Dillon Turned 29

Sawyer

Sawyer started the Upstart program (basically free online school games that help prep for kindergarten) at the beginning of August. The baby was only a couple of weeks old so I made Dillon go with Sawyer to the orientation. Dillon came back and said if people would just take the time to read the packet that's given to them, they wouldn't even need an hour long orientation on how it all works. Darn those lazy non-readers ha. It's been going smoothly though. I didn't really know how Sawyer would take to it but he makes sure that he gets to play his school games almost every day. We'll see if that continues for the entire school year or if the newness appeal wears off. 

He likes to show me his magic trick where he puts a toy under a bowl and then "sneakily" (aka in plain sight) slides the bowl to the edge of the table so the toy falls to the floor and has magically "miss-appeared!" Anytime he wants to reference something in the past, whether it be from the day before or weeks before, he tells me that it happened yesterday but he says "last day". 

All five of us went to the store and it was basically mayhem because we let both Dawson and Sawyer walk and just put Wren's car seat in the cart. As we were finding a checkout line, Sawyer saw a bunch of boxes of toys scattered on the floor. As he ran to them I was like, "Come on, dude! We're leaving!" He looked back at me so innocently and said, "But I need to pick them up and put them back." Such a good boy, such an impatient mom. So we stopped so that he could put them back on the shelf. Dawson, upon spotting the situation, trotted over and immediately stomped on a box as hard as he could instead of helping to pick it up. EYE.ROLL. It was just so indicative of their current moods and personalities. 

Dawson

Dawson has been doing lots and lots and LOTS of screaming and having fits and meltdowns. While people might think it's because of the major change of adding another kid in our home, I can assure you it's not. That little boy is full of such rage-y emotions and expresses them in the most grating of ways. I'm trying my hardest to learn how to parent him because my current state of snapping at him and losing my temper isn't exactly modeling how I would like him to act. Someone send me some tips.. and sugary treats. 

Lately he's been taking to calling me "Mommy D-Nae" or just "D-Nae". And it's pretty darn cute. He's still loving Harry Potter. My parents picked up a Harry Potter costume for him complete with a robe, scarf, glasses, and wand. He's been loving being Harry, running around casting spells.  

Wren

Wren is still pretty chill. She sleeps most of the time still (no complaints) but if she's awake she for sure thinks that she should be held (no complaints for the most part.. unless I was literally stepping into the shower or need to use the bathroom or about to change her brother's dirty diaper etc. ha). She's started to find our faces more when we talk to her and will occasionally smile. It's fun when they start getting more interactive. 

She took her first bottle around three weeks and I was genuinely surprised with how smoothly it went given that she doesn't care too much for the pacifier. I had Dillon feed her and she was totally fine with it. So we'll continue doing that every so often to hopefully keep up the habit and loosen the prison that nursing can sometimes feel like. Though, to be fair, she has been my easiest baby to nurse plus I've been trying to take a more positive approach to it. It can still feel isolating at times but it's been better than in the past. 

Dillon

Dillon turned twenty-nine this month. We celebrated his birthday in pieces. It was almost more fun that way, having it drawn out over a few days. The weekend before we took a little trip over to the Beaver creamery to do lunch, ice cream, and cheese curds. We haven't been since they've re-done their building and it was a fun little outing. Then on Monday, I picked up a small box of Crumbl cookies rather than doing a cake. The boys and I sang to Dillon while he blew out his solitary candle sitting atop a circus animal cookie.. cookie. Then on his actual birthday, the boys helped me pick out some birthday treats and helped me wrap Dillon's presents. We gave those to him at lunch and when he was done with work, we picked up Firehouse Subs for dinner. And to wrap up his birthday week, Dillon went golfing that Saturday. I think he's missed golfing so I'm glad he got to go to the course. 

DaNae

I've been just learning the ins and outs of what life looks like now with three kids at home. I've lowered my expectations on quite a few things and it has made life much, much easier and happier. The three kid transition hasn't felt too crazy, honestly. (Definitely an adjustment but not as doomsday-ish as people made it seem). Little Daws was pretty challenging when there were only two kids, and he's still in a challenging phase with three; and, to be honest, that's the hardest part right now. But, like I said, lowering expectations on a clean house, getting out of the house, putting on makeup etc. has made life much calmer. (Not that we're living in squalor, just embracing the chaos a little bit).

Caught the end of a little grin.

I think I take just as many pictures of her as I did of my other two. Gotta capture all those outfits and bows.

All three of my babies. Sawyer on the left, Dawson top right, and Wren bottom right. 

 Just making cute little sleep noises. 

So sleepy and snuggly. 

Not the best photo. But sometimes I think she's sleeping and instead I find that she's wide eyed and just content to cuddle. 

Fresh outta the bath. 

Lunch at the creamery. 

Climbing on some cheese blocks.

Braden and baby Wren. 

Enjoying some ice cream.

Showing off his Harry Potter glasses.

Finally looking at the camera for a minute. 

Family walk.

A magical afternoon where Kid 1..

Kid 2...

and Kid 3 all slept at the same time.

The cutest little outfit from Gavin and Megan.

Earned a trip back to the dinosaur park for filling up their fuzzy jar. It was disgustingly hot. So we might save that reward for the cooler months from now on. 

On the train. 

Playing at House of Jump for Liv's birthday. 

Sunday afternoon naps. 

July After Baby

The rest of our July was (understandably) consumed by our newest addition. As a result, everyone's updates pretty much revolve around her.

Sawyer

Sawyer is really sweet with little Wren and asks if he can hold her quite often. He especially likes to snuggle up to her on mine and Dillon's bed while she's napping (which is a lot of the time right now). He'll ask me, "Where's baby sister?" and if she happens to be snoozing on the big bed he'll follow it up with, "Can I lay by her?" The first few times I peeked in to make sure things were going smoothly and each time he was quietly gazing at her while sharing a blanket and one time I heard him whisper, "I love you" in her tiny ear and I just about melted in a puddle on the floor. The only minor mishap we've had is when he covered her face with the blanket because he likes to cover his own sometimes so I quickly explained that she's not big enough for that and needs to have her face out to breathe. We've been good since. 

Some other funny things he's said/done.. When he came home right after we got out of the hospital and he kept patting my belly and asking about another baby. So I explained to him that it took a long time for my belly to get big so that the baby could fit and it will probably take a long time for it to get small. So now he casually pats my stomach and double checks, "It takes a long time for your belly to get small?" Ha, kids. We've had a few questions when it's come to feeding her and Sawyer's funniest one was, "She eats out of your elbow?" After explaining how it works (again) he seems satisfied with the answer and hasn't asked anything about it since. And, lastly, he excitedly told me that his baby sister is "so beautiful and awful!" I asked if he meant awesome since awful usually means bad and he said, "Oh yeah, that's right. She's beautiful and awesome!" 

Dawson

Dawson has been obsessed with Wren's umbilical cord. He saw it in the hospital when it was still pretty good sized and then when he saw it at home, he was alarmed and said, "They take her big cord!" I said it was still there, just tiny now. So now he asks to see her cord at least a dozen times a day. After trying to share food with her, we told him that she can't have food yet because she doesn't have any teeth. And he thinks that's just the most interesting and funny thing and will point to her mouth and ask, "She has no teeth?" He likes to pet her head and tell her, "It's okay, I'm here." And I really just hope that he continues in that vein as they grow older. He shares his wubbanub monkey and flamingo blanky with baby Wren which is a big deal since those are his big ticket comfort items. He loves her and is sweet with her little baby self and I'm just so glad and relieved. 

On a separate note, the week we brought Wren home, Dawson figured out a way to climb out of his crib. This friends, is terrible news. Dawson is horrible to put to sleep 75% of the time and needs to be trapped in a toddler cage in order to go to sleep still. We plan on moving him in with Sawyer but, not yet. Thankfully, Dillon figured out that Dawson was using the rocker as a go between with the crib and the floor. So we moved it across the room and Dawson is back to staying in his crib (for now). 

Wren

Wren has been pretty chill so far. She actually has me enjoying the newborn stage again. Sawyer was an easy going baby for the most part but Dawson was hard and really high maintenance and since he was freshest in my memory, I was nervous to have a tiny, needy person again. But Wren has been a really good sleeper and eats regularly but not the grueling every 2ish hours that Dawson did. She takes at least one long break (like 5 or 6 hours) and then generally eats around every 3 1/2 hours. It's such a doable system. Speaking of eating, she and I have had the smoothest nursing experience of the three. Not to get too graphic, but there has been zero damage to sensitive parts of my body and very minimal soreness as they get used to this feeding thing all over again. She's our first baby that has had good bilirubin levels so we didn't need lights and she didn't need to be poked a million days in a row to keep getting checked. She might hate me later in her life for sharing this but, she poops all.the.time (which probably contributed to her good bilirubin levels). And it seems like it's always during the night. Which is unfortunate because she sleeps so well during the night that I only have to feed her twice, but I'm still up what feels like a million times because I need to change her diaper. At least she stays sleepy for the most part during those changes. Her poor little cord had the nastiest smell. My boys' didn't have an odor that I remember but hers seriously smelled like death as it was drying up. Thankfully it fell off around day 9 and the smell eased up.

Dillon

Dillon actually got to take a some days off work with this baby and it made a world of difference. In the past, it just didn't work out that he was able to take days off aside from the actual delivery/hospital stay days. But this go around, he was with us almost a whole week and he took over the cleaning and cooking and was really just a star of a partner and it definitely saved my sanity. Plus the boys really loved having him home for that extra time. They love their dad. 

DaNae

Even though delivery went pretty smoothly, I still was inevitably sore and was surprisingly stiff and sore in my lower back from the epidural. Zero regrets. It took a few days before I could maneuver without wide legs and shuffling steps. The after pains this time sucked hard and took about a week before tapering off and finally disappearing. But all in all, I felt pretty decent by the time Wren's actual due date rolled around. Still plenty of healing that needs to happen but my body is so miserable by the end of pregnancy that it's amazing how much better it feels just a week after delivery. 

I've really been trying to soak up all of Wren's cuddling because I know that this newborn stage will just fly by so fast and she'll likely become a lot less snuggly because she would rather discover the world just like her big brothers did. I've also been trying to balance being there for Sawyer and Dawson. I feel bad when Sawyer will ask if I can have a sleepover with him or play a game with him and I have to tell him no in the moment because I need to nurse the baby. Slowly all those moments with him and Dawson will be worked back into a regular system. Mom guilt is hard and balancing kids needs is hard. I want them all to know that they matter to me. 

New baby and mommy selfie. Both of us looking tired and puffy.

She's not super into the binky but we'll keep it around in case she changes her mind. 

Just sweetly loving on his baby sister.

Having a turn. 

Having a short awake moment.

So tiny in her car seat. 

First (sponge) bath at home. She wasn't a big fan.

I always take a million pictures of my babies when they sleep. It never quite seems to capture the magical sweetness in the photo, but I'll still keep doing it. 

Trying to capture her pretty awesome double chin.

Hanging out with Wren while she sleeps.

Visit from some of Dillon's family. Grandma Ronna, Kristin, Mike, and Allie & Mason. 

Showing them how he fits in his shark blanket so he can use it as a costume.

Being his silly self with a baby pool floatie. 

I took him for a very short one-on-one outing to get a chocolate Harry Potter wand. 

PSA: They are way too expensive but I had already told him all about them and he seriously loves Harry Potter. Plus, that little grin. 

D: She doesn't have any teeth? Me: Nope, please don't stick your fingers in her mouth.

"Hi baby sister, I'm here."

Grandpa Dale made sure to get her some onesies that related to their relationship.

Out for our first walk. My pelvic bones weren't quite ready for how long of a walk we took but, we'll get there. 

My three babies. 

Just trying to haul some river rock home.

Really living in the, "Can't give a genuine smile to save his life" phase. 

Everyone loves dad (and I don't blame them).