Newborn Love

So my brand new baby is now four weeks old. It's hard to believe, but time goes so quickly once I'm not pregnant. Ruby is such a sweetheart. For reference down the road (after she's colored on my new couch like Dalanie did today) here are some of the things I love most about this stage:
-how they keep there legs pulled in
-their adorable, tiny feet,
-hair on their shoulders and wrinkly skin on their legs
-smothering them in baby lotion and drinking in the smell while rocking them
-how they come out from under the table cloth with milk running out their mouth and a smushed little red nose
-the little smiles when they're sleeping (you know it's from their recent memory of the pre-existence)
-their fresh, little cry
-how they wrap their little fingers around yours
-when they stretch and grunt
-stealing kisses from them when they're hungry and looking for food

Kiss Him Good Bye

My little Dalanie loves to kiss her daddy good bye in the mornings, or anytime he has to go. She doesn't say "kiss." Instead the smacks her lips together, making a kissing sound for the sign. Just the other day, she scolded me. I was busy cleaning up breakfast when Brent slipped out. Oh, was she mad at me. "Mom, Dad [insert kissing sound] no!" This was repeated over and over.
I guess she's taken it upon herself to enforce kiss distribution.

And then today, Brent and Hudson went outside and she was so upset she didn't get her brother kissed before he left.

Anticipation

sprinkling reindeer food on the front lawn

Somewhere Hudson heard the word "anticipate." He skipped around all of Christmas Eve saying "anticipate." I asked him what it meant and he didn't know. When I explained that it was to look forward with excitement, he continued to bounce around saying "anticipate, anticipate." For the two littlest kids, nothing could have described our day before the big event better.

We spent the day delivering the last of our gifts and making a few visits. The excitement in the air was so thick. As the evening approached, we sat down to a nice dinner. Brent and I were drilled with questions about the Big Guy. We decided to track Santa's progress on the internet. Hudson checked it about every minute. He'd run out of the office shouting "He's in Idaho." When I'd look, Santa was somewhere in South America, Bolivia, Argentina, or Uruguay.

The kids acted out the Christmas story as we read from Luke 2. Many times Hudson would tell us how the story went, making sure not to leave out any of the characters. He pulled Dalanie across the rug on the rocking horse and when it was time, we laid Ruby in the manger. Dalanie pulled a baby gift out from under the tree and placed it next to the manger. I was moved to tears and amazed at the kids' knowledge of this most wonderful event, our Savior's birth.

A note was left for Santa, along with cookies and hot chocolate. Reindeer food was sprinkled on the front lawn and a flashlight was tucked into bed along with Hudson. Dalanie was too afraid of "HoHo's" visit, so she slept with us. What a wonderful night of anticipation.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Wishes

May you remember the Babe born so long ago in Bethlehem. He was born into the world in the most of humblest of circumstances, to become our Savior and Redeemer. For this the angels and I sing Joy To The World.

Voice Mail

I'm not very responsible when it comes to my cell phone. I've lost one, ran over another, and bought a lemon. Needless to say, my turnover rate is quite high. My husband has threatened to take it away from me (until I happily agreed during harvest.) I rarely have mine "on" me. At home it spends it's time in my closet and when I remember to take it to town, I usually forget it in the car.

The other day I checked my voice mail. Surprise! I had three new messages.

First one: Mom, what number do you have to have to play a DVD? Thanks, bye.
Second one: Mom, I couldn't find Dad. But then I did. Thanks, bye.
Third one: Why are you always leaving me messages Mom? Bye.

Brent and I have never gotten so many phone calls. Hudson has figured out the speed dial on our home phone.

Cozy

There is generally a lack of sleep with a newborn in the house. I expected and anticipated these sleepless nights. What I didn't count on was that both of my older childrens' sleeping habits suffering as well.
For some reason we've been getting nightly visitors. By morning time there is always another body in bed with us. There have been 5 us in the bed on a few occasions. And the little one said "Roll over."
A king sized bed really should be called "family sized."

Christmas Cards

Finally, for the first time in a long time there was more good mail than bills. Thanks for all of the Christmas cards. We're running a little behind at our house and hope to have some in the mail by Christmas.

Miss Merry Christmas

Sending you some Holiday love.

Good Sport

Dalanie disappeared upstairs. Twenty minutes later, she was hollering down to Brother. "Eat! Brother! Eat!" He complied and even offered the blessing on their water soup. With another sister now, I'm sure this is only the beginning of Brother's tea party career.

Cold Cheek Cure

Things here at our house have been all bundled-up, cozy, and somewhat confined with the newborn. Although I've been doing some Christmas activities with the kids, they've still been a bit out of sorts. (Like major fit throwing, disobedient, and grouchy.) When I ran out to get the mail in the frigid weather, they begged to come out. Fine then. No time to argue with how miserable and cold they'd be.

Brother headed out way under dressed and I bundled Sissy a little better. When we got outside Brother had already found the snow shovel and employed himself in the snow removal business. He said, "It feels good, like service!" Despite the cold air and relatively short stay outside, their cheeks were nice and rosy.The cold, crisp air did something for them and for me. We climbed back inside and ordered up a nice batch of hot chocolate in the CocoaMotion. Mmmmm Good.

One Week's Time

It's amazing how fast things can change. Last week Ruby was still a compact little package, stuffed inside my about-to-explode tummy. She was still referred to as "It" and still making me nauseous.

Now her newborn spots have disappeared and she's a beautiful baby girl. She's a content baby and so sweet. We're all madly in love with her.

Welcoming Ruby

On Tuesday we went into the hospital to have our baby. Labor and delivery went well. At 1:44 pm we welcomed little Ruby Ann into our family, weighing in at 7 lbs 3 oz. It took a bit to get our heads around another girl, as I had done a good job of convincing both of us that she was a boy. But what a welcome surprise! She is so content and calm despite her crazy head of hair. Definitely a show stopper like her older sister.It was fun to bring her home and watch the kids welcome and love her.Hudson was holding her when she loudly filled her pants. Dalanie was eager to help change the diaper (we've been explaining how she can help with diapers). She started unsnapping her outfit with obvious gusto and excitement when all of a sudden she saw her belly button. It all came to a screeching halt, she quickly covered it up and tried doing up the snaps. "Uh oh Mom, uh oh!"

I hardly get a chance to hold the baby because Hudson loves to. It was a special treat when he got to feed her a bottle today. He was in heaven.Don't mind the rug burned nose, he got bucked off Brent last night during our little rodeo.