Where To Start?

Where do I begin, when it has been nearly a month since I have blogged. Since the last time I posted a blog, I have been extremely busy. It all started with dress rehearsals for the Singing Christmas Tree. We had four performances over three days; December 12, 13, and twice on the 14th. It went fairly well. Each performance had its own quirks and technical difficulties, but it was well received as always. I do enjoy singing in the Tree, but it sure takes a lot out of me during performance week. It was also the first time that Nick took care of all three boys at the same time for any length of time. He did fine, but he admitted to not being able to do it all the time.

Right after that busy weekend, we started the next week off with Nick's surgery on Tuesday, December 16th. The surgery itself only lasted 45-60 minutes, but the recovery has taken much longer. The first couple days were the worst, of course. He kept up with his pain meds which helped him, but made him very sleepy. I was thankful that we have a gate to block the top of the stairs. The hardest part was trying to keep the boys from climbing all over Daddy. I would have to bring them upstairs and lift each one on to the bed one at a time so they could give him a hug. Nick was unable to lift anything over 15 pounds (which of course includes all three boys) for the first forty-eight hours, and then whatever he was comfortable with after that. So for the first few days, I would have to lift each kid up and down from his lap anytime they wanted to sit with him. He is still a bit tender, but at least the boys are able to climb over him more. Nick, especially was afraid to sit on Daddy's lap because he didn't want to hurt him. Anytime Daddy would ask Nick to give him a love, Nick would shake his head no and say, 'owie'. It was very sweet in a sad sort of way. We had to keep assuring him that he wouldn't hurt Daddy and that giving him a love would make him feel better faster.

On December 18th, Ethan turned four months old! No, I hadn't forgotten, and I even got his four month picture; I just haven't posted the comparison pictures until now. Sorry for the delay. Here you will find a very chunky Bubba at four months old. He was such a mellow baby; but even he didn't sleep as well as Ethan does now!
Nick had his four month picture in front of the Christmas tree. By the time he turned four months, he was having more moments where he was a happy baby than before, so it was a nice reprieve.

And here is our little Ethan-man, happy as a lark, still with chubby chubby cheeks. He is an incredibly precious baby. He is very sweet and loving (like Bubba) and he adores his big brothers. If they are in his line of sight, he can't keep his eyes off of them, smiling and laughing all the while. Ethan has been sleeping through the night since the middle of October (less than two months old) and will sleep an average of nine hours a night! I never knew it could be so good!

Ethan had his four month check-up on Monday December 22nd. He weighed 17 pounds putting him in the 85th percentile. That was less than Joey was at four months, and the same as my nephew Jesse was at 12 months! Ethan continues to grow tall; he was 27 inches, still in the 97th percentile for height. We put him in an outfit that Nanny and Papa Buddy got Nick for his first Christmas that was sized for 6-12 months, and it was already short in the arms and legs! Ethan fits very well in the the 6-9 month size for height, it makes me wonder why I try to keep him in smaller clothes for longer than I should. By the time he wears all of the new sized clothes once, he may already out grow them!

Then, of course, came Christmas. We had a very nice Christmas, another white Christmas (surprise!), but again I missed being closer to family. We made a delicious ham dinner with glazed carrots and scalloped potatoes. Then with the left over ham, we made a ham and potato soup.

I have more pictures to share and will go into more detail about the kids later, but I wanted to get a few thoughts down. I was asleep earlier, but Nick woke me up when he came to bed, so now I am wide awake. But since it is after one in the morning, and I know my two older boys will be getting up before I am ready, I should get back to bed and try to sleep some more.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We look forward to seeing you in the coming year.