a Baby no more.

April 5th, 2012. Meeting big brother at one hour old.

 Our fierce, loud, sensitive, musical, crazy, snaggle-toothed builderfixerguy is TWO. No babies in this house anymore...the week before his birthday we started potty training and the week after he lost his plug-and that was it. Bam. Big kid city. This particular two-year-old has brought us challenges that we've not experienced before; but it's still just such a super-fun stage of life. I have two good friends who also have three and we all agree:  third baby=game changer. He's crazy :) New words, new phrases..getting in between the two bigs when they're arguing and shouting out "Pax! Stop! Now! One...teww..." and then "spanking" his brother (that's a hard one. Defending his sister vs. hitting. See? the kid is a conundrum!) Getting put in his crib for a timeout (for hitting said big brother) and subsequently pulling his pants off and peeing all over his bed to show his displeasure. The kid is smart and very, very aware of EVERYTHING. Pax has nicknamed our good friends "the Behs" because littlest calls all of them (including the dad) "Beh". He can say Loren and Cora and I've even heard him say Charissa. But, no, they are all "Beh!" After their mama Beth, whom he loves. A lot. 

He knows he's funny and frequently plays the ham to make people laugh-especially his big brother and sister; something he's done from a very young age. And he's still the biggest sweetheart, running to the freezer for a "col pool" (cold pack) if his sister or brother (or anyone else) hurts themselves. (Beth is pretty sure he's gonna be an athletic trainer based off of that one!) He gives the biggest and sweetest hugs, frequently sprinkles French words and phrases in among the English, and wants to do exactly what Pax is doing. I cannot believe how much I love him or how much joy he brings to our family-we are so thankful for this silly little blessing!   

April 5th, 2013-first birthday!

We had a small family party at home this year, just my folks and I-Adam had a clinic he had to work in the morning, so we spent the morning getting donuts and shopping for new boots for the birthday boy (one of my folks' gifts. Blaise looooves his boots and was so sad when he outgrew the last pair!). After naps, we had a little party with balloons, presents, and-of course-cake! By far the biggest hit of the day was putting all of the balloons on the trampoline. The kids jumped and bounced for at LEAST and hour and had a fantastic time! Seriously... this might be an every-year occurrence!

 

                         Pure. Joy. This prettymuch sums up little Adam Blaise's personality perfectly!
                                                                   April 5th, 2014.
                                                                 and now, he is Two.

six months.

Half a year.

Almost 16 pounds {your sister and brother were both 19 pounds at one year.} and 27 1/2inches tall {the same height as your petite sis at one year...you're gonna catch her by two, I'm pretty sure!}

Good natured and smiley {at everyone}
Determined roller and army crawler ; thisclose to full on crawling, and a champ at sitting, you are the one-toothed wonder.

Beloved by brother and sister {and mama and daddy}

blue-eyed and drooly

and voracious eater of squash, sweet potatoes, plums, avocados, pumpkin, pears, bananas, carrots...

and milk. Lots and lots and lots of milk. You are my only baby to use up just about all of my milk supply...I've given away only 100 oz. this time. You're just one hungry kid.

With big feet.

and a big grin.

No one can figure out at first who you look like...Daddy and I, we say you look

like Blaise.

Adam Blaise, to be precise.

Or Adam Blaise McGillkinchowder, as you big sister calls you.

Blazers. Blaise-a-roo.

{Yes, we have a thing for nicknames in this family.}

You're a pretty good sleeper...better than your brother was, but not as good as your sister was.

We took your plug away a few weeks ago because you were waking up 84,000 times a night looking for it...that helped. It took you a full 2 weeks, but now you just wake up once a night. To eat. A lot. Like I said, you're one hungry kid.

 

 Your feet are as big as your brother's were at 10 months

and you're an inch shorter than your sister was at a year.

 Good natured and determined, you're our littlest dude...and you may be the baby, and this may be 2 weeks late, but you will have a 6-month post. And a completed baby album with just as many pictures in it as your brother and sister (who am I kidding? probably more.) I, your third-child-mama, promise.

Love you, my sweet Blaise-a-roo.

Daddy brain

We went to the park tonight..after we fed our kids ice cream for dinner. ( good parents,eh? I promise we had a good reason) It was a beautiful evening, at least 85 at 5pm. I hearded the 2 big kids over to the park to finish their cones and play, hauling the big giant mama-bag and counting on my husband to bring along our smallest child. Adam was busy fiddling around by Blythe's carseat for a few minutes (probably cleaning up ice cream...), and then headed towar us. As he came down the hill, I noticed he was...missing something. Me:"missing something??" He nods emphatically, turns abrubtly, and heads back to the car..... And grabs the keys off the roof. He shakes them at me as he starts back down the hill. Me:"uh..." (the husband shakes the keys at me again in a "yup I got 'em! We're good!" kinda way) Me:".....the BABY?!?" Adam:"Ah!! That was SO not on my radar." Oh, the perils of being the 3rd child... Also, I think my husband needs more sleep.

10 days of sweet, tiny snuggles. (OR: We've survived the first week of 3-kid-chaos!!)

I have a million blogs running through my head, and some very cool things that NEED to be documented before I forget. I have a very nice camera that is on the fritz (thank goodness it's still under warranty!!); and my computer needs to be cleaned up, because it's running super slow. So this post took about half an hour to get up...but here are a few pictures from a little 10-day-old session I did last week with our youngest and his brother & sister & daddy...and yes, he's 18 days old now. What can I say? We're head-deep in the newborn fog. And savoring every minute of it. 

                                             I love this one of my 3 kiddos and their Daddy!

       Baby in a baseball glove...and not at all happy about it! Really, he's a pretty mellow baby...but he                         SUPER didn't like this. Too bad, kiddo, that's what you get for being born in April!

There. I feel better now...fulfilling the need of Grammies, Aunties, and friends everywhere who want to see more pictures of the Littlest Bleger. At least until next week!

He's here!!

Adam Blaise Bleger

(we call him Blaise...so as not to be confused with the Big A)

Born April 5th, 2012

at 6:14pm

7lbs 19inches

and sweeter than a chocolate bunny :)

The birth story will follow, eventually, but this is all for now

because, well, I have a not-quite 4 day old

and a 4-and 2-year old

and I'm pretty happy just to get this up

before he's a week old.

Hip, Hip, Hooray!!

Babylove: a look back at 37 weeks.

Hi Babylove...No picture this week. At least, not yet. The day isn't over, so it could still happen. It's been a crazy couple of weeks, littlest boy. You're causing all kinds of trouble...and you're not even here yet! Two weeks ago, I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid. Didn't exactly find a leak, although they say you might have pinched my bag & then it could've resealed...don't really know how that works. Either way, I still had low fluid levels, so you and I spent several hours in the hospital that day...and now go for twice weekly fluid checks. Thank goodness for Grammy, or your brother and sister might be going crazy by now.
 The next week, I couldn't keep anything (I mean not even water) down for about 36 hours. So I called to see what I should do; mainly to find out if my being dehydrated would affect YOUR fluids. Turns out, it does. Or did. Whatever. Anyways, it meant that I went back to L&D, only to be told soon after that they couldn't let me go home because your levels were too low...If I'd been a few days further along, they probably would've induced me the next day and we'd be snuggling you right now. Which, I gotta admit, I wouldn't have minded at all! Except I was so sick I don't know how I would have made it through labor. Instead, I spent the night with an IV for fluids, a dose of Zofran (for nausea...amazing.), and 2 monitors hooked up to me. I listened to your heartbeat all night :). We both were SO much better the next morning...your heartrate had been a bit low before the fluids, you weren't moving much. I felt-well-not good. After an hour or so of fluids, your heartrate was back up where it normally is and you were wiggling like crazy! Amazing what 16 hours of IV fluids can do for you (and me!). They let me go home around noon the next day, since they were able to get your fluids up; which I was super happy about because otherwise we'd have been spending another day and night in the hospital until I got far enough along for the doc to induce me without having to have the approval of a perinatologist. I'd MUCH rather be at home with your Daddy and brother and sister (and your Grammy...thank goodness for Grammy!). Wednesday I felt pretty good until the Zofran wore off...Thursday I started throwing up again. Friday your fluids looked good still (yay!), and the doc gave me a prescription for some anti-nausea medicine (double yay!) so I can now keep food down, although I have random bouts of sickness and if I forget a pill....well.  I'd lost 3 pounds since last Monday, and on top of not gaining anything the week before (due to more puking...seriously, kid, this is getting old!) they weren't too happy. Now-we're just waiting for you to decide to come out. As of Friday I was dilated to a 3, over 50% effaced, with lots more contractions this weekend. Right now I feel as if I may never actually go into labor-I'll just be walking along and you'll fall out. I love you, little guy, and I'm SO happy you're ok and we're both feeling better-but could we end this soon, please? Seriously, any time would be fantastic. You can come out now.....please?

26, 27....32 weeks.

Hi, Babylove. It's been...way, way too long since Mama has done one of these updates. But you've been BUSY! And by busy, I mean that 3 days after we got home from your Grammy and Grandaddy's for Christmas, we got on an airplane to fly to Paris, France for 2 weeks. See, your Daddy is half-French...your PePe is Parisian. It's a part of who you are. And we had the chance to (finally) go over and visit for a good long time. So we went. It was a great trip, Babylove...you got to do so many cool things! I can't say you SAW them, because, well...you didn't. But your Daddy and brother and sister and Aunt CeCe and Grammy and I did. See? You went to the Eiffel Tower...and watched it sparkle from the windows of our apartment.

                                              ...All the way to the very top of the Tower!

And you went to the top of the Arc de Triumph.

We walked along the Seine to Notre Dame, and chased pigeons in the Tuiliere Gardens. You went with Grammy and I to the Louvre, and sat with me in Monmarte while my picture was drawn by a French artist. Pax sat with us, too...he didn't quite trust the artist and thought we might need some protection. We ate lots and lots of delicious pastries, rode the metro, and walked down the Champs de Elysee. And you and I took naps, Babylove...doing all this at 6 1/2 months pregnant was super fun, but not always easy :) My ankles were huge by the time we landed back home again. Since we got back, we've mostly been unpacking boxes, organizing our new home, and refinishing furniture. Those last two pictures, the ones of you and me and your big sister, are from this last weekend-I'm 32 weeks pregnant now. 8 months-ish. They moved my due date up a week, because of your size...I KNEW you were bigger than the other two! My belly is now bigger than it was when I delivered your sister AND your brother. And I have 8 weeks to go still...it's hard for me to imagine how big we are going to get! They tell me you will come around Easter, now. A week earlier. I'd like that very much, Babylove...I'm so ready to hold you in my arms instead of in my belly! Although your room isn't quite ready yet, it WILL be. Soon. And soon, we will have a name for you, too...

An epic journey...in many, many parts.

*Disclaimer* there are no pictures in this post. Yes, I know this makes it somewhat boring; feel free to skip it if you want to. I promise there are pictures coming very, very soon...
We knew when we moved to the Valley (as they call it here...) that this wasn't going to be an "easy" move, in terms of we'll-have-a-house-and-everything-will-be-peachy-as-soon-as-we-get-there kind of easy. And it hasn't been; but still, it's been good. Lots of growing, adjusting, changing. My father-in-law is helping us buy a home down here, which is amazing...it also means the timeline of that happening isn't exactly in our control. So I'm readjusting my thinking, and we're moving tonight into a 3 month rental (furnished, thankfully, so we don't have to move EVERYTHING out of the storage units), with the hope that we can be in our own place by the end of the year. And this is good. It's moving in the right direction. It's moving towards stability for our family; towards some semblance of normal again.
This move has been crazily parallel to our move from D-town to Ft. Collins 2 years ago, in so many ways. The uncertainty; things not working out anything close to exactly like we'd planned...
and finding out days before we moved that another little addition is on its way.
yup. I'm pregnant. #3. almost 11 weeks.
Shocked would be an understatement. Ok, to be totally honest-I cried for about 30 seconds when I first saw the 3 little flashing lights on my LadyComp that signifies a pregnancy. Please hear me-we are thankful for this new little baby. We love our 2 bigger kiddos, love being parents, and believe with all our hearts that children are indeed a blessing from the Lord. It's just that..well...this wasn't how we planned it. Which I know sounds completely silly & selfish & believe me, we've been 'round and 'round with all this. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? This little baby just so wasn't on our radar for at least 2 more years. In fact, I'd told Adam I didn't even want to THINK about having another one until he was done with PA school. The thought of a being pregnant and having a newborn with him studying llike crazy and doing clinicals stressed me out. So the timing of it all kinda knocked me us on our seats. 3 surprise pregnancies. And we're so not the we-don't-plan-our-kids-we-just-let-them-come-when-they-come kind of people. We actually have been actively trying NOT to get pregnant with all 3 of them-which I'm pretty sure makes us that percentage they put on all  forms of birth control-you know, they're 99.9 percent effective or whatever? We, apparently, are the .1 percent.
This pregnancy has been-well-not super easy so far. Not that ANY pregnancy is a walk in the park, unless you're just amazingly blessed like that. My morning all day sickness has been much, much worse this time around; throwing up only once or twice a day makes it a really really good day. It's actually the first sign I had of my pregnancy-I was feeling nauseous for about 2 weeks BEFORE I found out I was pregnant, and couldn't figure out why-ha! The health insurance thing has been crazy, too. Since we don't (well, until tonight) have a permanent address, I can't apply for health insurance here. But I had it in Colorado, still. So for a while there we were seriously considering me flying back and forth for a few months to start my prenatal care...but then we realized that to pay for my visits out of pocket for the first month or two would cost just as much as the plane tickets to Colorado for the kids and I. So I did some research and  had my first appointment last week. I'm seeing a midwife (well, several of them really) this time, and so far I think I'm going to like it a lot except for the part where you see someone different every appointment & don't know who will deliver you till the day you have the kiddo. I think if it was my first baby, this would be a real issue for me...I've had the luxury of family practice docs with both the others, which means the doc who does my OB care is also the delivering doc AND the baby's pediatrician. Loved it that they knew my baby so very well. So this is taking some getting used to...but then again, so is everything about being here :) Like the 115 degree heat of last month (it's cooling down now-only 100 today!) which our car overheated in and the crazy hugeness of the city and driving so much and all that comes along with the Big City. But we've had some fun adventures, too; We stayed in a fancy-schmancy hotel one night that had a water park, just for fun; and went to the free admission night at the Children's Museum (and waited in line for an hour and a half before we even got in...everyone else apparently had the same idea), and have explored some of the indoor play places here, and eaten In-N-Out, and visited my aunt & uncle in the cooler desert down south, and gone swimming every single chance we've gotten-which is a lot since there's a pool in the backyard. We're looking forward to exploring more of the mountians/desert around here as it cools down, and I've gotten some great tips from my USA-travelin' friend Sarah about how to do this whole big city thing (She and her husband, along with their 2 kiddos, travel around the country in a 5th wheeler for her husband's job-have been doing it since their oldest was about 1. So cool!) All in all, we're settling in and it's gonna be good. I'm learning, again, that God gives us grace for the moment-for the situation we find ourselves in-and I just need to accept it & live in it. Which, I admit, is easier said than done.
Now the kids and I have to go pick up Adam from school..the whole 1-car family thing doesn't work quite as well in the Big City. Oh, that reminds me, we're gonna need a bigger car...