First Day of School

We had to get James ready for his first day of school.  Here is Dad helping the boys get ready.  

Today was James' first day of school.  It was very much a mixed day going from conversations like:

"James do you want to go to school today?"

"No! We can't" 

To this:

He had a hard time going to a new classroom, not understanding why he was going to the green room and not the purple room.  When he got off the bus it was a little different too.  They didn't have the frog that sings when he gets off the bus, and he didn't get is sucker because it wasn't Friday.  Oh well, it will get better as he gets the routine down again.

Life with 3

William is almost 6 weeks old already!  It really seems like last week that he was born.  This past 6 weeks has really flown by.  Probably because we have been so busy.  My family was in town for a few days, then Doug's mom and brother came for the blessing, then we headed back to Colorado with them for a week.  We have only been back just this week, and I have finally been on my own with the kids for the first time.  I have to say it has been HARD.  William had decided he needs to be held all the time.  So all I can do is hold him and watch the other to make messes.  It seems like every time I want to get something done one of the 3 kids needs something.  Hopefully it will get better as William learns to be more content and gets on a schedule, and James starts school.  Here a few pictures from the past few weeks. 

We blessed William when he was 3 weeks old.  Only Doug and my Dad were there, but it was still very special.  Doug blessed him that he would be a help to James with the trials in his life.  I am very excited to see how William grows up and the personality he has to be able to be James' special friend.  It is also a testimony to me to know that William was sent here at the right time and is going to have a special place in our family. 

Williams blessing day.

Right after the blessing my family left to head back to Florida.  The next day the boys and I drove back to Colorado with Grandma and Uncle Scott.  The boys love when we drive to Grandma and Grandpa's house.  I didn't take many pictures when we were there.  On the first night when I went to check on the boys I found Mikey going to sleep like this:

Mikey going to bed on top of the dresser

Another night I found them asleep like this:

Tuesday and Wednesday we went swimming and to a park and just had fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Scott and their cousins.  Wednesday night Doug joined us.  I have to say we couldn't wait for him to get there.  Getting 3 boys ready was much easier when he was there. On Friday we drove up to the mountain house.  We haven't been there since last year when we went with my family, but James amazed us by remembering the way.  A couple miles before we went through the tunnel he says "Here comes a tunnel"  Doug and I couldn't even remember if we were close or not.  Then the closer we got the more excited we got and he started saying that he wanted to see Myra and Lexi (who were there last time we went).
We rode the chair lift up the mountain and hiked down.

Doug and James on the chair lift

Doug and William, Scott and Mikey

At the top

Most of the way down I had to carry James or Mikey
They had become very clingy to mom.  I carried James way
too much.  He is heavy!

William enjoying the hike.

Monday we drove home and Tuesday I had my first day alone with the three boys.  William decided to go from the easiest baby in the world to a much more difficult baby.  He didn't want to be set down at all.  I was so excited when Doug got home that night.

William enjoyed the swing the first time

While in Denver I went to a fabric store to get some stuff for a few projects.  When we got home I decided to do this one because once I started we wouldn't be able to leave the house until I was done.  I figured this would be a good week to be house-bound.

William's new seat cover, it was much easier than I anticipated 

William loves this seat.  After we got home he got a stuffy nose and I started letting him sleep in it at night.  Now I am struggling to get him to sleep anywhere else.

Doug got the boys ready for church yesterday and took this picture while I was getting myself ready.  I have such handsome boys!

3 Weeks Old

William is 3 weeks old now!  We are getting into a routine, and finally starting to get more sleep.  Well he is only waking up every three hours at night now instead of every 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  Here are some pictures from the past three weeks.

The boys finally showed some interest in him.  

Despite James' face he really wanted to hold his brother.

1st bath!  He actually liked it.  My other 2 boys cried during their first bath.

Sleeping on Dad.  He loves to be held while he sleeps. 

Sleeping in Mom's bed.

I finally got his room done.  It only took me forever to finish.  It is also the only room in our house that is decorated.  So I guess it would make it my favorite room.

We got so many diapers from my diaper shower
the changing table is completely full, plus the box
sitting next to it. Despite that I have still had to buy
more diapers already.

Doug made the letters for me.  Then I decorated them.  

I love these pictures.

The quilt I made for his bed.  

William Keyser Allen

Our little William has joined our family!  I have to say for 9 months of being a little less excited than usual for his arrival I sure couldn't wait to see him when the time finally came. Here's what happened:
Tuesday evening July 12th:
Doug was taking the day off on Wednesday so we were discussing our plans for the day.  We were going to meet my Mom in Amarillo and do some shopping.  I was so excited to get out of Clovis for the day and really looking forward to shopping at some real stores.  Also the Young Women's president had called earlier that day and asked if they could come do a "Service Shower" for me the next evening.  I have a hard time letting people do things that I am perfectly capable of doing myself, but I didn't want to make them come up with a completely different activity so I said that they could, and we may not be home so she came over to get a key.  So Doug and I made our plans, we would clean up the house in the morning and then head to Amarillo for the day.  I think it was at this point I made the comment "You know this baby is going to come tonight."  Why? Because this was the last night we would be without help and have to call someone to come take care of the kids, and also because I was really looking forward to getting out of town for the day.  So off to bed we went.  At 2am I woke up, which is nothing unusual, I haven't slept through the night in at least a month!  But this was different, I couldn't decide if my water had just broke or if I had just peed my pants.  There wasn't enough liquid for me to think my water had broke, so I was a little embarrassed, but soon I realized that it was indeed my water.  Doug was laughing at me because I was really confused and didn't know what to do, I just kept wandering around the house.  He got our stuff ready, I called a friend that said she would come stay with the boys that night then take them home with her in the morning.  And we were off to the hospital to have a baby.
Wednesday July 13th:
We got checked in and in our room and things seemed to be going really well.  I started having some contractions that were happening every 20 min and I was excited to finally have a baby with no extra help.  Then things sort of just stopped.  I was getting so frustrated.  No contractions, no pain, nothing.  We hadn't even seen the doctor and I was feeling like the baby would never come.  The nurse brought me a birthing ball to sit on and try and get things going, I started making phone calls to figure out plans for the baby blessing and make the time go faster, and Doug went and got his computer from work so he could get some work done.  Finally at 11am they decided to start me on Pitocin.  We had been at the hospital now for about 9 hours and NOTHING had happened.  But of course once you start pitocin then there is no turning back!  A few hours later Blake from our ward stopped by, he works at the hospital and does epidurals.  So he got my paperwork done so that when I was really in pain we didn't have to worry about it.  That was really nice.  And he wasn't even the person who was working Labor and Delivery, he came over specifically for me! When I finally did have the epidural, around 4pm, my pain was so bad I was glad to not have to sign anything.  After the epidural Doug left to meet my mom, pick up the boys, and have some lunch/dinner.  I still hadn't made much progress.  After the epidural, and getting my blood pressure stable I think I probably took a nap.  Doug got back we watched TV, played a game and became increasingly frustrated that things were taking so long!
Finally at 9pm the nurse checked me and said I was ready!  By this point I was so tired I didn't think I would have any energy to push, and I definitely didn't feel like I was pushing hard enough to get the baby out.  But just thinking about holding our little William got me through and 20 minutes later he was in my arms, crying just a tiny bit.
Thursday July 14th
The next few hours they cleaned us both up and then told us there were no recovery rooms so we could either go in a shared room or stay in the delivery room that night.  We choose to stay in the delivery room.  Around noon they were finally able to move us into a semi-private room, and we just had to hope they didn't need to put anyone else in there with us (they didn't).  James and Mikey came to visit us.  James was really nervous about being in the hospital and wouldn't let go of Doug's hand.  But when they saw me they were both so excited.  They really didn't want anything to do with the baby, but James did finally give him a few kisses.
Some things about our Sweet Little William:
He does not cry!  He has only cried a few times for just a few minutes.  Really it is more like whining than crying.  When he gets hungry he just starts grunting and trying to suck on his hands.  I like to call him a little piggy because that is what he sounds like.
He hates having a dirty diaper.  This is really the only time he is has been fussy, so I always know just what to check.
He has really cute, dark hair.
He loves to sleep!  We were getting really worried the first day because we could not get him to wake up to eat.  As soon as he was born he started looking around for something to put in his mouth.  After about 3 am that first night we could not get him interested in sucking again.  He just wanted to sleep!  Finally about 1pm the next afternoon we were able to force him awake enough that he nursed a little.  Since then he has been an eating champ!
We are so excited to have this little guy in our family and can't wait to learn more about him.  And I will post pictures soon.  I took a couple in the hospital before the battery in the camera died and Doug couldn't find the charger.  So when we get home we will have to take a ton of pictures to make up for it. Also hopefully once we get him home the boys will start to be a little more interested in their little brother.

Lots of Little Stuff

I have been way to hot and tired lately to blog much.  Plus we haven't really done anything big to blog about, so I have some little stuff saved up and so I will just do a bunch of mini posts within this post. 

Father's Day

For Father's day we decided to go to Colorado.  Doug's work schedule was arranged so that he would have Thursday, Friday and Monday off.  So with a nice 5 day weekend we HAD to get out of Clovis.  So Wednesday night we drive up to Colorado.  I have to mention we had to go a much longer way because I-25 was closed in one spot due to a wildfire.  So instead we drove from New Mexico through Texas and Oklahoma to get to Colorado.  We had a lot of fun visiting, and I have to say that it was nice to get out of the hot, brown, dry desert.  

James making Grandpa's gift.  We had the boys
decorate ties for Grandpa.  

 We went to Tiny Town again.  Mikey loved it.  He still asks to go to Tiny Town.

Mikey and Grandpa on the train

Mikey in the little house

Keeping Cool
When we got home it was HOT.  It has already been like 99 degrees almost every day.  Then I heard on the news that we were going to get a heat wave.  So this past week it has been 105, 106 108...almost everyday!  We have not wanted to even leave the house.  The boys don't even really want to go outside because it is just too hot.  The AC can't even really keep up, but the boys are finding a few ways to keep cool:

James lays his blanket right over the vent and lays next to it.
letting the cool air seep out to keep him nice and cool.

One morning I thought, "Hey lets go to the park as soon as we wake up so we can get there before it gets too hot."  We got to the park before 9am and it was already 95 degrees!  Needless to say we didn't stay long.  We talked the boys out of it by bribing them with the swimming pool at home.  When we got home I realized the mistake as soon as we got home, someone would have to sit outside to watch them while they were in the pool.  Doug was a good husband and agreed to take that job.

Boys in the pool.  This pool is getting a ton of use this summer.

 Jello
James' favorite thing lately is making Jello.  We NEVER make Jello and don't even have it in the house, but last time we visited Grandma and Grandpa they had green Jello.  It was all he could talk about on the way there this time.  So I now keep Jello stocked in the cupboard and James always grabs a box and asks to make it, even if we already have some in the fridge.

James and Dad making Jello, he knows all the steps.

 Our "New" Table
We bought our table 5 years ago, from Shop-ko.  So while it works, it is not the nicest table around.  The finish was coming off the top and it needed to be sanded and re-stained.  Doug had the great idea that instead of trying to match the stain we could just paint the top white and let the boys decorate their spots. I agreed since I don't see us having this table much longer because it only seats 4 and we are about to be a family of 5.

The boys loved painting.

The finished product. 

An added bonus is James now LOVES to help set the table.  He goes and get things to fit in all the spots.  It was funny at dinner tonight Mikey had set his cup off to the side after he got a drink and James told him that it did not go there and fixed it to go where his cup was supposed to be.

Best Night Ever!

Ok, that is probably a bit of an over statement, but I have been in a bit of a funk lately.  It is sooooo hot and dry here.  The wind has finally stopped blowing, but that just makes it hotter.  Also we started James' Gluten free, casein free diet 100% last week.  So we haven't been eating bread or dairy for over a week.  Doug is having a hard time with everything, and I am really having a hard time not having bread around.  I have tried several times to make bread, but it always comes out so dense and dry.  I just have to keep practicing.  

They boys decided to eat their tacos and jello with chopsticks!

It seems like every new recipe I try comes out OK, but not great and definitely not as tasty as things that are filled with gluten and casein.  Tonight we tried this new recipe Thai Chicken Wraps.  It was soooo good!  Probably something we would eat even if we weren't on this diet.  We did change a few things, like I cut the onions smaller, cooked the vegetables longer, and we used this sandwich wrap bread that I have been making instead of tortillas (where would I even find rice tortillas in Clovis NM?). Oh I almost forgot to mention, Doug didn't even notice that the veggies were BROCCOLI!  He actually didn't even notice he was eating broccoli.

While we were eating dinner I thought I had heard some rain.  We have been getting storm clouds in the afternoons, but no rain.  It hasn't rained a drop since we moved here.  The only moisture we have seen was 1 snow storm in February.  I wasn't very hopeful for today's clouds to bring anything since we only had a 10-20% chance for rain but, when I looked outside it was raining.  I think I made such a big deal about it that both boys were immediately done with dinner and outside playing in it.  I was tempted to join them.

James jumping in the rain

Mikey found a puddle

I have to say, a good dinner and a nice rain storm have done so much to lift my spirits.  Hopefully it isn't another 5 months before we see moisture again.

Happy Birthday Mikey!

 Yesterday Mikey turned 2-years-old!  That time went by so quickly.  James helped me make his birthday poster.  It was a lot of fun for us!

Mikey and his poster.  He is obsessed with balls.

 Later in the morning we went to the park to play.  There was a Dad there playing baseball with his son and Mikey couldn't take his eyes off them.  I knew we got him the right gift!  After the park we met Dad at McDonald's for a birthday lunch.  The boys loved it, can't say Doug and I are big fans!  Finally when Dad got home from work we had a birthday dinner, with tons of different vegetables.  Then it was time to open presents.  I think every present Mikey opened was his favorite.  He didn't care about opening them, just playing with them.  First James gave him a train whistle.  Then when we finally got that pried away from him we gave him a little water bottle shaped like a soccer ball.  After we finally got that away from him he opened some Pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa that are just like James' Buz and Woody.  Next James forced him to open the T-ball set.  Then we had to take a break from opening presents.  This was by far his favorite.

Next he opened his bed tent from Grammy and Granddad, I am sure he is excited to have sleep overs with James.  Finally he opened this Lightening McQueen couch.  They were both really excited about this, but when James found out that it folder out into a bed he took it into his room and hid it in his bed.

James and Mikey on the couch

Finally it was time for cake.  I asked Mikey if he wanted a Soccer ball cake or an airplane cake.  He told me he wanted a "Basketball, soccer ball, base ball" cake.  I thought about just doing cupcakes, but decided to just go with the soccer ball cake. 

He was really excited to sing the song and blow out the candles.  He actually made up relight the candles several times.  What a funny boy.

 When it was time for bed both boys chose their Buz Lightyear pajamas.  This is funny because James would never wear his.  When ever we tried to get him to he would tell us "That's Mikey's"  So I guess now that Mikey has his own it is ok for James to wear his.  Although he only wore the pants and the shirt is from his dress up box.

Two Buz Lightyears

Overall we had a very fun day!  I love this little two year old.

Some things about Mikey:

He is obsessed with sports 

He loves his older brother and wants to do everything he is doing

He loves watching movies, his favorite is Toys

He loves all fruits and vegetables, probably more than cookies

He loves going potty like a big boy

He talks constantly! 

He loves to read books