six weeks old!

My newest PLD* is six weeks old! Man time is flying. Many things I remember being similar to when Zoe was his age, but many things seem to be taking me by surprise. This boy needs a milk cow. Seriously. He eats non stop. Which is great, but tiresome when you're personally required for every feeding. He's between 9.5 and 10 pounds now, so he's growing like a weed!

*precious little darling - there is a story behind this... I always told my mother that my brother was her PLD when we were growing up (well he still is) and could do no wrong, so it's kind of an endearment in our house now

His hair is still the medium brown it was when he was born. We'll see if that stays or changes colors as he gets older. Zoe's hair was a blackish brown when she was born and it is now very light brown. Rhys is still strawberry blond/brown. Both Rhys and Zoe have blue eyes as well. I find that amazing considering neither Cody or I have blue eyes (one of each of our parents do) or light brown/blond hair. Our kids seem to have gotten all our recessive traits, so I'm curious to see what Beckett ended up with.

Zoe just went for her combined 15/18 month well baby checkup. Baby girl is in the 90-95th percentile for height and weight and looks great. She is a little firecracker with a vivid imagination. Cody and I constantly marvel at what she comes up with. Today was meet the teacher for mother's day out. She starts next week and I am very excited for her. I loved watching her explore today and interact with the other kiddos.

school!

Monday was Rhys's first day of school. It was a very long morning for him, before getting to school. He was up at 6:30 so we could give him his Pediasure and make sure he has enough time to let his stomach settle. He sat and watched his shows for a few minutes, got dressed and got into his chair. I had his bag packed and we were ready for the 7:26 bus pickup! Except the bus was late. And later still. So I called the bus contact and was told the buses were experiencing the typical first week of school delays. No problem. I Just needed to make sure they still had Rhys on the pickup list because I am physically not able to get him to school all by myself since I have no way to get him, in his chair, to his classroom with my two additional kids given their ages. School starts at 8:10, and as we approached and passed that time we decided to pack Rhys up and bring him to school ourselves. As we were walking out the door I got a call from the bus contact telling us Rhys's bus had broken down so we could either continue to wait or bring him ourselves. Cody wanted to see Rhys off to school on his first day so he was still at the house luckily. So we packed up the car with all the kids and Rhys got to school at 8:45.

Since he missed the bus the first day, here he is the second day! He was so excited about getting on the bus, but once he realized Cody and I weren't going with him he got a little upset. But he was fine by the time he got to school and his teacher told me he had a great day. So far so good. I think he is really enjoying his time at school. His after school bus driver has told me he's done great, and he has been in a good mood after getting home.

All this time change is killing me though. I don't get such great sleep because of Beckett, and now having to get up at 6:30 is making me a zombie. I'm really going to be crazy next week when Zoe starts school, we'll have constant activity four days a week.

a day in the life of...

It's been a while since we've last posted, but we've been, er, busy. Or something. My day starts between 6 - 7 a.m., after a fairly sleepless night with many feedings. I try to let Cody sleep since he goes to work in the morning, but sometimes I have him change diapers during the night. So, Beckett usually wants to eat about the time Cody is getting ready for work. Cody gets dressed and helps me in the kitchen. If the older kids are up he will get them out of bed and get their breakfast started until I'm finished with Beckett. If they are still sleeping when he leaves I will stay in bed until they're up! Although that luxury is soon to be gone, since R & Z both start school in a couple of weeks.

With Beckett back to sleep I try to get R & Z's breakfast finished. Zoe is fairly easy, I can just stick her in the chair and she feeds herself. Rhys gets a bottle of Pediasure first thing in the morning, and he wont feed himself. So after his bottle, into his chair he goes to stay upright for 20-30 minutes to settle his stomach (he'll puke otherwise). While he's watching his shows I am back to the kitchen to clean up and put dishes away while Zoe is still in her chair. Otherwise Zoe is a such a helper she actually gets hinders my progress with her efforts. When Zoe is finished she gets down and goes into the play room to keep Rhys company by emptying all the toy bins. I try to finish picking up a little and stick a load of clothes on to wash. I get Rhys out of his chair so he and Zoe can play, and have about half an hour before Beckett is ready to eat again. Whew, got all that?!

We've been lucky to keep Courtney (aka the nanny), who gets here around 10:30 every day. She usually gets here as Beckett is demanding to eat, so I am off to feed him while she gives Rhys yogurt and tries to keep Zoe from tearing up the house. By the time I'm finished feeding Beckett I have a few minutes to go play with the kids before Rhys needs to eat lunch. Why all the focus on Rhys's eating? He has a jam packed schedule several days a week and if he isn't fed at the proper time he (a) doesn't get the maximum daily calories and (b) we miss nap time, which has to be precise for him to get enough of a nap in to not be cranky for his 1:45 therapy appointment that is 30 minutes away. So Rhys eats, sits upright for 20+ minutes while Courtney entertains him and tries to keep him from screaming about wanting on the floor, then he goes to bed at noon. Zoe usually has a snack after Rhys is done eating, then goes to bed herself.

Finally, some peace in the house! After both older kids are in bed for naps I have a chance to get dressed and then I feed Beckett again before having to get Rhys up and dressed and out the door for his therapy appointment. If I'm lucky I get to eat! We're there for 45 minutes, back in the car and then Rhys eats once he's back at the house. We don't have time to feed him before therapy, and we would not anyway on the off chance Rhys makes himself puke by pitching a fit at therapy. Yes, that happens quite frequently. And, yes it is as hectic as it sounds. I am forever grateful to Courtney for sticking around. The kids love her and it would be much, much more difficult without her. Actually, it would be nearly impossible because there is no way I'd even entertain the idea of taking all three kids out by myself at their current ages.

We purchased an outdoor water table over a year ago and Cody just pulled it out of the attic. Zoe seems to like it!

My sweet baby Beckett. He is starting to stay awake a little more, but mostly sleeps and eats. He's close to 8 pounds now. We had a little of an issue with the breastfeeding for the first few days after delivery, but we're now back on track!

Rhys meeting his baby brother. Rhys doesn't really care about the baby, and Zoe only does when she hears him. As long as you let her gently kiss and pat him she is perfectly fine leaving him alone. Which isn't to say we leave her with him unsupervised, we're not that nuts!

Rhys just celebrated his THIRD birthday with his friends at Chuck E. Cheese. Several people commented that we're rather adventurous for putting on a party with a three week old baby. It is very important to me and Cody to make things as normal as possible for our kids. All of them. If that means it's a little harder on us, so be it. Rhys already misses out on so much, and we refuse to have him miss out on things that are within our power to give him. Likewise, Zoe and Beckett will have everything we can give them, despite our difficulty and limitations with Rhys. It's not fair to any of them to have it otherwise. Why do we do it? For moments like this!

The kids just got a cozy coupe. Zoe, of course, has to help Dad by moving all the parts and running off with tools.

And Rhys enjoyed the Cody pushing him up and down the sidewalks so much that he pitched a huuuuge fit when it was time to come back in. I wasn't expecting Rhys to be able to ride in it so easily, but he did and he loved it!