Happy Birthday Connor!

Obviously this post wasn't written in March, but it took me that long to add text to my photos, and I haven't yet found a way to edit posting dates on Blogger. Evan has grown! He's even bigger now than in these pictures, but, of course, it'll be a month before I get current ones up.

We celebrated Connor's 5th birthday last month! He specifically requested no cake, just "ten scoops of ice cream". And he didn't want any yucky toppings, either, just his favorite plain vanilla. So, although they were very small scoops, I obliged him with his ten scoop treat, and he loved it - (no, he couldn't finish it all.)
We also had Connor's first "real" birthday party. It's a little known fact that hosting parties is my least favorite activity. Parties tend to expose the three things I'm most ashamed of: my housekeeping skills, my cooking skills, and my large-group social skills. This was actually pretty fun, though. We bought bagels and party decorations, I made cupcakes, and we all headed to the park with Connor's Joy School friends and their moms. Ryan even took a long lunch so he could come help out.



Connor's big present was a balance bike - exchangable for a "big kid bike" when he's ready for it. I'm a total convert to these balance bikes, by the way. They're like a regular two-wheeler except they're a little closer to the ground and they have no pedals, and no training wheels. This means that the rider has to propel himself with his outstretched feet, which quickly teaches him to coast with his feet up. Connor used his bike about three times before he was cruising around, almost perfectly balanced. So, someday soon we're taking him down to the bike shop to get that kid some pedals (I'll try to remember to take pictures!)

Elise is absolutely obsessed with Evan. She hovers while I'm nursing, kissing his head and falling all over both of us, and every time I change his diaper at the changing table, she pushes a stool or kitchen chair down the hallway to climb up and see what I'm doing. I figure smothering him is slightly better than jealousy, so I try not to discourage her affection unless it literally involves smothering.

Stuck at Home

So, this is the time of year when my kids' immune systems head to the Bahamas for a couple months. Did I think of that when I planned to have a baby in February? Um, apparently not. Immediately after the kids recovered from the stomach bug, they came down with a nasty cold - I guess everybody in town has it right now - bad cough, fever, sore throat, aches, stuffy/runny nose. Mainly the cough sets it apart, though. They got sick right when my mom was visiting, and despite her surgical mask and gloves, she picked it up the same time I did. Luckily, Ryan took half days all this week, or I really don't know how I would have survived. Even he caught this bug, although respiratory stuff never hits him too hard. But, happily, Evan is still symptom-free. Of anything! All these baby-oriented prayers must be doing something, because this kid is fine. He's up to 8 pounds 8 ounces (he was 7-4 at birth), and is basically cheerful and cute.

So, in the 2 1/2 weeks we've been stuck at home, sick, here are the exciting pictures we've taken. Oh, actually they start with when the kids were sick before Evan was born, but I wanted to include them since they didn't fit in with any other post.

First, here is Connor a month and a half ago, right after he got his cast removed. He was delighted. And what did he do to celebrate? He tried his very best to re-break it a couple times that week, including this great superhero obstacle course he made with his friends (it involved a lot of jumping and falling to the ground.)
He actually had to wear a splint for an additional month, but was pronounced completely healed about a week before Evan arrived, so at least I don't have to obsess over that anymore! Here's Connor with some of his favorite stuffed animals (plus one of Elise's that he likes to steal.) He set up this "family portrait" and insisted that I take a picture. Here's Elise in her purple fairy dress. You can see how much she loves it, which is the only reason I haven't "misplaced" it yet. (I have a terrible lack of appreciation for girly fairy dresses.) I have to send a sincere thank you to Ryan's family, though, for getting it for her, as she really does adore it! We've gotten a couple of sets of promotional address stickers in the mail recently, so the kids turned them into body art. Connor took the picture of Elise and me. (See? This is still before Evan.)
Then, after the baby, my mom came down, fully equipped with medical protective gear. She basically never took it off. Even while sleeping. I don't know how this virus got to her. She was a wonderful help, though, especially in disinfecting surfaces and doing pukey laundry. Here are productive hours spent popping bubble-wrap. Note the vomit bucket in the background! Here's Elise playing Wii Fit, Connor looking miserable, and the kids being cute with their new little brother.


Umm, more random pictures of us hanging out being bored. Yeah, that's a completely different set of free address labels.


Finally, here are the best pictures to date of baby Evan. He's such a mellow little cutie. Safe to say we're going to keep him.

Evan's Homecoming

So, to continue the story . . .Evan and I stayed overnight at the hospital Wednesday, while Ryan went home to take care of Connor and Elise (we figured they'd been displaced enough without having to sleep at someone else's house.) Thursday afternoon, though, we were ready to come home (after we took a few more hospital pictures).


Evan looked so tiny in his carseat - it's one of the new oversize ones, which I bought in anticipation of having a gigantic fatso by six months or so.
A few minutes after we got home, the kids were dropped off by their friends' mom, and I greeted them at the door with their new baby brother! Connor looked excited, but I'm especially sorry I didn't catch Elise's expression upon seeing Evan for the first time. It was a heart-wrenching combination of amazement and joy. So cute.


I was surprised by how smoothly this whole thing had gone. Too smoothly. Ryan says I tempted fate by bragging about it, because the next day, around dinner, Connor started throwing up everywhere. Ryan decided he would be the sole caregiver for the older kids, while I'd hole up in Evan's room and sanitize my hands every time I entered and left. Despite all this, and despite Ryan bleaching surfaces like crazy, he (Ryan) came down with the bug early Sunday morning, I followed suit around noon, and Elise christened our brand new couch with a fountain of vomit that evening. It was not fun. I actually had a pretty high fever, and was panicked that I'd have to go to the hospital - what do you do with a nursing newborn if you have to be admitted to a hospital?? Not to mention the horrible fear that Evan would catch it before he'd had a chance to even regain his birth weight. Blah. Oh, and I had pinkeye for some reason, which spread to both eyes a couple days ago.

Suprisingly, though, we did live through it! At least, so far. Everybody is about 90% recovered right now, and Evan still hasn't shown any major symptoms - either he had it and it was very mild, or he hasn't come down with it yet. My mom came this morning and helped us clean everything again, and I got drops for my eyes at the local CVS clinic (I love that place, it's way better than a real doctor!) Evan is still in quarantine, but I expect to bring him out of his room in a couple days, with precautions, of course. We're really very blessed and thankful it wasn't anything too serious!

Just as a public service announcement, you all should know that hand sanitizer does NOT kill stomach flu! I found this out last night. Apparently it kills regular colds, influenza, and bacteria, but not the gastroenteritis bugs that cause this. I was pretty mad when I read that, after five days of trusting my 6-day-old's health to a bottle of Purell.

Baby Evan!

Our little guy came a couple of days early! Although I wasn't quite due until the 13th, Evan James was born on Wednesday, February 10th, at 11:38 am. (Kyle pointed out that his birthday is 2/10/2010 - pretty cool.) He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces, a full pound lighter than either of his siblings had been - he seemed so little!









The timing was awesome - I'd been stressing about whether I'd go into labor in the middle of the night, and who to call to tend Connor and Elise. Lots of people had cheerfully volunteered, but I hated the idea of bugging people that way. Although I started having contractions around 1am Wednesday morning, they didn't really progress until about 7:00, with plenty of time to get the kids up, feed them breakfast, and take them to a friend's house to play (which had been scheduled for that morning, anyway!). We got to the hospital by 9:30, and two hours later he raced into the world - the doctor was in the room for literally ten minutes. I have more pictures to post, but since Evan is sleeping and I'm not, I think I should pause here for the night. We're just totally in love with this little boy!

Oh, and please also read the previous post. It didn't get much time at the top of the page, since I didn't publish it until earlier today!