Happy New Year!

No, this is not an early April Fool's joke, and I know it's not really January. However New Year's day is the day of new resolutions and the day to start your goals. Well, I thoroughly enjoyed eating lots of ice cream and cookies while I was pregnant, but I've healed from the birth and surgery so I'm not putting it off any longer - time to get healthy again! And seeing the pictures of Sydney's baby blessing yesterday only made me that much more excited to exercise and eat healthy again. Jillian, from "The Biggest Loser" advises stating your goals out loud helps you stick to them, so that's why I'm announcing it here. I won't go into all the details of how much I want to lose - cause that's boring for you, but I'm back BABEE! (to be said in the voice of Frank Costanza, George's dad on Seinfeld) So here's the slight catch today. I have a very fussy baby because of my "New Year's Eve" celebrating last night. She thinks she needs to sleep in mommy's arms, and if I'm not holding her it's a 15 min. cat nap. And a two year old that is giving up naps. But I promise I'll get my work out in today! Wish me luck!

Back, by popular demand...

I know, I know, I've been very bad at keeping my blog updated lately, but I think I have a good excuse. Many friends and family keep asking to see more pictures of Sydney, so by popular demand here she is. She has grown so much. Sydney is almost 5 weeks old now. She's given me a really huge smile. It might have been a fluke though because it hasn't happened since. I'm sure we'll get one soon. We are so lucky to have her. She has such a peaceful spirit. The kids LOVE Sydney so much. They always want to hold her and kiss her. They especially love to kiss her while I'm nursing. Not the best time in my opinion. So they have learned a new phrase. As I'm being attacked by two kids as I'm nursing a third I -very patiently and lovingly :) remind them that I need space. Automatically Rebecca starts spreading her arms wide apart and yelling, "SPACE, SPACE, SPACE." And Hayden yells at Rebecca and tells her, "Mom needs space." Then they each give her one kiss and they give me space. (I have no idea where Rebecca learned the actions that go along with the phrase. ha ha.)

How can you NOT want to just kiss those cheeks all over! She is so soft and cuddly.

So Serious.

How can someone so sweet and innocent -

Do something like this?

Such a good big sister! I love those girls!

And I just adore this little Hayden, Handy Manny.

Sydney will definitely let you know when she needs something. I call it her drama queen scream. The other day I was getting ready and Sydney was laying on my bed but her binky fell out - DRAMA. She started her scream, but the unfortunate thing for a 3rd child is that they end up crying a little longer than the first child ever had to. I know she'll be fine long enough for me to put my mascara on, but Hayden can't handle this crying as well. He calmly called to me from the other room as Sydney was screaming and he said, "Mom, I got a favor to tell ya." I asked what, and he said getting a little impatient, "Will you give Sydney a binky."

Look at that sleeping beauty! I LOVE this picture.

Maternity Leave

So I was thinking the other day that when you have a baby you get at least 6 weeks maternity leave from your job. What is my job? Well, let's see... I'm a stay at home mom, wife, and I try to get and keep the house clean. I decided just today that I deserve at least 6 weeks off from one of those jobs. I think I'll choose the one that I am obviously not doing a very good job of anyway. So I'm declaring my maternity leave from cleaning the house. I might just do the FMLA 12 weeks. So I will not feel guilty at the end of the day when it looks like I've done nothing all day, (Even though most likely I probably have cleaned or made some attempt but got burned out.) and if you come over to my house without warning just know that I'm on maternity leave.

Here's a riddle for you!

Question: What do you get when you have
- A busy two year old that wakes up at 6:00 in the morning.
-An ink pad and stamps on the fridge - put there to be out of reach of children.
- The same two year old that has figured out the freedom that a simple barstool can bring her to be able to reach things that are high and out of reach.
- Dad that is already at work.
- And a mother that has been up throughout the night with a new baby that is half asleep and half nursing upstairs.

Answer:

These pictures were taken after I threw my fit and gave her a bath to wash off as much as I could. It was smeared all over her face, luckilly that came off in the bath.

Introducing Sydney Paige Ewell

It has taken me forever to get these pictures on my blog, but I'm finally getting around to it. Here is is our little darling Sydney Paige Ewell.

Sydney was born Monday, Februay 9, 2009 at 9:13 am. She weighed 8 lb 3 oz. and was 19 1/2 inches long.

This is me the morning we went to the hospital. I am HUGE!! I can't believe I'm actually daring to put this picture on here, but I guess it's my motivation to get a GREAT after picture. Everyone asked me if I was sure I wasn't having twins - yes I was sure. And my tutoring student was very kind to point out that my butt has gotten really big too. That's always great to hear.

She was born by c-section (That's why I have on the oxygen and blue hat.) She had to be c-section because of previous c-sections. So far I'm recovering pretty good - thank goodness for pain killers.

Here is Sydney with Grandma Ewell. Grandma and Grandpa Ewell came Monday afternoon to meet their new little grandbaby. Thanks for coming to visit.

Grandma and Grandpa Roylance brought Hayden and Rebecca over Monday night to meet their new little sister. They were so excited. My mom had been practicing Sydney's name with them all day. Hayden had it mastered by the time they came. They were so sweet and soft with her.

Here is our cute little family of 5 now!

Sydney and Mommy.

My mom and dad came and stayed with us to help out. It was wonderful having them here. Thanks again mom & dad for your help!

Rebecca has been WONDERFUL with Sydney. She is in mommy mode, always eager to help whenever she hears Sydney cry, and she's been so soft with her.

Hayden has also been such a good helper. He loves to hold her, and give her a blanket, binky, whatever he tinks she might need.

Sydney after her first bath.

We feel so blessed to have Sydney as a part of our family. We have looked forward to her arrival, and love having her calm, peaceful spirit in our family!

Random pics of my cuties

Aren't they cute. They went to Grandma and Grandpa Ewell's house a couple weeks ago and had a blast playing in the leaves. They were so cute.

Hayden, just being his handsome self.

Rebecca has gotten into this sunglasses craze. I found her one night with one pair of sunglasses on (below), and the next night she had both pair of sunglasses on. She is too funny.

Here's another out of the blue thing I'll add. Hayden has really gotten into the phrase, "You/That hurts my feelings" He must hear me say that to him I guess? He was very good at manipulating with that phrase for a couple days, till I wisened up. But the other day I gave him a big hug and he said, "Mom, you're squishing my feelings." What a funny boy. So I hope you know I wish I could just squish all of your feelings.

Still Awake - UGH

So, it is 11:50 pm on Tuesday night and I'm so exhausted, and want to sleep, but my mind and baby are in disagreement with me. She is having another gymnastics meet doing stretches and rolls gallore, everytime I lay down my acid reflux gets horrible, and all I can think about is how I'm not quite sure I like the way I've arranged the furniture in the baby room. HELP! I think I'm going a little crazy. I know it really isn't that important, and I can always change things later, but I can't stop thinking about it. Here's the dilema - cords - those dang cords. I want to plug in the lamp to the outlet the the lightswitch controls so that I can turn on the light with a switch, rather than finding the knobs to turn it on/off, but that means having an extension cord that will be seen. Yes- this is a major issue in my mind right now. If I move furniture so the lamp is by the correct outlet I have other cords that will have to be stretched and seen. Also, the outlet isn't completely covered by the dresser and what will I do when the baby starts crawling and wants to grab those cords. Man, I need to figure this out now. This is the mind of a "nesting" mother. I know I have lots of time before she will be crawling and into things, but I think I need to fix it NOW - like TONIGHT! Hmm, do I go wake Jerry up a second time? (The first was to have him help me move the dresser to the other side of the room- it HAD to be done tonight. For no reason other than it was bothering me before and I really wanted it moved tonight -couldn't wait till tomorrow.) For some reason I don't think he'd be too willing if I woke him up again. No matter how I arrange it I'll have to see cords and this is stressing me out more than it should. Yes, it's pathetic I know. PLUS we haven't really put any decorations on the wall yet, but how can I decorate the walls if I might be moving the furniture around? It might not look right! This is all too stressful. I need to find some other trivial thing to think about.

On a positive note, I am excited about the curtains and baby blanket I made last week. I found the bumper and ruffle on clearance and was so proud of myself for saving so much money - but then I couldn't find any material to match for curtains and a blanket until last Monday. Hooray for JoAnn's. So here are the pictures of our unfinished nursery that I'm not too sure about, but you can see the cute blanket and curtains. Not a perfect match to the bumper pad, but pretty darn close.

Oh, won't it be nice to have my sanity back again someday? She is coming in 6 days!!! Sanity will probably take a little longer than that.