Dinner on the lawn

We ordered dinner from our favorite pizza place in West Lafayette, Brunos. The kids wanted to eat outside with their table. I got them plastic flute glasses for Valentine's day and they love them.

Nathan and Aurora chilling.

The boys tap their glasses before they drink. Sometimes they are cute and do get along!

Swim lessons

Today was the first day of another session of swim lessons. The boys were so excited. Everest got new spiderman goggles, Leaf got Everest's hand me down. 

When we got to swim lessons, the instructor never showed up. Someone called her and she had mistakenly written us down to start in January. The kids were not disappointed they swam and played for an hour and a half.

Gotta love the straps sticking straight out!

Slime!

When we lived in Logan, UT we went to a family day on campus. They had bounce houses, games, crafts, and huge tractors. Each college had a station and an activity they did for the kids. One of the activities was to make slime. Everest still remembers that (it was before I was pregnant with Leaf-Everest was only 2). The other day he told me he wanted to make green slime like we did in UT.

I found an easy recipe on Family Fun's website. It is just glue, borax, water and food coloring. The boys had so much fun with it. We usually make play dough, but decided to make slime for a change.

Waiting for the slime to congeal. Everest was so excited. In the beginning Everest wanted green, but when it came time to add color, both boys picked blue.

Everest with his slime.

WOW!

Leaf wasn't sure what to think at first.

Then he rolled it.

Then he realized if you put it near the edge, it will drip down.

We got out cookie cutters and other things we use with play dough. Later that night, I had a meeting and the boys played with Nathan. They found out you can also draw on slime with markers. 

* Slime Recipe (recipe from Family Fun Magazine)

3/4 c warm water

1 c glue (white or clear)

food coloring

4 t borax

1 1/3 c warm water

1. Mix together 3/4 cup warm water, 1 cup glue and several drops of green food coloring in the first bowl.
   
2. In the second bowl, mix together 4 teaspoons borax and 1 1/3 cups warm water.
   
3. Pour the contents of the first bowl into the second, but don't stir. Let it sit for 1 minute, then lift the now-congealed slime out of the bowl.
   
4. Divide slime so that each child has a piece to play with. The glue in slime can make it stick to certain fabrics. To minimize accidents, give each little monster a zip-top bag to store it in.
   

*A friend told us to use clear glue and add things like glitter or sequence.

Bottling "kid beer"

The day after the apple pressing, we had Heather, Christopher and the kids over to bottle some apple cider. The kids had a lot of fun bottling. A few bottles got over filled and some under filled. The kids had fun and that is all that matters.

Elliot filling up a bottle.

Aurora slept through the whole event. She has her harness on now. She has to have another ultra sound in a few weeks. That will determine how long she is in it.

Nathan helping Elliot, while Leaf waits patiently.

We pasteurized the kid beer in Nathan's 10 gallon brew pot.

Everest and Leaf unloaded the brew pot.

Leaf just about fell into the pot trying to get the bottles on the bottom.

Catching up

 I know it has been a while. I LOVE the Fall. The weather is getting cooler (except this year, it has been in the 80's and 90's here). 

Aunt Teresa with Aurora.

 Sleeping Beauty.

A few tomatoes from my garden.

Leaf....my little helper.

He loves to vacuum and mop.

Leaf holding Aurora.

Everest holding Aurora.

I have been so sore from nursing, so I have been pumping. The boys love to help feed her.

Playing

The boys love to play with play dough. We tried a new recipe and it turned out perfect. I love making homemade play dough. The boys get to help make it, pick out the color they want and then play with it. If they eat it, life will go on and if they drop it on the floor is will dissolve with enough water.

Leaf having a good time, his favorite thing to do is make a ball out of play dough, surprise, surprise.

Everest loves to play legos. He is very creative and can sit and build something for an hour or two.

We promised the boys they could play in the birthing pool after the birth.(yes, it was thoroughly cleaned) The campground my parents stayed at had a pool, so they swam everyday out there. When my parents left we were so busy, we didn't get the pool out. Everest convinced Nathan to fill it the other night. It was in the 70's and the water was freezing. It didn't stop the boys from having fun.

We made green smoothies this night, and Leaf very much enjoyed his, as evident on his face. And this was after we cleaned it. He is such a messy boy because he insists on doing everything himself.

Surviving

We (Everest, Leaf, Aurora and I) made it through an entire day. Nathan worked a normal day on Wednesday. Everest has school on Wednesday so I figured I would get a little break, except he woke up sick. He stayed home from school. I would not say it was our best day ever, there was plenty of crying, quiet time and time out, but we survivied. I was very nervous about my first full day alone with all 3 kids, but in the end, all the kids are fine. They were fed, dressed and even napped. 

Today may be a different story. Aurora was up for 2 hours last night (she is stuffy and having a hard time breathing) and then up again at 5:20. At 6 Everest got up (still sick), and 6:30 Leaf woke up with croup. We have another few minutes before we call the doctor and see what time we can get an appointment today. I need to get the boys better so Aurora doesn't get anything more than a stuffy nose.

We are laying low today and hoping to feel better soon. There will be plenty of reading and drawing today, and maybe even a movie (a very rare treat at our house). We will see, Leaf has no interest in tv and I would rather sleep.

Thanks for checking on us. I will try to work on more posts today, we will see how it goes.

24 hours old

One of the things I asked Nathan to do while I was in labor, was to try to get a picture of Heather taking pictures. We have no pictures of Treya at Leaf's birth, because she took all the pictures. I wish we had at least one. Labor was so quick and Nathan was quite busy, so he got a few shots after. 

I didn't notice Heather much ( I was a little focused on other things), but I remember my midwife kept saying, "boy, you are flexible, I would never be able to do that to get a shot." Looking at some of the pictures, I wonder how Heather was contorted trying to get a good shot. Thanks again Heather!

Daddy already has his little girl helping in the beer making process. On Sunday, Nathan put her in the Ergo and they picked hops for drying for about an hour. Aurora slept happily snuggled against daddy.

All Leaf wants to do is hold bebee. He loves to suck his finger while he checks her out. He sits really still until he is done, and then he says all done.

Everest loves to hold Aurora too. He is a very proud big brother.

Assessing Aurora

Our midwife waited to do Aurora's assessment until the boys got to the house. We all thought the boys would like to see their sister being weighed and checked out. 

Nonnie got a little bit of Aurora time before she had to be weighed.

Aurora loves all the attention she received.

Leaf got his shirt and was waiting to help out.

Ok little girl, time to see how big and healthy you are.

Aurora getting weighed. 8 pounds 3 ounces (Everest was 8 pounds exactly, Leaf was 8 pounds 6 ounces).

Taking her head measurement. 14 1/2 inches.

Everest got to listen to Aurora's heart beat. This was one of his favorite things to do during our midwife visits. Now, he can see what he was listening to.

Our midwife was explaining what the cord clamp was all about.

Our midwife was wonderful, she explained how she assessed Aurora. She was explaining about her ear development, which was 39-40 weeks. She also showed us the lines on her feet, and other little things about her body, that let you know how far developed she was. On all things she measured 39-40 weeks. I love all the things I have learned about birth and my babies from my midwives. I asked and she said they do this in the hospital, but no one tells you about it.

Thank you to our wonderful midwife for all you have done, and for explaining things and being patient with our curious boys too.

Love at first sight!

We were sure we were having another boy, so I ordered these beautifully embroidered shirts from an etsy shop.  They say Big and Middle Brother with the boys initial in blue. I need to order a baby sister onsie now! The boys were so excited to get a gift from their baby sister. Everest wore his the first two days after she was born. We had to get it off of him to wash it, because he wants to wear it his first day of school on Wednesday.

Everest meeting Aurora for the first time.

He is a very proud big brother. He was quite protective of her, even from Leaf.

Leaf wasn't sure what to think of her at first.

Leaf loved that she was moving her legs around. He was tickling her toes.

Everest held Aurora for a while, he didn't want to give her up.

Everest can't wait to play with his sister and show her around. He wanted to take her to our room and show her where she would sleep and be changed. He also wanted to show her his room and all his toys.

Leaf really wanted to hold Aurora, but he still wasn't sure about her, when she would move around. As soon as he held her, he would say done, but as soon as someone picked her up, he would yell, "baby, I hold!".

Nonnie finally got her time with Aurora. Everest had to keep an eye on her to make sure she knew what to do.

Nonnie lovin up her first granddaughter. It has been good for all of us that my parents have the boys in the motor home at a campground. One of the first things my mom said was "I need to go shopping." She hasn't been able to do that yet. I am sure Aurora will be spoiled. Nathan and I are fine with her wearing the clothing we have (which was the boys), I don't think Aurora will care either.

There is a great article in Mothering Magazine about color. Did you know until 1940's pink was more for boys and blue was for girls. It has something to do with the Virgin Mary being depicted in blue and pink was a variation of red which was considered a masculine color.