Nursing Woes

Well - little Evie has passed the one week old mark and already she has some very noticeable likes and dislikes.

Likes: Bother and Sisters playing with her
Sleeping - especially with Daddy and Mommy
Snuggling
Dislikes: Diaper Changes
Eating mommy's milk

She is such a sweetheart! But mommy is sad - she doesn't like me when it comes to eating. She absolutely refuses to breast feed. She doesn't even seem to like my milk at all - but since she can't push the bottle out of her mouth she has to eat it anyway. I feel a bit like a failure - plus when you add up all the pumping, and feeding and cleaning bottles- that means I'm spending like 10 hours a day just getting food into her stomach!!! So I'm hoping a solution will magically present itself to us, because I'd really rather not go to formula this soon, and that this will somehow magically start to work because otherwise I'm not sure how long this will last...
The older kids had an eventful week. They got to go out and play with friends every day this week. Courtesy of a WONDERFUL ward, the kids have had a blast hanging out with friends and mommy has gotten some much needed rest. Also, we have had a week full of yummy meals brought to us! The kindness of these amazing sisters has just floored me!!! What wonderful friends we have!! I just hope that someday I'm able to pay it forward. These wonderful people have truly been angels at this crazy time in our lives.

The Beauty Salon??

Eileen was playing with her make up kit during quiet time yesterday. She came in after a couple of minutes and wanted to put some on me. Then a few minutes later she comes back and tells me that baby Evelyn should have some make up too. When I went out to look at her, this is what I found.... :)
LOL - I explained that she was probably too young for make up, but it was hard to keep a straight face when she looked so cute! :)

Life is Beautiful!

Especially my family! Not much has happened since my last post, but we are adjusting and getting used to life with 4 kids. Evie actually slept well last night, so we are feeling pretty good today.

We took her in to the hospital today to check her bili reuban levels and talk to a lactation consultant. Evie's levels are a little high, but now that my milk is in and we are getting more food down her, they should go up, so we have another check up tomorrow, and hopefully we will not have to put her under the lights.

The kids are adjusting pretty well, they love their baby sister and want to hold her all the time. The girls have started putting their baby dolls in all the baby stuff (swing, car seat, bouncer...) and Aaron is constantly bringing me baby stuff for her. He is so sweet!

Say Cheese beautiful girl!!

Welcome Home!!

Evie and I are officially home from the hospital! We are both doing well and now we are adjusting to the noisy life at home!! She was born Wednesday morning at 11:59 am. All went well with the labor and delivery. She weighed in at 7 lb 2 oz and is 19 inches long. She has just a bit of dark fuzzy hair and has hardly opened her eyes since she was born! (opens her mouth plenty, just not her eyes!) She is sweet and snuggly and totally adored by her older siblings.

Dan brought the kids in to visit a few times and they loved holding and helping with her. Now the hard part is going to make sure they don't smother her with their help! Aaron really did so much better than I thought. Either his sisters enthusiasm was infectious, or he somehow already gets that she belongs with our family. He has been SO sweet with her!!
Anna is constantly asking to hold her and is very sweet helping take care of her and making sure she has what she needs. She is constantly talking about her "newborn baby"Eileen is, of course, totally enamored with her. She is already becoming a little mommy. She wants to know exactly what I'm doing with Evie and why!

My parents and sister were in and out a bunch to help and visit.
So there you have it - we are now a family of 6. And here is a closeer view of my beautiful little baby all snuggled up in the set mommy made for her.

Less than 4 days to go!!!

hmmm - one might think i was counting down to something.... So with less than 4 days to go before we have a new addition to our family, what kinds of things are going on in the Jones Family? Honestly...not much! Each day that goes by I think "this is the last Saturday(or whichever day) before the baby is born! This week we had my usual doctor's appointment and then after we went to my parents house and the kids went down for naps with my dad while my mom and I hit Babies R Us. :) After I went for a long overdue haircut. (how do I know it's over due?? I'm using too much shampoo and conditioner!)

Thursday I took the kids to the library. This was a two fold mission - one was to entertain the kids for an hour or so with little effort on my part and the other was to pick up some books for me while I'm in the hospital. I'm excited about the books I found, but I'm guessing that most people could care less about them! Oh well. So I'm a bit odd!

Saturday was a day for errands. in the morning we took the kids to the bank to set up savings accounts. The bank gave the kids these fun masks and fun stickers and other fun stuff for opening an account with them. I got Anna and Aaron to post pretty for me - but Eileen liked the stickers more than the mask. After Dan took Eileen out on a trip to Costco and birthday shopping for yours truly!! :) Then we went to Walmart in the evening to get the groceries for next week and let the kids look at toys.

Sunday the kids helped Daddy make mommy's birthday cake. They made a spice cake for me! MMMMMM - now the whole house smells good! Of course the kids had to lick the bowl!

This last picture is a nightly tradition - the kids love to be carried to their rooms before bed so Daddy grabs them all and hauls them off. Sometimes Aaron runs to me instead - but watching all three of them squished together in daddy's arms and LOVING it is just so fun!!!

Funny moment of the week...
Dan was giving the kids baths when Eileen mentioned that Aaron has a "peanut" Anna promptly told her that when she grew up she would have a peanut too. Eileen then informed Anna that only boys have "peanuts" Anna then made the connections and told Eileen that Aaron was a little boy so he has a little "peanut" and daddy is a big boy so he has a big "peanut" So there you go - sex ed to a 3 and 4 year old.


Anyway - wish us luck - assuming we survive my 30th birthday and the new baby - look for more info next week!!!! :)

Umm - Lazy mommy....

I have officially hit the "no energy" wall... I am now just grateful to be able finish the things that NEED to be done - let alone doing fun things with the kids.... So what did we do this week? Not much.... :) We had our usual playdate where my sweet friend Lori fed us a YUMMY lunch and we sat and chatted while the kids ran amok.

I had a doctors appointment (as usual) where I was told (as usual) that every thing is fine and normal and to hang in there! The kids love it because they get stickers, and then we go see Grandma after.

Basically I'm just glad that the house is not a TOTAL disaster and the laundry got done....

Friday night Dan planned a fun date for us (figuring those would be few and far between for a bit after the baby is born) with another teacher at his school and her husband. We were going to go see a Rough Riders game (minor league baseball) The other couple had a minor family emergency though and had to cancel. So Dan and I decided to go to the dollar theater and see a movie. We got there and the movie was sold out. (At this point my sweet wonderful hubby is feeling a bit like a loser for taking me on a lame date - which was entirely out of his control!) So we went to a near by mall and walked around for a bit. It actually felt kinda good to get moving some and the best part was deciding to stop at Brookstone and spend a minute or two (or 30) in the massage chairs. I walked away from that massage chair feeling better than I have felt in over a month! And I still do! I have been in less pain for the last couple of days that the whole month before this! I told Dan that I might have to sneak back down there again before the baby is born! It's just too bad that the chair is ridiculously expensive (even on sale) and wouldn't fit anywhere in our house and even if we did get it - it would probably get broken by the kids - or I would spend so much time in it that nothing would ever get done!

So that's about it for the week - now we are looking forward to a nice day with daddy tomorrow and counting down the days....