Twins....and adjusting to 3 kids!

I can't tell you the number of times I have heard "I can't believe how much Hadley looks like Jadyn" over the past 7 weeks. I will admit, it is uncanny. I must say that they look like the same baby so I have started just telling people that I think they were originally twins but God knew I couldn't handle twins so he sent them down separate....7 years apart. Every time I have told people this I never even thought about that fact that they were due the exact same day`-Nov 9th. It is a very odd coincidence and will be interesting to see how much they still look alike when Hads gets bigger.

The other thing I have heard a lot from people is "How has it been adjusting to 3 kids". I was worried about this on myself. Honestly, adjusting from 1 to 2 kids was hard to me, so I was worried. I can say now though, that 2 to 3 has been just fine. I think this is for 2 big reasons:

1- Having Jadyn be 7 years older has been awesome. She is a huge help. She loves Hadley and wants to be with her a lot. There have been so many times while she has been off track that she has held her and kept her happy for an hour or two at a time. She takes a bath with Hadley and holds her in the water (I am always there as well, but it is nice to not have to bend over the tub the entire time). Jadyn is just so good at seeing a need and being willing to get it done. If I need help, she never complains. Whereas when I ask Jax to pick something up, or go grab me something and his response is either "I can't, I'm busy" or "I can't...I'm too tired". Boys....

2- And then there is reason two and that is because I will always have jax as my most challenging child. He took a lot of my time and patience before the baby and since that hasn't changed much it doesn't seem to even matter that I added another baby. He is a handful and would be whether we had just the 2 kids or 5! (I am not having 5)

And then there is the last thing I keep hearing: Are you done? Dang it...I hate that question. See, all through this pregnancy I told everyone I can that this was my "3rd and final". To be honest I wondered all along if I was trying to convince others or myself. I just don't know. I REALLY struggle with the first month of pregnancy. I love my baby but HATE everything else that comes with that first month: physically, emotionally and just adjusting overall. Now that we are past that I am just not sure if we are done. Some say that's my answer, that I'm not done. I'm not so sure of that. I just decided that it's not a decision I need to make right now. I definietly don't want another one now. Scott says he is 100% sure of his answer: Yes we are done. So I think for now I just say I think we are done. In a year or so I think we will take advice from this past General Conference and we will pray about it and just go from there. For now I am trying to enjoy every minute with Hads. She is getting big and there is a huge chance she is my last. I know all too well how quickly this time goes. I am grateful I have that knowledge because I feel like it has helped me slow down and take time to just sit and hold her much more than I did with my other two.

One Month?!?!

I thought this posted weeks ago.,....not sure why it didn't

How did this month go by so quickly. I can't believe Hads has been in our family for a month. It went by so fast. I try not to think that in one more month I will be back at work. Sigh. Oh well, there is so much to enjoy the next month.
What I know about Hads at 1 month old:
- She learned quickly that she would much rather be held to sleep or to lay by mom. She fusses and fusses if she is laying in her bed and quiets right down when I pick her up. These little ones are smart!
-For the first month she has easily slept 20 hours a day. She wakes up for a few min here and there during the day and then likes to be awake for about 2 hours or so between 1 and 5 a.m. Fun stuff. Hopefully when I write her 2 month update this has changed a little.
- She mostly only cries when she is hungry. The past week I have seen her cry a little more, but not much
- Ok, besides when she is hungry she does cry if she is awake in the car. She doesn't like her car seat/car much. Huge difference from Jax who LOVED his car seat so much he slept in it for the first 6 moths
- She is very tolerant of her older brother who likes to bug her and seems to be ok with her older sister carting her around too! Wonder if this will last!

- 95% of people who come to see her comment how she looks just like Jade

-Her baby acne came full force this week. No worries though, my mom assured me I had it much worse! ;)

- We love having her in our home! She makes everyone happy and is such a sweet spirit. Though the month has gone by quickly, we sure can't imagine life without her!

Kid Funnies

Jadyn:

When I got sick last week I lost my voice. It was gone for a few days and didn't sound pretty. One night I had this conversation with Jade:
Jade: Mom, I don't even care about Christmas presents
Mom: Why?
Jade: All that matters is your voice. All I want is your voice back!
Last night it started to come back a little bit
Mom: Jade, you know what's awesome?
Jade: What?
Mom: The fact that I can now take all your presents back because you said all that mattered was my voice, you didn't want any thing else
Jade: Weeelllll, now that it's coming back, you should probably keep my presents!

Jaxon:
A few days ago I was upstairs feeding baby Hadley and Jaxon was playing a game on the Wii. I luckily (because usually when I am upstairs the tv is on and I don't hear ANYTHING downstairs) heard someone knock on the door. I yelled down to Jax and told him to just leave it. He didn't listed and I heard him running to the front door- and then hear this conversation
Jax: Hi! I'm playing a shooting game! (and then I hear running back to the couch)
Person at the door: Can you go get your mom?
Jax: Nope! Sorry! I am playing a shooting game. Do you want to see?
I was trying to get to the door quickly but was laughing while I was laying Hadley down. Jax would have left the poor neighbor boy standing there forever. He had no intentions of letting me know someone was here! ;) Gotta work on that.
These pictures make me laugh. He has the HARDEST time staying awake around 5:00 every night! If he falls asleep he is O.U.T.!!! Good thing I took the first picture. It wasn't until I took the picture that I noticed his sippy of milk had spilled on the couch!

Blessed

An interesting past few days:
Thursday: I came down with a pretty bad cold. I am not sure how I managed to be the only one in the house to get sick when Hadley and I have been pretty confined to home the past month while the other 3 have been out and about and in school with lots of germy kids! But, I did.
Friday: Heard our washing machine making a very loud sound and realized it is very much broken. As much as I hate laundry, it is a necessity-especially with a newborn

Saturday: Got the whole family in the van to go see Santa at the mall...only to have the van not start. We finally got it jumped only to have it die completely again at the mall...that is not at all close to our house...at night....in winter.

Awesome few days right? In actuality, through out the past 3 days all I have felt is very blessed and overwhelmed with love for those around me

Sickness: I feel blessed that Hadley has not gotten sick from me. And if she does eventually get sick, I am grateful I was able to feel better first (as I am starting to feel better today)

Washer: I called my dad when the washer broke to see if his work used any appliance repair people. He said he didn't but that I should call my little brother because he can fix everything. I called Josh who said he would come over after work. My dad called back later to see if I had gotten a hold of josh. I told him I had and he was going to come over later. My dad felt bad I was so sick and asked if he could come get some laundry for me or if there was anything else I needed. Meanwhile my sister-n-law called from Costco checking on what size pants I wanted her to pick up for me and Lewis stopped by with a huge bouquet of choc covered strawberries to say goodbye before he leaves to Africa. My dad and Josh went to his company party and then stopped by to look at the dryer. After getting cut twice and electrocuted Josh found the problem and we all decided it would be cheaper to buy another than fix. It was late when they left and they had both been gone all day. Seeing that my mom lives close I took a few loads over to her house yesterday. Each time I go to switch the laundry my precious load is already dried and folded! My mom better be careful...I hate folding laundry so I am thinking it may be worth it to drive to her house to wash clothes if it means I come back to folded laundry! ;)

Car: Luckily, we were meeting a friend and her kids at the mall and she was kind enough to go with Scott outside to try to jump the car. When it didn't work she kept my kids while Scott and I went back out to decide what to do. I called my mom to see if she could come get us and then realized we wouldn't fit in her car. My mom said she would come get us and would call my sister to borrow her car first. My Brother-n-law called Scott back after talking to my mom and said he would just go pick up a battery for us and would bring his tools to the mall (that is not close to their house either) and would just change out the battery. My mom said she could still just come get me and the kids while they fixed it. My friend also offered to run her kids home and then come back and take me home. I decided we would just go back in the mall and walk around till the closed and then hang out in Ryan's car while they worked on ours. Ryan and Megan got to the mall quickly and they had the new battery in the car within 20 min. The mall closed 5 min after they finished so we were able to stay inside the whole time.

I said a little prayer while we were trying to jump the van that somehow we could get it started and get home. I thought about that prayer later and realized I was blessed with that, and much more. I have amazing family and friends around me. I am so grateful for all of them that helped us the past 3 days. None of it was convenient and yet none of them complained. I am so grateful for those around me that are always willing to help us. I feel so blessed and I hope that I can reciprocate the favor whenever needed.

Professional Pics of the kiddos

Here are the pics from FotoFly. I love this place. For $79 I got 50 pictures, the CD, and 3 8X10's. Oh....and some amazing pictures! Seeing these will ruin the Christmas card I may send out, but oh well! :) I love them!

Miss Hadley's 2 weeks stats

We took Hadley in for her first checkup at 2 weeks and 3 days. Here is where she measured:
Weight: 8 lbs 8 0z- 52%
Height: 21 3/4 inches (she's grown an inch already...) 92%
Head: 52%

Dr said she looked great. Jaundice is almost gone and she is back (an on ounce above) her birth weight. She just warned us about taking her around people right now. She said to keep her in as much as possible. She usually tells people at least 2 months but because that would put us right in the middle of RSV season she would say 4 months for places like church and such, where people will go sick or not!
She is growing great though! I just want to keep her little! She still has her days and nights mixed up and wouldn't you know....she doesn't like to sleep in her bed. She fusses and fusses and if we pick her up she calms right down! :) Funny how quickly they learn. I told Scott that I will deal with it because she is my last and I could hold her forever. I continue to not get a lot done as I want to spent most of my days with her. This next week is my last week off of work where Jade will be at school. She is off track in December and then I will have to share Hadley in the day! ;)

I love her...we all love her. I am just trying to savor the moment!

11/11/11

Wk of 11/14

Wk of 11/21