Happy Birthday Westin! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Another week with Asher!

These hazy newborn days! So sweet and so tiring. I'm feeling loads better than his first two weeks, and entering the stage where I'm itching to get back to doing everything I want to be doing and then the pain comes back when I do too much. Just a couple weeks away from feeling ok with doing lots more, though. Our bodies are amazing.

Grandma and Grandpa Daetwyler are here this week and we're so lucky and grateful to have them here. They're so much help and heaven knows we need it right now. The Walkers were in town Wednesday through Saturday, and Katie visited on Monday and Saturday.

Michael:
was on call this week, but it was luckily very slow. Not like the week leading up to Asher's delivery, go figure. He put up Christmas lights outside with the Walkers and his dad in an hour or two, which was so much better than our experience figuring things out last year... including my trip to Home Depot with Camden to buy a 20-foot ladder. Not my most enjoyable errand. He also has had major Camden duty this week for that daddy's boy whose mom is occupied with a little baby. He's the cutest dictator we know but oh so draining :)

Maddie:
feeding baby, healing, catching up on sleep when possible, shipping books. That's my life!

Plus: try to make sure my other kiddos and husband know that I love them very much, too, and soak up baby time through all the busy time.

Westin:
Turned seven!! Sweet boy. Also... Seven-year-old emotions, man. He loved seeing cousins this week when the Walkers visited for Thanksgiving and when Katie came up two different days with her boys. He blew out candles at breakfast on Thanksgiving and with a brownie that night when most people went for pie. He requested a taco bar for our post-Thanksgiving dinner on Friday. He loved getting a science kit and cowboy boots (that mutton busting was a real highlight for this boy), and he sure has fun around cousins. We love our Westy boy.

Bennett:

is so chatty lately! Always full of stories. He's got a big heart. I'm not gonna full on rank my kids on hardest to easiest but... if I did, Bennett would rank as my easiest right now. Ok I guess I just did some ranking. I won't detail the other three though :)

Camden:

skipped a nap for the first time this week. Just played and played until we called it at 3pm. I'm really hoping we can keep that nap around a while longer so that we can hang on to some sanity around here. But also the thought of being DONE with naps in 3 years is incredibly stress relieving to me, particularly for traveling.

Asher:

Holy cow this is a long list of people to update on now. Family of 6?! We hung our stockings up today and that's when it really hit home... four kids. This is legit. Asher is a side sleeper which is technically illegal in the baby world but, we're doing what gives us rest. The last few nights he's done 4-hour stretches to start out the night and I go to bed when he goes to bed, around 8 or 9, so I've caught up on sleep a little. Then he's up every 90-120 minutes after that initial stretch. But it doesn't feel too horrible, though I bet this schedule is the source of my headaches that keep popping up. That or the fact that I eat dessert after basically every meal right now. Holidays.

We're sending the big kids back to school tomorrow and the weather has been uncharacteristically beautiful for a Colorado November and December -- no snow yet?!? So Camden has some bike riding with grandpa in his future this week, and me and Asher have some naps planned.

I'm blown away by the support of my parents, Jenny, and Michael's parents. We have made it through the hardest stretch of keeping our heads above water and we're going to get a little more on top of things each week at this point. Those first two weeks of healing after a c-section... I'm just grateful they're behind us and looking forward to getting to know sweet Asher more and more.

"No one interested in Westin's Tacos. Closed."
Apparently we weren't ordering food with enough enthusiasm from Westin's pretend restaurant... whoops!

Breakfast these days.
Don't worry, closely followed by second breakfast.

Sally has cooked so much this week for so many people.
I'm so grateful for all her help. She made Thanksgiving so wonderful.

Happy Birthday, Westin!
With his own pie creation that he made while Grandma made our Thanksgiving pie supply.

Downtown for the lights!

Our splash pad turned to ice skating for the season.
Fort Collins is so cute!

Baby's first lights trip!

Living the same life.
If only we could be neighbors during it.

Science experiment time!

The boys moved big chairs in here for some fun seating while we watched home videos.

Our little Christmas tree...
I planned on getting a new one this year and researching and deciding on one is just looooow on the priority list right now so another year with our tiny one it is :)

 

Books and Baby, and Jenny's Visit

Asher's second week of life!

My parents left Sunday, and Jenny came in the day before that to take care of us this week. She was an angel. So wonderful with the boys and helpful around the house and took care of us all just so much. We felt so grateful and we just love being around her and wish so much we all lived closer. She also got Camden wearing his glasses full time in a week of time with him, so, she works magic.

Asher had his check up at the pediatrician and isn't gaining weight quite like they'd like to see, so we'll be back next week. He does not love his bassinet, but he does love his mom. Not a super sleep set up but we'll get to a better place soon.

We took family pictures on Wednesday which is no small feat when you are in postpartum and newborn life, but we couldn't print a Christmas card without Asher on it! So it felt like a relief to get those done. We also took Westin's class birthday treats on Friday and it was adorable. I walked over with Michael and Bennett while Jenny was home with sleeping Camden and Asher. They did the treats outside so we could come, and I loved how his teacher had each student in the class say something they like about the birthday boy. So sweet.

My books came!! They've been stuck in California much longer than we anticipated, so it was SO FUN to see them in Costco for the first time and Deseret Book, from friends and family that spotted them in Utah. My garage also filled up with our website inventory and it's fun to be all stocked up again. The missionaries helped Michael take all the boxes downstairs and then ate lunch with us.

Jenny left Saturday and I just cried. She is such a good sister to me and was so, so kind to come take care of our family this week. Transitions with babies are no small thing and recovering from a c-section with a toddler majorly complicates it, too, so I just appreciated her help so much. Michael's parents arrive tonight and we just continue to feel so grateful for all the support from our sweet families.

Books and baby! Exciting times and we're all tired :)