In honor of Isaiah

I have some of the most amazing women in my life! Sunday, my mom and my best friend Meredith, in cahoots with Theo, threw a little party for Isaiah.

My mom brought all kinds of Mardi Gras things, (including a delicious chocolate filled king cake!!!), beads, masks, themed plates and napkins all the way from Louisiana. Meredith made a cute little banner for Isaiah and brought chocolate covered strawberries of which I ate no less than 12. She also brought a decorated jar full of one of my favorite candies, Reeses peanut butter cups.

Considering my mom has only known our baby was a boy for a little over two weeks, she has been super busy making Isaiah all kinds of boy things! She monogrammed all sorts of things including a hooded towel, some gowns, and made an applique shirt that looks like it has a tie on it! Meredith gave him some cute onesies and some toys.

Isaiah now has some of his own clothes and toys and blankets. My grandmother crocheted a beautiful blue, yellow and white blanket. My Aunt Vickie knitted him a gorgeous delicate white blanket.  I took a picture of them but again, I think it must have been on mom's camera so I'll have to add it later. Mom even monogrammed all the kids Mardis Gras themed shirts but of course they got them filthy so I couldn't get a group picture :) Here is a glimpse of Isaiah's shirt....

and his knitted hat....

 We are such proud parents of our little man and so blessed to have such amazing people in our lives!

Omaw is here!!!

My mom got here Saturday morning and we are so thrilled! All of the pictures I have of her are on her camera so I don't have any for today but I must say...these kids are so happy to have Omaw here :)

2 week photo shoot

Olivia

Two weeks old!

I can't believe I just gave birth two weeks ago to this sweet little man!

I am feeling really great and have ventured out more than once with all three kids by myself (which I seriously didn't think was going to happen). It helps that the weather has been nice but the cold temps return tomorrow unfortunately.

Isaiah's second week of life was much, MUCH smoother than the first. He's kind of fallen into a routine but not a strict schedule per se. He's doing great at night but still nurses about every 2 1/2 to three hours which I suppose is on track for a newborn. He's pretty happy during the day while he's awake. He gets cranky in the evenings but the last two nights, he's only cried for a few minutes.  The only complaint I have is that his daytime awake time is when Olivia is napping. So if only I could get them on the same nap schedule.....

He's not to fond of bath time but I don't remember the other two liking baths at this age either. He doesn't like his diaper changed very much...especially if he's asleep.

At two weeks, he's already made his first trip to church and of course got a lot of "ooooos and aaahhhh's, he's so cute"s. He's been to Target, out to eat, Whole Foods, a school party, the park twice, JoAnns, Hobby Lobby and to our friend Amy's house. What can I say, I'm not going to succomb to cabin fever!

He has his two week check up on Friday. According to the home scale I have from mom, he's gaining about 3 ounces every two days. So hopefully his weight will be good when we're at the doctor!

The time is going by so fast. I want to cherish all of these little newborn days even though I would love some sleep! We are so thankful to have him and look forward to watching him grow.

Isaiah's first visitors

Last Thursday, my sweet friend and old neighbor Amy came over to meet Isaiah.

She even brought him a present and us some dinner! Her oldest son is Carter's best friend and they are in the same preschool class. Her youngest boy is Olivia's boyfriend as you can see here:

 

This family is such a blessing to us!

Valentine's Day

Monday Carter had his Valentine's Day party at school. Saturday, he addressed all of his classmate's valentines all by himself!

Sunday, we made yummy Valentine's Day treats. But Carter's school has such a strict snack policy (because of allergies) that we had to keep them at home...all for ourselves. Well, I did let Theo take a few cupcakes to work!

A few pictures from the party....Carter and Olivia were all over the place so I couldn't really get great pictures but here they are:

Our weekend recap

The weather was sooooo nice this weekend! Friday we ventured out for the first time as a family of five. We went to Target, I ran into JoAnns for a minute, to the library, bank, and had lunch at this new Mediterranean place (yummy! Livie even ate falafel which is ground up garbanzo beans mixed with other stuff and fried!)

Isaiah was an angel. The other two....not so much! No, Carter was pretty good but Olivia is at a rough age right now because nothing seems to satisfy her. But we stayed our for a few hours and all came home alive so I guess that's saying something!

Saturday we didn't get out of our pajamas. We mostly played with the kids and caught up with stuff that needed to be done around the house. Carter and I put together his Valentine's for his school party. Saturday night, I cooked for the first time in ages. We have a stockpile of frozen food that my mother-in-law made while she was here. We are so grateful for that but I wanted to eat something that wasn't frozen! We attemtped to watch The Town for the second night in a row after the kids were asleep but we were both so tired, we couldn't make it through much of the movie!

Sunday I had a spur of the moment idea to try and go to church...then I ended up taking all three kids by myself!

This is us heading out the door to church. Sorry about the quality of the photo...it was super sunny so we were trying to hide in the shadows!

What can I say..... I was feeling adventurous. After I convinced Carter he would have fun, the boys did great and it was Olivia who was a little bit of a trouble maker. Bless her heart though she has about five teeth all trying to come in at one time so I'm hoping that is the reason she is so cranky these days.  I sat in the nursing mom's room with Isaiah and he was a happy little camper. After church, we went to Whole Foods for a couple of things. Theo and I took the kids to the park after church and it was so sunny, I'm pretty sure I got a sunburn in February! Then that afternoon, Isaiah made his first trip to the grocery store near our house and Carter tagged along. They both did really well.  I even got two scrapbook pages done this weekend (from when Carter was Olivia's age...I'm not really that far behind though I promise!)  It's nice to not need a nap everyday so I can actually have some real free time. Carter and I baked a heart shaped cake and some cupcakes while the younger two were sleeping.

Isaiah was pretty unhappy last night in the early night. But finally I got him to sleep and he woke up every couple of hours to nurse and would fall back asleep. I don't mind nursing him frequently at night as long as he'll go back to sleep when he's done! :) 

Today will be my first attempt to take all three of them to Carter's school. I'm so thankful it will at least be warm outside and I don't have to deal with the freezing winds or snow. Carter has his Valentine's Day party at school and I always look forward to seeing him with his little friends!

Hope you all have a great Valentine's Day!

Just swinging slinging around

I busted out my trusty sling on Tuesday! I'm so glad mom made a gender neutral one for me because I would hate to tote little man around in a pink sling :) I LOVE baby slings. I don't think I could survive without one.....especially since Olivia is only semi-walking still. Isaiah seemed as snug as a bug in there and ended up falling asleep. I am going to get a lot of use out my sling!

Hand in hand

Carter is smitten with his baby brother! He adores him and is so protective of him. The other day he said "Mom, if I don't take care of Isaiah, will God take him back to the hospital?" I responded, "No baby, Isaiah is ours and he's here to stay." I thought it was precious :)

And in other news....Isaiah passed his hearing screen yesterday with flying colors!

All about Isaiah

Isaiah is a week old today! I can't believe it. He is such a precious little boy and we are blessed to be his parents. I just wanted to give an update on him and blog about what his first week of life has been like (more for my benefit!)

So for the "medical" side of our little guy.....as I mentioned before, Isaiah was born with a bilateral hydrocele. We are being sent to a urologist at some point just so they can monitor it but usually they resolve on their own.  He also was born with Theo's blood type instead of mine (Carter and Olivia are my type). The pediatricians were concerned about my blood cells possibly attacking Isaiah's so he had some trouble with jaundice at first. We took him for three days in a row out in the freezing cold to get a bilirubin level drawn at the hospital. On Friday, we started home phototherapy.

 I was dreading it as he seemed very uncomfortable with the eye shields strapped over his face. But he actually slept really well that night. Saturday his level was trending down so we were able to stop the phototherapy.  Sunday was his last lab draw fortunately. I was getting pretty tired from waking up early to take him to the hospital everyday! 

Isaiah also did not pass his hearing test on one ear. The lady who administered the test said this was pretty common. But nevertheless, we have to take him to an audiologist sometime this week for a "real" hearing screen. I'm not too concerned about it but am praying everything goes well.

Isaiah is a really good baby......during the day! Saturday and Sunday nights were ROUGH! He was basically awake Saturday night from midnight until about 5 a.m. He would nurse, fall asleep for a couple of minutes and then wake up and cry until it was time to eat again. I was so tempted to bust out some formula but resisted. Sunday wasn't much better. Monday I was crazy! I was so exhausted I felt like I was going to throw up.  Fortunately, Theo took everyone out of the house (except the baby) when he got Carter from school and I was able to take a nap.  Monday night was better. He was only awake from 11 p.m. until 1 a.m. and he wasn't too fussy. But the wind was so awful here it kept everyone else awake. Poor Theo ended up having to sleep in the bed with Carter because Carter's room (and our room) sounded like a freight train was coming through the room and he was scared. But Isaiah did pretty well.  

He is nursing well and is gaining weight steadily. He is nursing about every 2-3 hours but sometimes still seems hungry after I feed him. But usually we can get him to fall asleep eventually. Today, he did well with a sleep, wake up and eat, and stay up for a while pattern. He of course prefers to be held as opposed to being put in the pack and play but he will sleep in it if we make him. :) He's pooping up a storm which is a good way for him to excrete the excess bilirubin out! 

We are so thankful to finally have him here. It was such a roller coaster ride and a big lesson in trusting God but God is most faithful! My mom wrote a great post about Isaiah and I couldn't have summed it up better myself. Please read it!

Bringing home baby

We came home from the hospital a little over 24 hours after Isaiah was born. We had the option to stay another night but I knew Carter and Olivia were ready to not only see us, but their new baby brother. The reaction we got when the three of us walked through the door was priceless. I so wish I had videotaped it. They were both screaming with excitement and Carter was saying "I wanna see my baby brother!" Apparently, I've been replaced but I'm totally fine with that!

The three of us getting ready to leave the hospital:

Olivia was happy at first until Isaiah started crying...then she wasn't so sure about him. I think it'll take some getting used to for her. She loves to pat his head but is a little rough at times.

So thankful to be home!

Introducing.....

The newest member of our family....

Surprise! We had a boy!!!! Isaiah Gabriel Randle was born on February 2nd at 13:51. He weighed in at 6 pounds and 13 ounces and is 19 1/4 inches long. He looks exactly like Carter did when Carter was born.

We are all doing well and I will catch up with everything once I take a nap :)