The first and the last

Kari and Grant seem to have a couple of notable things in common. Their resemblance to Daddy is one, and fussy babyhood appears to be another. Although I doubt he will be able to de-throne the Queen of Colic, Grant does seem to be trying to follow in his eldest sister's footsteps. We are getting less and less sleep around here as a result. We shall see what the coming weeks bring for us. School starts in a week. Things could get very interesting!

Isn't this photo sweet? I was Kari's age when my little brother was born, and we have pictures of me in pigtails holding Blake just like this. Kari is a great big sister and loves holding Grant. Maybe they will be kindred spirits.

Leaves, pumpkins, apples, hot cider...

I know it's still August, but I'm ready for fall. Can you tell? I even changed my blog background.

Aluminum Anniversary

It's been 10 years since we stood in front of all our family and friends and vowed to "love, honor, and cherish" each other "as long as we both shall live." Ten years since I made one of the best decisions of my entire life. While there have been days when I haven't liked him and he hasn't liked me very much, I can honestly say I have never regretted marrying Greg. I knew when we first started dating in the fall of '97 that I was going to marry him.  It took him a bit longer to come to that same conclusion, but we got there. :)

young, happy newlyweds (the sky was
beautiful that night)
It was such a fun whirlwind of a day.

We are not going to Hawaii or Mexico to celebrate our big "ten year." We're not going anywhere (well, we do get to go to soccer practice!) as our baby is three weeks old today, but we are celebrating the wonderful ten years we've spent together as husband and wife . What a full ten years it's been--graduating from college, moving 7 times, having four children. Ten years finds us sleep-deprived (loving the baby, just to be clear) and up to our elbows in dirty diapers once again. My heart is joyful and thankful for the blessings God has bestowed upon us and our marriage. I'm so grateful for the man I married.

I love you, Greg! Happy 10th anniversary!

Needed to put up some new photos

Don't have a whole lot of time to blog these days. We're doing well but still getting used to our new normal around here. Yes, our house is a mess and laundry is piled up, and I'm trying not to let it get to me too much. :) Grant went from getting up once or twice a night to getting up two or three times a night and not going back to sleep easily, so we're a little short on sleep, but that's to be expected. He's healthy and eating pretty well. He was 9lbs 4 oz at his two week check up, so he gained back his birth weight and then some.

All four kids. This was a week ago or so.

brothers

Almost three weeks old

One of his many faces. (He gets that talent from Greg, you know.)

Zoo day with Daddy

My first couple days going it alone have gone surprisingly well, as evidenced by the fact that I'm posting again.
Maybe this transition will be smoother than I thought. Maybe. :)

On one of the days Greg was home, he took the older three to the zoo. They had a great time, minus the tumble Joel took down the hill into the sticker bushes. The little first aid kit I sent along with them wasn't cutting it, so they had to seek out a larger bandage from the zoo people. They also had to go through the dinosaur exhibit to stop the hysteria (best $10.50 he ever spent, Greg said). Thanks to PBS's Dinosaur Train, the kids know the names of almost all the dinosaurs. Greg was impressed. :) They had a great time pretending to be Dr. Scott, the palaeontologist. The dinosaur fear factor was low and the fun factor high, as this was the second time they had seen the dinosaurs. The first time an excited but timid Joel held my hand pretty tightly almost the whole way through.
(click on the collage for a closer look)
Because we have a zoo pass (and because I was pregnant the last 9 months) we usually don't try to see everything every time we go, but Greg let them stay as long as they wanted, and they got to do and see everything. They pet the goats, touched a cockroach (Aubrey and Joel anyway), sat on all the statues, and saw all the animals they wanted, even the stinky bats.

Last day of being spoiled

Tomorrow Grant will be a week old, and tomorrow Greg goes back to work. Then “real” life begins—four on one. Oh boy! We’ve had a pretty good first week. The time in the hospital was nice and low key, and we have survived the first week of transition with the kids. Greg’s been cook, cleaner, and Super Dad. Grant has had no shortage of people wanting to hold him. Kari holds him every chance she gets. Aubrey is coming around and tells me, “He needs milk, Mama,” when he cries. We’ve had a few rough days with her, but we’re trying to remember that this is probably hardest on her, as she is no longer the baby of the family. She’s done quite a bit better the last day or so and seems a lot happier. Grant is doing well and sleeping pretty well at night, too, usually waking up only twice, which isn’t bad at all. Last night he was up for two hours the first time, which wasn’t the best, but he’s not even a week old, so I can’t complain. It will all be different when I can no longer go back to bed for a 6:00am-7:30am nap. I’m preparing myself for a house that looks like a tornado has hit, difficulty squeezing in a shower, laundry that piles up, and just pure chaos for a while. That’s what happens when we have a new baby around here…

When we drove up to the house after leaving the hospital this is what we saw: "Welcome Home Grant!

There were all kinds of signs like this one inside, too. Looked like the kids had fun decorating with Grandma.

Six days old.

I'll try to get some photos with his eyes open soon. He doesn't have a lot of awake time yet, so we only have small windows of time that are usually filled with feeding and diapering, and snuggling. I just don't want to put this sweet little guy down!

He has arrived!

We are happy to report that Grant Robert Moffat made his appearance August 4th at 1:20pm-- 8 lbs 9 oz, 21 inch. (birth story details on Grant's baby blog) He is healthy and doing well. We are so thankful!!Haven't been able to decide who he resembles yet, but he "fits" with the others. He's got light brown hair and big hands and feet. We are relaxing and just enjoying our sweet newborn while grandmas and grandpas have the other three.

Aubrey wasn't sure what to think yesterday when she met Grant for the first time. She didn't crack a smile the whole time there were here--very unsure about the baby and about Mommy in the bed. Today, though, she was more herself and wanted to hold Grant. She's coming around.






Kari is very excited, of course, and thinks this is all great fun.

Joel is excited, too, and happy to have a baby brother.

This is going to be quite the adventure with four!

While there are still three

I wanted to take some photos of the three kids together before we add a fourth, so I tried this afternoon. They were in a silly mood, so I got a lot of silly photos but a couple cute ones, too. Crazy kids!