My Poor Boys!

Feeling better here than they are today!


Ashleigh holding Tyler (almost 1 mo)

Sad to report today that both my little guys are going through little illnesses. Ethan has a case of diarrhea and runny nose and our newborn has thrush right now. It's a yeast infection of the mouth where naturally-occurring bacteria grow at a rapid rate and is fairly common in newborns under 2 months. I started him on the antibiotic Nystatin last night, but he needs to be on it at least 7 days and for three days after the thrush clears up. Thankfully, we haven't been passing it back and forth yet, but I am treating myself as well, just to prevent that. Here's a picture of the little guy. We caught it just in time before it mushroomed into full mouth where it was just a few bumps when we started the antibiotic. If you Google Image search Thrush, it's pretty scary, so I'm glad we caught it early! It does explain the sporadic sleep pattern he's had the last few days and his inconsistent feedings! Last night was the hardest with him crying until midnight, then awake again at 4am, the alarm going off for Rob at 5:45, then Tyler waking up again at 6:15am. I know it'll get easier, it's just hard to see that in the midst of it.

Taken last night, before starting him on the antibiotic (see his upper right lip?)

Although I'm sleep-deprived, we are still getting into our routines a little bit, including pre-school with Ashleigh and going to a few activities with my moms' groups. I can't make it on time to anything and have trouble going out with the three kids right now, but that will also get easier with time, I'm sure! Rob and I were even able to go out for a date night while Rob's brother Jon watched the two older kids and we took Tyler with us to a movie. We saw the Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Tyler slept through the entire move (3 hours long!). So nice to get out though for a date night, even if Tyler was with us! New parents need them, for sure!


Listening to Uncle Jon's iPod and looking much older than she is!


Ashleigh making a block tower pattern

Life with Five!

I must say it's been a busy time with the five of us! It has been quite an adjustment period and Rob and I are getting by with less sleep now. I think when you go from two to three kids, you've lost quite a bit of your selfishness and that makes the transition much easier than the zero to one transition. For instance, you gave up sleeping in on the weekends long ago and are definitely more used to a routine with young kids. It is nice not being pregnant anymore and while the sleep is for shorter periods, I think it is better sleep without the heartburn and going back to sleeping on my back.

Tyler is waking up about two or three times in the night right now, but Rob is such a great husband and helps out as much as he can with bringing Tyler to me in the night and sometimes burping and settling him down after nursing. Our other two kids are definitely going through an adjustment period since they don't have as much of our focused attention as they did before Tyler was born. We did start our preschool routine again this week and I noticed that Ethan is more interested in what we're doing now and enjoys learning too. We did our first science experiment today, complete with a hypothesis and actual results for what will float and sink in a sink filled with water, so that was fun. Ashleigh was correct with 8/10 of the items and has a great concept of what will happen already!

Here's an amusing story about life with the three kids. Yesterday, I wanted to take the three kids to the decorate Valentine's Day cookies and do crafts at Calvary's Moms' group. It started at 9:00am, so I made a special effort to get myself ready and showered as soon as Rob left for work (6:30am). I got Ethan and Ashleigh breakfast after that, got them dressed, hair combed, teeth brushed, then around 8, I got Tyler up to nurse before we left. Things were looking good until Tyler had a large diaper blowout right as we were headed out the door and I needed to change and wash both his clothes and my clothes! It went through his diaper, onesie, velvet outfit, and into my pants, so we were a half-hour late to the craft, but still had time to do everything, and so it did end up being a fun activity. Just stressful getting three kids and myself ready and out the door by a certain time! I'm sure that will also get easier with time and getting out won't be quite so much of a drawn-out process!