Just a little eye candy

Cutest Dr. Evil pose ever:

I'm quickly realizing that Joelle is growing SO FAST and i'm not documenting it properly!

She is almost 4 weeks old (saturday) and so i need to jot down a few facts about her.

She loves:

-being cuddled

-bathtime

-watching her brothers

-sleeping on Dad's side of the bed in the morning

-sucking on Mom or Dad's finger

-sucking down a bottle

-sleeping on grandma (she got to do that a lot during her first 3 weeks)

-watching Mom work from her bouncer that sits on the table

-being nice and warm

She hates:

-needing to poop

-nursing (we're done trying to force that)

-getting dressed

-having hiccups

-being hungry

She has been sleeping really well lately. She usually wakes up to eat 3 times. once before we go to bed, once in the middle of the night, and once right before we need to wake up in the morning. Joe and I feel pretty lucky that we are getting adequate sleep right now. Sometimes Joelle even sleeps during the boys' nap so I get to sleep too!

Pumping has gotten better. My pediatrician recommended a supplement called Fenugreek that has REALLY helped my supply.

The boys have been remarkable! They are so good with Joelle, and really good to play on their own when I can't be right there. Yesterday they woke up and went straight into their train room to play and before I knew it, Joelle and I had gotten a nice hour-long nap together! I realized what a blessing it was that Joe and I waited until the boys were 3 before we started trying to add another monkey to this mess. This has beed a really great age for a newborn to join us. The boys just turned 4 and they are independent enough to give me a little wiggle room with the attention they get.

My 3 Miracles

One
Two

Three

Over the past few days I've realized how lucky I am to have the problems I've had.

I was born into a blessed time when everything with breastfeeding can go wrong, and my sweet baby girl can still eat and get cute and chubby and happy. She will still grow into a healthy beautiful girl.

I have three (wow, that seems so crazy) amazing children who are in perfect condition because of things like breast pumps, and formula, and incubators, and feeding tubes etc. What a miracle it is to have my family.

These pictures are from today. Joelle was sleeping like an angel. the boys had their first experience with building snowmen, and riding a sled. Ethan was eating the snow. Noah was hugging "Frosting the snowman".

Joe's mom told me to weary the Lord, which I have definitely done over the last month. And I think the answer I've recieved is that my life is good. Even when it's frustrating, I still have so much joy to take note of every day. Joelle wasn't a good nurser, but that's okay because she takes a bottle just fine and she's back up to a normal weight. I don't currently have enough milk for her, but thats okay too because I can keep trying, and until then I can give her formula. and if my supply doesn't improve I can switch to all formula and know that I'm still a good mom because I love my kids and I try to do all I can for them.

Things are much better around here, and I thank you all for your prayers and support! How blessed I am to be surrounded by such amazing and loving people!

Breastfeeding is hard!

it's been a struggle. i won't get into all the details, but we've tried EVERYTHING-literally every single thing a person can try we've tried. Right now i nurse Joelle, she gets almost nothing, and i pump while grandma feeds her a bottle of pumped milk. i'm VERY worried that once grandma leaves us I won't have the time to nurse, pump, bottle feed, burp, and lull joelle to sleep every 3 hours by myself.
I've been given priesthood blessings, and said many prayers and received answers, but now i'm enlisting your help. say a quick prayer for us please? i really believe it makes a difference, and i've seen little miracles in these first 2 weeks that Joelle has been home as a result of prayer. but joe's mom had to go home, and my mom leaves on Saturday, and i'm really hoping to have gotten the hang of nursing by the time she leaves. i know that people think i'm strong bc i have twins, but the truth is that i'm a weak woman who needs one more miracle. one quick prayer will do, if you have a second while you read this. Thanks, and i will get more pictures soon!