Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Stockings

A week ago Saturday we did our stocking gifts with our fam.  The kids didn't have too much in theirs, just a few small things.  We picked up pizza and flurries which was my family's tradition growing up when we opened our presents. 

I wanted them to pose with their stockings and this is what Gibs does...

Don't mind his outfit.  He really wanted these jammie pants on.

 Gibs got a little stuffed Woody, Layla got Jesse and Greta got Bullseye.  Layla and Gibs love them!  A couple of days later they were watching Layla's performance on our video cam of Layla at her church Christmas program and then wanted to watch old videos too (which we are bad at remembering to record things unfortunately) and got really excited watching Woody and Jesse in the parade at Hollywood Studios from our trip to Disney last May. 

 I love their new stockings:)...

Ear Tubes Round 2

When Gibs had his ENT 6 month follow up appointment in September, the dr found that one of his tubes had fallen out and was stuck in his ear canal (not where it's supposed to be).  So they wanted to see him back in November to see how his ears looked and determine if he'd need it put back in.  We were hoping that if he was going to need it put back in (well, a new one:D), that we would know at that appointment and could then get surgery in this year (since we've already paid for one surgery, a pregnancy and a birth).  At his November appointment he did have fluid again in that ear (like he did all last winter), so we set surgery for December 16 and the dr also recommended he get his adenoids out at the same time since that can sometimes help prevent kids from needing a third set of tubes.  And getting his adenoids out in addition to getting tubes only adds a little bit of time to the surgery.  And they apparently weren't doing any good for him anyway:).

Waiting before surgery (he normally doesn't get his pipe except at night time and naps, but we let him have it for the surgery and suddenly lately he wants it other times, I think it may be time to give it up completely!)...

 He didn't want the hospital shirt on so the nurse said that was fine.  This was afer he got his sleepy meds:)...

 Watching Mickey in his sleepy state...

 Enjoying his popsicle after surgery...

Not enjoying having his IV taken out:(.  They had it wrapped on pretty tight!

 Joe took the day off for his surgery which was nice to have him home.  Greta has not been as good of a sleeper as the other two and sometimes does not want to nap in her crib.  We got her this little wrap thing and she does seem to like that.  Friday afternoon she thought napping on Dad sounded better than in her bed:).  This week she's been doing better with that, but it still kind of depends on the day.  Last night she did better at night too.  She's been doing about 4 1/2 hour stretches and some 3 hour stretches:( but last night went from 10-4:30 and then from 5-8:15 which was nice.  Of course Gibs was up at 7:15, but hopefully she starts doing more 6 hour + stretches!  But I know too that she's only 3 1/2 weeks old, so that is to be expected too.  We are doing really good adjusting to life with three kids though.  She's at an easy stage to take out since she can't move:), she just sleeps in her carrier.  The biggest thing with adjusting for me has just been getting used to the newborn schedule again and the exhaustion that goes with that.  It constantly feels like you're feeding or cleaning a kid or something--obviously, that makes sense with having a newborn since they eat so often.  Thankfully they also sleep often:).  We have been loving having her as an addition to our family and even after only three weeks it now seems strange to picture our family without her!  It's amazing how quickly they fit right into your family:).

Santa

Layla has been seeing Santa lately on some of the shows she watches (like Dora and such) so when I mentioned to her that she could go meet him she was very excited.  I think it's fine for her to like Santa.  We teach her that Jesus' birthday is the reason for Christmas, but I don't see the harm in having her like Santa--kind of like how she likes Mickey or Dora.  Anyway, so a couple of weekends ago we decided to go to Westshore Mall (figuring Santa wouldn't be very busy there:D) to see Santa.  We first went to Applebees for dinner (we are slightly stuck in a rut and often lately end up there).  We were told the wait was 20 minutes and ended up waiting over an hour!  Cramming the five of us for that long in their crowded waiting room was annoying, and then our food took a long time too.  Thank goodness for games on our phones for the kids to play (well, mainly for Gibs, he gets bored, Layla does well waiting thankfully)!  We then got to Santa's area at the mall at like 8:05 and he had left at 8!  Layla was disappointed, but thankfully only for a few minutes.  So we decided to try again last Friday.  We pulled into the mall parking lot and I told Layla that we thought that Santa was probably there, but we weren't positive (wanted to warn her just in case for some reason he wasn't there again).  She then looked around the parking lots and was like, "Hmm, I don't see his sled or his deer anywhere.  I wonder if he's here."  Gotta love the mind of a 3 year old:).

In order to get Greta on the pic too, we thought we'd just get the whole fam on.  Layla had been smiling, just apparently not on this pic.  Gibs did NOT like Santa and cried the whole time and then when Joe put him down he ran as fast as he could to his stroller, threw my diaper bag on the ground (which I had placed on his seat when I got my camera out) and jumped into his stroller faster than I've ever seen him get in before!  Normally he's not scared of things so it was funny that he hated Santa so much!

 Santa asked Layla what she wanted for Christmas and she just said she didn't know.  Then when we walked away I asked her what she wanted (and wondered why she couldn't remember when Santa asked her) and she said that she wanted toys and new little socks...for Greta:).  She must think they're cute:).

Christmas Program

Sunday afternoon after Gibs' nap time, we quickly headed to my Buursma family Christmas party.  We had Layla's church Christmas program that night, so we were only at the party for just over an hour.  We had just enough time to quick eat and have the kids open gifts.

The babies ate too:)...

 Gavin and Layla with their gifts from Grampy and Gigi...

 Layla excited about her new puzzles and Gibs opening his new cars...

 He's been a little sleepy lately.  He isn't going to bed at night good like normal, he has been waking up early (like 7:15--not fun when you've been up with a baby in the night too!) and hasn't been napping as long either (like 2 hours or less, when he used to always nap 2-3 hours).  Not sure why he suddenly in the past week isn't sleeping good!!

 I tell him to smile and this is what he does...

 The whole crew...

It seems so weird that we have a child old enough to participate in the Christmas program!!  She often does not like going up front in church for children's messages (which we have before she gets dismissed for Young Children's Worship--like Sunday School during the service), so we weren't sure how the program would go, but she did great!  She only sang some of the words and did some of the motions, but we were really proud of her!  The other week she cried walking up front and the lady giving the children's message put her on her lap while she led the message.  Yep, she is THAT kid:).  She loves teachers right now (and really loves the lady that was giving the message that day) so it'll be interesting to see how she does with school next year--she'll probably be the girl that loves hugging her teacher all the time:).

 We didn't get great seats since we didn't get there all that early and our camera isn't good, so this is as good as the pics get...

 Gibs didn't want to pose with the girls when we got home...

 This is what I get when I ask them to pose together, not sure why Layla is tipped over, normally she LOVES posing for pics...

 I told Gibs he'd get candy if he smiled and he did, but of course my camera didn't catch it:(...

 I feel like I don't have any nice pics of him smiling b/c he most of the time just runs away from the camera:(.  Here they are enjoying their candy:)...

Greta's First Pics

Welcome to the outside world Greta!

I was able to hold her right away which was nice (I was able to hold Gibs too, they just had to check him out first)...

Dad holding Greta for the first time...

Uncle Steve and Auntie Heidi came to the hospital to meet her that night a couple of hours after she was born...

They took our first pic together with her...

In the nursery...

The kids came Saturday morning to meet her.  Greta got them each Mr. Potatoe heads as a gift:).

They were both excited to meet her, but Layla was more excited than Gibs.  He right away held out his hands to hold her like he saw everyone else doing (like he thought he could just hold her standing up on his own like everyone else...I don't think so buddy:D).

I look exhausted and full of fluid, but this is the first pic of our family of five...

Me and my girls...

Grandma and Greta...

Grandpa and Gibs with Greta...

Auntie Rachael and Greta...

Gigi and Layla with Greta...

Gigi with Gibs, Layla and Greta...

Grampy and Greta...

I love their little backs of their heads...

Holding Mommy'd finger...

 Meeting cousin Harper!

 You can tell by the size of her cheeks that Greta was only born 2 weeks early and that Harper was born almost 6 weeks early:)...

 Proud big sister:)...

And a loving big brother (sometimes a little TOO loving!)...

 That night before Layla left to go sleep at Grampy and Gigi's she left "Dolly" with Greta.  She said she wanted her to sleep with Greta.  It made me a little sad to think of her giving up "Dolly", but once we were home she has reclaimed "Dolly".  I have to admit that I'm happy about that--I'm not ready for her to be that big yet that she no longer needs her lovie:).

 She borrowed a headband from Harper for her hospital picture...

 It was different for us to have our baby in the hospital room with us.  Honestly, I thought we'd be a little bored (but obviously happy to have a healthy full term baby that could stay with us!), but it was kind of nice to just relax in between visitors.

 Ready to go home!

 It was strange, but great, to be able to take our baby home when she was 2 days old!  Our other two have come home on a nice 3 hour schedule and understood the difference between night and day before coming home.  She, on the otherhand, did not understand that at 2 days old.  She was up quite a bit the first night, but thankfully has done better since then! 

 It was strange to come home to a quiet house.  The kids were still at Grampy and Gigi's when we got home.  We enjoyed the quietness while it lasted:).

 Layla right away wanted to hold her again.  She has been a GREAT big sister!