Happy Mother's Day!

Our week has been a little touch and go. Saturday, after two nights of no sleep and a lot of crying, I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown. But Saturday night Grant actually slept for an hour or so at a time (a vast improvement over the last two nights) and mercifully, I got some sleep. In the morning we both felt a lot better. It was a great mother's day gift!
We had a little mother's day outdoor meal - inspired by a picnic book from my Aunt Janet (thanks Janet!). It wasn't windy, it wasn't too cold or too hot. The weather was just right. Another gift!

None of these pictures turned out that great 'cause we were in the semi-shade, but it was very pleasant. I mixed up some limeade for our picnic as a special treat for myself. The kids thought it was too sour. More for me!!

Grant woke up part way through our little picnic party and was happy to join us for a few minutes.

I stole a few moments here and there to read my book, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot. Matthew calls is my "vegetenarian" book (it's about a veterinarian). I've been reading it in any free time lately (sometimes I get through a page at a time or less). It's been an enjoyable read - a little gift to myself. I'd been reading it a bit while I was up in the night with the crying Grant. Poor guy!
I also bought myself an angel food cake and some fresh strawberries for mother's day. Scott doesn't like angel food cake, but I love it. And since he's not here, I thought I'd indulge. So yes, I got presents for myself. ;)

And here are my best mother's day gifts! The sweet and smart Mr. Matthew

Independent Miss Anna
I think I am going to start calling her "the indomitable spirit."

Matthew gave Anna the idea that she needed to get me a present for mother's day. She went and got a golf ball from Scott's golf bag and presented it to me proudly as a mother's day gift. It was sweet.

And our sweet little Grant (also called "Granty" by some)

Grant gave me a nice gift by sleeping better during the day and night! He gave us some real good smiles on mother's day too (must try to get a picture). He also stopped his hysterical crying (one time) when I started singing him a song. He stopped crying and looked up at me while I sang. It made me happy and I thought it was a nice gift.

Mother's Day is brought to you by the letter G.

Saturday Matthew told me I didn't get a mother's day gift 'cause I was grouchy. So I was surprised when he sent me on a treasure hunt Sunday morning to find this - a present he made for me by himself. It's a letter G, drawn backwards and in yellow pen, so a little hard to see in this picture. I thought it was nice though.

Scott is still gone for work, but he sent me some nice flowers and my parents sent me some See's chocolates, which really cheered up my difficult weekend. And lots of people sent/wrote me nice comments, messages and emails, which also cheered me up. So thank you everyone!! It takes a village to have a Mother's Day. ;)

I also realized I had become a bit self absorbed with my own problems this weekend and didn't stop to think about all the mother's in my life. My husband and I both come from families of many great mothers - moms, grandmas, great-grandmas, sisters, aunts etc! We have so many great supportive examples to draw from!! We love you all!! Being a mother is really a wonderful gift - a blessing to be entrusted with the care of these little people. I should remember that during those middle of the night cry fests. ;)

One Month Old

Grant turned one month old this week. I tried to take some nice pictures of him on Saturday, his one month birthday, but he was having a pretty miserable day. He caught a little cold from the kids (I think) and was pretty congested. He's been having trouble eating and sleeping for a few days. I feel so bad for him 'cause I know he feels crumby, but it also makes life pretty miserable for me. Scott is out of town and we've had several nights of hardly any sleep. I hope he starts feeling better soon!!
He's been crying a lot more than usual during the day. He cries when I put him down and a lot of the time when I'm carrying him around too. :( Here's Anna giving him a kiss, which I have since banned until everyone is better from colds. I think that's what got us into this mess in the first place.

Here he is on his first sick day. He looks so sad, but at least not crying.

And here he is one month old! I really had so much trouble getting a non-crying picture of him that day. It was NOT a great day!!

Another sad picture. I tried.

Luckily he had a better night last night!! He ate and slept a little more. I'm hoping this means he is starting to feel better. So Sunday morning I was able to get a few pictures where he didn't look so sad. Hooray! He is looking bigger. His skin is starting to look more pink/white and normal rather than newborn red/pink. He's also filling out a bit. I love his little round belly.

Looking a little happier.

And here he is sleeping in his swing. It's so nice to be able to put him down for a little while and see him sleep for longer than 10 minutes. I'm so glad to see him so calm and sleeping peacefully and hope he really is getting better! Happy one month birthday Grant!!

And as a little PS: Grant got a new little cousin this week!!

This is Magnus Thor Jensen!!

He and Grant are less than a month apart so I'm hoping they can be friends. Congrats to my sister, Ruth, and bro-in-law, Dana!! See more pictures of Magnus, HERE.

Made Outta Clay

It's been sort of a crazy week here. Scott was gone last week, back for a few days, then gone again for a week. Grant came down with a little cold this week, courtesy, I think, of Matthew and Anna and their generous kisses. He's had a really hard time sleeping and eating the past few days 'cause he's been so snuffly. A few nights of sleep deprivation plus a few days (and nights) with a very sad newborn can really make life unpleasant. I've been trying really hard to keep everyone happy and not lose it.
Today the bigger kids and I played with a little modeling clay, just for fun. I liked the creatures the kids made. Here's Matthew with one of his creations.

He told me this one was an "old man."
I find it a little frightening.

Here's Anna telling me not to take her picture. So Anna!

Matthew made this and told me it was a swan.
With some of these you kind of have to use your imagination.

And here is a kitty that Matthew and I made together. We later added arms. Matthew wasn't happy with the face and tried to spruce it up a little with some green clay. It started to lose any resemblance to a cat after that, but we had fun with the clay. Must think of more things to entertain the kids!!

Staying In

Scott's been gone all week, so the rest of us mostly stayed in while he was gone. Here are some pictures from our week at home.
Matthew loves hanging out with Grant. He is always so excited if he can get Grant to hold his finger or look at him. He's a very sweet brother.

And Grant kind of likes it too.

I told Matthew when Grant is bigger he will probably want to follow him around and do everything Matthew does. Matthew didn't quite believe me. I hope Matthew is still happy to have Grant around when he's bigger.

Here's a closer up picture of Grant.

and an extreme close up.

While Grant slept one day this week we made this alligator puppet.

It bites.
It was fun making it though. Anna had to do hers her own way (shocker!) so it turned out looking more like two pieces of paper with scribbles on them. She told us hers was a dragon.

And here's Matthew with the Baby Bjorn (we have the "active" one) - one of our favorite - can't do without it - baby inventions. Matthew wanted to carry Grant around in it (not so much) but settled for carrying one of Anna's baby dolls instead. You can see the little legs poking out.

That baby might be too small for this carrier.

And Matthew might be too small for it too. :)

Scott was gone all week for work and is going to be gone a lot over the next few months. But we were glad to see him this weekend. Grant was happy to be held!

Playing Together

Matthew and Anna are very eager to help and play with their new little brother. They love to sit around and watch him, try to entertain him with toys, hold his hand or give him kisses. And Grant is a little more interested in them everyday. Today they got out a toy that used to be Matthew's - given to us when he was little by one of my aunts. It's a wind up giraffe that plays music and gently moves and wiggles to the music. Grant was very interested in it and Matthew was so excited to find something he liked.

Here he is watching the giraffe some more while Matthew makes sure it's properly wound.

Everyone was dressed, awake and happy so I took the opportunity to take a picture.
And everyone is even looking the same direction in this picture! Success!

Here's a close up of Grant. He's growing bigger each day. He's still not quite big enough for his 3 month old clothes...but getting there. I don't know who he looks like...maybe more like Scott? I guess he just looks like himself. :)

Happy Easter

Here are some pictures from our Easter activities this year. Last year on Easter I got sick and we spent a good part of the day in the ER...and it was my birthday...so this year was better. We're happy to have baby Grant with us this year! Here are the kids Easter baskets...waiting to be discovered. Grant got a stuffed chick and a crinkly baby toy. He wasn't too interested in them...he's still too little for that...so Anna agreed to take care of them until he was big enough. She's been conscientiously carrying them around in her empty Easter basket along with her Easter spoils.

Here's Anna with her basket.

And here's what we were greeted with outside on Easter morning. Snow. It's almost May!!
So much for spring.

We had our Easter egg hunt in the basement due to inclement weather outside. Here are the kids getting ready.

It was so hard to get a good picture of them looking for eggs. They moved so fast!!

And filled up those baskets before we knew it!

Matthew gave Anna a few of his to make it more even. He's such a nice brother.

Here are the kids helping me make bunny buns.
I gave Anna one piece of dough that entertained her the whole time.

Matthew was very helpful making the bunny shapes. He did a great job!

The little chubby bunnies are the ones he made. They tasted great!

I made the frosting too thick this year, but couldn't be bothered to fix it. It was a miracle I got any Easter things done with Grant attached to me 24/7. He likes to be held.

I tried to put him down in the swing for a while. It didn't last.

Scott made buttermilk rolls for dinner and was so sweet to let the kids "help" him. They love to help with any cooking, but, as you can imagine, aren't always all that helpful. I like having them help, but Scott isn't really used to their brand of helpfulness, so I thought it was nice that he was so patient with them. They were so excited to make the "knot rolls" as they called them, and very proud of the ones they made.

And here's some of our Easter dinner: Tangerine glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, the buttermilk rolls and strawberry salad. Again, it was a miracle that this got done. Scott helped a lot with dinner. Thanks Scott...we'll miss his helpfulness since he is going to be gone for work this week and several weeks over the next two months or so.
I hope everyone had a good Easter!