2 Months Old!

We've entered the beginning of the "fun stage"

... the interactive stage!

Sure, those first two months are definitely some of my favorites, with all of the sleepy snuggles and quiet bonding. (In fact, it's right about this time that I start missing the newborn stage and feeling ready for another baby!) But it's always so exciting when those sleepy little baby dolls become interactive, interesting little characters ... when they make eye contact when you speak to them ... when they smile when you play with them ... when their big eyes follow you across the room as you walk away ... and when they start those first sweet coos of baby babble.

Matthew is normally a serious baby, with a furrowed brow and concerned expression, so those smiles are extra special little gems. I wasn't able to get any smiles from Mr. Serious during our 2-month photo shoot yesterday, but I did capture a few on my iPhone! Enjoy!

The beautiful, preppy blue blanket was handmade just for him by his great-aunt Chris!

And my two favorites....

Tait Jr.: Builder, Big Brother, and All Boy

He asked me to "build tower" with him. He said he wanted a "big tower." And he wanted the Lego man on it too. And he wanted to use all the "Wego's."

So, even though I'm desperately trying to clean the house and fold the laundry in between toddler meals and snacks, diapers changes and potty training, baby feedings, husband helpmeeting, work on one of our new ministry projects, and a million and one other things...

... we did.

And he was proud. So we took a picture to show Daddy, with the tower we built together and the tower he built all by himself.

Little Tait has grown up before my eyes! He's learned to talk (and utilizes his new-found skill quite often), learned to dress himself, learned to somersault.... And yet, it seems like almost yesterday he was in the hospital, struggling just to breathe. On the other hand, somehow it seems like he's always been here with us, that there was never life without him. I guess that's almost true, since we'd only had 6 months of married life before he surprised us 3 months earlier than expected. It's hard to believe that, come November, he'll be 3 years old already!

Just in the last 7 weeks, he's learned to be a big brother, too.

It was note quite 8 months after his due date that his first little brother arrived, and Little Tait and Miles have grown up more like twins than big and little brothers. So, in a way, this is his first experience big-brothering a baby.

Little Tait loves Matthew. Devotedly. He brings him toys, tries to comfort him when he cries ("Happy! Happy, baby!" or a gentle "shhhhh"), and asks to "holdum" at every opportunity. He's learned how to be gentle (well, most of the time)....

He thought the flash in his eyes was "punny" [funny].

He suggests reasons why his little brother might be crying - "Miss Papa? Miss Papa, baby?" (when Papa was out of town recently), "Tummy hurt, Mom?" "Eat, Mom? Wants milk?"

He's fascinated when I lay Matthew on a blanket on the floor and set up books for him to look at; he even recreates the setup for himself later to lie on the blanket and look at books. And he reads books to Matthew, showing him his favorite objects in the Richard Scarry books. "Pickle car, baby?"


He's becoming a wonderful little helper, running lots of little errands for me throughout the day and helping with the care of his younger brothers.

I look forward to what God has in store for this young man as he continues to grow and learn! And I thank Lord that He has entrusted us with the daunting and humbling task of raising and training little arrows for His kingdom!

Why, hello there!

Note the dirt and grime on that grubby, boyish face. : )

6 Weeks Old Today!!!

I can hardly believe it's been 6 weeks since we were introduced to the newest member of our little family! Matthew is turning out to be a little chunk, just like his big brothers! (Chubby babies are, I think, about the sweetest sight in the world!) His weight gain of about 1 1/2 ounces a day since he got back up to his birthweight 5 weeks ago has brought him to nearly 10 pounds!

Since I am now 6 weeks postpartum, I can pick up more than 10 pounds, for the first time in over 5 months! Somehow, these two toddlers of mine seem heavier than they used to be. :D









No smiles yet, but we're enjoying his sleepy smile previews! Looks like he'll be a pretty adorable smiler! : )

- Posted using BlogPress from my Super Handy iPhone

On the Air at 3:00 PST!

We will be going on the air at 3:00 PST (6:00 EST) on Sandra Beck's (of Motherhood Inc.) radio station talking about Little Tait's story and the Little Tait Foundation for Preemie Aid! To listen in, go to the livestream at www.toginet.com. The show is Motherhood Talk Radio, hosted by Sandra Beck, Christy Holly, and Rick Swanson.

We'll also post a link to the recording when it's available.

"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 : )