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!

Waiting and keeping busy

We've had a couple of evenings of regular contractions this week that have given us false hope that Grant would make his appearance. A few hours of it, and then nothing. Bummer. So, this morning we walked around the farmer's market and then tackled one of the last items on our summer to-do list--bark dust. It was an all day family endeavor of shrub trimming, weeding, and bark spreading. After three pickup loads of bark dust, our yard looks much nicer. It had been a couple years since we'd done it, so it was time.

I did everything I could to make this baby come, but I petered out toward the end of the day, so Greg was left with just his three little helpers to finish the last part of the job. They worked hard and had fun.

Our yard is finished and our to-do list is all checked off, so anytime now, Grant!

12 days

That's how many more days (at the most) I will be pregnant, Lord willing! If you want a few more details, you can go to Baby Grant's blog, but there's not much news to report. Just waiting for him to decide to make his appearance.

It's finally here to stay

My 'endless summer' hydrangea is in full bloom, and the kids are playing in the water almost every day. We're drinking smoothies for snack and relaxing in the shade. Must be summer time.

Sunriver 2010

It's been a week since we got back from our family vacation, and I'm just now getting around to posting about it. We're having quite the summer around here. Since we got returned a week ago, we've had multiple dr. appointments, a family reunion, and kidney stone surgery for Greg. Craziness!

Now about our trip...Greg had one day to recover from jetlag after his trip before we packed the car up to the gills and headed to Sunriver. Our time there was fun-filled and jam-packed with activity, and the kids had an absolute blast. Kari had been talking about this trip for months and had it so built up in her head I was afraid she might be a little disappointed. But she wasn't! The most exciting part for her this year was that she was able to ride her bike without training wheels, and that's what you do in Sunriver--go on lots of bike rides. It'll be even more fun in years to come when her cousins can ride uninhibited, too. I felt like I hardly saw Joel, even though we were all together the whole time. He was always busy playing with someone. His laid-back personality makes it easy for him to get along with anyone and everyone. Grandma and Grandpa had all kinds of tricks up their sleeves and kept pulling things out of a big bin 'o fun for the kids to do in any down-time. With eight kids six and under, you have to be prepared and keep them busy, and boy, were they busy--bug catchers, nature walks, bike decorating, scholastic booklets, new books, play at the park, swimming, bike rides, movies, picnics, trip to the lava caves. At 8 months pregnant, I opted out of some of the activity, and some of the time Aubrey stayed with me because she was not feeling well and had a fever pretty much the whole time we were there. She did amazing for being so miserable. The days were ok, but we had rough nights. We got her in to the doctor as soon as we got back, and the poor thing had an ear infection and sinus infection. Aubrey being sick kind of put a damper on things for me, as I was worried about her, but overall, it was a really good vacation and a good time with family. So many memories that I'm sure will stick with the kids forever.

The Adventures of Andy the Monkey

Greg did something special for the kids while he was gone in Ireland. He took a little stuffed beanie baby-type monkey with him and had "Andy the Monkey" write emails with photos to go along with them. The kids looked forward to those "Andy Monkey" e-mails each day. They loved it, and so did I! Here's a sampling of the e-mails he sent and a smattering of the many photos:

Kari, Joel, and Aubrey:
This is Andy the monkey writing to you. I wanted to tell you about my adventure. You see, I 'snuck' into your Daddy's suitcase, and I am on the trip with him!!! At first he wasn't so sure, but since he couldn't leave me behind, he decided that he would bring me with him, and we could hang out together while on his trip.

I wanted you to see a few pictures of what we did today. The first one is of me at a restaurant in the airport this morning. I got hungry, so we shared a plate of biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, and some OJ.


The second pic is of me riding the train from the airport as we headed into the city of Vancouver to look around for the day. We watched some soccer at a restaurant, and ate lunch outside near the waterfront. The 3rd photo is of me touring the city, and taking a break on a fire hydrant after all that walking! Finally, I headed towards the water to look at the ships, they were big. I am sure I will have more to share this next week, so stay tuned and I will try to write you again in a few days.


Bye,
Monkey Andy
P.S. From Daddy- I love you all VERY much, and I hope that you had a fun time at Miles' party.
.........................................................................................................................................................
Hey there kids, it's Andy. Your dad mentioned that he told you he thought I would write today, so I better.


Another longer day at the forklift building plant. This time, I asked your dad to get my picture on a forklift. And he did, sort of. After we had built up a transmission, he said he would take me over to a forklift and take my picture. He walked over and set me down on a forklift alright, a BARE forklift frame with no wheels!!!! I was not happy about it, but he laughed and laughed and thought it was SOOOOO funny.
Next, he took me over to a real forklift, and I got to drive it! Joel, it was a black and yellow one. The two pictures he took show my different forklift 'rides'.


Well, it's about 10 pm over here, and time for bed. Your Dad is going to read for a bit, while I sleep tight on my bed. He was excited to talk to you guys and hear your voices.


Oh yeah, I almost forgot. He wanted me to remind you to take care of your mommy and the Aubs. Can you keep doing that for him?


Alright, time to sleep.......
Andy the monkey

He's home!!!

After 12 days away on his business trip to Ireland, Greg came home late last night. It is SO good to have him back! We were all very ready for him to be home. I was so worried and scared about how we were going to survive with me being in my third trimester and all. I wouldn't have done very well if it hadn't been for the help of our family and friends. God has blessed us with amazing people in our lives. So many people helped and supported me in so many ways. A group of my girlfriends got together and gave me a "survival schedule" before Greg left. They had various fun activities planned for the kids and me throughout the time Greg was gone, and it was wonderful! I felt so loved, supported, and cared for. They spoiled me and even cleaned my house last night, getting down on their hands and knees to clean my floors. They were truly the hands and feet of Jesus to me and my family these last two weeks.

The lack of blog posting...

...is due to the fact that I'm just too tired trying to keep up with these cute munchkins. Approximately 5 weeks until we have four of them!