A Couple of Our Routines...

Every morning the boys come and crawl into our bed with us.

Whoever is home eats breakfast at the table together.

The boys have a bath (and flood the bathroom) around 2:00pm everyday.

We watch movies in the car. If the boys are still sleeping in their carseats when we get home I stay in the car and watch a movie or get on my phone or run inside and grab some work to do in the car.

We often go on evening walks even though our neighborhood doesn't have any parks or sidewalks. (The boys in the wagon, Jonah tied to me.)

The boys watch Curious George, Thomas the Train, Daniel Tiger or UmiZoomi for a half hour while I make dinner.

We have our family home evening lessons from the series Book of Mormon Heros. (and I love it) {when we remember to do family home evening...}

When Lover comes home we always cheer and tackle him with hugs and kisses. No matter what.

We eat dinner together at the kitchen table(s). {The boys have a little table, Jonah has his highchair, Lover and I at the normal table.}

We go to church every Sunday.

We go on dates every Friday night. (With or without the kids)

Lover and I put our kids to bed together unless one of us isn't home.

We read the Book of Mormon with the kids every night. (Even if it's just two verses)

We say a family prayer every night before bed.

Everything else is just chaos. ;)

That's What Ya Get for Sleeping In...

I don't know why I thought staying in bed a little longer would be ok. It was a terrible night, the boys were extra whiny from the moment they woke up, Jonah woke up too early because the boys decided to take over his crib again. Somehow I thought that putting a show on for Zeke and Eli and going to get an extra half hour of rest was acceptable. Wrong. I had learned a long time ago that when I rested my boys would find terrible ways to pay me back. (Remember when they took apart the vacuum and starting eating the contents when I was so sick I could barely lift my head?)

The boys are always banging whatever they can get their hands on, so I wasn't alerted to the trouble by the banging, it was the whispering. And why weren't they shouting and laughing or crying. 

Then Uh Oh. 

I crept away from the peacefully sleeping Jonah and ran into the kitchen to find it.

All my kitchen utensils had been thrown on the floor, a candle I got for our wedding was gouged out with a butter-knife and smeared all over the table and chair legs, oil bottles had been tossed down from the kitchen sink, the sheet music to the duet I was singing in Sunday's sacrament meeting had been smeared by candle wax and red finger paint, the same with my planner, and the best part was that honey had been squeezed onto the table and ground.

My boys were mess makers, but this brought it to a whole new extreme. They'd never gotten on the counters or table before. I guess I wasn't shocked. At first I was annoyed, but I soon became resigned to the fact that unless I had a room to lock the boys in I just had to give up my attachment to sleep and resting for a few years. This also proved that no place was safe from my little monsters. 

(Oh, I forgot the mention the big shocker; the pill bottle, but luckily they didn't open it... this time)

 Only about a week later I left the boys with Lover so I could run some errands. He let the boys go play in the playroom and when I came home I found they'd gotten into my makeup bag. I thought you only had to go through this if you had little girls. Nope. They painted the beige carpet with my mascara and under-eye highlighter. They smeared my Lancome foundation in the carpet and dumped out the Bare Minerals blush and bronzer. (Thank goodness for the spill-resistant containers!) Anyway, I had to go buy more make-up. (By the way, we used a miracle carpet cleaner we got off Amazon called Folex. It has gotten everything out we've tried it on, so there ya go.)

Doesn't Zeke look pretty with the mascara jab under his eye and smeared down his face? (This is his "I'm in trouble" face. 

Zeke and Eli "helped" clean up the mess. (Zeke then kept vacuuming through the whole house.)

Sadly, poor little Zeke got so sick that he didn't want to play or talk or make messes, anymore. I tucked him in with the quilt Gigi made for him and the pillow case I made for him and he slept and watched Thomas the Train all day.

Of course that didn't last too long, he was back to normal soon enough. Making noise and wreaking havoc with his best buddy, Eli. I do just love these boys.

December 2013

Jonah Boy, J-Hawke, JoBaby, Jojo and Joboy are some of Jonah's most frequent nicknames. For the first few months of Jonah's life his nickname was Rev, because he used to grunt in a way that sounded like he was revving his engine. He only did it for a few months so the nickname wore off, but he's got plenty.

 Jonah spent his first 6 months in this co-sleeper a friend from the ward let us borrow. It was the best! I didn't realize I had been missing out for so long! This little crib slid right up to my bedside so I had more simple, easy access through the tiresome nightly feedings. Life was made easier for a while. :)

Every morning the boys would wake up and get in bed between Lover and me and we would cuddle with them, still half asleep. I started waking up to hearing giggling and the mobile going in Jonah's crib. I would roll over to find all three of the boys cuddled together, playing with the mobile. Jonah was always so happy with any attention he got from his big, loving brothers 

 

 I suppose it's never too early to start wrestling with brothers...

 Such a cute 1.5 month old!

Thanksgiving 2013

Our first Thanksgiving away from family was in Fort Rucker in 2012, but we spent it with dear friends. In 2013 our close friends had gone home for the holiday, so it was just our little family. Nick's parents had a tradition where every Thanksgiving they spent with just their little family they would go to the D Fac, (Military acronym for 'Dining Facility'), and have Thanksgiving dinner there. We decided to give it a try. :) It was as fun as it could be with a 3 and 2 year-old wanting to run around the place and a newborn who was hungry, too. Luckily there was only one older family and a couple of single soldiers who were charmed by the naughtiness. 

The FRG (Family Readiness Group, {The Army's version of a Relief Society}) in Nick's Battalion gave us a Onsie with the Company's name and Slogan. Bravo Company -Bearcats 101. They love Elvis. ;)

Zeke's true Hero is the Hulk, Eli's is Spiderman, but Zeke was very close to switching when he learned this trick on the trampoline. 

 My dear sons, when we moved from Ft Rucker to Ft Campbell the movers broke Zeke's toddler/crib. Therefore you both spent half a year sleeping in the same crib. Every night we'd tuck you in on opposite sides of the crib and before we went to bed, when we'd check on you, we'd find you like this; blankets thrown out, pillows thrown out, and usually you were cuddled up together somehow. I hope you and your little brother Jonah will always be best buds like you are now. :)

We did, however, decide to get you your own beds... well...mattresses. You boys LOVE it. Zeke feels that when he is tucked in, like the picture on the right, he looks like a shark, so he always asks if we can make him a shark. ;)

 Just a little more of our November adventures...

Starting Homeschool- Pre-Pre-School Level

In November 2013 I started to feel like it was time to step things up when it came to the things Zeke was learning in the home. We've read books with him often since he was a baby and we liked to visit new places and make art projects together, but I felt like it was time to do some school prep work. I began looking online for anything I felt would fit his learning stage and my style. I found a book I love called School Sparks. I could get much of the book for free online at schoolsparks.com, which was nice, but I loved everything about it all so much that I bought the book off Amazon. Zeke got into it right away. It was fun for him. He started off doing much better than I'd anticipated. 

His biggest struggle was that he didn't hold a pencil correctly. At the bottom of each page there are tips to help with the assignment, and the tips for the beginning assignments helped me know how to strengthen his finger muscles so he could more easily grip the pencil correctly. Zeke and I are both enjoying doing this work together.

November 2013

Noah and Faith-

Children of some of our closest friends, Lisa and Nick Currie. Lisa and I met at a ward playgroup 6 or 7 months after we came to Clarksville. Our oldest boys love each other and Eli and Faith... have a love hate relationship. ;) They both have the same personality so they have some pretty fierce battles when we get together, but they still get excited when they see each other.

 Jonah has always been such a happy cuddle baby. 

Eli is a bossy boy. Albeit at times it can drive me up the wall, I adore him. He cracks me up when his little eyebrows furrow and he starts making demands.

 Jonah's designated bathing spot was our tiny bathroom sink in the Clarksville house. He was always so calm when in the water, but when he reached about 4 months he discovered splashing, and our lives were forever changed. ;)

 After seeing so many quiet time pins on Pinterest I decided I needed to give it a try. I put rice in one bucket, flour in another, and filled a large cup with sugar. After I talked to them about the differences in how each of them felt and looked I gave them both little cups and showed them how to quietly play with them by scooping them back and forth and so forth. Then I went inside to nurse Jonah. 

 Then I came out to find this... We have never again done another sensory station. :) And probably never will. At least the boys had a good time and it was outside.

Jerry & Kelley's Visit to meet Jonah

Kelley and Jerry came out to visit Jonah when he was about two weeks old. We loved having them out there. They spent a lot of time playing with the boys in the fall leaves Jerry raked up. 

 Zekie loved holding his special new baby. He would sit completely still and softly touch Jonah's head. 

Happy Halloween!

Halloween of 2013 was the day after Jonah was born. Lover and my mother took the littles Trick-or-Treating while J-Hawke and I rested at the hospital.

Speaking of J-Hawke I must mention that his was the only name Lover and I hadn't picked out at least 4 months before his birth. We decided on Jonah a while before he was born, but I just couldn't decide on a middle name. 

KelleyMom had mentioned that Hawke was a family name she thought would be cool to include, but nooooo, we had to come up with it. ;)

Eventually the nurses came after me for an official name for them to submit on his birth certificate and I mentioned Hawke to Lover, who quickly approved. 

One of Lover's co-workers got this for our little guy. So sweet!

 My Love, resting with our newest boy as I filled out the paperwork to leave. (Like sending J's middle name to social security, which got lost, by the way, and Jonah didn't exist on any government records until he was about 6 months old...)

Jonah's Birth

Jonah Hawke Bastian

7lbs 4oz, 20"

Dark Brown Hair, Grey Eyes

Born @ 6:48pm on Hallow's Eve

October 30, 2013

A few weeks before I was to deliver Jonah we scheduled a flight for my mom to come out and stay with us for a week around his birth. The only problem was that we didn't know exactly the day he was going to be born and I'd never gone into labor on my own, (Induced every time).  At Blanchfield Army Community Hospital (BACH), unless you have a high risk pregnancy, you deal with a board of midwives. Mine were pretty cool with anything I wanted to do, except for getting induced. :) When I approached them with the idea of getting induced if the baby hadn't come a few days after my due date they weren't really thrilled about it, but they said if my body was ready and was showing progression then they'd be willing. So then time went on... and my body didn't progress one bit. I started to get stressed because a friend's mother flew out and stayed two weeks and her baby was delivered 3 days after the mother left. Three days after my due date my mother was scheduled to fly in at 9:30pm. I had an appointment with the midwife at 3:00 that afternoon, and let her know that I hadn't felt the baby move since the evening before. She tried to get him to move around and couldn't. I was sent to a room where they hooked me up to a baby monitor and began tracking movements. They couldn't track any. They called Midwife Lindsay back in and we all watched for a while. I began to grow nervous, having another friend whose baby passed away hours before he was born. Finally, after a few minutes the monitor started showing major movements and we all let out a sigh of relief. The midwives ordered an ultrasound and decided that I had too much amniotic fluid (polyhydramnios) and needed to be induced. They scheduled the induction for the next morning and I was supposed to go home and rest. Ha! Nick drove to Nashville that night and brought my mom home. It was such a comfort to have her near on the last night I had before my life became even more chaotic!

Ok, 11am rolled around and my mom and I were dropped off at the hospital while Nick went to drop the boys off at the Weaver's. I'd hardly progressed in the last three weeks so they gave me the IVs, (I gave permission for students to practice on me and OUCH! I probably won't consent to students next time), and started the Pitocin. Things started off at a very slow pace. We watched some television where Heads of the IRS were attempting to defend themselves against targeting conservative groups around the 2012 elections. My mom made us turn it off so that our scoffing comments didn't offend our nurses. After seeing my mother and husband eat I started to feel hungry for something, and after talking to the nurses who denied me popsicles, but hinted that I could suck on small candies, I sent my sweet husband to find me some Jolly Ranchers and Wint-O-Mint Lifesavers. When he left things started to pick up a bit. In about 3 hours I'd dilated from a 3 to a 6 and I really started to feel the pain. I mentioned this to my mom who went to pass it on to our nurses, so we could start preparing for the epidural. After the anesthesiologist came to check on us the second time, my mother called Nick to see how close he was. I didn't want to get the epidural without him and I was really hurting. Mom looked out the window and laughed because as soon as she mention my pain he started booking it across the hospital lawn. I thought it was sweet that he cared. :)

I'd dilated to a 7 by the time the anesthesiologist administered the medicine, but by the time I'd reached 8 cm he had to turn the drip down because it was making my heart rate drop too low and I would throw up. By this point the pain felt unbearable! I asked for the back of the bed to be raised so I could sit up and gravity could work for me, not against me. That didn't help. At this point I tried to be calm and still, but I rocked my upper body back and forth and quietly sighed, moaned and cried, trying to keep positive, because the more intense the pain the closer I was to meeting my precious baby.

Eventually the monitors were going off so frequently and I was vomiting so much that they turned off my epidural drip. I soon felt ready to push and when the midwife came in to check my progress we were a go. Oh, it hurt. It was bad. The midwife found that Jonah's cord was wrapped around his neck three times and at every push his heart rate plummeted, so we rushed things a little more and he was quickly delivered, untangled and placed in my arms.
Be still my heart.
He was the first newborn I was able to hear cry immediately. He was so angry, but it was such a quiet, sweet little cry. Jonah was very healthy and they let me hold him as long as I wanted. I never wanted to let him go. As I looked on him the first thing that stood out to me was the precious little freckle on his left eyelid. I never took my eyes off him as he was passed first to Nick, then to my mom, then to the nurses who cleaned and weighed him. And like that, my sweet Jonah was born.

After a few hours with our precious new baby Nick went to get the boys so they could meet their newest brother. Zeke and Eli were both excited... but most excited about a bucket of candy a nurse had given me. ;) Soon enough, though, they were both asking to hold the baby and trying to stick their little fingers into his little baby eyes and mouth. Jonah and I stayed in the hospital overnight and my mother stayed with us. She was a LIFESAVER! I have difficult recoveries every time I have babies, but this was the worst initial recovery. Just existing was extremely painful through the first night and I was fully medicated. I got up to feed Jonah twice, but the third time my mom got up with him, changed his diaper, sang to him, and walked around the room bouncing for a while, until he was inconsolable. She and Nick were so selfless through my whole recovery. They both always took the initiative in caring for the house, meals and taking care of the boys. With both my other sons I felt I had to be strong, I couldn't just rest, I needed to be up, visiting people, trying to clean house and make meals, but my mom and Nick took care of all of it and although this was my worst initial recovery, it proved to be my fastest overall recovery from labor.

My mom stayed for 5 or 6 days. She was just wonderful. The boys were happy. I was happy. Lover was happy. The day we dropped her off at the airport I was a mess. I wasn't a mess when we moved away, or any other time anyone has visited, but she had done so much for me while she was here, she'd shown so much selfless love that I cried like a baby when it was time for her to leave me. I'm so happy she was able to come.