And so we have a new diaper bag. My wonderful mother-in-law read my post about the diaper bag and when she was visiting this past weekend, took me shopping for a new one. I haven't transferred anything over to it yet, I'm just enjoying staring at it.

Wearing the baby

This little boy loves to be worn. A lot. And I couldn't be happier about it.

Three months old

Dear E,

How can it be that you're three months old already? I think every mother of a new baby must think this, but I'll say it again, because it's true. It seems like just yesterday that you were born, but at the same time, I can't really remember what it was like before you were a part of our family.

Oh those dimples!

Yes, Bubby, another picture!

It's amazing to me how much babies can change in just three months. When you were born you were this red, skinny, hairy, ADORABLE little cuddly ball of baby. You're still adorable and cuddly, but that's about it off that list! You've gone from 8 lbs 11 oz to somewhere around the 15 lb mark, although I don't know exactly how much you weigh. No more red skin, no more skinny, and a good bit of your hair has fallen out. Your hair is red, and your Grampa LOVES that. We're hoping it grows back red, but we'll have to wait and see.

A little blurry, but I caught him in the middle of laughing!

She didn't pull him off the bed, I promise.

You've been sleeping really well the last few nights, about six or seven hours before you wake up the first time. You sleep about twelve hours total at night, so those two times you wake up to eat and snuggle? I don't mind them at all. (Just don't go back to waking up every hour, okay? It's really difficult for Mommy not to be a little cranky when you do that.)

All of a sudden she wants to have her picture taken all the time too.

What can I say? This is quite common around here.

You're a champion nurser at this point, although we had quite a rough start. Much worse than your sisters and I did. But I think I know the reason... I was just a wee bit over-confident, thinking that because I'd done it twice before that there would be no problems this time. I paid for that with tears and lots of pain. But we've got it down now. I mean, look at you! No failure to thrive there!

You're a pretty laid back little guy. Unless you're tired or hungry, but who can blame you for that? You smile a lot, and you've been cooing for probably a month now. Just in the last few days you've started squealing and laughing a little and we all love it!

I'm very glad you're so laid back, because you've got your two big sisters all over you practically every minute of your waking hours.  They love you so much. You get lots of kisses, lots of hugs, and to be honest, lots of (accidental) knocks in the head. It doesn't bother you at all though, and you smile really big whenever you see them.

This is what was going on the entire time I was taking pictures of E. My life is noisy.

People keep asking me if having a boy is a lot different than having girls. I have to say that so far, the answer is pretty much no. Although you are a lot snugglier, is that because you're a boy? I don't mind it a bit though, in fact I hope you don't grow out of that for a long time. Don't grow up too fast, okay?

I love you,
Mama

So close

I almost got a cute new diaper bag yesterday. You see, I used the same diaper bag for both the girls, a very functional but sort of plain diaper bag. I had registered for that one when pregnant with Kathryn because I figured that it was a neutral enough color that even Justin wouldn't mind carrying it. Little did I know that he wouldn't carry one anyway, he just stuffed diapers in his backpack if he ever took her out alone. (Which wasn't often when she was a baby anyway, since she wasn't really a fan of bottles.)

When we moved back from Peru we gave a lot of things away to friends there and I wasn't exactly sure of everything that came back with us. There are still lots of things packed away in totes, but because we gave away a lot of our baby things, I assumed we had given away that diaper bag. And a few months back, when pregnant with E, I was excited to get a new, cuter bag. However, it was still on my "to do" list when I went into labor at 39 weeks, which was about 2 weeks before I was expecting him to be born. (Which is a story for another time. I was so shocked when I went into labor on my own, and early too.) So it never got done, but the birthing center sent us home with one, so we had something to use.

Yesterday morning I was going to go to Babies 'R Us and use some gift cards we had to finally get the one I wanted. I was getting E ready to go, while Justin was rearranging things in the girls' closet to make room for some other things we'd been organizing. As I was about to walk out the door, he came in carrying that old diaper bag (which is still in perfect shape, I might add), and saying, "Hey, guess what I just found?" I was SO close. So close, guys.

I can't complain though, right? I mean, I have this cute little baby to cuddle so there's no real need for a cute diaper bag, is there? I doubt anyone would be looking at my diaper bag when he's in my arms anyway.

I want to write...

Most days, as I do those little things that make up my life right now, I think of a million things I'd like to write about. To record somehow. Things the girls have said, what they're learning and doing, how E's smiling and talking and almost laughing so much these days (though that would be better on video, I suppose). Also all the slightly incoherent thoughts I have about this life I'm living right now, caring for three little people day in and day out and almost never getting a break (and when I do get one I don't know what to do with myself anyway).

And I think maybe I'll write it down later, once all of them are in bed, either on the internet or somewhere else. But by the time they're all in bed, it's 10:30 or 11, and I need a shower because I never get one during the day, and by THAT time I really should be in bed. Instead we usually watch an episode or two of The Office on Netflix (we're just beginning season 4 and WHY didn't anyone tell it was so funny before this?) and then we actually do go to bed. On top of all that I have a serious case of mommy brain (I really do, someone asked me my name today and I had to think before answering).

I have no conclusion to this, but look! There's actual words up there! So that's a start. And as a little added bonus, pictures of my son!  My son! It still feels weird to say that. And now, bed.

My firstborn

She is dramatic,

and silly,

and crazy,

and beautiful.

She loves to perform,

and jump,

and dance,

and dance some more,

and laugh.

Aaaaand, we're back. Um... again.

So I took a long, unintentional sabbatical from this little spot. I've come to the conclusion that while pregnant I'm pretty apathetic about almost everything. I accomplish nothing but the most basic, necessary tasks, and have no motivation or energy for anything else. Thus my attempt at blogging again that resulted in three posts and then a nine month break. I am very much NOT pregnant anymore now though (hip hip hooray!), my sister's been blogging and making me want to again... AND I've been reading through the blog I kept while we were in Peru. It's so good to have those memories written down, things I've forgotten already. So here I am, wanting to record the memories again.

Ezra at 11 days old, with his adoring sisters.

And the most important thing to happen... we went from being a family of four, to a family of five! Ezra William Eaton (who will be known simply as E) was born on January 19th, weighing 8 lbs 11 oz and measuring 21 inches long. He's not quite 3 months old, and it's already difficult to remember what life was like before he was in it.  (A little quieter and a little less chaotic, to be honest. :-) We're all very much in love with that little guy.

Already almost 3 months old, time is passing too fast!

I had great intentions for this to be a witty, heart-warming, funny, interesting (blah blah blah) post, but it seems with each child my mommy brain has gotten worse. Or maybe I'm just tired because I don't get to sleep very much anymore. (Or does that pretty much amount to the same thing?) Either way I'm going to quit staring at the computer screen trying to come up with something and go to bed.