Daddy leaves the house and takes the kids!

Dan was able to stay home with me for a whole month! We LOVE sick time. What a blessing that was. he has been able to help me at home for a month each time. I am always so grateful. He took the kids to see some Elmo thing. Dan said it was pretty lame but the kids seemed to enjoy it.

Everett falls down the stairs

One fear of a two-story home is those darn stairs. We always wanted a rancher but since they are so much more expensive...a two-story home. Dan was folding laundry (go Dan!) and I was doing something in the bedroom. I hear Everett at the top of the stairs..bump, bump..I hear Everett crying. I knew exactly what happened. I ran down those stairs and scooped him right up. He fell from top to bottom landing on hardwood floors not to mention the stairs on the way down. THANKFULLY, not a bone was broken and he was fine. Just bruised the side of his face. I carried his back up the stairs (big no-no according to the doc--post c-section stuff) and we all said a prayer of thanks as a family. Check out yet another bruise Everett has found upon his face. Note: the picture of Ev is a reenactment

Did I say Everett was funny?

Jaundice

I love how rich jaundice makes the baby's skin. I do not love taking him to get blood drawn every day until his numbers are down.

Everett is "So Funny"

He is. Everything about him is so funny. His speech. His laugh. His finger sucking. The way he does EVERYTHING Natalie does. The way he does NOT "need privacy" when he enters the restroom. And on and on... Well, the fact that we have to tell him to do the opposite of anything we want him to do--is NOT SO FUNNY!

He LOVES band-aids. Somthing happened to this finger and we laughed at his placement of a bandage. He is such a crack-up!

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.