Leah and her cousins

Leah was born within a few weeks of three of her cousins. I thought I would share a picture of all the cute babies. Emily is the youngest she is is in the top left, Susanna is the in the top right she is second oldest, Leah was the first, and Christopher was the third. I think Leah looks most like Susanna who is also a West. Congrats to all of my siblings on their beautiful babies!

Functional Week

Even though I feel like I had a functional week, I still look exhuasted all the time. :)

This is the first week where I have felt like I have accomplished most of what I needed too. On Monday I took everyone to the Arboretum. I forgot my camera, but it was beautiful. The tulips were amazing. The kids had a great time and Leah did great. Tuesday we ventured to the grocery store. The boys did great, and were actually helpful. Wednesday we made it to the library. Thursday we cleaned house because I had a meeting in the evening, and the boys even helped with that. On Friday we went to Sam's Club and purchased food for Scout camp and Enrichment. We spent about a paychecks worth at Sam's. Every day I made dinner and did school with Joshua. I am so proud of myself because Michael was pretty much gone all week. He got up really early for work and worked late. After work he was busy preparing for Scout camp, so he has been pretty busy.

Since Michael is going to be gone all this week, I had him take a couple of hours on Saturday to take the boys to the movies. I feel bad Michael left early Saturday to prepare for scout camp and only took two hours for the boys and the rest of the day until 1:00 am or so was filled with Scout camp prep. Joshua will miss Michael. Dad is his favorite and he tells me regularly. I will ask Joshua who plays with him and feeds him, and he will say Mom. I will ask him who gives him time outs and he says Dad, yet Dad is still his favorite. (we both give time outs, but apparently Dad sticks out) :) I think it is funny. Joshua will tell me that I am Leah's favorite because I am a girl.

Dallin went to the movies for the second time. He actually sat through this one. The first movie about half way through it he told me he was done. :) Dallin has been so helpful with Leah. I am really impressed by the things he will do for her.

Truthfully I am Leah's favorite, but I am sure that will change over time. :) Leah is growing and fitting into some really cute out fits. She has been doing great being packed around everywhere the boys want to go. She is sleeping a little better most nights.

Getting Back to Normal

Joshua loves cars and racing. He has really gotten into watching Nascar. He will sit on his Jeff Gordon race car and cheer on Jeff Gordon. If I am in another room he will give me updates on the wrecks and what is happening. He will also start racing around the house and having me be his pit crew. Dallin will join in on the racing fun.

Leah went to Church for the first time last week. She did really great. She has been doing so much better the last couple of weeks. She is not crying as much and seems to sleep so much better at night. The boys are great with her.

Dallin has had a difficult week. He has been a bit upset at the world. Joshua and Dallin have been fighting a bit. Dallin been acting out a little, but at times he can be so sweet that it can make me forget the huge fits he throws. He came up to Leah the other day and just gave her a kiss. It was so sweet. He did much better today, we are all just adjusting to our new family size I guess. I am hoping Dallin grows out of his fit throwing stage soon. :)

Leah had her first real bath. She loved it. The boys love to be a part and help. I just love my family. It is so fun to watch my kids grow and learn.

Adjustment

We have made it three weeks now with Leah. The first few weeks have been a little rough, as our Leah has a hard time at night with gas especially during 1-5AM. Michael and I have been a little tired at times. She seems to have made some improvement this week. She is a lot happier during the day.

The boys are doing great with the new baby. They love her. We have wonderful friends that have helped us out tremendously. The boys have had several play dates where they have played all day. It was so nice to get a nap in or the floor mopped. We have also had friends come over and just hold Leah so I can get some cleaning done. The food and goodies people have brought over has been wonderful. We also had a friend drop by a swing, which has helped Leah sleep at times. We are so blessed! I am so grateful for all of the help. I just can't get over how helpful and great everyone has been!

I think Leah is finally gaining weight. At her two week appointment she hadn't gained anything which was so bizarre for me compared to my boys. She is now growing and adjusting to this world. We are loving having her in our family. It is fun to pick out her clothes and bows she is going to wear.

I have pumped milk every once in a while so the boys including Michael can help feed Leah. It is always nice when you can get a four hour block of sleep. Michael has been great and has helped me out a lot at night when I have been exhausted.

Week with Grandma

We played hard with Grandma here. We loved having Grandma stay with us. She took the boys to the park and read lots and lots of books to them.

She helped me with Leah in the middle of the night. Leah is a big colicky and so she likes to cry when she is not asleep or eating. Grandma stayed up with her after I nursed her so I could get a couple hours of sleep. It was wonderful.

On Saturday we ventured outside again and showed Grandma where Aunt Jenny lives. We walked around the ponds and fed the ducks. Jenny, Michael, and boys stopped at the work out station to try them out. In the above pictures they are all working on their push ups.

The boys really enjoyed feeding the ducks. The day was just perfect. On Sunday we said goodbye to Grandma and we miss her already. We are so blessed with the help we received from her and all of our friends. I had some friends take my boys this morning and we have even received a few meals. We feel so loved.

Leah Joan

We had a very exciting day yesterday. Leah was born at 3:25 PM at 8lbs and 2 oz and almost 20 inches long. She is beautiful and doing well. I woke up to contractions at 5:30 AM and to 5 inches of snow. We left for the hospital around 9AM and ran into traffic accidents everywhere that we had to have a police escort to the hospital. It was very exciting. We got to the hospital and there was a shortage of nurses and no one could get hold of any OBs so that was exciting for a while, but everything worked out.

I really felt like my water was going to break in the car, and felt like we were never going to get the hospital which is probably what held her off from coming down when I started freaking out about it. There were just so many blocked roadways, and Dallas residents have trouble driving in it. :)

Michael did great, he almost threw up on me, but held off. I think he was more tense then I was during the whole ordeal.

Now I am ready to go home and play with my boys and see my Mom, but probably have to wait until Sunday.

Big thanks to Elise who watched my boys all day! She is awesome!

Happy Labor Day to me!

I think this may be it! I have been having contractions since early this morning. yeah! Now to just wait around for it to get a little more exciting :)