4 Weeks Old

Our little baby is growing up already. They grow and change so fast. I am trying to enjoy every day because I know this time is short and precious. Usually I am wanting my baby to get older so that he or she will sleep through the night, but she already has that one down. She has been sleeping from 10-5:30 pretty regularly. I am so lucky, I know! Unfortunately I haven't been getting any sleep after that due to a neighbor running a pallet refurbishing business out of her driveway and has started banging at 6:30 am. Insane!

Ellie is getting so alert. She opens her eyes really wide and looks at everything around her. She always turns her head to see who is talking to her. She loves looking at her brother and sister who are usually right in her face trying to get her attention. Even at 2 weeks old when the bath picture was taken, you can see her looking at us intently.



All cuddled up and ready to go. She loves the car, thankfully, especially when she has her binky. She really only uses it in the car and sometimes during the day when she is fussy and tired. It makes her fall right to sleep and then falls out of her mouth. She isn't so happy about the hat, mostly because it falls down over her eyes when she is in the car. She starts crying hysterically, and I know that it is over her face. Poor thing!

Old Country Mercantile

We had a fun outing with the whole family this morning to the local pumpkin patch. It was complete with petting zoo, corn maze, hay ride, pumpkin picking, hay bale maze and horse ride. Ellie slept in her car seat the whole time, so I sat with her at a table and watched the fun from the sidelines. It was really cold out today, but the sun was shining and it was a beautiful day.


Hay Bale Maze


Pumpkin Patch


Hay Ride (Notice the little pumpkin that Rachel picked. She carried it around all night with her. It is green and looks like a green bell pepper.)


Second go around at the hay maze. They had so much fun playing on the mountain of hay!


Bennett being a good big brother.


King and Queen of the Mountain!


Aren't they just adorable?


We opted for the 25 cent horsy ride instead of the $5 a child horsy rides they were offering there. Call us cheap but the kids had just as much fun!

It was a fun outing and the kids had a fun time watching dad carve the pumpkin. Bennett is equally as excited for me to roast the seeds. I don't know what we are going to do with the funny little green ones. Rachel won't let me put them on the table for a decoration. She thinks they are for carrying around. Bennett keeps picking up the carved one and showing it to me and the baby. They are so funny.

No New Posts

No new posts this week because my dumb internet hasn't been working all week. I feel so lost and helpless without internet access. It is pretty sad. I had to actually mail a check this week instead of using my online banking... how archaic! I have hardly been out of the house in weeks and I had 2 fun things to do this week already. I had a baby shower of a friend to go to on Monday night. Ellie slept the whole time we were there. I was scared she wouldn't sleep at all that night, but she still slept her normal amount. Tuesday night I had a mommy get together with some friends and Ellie didn't sleep very much, but she was pretty good thanks to the binky. Ellie is consistently sleeping for a 6 hour stretch and then for 4 or 5 hours after that. It is so great. She is such a sweet baby. I could just eat her with a spoon! I am loving my new baby and am so happy that child number 3 isn't as traumatic as I had heard it would be. Things definitely get a bit hairy now and then, mostly when Ellie is screaming, Rachel has peed all over the floor, and Bennett is asking me 1000 questions. I kind of lose it at that point. I need a mommy time out. Thankfully things are usually much calmer, and we are all enjoying one another and watching the baby grow and change. That's my update for the week. I will take some pictures soon!

Connected Siblings

It the hope of Jeromy and I that we can foster a strong bond of love and friendship between our children. We talk to Bennett about protecting his sisters and taking care of them. We are trying to teach them to have responsibility for one another. This is one of the reasons we plan on homeschooling our kids. If they are away from the home all day and building into the lives of their friends and peers, it will be alot harder to keep them connected to one another when they are home. Learning alongside one another and the mere proximity they will be in with one another will foster playing together and help them to learn how to deal with conflict and how to have a relationship with those older and younger than themselves. It is one of the problems that I see in modern day culture, how fractured we are from one another. Everyone is split up into age groups, even in churches today, singles, marrieds, young marrieds, retired, college, high school, junior high, the list is endless. It is not how real life works though. How often are we around only people in our own age group and place in life? That is not how it is in the workplace or in families. We are at a disadvantage if we choose to be isolated with only people like ourselves. Isn't it a better skill to have to be able to deal with those above and below us in life? There is so much to be learned from those who are older and more mature spiritually and emotionally. We are working to teach these things to our children and hopefully in the process our children will have a vision for this multigenerational way of life.

Ellie's First Bath

Ellie thoroughly enjoyed her first bathing experience. She had a look of shock on her little face when I put her into the water, but she quickly relaxed into the warm bath water. She didn't cry at all. I was so surprised. I had told the kids that she would most likely scream and not really enjoy the bath, but boy, was I wrong. Since the bath she has little red bumps on her cheeks though, so I don't know if it was the soap or the lotion. Another one of us with sensitive skin!

Binky

I broke down and did it. I bought Ellie a binky. I am torn about the decision, but I guess I can always change my mind. Neither of my other kids would ever take a pacifier or a bottle, but I never seriously tried to get them to. Rachel is a thumb sucker and Ellie was showing the signs of becoming one. She is always sucking on her hands, so I thought I would see if she would even take a pacifier. I have heard that it is alot easier to take away a pacifier than a thumb. I went shopping at Walmart by myself for the first time today with all 3 kids (they did great btw) so I bought a binky 2-pack. After I sterilized them I popped one in her mouth and she went to town immediately. She sucked herself right to sleep. I am going to try to just use them for the "I am fussy and tired and want to nurse even though I just nursed and am not hungry but I think I am and it is the only way I am going to go to sleep for you" times. I just hate not being able to see her cute little face behind that huge plastic thing. I know that this doesn't seem like a big deal, but I have always been opposed to pacifiers (I know as a parent to never say never) so this is a changing of mind that I have to come to grips with. So for now I have a quiet house of sleeping children and if it took a plastic prop to do it, I guess I should be thankful for technology.

On another note, I was watching a news program about mommy bloggers and how blogging has become the new "talking over the fence." I think that it is true for the most part. There is a mother of 6 who wrote a hilarious ebay item description here of some Pokeman cards her children had somehow snuck past her at the store. I read it on ebay and cracked up. Well, I guess she gained some fame from that because she has a blog that gets so many hits, she now makes $4000 a month in advertising. How crazy is that?! I didn't even know that blogging was a potentially money making activity. Now if I could just get blog READING to make me money I would be on to something.

Appreciating the Blessing of our Children

I found this blog linked from another blog and I literally wept as I read through some of it. They recently lost their newborn little daughter from a genetic defect 8 days after she was born. If you are at all in need of a reality check of how blessed you are to have healthy little ones, read this blog. I have a new perspective of how I should be more appreciative of what God has given me. I have hugged all 3 of my babies a little tighter today.

The Farley's Blog

Goings On

Sorry I haven't posted in so long, but our internet has not been working reliably for the last several days.... ARGH! We are doing well. The older two kids have had colds that they are recovering from. I am tired of blowing noses, but I know that is what I will be doing for the next 3-4 months. They have been enjoying the nice weather we have had for the last few days. It has been in the seventies and I know that they were probably the last nice days we will have until spring. So sad! Popgrandma sent the kids some costumes that they have had a blast wearing. We don't do Halloween, but enjoy collecting costumes for dress-up year around. We now have a cute little cowboy and cowgirl. I told Rachel that cowgirls say, "Yee Haw," and she now says, "Hee Haw," and even calls the costume her "heehaw." It is pretty cute.



We have been spending lots of time with my parents these last weeks and they are enjoying their new grandbaby. We went over their house after church yesterday and left all the kids with them while we went shopping. I nursed the baby before we left and she slept the whole time we were gone. It was nice to get out for a while but shopping for clothes 2 weeks after having a baby is not recommended.... pretty depressing!


Ellie is still sleeping alot. Some days it seems like she sleeps all day and all night. Other days she is awake alot but really tired and needs to be sleeping. I can't remember how long the sleeping all the time lasts before they go to regular 3 naps during the day. She has been sleeping for 4-6 hours for the first stretch during the night. Last night I had to wake her up after 6 hours to nurse because I figured I shouldn't go longer than that between feedings to keep my milk supply up. She went back to sleep with me for another 3 hours. I have been getting pretty good sleep, more than I remember getting with my other kids. Unfortunately my allergies have been really bad so I feel tired and wiped out no matter how much sleep I get. Sage brush is in bloom here and it seems to affect darn near everyone I talk to. I don't know how long it is in bloom for, but it seems like it has already been a month and it is all still yellow.




I feel like I am getting back into a bit of a routine and normal life. I even planned meals for the week. We'll see how that goes. I sure appreciated meals brought from our church after we had Ellie. It is hard to get back into planning and shopping and cooking. I will probably start fixing most of dinners while Ellie has her long nap (I guess I shouldn't be blogging but cooking because she is sleeping right now!) My husband has to deal with seeing me still in my pajamas when he gets home with my hair in a ponytail and my glasses on. I have yet gotten back into the routine of "getting ready" in the morning. I at least manage to brush my teeth because I can do that while holding the baby! Small steps I guess. I have stayed on top of laundry, but cleaning the house might take some serious discipline. It is weird how having a new baby throws life out of balance for a while. I am looking forward to getting back into a routine and I am sure my kids are too.

She's Changing So Fast

Ellie is starting to have more regular awake time every day.




Bennett likes to try and calm Ellie when she is crying.


Rachel likes to help bounce Ellie too.


Bennett is ever trying to be in control, especially of his little sister.

New Babies

It is so amazing having a new baby. How you can fall in love with someone so little who can't talk or respond and you have never even met before is pretty remarkable. Ellie is starting to get used to life outside the womb. It is such a crazy thought that she used to live inside my body and then one day had to start getting used to life outside of it. She has been struggling with falling asleep. She gets really tired and all worked up about it and thinks that she needs to continually nurse to help her sleep. After I nursed her on each side twice she still wouldn't fall asleep at 9 last night and she had been awake since 4 in the afternoon. She was acting so hungry, but I knew she was exhausted so I put her in her crib to see if she would tire herself out crying. After about a half hour of crying, she quieted down and slept for 6 hours! I got up to check on her because it had been so long and I was worried. She was still asleep so I woke her up to feed her. I hate listening to her cry, but it was the only way she would go to sleep and I am so glad I did. I am not so naive to think that this means that she will start sleeping every night, but I am willing to take the one night of success and be happy.

Bennett and Rachel are doing well. Rachel is probably 80% potty trained. She hasn't had an accident in 3 days and is even pooping in the toilet which is a big accomplishment! She caught on so fast and I am so proud of her. There is no way we would have been able to try potty training with a new baby in the house if she wasn't ready. Bennett even told me that he helped her use her potty chair this morning before I was up and even wiped her and gave her a jelly belly. I'll tell you, sometimes I think that boy could live in his own apartment and be fine. He is so independent and self-sufficient and only 4!

I took Ellie to the Dr. today just to use the scale to make sure she is gaining weight now and she was 8 pounds 4 ounces. She is gaining weight, but not as fast as I was hoping. I have been more worried about Ellie getting enough milk than I have ever been with my other kids. She just wants to nurse so often I worry that she is hungry because I don't have enough milk or something. I know that nursing too often doesn't allow your body the time to replenish the supply, so I have been contemplating the binky to appease Ellie's wanting to suck in between feedings. It just seems crazy to need to feed her more often than every 2 hours. I really don't want another thumb sucker either. Rachel's orthodontia bills will be high enough on their own.

We have been awful about taking pictures, so I don't have anything new to post. Be patient with us! Yesterday was my first day on my own, so we are in coping mode. Thankfully our church has been bringing us meals, so at least we have been eating! What a blessing food is! I am sure glad I put some food in the freezer before Ellie came.

Hopefully I will post some pictures soon!

New Pictures

Little Ellie is still doing well. We had a Dr's appointment on Wednesday and she has lost a little weight but is nursing well and will put it back on quickly. Having child number three has been weird. You would think that we would have the whole baby thing down by now, but to be honest I can't remember what we did with Rachel that worked so well so that we can repeat it. When Rachel was born, we knew exactly what we were and were not going to do with her from the mistakes we made with Bennett. I can't for the life of me remember when we started having her sleep on her own and let her cry. I feel like I am doing this for the first time again. It isn't like I have that much time between kids either, but two years is a long time to remember the details I guess. I think we are just going to have to find our way again and refigure things out. I do know that I am not going to be able to sit on the couch holding Ellie while she sleeps all day long for very much longer. It is a time to enjoy now before real life kicks back in. We are also potty training Rachel right now as crazy as that sounds, but she is doing so well with it we don't want to stop and let her forget. My mom started the training while she had the kids for the first few days after we had Ellie. We have instituted the bribery method. Go pee and you get a jelly belly. One night she wanted one so bad she sat on the potty chair for an hour. I remember with Bennett that we had to stop the "incentives" at some point when he wanted to try to go 50 times a day. All in all we are settling into life again and enjoying our new baby.

We Are Still Here

Just a quick post to let you all know that we are still alive and well. Ellie had a pretty rough first couple of nights home. No sleep to be had. The first day she was awake all day and night, she just wasn't tired I guess. The second day she slept all day and was up until 5 am and then slept half the day. Last night I was afraid we would have a repeat because she had slept so much during the day, but she slept really well. I nursed her in bed and she went right back to sleep each time. Ahhh, sleep is such a great thing! She is nursing really well and although it is really painful for me I know that it is only rough the first couple of weeks. We have a Dr. appointment for her tomorrow morning so I am always anxious to know how much weight my babies have gained. Mine don't ever lose weight, they just gain large amounts right away. It is pretty funny to see the Dr's reactions to the number. Wow, they are sure good eaters aren't they? I need to take some new pictures and will post them soon. Gotta go, baby's crying.