September Photo Dump!

As indicated in my last post, we had a busy month! I thought I'd share all our fun with you by blogging. If you click on the pictures you should get to see a larger version in a new tab. :D Enjoy!

Here are the big kids on their first day of school:



Grandpa and Grandma Kelsey and Grandma Linda all came to visit. We went to the Joseph Smith Birthplace Memorial:



The New England Air Museum:



And Honey Pot Hill Apple Orchard:



Abigail got baptized on 5 September 2009. We were thrilled to have most of the grandparents and my Teta Daria and cousin Ivanna there. (Grandpa Dan, you were missed!)



The next day, Sam got his name and a blessing. Here he is in his adorable blessing outfit from Grandma Kay (he was kinda sleepy when I took these, lol):




We also spent time at the playground:




Mike and Aidan are on the same soccer team this year, the DC United (the DC stands for Diamond Charlie, their coach. Hehe!) Also on their team are their good friends Eric and Dallen. Here's a couple shots from the games. As you can see, we're raising good, religious, God-fearing boys. ;)



My girlfriend Linda Dobbins made Sam some darling knit baby items. Here's a couple shots of his cute Converse-like sneakers and his heirloom Hoover-style blankie:



Sam has learned to make some pretty funny expressions. Basically, stuff you can only do if you have no teeth:



He's also found an unconventional way to soothe himself. No thumb sucking here!



Hope you enjoyed our little trip through September. Now that it's October, there will be forthcoming pictures of New England Autumn and Halloween! :D

Bizzy Dizzy

We are going to be so busy this month! Just to give you an idea, here is a list of what will be happening or beginning in the next two weeks (more or less in order of occurrence):

My mom coming to town
Jed's parents coming to town
School begins
School carpool begins
Trip to the New England Air Museum
Trip to the Joseph Smith's Birthplace memorial
Apple picking
Teta Daria coming to town
Abigail's Baptism and Confirmation
Sam's baby blessing
Mike and Aidan's soccer season begins
Destination Imagination begins (Abby will be on a different team than the boys,
so we'll have it two days.)
Watching Brandon on Julia's working days
Abby's violin lessons
Dr.s Appointments for Sam and I
Sam's immunizations

Yeah, that's just the next two weeks. And that's just what's currently scheduled! *faint*

The upside is, most of those are wonderful things and many pictures will follow. :D

The Rewards of Motherhood

Moms go through so much in the first few weeks of their baby's lives. I totally forgot how bad the sleep deprivation is, for one thing. Watch out for me when I'm driving, seriously. And when babies cry, it's as if every nerve in Mom's body is attached to every sound wave. It's stressful! Then there's the fact that a baby's body leaks fluid at pretty much every pore pretty much all the time. Motherhood is WET! Last night alone Sam sweated, peed, and pooped either on me or in my immediate vicinity, and topped the morning off at 7 am with a quantity of spit-up that spread over my chest, shoulders, neck, and on into my hair.

Right about the time you have just about HAD it with motherhood and please take him back Lord, oh please....your baby learns to smile. There is nothing cuter, nothing more rewarding, in this whole world than your baby's first smiles. The only times I've felt something even approaching this level of amazing were the day Jed proposed to me and the day he married me. Even finding out about a new baby and giving birth just doesn't hold the strength of emotion as when that baby smiles at you. It's like the baby is saying "I know I've put you through a lot, Mommy, but I love you! Thank you for my life!" You are SO welcome, Sam. SO welcome.

The Last 3 Weeks

Sam Hyrum Kelsey was born 29 June 2009, at 19:19pm, and he weighed 9lbs even. (Anyone who knows me knows this is my lucky baby...look at all those 9's! :D). Boy did he seem fat after all my preemies! Since he lost all that fluid his body was harboring, Sam's gotten a little skinnier looking and has some Sharpei-style wrinkles, but he's gaining weight and filling back out. This is a little picture journey of his first three weeks.

Week One:

For the first 11 days, Sam stayed in the hospital's Special Care Nursery to work out some immaturity problems (forgetting to breathe whilst sucking or sleeping) and to work off some jaundice. He also did fun things like a hearing test (the "I'm going to take over the world by mind control!" shot) and EKG's and echocaridograms. Sam spent his whole day with Mommy every day. Sometimes the big sibs or Grandma or Daddy were there too.




Week Two:

Week two was busy! We brought Sam home, so we got to try out his new car seat and my beautiful sling. A friend of Cassondra's makes them, and she made mine for me out of fabric with my artwork printed on it. :D (I'm wearing it wrong in the picture but we figured it out later. ;) ) Grandma Linda was the first to hold Sam at home, but Abby soon followed. Abby loves to read and sing to Sam, who seems to like it too! The boys love Sam but didn't want to hold him at first. We also got to see Ellen Baird and her beautiful Katherine; who at three months looks like she could eat Sam right up! Hopefully Sam will gain enough weight to get Katherine's beautiful baby rolls. Right now he's still skinny.



Week three:

Week three has brought lots of changes and excitement! Sam weighs well over 10 pounds now, and has taught himself to suck his thumb. He hasn't, however, figured out how not to poke his eyes or how not to insert his fingers into his nostrils. We're hoping he works out those kinks soon. (In the thumb picture, you can also see his crazy mohawk curl! :D) Aidan finally decided it would be okay to hold Sam. Abby still hogs him. And Sam went with Mommy and Daddy to (FINALLY!) pick out a mini-van! :D (We'll have a whole separate post for that.) Grandma Linda went home, sadly, but she left our house in great order and with all kinds of chores and instrument practice to keep the kids busy.