Jeremiah -- Six Weeks Old

Jeremiah was six weeks old last Friday. Here he is wearing the cupcake outfit. (That is a duck on it, that you can barely see.) Don't ask me, but when Edmund wore this outfit, Jaired's mom said he looked like a striped cupcake. :)

Edmund likes to talk to "Baby 'Jememiah'." Both boys really love their baby brother.

He started to smile this past week; though he doesn't do it often.

It is hard to tell, but his eyes are a really pretty medium grey. Jaired's mom thinks that it is possible they will turn blue. We'll see what happens.

A Spaghetti Picnic

Hmm, let's see if I can get some noodles on my fork.

Wow, this is a lot harder than it looks.

Finally, I got some in my mouth. This is good stuff, Mom, thanks!

Random Sunshine and Babies

No time to blog. Because I haven't made time. Facebook is an evil vortex, sucking me in to see what other people are doing and saying. Once a week really should be often enough for me from now on. Not that I am on Facebook all day long, but rather, that when I do spend time on the computer it is on frivolous, time-wasting pursuits.

I am a wife and mother. That is the full-time job I have chosen. Some days I feel like I haven't gotten "anything" done, but when I stop and look back over my day I have done a lot of things that are my job: fed three hungry boys (several times), washed and hung on the line a load or two of diapers and baby clothes, read multiple Dr. Seuss books, cooked yet another (hopefully) delicious supper, kissed hurts away, and talked about anything from cows to knights with a three-year-old.

I love to hang laundry outside during the warm weather. It is a good time for me to take a break from the house and get some fresh air and sunshine. It gives me a chance to be quiet and enjoy the beautiful outdoors, on a day when I would otherwise have just stayed inside. The boys also like getting to run around outside. Plus, it saves on electricity, so it benefits us in more ways than one.

I could probably sit all day and hold Jeremiah, but I have three boys who all need my attention in different ways. Jeremiah by far requires the least brain cells, just feed him, change his diaper, and hold him; and he is the happiest boy in the world.

Nathaniel is still a baby and is now finding himself in the unenviable position of middle child. He wants to play with his brothers, but he is too big for Jeremiah, and yet sometimes too small for Edmund's games. He still needs a lot of my attention, but sometimes has to wait while I take care of Jeremiah. The week leading up to Jeremiah's birth I felt so sad for Nathaniel. He did not understand about another baby coming into the family, and the changes that were coming with it. He is doing very well, though. He loves his baby brother.

Edmund always has something to tell me -- which always needs a response. He still would rather play with me then with Nathaniel, or even by himself. He likes to have me help him, even if he knows how to do it without help. He also likes to do things that make Nathaniel mad, which then requires me to step in and sort things out.

Never a dull moment for sure. I love my life and my job, but there are definitely times I just throw up my hands and want to stop. All I need to do is remember that laundry and caring for the boys is my main job, then I will be happy, not getting frustrated that I never get anything done. :)

The Three Musketeers

Sweaters courtesy of Chava Hall. Three cute boys courtesy of Jaired and Tracy Hall.

And a little brotherly affection. (For real, Than loves to hug his brothers!)

Jeremiah Clive Hall

Jeremiah Clive Hall

12 March 2010, 8:14 a.m.

6 lbs. 11 oz. 20 ins.

It's This Week, Folks

This is how I have felt the last few weeks. Tired. Ready to be done.

But this week, though I am still tired, I feel a little more energetic. At least, I feel more motivated to get things done. Can you call it the nesting instinct even with a scheduled c-section? Because I think that is what I have. Thorough housecleaning, organizing, and spring decorating are the order of the week. Last week I devoted to finishing projects. So, if I can finish this week's list I will feel very prepared for the baby.

I have had the baby's bag ready for a few weeks. I prepared it the same day I unpacked all the baby clothes and organized them on the shelves. The nursery is rearrange for the last time, and as ready as it is going to get for the new baby. Nathaniel is still sleeping in the crib in there, but that won't be a problem because my babies never use the crib much when they are tiny anyway.

My bag is almost ready to go. I have figured out the books and stuff that I will take to the hospital, even though I don't ever get much reading done.

For the rest of the week it is just laundry, house cleaning and playing with the boys. Oh, and celebrating Jaired's mom's birthday.

Please keep us in your prayers, especially when you wake up on Friday morning.

Busy Days

This pretty little Crocus popped its head out the other day to tell me that spring is around the corner, even though we are still having many cold days.

I have decided that I don't mind the cold, as long as it is sunny outside.

We have a wood furnace that we have used most of the winter (we took a break from using it in February), that is really nice, when we make sure to keep the fire burning good and hot. We try to be frugal when it comes to heating our house, but I am definitely enjoying having a warmer house! I have a hard time being motivated to get up and do stuff when I am cold, and being pregnant isn't helping either, so the warm house and sunshine are essential to a productive day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few Sundays ago on the way to church we saw one of these beautiful landscape pieces. Edmund asked, "Mama, what's that?" (A classic three-year-old question.) I responded with a somewhat vague, "Oh, that's a tower of some nature." His deduction -- a nature tower! Which is what he continued to call them for the next week or two; until Jaired decided that his son needed to be properly educated and told him that, "Mama made a mistake, those are actually cell phone towers." I think that Edmund is getting it sorted out. he still calls them nature towers if he forgets, but he has graciously accepted the fact that I had misinformed him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of my pre-baby goals was to finish all of my (several) sewing projects. And I am happy to say that I have succeeded.
Along with outfits for myself, I have been making some things for my SIL Chava, like the dress above.
In the future I hope to talk more about my sewing, for those who might be interested to see what patterns I use, how I get through the hard parts, etc. This dress though, I had no particular pattern for. Chava has had "this" dress for awhile, but it needed to be altered, so I took the leftover fabric from when it was made and redid the bodice using princess seams. I also turned the gathered skirt into an A-line, to give it a better figure. The sash was just for fun because I had so much of the contrasting fabric left after altering the skirt, but it really adds a lot to the dress.