July has flown by and been really slow at the same time! The transition from two to three kids hasn't been easy for me, but I feel like we're finally starting to get into a rhythm. Rowan is a remarkably easy baby. I'm pretty sure that so far he's been my easiest! He is a very sweet baby and the kids seem to really love and accept him. It's just a process learning to keep up with three kids all under the age of four! Edwin has kept busy with work but tries to be around as much as he can and we've had a lot of support from family and friends.
Some days I just shake my head in wonder that we've come all the way from a doctors office with the prognosis that we had a 1% chance of ever having our own kids to this crazy and, for the most part, wonderful life! Three perfect, healthy, beautiful, busy boys. I have no idea how I'm going to keep up with them and I know it's going to fly by and they'll be off on their own before I'll ever be ready, but some days I feel like I should be committed to a mad house! But despite the madness we've still managed to have a lot of fun this month. Before we had him I was determined not to let this new little bundle keep all of us locked inside the house for the entire summer. Turns out he's incredibly easy haul around (so far anyway)!
Here are a bunch of pictures of what we've been up to and a sweet little video at the bottom...
Big Brother's first cuddles with his new toy! Liam loves Rowan so much and I am blessed to see how gentle he is with him. He asks all the time if he can hold him and feed him. If Rowan is crying Liam tries to comfort him. He will sit beside him and "read" books to him, wants to help with bath time, and is always interested to know where Rowan is and what he is doing. So sweet!
Rowan about to get strapped on to Mommy. He'll be spending A LOT of time this way out of necessity :)
Rowan snuggling with Grandpa
During this transition Liam has been a pure delight most of the time. He's still a three year old, but I have really enjoyed his little spirit lately!
Jonah graduating from the Plasma Bike to the Strider. He is a natural at just about anything athletic!
Meeting cousin Irie and getting some much needed cuddle time with Nana. Poor Nana wanted to be spending time with Rowan when he was born and was so excited to finally be near by when one of our babies arrived, and then Irie came down with some sort of flu the night Rowan was born! But she has been able to make up for lost time.
Enjoying a warm evening on the patio with Nana. We finally got a few days of warm weather and really tried to make the most of it by being outside as much as possible.
Irie, Liam and Jonah waiting for Daddy to take his turn on the slip and slide.
Edwin trying to show the littles how its done!
Liam, Morgan, Merritt, Jonah, Lauren and Elliot having a picnic in the back yard watching Edwin mow the field. They were anxiously awaiting a turn on the tractor. Edwin took each of them for a lap around the field and let the steer and work the tractor controls. They loved it!
Our sweet neighbor, Janet, called up and asked if she could take the boys on a hike around our properties and picnic lunch. They had the best time and were talking about it for days! I had a pretty great time without them as well :) They went all over, picked berries, visited her dog and the tree we planted when Liam was born, picked wild flowers, and ate a ton of food. I love our neighbors! We have been so blessed by so many of them. And they all seem to enjoy our kids!
This is seriously what happens to Rowans hair naturally after every bath! It just sticks up in every direction and we have a hard time getting it to lay flat.
Sleepy baby with a mohawk. All natural, I'm not kidding!
Another proud big brother! Though Jonah is not as interested in Rowan as Liam is, he's still pretty interested. He loves to give hugs and is actually pretty gentle. He likes to give him toys, which I have to really watch out for :) And he likes to make an announcement every time Rowan cries, "baby crying, Mama!"
Grandma and Grandpa came back over for ten days to help out with the kids and keep me sane. We started their visit with a belated birthday celebration for grandpa. All they really care about is decorating and eating cupcakes, so it's not too hard to put a celebration together. If anyone thinks their birthday is about them in this house, they're wrong! It's really ALL about the cake!
Nana left some sparklers at our house so we made use of them one evening! You can't really see anything, but I like this picture of everyone :)
Uncle Jeff and Aunt Christine came up to meet Rowan and show off Charlotte. She is the cutest little girl with the longest legs you've ever seen! She'll be a looker, thats for sure!
Could these two cousins look any different? They are actually first cousins!
We decided to take advantage of Grandma and Grandpa's time here to help us to take the kids to the Seattle zoo. Come to find out Grandpa wanted to go to the zoo WAY more than the kids did! I don't know who had more fun :)
And after the zoo we stopped by Dan, Mikki and Ellie's to introduce Rowan. The boys LOVE Ellie and it looks like she has another new fan!
We also made it up to Canada to visit Edwin's cousins. The boys had really been missing all of them. Liam asks about them all the time. We had to wait for Rowan's birth certificate to go up. We had a great day playing on the trampoline, playing in the pool, eating food and catching up!
This is the perfect example of how sweet Liam is with Rowan. He loves his little brother so much and he's so helpful!
