Three Weeks Old.

Observations about Three Weeks Old.

You gurgle, and grunt. And you growl. It’s like having a baby dinosaur.

You smile a lot in your sleep. And you are very serious while you are awake.
You must be checking things out.

Every time you fall asleep I want to get the camera out.

Even though you cry, it’s not that heartbreaking. It’s kind of cute.

(Not that we want you to cry. )

Taking care of a newborn is hard. And we are tired, and goofy.

And I have so much love for everyone who has been helping us along the way!

And we all giggled when you peed on Mommy.

Super Saturday.

The two Big E’s used to have one night a week that we let them cuddle and sleep in our room, if they could do a good job going to bed all the other nights.
Of course now that we have a Little E there is a little less room
and we just had to make other plans.

Our brilliant substitute – let them sleep on the pullout couch.
It doesn’t sound too exciting, until you add a plastic cup with a crazy straw and call it Super Saturday! That’s good marketing. And so far they love it…

The New Photographer

I mentioned that Miss E likes to take pictures of Baby E.

First she started out taking pictures of her baby doll.

(Who she renamed after Baby E.)

Then she sat and took lots of Baby E.

She would wait for him to do something new, and then snap another.
"Mommy, he moved!"
Eventually she would lean close and make a noise...

to encourage new poses.
There is a new photographer in town, and I hope she doesn’t break my camera.

Getting to Know Baby E

Getting to know our new guy!

He is a such a kissable and sweet addition to our family.

The first thing in the morning Big E and Miss E come check on him.

We all enjoy cuddling our warm little bundle!

Miss E likes to hold him,

take pictures of him, and especially to help change him.

Big E likes to be Mom's Helper.

He is learning to be more independent and thoughtful.

Especially when I am occupied with the little guy!

It already is hard to remember life without our Baby E.
(just two kids? just two carseats? eating a meal with both hands free?)

It's been some long nights and tired days too.

But we know how fast it goes, and how special these days are!

Easter

there was a slug on that one.

Baby E

Baby “E” has arrived!

Tuesday night, April 7th at 5.36 pm, 8 lbs and 20 1/4 inches long!

When we were in early labor, we noticed “Baby Dreewes” had a heartbeat that didn’t sound the same as usual. (Keeping an eye on it through the labor was a challenge because he loves to turn, wiggle and move.) Since it hadn’t cleared up by the time he was born and was still unpredictably irregular the pediatricians decided to move him upstairs to the NICU for monitoring.

Billy went with Baby E and I stayed downstairs to recover and rest from labor. After a while, the nurses brought me upstairs as well, and I was able to visit Dad and the brand new Little E. I spent a lot of time between both rooms, especially in the night when he was hungry. (Blessed with great nurses in both departments!)

After 24 hours of watching his heartrate, oxygen levels (and other mysterious machines), and giving him several tests, they sent in all the results to the experts at Children’s Hospital. After all was observed and discussed they allowed us to unhook our little guy and go home!

(He was doing so well in every other category and the irregularity was not increasing his heart rate or getting worse.)

The end result is :

Baby E's funny heartbeat is not something we are worried about.
It is still irregular, and we have been advised that if it does not clear up in 2-4 weeks we will go for a check up at Children’s.

So all is well, and we are happy to be at home with our sweet guy!

Eggs

Big E was shocked that we were going to eat our Easter Eggs.

He wanted to save his "forever!"

We settled on documenting them.

My mom also came to the rescue,

with blown out eggshells to dye.

Which could last a long time.

(but Miss E already tried to put hers into her pocket...)

And now she's FOUR

Little Miss E's Birthday

This year we didn't plan any party, just waiting on that baby brother.

We just had an easy (and fun) day.

Making Cake.

Dressing like a Princess.

Opening Presents.

Drinking Pink Punch.

Still pregnant!