Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I always love Psalm 139 and I'm trying to do a better job of memorizing parts of it!  It truly helps me remember that God knew each of us before we were ever knit together in our mother's womb. We do praise God because we know each of us (and our precious children) are fearfully and wonderfully made! Thank you Lord for the indescribable gift of children!


Psalm 139



For you created my inmost being;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.



I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   your works are wonderful,
   I know that full well.



My frame was not hidden from you
   when I was made in the secret place,
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.



Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book
   before one of them came to be.


How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 
Were I to count them,
   they would outnumber the grains of sand—
   when I awake, I am still with you.

Brotherly Love

So, now that I know I'm going to have a housefull of boys, it's kind of neat to think about them all being so close in age.  We hope they grow up to be each other's friends and stay that way!  I also keep thinking about our grocery bill 10-12 years from now!

Our boys were super excited to come up to the hospital the next day to finally see Noah.  Mainly, John Michael was the one who was really, really excited to come see him and hold him!  Matthew is around that age where he doesn't really understand too much, but is starting to realize more and more about "bebe!"

Here's their very first look!



They each got a little pet in! 



 JM was so excited to finally see him and touch him!



The boys had made Noah some artwork the night before.  They were SO proud to give it to him.  They did a really good job!  JM surpirsed us by actually wanting to do some artwork!



 Matthew mainly just likes to touch him or pet his head.



 Here's JM showing us his art he made especially for Baby Noah!  You can tell how proud he is!



 JM was eager to hold him, but Matthew just looked on!



 Once again, JM was SO excited to be holding him!



 Here we are!  The very first of many pictures of us as a family of five!  Wow!



 This just melts my heart!



 So many kisses!



We feel so happy and blessed right now.  It's a sweet time for our family! 


 

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Our Newest Addition!

We very joyfully announce the newest blessing to our family!


Sweet Baby Noah Maxwell



I am SO very glad my doctor changed his mind at the last minute and decided to induce me yesterday.  It was a great decision.  Noah weighs in at 9 pounds 10 ounces and he is 22 inches long! 


As you can see, I look about ready to pop and I was so ready to get this baby here!



We frantically packed Thursday night and I spent most of Wednesday catching up on laundry, since we had been out of a washer for nearly 2 weeks!  Nightmare!  Mom and Dad made it in on Wednesday and we spent most of Thursday out and about in hopes of making some cervical change happen by my induction on Friday!  Jordan and I also took a nice, long walk together around the neighborhood to talk and have a little alone time together!  Jordan's mom and sister arrived Thursday evening and we all breathed a sigh of relief that everyone was in town and ready to meet our new little one!


We woke up around 4:45 Friday morning and got ready and finished packing and left right around 6am.  The induction got started and we hung out for the rest of the afternoon. Once I got to around 7, it didn't take but around 15 minutes for me to be a 10 and ready to push.  I won't lie, even with a great epidural, it was rough.  Luckily, I only push about 3 contractions and he was out!  We were SOO excited to see if we were having a boy or a girl!  I LOVE not finding out! 


We immediately noticed he was a boy!




 Jordan and I are so excited and blessed to add a third little boy to our family!  I can't believe we have 3!



 Our boys only saw Noah through the window that day, but they got to see him today.  John Michael is REALLY excited and happy.  He keeps saying "MY new baby!"




 We're extra tired and I hope to sleep for a quick hour or two before I have to feed Noah again!  I hope to add more pictures tomorrow!


 

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Catching Things Up!

I'm just putting a little post together about some really random pictures I've got lurking in my folders that I never did anything with!

Let the randomness begin!


Matthew had the most hilarious hair after we left the splash pad a few weeks ago!  It actually stayed like that for quite awhile!  I guess it looks like Elvis or something!  I love his curls.



John Michael had his big boy 3 year check up and got to stand on a real scale and get his blood pressure taken and everything.  That was a horrible day and I was so glad Jordan met me to help me!



 



It was a long wait and John Michael and Matthew both had meltdowns!  Not fun.



We celebrated John Michael's friend Sarah Kate's birthday party!  Don't all the kids look so precious sitting there?!



He drove Harper around the back yard in SK's Jeep!  JM is just like Daddy, he looooves Jeeps!



At the party Matthew just drove this scooter around.  It was HOT that day but I know they had so much fun!



And for fun, this is how I caught Matthew watching Elmo the other day.  Just hangin' out in his rocker!



Summer sure is fun!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Father's Day 2011

We had a pretty uneventful Father's Day yesterday!  We went to church, came home for nap (it's impossible to go out to eat after church, they fall asleep!) then had dinner and opened presents!  I left at naptime and told Jordan to enjoy the peace and quiet of the house and sit and do NOTHING!  Also, I told him to catch up on a bunch of man shows I didn't want to watch!  I think he enjoyed a few hours of peace and quiet!

Aren't all my boys so handsome?!!



Proud Daddy with his two boys! 



I could go on forever about what a good Dad Jordan is.  I'm no dummy; I picked quite well thankyouverymuch!   He has had to do so many things toward the end of this pregnancy and I feel so badly for him.  It's like he works 3 jobs.  He does so much for and with the boys when he gets home from work.  I am so happy and blessed that he wants to be with them and spend time with them!


I am so thankful for a Godly husband and father for our boys.  I am so glad he is the spiritual leader of our household, like I knew he always would be all those years ago.  I always think how I'm sure I've messed up a lot in my life, but I made one perfectly awesome decision in marrying this guy!  Jordan, thank you for being such a great dad every single day of the year!  We love you so much!!


The boys made Jordan some pottery at a local pottery place and John Michael was pretty excited to give his to Jordan!  He painted it all on his own, with some help from Matthew!



 Matthew did NOT want to give his to Jordan at all.  He kept it to himself for awhile and then decided to finally give Jordan his gift!



 Jordan was excited to get some gifts made directly from our boys!  He also liked the gardening tools I got for him.  He was in desperate need of good tools for our garden!



It was a nice day to spend together!  My dad will be in town in just a few days so I know it will be nice to spend some time with him too!  I cannot wait for grandparent help to get here!  We definitely need it!

Sunday, June 19, 2011

A Fun Weekend!

We are still in baby-waiting mode around here.  I'm feeling especially contraction-y tonight so I'll divide my post up into 2 different ones.  My dad will be up in a few days so it will be nice to see him somewhat close to Father's Day and I think Jordan had a nice Father's Day today also.  I'll do my Father's Day post tomorrow!

This weekend I got some things done that are hard to do after a new one comes along: I got my brows, toes, and nails done!  I need to pack myself and the baby's things this week!  I can't wait until my parents come on Wednesday.  I am realizing I really need the help right about now!

Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to see if any of our friends might want to come over after dinnertime on Saturday to have dessert and let the kids play and adults talk!  I made tea and lemonade and we had our big bucket full of waters and drinks outside on the back porch. 

Jordan worked hard at getting all of the kid's water toys and tables out and he got the yard looking great for our company!  I'm glad we had a few people over one last time before the baby comes.  I'm not sure how the rest of our summer is going to go, so this was a nice way to have a casual evening together!  Everyone brought a dessert and we had a great time.  Most importantly, everyone's kids played HARD and slept great (except for Matthew!)

While Jordan mowed the lawn John Michael and Jack watched his every move!



John Michael is learning a lot about watering the garden, dirt, and worms so far this summer.  He's been doing a really good job of watering our blueberries.  We figure it will be a few years before we really see many blueberries on our bushes!



Even Jack enjoyed hanging around out back while we got the yard ready for our friends to come over!



Matthew also wanted to be like Daddy, so he helped Jordan pick weeds!



These boys love their Daddy and want to do all the things that he does!  Matthew has proven to be our "in the dirt" child.  Not at all surprising.  He has loved getting in the garden and moving all the soil around and getting totally dirty!  He's all boy!



This picture just makes me laugh because he looks so big perched on top of the slide!



I love having friends over, especially when we can all just hang out in the back yard!



I laughed so hard when I saw this next series of pictures.  Matthew had his first rice crispy treat and sweet, sweet Luke apparently wanted one too! 



 



 



Sadly, Matthew doesn't look very concerned that Luke wants his treat pretty badly!



Matthew didn't really like his rice crispy treat all that much.  He gave it to me right after this!



On the other hand, JM looooved his rice crispy treat!  He kept trying to steal one off of my plate.



 



 



We all had a great time and after Jordan finished the boys' baths they came into our closet and climbed into Jack's kennel.  If you don't know our crazy dog, I have to tell you we have to crate him when people come over because he's so crazy and wants to lick everyone and jump on them!


I have NO idea why they love playing in this crate, but they do!