"Outwitting Future Regrets," by Momma Bug

Analene, over at Momma Bug's Blog, just kindly reminded me in her post today what a blessing these children are. She tells a humorous and witty story of their lunch at a deli with 7 little ones, and shares one old man's biggest regret.

Click on over to Momma Bug's Blog for the whole story!

And to think how many people told me today, on my first shopping trip alone with three little ones 2 and under, "Wow! Two was all I could handle!" Really and truly, it's all worth it.

(Just don't desert our blog for hers;
Analene is a much better blogger than I am. :D)

Boys, Blood, and Staples

It was kind of ironic. We were at the hospital visiting some out-of-town relatives after their appointment, when "it" happened. Miles is known for his unique ability to trip on anything, and is our especially accident-prone one.

I had just told Aunt Chris that, if I wasn't busy nursing Matthew a little distance away from where the boys were playing, and if they hadn't had a kind of rough day cooped up in the car and running errands, I probably wouldn't allow them to climb and play on the bench and footstool in the empty sitting area there. Not 30 seconds later....

He was sitting on a cylindrical wooden footstool/table thingy and somehow fell backwards. Of course there was a handy corner on a nearby table that made contact with the back of his head on the way down, splitting it open nicely.



Since we were already at the hospital, all we had to do was walk across the sky bridge to the emergency room. : )

An hour and 3 staples later, he was as good as new!



I was amazed at how calm he stayed through the whole thing - crying just a couple minutes after he fell, sitting on my lap and crying just a little while as they numbed and stapled him.... Quite a little trooper!

We're thankful there were no internal injuries, and that it was a nice, quick, convenient fix! Something tells me that any future emergency room trips won't be as simple as walking calmly across the sky bridge. ;D

(Many thanks to all of the moms who gave feedback on my last post! I'll be writing a follow-up post soon!)

- Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone

1 Month Old! ... And Some Questions for Moms

Well, my computer is still eating any pictures that get edited, so here are some more iPhone pictures! : )

At one month old, Matthew is 9 pounds, a 2 1/2-pound gain from his 6lb, 9oz birthweight! Probiotics just arrived yesterday for his slightly upset little tummy; hopefully they will help with his small spit-ups, tummy aches, and regular fussiness!

He's a good baby though, and I'm cherishing our special times snuggling together! They don't stay this small for long! I really can't believe he's one month old already! It seems like just yesterday we were discharged from the hospital and brought him home! He's lifting up his head to look around quite a bit, and is quite the strong little guy!

Moms, please see my question for you after the pictures, and respond in a comment if you're able!

Not sure if we've gotten any smiles yet or not, but this is what they'll look like when we start getting them! I love the little sneak-peeks of what babies' smiles will look like!

Question for all moms out there: How have you handled feedings with your newborns? Scheduled? On-demand? A mixture?

I lean more towards scheduling myself. It all makes perfect sense to me in books and on CD, but when it comes to the practical, daily application, there's some kind of breakdown. Matthew had himself on a pretty regular 3-4 hour schedule coming out of the hospital, and we've pretty much just stuck to that. Most of the time, if he's crying less than 3 hours from his last feeding, I'm pretty sure he's not hungry. He almost never eats well when I finally cave and feed him 2 hours from his last feeding. He usually just takes a small snack and goes to sleep.

But if I don't "cave" and give him that little snack to go to sleep, he just sleeps fitfully and cries off and on for quite awhile. But, sometimes he does that even with a snack.... :-/

I'd like to go ahead and get him on a very regular 3-hour schedule (letting him sleep as long as he wants to at night) and see if that helps with the snacking and unpredictability. But what if he eats, is awake for another hour-and-a-half, fusses a little, and then falls sound asleep? Do I really wake him up after just 30-40 minutes to feed him again?

I guess I just get terribly confused over when to follow a schedule, and when to deviate. I want him to have the good, full feedings and the regularity that comes with a schedule, but I don't want to not feed him if he truly does need to eat after 2 hours sometimes. And how do I tell if he needs to?

Any feedback would be appreciated! : )

- Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone

Of Boys, Rocks, and Lakes

I was working on editing these on my computer, but for some reason, every time I edit a photo, my computer moves it to an unspecified and apparently top-secret location that is completely unknown to me. (The recent blogging drought is due, in part, to this, my computer's unlawful usurpation of power....) So, these are the raw, unedited iPhone photos....

It was a cold, somewhat cloudy Alaskan summer day, and we were at a lake for a friend's birthday party. The big boys present were having fun wading in the lake with their boots, and Little Tait of course had to follow right along. I was glad I'd put his boots on before we left the house!

And then ... Miles decided that he wanted to follow the big kids too. No boots on that boy! But the freezing water didn't phase him a bit, and he continued - for nearly an hour! - his new favorite pastime of throwing rocks in the lake, soaking his sleeves above the elbow each
time he bent down for yet another rock from the bottom.

Sometimes, as a mother of three little boys, you have to turn a blind eye to the endless dirt, mud, grime, and impossible stains. ;D

A good friend of ours, Jen, of Visionary Pioneers, brought her camera (now why didn't I think of that?), and caught these much better pictures of our Miles....

Little Tait playing hide-and-seek with his buddy, Coleman

And I just had to post this one too,
of a few of our friends' little girls.
Great job, Jen! This one is just gorgeous!
Completely postcardworthy! : )

Happy Father's Day to Our Daddy!!!

Hi, this is Tait Jr., Miles, and Matthew. We want to tell you about our daddy.

He's the best daddy in the whole world! He takes us exploring outside and teaches us how to fix things with our tools and stuff like that. He even lets us help him sometimes!

On Thursdays, we go to work with Daddy. When he's working at home, our job is to get papers out of the printer for him. That's fun!

Daddy's job is to raise us up to serve God and accomplish great things for Him. We are very thankful for a Daddy who loves us, loves God, and loves our Mommy.

We love you, Daddy!

2 Weeks Old!

...as of Wednesday, but I'm just getting the picture up now...

Matthew is, so far, my best eater and sleeper! Of course, I'm sure a lot of that is because he was full-term (today is his due date, by the way!) and didn't need a NICU stay. After Little Tait came home from the NICU, he ate every 2 hours (if he even made it that long!) for months. And, because of his breathing issues, it took him over an hour to eat! Thankfully, he did have a nice 6+-hour stretch at night fairly early on, which was nice since we were expecting again as soon as we brought him home from the hospital 3 months after his birth. Probably the roughest thing was that he cried almost every waking hour for the first 2 months. It can be hard for them to adjust from NICU life to home life!

Miles also ate about every 2 hours, took a long time to eat, and was up every 4 hours at night for the first 6 months.

So far, Matthew eats every 3-4 hours (4+ hours at night), and only takes 20-30 minutes to eat. Wow. That's easy and manageable! : ) He sleeps well in between feedings, and is pretty happy during his awake times. The hardest thing is that his fussy time is at midnight. Makes for some kind of late nights!

But, you know, as difficult as each of the three boys have been at different points, it's totally worth it, and I'd gladly go through much more than that for the privilege of raising these boys up to serve God and advance His kingdom!

Remind me of that please, when I'm suffering from sleep deprivation, lack of time, and reduced productivity. :D

The background: Little Tait was holding Matthew, when Miles came up to visit. Little Tait had an owie on his hand, and wanted Miles to "tiss it." These boys are too much fun! : )

Our backseat at the moment : )

The New Website!

We're a little late in announcing this here on the blog (there's kind of been a lot going on recently with Matthew's birth!), but the website for the Little Tait Foundation for Preemie Aid is up and running!

We initially introduced this ministry idea back in February, and have been working on getting things in place. The goal of the Little Tait Foundatoin for Preemie Aid is to provide financial support for families of preemies through help from the Body of Christ. The LTFPA seeks to provide a non-government option for like-minded Christian families to cover the costs of the extensive care their preemie receives.

Visit the new website, "like" our facebook page, share on your blog or facebook wall, and let us know of any feedback you might have! Also, if you know of a like-minded Christian family who has a preemie, please let us know! By God's grace, the LTFPA will be able to help!

Visit www.preemiefoundation.com

The First Day: Report

The first morning on my own with the three boys was wonderful! It was so special to be in my own home with my little boys again!

I didn't end up getting quite as much done as I'd planned (surprise, surprise!), but it was a productive day just the same. : ) By the time Tait got back home at 1:00, several loads of laundry were done, the baby was fed, the boys had had lunch, Tait's lunch was waiting for him on the counter, and the two older boys were bathed. Nothing was broken, and only two glasses of water were spilled. :D Then the boys took their naps, I cleaned up the rest of the house and worked on a few other things, had dinner ready by 5:30, and Tait and I worked on some ministry projects after the boys went to bed that evening.

I know every day definitely won't go that smoothly, but it was a nice start to this season of life with three little guys!

About 6 months before Matthew came, I finally felt, for the first time since Tait and I got married, that I could take care of our home and family the way I really wanted to. I could get dinner on the table by 6, keep things neat and clean, help Tait with real estate and our ministry projects, and still have time to complete other projects like filing papers and such. It was a nice feeling. : )

Of course, Matthew just came along, and adding a new baby to the mix complicates things just slightly. I look forward to the challenge, and am confident that, by God's grace, I'll be the best wife and helpmeet to my husband and mother to my three sons that I can be!

My four guys

The First Day

This is my first morning taking care of three little boys 2 1/2 and under all by myself! I'll report later today on how it goes ... if I'm still sane/alive/conscious. ;D

So far, by 9:15, I've fed the newborn (and the daddy and the toddlers) and cleaned up the kitchen (it was fairly messy, since we were gone most of yesterday and had company for dinner the night before). I'm now sitting down for a bowl of oatmeal, pronounced "EPO" by the 2-year-old (with both toddlers on my lap, driving trucks over my face; they've missed their mommy) and, of course, blogging. :D

The goals for the morning: keep everyone safe, fed, alive, and well; finish unpacking our bags from the hospital; clean up the living room; and do several loads of laundry.

Oops, I just looked over and discovered that the 1-year-old, who hopped off of my lap a few minutes ago, has unloaded all of the potatoes from the bag and stacked them in a neat pile on top of the onions. That prolonged silence definitely should have raised my suspicions. ;D

I'll report back later!

1 Week Old!

More later, including more about his birth and name ... and pictures too!

Right now I'm too busy snuggling my newborn (and chasing toddlers and wiping noses and kissing owies...). :D