eat sleep and farm

Ethan loves to help me when I change Kara's diaper, give her a bath or feed her. He likes to make sure she's comfortable and happy, all the time. Today he went to take her dirty diaper to the garbage and on his way out of the room, he turned and said... "Mommy, I'm the man who takes the garbage out." I replied with "So, you're the garbage man?" "No, not the garbage man... just the man who takes the garbage out. What do you call them again?" "Ummm... the recycling man?" "No. Not that. You know how Daddy takes out the garbage for you? Well... what do you call him?" "My helper?" No... when you got married, what did he become to you?" "Oh! My husband?" "Yes! Your husband!" "And you know, God created them to help their ladies and take out the garbage." So I asked him... "What do you think God created the ladies for?" "Ummmm... so you could take care of Daddy and have...

I took the kids to the pumpkin patch today and we had a blast! We went to a farm here and for a grand total of only $8.00 you get a barn show, hay rides, one pumpkin (per person) and a jaunt through the huge corn maze! We had such a good time and I survived my first major outing with 3 kids and NO help. I was telling Jason tonight that ever since Kara's birth, Ethan has become so concerned about my whereabouts and Kara's safety. He is always making sure I can see him, making sure Kara is with me and making sure she's happy. Rachel on the other hand, could care less. She's all about having fun in her own little world. :) Ethan was so proud of himself for climbing on this huge pumpkin... the muscle showing was his idea, after I said "look at my big, strong boy!" I am always thankful to have a camera with me for cute moments like this -- Ethan was telling her here that she needed to hold his hand so they would be safe together in the corn maze. :) Entering the co...

Napping on the living room floor in her swing for the 1st time - she didn't care for it too much. awake from her nap head shot :) I love the bottom in the air :)

A few weekends ago, my parents took the kids to Marine World for the day. Jason and I had early, out of town plans on Saturday, so Ethan and Rachel got to spend the night over at Papa and Nana's house - this is a rare treat! Here are some pictures from their trip. They got to sleep in "Nana's new bunkbeds!" Rachel, Papa and Ethan Snack time On the marry-go-round

I'm sitting here, on the edge of my bed, looking at my beautiful baby girl sleeping in her bassinet. She's not in a very deep sleep and keeps making sad faces, followed by small grunts and then little whimpers. She seems to be having some issues with gas or maybe just adjusting to life outside the womb. Whatever it is, it has her very bothered and so, in turn, I'm quite unsettled as well. You'd think by the time we get to our 3rd child this stuff would be super easy to handle, but I'm struggling with it just as much as I did with Ethan. I hate seeing her uncomfortable and wish I could make it all better. She's coming on her 4th week of life in the real world and is getting too big, too fast. Jason and I keep commenting that we wish it would all slow down a bit. Feels like she's going to be one year old before we know it. People are always asking us "is she a good baby?" She is a good baby, yes. I'm not sure I'd ever actually verbalize that...

Our camera broke about a week before Kara's birth. Not good. My Mom was very gracious and let us borrow hers for the birth and also a couple weeks after. I miss my camera SO much and hope to buy one very soon, but until we do, I'm afraid the blog won't be too exciting.

About a week ago we ordered Razor scooters online for the kids. They have both been anxiously awaiting these scooters, like they do Christmas morning or their birthdays. Its been fun to watch them run to the door anytime they hear the door bell and scream "is it our scooters, Mommy?!" So today (during nap time of course) Rachel's arrived. BIG box, black handle and one cute bright pink scooter inside. I went to wake her up from her nap and said "Guess what came in the mail today?!" and her cute, chubby face lights up as she yawns and says "My scooter??" I smiled and asked her "Do you wanna go see it?" and her little voice replies with... "Can I go see Kawa Joy?" She jumped out of bed, ran down the hall, over to the couch and in her sweet voice she uses for Kara, she said "Hi pretty baby! I wub you." planted a kiss on her face and THEN went to see the scooter. :) Melted my heart.

Between Jason and me, we get asked some strange questions when we're out with our kids. Its typically when we're not together, but just one of us, out with them. Last week Jason was talking to someone at the store and in their conversation of "oh your kids are so cute! One of each must be so fun, etc..." Jason told her we had a one week old baby at home as well. Her reply? "Are you guys gonna be like that family on TV that has 18 kids?!" Yeah... because 18 and 3... that's the same.

I can't believe Kara is 2 weeks old already! Its funny how the last several weeks of pregnancy d-r-a-g on and then once the baby's born, time flies like crazy. She's doing really well, getting bigger by the day. Unfortunately (for me) her sleeping has been a bit off these days. She's been going 4-5 hours between feedings during the day and then wants to eat and play all night. I didn't mind it for the first couple of days, but by yesterday, it was all catching up to me... in a bad way. So today I've been waking her up every 2 hours for a feeding and then trying to play with her more to keep her awake. Hoping that will all help. My parents rang in their 32nd wedding Anniversary yesterday by taking our kids to Marine World! They've been wanting to spend a day there with them all summer and sadly, this was the first time they were able to take them (our fault, not theirs). The kids had a blast! Ethan rode on some new rides, being quite the big boy and told me h...

She enjoyed her french silk pie I found this sweet moment last night... Kara Joy - 10/14/08 I used to do this to my Dad! trying to get their eyes off of Tom and Jerry for one second. Big brother and sister LOVE to be with Kara this is a dark picture, but I had to post it. Rachel saw Jason rocking Kara and so she went and got her baby, put on her sunglasses and rocked her baby next to him. :) with her baby "Jenny" Kara's 1st bath! Rachel helps with Kara's 2nd bath

Life around here has been amazingly wonderful, strangely not very different and very busy, all at the same time. I think having 3 kids has been a ton easier than I ever (ever) thought it would be. I now know to listen more to people that have been through it, rather than strangers in the stores with no kids, warning me about my 3. :) Kara is getting so big, so fast. It makes me sad... you all know by now how much I hate seeing my kids grow past stages in life. Its always bittersweet for me. The newborn days end way too quickly. I've decided that to be very true. She's still doing all the newborn things and loves to be cuddled for hours on end, kissed all over her face and she adores the bath. I think the only difference with Kara's birth than our other kids is that there's more people in the house, fighting over who gets to hold her. Ethan loves to talk to her and calm her down when she's crying and Rachel just loves holding her and kissing the top of her head. I ...

Here's what our house looks like from about 1pm-3pm :) Ethan still loves his finger and bunny blanket you can't see it, but her doll is under that blanket little miss Kara

Jason and I have been dealing with some character building issues with Ethan and recently a big one has been the fact that he is unwilling to hear and be happy with the word "no". It usually results in first, him giving us his idea (which is a nice way of saying manipulation) and when that doesn't get him what he wants, he will being the tears, stomping his feet and usually refusing to do what's asked of him, with a good attitude. I've had several well meaning people at the stores and such tell me "If you just place him in an atmosphere where he doesn't need to be hearing no, you won't have this problem." Haha! If life were so simple. And, I don't believe for a second that our son would grow to be a healthy, happy and self less person if we raised him like that. It terrifies me to think that some people are actually raising their kids that way. No wonder so many grown men are unable to control themselves. A few weeks ago he started this ne...

My friend Jill came to visit us on Tuesday, with her daughter Lizzy and she took some very cute pictures of Kara. Thought I'd share a few...

Life as a family of five really doesn't seem much different from life as a family of four... just the added happiness of a new little one in the home. All the excitement when she makes little noises, when her eyes open and make contact with us, when she holds on tightly to our fingers and anytime she even hints toward a smile, which we refuse to blame on gas. Kara's name seems to suit her quite well. She is pure joy to our family. We all fight over who will hold her next and love to just sit and have her lay on us, telling her how sweet she is. Whoever said the 3rd (and beyond) child get no attention is crazy... never listen to such silliness. Maybe people with very short attention spans? Our week has been lovely. We haven't done too much and I think that's what's been so nice about it. We stayed home from church on Sunday (obviously) and Ethan went to AWANA in the evening. Our meals from friends from church started arriving Saturday night, so I haven't had to c...

I was hoping to capture a picture of this, but couldn't find the camera. So I'll try to lay it out for you to give you a mental picture. Kara is laying in her seat on the floor. Rachel is organizing every Bible she and Ethan own around the seat. She has each Bible open and standing up, facing Kara. She's being very diligent to make sure they are all spaced perfectly apart and that they're all perfectly facing Kara. After she's done she gets her chair and plops it in a gap between the books, also facing Kara. She sits down and begins.... "In da beginning, God made the whole world! For you, Kawa. Did you know that? He did. Da Bible says "God made the world and sent His only Son." And now I will teach you "Jesus wubs me, this I know." So she sings the song for her, mixing it up with two other songs we sing at church. :) And then she continues... "God wubs Kawa Joy and sent His only Son to die for her. And then... the whale ate Jonah! ...

still learning to take one while WE hold the camera :) With Grandma Arnold Grandpa Arnold meets his 3rd Grandchild with big (and proud) brother Ethan With Papa and Nana Betti Papa meets his Granddaughter I loved this one :) they wanted to always be near her and touching her he was so excited to actually SEE her! Rachel was petting her :) taking a snooze with Daddy... one of her favorite places to be. our sleeping beauty in our "going home" outfits :)