Update on Austin

Wow, it's been awhile since I have posted.
Austin is now 7 months old.  He is a skinny tall boy!  He first rolled over when he was 3 months, and at that point I knew I was in trouble.  He started army crawling about 3 weeks ago and is already getting up on his knees and has begun 'real' crawling.  The other two took 3 months to transition to real crawling.  He wants to be part of the party so bad. He is CONSTANTLY moving when I am holding him that it is exhausting.  He is finding his voice too.  He's kind of picky when it comes to food, which sounds strange, but feeding the child is a chore.  He has the best smiles and I LOVE it when he and Brynn start giggling back and forth to each other.  He will go to anyone and still a sweet, handsome boy!

5 months

6 months
He looks good and chubby here but he's only in the 7th percentile
for weight rising from the 2nd percentile at his 4 month check up.   

Drew-4 years Austin-7 months

March 2014

Winter continues...lame.

We blessed Austin on Sunday, March 2nd!  He was a good boy during the prayer! He turned 6 weeks old, and was weighed at my 6 wk. appt. and he came in at 10lbs. and 10oz. He has been such a good baby. By the middle of the month, he started sleeping any where from 6-9 hours at night.  It means that he eats more often during the day, but it's worth it! :)

Andrew was able to go to a food show in CA for a couple of days and I stayed with the kids.  I managed fine (with some help), but I braved it to drive up to Great Falls (1 1/2 hours away) by myself to meet Andrew at the airport.  The trick was getting everyone in the airport and keeping them corralled in the airport.  Drew almost fell on the escalator since in one hand I had a baby carrier and in the other I was holding Brynn.  I was able to snag his coat with my fingertips.  YIKES!  After picking Andrew up, we went to the children's museum.  We were there for 2 hours and more time could have been spent.  It was SO FUN to spend time as a family with no time restraints and doing something that the kids loved so much.

Brynn turned 2 on the 13th and I made an owl cake.  It was so fun to see it come together and it tasted dang good.  Especially for a eggless cake!

Blessing day

Brynn followed her brother and his friend across the fence and into the field.  My friend found her stuck out there in the mud!  Check out her shoes!!

This was the only decent picture I could get on her birthday!

Playing in the water!

Needed to tighten up Drew's pants! :)

pj party

Found this girl face down on the tramp! Notice the toys still on her fingers.

"I'm two months old!!"

9 weeks old

She can give the most crusty looks!

This is as good as we could get today! (March 30th)

The stinker wouldn't take her hand out of her mouth!

February 2014

This month was cold and mostly uneventful as we adjusted to being a family of 5!  We did go to a little playdate when Austin was 3 weeks old, and my mom was kind enough to watch him!  Drew and Brynn have been playing way better and more with each other since Austin was born.  I finally created more of a routine that we had (something that I had felt prompted to do for a couple months prior).  The day I started it, the two of them played great and most of the day they spent interacting. I needed that to happen.

At the end of the month, Brynn finally decided that she LOVED her little brother.  She wanted to hold him all of a sudden and lay on him and kiss on him etc.  So cute, but a little scary. :) One day Drew said, "Look!  I put a bag on his head!"  I looked down at Austin in his bouncer to see a plastic sack placed over his face!  Well, at least his head wasn't IN the sack.

Life with 3 this young is challenging, but I have been blessed with so many people around me who are willing to help!

Austin 1 1/2 weeks old

Brynn and Drew

2 weeks and 2 days

Little Miss Attitude

2 1/2 weeks

Valentine's Day

3 1/2 weeks

First time I made this Apple Braid recipe that I found on Pinterest...it was divine!

1 month old

2014 Thus Far

So the weeks leading up to Austin's birth DID NOT go as planned.  The day after Christmas, Brynn had a fever that was quite high and it would come and go for about 3 days.  Great. New Year's Day, Drew's voice started sounding funny and by dinner he looked like he did NOT feel well.  The next day my voice did the same thing and I started following suit.  Well, all of us ended up with whatever this was (I'm thinking the flu), but it hit me the WORST!!  Oh man.  I haven't been this sick since...ever.  Totally wiped of energy, a cough that was a killer, and a sore throat.  I know that list isn't long but don't forget the whole 9 months pregnant thing too. Oh man, one night I got about 2 hours of sleep I was coughing so much and so hard.  Anyway, after two weeks I was finally on the mend, finally got on some antibiotics, but I am STILL dealing with a lingering cough and the kids and Andrew are still going in and out of runny noses and not feeling 100%.
So my plans of frozen crock pot meals that I was going to prepare for, rearranging and reorganizing things to prepare for the baby just didn't happen until my mom got back in town the week or so before Austin was born.  Anyway, I feel like I have had SO MUCH help from family and friends this whole month.  I had meals brought to us while being sick and then now after the baby.  One sister came and cleaned house for me for a morning while I was sick...SO nice especially since she is the busiest person I know.
So thus far, the year has not gone as planned except I did plan on having a baby this month...check. :)

Introducing....

Austin Mack Long

born Wed, January 22, 2014

4:56 a.m.

7 lbs. 7 oz. 20 in.

hours old

one day old

Well, he came!  At the end of pregnancy it always feel like they never will. :)  I had a very fast labor (for me).  We live 80+ miles from the birth center so after I was positive that I was in real labor we bounced out of  here.  We left at 2 am and arrived there at 3:30.  I was already at a 7 when we got there, and then he was born just 1 1/2 hours later.  As usual we weren't set on the name when he was born, but once Austin Mack came together we loved it.  Mack is my grandpa's name.  Brynn isn't the biggest fan of him yet.  He's fine from a distance.  Drew thinks he's 'sweet and tiny' and has already declared his love for him.  That warmed my heart. :)  I'm enamored with him and it IS strange to look at the kids and think that we now have 3, but we love that he came to our house! 

Austin, Drew and Brynn (with their Vit C drinks) ...still fighting sickness here

Cute as can be!!  3 days old!

At the close of the year...

Are we really at the end of 2013?  I feel like since October, life has zipped by so fast that it is just a blur.
I looked back at my first entry for 2013 and I mentioned goals of reading the Old Testament.  I am still in the process of that and enjoying increasing my knowledge of those times.  I'm not as far as I thought I would be.  But it's not where I am, but the direction I'm going, right?
I also mentioned how I would have Drew potty trained sometime this year.  Well, guess what the last 3 days have been the best days yet!!  FINALLY it has clicked.  He's telling me when he has to go and at times taking initiative in going himself without being told.  I didn't know I could find so much joy in such an accomplishment.  But beings that I started the processes for the first time over a year ago, you may understand where I am coming from. :)
Other goals of mine were all hinged on self-discipline.  I will say I did great with that until I got pregnant and not feeling well, I lost my rhythm in exercising and getting up early to read scriptures.  Although I have felt much better, I still have had a hard time getting myself to bed early.  One day I'll master that.
So, now here we are at 2014!  I'm nervous for the challenges that I will face this year having 3 kids so close together.  I feel like my goal is just to survive well.  :)

Here are some pictures from our November trip to MD.  Jamen (Andrew's brother) took these for us.