Sleep

Sleep has been hard to come by for everyone in this house, except for Elizabeth of course.  I haven't been perfectly on top of getting the boys into naps when they are needed, so here are some photos of where they have fallen asleep.

Henry is holding his toothbrush.

Grandma and Grandpa Wright

Grandpa Larry and Grandma Sandra came to Pennsylvania to meet their new little granddaughter, Elizabeth.  We were so happy to have them come and stay for a week.

 While they were here we went grocery shopping.  That was a little tough having three kids.  I haven't yet figured out how I am supposed to do that on my own since Henry is a wanderer.

Here is Elizabeth before a week old on her first outing at the grocery store.

Grandma took lots of photos during Charlie's school time.

Here we are with Charlie's papers showing the sentences he made in school to Grandma Sandra.

Charlie went on a fun walk with Grandma and Grandpa while Henry slept.

We went to a little river so the kids could play.  The boys loved it!  We will probably spend a lot of the summer here.

There were lots of good sticks at the river ...

... and lots of good rocks and water to get soaking wet.

The boys were filthy and got stripped down before coming home.  I love it when they get tuckered out and fall asleep in the car. 

We went to a huge awesome park that the boys just loved.

We  walked along another river and had a fun picnic.

Here is a fun family morning while in our pj's.  My Grandma Hatch made this duck blanket for me when I was little.

She also made this cute outfit.  I don't know if I wore this outfit (I probably did), but I know that my doll wore the outfit.  I found a lot of baby clothes that I actually wore as a baby in my doll clothes, which my dolls wore back then, and Elizabeth is wearing now.  She is my real life, little doll.  Just look at that perfect little glow about her.

" A sweet, new blossom of humanity, freshly fallen from God's own home to flower here on earth."

- Gerald Massey (English poet), later quoted by Thomas S. Monson in his talk, "An Invitation to Exaltation" (April 1988)

Elizabeth's Cuteness

Now, for Elizabeth's close up.

Henry and Elizabeth.

Charlie and Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's first real outfit.  This is what she wore when Grandparents came.

The boys getting to know Elizabeth and learning to be gentle.

Her first smiles caught on camera.  Too bad she wasn't dressed a little cuter.  Oh well, at least she was nice and warm.  I like making sure my kids are warm and it drives me crazy if I think I could/should have dressed them warmer.  Sometimes Charles has to tell me that the kids are probably over dressed and could stand to shed a layer or two.

On Elizabeth's second Sunday she got all dressed up in her backup blessing dress (the first blessing dress I made fits!  Who says you need a pattern.).

Elizabeth is so strong!  I think she would have rolled over but her darned right arm was in the way.

Here are the boys wanting attention while I took photos of Elizabeth. 

How can I stop taking photos of her when she is so darned cute?

Here I am with all three of my kids.  At least I look good even though I never have photos of myself.

I still can't believe that I have three kids!  When did that happen?  I guess this officially bumps us out of the "young couple" group and into the "family" category.  When people see me with all of the kids or just ask the ages of my kids, I love to respond with, "Two, One, and Zero."  They always get big eyes.  Sometimes I will clarify that Charlie is almost three and Henry is a year and a half.  I had one lady ask me if I was done having kids after she heard the ages.  I told her that it was a possibility that I would have more.  She was floored that I would even consider it after having three.  I love seeing people's reactions here in Pennsylvania to having a lot of kids, and yes, three is "a lot of kids".

Pre Elizabeth Adventures

While Charles was in-between jobs and we were trying to get contractions started, we took a lot of walks and visited our village's parks.  I still can't get over that we live in a village, it makes me chuckle.

We celebrated Easter early so we wouldn't have to worry about having to do it around the time Elizabeth was born.  The boys enjoyed running around finding the eggs and then eating the "treats" that were inside of them.  The treats were the knock off cereal versions of Captain Crunch and Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Charlie pretty much understands the whole story of Christ and the Resurrection.  He would talk about it a few times a day.  I am glad that he is thinking about everything that we talk about without prompting.

Here are the boys being babysat at a friend's house while we were at the hospital bringing Elizabeth into this world.

She said that they were pretty good all day.  I am glad that all of the kids took a nap together so she at least got a little time for herself.

Elizabeth Martin

Short Version:

Elizabeth Martin was born.

Long Version:

Thursday Annette had a doctor's appointment.  The doctor said that the baby was so low and that I was dilated pretty far that a few good contractions and the baby may just come right out fast.  The last thing that I wanted was to have the baby at home.  With that and the fact that Charles started his new job on my due date (Monday the 21st) we decided to go ahead and have Annette's water broken.

Friday morning we dropped off the boys at a friend's house where they played all day and had tons of fun.  Charles and Annette headed down to the hospital.

Annette had already been having contractions, so after breaking her water around 10:30 they were a bit more.  We walked up and down the hall to help things along.  They eventually gave Annette a low dose of pitocin to get the ball rolling.

Annette had decided forego the epidural and was doing okay with the pain.  She did eventually ask for some pain relief via her IV.  The pain medication unfortunately didn't relieve the pain and made her want to pass out and highly irritated at everything.  She couldn't really control her emotions and started screaming through all of the pain.

Once she felt the baby start to come she gave one huge, long push and sent the baby out.  Charles looked at Annette for a split second to give some encouragement and almost missed the baby's entry into the world.

After the birth the doctor told us that in all of her years as an OBGYB she had never heard anyone scream so long and loud.  I guess there is a first for everything.  Annette says that although Elizabeth's birth was only four hours long she would have much rather taken Charlie's or Henry's 20 hour labor and delivery over Elizabeth's four hours.

Elizabeth weighed in at 7 lbs 3 oz and 19 inches long.  She came out of the womb screaming but settled down after a little bit.  She has blonde hair with a possible tint of brown or possibly red.  Her eyes are a vibrant dark blue.

The boys came to visit her the evening she was born.  They weren't terribly interested since they were hungry.  They did eventually get around to saying "hi."  Charlie has taken a bit of interest in her and wants to talk about what she is doing.  Henry generally ignores her, but doesn't understand why he can't crawl over Annette all of the time any more.

Elizabeth is sleeping well during the day and night.  She is a great little nurser and pooper.