1 Month!

Greta was a month old on Christmas!  Time has been just flying by!  I can't believe that now she's almost 6 weeks already (on Friday she will be).  She is such a little blessing and it's been so fun to see how her big siblings have reacted to a baby.  Layla especially has been fun to see in her new big sister role (I realize she was a big sister already, but it's different now seeing her act as a big sis to a baby).  Greta has been our most challenging baby so far, but the past couple of days she's been better.  Our other kids came home from the hospital understanding how to sleep in their bed.  Greta still will cry when you put her in her crib.  She now pretty much always goes right back to sleep after she's up in the night, but sometimes still struggles with naps and has been often napping in her swing now b/c she naps better there.  We'll work on switching to the bed later:).  She also seems to have such tummy issues that she will just scream in the middle of feeding and after feedings will be fine for a bit then just scream like she's really uncomfortable.  Layla had some issues with that and then discovered she was allergic to dairy, so I'm hoping that's not the case, but have been cutting back now to see if that makes a difference.  The last couple of days now Greta has only had one feeding where she screamed so I don't know if that maybe is helping or if it's just from her getting older??  She was also spitting up more but that's gone down too.  I've also switched bottles so maybe that's helped.  She was using Dr. Browns which are supposed to be good with air flow, but she can drink out of other ones quicker and so maybe that works better for her tummy.  I know tummy issues are very common for newborns and my others had issues too (Gibson had major spitting up issues), but it is sad to see her so miserable and a bit wearing on us to have her crying so much!  I called her ped just to see what they'd say and they just offered the normal advice like more tummy time and such and we'll go back to the dr in a few weeks for her 2 month also.  Gibs was on Prevacid and Zantac but those didn't really seem to help him, plus now she's not really spitting up too bad. 

I wish I knew what she weighed at a month, but will have to wait until her 2 month appointment.  She drinks about 3 1/2-4 oz 7 times a day (although recently it's more like 3- 3 1/2 oz which could be why she's not spitting up as much, I realize that if they drink too much is when they spit up, but if they're starving for more, it's hard not to give them more to drink!).  Her " breakfast" bottle is normally around 8:30.  She then has her "last" bottle anywhere between 9:30 and 11.  We're learning that with her whether she eats at 9:30 or 11, she is up at around 2 or 3. I haven't dared test that out any earlier than 9:30, but I know with our other kids too, the earlier they went to bed, the better they slept.  It just depends now on the day and how it works out for timing of her last bottle.  She's been eating about every 3 hours during the day.  She was doing more like every 2 1/2 hours during the day b/c I thought mabye that'd help her sleep better at night, but now she seems to better with every 3 hours.  I'm hoping that soon she starts doing longer stretches at night but know it could be worse too!  The first couple of weeks, most nights we had to wake her after 6-7 hours and then she started doing anywhere from 3 hour stretches to 5 hour stretches and lately she at least does one 4-5 hour stretch and then a 3-4 hour stretch.  Gibs has been up early still though so it often is like I just go back to bed after she eats ast 6/6:30 and then he's up at like 7:15.  Today he was up at 7:45, so that is at least a little better! 

She just stopped wearing newborn size sleepers so that is sad:(.  She's been wearing some 3 month clothes for a couple of weeks (just a little big).  She is still wearing NB diapers.  It's a little sad now to me to see her outgrow her little clothes knowing it's my last baby at that size:(.  I just need to enjoy each stage now while it last! 

1 month pics...

 Layla thought it was pretty cool having matching outfits:).  Having two girls I'm already finding is way too tempting to get them matching things!

 Greta has a little room to grow into her jeggings:). 

 I was just going to get a pic of the girls in their matching outfits, but Gibs wanted to join. Go figure when I want to take his pic, he runs away but when I'm not trying to, he wants to be in it. 

 We at first found that wrapping her in this thing was helping her sleep, but recently she started not wanting it on and kicking her way out of it, so now she just sleeps in a sleep sack.

Bath time!  I don't think this was her first though, second maybe?

 And just a pic of the big kids eating breakfast (just dry cereal--I wouldn't trust Gibs with milk on it while at that table).  I thought it was funny that they both kind of have the same grin.

 Apparently they think they aren't too big for the bouny seats...

 People ask me a lot who she looks like and I have no idea.  I can never tell.  And it's hard to compare her to Layla because Layla at a month still looked very preemie.  When Layla wore the clothes that Greta is now wearing, Layla was 4 or 5 months old.  A 4/5 month old looks very different than a 1 month old!  Here is Greta last week...

And this was the only pic I had of Layla in this same outfit...she was over 5 months here...

I quick found this one of Layla where she has a similar facial expression to Greta. Layla is about 2 1/2 months here and this was Greta last week.  I think they look quite different.

And Gibs at just over a month old...

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:)...