Week Six

Wow, Evie slept eight hours last night. I think I fed her around 10 and then after some rocking, she slept 11 til 7 this a.m. Matt called her a sleeping maniac. That's one 'insult' I don't mind. Even if the long stretch is in isolation, it's pretty nice. Simon, however, woke up twice crying from what I think was a dream or maybe just being cold. So, we have yet to fully appreciate a nice long interrupted stretch of sleep, but we're getting closer. Everyday, a little closer. And, it's not like we are missing sleep from an illness or family tragedy, just catching a little less sleep because of two little blessings, so it's not so bad when you think of it in that respect.

I didn't know Simon was so into candy. We don't usually have it for him. He received a package last night from Uncle K.P. and Auntie Gisela with some candy in it and we let him open a couple of pieces this morning. He was so happy. And delighted. I was reminded of what comedian Ray Romano says about candy. His little girl was staring out the window and was smiling. He asked what she was thinking about and she said, "Candy," So, that's what it means by, "Visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads."

"Did you just go in Evie's room?" "Yeah, sorry." Hmmm...this just happened and I think her nap might be over. Different challenges with two little ones around.

Well, I've got to go get SImon ready to go to his friend's house today. They are going to decorate a christmas tree. I"m taking Evie with me to Mesquite for my postpartum checkup. Hopefully the cold rain will hold off until sweet little Evie is nestled in the van.

Tomorrow is packing day for our trip on Friday. We've made the laundry room a catch-all for everything going on the road trip with us.

In these pictures, Simon is talking to Timmy on the phone. He'll ask, "Where is my Timmy?" Sweet to see the reciprocated friendship from both little lads.

The Eve of Week 6

Well, it seems like Evie is definitely sleeping for longer stretches at night. Kind of keeping up with her age. Five hour stretches some at week 5, and some 6 hour stretches should be on the brink. She actually slept 7 hours last night for one stretch.

Simon was able to go to the Gaylord hotel and see all of the Christmas decorations yesterday with Gigi. 1.2 million or billion lights are boasted. Simon was quite enthralled, from what I hear.

Matt and I took Evie to church, hosted the youth Christmas party at Chili's..."The Wesleyans..." reminiscent of The Office's "Dundies" award ceremony. The best part was Ashton winning the Attendance Award and not being there to accept it. Or maybe Andy's acceptance speech which he actually wrote out and read, complete with a dramatic air. Oh, and then drove over to meet Eric and Lauren's new baby, Landry, born last Monday, exactly five weeks to the day after Evie. So, there's baby Ruth born on a Monday, Five weeks later, Evie, also born on a Monday, and five weeks later, Landry, also a Monday child :)

Simon and I made two pumpkin pies last night...so we have dessert for the whole week, and some for any drop-by visitors, as well.

My 6 week postpartum check up is Wednesday. WE received a letter from the doctor's office, from our midwife, letting us know that she is leaving the practice this January and moving to New Mexico to work at a hospital there. I was pretty sad; I even cried. Funny how you get attached to someone who is there for the delivery of both of your children. I thought I was weird to be so affected, but Matt read the letter, and though he didn't cry, he was also sad. He said, "I guess that means we won't be having any more children." So, Wed. will be the last time I see Susan. I'm planning on bringing her a really cool India bag. Good colors, a muted green and blue. She is always complimenting my bags, so I think she'll like it. Matt did a good job picking out this bag for me at the office.

So, we were planning on not decorating this year, as far as a tree, but we were going to put up our stockings and decorate the mantle, with live evergreen and holly, so we would get the 'smell' of Christmas. But, somehow, we even unceremoniously opted out of that as well. It is very freeing. We are leaving this Friday, anyway, and SImon is getting lots of Christmas tradition at other places.


We were looking at a Christmas story book last night, with the Nativity, and it was fun to hear Simon "read" it to us. Apparently the wise men brought Baby Jesus popcorn in those fancy urns.

Matt and I were talking last night about how amazing Christmas really is. Jesus, the Savior, our Savior, coming to earth as part of God's wonderful redemption. I guess some years I am even more amazed at God's mercy. Maybe it's because we tend to grow in the knowledge of our own weaknesses and need for a Savior, so that the reality of Jesus becomes more and more amazing. And whenever the idea of the holiness and supremacy of Christ takes root, it really makes you "fall on your knees" just like the Christmas carol says.

Week Four and Five

We had a nice, picturesque family 'holiday' evening on Monday, with a fire, pumpkin pie, christmas music on the record player, and painting Christmas pictures with Simon at the kitchen table. I forgot how good a 'real fire' smells.
Last Friday, I had my first solo outing with both of my kids. Not too exciting, we were going for Simon's flu shot...
This morning at breakfast, I was about to run and check on Evie, but Simon said, "Mommy, sit here." So, I accepted his invitation. Then he said, "Let's pray. I'll pray. I pray for the food. Thank you. Body. Oatmeal. Water. My water is too cold. Amen."
At 5 weeks, Evie has now slept two night stretches of 5 hours! She has cried out at about 4 hours, but I was too tired to get up and I guess I fell asleep and before I knew it, another hour had passed and she 'awoke' again.
We included a couple of pictures of our 'yoda' Evie.
Evie had a fussy weekend and we were sad to miss potential naps and sleep times...but Matt tried to help team morale by suggesting we think of it as a "lock-in." Hmmm...
There are some pictures of Evie's first bath in the tub. We usually just give sponge-type baths on her changing table, but Monday evening Evie was such a mess we pulled out the 'big tub.' Matt was changing her diaper and she kept adding to it until there was literally a puddle on the table...Matt got the easy job of the bath while I cleaned up the changing table :0
It's humorous how different her first bath was than Simon's. For Simon's, we had everything prepared, a camera ready, it was a milestone. For Evie, Matt didn't even know we had a tub and I was retrieving it from the laundry room as he was holding Evie over the tub. As I cleaned up the changing table, Matt answered a phone call (the phone was in his pocket), Simon was hanging onto Matt. It wasn't without mishap, Evie did bump her head pretty strongly against the side of the baby tub :(
We took our car into the shop to fix a mysterious problem before our trip. Our heater/air wasn't working. Then, it began working ALL OF THE TIME. You couldn't turn it off. As we drove to the mechanics, the brake light came on for the FIRST TIME and so Matt asked them to also check out our brakes and just a general tune-up before our highway voyage. Turns out our brakes were shot. We needed 4 new brake pads and the back pads had 'less than 2% left and the front pads were almost as bad.' So, by God's grace, we discovered this potentially dangerous problem before leaving town! We are quite thankful for that.
Simon just took out his toy camera and announced, "I'm going to take a picture of you." I smiled and said, "Cheese." Then, he looks at the camera and says, "That is a good picture. I took a good picture."
I love the pic of Matt rocking Evie to sleep as he watches something on his ipod. Parenting in 2007 ;)

Week Four, Day Three

With the exception of the pix of Evie and her Papa, these pix were taken about an hour ago. Mysteriously enough, Evie went to sleep in her bouncy seat by the window from an awake state.

We ordered an ergo last night that will be helpful in carrying her around.

Simon has been a sweetie. He is looking at one of our (many) hospital bills and is coloring it and keeps asking, "Mommy, is it forty-ten?" No idea what that means.

I asked Matt last night, wouldn't it be weird if adults dressed like babies. Evie was wearing the same yellow pjs as in the pix, pinstripe with footies and ducks, and the letters ABC. He said yeah, we'd look like idiots. She looks like she just escaped from prison.

Simon wanted to play tennis Monday when it was so cold, so I opened the front door to let him experience why we couldn't go play tennis. About an hour later, Simon exclaimed from the living room, "I found it, Mommy! I found it!" I inquired as to what he found and it was "the sun." So we could play tennis :)

The other day Simon announced as he looked in the bathroom mirror, "I don't want to be a big brother." He was wearing a big brother t-shirt, so hopefully he meant he just wanted to change clothes, not families :)

Matt's family was here for the holidays and Nana explained to Simon how Georgia was far away. He must have understood, because later in the week when Matt disciplined him Simon told him to "go away to Georgia."

I asked Simon to carry something to the sink for me and he enthusiastically said, "Okay, sure. I'm happy to do that." Really, that is verbatim. Not always the case, but a good memory to record and reinforce.

Explanation of some of the later pix: Simon "playing" the guitar/phone as he mimicks David Crowder on our Passion Praise DVD. Simon running around lifting up his hands as he mimics worshipers on the television. Simon sitting as mommy feeds Evie.

Even More from Turkey Day