Locked

Conversation with Hubby after he's arrived home from work.  He's speaking at the top of the stairs and I'm answering him from the bottom of the stairs as the children are eating dinner.

Hubby:  Why was the nursery door locked.

Me:  Oh, right, because the kids were playing upstairs after naptime and the twins were supposed to go into their rooms to get their socks, and they kept just getting their passies and blankies out of their cribs.  So I locked the door... but then I couldn't unlock it.  Could you work on that please?

Hubby:  Yeah, I can't get it unlocked either.

Me:  Well, this might be an interesting night.

One minute later.

Hubby:  Babe... why is our bathroom door locked?

Me:  Oh, because Tracey used half a roll of toilet paper to wipe herself after using the potty after naptime and I didn't have enough time or hands to unclog the toilet with all the kids awake.  I locked the door to keep Tracey out of the bathroom because she kept repeatedly flushing the toilet trying to fix the clog.  Could you work on that please?

*Note:  Hubby was able to both unlock the nursery and unclog the upstairs toilet.

Good Company

This video made me laugh out loud and I've been asked every of these questions except, "Are you Catholic?" so I guess we're in good company.

Old Pictures

I'm creating a 2018 photo calendar for our family to go under the tree, and I enjoyed finding some old pictures that will show up in the calendar.  Here are a couple old pictures that make me smile:

 

Thanksgiving Events

We had a great few days celebrating Thanksgiving.

We had a quiet morning at home watching the Parade -- as much as our home is ever quiet... so I guess I should say a relaxed morning at home because our home is never quiet.

I did a bunch of braids in Tracey hair the night before so she could have a special hair do for the Holiday -- all krinkly

Addallee turned 1 month on Thanksgiving

We tried to take a family picture... and this is as good as it got -- but I love how real this picture.  I will keep making my family sit for family pictures any chance I can because this is our real life, and these are very special days in the spectrum of our life.

Tracey's krinkly hair holding her little sister... with a weird smile.

Loving our Thanksgiving dinner

Hugging her little sister

At least no children are crying in this picture with my parents... I guess that's the difference of taking a picture before dinner versus after dinner... they're all in a turkey coma now

We went to the Hotel Colorado Christmas lighting on Friday and the kids got to see Santa Claus for the first time this season.  Hubby and I had no intention of being in the picture with Santa and our kids... but our kids weren't really keen on staying near Santa without our being there -- especially Caroline and Howard.  So, the win is that no children are actively crying in this picture.

Having fun with the Christmas display

Addallee was a trooper for the entire thing being worn in the Moby.

Tracey did a big girl Lego project while the twins were napping the other day.  She and I followed the directions together and she put together this Mickey Mouse boat house.  It was a lot of fun for us to do together.

Caroline got out a Fairy wand last night and started tapping every ornament she could reach... I'm not sure if she was trying to a Christmas Fairy or what exactly she was playing.

 

Addallee -- One Month

Addallee is one month old... or she was a few days ago. 

Here she is at one month

Here she was at one week

And here she was as a newborn

Weight: 

Unofficially, my estimation is that she is about 9 pounds.

Length:  

She is not quite too long for newborn pajamas... probably around 20 inches.

Clothing size: 

She can still wear newborn pajamas, but newborn onesies are too small.  She wears 0-3 month sized onesies and she'll probably be wearing size 3 month sleepers by the end of the week.

 

Eating:  

Addallee nurses on demand... which is about every 3 hours, but sometimes she cluster feeds and eats more often, and sometimes she'll go more like 4 or 4-and-a-half hours between feedings.  She is a newborn, so I wouldn't say she is "easy" -- but she does seem to be relatively flexible given that she is one of four of our small children, and she is not always able to have 100% of my attention.  Most importantly, she is a great eater and she and I find the time amidst the needs of the other children for her to eat as needed.

Sleeping:  

Addallee sleeps in our room in a bassinet and in a dock-a-tot, which we've been using to make her feel warmer and more secure.  I couldn't say for sure how often she gets up during the night because I usually wake up and I'm already nursing her... and I don't really remember how or when I started feeding her.  After I nurse her, I prop her up on my shoulder for her to burp, and usually fall asleep while I'm burping her with the two of us laying chest to chest... its not comfortable to sleep sitting up, but at least she's not awake crying during the night.

 

New things/discoveries: 

• Addallee does more and more every day -- like trying to keep her pacifiers in her mouth
• She's beginning to make eye contact with us and her siblings
• Cuddling up next to one another when we lay them near each other
• She nuzzles up to my cheek to let me know she is hungry
• She got her first cold a few days ago which was so sad -- a little baby cough, a little congestion in her lungs, and a little mucus in her nose.  Thankfully, she never developed any fever and the congestion cleared up with the use of a humidifier and some steam in the shower
• She has had a few baths in the kitchen sink, a few showers, and a few baths with her siblings... I have to say, it is so much quicker to bathe one newborn than it was to bathe two.
• She's been everywhere with her sibilngs... and so many more places than any of them were in the first month of life -- she's been to Halloween events, dance classes, McDonald's playground, to the student clinic while the siblings received flu shots, to Daddy's school, she's been to her siblings school, and attended the birth classes that I teach every week with me
• She has met both sets of her grandparents
• She hung in there while the entire family got a stomach bug -- all the children were vomitting, Hubby felt under the weather, and I had mastitis -- it was a ROUGH 48 hours, but Addallee just kept nursing and sleeping 
• She had hew newborn pictures taken

 

 

  New Accomplishments: 

• Wrapping Mama, Daddy, and their grandparents around her sweet baby finger
• She is very loved by her siblings, which feels like a great accomplishment because no one has purposely tried to hurt her in the past month... they occasionally accidentally smother her with love because they are trying to kiss her, hold her, hug her, or help her feel better -- they try to bounce her in her pumpkin seat, rock her in her carseat, and put her pacifier back in her mouth (all gently, hopefully)

Likes: 

• Being held
• Pacifiers
• Nursing
• Her siblings
• Warm baths with her sibilngs
• Warm showers
• Being worn in a Moby wrap

Dislikes:

• Being hungry
• Spitting up
• Being burped
• Coughing

 

  Places She's Gone:

•  Carbondale
• Basalt
• Halloween events
• The Pediatrician's office
• My doctor's office
• Thanksgiving events
• To Hubby's school
• To her siblings' school
• To the birthing classes I teach

Special Memories:

•  Her birth was very special, and I will write about it soon.  She arrived on her due date -- it was my longest labor, and it had its difficult moments, but she arrived through an unmedicated birth at 11:26am and Chris was amazing at supporting me throughout.
• Her first Halloween, dressed as a Sweet Pea and tagging along to the pumpkin patch with her siblings
• Her sibilngs taking turns asking if they can hold her -- the novelty hasn't worn off, both Caroline and Tracey ask to hold Addallee every day, and Howard asks to hold her every few days
• Daddy and grandparents being able to give bottles and participate in feedings
• Tracey Ann adjusting to life as a big sister and responding whenever one is crying.  She will say, "He's Crying" and run over to the crib where the baby is
• Learning how to treat a circumcision in the immediate aftermath
• Seeing Caroline in Tracey Ann's hand-me-down sleepers
• Getting to buy little boy clothes for Howard
• Watching the two of them nestle together while they're sleeping
• Getting newborn and family pictures taken when they were one week old
• Hubby and I love her name -- Addallee Marigold, and there is significance behind her first name, her middle name, the spelling of her first name, and her nickname (Lee Lee).  It was very special for Hubby and me to choose her name together -- the first child that we were still discussing the name an hour or so after she was born.  Our other children, we discussed their names for a few minutes after they were born, but our third daughter and her name demanded a longer discussion before we settled on her name for sure.

Nicknames:

• Addallee
• Lee Lee
• Baby
• Sweet Girl