General Update

Whew, last week flew past in a blur. I expect that's how things will go these next few months! I'll see if I can capsulize the events around here. I apologize in advance for the long post, but I've included pictures, so that can help if there are too many words, LOL! Some of you know my blog is mostly for my own benefit--for remembering things when I finally get around to scrapbooking the events!!!

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Ted's mom drove from Denver for a very short but welcome visit. She drove all day on Sunday, March 29, and was here in time for dinner and evening activities. Then she was with us all day on Monday and had to leave on Tuesday to try to beat the incoming snowstorm. It was the first time she had been able to see any of our babies so soon after they were born--both of the girls were about a month old by the time Grandma J got to see them, and the boys were even older, 2 or 3 months. So it was a very special thing to have her visit us with Lucan only being a couple of days old. The older kids enjoyed spending time with Grandma, too, especially since she brought treats like painting workbooks and wooden crosses for decorating!

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Lucan's first few nights at home were difficult--he must have been confused on his nights and days, because he would wake to feed and proceed to be awake and fussy for quite awhile, not an ideal thing for letting Mommy and Daddy get some sleep. But then he seemed to settle into a pretty good routine of sleeping in between feedings. Saturday night was bad again (though we did all make it to church yesterday, hooray!), but last night was good...we went to bed at 9:30, and he woke at 12:07, 3:23, and 6:35. I can handle that!! At least I was able to sleep 2 hours or so in between feedings!

Overall Lucan seems to be a pretty content little guy. He is nursing great. Now and then there are some spit-up issues...I've never had a baby consistently splurt milk out of his nose, so we seem to be suctioning him pretty frequently. He likes to mouth everything that comes close to his face and gets irritated when there is no milk to be had from his blanket, fist, burp cloth, or whatever he's trying to suck on. This has also created a rather distinct aversion to pacifiers in general. Now and then he'll take one, but if he's at all alert to what's going on, he just seems to get mad that we're trying to give him something to suck that doesn't feed his belly at the same time!

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The kids all adore their new baby brother. Kenna is forever patting him and hovering over him, saying, "Awwww!" You know, that noise we all make when we see something cute--she has picked it up and constantly "awwwws" over every little thing Lucan does...even when he's screaming his head off! We're still trying to teach her to be gentle with the baby; she has nearly stepped on him twice while crawling all over the couch even with us right there, so we don't dare leave her alone with him! Kenna is mildly fascinated with the fact that Baby Lucan gets milk from Mommy--she thinks this comes from my "belly." I've caught her a few times with my tube of Lansinoh, and she is diligently applying it to her belly button.

Charis has been a great little mother's helper--you'd never know she was disappointed at first in having a brother instead of another sister. She fusses over Lucan and is so willing to do anything we need her to do. She was thrilled when I let her shampoo his hair during his last bathtime, and even more excited when she got to cuddle him afterwards (shown here). She is very gentle with him, and I trust her to pick him up and carry him around, though I've asked her not to do so up and down the stairs. She is the personality type that asks permission to do almost anything, so I always know what she's doing and when! That's a helpful thing when it comes to picking up the baby, though I do wonder when she'll realize there are a plethora of things she needn't bother asking about (like helping herself to more milk or going out in the backyard, for goodness' sake, LOL!).

The boys are both quite fond of their new brother. Tobin can't help remarking every time he sees him, "Lucan is so CUTE!" He's not as cuddly with the baby as the other kids are, but he does like to sit with me when I'm nursing Lucan so we can read together, sometimes aloud, sometimes our own reading projects. Arden enjoys holding Lucan (with supervision, LOL) and is always hugging and kissing him. Arden has always been a very affectionate guy, very tender and gentle, and I think he's especially happy to have a new baby in the family. He's so quiet (compared to Tobin, that is) that I have to be careful to single him out and give him special attention; otherwise it would be easy for him to blend in with all the commotion around him.

Truth be told, we have to deliberately give Tobin special attention, too, because otherwise he'll get attention for other reasons! We've dealt with a couple of very serious sin issues of late, and we're praying for wisdom and discernment as we teach and train him to obey the Lord Jesus instead of saying yes to Satan's temptations. Prayers in that area would be most appreciated.

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We've all enjoyed having Ted home the last week. Unfortunately, he has to go back to work tomorrow. However, my mom will arrive in the evening and will be able to stay for 2 weeks! I'm so thankful and excited to see her again. It's been so nice having the last week and a half with just our family. Ted grew a "baby beard" but shaved it before I could get a good picture of him, bummer! You can see him here, demonstrating the merits of the "football hold." ;-) Every time we are blessed with a new little one in the family, I marvel all over again what a wonderful husband God gave me in Ted. He is an amazing daddy to our kids, so tender and loving, and he takes such good care of me, too! I think the kids will miss him tremendously when he is back at work for most of the week days, and I know I certainly will.

As for me, I'm still in recovery mode...the stitches have caused no end of difficulties, much worse than when I tore with Charis--I'm sure the tear was much more jagged with Lucan being face up. Still, I was able to make it to church yesterday, and this morning I'm actually feeling like the end of the discomfort is in sight, so praise the Lord for that!! Yesterday was actually the first day in a very long stretch I wasn't able to get a nap (and that was due to having friends over for the afternoon, so a fun reason for skipping a nap!), so overall I feel I've gotten a reasonable amount of rest, though it's never quite the same coming in spurts as it is when you can get it all at once.

OK, this update is LONG ENOUGH!! For those who are on Facebook, there are more Lucan pictures on my profile if you haven't seen them already.