4 months old

Well, today my boy is 4 months old!

4 months old

Luke will be 4 months old on Sunday. After his bath this morning I couldn't resist snapping a few photos. Jacob, of course, was very eager to have his picture taken too.

It is hard to believe that it has almost been a month of no sleep, since Luke came home. He is growing and changing every day. Just a couple of days ago he was  8lbs. 14 oz. (He is gaining about an ounce/day.) I could not be happier with his sweet disposition. He is so laid back and loves to eat and sleep. It is such a blessing to have him home.

In the last month, I have sent our birthmom a birth announcement, a letter with tons of photos and also a photobook (Shutterfly of course!) I am getting ready to put a little card together for her to celebrate Luke's 4 month anniversary. I just love her so much, she made it possible for Luke to join our family. I just wish Spencer's & Jacob's birhtmoms could peek into our life and know how loved and adored they are too.

I am still quite tired, but overall I am finding my groove. It has been hard to feel like a zombie, and have three active boys to chase. But they are adjusting well to life as a family of 5.  Spencer loves kindergarten, recess is his favorite and he has made some friends. We are having Spencer tested in November to go into the Gifted program next year. That boy is so smart :)

This weekend I want to sleep. .  I will probably pull weeds and get geared up for our Autumn moon festival. (We are hosting the festival next Friday.) I need to get some lanterns hung, stories chosen, and of course head to the local Asian market for some fun things. I am looking forward to the mooncakes (AKA Krispy Creme lemon filled doughnuts.)

Life is good here and things are settling into a routine. . . oh how I love a routine.

Painting project accomplished!

One week

Well,

It has been a little over a week since Luke came home. It has been filled with ups and downs. I am still trying to find my feet. I once heard someone say that being a mom with young kids means, "The days go by slow and the years go by fast." I understand what that means.

Each day I find myself counting the seconds until Dave comes home and can provide some air cover.  I honestly don't know how single parents do it. There is so much to do and yet I am here all-day every day and nothing gets done. How can that be? I find that so much time is taken, and I can't exactly put on my finger on what it is taken by (certainly not cleaning, my house is mess.) But I am constantly picking up and my laundry has almost doubled.

I just love my boys. They are each amazing in their own way; helpful, vivacious & sweet. I find that I am getting to know Luke's personality and I am so grateful for his mellow disposition. I find myself just grinning and being filled with love for these amazing boys. I love being their mom. How lucky am I?

I do however miss sleep. . . I miss it A LOT. Dave and I tag-team the nighttime feedings, but still I find myself exhausted by 2PM.  I also miss leaving the house. Jacob is so active that is hard to leave the house with him and a baby when Spencer is at school. I spend more time loading and unloading the car and baby gear to go on an errand, then it takes to do the errand itself.  I had to take all 3 boys to a doctor's appointment and it was bedlam. It was like 2 cats in a sack (along with sticky fingers, screaming and laughing.) I was reminded of the scene from "Mr. Mom" (children of the 80s will know this movie), where the dad is in a bathroom changing a diaper and his other kids are running around with TP.

So, I find that I am a bit of a house pet. It is just too much to take them all someplace. Lots of food storage meals. (I had ramen noodles for lunch.)  I still do the library on Fridays, I love it too much not to, even if our trips are more of a trek then a jaunt.

We have not all gone to church yet as a family. Last Sunday, our first Sunday as a family 5, Luke and Jacob had runny noses and coughs. So, I stayed home with them. This next Sunday will be our maiden voyage and it will be interesting to see how our 3 boys do during the 70 minute sacrament meeting. I hope they can be reverent, or at least not out-and-out loud. I wonder how 3 boys and 2 laps is going to work out. I will be sure to report. (I am sure fruit snacks will be involved in the solution. . . don't judge me.)

I have no words

Spencer had a little paint chip on his wall by the bed, we were planning on touching it up soon, when things settled down. We woke up yesterday morning to find this:

Spencer wanted to peel the paint off, and now it looks like our "touch up" job is going to be a full-scale repainting.

Tummy Time

Diaper Cake from Dave's team at work

Busy boys

Puzzle love :)

Photos of Luke

I just got back from JC Penny. Here are some photos of Luke.

So sweet

Ahhh baby annoucements :)

Happy boys!

Grandma and Grandpa stopped by for a visit this morning. They got to meet Luke for the first time.

 

3 is a magic (and loud) number

Well, all my boys are finally together! Dave and Luke made it home and now my three sons are all in the same state. I took about 30 photos of them all together, only one was semi-decent. I'll take it. The first of many sibling photos to come :)

Dave is totally beat. After 6 days of feedings every 3 hours with not another soul in sight, stuck in a hotel room, he was ready for a nap, some conversation and real food.

As I drove to the airport, with Jacob in his car seat being unusually good, I was singing along to "A thousand years" and anticipating the meeting. I was so excited. We pulled up to the pick up spot and I sent him a text letting him know we were at # 4. I was just looking and waiting. . . and waiting. Then all of a sudden someone opened the back of the van. Dave. Oh Dave. I was so happy to see my scruffy unshaven hero! I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him. Finally our family was together.

Luke was sound asleep in his car seat and looked angelic. Dave said he was so good during the flight, he said he only fussed about 20 min. of the 8 hours in the air. Wow. I am so glad to see we have a good traveler, you can never have too many :)

It seems as soon as we walked in the door I had to run and pick up Spencer from Kindergarten.

When I saw all my boys together, I was swimming in bliss. I will hold on to that moment. My bliss has been punctuated with. "No, Jacob. . . be gentle with Luke, be soft." And Spencer feeling slighted because he cannot feed the baby, and of course the bedlam that ensued during lunch time. My euphoria of having my boys means flying grapes, crying babies/toddlers, soft whispers of "I love you," poopy diapers, tantrums and angelic smiles. . . and I will take it ALL!

I am feeling so blessed.

My tender feelings

I have been listening to this song and weeping. This song is how I feel about Luke and all that has transpired over the last 2 1/2 years since we started our domestic adoption journey to bring him home.

"A Thousand Years"

Heart beats fast
Colors and promises
How to be brave
How can I love when I'm afraid to fall
But watching you stand alone
All of my doubt suddenly goes away somehow

One step closer

[Chorus:]
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

Time stands still
Beauty in all she is
I will be brave
I will not let anything take away
What's standing in front of me
Every breath
Every hour has come to this

One step closer

[Chorus:]
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

One step closer
One step closer

[Chorus:]
I have died everyday waiting for you
Darling don't be afraid I have loved you
For a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

And all along I believed I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me
I have loved you for a thousand years
I'll love you for a thousand more

Waiting for our cab to the airport.

It's such hard work! I'm just going to take a break for a bit.

Getting Ready to Head Out

We got our clearance to leave this morning and we're catching the evening flight. Here is Luke supervising the packing up.

Beautiful Afternoon Ocean

There are some benefits to waiting here. This is the view from my computer desk in the hotel room today. Too bad we can't go down there. :)

Who loves Aunt Tiff?

Everyone.

Self portrait of the Hawaii Guys

It's not my best look but I had to post this because of Luke's smile. :)

Hawaii T-shirts

Dave picked out some great Hawaii T-shirts for the boys. I wanted to get a photo of the boys in their new shirts, but they were laughing and running around too much to get a non-blurry shot. Oh well. I think I see a lot of blurry photos in my future, trying to get 3 boys to be still for photos.