The Past 4 Weeks.....

Here's what we've been up to the past 4 weeks...

First off, Nicole started off slow with her weight gaining and her dried umbilical cord came off too soon...so the first 3 weeks of her life were spent trying to get her to eat more than she wanted to and trying to get her belly button to look normal.  She did finally start eating more and is now a healthy 9 pounds 6 ounces, turns out she gained 12 ounces in 9 days which is WAY above average and now we can't feed her enough fast enough!! I never thought I'd be so happy to feed a kid an hour after the last feeding! As for her belly button, after 2 treatments of silver nitrate her navel finally decided to stop fighting nature and the end of her umbilical cord went back in and she looks totally normal, although she does have a large belly button but that is simply because she had such a huge umbilical cord (which is why she was so big when she was born!)

And here she is in a rare moment of actually laying down and not screaming (she seems to have an aversion to not being held when she's awake...we're working on it - for her future and for mommy's sanity!!)

Here is a picture of our butterflies we've hatched!!! They started out as tiny, TINY little caterpillars and grew into 2 inch caterpillars...then they made cacoons and we put the in this neat cage.  A few days ago we saw butterflies, and now they fly around in there and are fun to look at.  The kids LOVE it and love watching them fly around and loved seeing them go from worm to butterfly!!

Of course, I can't leave out the other kids...Freddie has seriously picked up on tons of vocabulary in the past few months and even talks in sentences now.  He transitioned into his big kid bed without a hitch and still absolutely adores his Lightning McQueen race car bed!! He has grown so much and has even gained a few pounds.  He is already in 4T and 5T clothes...we thought Karyl was big but we hadn't seen anything yet!! He's also ALL boy...his attention span is seriously lacking and he likes to try to give me a heart attack a few times a week with a good fall or something.  I have a feeling over the next few years the local ER docs will get to know us VERY well. This boy has NO fear!!!

And then there's Karyl...once sweet and innocent Karyl.  She now is almost 5 going on 16 - it's a little trying but in general she doesn't have a horrible attitude and we've managed to curb a good portion of the behavior that comes with her age.  She absolutely adores Nicole and during her nightly prayers asks Heavenly Father to bless Nicole that she'll start sleeping through the night so she can start sleeping in Karyl's room in her crib. We had told her that Nicole can start sleeping in her room when she starts sleeping through the night, waking only once (around 8 weeks usually) and she can't wait!!!

Overall, the transition to 3 kids has been pretty good.  We aren't taking as many pictures as we have in the past, but that's mostly because we just don't have enough hands, and I honestly don't have the time to sit and transfer them to the computer and blog from them. I'm slowly adjusting and adjusting our daily routine to accomodate the endless energies of a 2 and 4 year old while trying to take care of a newborn. Nicole has been tough because she doesn't cry, she SCREAMs...and if you try to put her down while she's awake she will scream forever, she won't even cry herself to sleep unless she's in her carseat and we're driving. I have to hold her until she falls alseep and then put her down. It's made a few nights really long, and during the day I can't get as much done as I want to, but I know that it's OK for her to cry and that sometimes I just have to make sure she's got a clean diaper, that her belly is full and that she's generally OK and then put her in her swing and let her scream while I get things done. I can't sleep while she screams so at night I'm stuck holding her until she wipes out, but during the day sometimes it just has to be done and it's much easier that she's not the first screaming kid we've ever had around here!

So, there it is...I will try and be better in the future, but for a while the blogs will be limited since I really do have higher priorities for while Nicole is actually asleep like 2 other kids, dishes, meals and other things.