5 Months

Little Mister, 

You are officially 5 months old.  I. can't. believe. it.  I mean, yeah, I can.  The days have been looonnnnggg but the months have been going by quickly.  We are finally starting to figure out the reasons for your tummy troubles.  Milk is not your friend.  And neither is soy.  You are starting to eat more solid foods and haven't really rejected anything I've given you.  You'll eat green beans and prunes but disliked bananas at first.  You are getting more used to them and don't spit them out like you used to.  

You are getting more animated with your facial expressions.  You absolutely love it when Lauren pushes and pulls you in your walker.  You just smile and giggle and then Lauren starts giggling...I love how you interact with your sister.  You two are fun to watch.  You are learning how to use your arms and hands more.  You reach for toys and pull them to your mouth, and you like to reach up and touch our faces.  You love to grab my hair but your sister doesn't so much love it when you grab hers.  So... could you work on that please?  You got her good twice today.  Hilarious (but not to her)!

You hate to be on your tummy.  I put you on your tummy to play and you quickly roll to your back.  You definitely have mastered that skill.  You still haven't rolled from your back to your tummy...maybe we need to work on this?  But maybe you will just skip that step...

(here are a few pictures of me trying to capture him on his tummy)

Up on his arms for literally five seconds...

going down...

(notice Lauren trying to stop him from rolling over, ha!)

Okay, try this again.

going down.

Up.

Down. 

Oh look...my foot, how long have I had this?  Has this been attached to my leg all this time?  Foot, you are way more interesting than this picture taking stuff.  

Oh, and Mr. Lleyton...one more thing we need to work on.  I need some more sleep for my survival.  So I really need you to need more sleep for your survival.  This getting up multiple times a night is cramping my style.  Coffee and naps are my best friend.  I do need to give you credit though...you were getting up every hour and a half and now you are only up like three times a night.  But still, your sister spoiled me like none other sleeping through the night at 7 weeks.  So, lets work on this together now.  Okay... ready... go!

Runnin' with the Big Dogs

Yes, it has been four months since I've blogged.
Yes, I have been extremely busy lovin' on my two three little loves (okay my husband counts too but he's not little :)
Yes, I've updated my blog to tell you this little story:

Today Lauren and I went to the park to play with some friends from church.  Well, apparently, so did about 75 middle schoolers.  Well, maybe 5th graders?  I'm not exactly sure how old they were but they decided to take over the park.  Lauren has always loved playing with "big kids."  She would rather play with the big kids than with kids her own age.  I don't know... is that weird?  Maybe it is because they can pick her up, spin her around, and will follow her any where she wants to go.  She was enjoying the slides when about 20 middle schoolers invaded the play ground equipment.  I was getting nervous because I kept losing her in all the bodies.  That's when she found Katie.  Katie was sitting on the playground with her friend talking and Lauren walked up to her grabbed her hand and made Katie go down the slide with her.  Katie kept escaping back to her friend who was still sitting in the same location where Lauren found them and every time Lauren would find her, grab her hand and make her play.  This happened like three times before Katie gave up escaping and just played with her.

I captured two pictures with my phone of sweet little Katie pushing Lauren on the swings.  Any of my Indianola friends know this girl?  If so, let me know... She'd make a good babysitter one day.  :)

Yes, I am a bit freaked out about the fact that Lauren knows no stranger.
Any tips on how to explain to your two year old that not everybody is a friend?
And yes, I hope Lauren continues to be outgoing and make friends easily.  I just pray she will be able to discern the good people from the bad.  We're doing good so far.  :)

Lleyton's Birth Day

He's Here!

Lleyton Clark Gurwell 

Born December 28, 2011 at 1:51pm

8lbs 13.6oz

21 inches long

He was born two days before his due date.

Moments after he was born.  

Big boy!  His size was definitely a shocker!  A couple hours before he was born the doctor guessed him weighing about 7.5 lbs.  But he was much bigger than expected and MUCH bigger than his sister.  Lauren weighed 7lbs 1oz and was 19 inches long.  Lleyton was two inches longer and almost two pounds bigger than her.  It's crazy how pregnancies are so different.  With Lauren (who was born in week 38) I gained more weight and she weighed less.  Lleyton was almost 40 weeks and obviously bigger but I gained 10 less pounds during the pregnancy.  Crazy how these things work.

Lauren checking out her new brother 

Lauren was very unsure about the whole situation.  Everything about the hospital made her nervous.  Mommy and daddy in this strange room...Mommy laying in a hospital bed... new baby brother.

She quickly warmed up to the idea of a new sibling.  Lauren LOVES her brother and wants to hold him and kiss him ALL the time and is constantly asking about baby.  "Where baby?  What baby doin?"  She makes sure that when we go bye-bye that the baby is coming with us.  The first thing she does when she wakes up in the morning is kiss her baby.  She loves "helping" with diaper changes and is sure to tell us when "baby cryin or baby sleepin."  We are working on sharing Mommy and Daddy but she is doing wonderful and adjusting quickly. 

I was originally scheduled to be induced on December 28th but at my appointment on the 27th I learned that the 28th already was booked with inductions and was just too busy of a day for a "perfect" person like me.  And by perfect they mean, no good reason to induce.  No high blood pressure, no proteins in my urine, good weight, healthy baby.  And although I was very thankful to not have any medical condition to be induced I was bummed because I had been looking forward to meeting our baby boy on the 28th.  So, per the doctors recommendation I scheduled an induction on the 30th.  So, the 30th it will be.

Well, at 7:00 in the morning on Wednesday the 28th my doctor called and told me that 3 of his 4 inductions had already had their babies so if I wanted today could be the day.  Ahh what?  Are you serious?  I'm not ready for today, my mind is ready for Friday not Wednesday.  Well, I quickly wrapped my mind around the idea of having a baby that day and off to the hospital we went.

Everything happened super fast, completely different than my labor with Lauren.  We arrived at the hospital and they broke my water around 9am...and Nick and I walked, and walked, and walked the halls until I couldn't walk any longer because my contractions were so strong.  I really wanted some pain relief but was nervous about getting an epidural since the one I got with Lauren didn't work.  Well, I got one, I caved and am so thankful I did!  I got my epidural about 11:30am and was 6cm dilated...at 1pm they came back in to check me and I was still 6cm dilated.  I'm thinking, "Oh great, its going to be 6pm before this baby is born, I haven't dilated at all in an hour and a half!"  But how wrong I was!  This is where things started happening SUPER fast.  At 1:30pm I was feeling A LOT of pain so I had Nick call my nurse.  I assumed my epidural stopped working...WRONG!  The nurse came in and I was 10cm and ready to push.  Are you serious?  I went from 6cm to 10cm in 30 mins?  Holy cow.  Here we go.  I pushed for 15-20 minutes and he was born at 1:51pm.  I guess its true the second baby is much faster.  Well, in my case anyway.

We are so excited to welcome Lleyton into our lives.  He is a perfect and a wonderful addition to our family, we are so blessed!  

Sextuplets

Around our home we have been trying to prepare Lauren for the arrival of her baby brother, as much as you can prepare a toddler for a new sibling.  We talk about the baby in Mommy's tummy and we volunteer in the church nursery once a month to get Lauren used to the idea of mommy holding a baby other than her.  She LOVES babies!  When the babies are sitting in their car seats or bouncy seat and start to get fussy she is always quick to run over and help.  "Mommy, I rock" she says..which means she wants to help "rock" them to calm down.  So, as gently as a two year old can, tips the car seat or bouncy seat back and forth to rock it. She loves to hug and kiss them...and even held her cousin Xenia when she was only a few weeks old.  Thankfully when she sees me holding a baby it doesn't really bother her anymore.

Because of her love for babies we have been playing with baby dolls A LOT.  Daddy is the professional baby wrapper as we like to call it.  He can swaddle those baby dolls so tight that Lauren can't get the blankets off.  Ha!  I don't even come close to his professional wrapping services.  My blankets always fall off....gotta keep that guy around!  He's a good daddy!
She likes to give her babies pacifiers, change their diapers, and say, "shhh, shh, shhh" when one of them is crying.  Also, as you'll see in the pictures below...the shopping cart has become the stroller.  It can hold five swaddled babies and sometimes six.  We joke around that she had sextuplets overnight.  haha!  She will make a great little mommy big sister.  

Pinterest Fail

A couple weeks ago I decided to figure out what the hype was all about and joined the wonderful world of Pinterest.  I can't really explain it to you....but people post their favorite things like recipes, photos, crafts, DIY projects, etc.  Many of my friends find it addicting...I wouldn't say I have the hang of it enough to become an addict but I do find it rather enjoyable.  If you haven't jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon, do it!  It has been very helpful for my non-creative, non-imaginative mind especially when it comes to decorating our home and finding crafts to do with Lauren.  We have lived in our house three years and don't have much decor on the walls.  Mainly because I have no idea where to put things and we have a small house (which I am very thankful for) but no storage space...and I have a phobia problem with clutter.  i.hate.it. and if something I may decorate with might clutter our house I just don't do it.  I probably throw away and give away things I shouldn't just so I don't have to deal with the mess.  Yes, my name is Crystal, I'm a minimalist and I have a problem.  :)

Also, these days Lauren is becoming more and more interested in coloring and playing with play doh.  One of the recipes I found was how-to make play doh from scratch.  I remember my mom making play doh when I was a child but never had a recipe to do it myself.  Now I do!  I'm super excited to make it and play with Lauren and see if she eats it as much as I did.  Ha!  We haven't made any crafts we found on Pinterest yet but with the arctic winter fast approaching we should have plenty to do once the snow falls.

One of the projects I found was a tutorial on how to make a scarf out of an old t-shirt.  I am definitely not crafty.  It is in my genes, my aunt owns her own quilting business and I have a cousin who can make shoes out of a plastic bag (serious!) but the "crafty" gene did not get passed down to me.  I am kind of bitter about it but when I saw this project I knew it was something I could do.  I thought.  Well, anyway, this is what it was supposed to look like.  

....and this is what mine looked like (at least the model is cute)

Turns out, you need to use a t-shirt that's not 100% cotton.  must.read.the.fine.print.comment section.

Ah well, I ended up throwing everything away...I'll try again when I find a tshirt (that's not 100% cotton).  At least I didn't waste any money.  So if any of you have an old tshirt (size large, not 100% cotton) you want to donate to the cause I'd much appreciate it (we obviously don't have any).  

Don't you think this crazy little nugget would look so cute in a DIY fashion scarf?  I do!

  

Pumpkin Patch

 Yesterday we did one of our favorite fall family festivities... Say that 3 times fast!  We met up with my husband's family at Howell's Pumpkin Patch and Lauren enjoyed spending time with her Papa, Grandma, Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins.  I'll let the pictures do the talking... (beware for picture overload).

Lauren road horse statues 

..and horse tire swings

...and real big horses ponies.

Lauren and Sugar, her pony. 

 Rubber Duck Races

Playing in the corn pool

Lauren and her cousin Miller feeding goats

We tried to get a picture of the four cousins but trying to photograph four kids is not so easy.  You would have three of them looking and one of them turned around playing with the hay.

We basically just said, "Ok, just stand here for two seconds and look this way." ha!  This is the best picture I got.  

Miller, Maleah, Lauren, and Keegan

Riding a hay rack ride to go pick out our pumpkins.  

We weren't even moving yet and Lauren was fa-reaked out!  

She cried and clung to Nick the entire way, until she saw some cows.  Then everything was a o.k. 

Man that girl has a love for cows!

...on a mission to go find us some pumpkins!

All done picking out pumpkins and getting ready to take the hay rack ride back.

"Mommy, some things at this pumpkin patch are scary."

Lauren and the pumpkin she picked

Sweet cousins, Maleah and Lauren

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch.  Thanks for inviting us to go along with you Papa and Grandma.  I will leave you with this funny picture and story..

This is Keegan (he's 4) and his pony Ginger.  

The man in the overalls was operating the pony rides and walked along side Keegan's pony.  While they were walking around the circle the man in the overalls says to Keegan, "What's your name?" 

"My name is Keegan, what's your name?" 

The man says, "They call me Grandpa Jim."

...and Keegan replies, "My Mommy goes to the gym."

Bahahahaha!  Kids say the darndest things, don't they? 

Apple Orchard

 So did you know I love fall?  Well, I do.  I really really do!  One of the things we enjoy doing as a family is visiting the Apple Orchard.  It's about a 45 minute drive from where we live but it's totally worth it.  There is so much for little kids to do there.  By far the thing Lauren enjoyed the most was petting the animals.  There was horses, goats, turkeys, chickens, and pigs but mainly she liked the goats.  Actually, she looovved them!  I'm pretty sure she would have brought one home if we let her.

She carefully fed one tiny piece of corn to each of them

...and sometimes her fingers.  

Daddy trying to teach her to open up her hand so they can eat more than one piece of corn.

There was also lots of places like this to take your picture...and this was the only one we could get her to cooperate in.  Ha!

Bull Riding 

Playing in the corn pool

And the best picture award of the day goes too.....

The giant slide was definitely STEEP.  Mommy freaking out steep!  Nick kept telling me, "Crystal, it's not that high once you get up there."  Yah right!!  And Lauren did end up loving it.  Well, the first time when she didn't know what was coming.  The second time around she started bawling before Nick made it all the way up this hill.  ha!  

The last thing we did was jump on this ginormous trampoline.  Lauren was really unsure about the whole thing.  Probably a combination of the scary slide + it being lunch time + really close to nap time.  

...and the reason I enjoy the Apple Orchard...freshly picked Iowa apples.  Now, off to make apple crisp...