Father Son Photo Shoot

Tonight Doug and Jackson both were wearing their black warm up pants. So naturally we had to take some cute pictures of them in their matching clothes. Jack didn't really want to wear the pants. He really just wanted to wear khaki pants. They're the only kinds he likes to wear. But Doug convinced him to wear the warm up pants.

Even though they weren't matching we still took one of Jordan and Doug. Jordan's getting ready go to the store. He has his rain boots on and rain jacket in his hands. He loves putting on his boots.

First week = week of firsts

Mackenzie is already one week old, actually she's 9 days old. She's a lot the same as when she was born. She still sleeps and eats a lot. She also loves being held and doesn't seem to be a big fan of laying by herself awake. She also doesn't love her binky as much as I would prefer, but we're working on getting her to like it more. I took her to the doctor on Tuesday for her newborn check up. She now weighs 7 lbs 9 ounces. So she lost some weight. That's a little less the 50th percentile (I think...the doctor never actually said so I just looked it up online). She is 20 inches tall which is also just under the 50th percentile. Her head is about 13.5 inches around I think. She healthy. My mom will be happy to know that the doctor thought her skin color was good and didn't think she was too yellow. The boys seem to like her still. Jack asks to hold her sometimes and is always excited when she's awake. He's a little confused about why she doesn't have any teeth though. When she cries he says "we have a very hungry babay" (he pronounces like that). Jordan says baby whenever he sees her. He likes to try to rock her when she's in the carseat or bouncy chair. He does it a little too fast though so we don't really let him do it. He gives her kisses sometimes. He's held her once. Jack was holding her and when he was finished Jordan sat in the same spot Jack had been and held out his hands for her. He didn't want to hold her too long though. But it was cute while he did.
My sister Michelle and her family came to see Mackenzie last weekend so my mom and other sister Ashlee and her kids came over too. Since we had all the cousins over we had to take a picture of them all. None of them cried, which was pretty amazing. Usually at least one of mine are crying. In the picture is Mackenzie, Kimber, Jack, Alli, Jordan, Kenna, Sam, Natalie.

I had to include this one because I think it's funny how Natalie is holding Jordan's ear. I also think it's the only one I have of him actually smiling.

Kenzie took her first bath last week and didn't like it. I think the water was a little too cold for her liking. Her second bath went much better with warmer water.
She liked being in her towel after though.

Mackenzie on the way to my sister's house for the first time.

Mackenzie's first tummy time.

Mackenzie being swaddled. She likes to be wrapped up in the best wrapping blanket. And it will be able to swaddle her tight for as long as we need it to. I don't know why this picture is upside down and I don't feel like trying to figure out how to fix it.

Jordan holding Mackenzie for the first time. I think it's so cute how the boys are both just looking at her.

and here they are smiling.

Sleeping baby. Again I don't know why the picture is sideways. But oh well

Another story...

I knew I forgot something I wanted to write yesterday about Jackson...

Sometimes after Jackson goes to bed he'll get out of bed a few minutes after we leave his room. When we go upstairs to tell him to get back in bed he tells us to take one of his blankets away. He then chooses a blanket and happily gives it to us to take away from him. I have no idea why he likes this. A few nights ago I went upstairs after the boys were in bed to help Jordan because he was crying. I saw Jack's little fingers sticking out from under his door. I told him without opening the door that he needs to get back in bed. I helped Jordan then turned off the light outside their rooms. Jack immediately started crying so I went to see why he was crying and he told me to take his blanket away. He's a funny kid...

Funny Boys

Here's some stories about the kids lately that I'd like to remember...

Jackson hasn't been sleeping during his nap time very often lately. Instead he plays quietly in his room or reads books in his room. I like to have him clean up the toys and books he's been playing with once he gets up. A few weeks ago he wouldn't clean them up so I told him if he didn't then I'd take the ones that were still on the floor away. He thought that sounded better than cleaning them up so I put them in a box. He hasn't seemed to miss them at all. Yesterday after his nap time his room was really messy and again he didn't want to clean. Right after I asked him to clean his room he asked me to just take his toys away. I told him no and that he needed to clean. He wouldn't clean and was just playing in his room while the rest of us were downstairs. I took a shower later and when I came out Doug was packing Jackson's toys in boxes. After he finished Jackson said "thanks for taking my toys away" and was so happy that Doug took them away.

For the first few days after Mackenzie was born Jackson kept asking him she was going to stay out of my tummy.

Tonight at dinner Jordan kept whining and saying things that we didn't know what he was actually saying. He kept pointing at the food but he had all the food he could have had so we didn't know what he wanted. We thought he might have wanted a big piece of chicken instead of cut up chicken. That kept him happy for a couple bites but then he started whining again. After a while of us both being stumped as to what he wanted Doug somehow thought to ask if he wanted his sleeves rolled up and then rolled up Jordan's sleeves. Jordan stopped whining and picked up his spoon and ate his dinner. He just wanted his sleeves up.

That's all I can think of for now...

Baby Mackenzie

o

t











Mackenzie Dance was born yesterday, September 22 at 11:38 am. She is perfect and healthy. She weighed 8.08 oz and was 19 in long. She has lots of dark brown hair, which I love. She loves sleeping. She also loves being wrapped up and warm. Her brothers love her. Jackson loves holding her. Jordan loves going up to her and pointing and saying baby. So far he hasn't tried to hurt her. We don't really know who she looks like. Sometimes we think Jack and sometimes Jordan. She'll probably just look different from them both as she gets older, hopefully since she is a girl. For those who are interested, and so I can remember in the future, here's a brief summery of labor. We got to the hospital around 7:00 am to be induced. The nurse gave me the petocin at around 8:15. She knew I wanted an epidural and was nervous to give me the petocin too soon because she thought the labor would be pretty fast once she gave it to me and the anesthesiologist had 2 c-sections to be at in the morning. She wanted to grab him in between the two. He ended up being done with the first faster than she expected so he came and gave me the epidural around 8:30. I still hadn't really felt any contractions at this point, nothing painful at least. The epidural took longer and hurt more than either of my other epidurals. The anesthesiologist had me sit up instead of lay down which I thought was wierd. The epidural started working quickly, except it worked much more on my right side than on my left. I could feel the contractions so the nurse called the guy back and he had me lay on my left side and gave me another dose. It worked a little better that time, but I could still feel the contractions some. They were still painful, but nothing I couldn't handle. I was dialating quickly. Then sometime around 11:30 it was time to start pushing. I was feeling the contraction much more by this time and the nurse said I could have more epidural, but I didn't want it because I wanted to be able to get up as soon as I could. But the epidural was wearing off a lot and although the contractions weren't more painful, I could feel the whole pushing the baby part. It was really painful. Luckily I only had to push 4 or 5 times and through only 2 contractions. Mackenzie didn't cry when she came out and I didn't think she was really out until I saw her. They gave her to me without washing her off. I didn't hold Jack and Jordan like that. So she was a little slimy. But still perfect. She was breathing a little fast and grunting some so they took her to the nursery, which is really a NICU and checked her out there. She had low blood sugar and so they fed her some formula in hopes that that would bring it up. It did. She had to stay in there for a couple hours, until her blood sugar level was high enough during 2 testings I think and until her temperature was high enough. Doug stayed with her the whole time and I came in for the last half hour or so. Before that I was stuck in bed because although the epidural had been wearing off the right side of my body was still a little numb. They had to check her blood sugar level before I fed her for a couple feedings to make sure it was staying up, which it did. Now she is doing great! We're so happy she is finally here. It's fun having a little girl in our family!

Nursery, Haircuts, and Baby Girl

Since Jordan is now 18 months old he gets to go to nursery at church. Yesterday was his first time going. I wasn't sure how he would do. I figured he'd cry when I left him, but I also thought he'd bo ok pretty quickly, especially since Jack is in there with him. He did really great. As soon as we walked in the room he let go of my hand and found some toys. Jack on the other hand kept holding my hand and didn't want me to go. I stayed with them for a few minutes (like I usually do) then told Jordan I was going to go. He didn't even care. I don't think he was paying attention to what I was saying. Then I told Jack I was going to go to class and he was sad, but then I told him Jordan was going to be staying in there with him and he was excited and went to play with him. I thought Jack would make it easier for Jordan to be in there, but really Jack was much easier to leave when Jordan was with him. The nursery leader told me that by the time Jordan realized I was gone, he almost got sad, but then realized he had a toy and was perfectly happy. She also said that during singing time they had their arms around each other. Today I was singing Jesus wants me for a sunbeam and Jordan was saying beam. He must have learned that yesterday because we've olny sung it a couple times at home. I forgot to take a picture of Jordan in his church clothes. But we gave the boys haircuts last night so that will have to do as his first day of nursery picture.

BEFORE:

AFTER:
Jack's Before:

Jack's After

We also have some baby girl news. I went to the doctor today and he offered to induce me tomorrow. I agreed so it looks like the baby will be born tomorrow! I've decided that being induced is kind of nice. I like being able to prepare better and make sure my kids will be taken care of and their caregivers can prepare too.

The Puyallup Fair

We went to the Puyallup Fair last night. We all had a lot of fun. We looked at the animals and Jackson rode his first rides, other than a merry go round. I didn't know if he would actually get on the rides or if he would like them at all. I thought he would be scared. But he wasn't. He seemed a little nervous at the beginning of some of the rides, but then he loved them all by the end. I loved watching him go on the rides. I love seeing him so happy and excited. Jordan didn't go on any rides. We tried to put him on a boat ride with Jack, but he didn't want to. So he sat in the stroller and watch Jackson and when he got bored of that he ate two packs of peanut butter crackers and 3 packs of fruit snacks and still wanted to eat more.

Jordan when we were looking at the cows.

Jack milking a cow.

Jackson sitting on a tractor.

Jordan and Jackson with the baby chicks.

Kimber, Jack, and Alli petting the baby bunny. We met up with my sister and her family at the fair.

Jack on his first ride, the helicopter.

Jack riding in the boat.

Alli and Jack showing off their tickets to ride the car ride.

Jack and Alli riding the car ride.

Jack on a ride that went around in circles really fast. He seemed a little nervous at first on this one. But then he loved it. He rode it three times. The worker let him ride the second time for free, then my sister gave him an extra ticket she had and so he went again with his cousins. He loved it.