3 weeks

My last post was about Mason's first 3 days.  This one is about his first 3 weeks at home. 

 

This was Mason's first outing.  Nathan and I went to the Fruited Plain for lunch and little Mason slept through all of it! 

He is so tiny and precious.  And I think he's cute with his paci in his mouth.

Dorian loves all of the faces that Mason makes and was imitating him in this photo.  :)  I also found Dorian talking to Mason and telling him where his nose, ears, eyes, etc were.  I absolutely love how much Dorian loves his new little brother!

5 days old and taking your first bottle, Mason!  I'm really going to love it if you are willing to have a bottle once in a while!

This was the first time that I washed your hair and you were so sleepy and content.  I know that Dorian and Levi screamed through their first bath...but this was much preferred.

It's been fun to get some new clothes as gifts and we have Aunt Heidi to thank for this cute onsie!

Mason had a little jaundice so I laid him in the sunshine during the day. 
I'm so thankful that Molly has been so good to him up to this point.  She sniffs Mason, and likes to sit by me when I'm holding him, but most of the time she just ignores him.

One week old already!  I have really enjoyed and soaked in everything from our first week together.

We had our first outing as a family of 5!  We met all of the Bolkema's at the Dordt game room. 

My beautiful sisters!

Dorian had fun bowling. 

Love this picture of my mom holding Mason.

Levi thought it was awesome to wear Tyler's big cowboy boots.  I love to see him being silly and to see his great big smiles!

Easter morning.  The beginning of week 2.  What a busy morning.  Church didn't start until 10:30...but we were rushed all morning to get out the door on time (and still ended up being late).  We are still getting used to how long things will take now.  :) Nathan had a little egg hunt for the boys.

We ate a delicious dinner at mom and dad's house and the older cousins had a blast organizing an egg hunt for the little kids.  Later that afternoon, Nathan was curled up in pain.  He doesn't know how he hurt his back, but he was nearly unable to move.  The timing wasn't great since I was still recovering myself. He stayed home from work for nearly a week, went to physical therapy, and tried to help.  We did only what we had to do to take care of ourselves and our 3 little boys for the following week.

Skyping with Grandpa and  Grandma Tintle.  Mason was wide awake in his bouncy seat and the older boys had gone to sleep for the night so it was perfect timing.

Mason's first time in the swing.

My mom bought this sweatshirt for Levi and it is now his favorite!  He loves purple and he loves the big pocket in the front. 

What a precious memory...reading with my 3 boys!!!

Beginning of week 3: We were expecting company in less than a week and having baptism. Our house needed to be cleaned, groceries bought, food made, etc. Nathan wasn't supposed to lift more than 5 pounds and could still barely carry Mason.  I'm so thankful to live near family and extremely THANKFUL for everything that they've done to help us out.

It doesn't feel like Spring around here yet unfortunately.  The snow was perfect for making a snowman however!

Ice covered everything.  There were tons of branches down, but since we don't have any old trees, we only had a couple of branches that broke off.  The branches on this tree were touching the ground and typically they are about 6 feet off the ground!

Thankfully the weather didn't delay Brian and Katherine and Mom and Dad Tintle from arriving.  It just would have been nice to have warmer weather!

 

Introducing Mason Jay!

Our sweet new baby boy!

Mason Jay

8 pounds. 8 ounces

23 1/2 inches long

10:06am

March 23, 2013

He's perfect.

 

 

We both loved the name Mason and Jay is after my middle name, which is Joy.

 Meeting Grandpa and Grandma Bolkema!

 Meeting his big brothers, Dorian and Levi!

 Dorian touched his face and had lots of questions for mommy. 

Levi wasn't feeling the best and wasn't totally himself.

 Meeting Aunt Heidi, Uncle Ryan, Aniah, Eden and Adria.

Day 2.  Looking adorable!!!  We love all of his brown hair!

 Meeting Aunt Kerry, Ashley, Emma and Claire. 

Mommy was proud to show you off!

 Meeting your friends Will and Anderson.

 Look how tiny you are in Mommy's bed.  :)

Good morning!  Day 3.

You weren't too impressed with having to change into new clothes,

but Mommy was excited to get you ready to take you home!!!



 

 

You are so tiny!

 

Welcome home Mason!

Molly was sure curious about meeting you.



 

Up to this point, I think Levi only had pictures of Molly on his camera...

now it is full of little Mason pictures!  :)

 

Dorian couldn't wait for Mommy and Mason to come home from the hospital so when he was finished with school, he was super excited to find us there.  He immediately wanted to hold his little brother.  And I think it's a good thing that he asked me if we could have another baby so that we could each have one to hold.  :)

 

 

He really is perfect and we have really enjoyed our first 3 days with him!

 

1 month later

I was just noticing that the last time I wrote was on February 18...1 month ago!  Oh, how time flies.  I guess I've just been busy taking care of these 2 crazy and fun boys!  :)

I needed to take one more belly picture before this little one arrives.  Somehow, I feel like I am a lot bigger than I look on this picture.  :)  Last week I had my nails done and my hair highlighted!!!  And last night I just finished the boys' 2012 scrapbooks which was one of my goals to have done before the arrival of #3.  Yeah!!!  So now I am officially ready!  :)

Grandma Tintle had recorded books for the boys a couple of years ago.  Just recently the boys have found it very funny for us to begin reading each page and get "interupted" by grandma reading instead.  They both find it to be hilarious!  As I was scrapbooking a couple of nights ago, I heard Nathan reading and the boys just giggling away and it was music to my ears.  I had to capture the memory!

Dorian and Levi have been building forts out of tents, couches, chairs, laundry baskets, boxes, and every blanket and pillow in the house.  I love it that they are having so much fun with this.  I'm also very glad that I've convinced them to keep their fort downstairs instead of in the middle of the living room upstairs.  It means that each evening we have to go down to retrieve our pillows to sleep on, but I'm fine with that.  :)

I had asked mom if she could help me with a sewing project and she came over on Saturday afternoon to finish it!  We now have adorable chevron curtains over the french doors in the nursery!!!  And the nursery is officially completed.  Thanks mom!!!  It was fun to watch how interested the boys were with the sewing machines.  I'm not sure they've ever seen anyone use one before!  :)  What a fun memory.

Presidents' Day

It's Presidents' Day and the boys are both home from school.  I'm going to see if I can sneak in a little time blogging while they are downstairs playing the Wii, and in between loads of laundry!  :)  I've started my 5th load of laundry of tiny clothes, blankets, and bedding from the nursery.  I was going to wait until closer to the due date, but couldn't contain myself!  :)  It's really only 4 1/2 weeks away from the due date!!!  I've been feeling it lately as well...achy muscles, waking up multiple times each night, heartburn, etc.  But I know that the last month will go very fast so I'm going to try to chose to enjoy the journey and continue to be amazed at this new little life kicking wildly inside of me.  :)

 

The boys love to soak in their daddy time on Saturdays and Sundays!  They have been enjoying playing Carcassone, a new game that Nathan got for Christmas.  And I love how Dorian has Molly as well since it's usually the case that he can't leave her alone.

Nathan knows that I have been concerned lately that the boys aren't getting enough reading time in at home.  Dorian says that he already knows how to read so he doesn't need to read to me.  And so often lately, if I ask the boys if I can read a book to them they will turn me down.  I don't want to be too pushy, but I do want to be encouraging.  So one evening when I really had wanted Dorian to read some books that he took home from school, Nathan informed me that instead the boys were going to go downstairs and play with their marshmallow guns.  He thought it was kind of ironic and funny.  I do want them to just be boys...but I am torn because I also want them to enjoy learning and gain confidence as they grow.

Before...

And after! 
I was noticing how bare the coat rack looked while the boys were both at school.  It gave me kind of a lonely feeling I think, although I do really enjoy my quiet breaks at home.  But it inspired me to take a before and after picture to remember this stage in our lives!  :)  The sweatshirts remind me of how Levi loves to wear short sleeves...even when it's below freezing...so our rule has been that he needs to wear a sweatshirt with it before he may leave the house.  I love the camouflage and snake backpacks!  They are adorable.  And I love how the boys are both very good about hanging up their coats and putting their shoes away when they come home!

 

One week ago, Dorian came home from school sounding quite disappointed that he didn't have any Ninjago legos to play with.  After our discussion, it was clear to me that it was time for us to buy him some.  And I couldn't wait to get him some because I knew how much he wanted them.  He has been so super excited after receiving some for Valentine's Day, that he has brought them everywhere with him.  To school to show his friends, to Grandpa and Grandma's house to show everyone there, and he's begged to have Jayden (his friend from Kindergarten and our neighbor) over so they could play with them. 

Last week Sunday was a day of affirmation.  The day before we had made our first step at becoming members at Living Water Community Church, which was a big step for me.  During the service as I was looking around, all I noticed were the people that have and are becoming our church family to us!  The Wallaces, the Schuttingas, the DeGroots, the Baarts, the Kuipers, the VerVeldes, the Postmas.  I saw Mrs. Julie and Mrs. Shawn which are the boys JAM teachers.  I saw our neighbors that live down the street from us.  I saw Sherwyn Bolkema and his wife who had kindly invited us over for lunch a while back.  And I was sitting next to my cousin Janelle and her boyfriend.  Since it is a congregation made up of many people from different places, each Sunday there are many faces that I still don't recognize...but last Sunday, I believe that God was giving me peace about the decision that we had made to become members.  I especially love how the boys have made some friends that they play tag with after the service each week and they really look forward to it!  Are there things about Living Water that I'm not a huge fan of?  Yes.  But I do believe that it is the best fit for our family right now and for knowing that I am very grateful.  I have said many prayers asking God to help us find a church home and a church family to love.

On another random note, Levi's suggestion tonight for our baby boy's name was Fake.  He's come up with some others that are equally ridiculous.  :)  It makes me laugh.