Matthew Smiles!

On Valentine's Day I got the best surprise gift...Matthew smiled at me! It took a while to get it on camera, but his happiest and most smile times are in the early morning after his breakfast, early afternoon after lunch, and usually while we are eating dinner. Anyway, here he goes...starting to smile...

almost there...

SMILE!!!

The kids still love having a baby brother and sharing everything with him...they made sure he was included in family movie night...

Abbey wants to hold Matthew all the time.  I am constantly asking her to put him down so he can stretch and move on his own on the floor.  But it is cute and Matthew does actually really like being held by his siblings.

Since Matthew is Child #4, he unfortunately spends a lot of time in his car seat - his siblings are busy little people!  Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind it, although I know at some point it will become a problem.

Have I mentioned that we are desperately seeking spring???

Ben's birthday

We were lucky to have more help arrive once Madgie and Patch left...Mama Kay and Papa came to help us out!  Mama Kay was very helpful in keeping Matthew awake during the day (in hopes he would sleep at night!).

Mama Kay and Papa with their 10th grandchild!

Some of you may be worried about Belle...I can assure you she is fine.  She doesn't get a ton of attention, but she has handled the new baby just fine.  It took a little training, but now this is about as close as she comes to Matthew when he is laying on his activity mat.  It's cute actually.  When he lays there she will come lay down next to him.  Good dog (finally!).

Matthew is getting more and more alert and really looking at things.  It's so cute.

Ben turned 8 - I can't believe it!  Wasn't he just as small as Matthew yesterday??  We celebrated with his requested dinner (Spaghetti) and he picked out peanut butter cup ice cream as his birthday dessert, so we put a candle in it and sang to him!

The girls made cards for Ben, but also picked out this awesome card for him from the store.  Ben was really appreciative of the cards they made as well as this card they found for him.

Mama Kay was on Matthew duty while Ben opened up his gifts.

Ben chose to forgo a big party this year.  He desperately wanted to go to Medieval Times with a few friends.  Luckily, we qualified for a group rate and he selected 4 friends to join him (getting down to 4 friends was quite the negotiation!).

He was quite concerned when we agreed upon 4 friends that the number included his sisters and cousin!  I assured him the 4 was in addition to his sisters and cousin, but I thought it was sweet that he would have put them in his 4.

Everyone got to pick one thing to get - most got swords, some got flags, and the girls got light up star wands.  Here is the group!

Caroline and Ben jousting!

The set up was great.  Two rows - so kids all sat in one row and the parents sat behind (us, Mama Kay and Papa, and Uncle Brandon and Aunt Domi).  The kids loved it!

Juliette wanted to sit by me as I think she was a little worried.  The last time we were here she slept through the whole thing.  

We will have to go again at some point when Matthew can better appreciate it too!

The top row!

Love this picture - all the kids are fully enthralled with what is going on!

And they even had a birthday treat for Ben!

The girls were very excited because the knight threw them each a flower!  And luckily for us, he threw one to Caroline too so all the girls got one!

After the show we came back to the house for cake.  I was lucky this year in that Ben wanted an Olympics cake since we have been watching so much Olympics.  I was lucky because it was easy and I was really not up for something difficult right now!  Thanks Ben!! 

Happy Birthday Dear Ben...

Yay!

After all the friends left, Aunt Domi got some Matthew time.  So did Caroline and Hunter, but I sadly don't have pictures of it.  Aunt Domi, if you are reading this, send me some pictures if you took any and I will edit this post to include them!

And this is the creepy sweatshirt that Aunt Domi gave Ben...he loves it!

Hard to believe Big Ben is 8!!!  His doctor's appointment is next week, so I will update on his stats and development then. 

Matthew turns 1 Month!

Time is flying in our household! Matthew turned 1 month and we couldn't believe it!  And look at those booties someone made for us - so cute!

I took Matthew in for his one month appointment and he was doing great!  He weighed in at 9 lbs, 1 oz.  I thought that was huge - he had grown so much!  Then I found out that put him in the 20th percentile, which surprised me because he seemed so big to me.  But then I remembered that lots of babies are born between 8-10 pounds these days, so I guess being 9 lbs at one month isn't really that big!  But he did great during the exam and even during his shot.  I tried to talk to the doctor about how Matthew spits up a lot and doesn't sleep at all at night and I got no sympathy!  Surely this is an unusual thing - my other 3 babies weren't like this!!!  But no, apparently this is "normal" and I was lucky with my other 3.  So she had no advice to give me - nothing is wrong with him (which is good), we just have to get through this time.  That wasn't very encouraging to hear, but we are taking things day by day.  When he is awake, he really is a happy baby and loves to look around at things and especially enjoys his siblings.  But we really need his tummy to settle down so we can get some sleep!!  Luckily, we have a lot of great helpers at home!

Madgie and Patch Help

As I previously mentioned, Madgie flew up to help us out and Patch came as well, then flew home to work, then flew back up to help again! We are so thankful for their help. Madgie drove the kids to all of their activities (thus allowing me to rest at home, recover from the surgery and not take Matthew out into the Polar Vortex), she cooked, cleaned, did laundry, served as emotional support, held Matthew so I could shower or actually get something accomplished, and was just there for fun conversation and company during the day. I don't know how we would have managed the first few weeks without her help. She was also on hand to give the other kids some extra attention while I was tending to the baby. We were so lucky she could come up for that long to help us out.

Now back to Matthew updates...it took almost 3.5 weeks, a little bleeding, a late night call to the doctor and follow up appointment the next day for Matthew's umbilical cord to fall off and heal.  So we were not able to give him a true bath (sponge bath only) until that happened.  Finally, around 3.5 weeks, Matthew had his first bath.  And he really enjoyed it.  Paul said it was funny to watch him in the warm water start to curl up - almost like he wished he was still back in the womb!  Anyway, here is the obligatory first bath picture!

Luckily, we had lots of helpers with the bath.  We waited so long for it and everyone was so excited to finally give him his first bath!  By the way, I should mention that as I am writing this, Matthew is almost 8 weeks old and I still have my excited helpers every night waiting to give him a bath and taking turns with what needs to be done for the bath, including filling up the tub, pouring water gently on him, holding the towel out for him, getting his diaper ready, putting lotion on him and picking out his clothes.  As you can see, lots of opportunities for helping!

Any time Matthew makes the slightest sound of discomfort (which he does a lot - gassy baby), I have little Mommies rushing in to see if he is OK.

And this is what you get as the fourth child...older siblings get to make paper hats and put them on you for their own amusement.

Matthew is staying awake more each day, which is so fun for us to see.  He has beautiful blue eyes, just like all his siblings.

Abbey playing with Matthew.

Now Madgie and Patch eventually had to get back to FL and their own lives (side note, I am immensely proud of them for how they handled the crazy weather we have had - apparently they do not want to ever move here though).  Before they left, we had a birthday celebration for Ben since they left about a week before his birthday.  Madgie got him an oreo ice cream cake that he loved.

Madgie gets in some last minute Matthew time during the birthday celebration (and Matthew is wearing his Valentine's Day Prince Charming outfit Madgie got him).

Really cute picture and again, it shows that the girls really need to be wherever Matthew is all the time!

Madgie and Patch got Ben an erector set for his birthday, which he really enjoys.  He liked working on it with Patch, although I am not exactly sure if Ben or Patch enjoyed it more!

Madgie and Patch getting last minute Matthew time!

Who gets all those kisses?

And then it was time for them to leave :(  We thank you both so much for everything you did for us.  As I briefly mentioned, Matthew is a bit of a fussy baby due to the amount of gas he seems to have.  This causes him to not sleep well at night too.  Our other three children were such excellent sleepers and easy babies that this has really thrown us for a loop.  I went back to look at their baby books because I wasn't sure if they were actually that way or if I am just forgetting what it's like to have a newborn.  Juliette's baby book actually says, "She is such an easy baby.  She never cries.  I have to wake her up to eat."  Yeah, no wonder we wanted a fourth baby!  Anyway, with our severe lack of sleep, it was so helpful to have extra sets of hands to help out with everything.  We really thank you so much.  As you can see below, we are exhausted!

The kids are handling it pretty well though.  Sometimes things get a little crazy in the house though...

My baby boy and baby girl!

Luckily, we were not on our own for long before more help arrived!  Mama Kay and Papa came up a day after Madgie and Patch left and we are so thankful for their help as well!  They jumped right into the routine of where and when to drive the kids around.  And then before we knew it, it was Valentine's Day!  Here is Prince Charming and Abbey!

And thank you Patch for the flowers you sent up for the girls and I - beautiful!