Elliott at Home

Three months later, I return to the blogging world. Three has certainly rocked the boat...we were warned. He is finally sleeping 8 hour stretches at night and I can hop on the computer again.

Here are pics of Elliott and the kids the days following the return from the hospital. Note Natalie's nice smile (she has since lost another 3 teeth).

Elliott Lincoln

So our beautiful baby boy arrived...last year. He was 10 pounds and 3 ounces, 21 1/4 inches long. He fell between the two as far as weight and length go. He is also our third red head. He is such a sweet boy. Very calm (unless he wants something) and seems far more content than Everett was. Dan and I had an enjoyable time in the hospital. It is always nice to spend alone time all day with the one (ones) you love even at the expense of major surgery. My parents were brave kind souls keeping the kids for several days. We struggled with his name, as we have with the boy names. I had to have Lincoln since he is my favorite president and the baby would be born during the 200th year since his birth. Elliott, although insanely close to his older brother's name, is one we both agreed on. Even once we signed the birth certificate Natalie was offering other ideas for names. I had to firmly tell her that his name was his name and no longer up for discussion. She came to the hospital with lists of names she has come up with...too cute.

It is certainly an adjustment, again. I love it, all except for the fact that I certainly had some "baby blues" the first three days we were home from the hosptial. Poor Dan, I was a blubbering idiot those few days. Thankfully, the faucet has been shut off and I am back to my normal self.

Anyway, Dan was able to take pictures of the procedure ALL along the way. The doc said he could although he periodically got grief from one of the nurses about all the pictures. Our doctor is WONDERFUL. It was the BEST c-section yet. Sparing details, he is a great surgeon and I was very pleased. The hospital was great too--it is solely for Women and Babies, no sick people are in the same building. I got a complimentary massage and the food was out of this world--seriously...who'd have thought it would be so dang good.

And Nicole, tell John that Mike Bell was the anesthesiologist, well not the one who actually put in the block but worked alongside the guy who did the entire time. He was great!

Ok, so hopefully ya'll did not puke with some of the pics. Yes, that is my uterus(---there you go Amanda Blaine--eat your heart out! Hahahaha!) Amazing! I was so glad that Dan was able to take so many pictures--I could finally see what was going on down there!

Enjoy the pics.

Welcome Winter!

So I LOVE wintertime! We got our first snow of the season and the kids were elated! Grammy and Grandpa came up for part of the day. By late evening quite a bit more had fallen than we expected. Dan took the kids out for some late night sledding. Once back in the house, right after a bath, Everett got sick puking a number of times--and landing on hardwood flooring--and on a number of surfaces--walls, baseboards, etc. Poor guy felt much better after, of course, and we spent the even cleaning up after. Also, a pic of the family room decorated for the season. We LOVE our heatilator fireplace. We have yet to turn on the heat for the home--that thing spits our enough heat to get the job done. We are grateful for it! Note the wax ornaments on the tree. We made the beeswax ones years ago and melted them down to remake them (since obtaining more molds) and we melted down a red candle and some other wax to add some more to the mix, in red. It was a fun FHE activity and really adds to the tree.

Annual Thanksgiving/Christmas Bowling Party!

So we did not take good pics of the party. But we were there and to document (since I have not journaled or scrapbooked for the past two years)... Dan bowled a bundle of strikes (hysterical since we bowl only once a year) and I actually pulled a few myself--in no way correlated to skill--pure luck.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Natalie loves "crafts" and insisted on making an Indian head band. She and Everett had a ball cutting out feathers for their project. My parents came up for the day--and actually spent the night with us, allowing Dan and I to go out two nights in a row--wow! Thanks Mom! Anyway, my mother found a host of recipes from the Real Simple magazine and we decided to go out, forsaking all the traditional ones we are prone to use each year (ok so we kept two, Cope's Dried Corn and Endive Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing--MUST HAVES). Although there was some trepidation from the most mature male of the group at the initial decision to use all new recipes (Rosemary and Orange Turkey, Broccoli Gyuere au Gratin, Mustard Roasted Butternut Squash, Cranberry and Sausage Stuffing (THE BEST!), Chocolate Chestnut Mousse Pie, etc...) he, and we, were pleasantly surprised/satisfied at the DELICOUS spread--all thanks to the hard work of Mother and Me and the folks at Real Simple. Anyway, pics are of the food, the kids and our table at Thanksgiving.

Family Snowball Fight!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Natalie's 2009 School Pictures

Here she is, scar and all! She is such a cutie!