Tuesday, November 8, 2011

WEEK SIX and about time

WARNING: PHOTOS GALORE

6 weeks ago we were cradeling a tiny, sleeping baby, and today we're holding a baby who's now wearing 3-6 month clothes, alert as can be, smiling and craving attention!

Wow, time passes to impossibly fast when you know you should be treasuring every second, even though you really are too busy to!

These 3 boys are the coziest boys! Coy was begging to hold Kase and of course once they were cozy, Bentley wanted to be up there too :)



We are starting to see little smiles from this guy! They are sooo cute, and I usually see the first one right away in the morning when I go in and say good morning to him when I hear him stirring. But to actually prove it and catch a full one on camera? - nearly impossible!



His "safe" spot is this bouncer. Also a wonderful last resort in the evening when he's fussing and mommy is busy with supper/clean up and daddy is busy with big brothers.



Coy usually rides his Strider bike down to the mailbox. Bentley has one too, from Grandpa and Grandma Braaten, but isn't interested in riding it yet. This day, for fear of getting bored on the way down, he pushed his dumptruck ALL the way down and back. I will just say that we spent *most* of our morning waiting for the dumptruck driver to catch up.



We had our first snow on Saturday! Beautiful while it was falling, and awesome now that it's gone :D Coy was pretty excited and wanted to build a snowman, haha! They played outside till their mittens were soaked and cheeks and nose red as can be!


SO BEAUTIFUL!



In the guest room/office, Logan set up an old work computer for Coy to play on. He has two pre-school games that he dinks around with. Since kids these days use computer in kindergarten, we might as well get him started, huh? Great for hand/eye coordination practice too! Bentley just watches from afar...


How cute is our little football fan? Just kidding - he could care less about football, but his daddy loved hugging this sweet football! He was feeling a bit deprived because our internet was down on Saturday because of the heavy, wet snow and he couldn't watch any games he was hoping to catch.


I am loving this roley-poley chub! Too bad it isn't quite as cute on adults, huh?
Last week, (at 5 weeks) our midwife weighed him - 12.5 lbs! That means he gained 4 lbs in 5 weeks! We have an appt this week for him, so Im excited to see what he will weigh at 6 weeks!
I am not surprised that he is gaining well - he eats every 2-3 hours! At night included.


This is my good friend, Olga and her little girl, Clara. They live in Missoula where her husband Pablo is going to school, but they are from Chile. It was Olga's birthday last week, so Bonnie Coleman and I took lunch up to her! I am so lucky to have her as my friend!!

Kids spell love T-I-M-E. ~John Crudele

As any mother of more the one child knows (or even with one child, I suppose..I can't remember, lol)..."enough time" is a total fantasy!

I have been struggling with my TIME the past 6 weeks.
(Among other things...like sanity, sleep, etc. haha)
Enough time to get things done, time to spend quiet and alone with God, time being a wife.
But most of all though, enough time with each kid. Obviously, the baby takes the most time, right? I am feeling really aweful when I have to tell the kids "I can't right now", and "It will have to wait 'till later"...but what else can I say when I am nursing, burping, comforting a baby who really does need me most right now? Hopefully I am not scarring them now, and I will be able to balance my time better before they start to remember that mommy ignored them as a child! Sigh.

Then find time to blog? Seriously...if I had time to blog, this post (and the last) would not have taken 2 hours and 11 minutes to complete!

So...until next time, cheers!

Which means, not till next week, or the next week, or the next, I'm sure :)

Halloween

Since Halloween was already over a week ago, now would be a good time to post about it, right?

We met Aunt Mary at Red Robin (in the mall) for a delicious pre-trick or treating feast, and then walked around the mall collecting candy and looking at all the rediculous costumes that humanity dares to parade around in!

In our little parade was a 5 week old cutie (believe it or not, hes that cute all the time, not just on halloween!), a curious monkey, and shockingly sweet triceratops! And a lucky Gramma Mary, mommy and daddy who got to corral them in all the sugar-high madness! :)





Sunday, October 30, 2011

Grandma's Visit

My mom came for a visit for a few days, and we LOVED having her here! The boys got to know their Grandma Krisher again, and Grandma got to meet Kase :)

Here are a few pictures from her camera that we snuck before she left.

we were lucky to have a few gorgeous days!




We spent part of one morning at the childrens museum downtown. the boys played in the grocery section, the tree house, waterworks table and in the doctors office room! phew...thats covering a lot in one day! :)

heres a sneak peek at what u might find bentley looking like on halloween night!

grandma brought a new game to play! lost count of how many times coy and gramma played it, and weve played it twice since she left this afternoon! he loves it!

gramma and da boys before bed time :)


wow...a quiet moment for just the two of us to take a picture! alone! gasp! ;) mom stayed and played with all three boys while logan & i went on a nice dinner date (moms treat!)! we went to a steakhouse, and then of course to dq afterwards to take advantage of those 1.99 peanut buster parfaits! :)

mom also got them a foam elmo puzzle/floor mat. this also has been a favorite and made very good use of their play time! grandmas just know how to pick the good toys!!

so we sadly said goodbye to her this afternoon :( we are so glad for the time we had, fun we had, presents, cleaning and cooking she did, and the hugs & love she left with us!

we cant wait till next time!

p.s. sorry for any typing errors, as my other hand is currently occupied holding a sweet little sleeper :)


Friday, October 21, 2011

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

iphotos

Life with 3 little boys now is well, umm...both awesome and very tiring! These pictures are from my iphone and all on facebook, but i have a very special mom and aunties who dont get to see them there. 

So here are a few from the past week and a half :)


1 week old

3 years old now! And an excellant Strider rider!

1.5 weeks


Loving big bro, adjusting from being lil bro.

2 weeks old!

Pizza Hut with cousin Ryla, who is 1.5 months older then Kase.

And now 16 days old. Our little love bug, Kase :)

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I'M FREE!

That would be "THREE", actually, but coming from the mouth of the actual 3 year old...this is how we say it :)

On Sunday, Coy turned 3 years old!
I can't believe how fast he has gone from a tiny baby, to being 3!
He's filled with questions, curiosity, generosity, love, wonder and mischeif.
We love having this "big puppy" 3 year old in our lives everyday, making us laugh and challenging us for the better!



We had a little celebration with Grandma & Grandpa Braaten, Gramma Mary and Adrain & Anna!
And Elmo was invited too :)


What fun it was to have a fun afternoon with cousins!


Bentley and baby Kase got lots of love and attention, too!

Of course, it wouldn't be a celebration without a set of grandparents there!
Janette came down Wednesday and stayed until Sunday, generously helping out with the boys and keeping them satisfied and busy while Kase and Mommy got rest and into a little routine. It's a shame we all didn't live a little closer...I could use her more often ;)


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

There's A New Guy In Town

The New Guy with his proud brothers!

-and-

The New Guy with his delighted family just one day old!