Is that kid doing what I think he's doing?

I just know it will be my kid one of these days...but we were driving home from church, and we were passing the football fields about a mile from our home. There were a few games in progress, and I noticed one team all huddled around the sideline, and one kid from this team all alone about 50 yards from the pack. about 3 feet from the road. facing the traffic. with his hands near, ahem, his, um, waistline. and a stream of urine coming from him. Yes, the kid was peeing right in front of everyone driving down the road. He had his pants pulled down so far, you could clearly see what his mother, I'm sure, would not want anyone to see.
Like I said, I know it will be my kid one of these days...I'm not that naive to think that my boys won't do it. But seriously...I hope that, if it is right in front of the street, at least there will be no traffic.
oy.

"Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable."
-Plato

Fall Pics -- Elijah and Chloe

Okay, I'll admit that I adjust the color in alot of my pics (obviously), but I honestly did not adjust the color in this one at all! That's how blue her eyes are! If it turns out that Jett has brown eyes, at least I got one blue-eyed baby!! =)

One month Jett

He's already a month old?? Where is the time going?!

I can't even believe I'm typing this, but for 3 nights in a row, he has slept 6 1/2 hours straight! I went in to check on him the first time he did it, because I got a little concerned! He's having a few sinus issues, which is one of the reasons why I suspect he's been so fussy lately. To help the problem, we put him in the swing...it elevates his head, so he can breathe a little better. The first night we put him in there was the first time he slept for such a long stretch.

He loves being swaddled!! Loves it! If he's fussy and I know there's nothing wrong with him, I just swaddle him up and he's good to go.

He has his one month check up tomorrow, and I'm gonna ask about what I can do for his chronic spitting up. I've tried everything in the book (gas drops, holding him upright while he eats, burping him often, etc.), and nothing seems to be helping. He spits up after every.single.feeding. And I'm not just talking about dribble-down-the-chin spitting up either...this kid throws up. It isn't projectile vomit (although he has done that once or twice) but it's always alot! I'm hoping he's not alergic to something I'm eating. I hope they're able to help me find a solution for it. My poor little guy!

This last month has just flown by, and I love him more and more every day. I'm smitten! :)

Happy one month Jett!

Fall Pics - Isaac and Laney

There's really no rhyme or reason as to which children I choose to snap pics of, if I'm only taking them of one or two kids. I just love taking pictures and it just depends on who is standing there at the time when I get the urge. :)
Of course, I'll be doing pics of the other kids in time. But for now, here's a few of Isaac and Laney.

Date Night

Mike and I are going out tonight for some much needed time together...alone! My mom is watching the kids for us, so we'll probably do some Christmas shopping. I have my list all done for the kids! Most of it, I'm buying on Black Friday. Yes, I do that. I LOVE it! I love getting up at 3 and being to the stores at 4 and scoring awesome deals and fighting the crowds. Okay, well maybe not that last part. But with 5 kids to buy for, you better believe I'm looking for the best deal on everything I want, and if it means I have to fight my way through a gazillion people, so be it. My mom and I usually go together (when we're here for Thanksgiving, and not in Denver with Mike's family), and Mike stays home with the kids. He's awesome like that. :) The only thing I don't like about it is the fact that I have to pump. I HATE pumping! Despise it! It's the devil! I have a hard time getting very much when I do it, so I'll probably have to do it a TON to get enough to last while I'm gone. We do have formula if he needs it.

Oh, by the way, the nursing is going sooo much better!!! Jett latches on pretty much on the first try every time...with the exception of night time, when he is in between sleep and being awake, and he just kind of grunts and whines. At those times, it takes a few tries, but he always gets it without too much effort! And he's sleeping at least 3-4 hour stretches at night...sometimes even 5-6! YAY!
I had never considered not nursing him anymore, but it was just so frustrating that he wasn't getting it! Not that I think that if you formula feed your baby, you love them any less. Laney was formula fed, and dare I say that she's actually my smartest child (meaning learning just comes easier for her...not that my other kids are stupid, of course)...so when I hear things like, breastfed babies are smarter, it infuriates me! If it doesn't work out for someone, that's okay...they're not any less of a mother for using formula. I know I wasn't for using it with Laney. I absolutely could not nurse her...it just wasn't working. Do what you can with what you have, right? Anyway...enough about that. :)

Oh, I also wanted to say that I've been using Mustela instead of Johnson and Johnson for Jett's bathtime. This is the first time I've used it, and I love how sensitive it is on his skin! The smell is the only thing I would change about it. It sorta smells like old lady perfume, or really old perfume or something, but I deal with it, because the advantages definitely outweigh the smell! It doesn't stink or anything, I'm just not too crazy about it. :) I've heard alot of good things about it being good for baby acne and cradle cap, and since all of my babies get both of those, I decided to go ahead and try it. Jett started to get a little bit of acne and I used the PhysiObebe, and it cleared it right up, within the first use! I bought the newborn set at Babies R Us, and it is a little pricey, but it's worth it. You don't need to use much at all, so I'm assuming it will last a while.

I gotta get...the boys are getting out of control and Jett's getting hungry.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

ps. I changed my header, again...I would like to change the title of my blog to "2 Little Gals and 3 Little Pals" instead of just "the hall family"(how boring) but I don't wanna lose my old posts and all that stuff. Does anyone know how I would do that?

Jett's Collage

I made one of these for Isaac when he was about 4 months old, and I always wished I would have done it when he was still brand new, so I'm glad I remembered to do Jett's while he's still tiny! :)

I made it with my scrapbook program, and I would like to have it printed, but I'm not sure if the resolution is big enough to do that...I'm gonna have to mess around with it a little more.

2 Week Stats and a Trip to the Zoo

Jett had a dr. appt. today, to follow up with his jaundice, and just to see how he's doing. He's at 8lbs. 1oz. and 21 1/2 in.

His jaundice is looking alot better, thank the Lord! His eyes are still a bit yellow, but she said that the eyes are the last thing to clear up, since jaundice leaves the body from the feet up...or something like that. :/

I asked her about him spitting up, and she didn't seem too concerned since he's not really fussy when he does it, and it's not projectile vomit. Apparently he just likes watching mommy do laundry. :)

She basically said he's doing perfect, which is what a mommy always wants to hear!!!

This info is pretty much just so I can keep track, since I know that if I write this down somewhere, until we can put it in his baby book (which we have yet to buy...can you tell this is our 5th kid? ;D), it will most definitely get lost.

-------------------------------------------------

We took the kids to the zoo on Saturday, since it was like 75 degrees and just beautiful outside! It was packed!!! We didn't stay too terribly long, but the kids had fun and it was nice to get out for a while!

The kids checking out the elephants

Jett's first trip to the zoo!

We didn't get very many pictures before the camera battery died. :(

The next two I took with my phone, so they're really blurry...

He LOVES the zoo!!! Look at all that excitement! =)

All snuggled up!

Adjustment

Being the mother of 5 is no easy task, let me tell you that. I knew it wouldn't be, but I figured, hey, I've already got 4...really, what's one more?

Ummm, when it's the toughest baby yet, it's alot more!

This has been the hardest new-baby-in-the-house transition to date. I've mentioned that Jett has been super difficult to breastfeed, and although it is getting better, we've still got a ways to go! He's starting to spit up alot more now, which has me a little concerned that he's gonna be colicky or have acid reflux or something that makes him a complete crab!

Isaac has been doing great with him.......that is, until I want to nurse him. Isaac starts screaming "NOOOO" and gets really upset. I have no idea what the deal is with him. Maybe he thinks that Jett is hurting me...I don't know, but it's hard to explain to him what's going on. I mean, the kid is sucking on my boob to eat for goodness sake...how do you explain something like that to a two year old?

Elijah pretty much thinks he's a joke. Really. I'm pretty sure Elijah thinks we're playing a trick on him, and that we'll eventually send this kid back. It's not that he's jealous of him or anything...it's kind of hard to explain. He will run right up to Jett and yell as loud as he can right in his face, and he thinks it's completely hilarious. I'm trying to explain to him that he's a tiny baby and that he's very delicate, but honestly, Elijah doesn't know what the words delicate or sensitive or fragile or frail means. He's so rough and tumble...it's hard getting that across to him.

The girls, of course, are completely helpful and so good with him! They really help me out so much. I should have planned it better...I should have had him in the summer when they were home from school to help me more. ;) Really though, we try not to have them do too much. This isn't their baby after all!

I had a good meltdown a couple of days after we were home from the hospital, and since then, I haven't really felt that anxiety, but it's still alot harder than what I thought it would be.

One thing I was probably most worried about was the way I would feel after I had him. Knowing he's my last, and that I will never again experience the excitement of planning for another baby, never experience another ultrasound, the feeling of a baby moving inside of me, the miracle of childbirth, all of that, well, it scared me. I was so worried about how I would feel the first time I saw a pregnant woman, and how I would react. I had been praying throughout my whole pregnancy that God would give me peace about it all if, in fact, this was His will for us to be done having children. I can truly say that I have felt absolutely no sadness or depression whatsoever since he's been born! I've seen multiple pregnant women and I just think to myself, wow, what an amazing thing to experience! But the most amazing thing about it is the fact that they will have this wonderful tiny human being at the end of it all. And I have 5 of those!! How in the world could I be sad about that?!?!? Of course, I will miss the whole experience of being pregnant, but I'm not one bit sad or depressed about it! I asked Mike a few days ago if he was worried that I would have anxiety attacks or anything like that, since he knows how obsessed I am with pregnancy and labor/delivery and all...and he told me that he was, but that he had been praying about it as well. So I feel so incredibly thankful to God that he has given me that peace!!!

And with that, I'll go get my crying baby. He's probably getting hungry...look out Isaac!! =)

Halloween 09

Laney digging out her pumpkin

All done!!

Chloe wanted to paint her pumpkin

Here's one side of it...it's a cat-person, so she says. ??

And the boys working away on their pumpkin.

It's beautiful!

And of course, mommy's cute little pumpkin :) I worked on him for 9 months!!! :D

This costume gave him a horrible rash on his belly and arms, so right after these pictures, my mom took it back to the store for me. That stupid rash didn't go away for a day or two! Poor little guy :(

Happy Halloween everyone!!!

My little men

They both loved trick-or-treating! After about the third or fourth house we went to, Elijah told me "Mommy, these are fun doors!" :)

The girls love dressing up! They were begging me all day to get into their costumes!

The cutest hippy, Snow White, Yoda and fireman I've ever seen!