Nothing Much Going On Here...

Just life with three boys. Jake's getting cuter each day, Drew is quite possibly getting more ornery each day, and Zach's just being Zach. Jake's arrival had meant that Zach and Drew both have had to work on gaining a little more independence. Drew has been working on figuring out how to do things like put on his own underwear and pants, get his own shoes and jacket on when it's time to go somewhere, go potty and wash hands all by himself, etc. One of Zach's new things is getting his own breakfast in the morning (mostly just on mornings when I'm busy nursing Jake or something) and helping Drew out when necessary. On Saturday morning Mike was at a meeting and I got a phone call, so I headed upstairs where I could hear better. Zach and Drew were playing on the main level. After a little while, I heard the toilet flush, and then Zach and Drew came upstairs to show me how Drew had his pants on his head. They were just being silly. When I hung up the phone a few minutes later, I found out that Drew had pooped, and since he's not real proficient with all things that go with going potty/poop (getting pants on and snapped/zipped, wiping, reaching the faucet and drying his hands, etc.), Zach had helped him wipe, get his pants back on, and wash and dry his hands. And all of this was done while I was on the phone and hadn't even asked Zach to help. I spend so much time with these boys, and lately, in my somewhat sleep-deprived state, my patience isn't always great, and I get pretty frustrated with them. However that whole bathroom situation was one of those moments that makes me so proud as a mom- to have the boys work together like that and have Zach just step up and do something nice to help his little brother. This afternoon I was nursing Jake and Drew had to potty, and Zach went into the bathroom for something and came back to me and said, "Mom! Drew got his underwear and his pants back on all by himself, so I'm going to give him two pieces of money for doing that! He did so great!" I love that Zach was excited about Drew's success.

Drew has been somewhat of a pill lately, something I attribute to both his personality and the fact that he is about a month shy of turning 3. I don't know why they're called the terrible two's- it should be the terrible three's, I think. Drew just continues to be very stubborn, and he definitely knows what he wants and how he wants it, and if it isn't done that way, he'll let you know how unhappy he is about it. We've checked out books from the library like Bossy Bear, The Very Grumpy Bear, and The Very Grouchy Ladybug, among others, so we can talk about being nice and behaviors that are okay and those that are not. We also have been talking a lot about using a calm voice to express himself instead of screaming or yelling. Hopefully after enough of these talks it will all sink in. The other night one of my friends (that Drew doesn't know very well) tried to talk to him, and he said, "I don't feel like talking right now. Talking is boring." A little rude, but I'm just glad he didn't yell it at her! Today was a great day with no yelling, I think, but it helped that he was at Grandma Linda's for most of the day! :-)

On the positive side, Drew is still Mr. Imagination. Most of the time I'm still called Mater, but lately we have lots of different characters that we play. In a span of an hour or two, we might play any combination of Cars (the movie), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (the T.V. show), Bob The Builder (another T.V. show), Toy Story (the movie), or The Muppets. So I go from being Mater (Cars) to Daisy Duck, to Wendy (Bob the Builder), to Jessie (Toy Story), to Miss Piggy. Mike, Zach, and Jake all have characters in each fantasy as well. Drew is generally the main character in each one, and he makes sure to ask anybody who talks to him to please call him _______. It can be pretty funny, but sometimes I get confused as to which fantasy we're in each time.

Jake's doing well with sleeping; some nights I get 4 or 5 hours straight and then a couple more hours after that. I'm trying to put him in the bassinet more than the swing now so that he gets used to sleeping flat on his back rather than all curled up. He's smiling lots and having more awake time, too. I had him weighed yesterday and he was 11 lbs. 10.6 oz. No idea what percentile that is or anything, but it seems like he's gaining weight well. He will be 7 weeks old on Friday, so in just a couple more weeks he'll have his 2 month check-up already!

Now basically just a bunch of pictures.

Jake just hanging out, wide awake.

Drew enjoying some tea. I just think he looks so cute drinking from his little mug.

Tummy time!

Cashed out in the car seat, until I buckled him in. He really doesn't love that car seat.

Jake really likes his activity gym. Zach loves to lay under there with him and talk to him. He's a very attentive big brother.

Some sweet snuggles from Zach. This may be what has surprised me most about having another baby. I didn't expect Zach to be so enamored by a new brother or sister.

Foudy thinks the activity gym is for her benefit, too.

We had a little pizza party with our friends BJ, Susan, and their kids Anna (on the left) and Lucy (between Zach and Drew). It was lots of fun.

Mike and Zach tried giving Jake his first bottle on Saturday afternoon. It didn't go very well; he took less than an ounce. Mike tried again with a different bottle on Sunday morning, and that time Jake did much better. We'll have to keep trying that every now and then.

Jake and I tried out a new position in the Moby Wrap. He looks pretty cute here, I think.

Snugglin' with Dad.

Jake was so happy this morning. I was glad I had my phone nearby to take some pictures of his great smiles.

Then this afternoon he was totally cashed out.

He had more smiles tonight, but we missed them with the good camera. We did get this cute picture, though.

That's it for now. It is way past my bedtime!

Not Much of a Challenge, I Guess

So all of you who posted your guesses for my little Who's Who post were correct. The first one is Jake, the second is Zach, and the third one is Drew. I should have posted those photos before the previous post, which had Jake's bath picture, too. I definitely see a resemblance between all three boys, but the strongest resemblance is between Zach and Jake.

Good job with the guesses!

Can You Tell Who is Who? A Challenge

Here are pictures of all three boys in their first tub baths, at around 2 weeks of age. Can you tell which is Zach, which is Drew, and which is Jake? Leave your guess as a comment, and I'll post the answers in a few days!

#1:

#2:

#3:

One Month Old Already!

Jake is now one month old. That means I am one month closer to sleeping more than 3 hours in a row at night. That's the way I have to look at it, or I will get depressed. Jake continues to be a very good baby. I would say the only time he's fussy is when he is tired, hungry, or needs to poop or burp. Oh, and when he's in his car seat, which he doesn't like too much. He just doesn't seem to cry for no reason, and he's usually pretty easy to calm down. I should maybe knock on wood, since he is only one month old- maybe this all will change. I don't know, though. When I was pregnant with Jake and would hear his heart beat at the doctor's office, it was always very slow- like in the 120's or 130's. Many times the various doctors commented on how laid back of a baby he must be, and so far that's been true. I do wish he'd sleep in longer segments, but I feel like I'm dealing with the lack of sleep much better this time than I did when Drew was a baby.

One day last week I fed Jake around 5:30 in the morning. By the time he was done, I decided I'd better just get up and get showered. So I just laid Jake on my bed (don't worry, he's nowhere close to rolling over) while I showered. He was sleeping peacefully while the boys and I ate breakfast, but I heard him fuss just a little, so I went up to check on him. Sleeping peacefully again, but I could see why he had been fussing. Looks like he had a little bit of spit-up.

Thankfully he doesn't normally spit up a whole lot. A little here and there after eating, but that's it. I hope that stays the same, too!

Sometimes Jake just falls asleep wherever. Maybe he'll be like his Aunt Becky and be the kid who always sleeps in the car and just falls asleep really easily. Here he was one day before he and I went down the street to visit our neighbors.

And yesterday he was laying on his back and I decided to flip him over for some tummy time. He was out in about 2 minutes.

Again, don't worry, I don't put him to sleep on his tummy- always on his back. The boys and I were just there in the kitchen, eating lunch, and Jake took a tiny snooze on this blanket for about 20 minutes. Drew and Zach laid down next to Jake to talk to him while he slept. I only was able to get a decent picture of Drew and Jake, though. So sweet.

Speaking of Drew, I've decided that since he is almost three, it's time for him to start helping out around the house. He chose vacuuming as his new chore. Works for me!

We think Jake started smiling on Saturday. If you asked Zach, he'd say Jake's been smiling at him and his Star Wars figures since about day 1. He of course does the little smiles in his sleep, but on Saturday Mike and Zach were singing to him and he got a huge, open-mouth smile. I feel like 4 weeks is a little early for a real smile, but maybe not. Since then we've gotten the same reaction maybe two more times, but I'm still waiting for it to be more consistent for me to be really convinced. I tried to get a picture, but this was the best I could do.

Sunday was a big day- Jake got baptized! We asked Mike's little sister Katherine to be Jake's Godmother, and she left for a semester in England yesterday, so we knew we either had to squeeze the baptism in before Jan. 10 or wait until she's back in late June. We decided to hurry up and get it done, and I'm glad we did.

Here we are at church in front of the baptismal font.

One proud aunt/Godmother with her youngest nephew.

Here I am with a nice fake smile. The baptism was supposed to be following the 11:00 service, and we took pictures after the 11:00 service at the baptismal font. In this picture I'm probably thinking to myself, "Where are the other families with babies being baptized? What minister is doing this baptism, and where is he/she? Are we supposed to be somewhere else?"

So then we saw one of the church pastors walking around, so I had Mike go ask him if we were in the right place, and it turned out we weren't. We were supposed to be in the chapel for the baptism. So we hurried in there and were greeted by Pastor Caroline with, "You must be the Burggraafs?" How embarrassing! However, in my defense, the 11:00 service is in the big worship center (where we were taking pictures), so I assumed that's where the baptism would be. I looked back over all the emails that the baptism coordinator and I had sent to each other, and nowhere in there did it mention the baptism being in the chapel. Plus, Drew was baptized after the 11:00 service a few years ago, in the big worship center, so we assumed that's where Jake's baptism would be, too.

So, considering we almost missed Jake's baptism altogether, things actually went very well. Zach and Drew wanted to go up to the front of the chapel to see Jake get baptized.

This picture cracks me up, but it looks like maybe Pastor Caroline is saying a prayer, but notice that Drew is about to knock over the little table. That really would have made it a memorable day!

Finally, Jake's one month pictures. Each of the boys has had their pictures taken every month of their first year in this rocking chair. Here's Jake in his own room, which isn't finished being painted yet. I requested vertical stripes, and Mike's taking the tortoise approach (slow and steady wins the race) to getting it done. He is doing an excellent job, though, and I know I'm going to love it when it's all finished! Hopefully I'll get to post pictures of the room soon.

Now, off to feed Jake and sleep for hopefully 4 hours straight. Last night Jake slept for 4 hours, but of course, an hour after he and I both fell asleep, I awoke to shouts of, "Mater! I need to go potty!!" Drew had to potty, and wouldn't you know- Mike didn't hear him yelling. So my chance at 4 straight hours was ruined. It must be great to be the dad and get all that good sleep. :-)

A Long Overdue Update

Well, I'm obviously quite behind on my blogging. And my laundry. And the dusting. And the vacuuming. And my sleeping. And pretty much anything else that doesn't involve holding or feeding a newborn baby. So, this post will be pretty much pictures of the last 3 weeks with short captions.

Here are the pictures I took of Jake, Zach, and Drew for our Christmas card/Jake's birth announcement. They're not studio quality, but I thought they turned out pretty good. I even got most of the cards out before Christmas (like on the 24th), so I was pleased with that, too.

Jake was 5 days old when I had my 33rd birthday. My mom, Zach, and Drew helped me celebrate by baking and decorating cupcakes for me. It was a long day and not my best birthday ever (totally sleep-deprived and experiencing that mother-guilt), but it was still a good day.

Jake has done lots of sleeping and has had lots of pictures taken of him in various cute positions.

Zach and Drew enjoyed checking the Advent calendar, or the Christmas Countdown House, as they call it, daily. On this particular day I had put in little wooden star ornaments for them to paint. That was a big hit, so I should make a mental note of that for next year.

Grandma Ruth got some good snuggling in with Jake.

We did get a chance to visit Santa before Christmas. Drew was a little unsure of Santa, and Zach was a little nervous, too, but he was excited to give Santa his Christmas letter and a pretty colored rock he had decorated that he thought Santa would like.

Although Jake was just one week old when we went, he wasn't the youngest baby to visit Santa this season. Apparently Santa'd already seen a 3 day-old baby.

Jake got some snoozing done in the bassinet that so many of our family members have slept in, including Zach, Drew, cousins Anders, Myles, and Cam, my sisters and me, and both my mom and dad. This bassinet has been in the family for over 60 years.

Jake also spent some time napping on Dad's lap and looked pretty darn cute.

On the 20th Grandpa Dick came to town and got to meet grandson #6.

Drew and Zach could not wait for Grandpa to get there so they could watch Cars with him. So they did that the afternoon after Grandpa arrived.

Zach continues to want to hold Jake as often as possible. He loves to talk to him and touch him and give him lots of kisses. He thinks Jake is more advanced than he really is- he's always talking about how Jake copies him and tries to touch him, etc. I don't usually burst Zach's bubble, because I just love that he's so interested in Jake.

Another shot of all three boys.

Zach and Drew enjoyed horsey rides on Dad.

I love this little striped reindeer outfit Jake has- it's already too small, though!

On the 23rd I took Jake to his 2 week check-up. He weighed 8 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21.5 inches long. The pediatrician was very pleased with Jake's weight gain. She said most breastfed babies gain 3/4 of an oz. to 1 oz. per day after leaving the hospital. Jake had gained 17 oz. in 13 days, so he was doing better than expected!

On Christmas Eve we all went to church, and Jake slept through the whole thing. It was perfect! We should have posed ourselves different for this picture- I didn't intend for our shoe-less feet to be in it!

This may be my favorite picture of the holidays. All three of my boys on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning came and the boys were excited to get to their stockings.

Every time I put this outfit on Jake (which was twice- once before going to meet Santa and again on Christmas morning), he pooped or pottied through it within about an hour. So I had to get a quick picture before changing him into clean clothes. This outfit is too small now, too, along with pretty much all newborn clothes.

Zach was excited about his new golf clubs.

And both boys were very excited about the robes Grandma Ruth made them. They're getting lots of good use!

Santa brought the boys just what they asked for- Pillow Pets. They have gotten lots of good use, too.

On Christmas night Aunt Katherine got to come meet Jake for the first time.

Here's Mike with his not-so-little sister and Jake.

My mom has a neat picture of her mom and my sisters and me at Christmastime of 1977. I was just days old, Sandy was 6, and Becky was almost 3. So we made sure to get a similar picture of my mom and the boys. Zach is 5 and a half, Drew is almost 3, and Jake is about 2 weeks old in this picture.

On the 26th, my sister Sandy, brother-in-law Will, and nephew Anders arrived. Drew and Uncle Will got some good bonding in on the couch.

Jake's umbilical cord stump finally fell off, so he got his first real bath. He loved it! I took him to get weighed the next day, and he was 9 lbs. 15 oz. with his clothes on, so approximately 9 lbs. 10 oz. undressed. He is growing so fast!!

Anders was very happy to get a chance to hold "Baby Jake," as he liked to call him.

Here is Sandy holding her newest nephew.

We did our best to get a picture of the 4 cousins together. Anders really wanted to hold Jake again, but Zach was not going to let that happen.

I like Zach's face in this picture, because you can tell he's trying to smile while thinking about how there's no way he's going to let Anders take Jake, though Anders is trying his hardest to get his hands on his newest cousin!

Finally a decent picture of the 4 boys.

While Zach and I were at tennis, Drew and Anders had lots of time to play together, and according to Drew, they had lots of fun. It's great to see them starting to be buddies, rather than Drew being afraid of Anders like he used to.

On Tuesday everybody left. It was definitely bittersweet. It was nice to get the house back to just our family and our stuff/clutter, but it was also sad to see everyone go and a little scary to know I was on my own with the three boys. So far things are going ok, but the real test will be tomorrow morning when Zach starts back at school. I hope he's on time!