the spitting image of Claire - who also knows the cold, hard fact that she was our ugliest baby.

 Joy (she was by far the prettiest)
Paige (and the fattest)
(okay to be fair those are the ugliest ones I could find)

Jack is getting pretty hefty himself,  he weighs 11lbs already!  
 This is probably due to the fact that he eats every two hours around the clock.  (sometimes an hour and a half!)  We just discovered that he is lip-tied so I am hoping that after that is taken care of next week he will eat better at one time and I can actually sleep at night.

He falls asleep easily though!  I set him down to help Paige in the play room and he was happy so I left him there.  A few minutes later I checked on him and he was fast asleep.

The girls still adore him and Claire has earned the title of "Baby Whisperer".  She can get him to stop crying when no one else can.  They have a special bond. 
   He knows she will sing to him anytime and he likes that.

Last weekend our church gave us a baby shower.
 
(mom dripped water on his shoulder. when doing his hair.)

It was wonderful!  (no games!)

Look! There are no pink decorations!

 Jack and I really enjoyed it and we were showered with love and many gifts.
 
  We feel so blessed and at home at Hillside.

We sure do love this little guy!  And he IS getting cuter already.

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Zoo Day

 Last week we went to the zoo with Grandma and Aunt Shelbe.  They gave us a Zoo membership for Christmas but between back to back sicknesses and Jack we haven't made it out there until now.  
We chose a beautiful day though!  We were actually chilly sometimes. Unfortunately everyone else in the state thought so too - it was pretty crowded. The animals also thought it was nice out and we actually got to see most of them.
 We happened to be in the orangutan exhibit when the zoo workers came to feed and make the apes do tricks.  Many people were excited by this, I watched in disgust.  For those of you who do not know yet, I ABHOR monkeys (or apes) of any kind.  My hatred towards them has rubbed off on the girls.  We have a baby book with a picture of some kind of ape on it and whenever Paige gets to that part she says "Ugh! Yuck!" and turns the page really fast.
  
 They are quite possible the most offensive mammals to ever walk the planet.

 Jack was so good on our trip.  He rode in the stroller most of the time 
 
and occasionally was held and fed. 
Sometimes I felt like he was an exhibit at the zoo.  So many people would walk by and exclaim "Look at the baby! He is so little!"   

I am proud of myself... I actually got some frontal group shots.  Most of the time at the zoo we come home with a bunch of pictures like this.
 Because it was so nice out, we spent 6 hours at the zoo.  6 HOURS!  With four little kids!  It was so lovely and enjoyable.  Paige was awesome - until she bumped her head right when we decided to take pictures but as you can see you tried her best to recover.
 Playing in the farm area.

                                                 
Grandma spoiled them with various treats. Yum!


I will do my best to make it to the zoo often this year since we have our membership.  Next time I think it will be hot enough to bring our swimsuits and try out the splash pads. 
Thanks Grandma and Shelbe for a fun filled day!