Sweet Baby Girl

Yesterday, Mom and I took turns rocking Emma while her Mommy and Daddy went home to rest a bit. She will be in the hospital until Monday. Her blood sugar is finally leveling out, she has her IV out, as of today, and they are just watching her really close to make sure everything stays where it should.

She was wide awake for a bit before her bottle yesterday.


Getting ready for the Hawkeyes! Daddy was so proud of her!

Grandpa's so Funny!

Crazy Boys

Oatmeal

Eli cannot say oatmeal. Really. He cannot say that word. Ben and I wouldn't know what he is saying if we didn't know his own word for it. It is funny. I can't type what he says. I am not sure how to spell it.....But, here it is................

Sleeping Beauty

I got to meet Emma last night. She is even more beautiful in person! She is just perfect in every way...She has a head of thick, long hair and long legs, fingers and toes. She is just absolutely gorgeous! The boys didn't get to see her and they were very disappointed. She is in the NICU right now because she was having trouble with low blood sugar. She was doing fine, they just had her on IVs and monitoring her. She may have to spend an extra day at the hospital. I haven't heard an update today.

Welcome to the family, Emma!

My brother, David, and his wife welcomed Emma Therese Daisy Lennard into their lives early this morning. I think she is just the most beautiful baby girl ever!! I am so excited to have a niece and so excited for the boys to have a cousin on the Lennard side. It is going to be so much fun watching them with her. I can't wait to meet her tonight and take tons of pictures...cause that's what a I do.

My Boys

Sweet Dreams

Ten Tiny Fingers

Ten Tiny Toes

One Precious Baby

There is something about a sleeping baby, isn't there?

ZEKE RIAN KALAINOFF

I had a free book from Shutterfly. I didn't have a lot of time to put anything together before it expired, so I used the pictures from Zeke's first few days. I just got it done and it is on its way to our house. I can't wait to see it in person....I get choked up just looking at it online!

Click here to view this photo book larger

First Football Game

Evan had his first football game this afternoon. It was pretty cute to watch. They have a lot to learn, but they sure had fun playing like the big boys do!

Eli has taken quite an interest in Zeke lately. He has been asking to hold him more often. I figured I probably better let them because some day very soon, Zeke is going to be bigger than Eli! He is built so much different than Eli and I have a feeling he may be passing him by!

Baby Einstein

Zeke loves to watch his Baby Einstein video....

I love to watch his face. He gets so excited!

Clean Dirt

It has been cloudy and rainy all day. Because of that, the boys have been stuck inside. Tonight, Eli decided that he was going to go outside. He told me:

"I'm gonna go outside, Mom. Don't worry, I won't play in the dirt. Well...if I do, I'll just play in the clean dirt."

Good idea, Eli! I am amazed at how his (almost) 3 year old brain works. I am in denial that he is turning 3 years old in 2 weeks!

Moments

There are moments, while raising kids, that Ben and I question whether or not we are doing the right things. If what we work so hard at doing is going to pay off. We try so hard to raise loving and respectful boys. We wonder how they will ever turn into the loving and respectful men we want them to be. Lately, we have questioned our parenting skills A LOT! The kids have been fighting nonstop....they have been VERY challenging. Eli is a challenge, as he is in transition again. He is not a baby, yet not quite big enough to do the things he thinks he can do.

But then....

There are moments.....

Moments that make your heart jump a beat.
Moments that let you know that your hard work is paying off.
Moments that you know you can't possibly screw them up too bad.
Moments that you know, everything is going to be alright.

Last night, I had one of those moments.

Eli was playing on the chair and ottoman. I had told him it was dangerous. I told him he was going to get hurt. He ignored me, because sometimes, those daredevil, boy instincts take over and it is hard to hear anything else. He ended up falling and smacking the back of his head. I scooped him up and cuddled him. I didn't notice, but both Evan and Isaac took off running. I wasn't paying attention to where they were going. Evan ran to Ben and My bedroom, and Isaac took off the other way to his room. Both came back at the same time. Evan had Eli's blankie in hands and Isaac had gotten him one of his special stuffed animals. They were there to comfort him....

That was the moment.
The moment that I was reminded that we ARE raising loving, caring, and respectful boys.
The moment that I was reminded that these boys ARE going to grow up to be loving and respectful men.
The moment I remembered that everything IS going to be alright.

Sweet Baby

Zeke is going to be mobile very soon. He is starting to roll everytime we lay him on the floor. When he is on his back, he immediately rolls to his tummy and he has just started putting his butt up in the air and launching himself forward. Apparently when the memo that says he needs to stay a baby was sent out, he was not listening.

Zeke 4 months

"Cleaning your house while the kids are growing is like shoveling the walk before it's done snowing"

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

I really don't have much to say. The pictures explain it better....I can say, no one was injured while the 4 month old baby was being arrested.