Trampoline

 When we got home from the hospital with Parks, Drew spent two days digging a big hole to put our trampoline in the ground. This kind of physical labor is not very common for him these days, so he was pretty much dead after those two days but of course he wasn't about to stop in the middle of the project. :) We all LOVE having the trampoline in the ground! I thought it would be fun to get a picture of all of us jumping on the trampoline together, but that ended up being much harder than I had imagined. For the most part we could only get one person in the air at a time. It was really fun and funny to try though. Darcy laughed so hard the whole time.

 

Compare

 Yesterday I had to take the traditional picture of Parks looking over Drew's shoulder like we have of Darcy and Ezra. I wish the pictures were more similar in lighting and the baby's pose. If they were you would see just how very much Parks and Ezra look alike, and Darcy isn't far off either. You can see from these pictures how my equipment and maybe my skills/knowledge of how a camera works have improved. We love our three sweet babies, all of whom have very kissable cheeks!

1 Month

Parks is one month old! We have certainly had our ups and downs since he was born, but we are so happy that he is here and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

Some things we want to remember about Parks at one month:

-11.9 lbs. 22 inches. Gaining weight nicely considering all of our nursing issues.

- He has started making the most adorable cooing sounds.

- He has a serious set of lungs and uses them often. He adds a high pitched scream into his cry regularly.

- We have had nursing issues. LOTS of pain for me. I have seen a lactation consultant a number of times and tried all sorts of different gadgets and tricks. At this point he gets pumped milk in a bottle most of the time. Lots of people have said that six weeks can be the magic age for nursing so we are shooting for that. I will forever be more sympathetic to anyone who has had or will have nursing issues. On top of the sleep deprivation, trying to figure out what exactly this new little person wants/needs, and trying to take care of my other two kids, having problems with nursing is so very hard.

- He was really tongue and lip tied. A lactation consultant told us that was probably our nursing issue so we had both clipped. The doctor seemed shocked about how tight the bands were. Drew stayed in the room with him for the procedure, but I went far enough away that I couldn't hear him cry. I still cried with him when I saw him after they were done though. We were really crossing our fingers that that would do the trick, but alas, no miracle cure there.

- His eyes are getting to be a brighter blue every day, and I can see a hint of blonde coming through at his roots already.

- He is VERY loved/mauled by Darcy and Ezra a million times a day. Unfortunately he seems to be getting sick of it.

- The skin on his face and scalp have broken out in the past few days. I know this can be normal, but it was Ezra's first symptom with his crazy milk allergy, so I am freaking out a bit that Parks could have that allergy too.

- Speaking of Ezra...I think Parks looks exactly like him! When I go to say his name I call him Ezra a lot of the time. Maybe that is just part of motherhood though. I feel a bit like I have lost my brain since we have added a third baby to the mix.

Easter

Despite the fact that Drew and I are walking around like zombies these days from lack of sleep, we managed to have a really nice Easter. We went to church in Mattawa and took Parks for the first time. My mom is the new choir director in their ward and I was determined to go hear their musical numbers. That ward has gotten much smaller since I was a kid, but the choir is still going strong. It continues to be one of the best ward choirs I have ever heard. I loved the Spirit that that beautiful music, along with some really wonderful talks, brought to our Easter Sunday and I was grateful we were all feeling up to going back to our meetings. I am grateful for my Savior and the atonement, and I am grateful for the chance we have each Easter to focus on that.

On Saturday we dyed eggs at my parents' house. We planned on hunting them that day, but it was so windy. So we ended up having an Easter egg hunt at both grandparents' houses after church on Sunday.

Just like all the other holidays, Darcy was excited about the Easter activities. She was anxious to get to the egg dying and kept at it until all the eggs were finished.

Ezra was more into the egg dying than I was expecting. He is really a pretty meticulous little man and for the most part he followed his instructions carefully. He was so gentle when he put each egg down into the cup of dye.

I really kind of wish he wasn't quite so into it though, because he lasted a long time and a two year old boy can only be so careful for so long. By the end his little hand was a whole new color.

It is so fun to have these little guys getting old enough to get in on the holiday activities. Look at those long eye lashes!

Parks started to cry while I was busy helping the kids dye eggs and my dad scooped him up and kept him happy so I could keep finish up.

My dad brought Parks over to check out all the action.

Drew taking a turn with the little guy.

We love that Matthew and Ezra are playing together more and more. They both love cars and they were playing with their cars and this fence together for a while when they had had enough of dying eggs.

 

Sunday morning we got up bright and early with the baby so we were ready for church early enough for Drew to ready Darcy one of Grandma's Bernstein Bear books.

We also ran outside and took some pictures of Darcy and Ezra in their Easter clothes. We were only out there for a couple minutes, but I ended up with so many pictures that I absolutely love!

They did all the posing themselves.



Drew's mom's side of the family along with his dad's parents got together for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. We love their company so much. I was so completely exhausted and ended up crashing on the kids' bed upstairs while I was making it which unfortunately meant I missed the end of the party. I always hate missing out on family time, so I was fighting it. I wouldn't have survived the rest of that day without that nap though. This Grandma Becky giving the kids their golden egg instructions right before the hunt.



The kids with their loot

This lovely fuzzy picture is the only one I have at the hunt at my parents' house because my battery died on my camera right after this unfortunately.