Three Babies Under 15 Months

A lot of people have asked how we're doing having three children under the age of 15 months. Some days are better than others! Overall, I'd say we're doing well. The one thing I have a hard time keeping up with are when Ethan and Mia are in tornado mode. They can destroy a room in 5-10 minutes. There is always stuff scattered throughout the living room, kitchen, hallways, and their room. I've stopped trying to pick it up right away. I could seriously follow them all day long and pick up. They never seem to get tired of getting into stuff! Cooking is also a challenge. My mom and sister, Jenna, made a bunch of meals for us that we've frozen, so that is a huge help. It is also tough when all three of them want me at the same exact time. It's hard not feeling guilty when you choose one over the other two. I try to give Ethan and Mia a snack or sit on the floor with them when feeding Riley and that helps a lot with settling them down.

Ethan and Mia are still adjusting to having a new sister. Ethan is nicer to Riley than Mia. Mia will start out being nice by kissing Riley and gently patting her on the head but her patting starts getting harder and harder. Ethan is 100% a little boy. He loves being downstairs with Mike. We're redoing our fireplace and Ethan loves getting into Mike's tools. He watches how Mike uses the tools and then tries to imitate him. Ethan has started running recently. His little legs get going so fast that he constantly trips. He just gets right back up and starts running again. Mia has now taken 11 steps! She is getting braver and braver every day. She is so proud of herself when she stands and starts to walk. It's so cute watching her face. I'm guessing she'll be walking before we know it. She prefers to crawl at this point but is progressing! She still is our little cuddle bug and is such a girly-girl. It's nice to have one of each. Their personalities are so different, and it's so fun seeing the differences come out. Riley is now two weeks old. She still tends to want to stay awake at night. Some nights are better than others, but sleep is a minimum at our house! She absolutely loves to be held. She tends to get fussy when she has been put down and when she has to poop! Everyone has been asking if Riley has a cowlick. Yep, she sure does! Hers isn't as bad as Ethan's but I think it's worse than Mia's. You can see it in her pictures. It's right in the front where Ethan and Mia's are. These poor kids! Both Mike and I have cowlicks, so we shouldn't be too surprised.

Wearing the onsie Aunt Kelly bought!

Having fun with Mom.

Aunt Kelly and Riley.

Just had my bath.

My little Mia-corn.

Ethan likes to climb on this toy to get up to the window.

Wide awake.

Crashed out on the floor after a hard day of playing.

Time to cut her bangs again! She's going to love it!

15 Month Well-Baby Check

Ethan and Mia had their well-baby check today. It was rather interesting because I took them by myself. Ethan was absolutely petrified of the nurses and everything they were doing to him. I had to try and hold his head down while they took his temperature. It took the nurse a couple of minutes to try and get his head measurement because he would not hold still. The length and weight were just as challenging. He was really scared by the end of it. Mia was better but still didn't want to be touched. I had to hold her down so the doctor could check her ears. Other than that, she did pretty well. She didn't seem to be as scared of the nurses or doctor. To top off their doctor's visit, they each received a DTAP immunization. They both screamed bloody murder! Thank goodness we don't have to go back for 3 months.

Ethan was 31.5 inches (63rd percentile), his weight was 26 pounds 13 ounces (75th percentile), and his head was 19.5 inches (still off the charts.) Mia was 30 inches (30th percentile), her weight was 20 pounds 14 ounces (15th percentile), and her head was 18.8 inches (off the charts.) Again, why do my kids have such large heads?

Their doctor made some predictions about Ethan and Mia. I thought it'd be fun to share:

Ethan - will be the walker, Type B personality, easy-going, the peace maker
Mia - will be the talker, Type A personality, the trouble maker, instigator

It'll be interesting to see if he's right!

Riley is One Week Old Today!

I thought I'd post some more pictures of Riley. She's starting to sleep a little better at night! Her first doctor's visit went well. Her weight was down to 6 pounds, so she needs a weight check next week. She's been eating really well, so I'm not too worried about it. Other than that, she's a normal newborn!

Hanging out on the couch.

Great-Grandpa Krause and Riley.

Grandpa Krause and Riley.

Great-Grandma Krause and Riley.

Wide awake.

Riley and Mia's hand.

First Tub Bath.

Mia is helping with the bath.

Catching some zzz's.

15 Months Old!

Ethan and Mia turned 15 months old on March 19th. Both made it through the winter without any major sicknesses. We're happy and thankful for that! The last few weeks have been hard on all of us. I was in the hospital on bed rest for a little over 2 weeks. They didn't quite know what was going on, but I'm sure they were wondering why I wasn't coming home. They've both been super clingy to me since I've been back. I think they're paying me back for being gone! Ethan and Mia are still adjusting to having a new sister. Neither one like me holding her or paying attention to her. When Riley is sleeping, I spend as much time with Ethan and Mia as I can. I know it's going to be quite an adjustment!

Ethan is still all over the place. He is almost running now. He beelines it to the baby gate when it's left open. I've caught him a couple of times standing on the second step. He is pretty klutzy, so one of these days, he's going to fall down the stairs (again.) I wish he were afraid of things. He also watches everything you do. He tries and tries to unlatch the baby gate. He has the right concept except that it's really hard to unlatch, even for adults. You can tell he's trying to figure out how to work everything. Ethan has his own little language now. One of his favorite phrases is, "goya, goya, goya." I have absolutely no idea what it means but he says it constantly. He'll walk up to you and rattle off a sentence that sounds like a foreign language. It's quite comical because it seems that he knows what he's trying to say! Ethan has really started climbing on things now. He has even more bruises on his head from falling off of things. Poor kid!

Mia is close to walking. She's taken 6 steps in a row. She is now standing up by herself for a bit of time. She's so proud of herself when she does it too! I'm glad to see her doing this because she can be scared of things. One of her favorite things to say is, "hi baby." I'm curious to see if she'll come up with her own language! Mia has quite the attitude now. It seemed to have developed when I was gone for those two weeks. Don't get me wrong, she's always been feisty, but she definitely has moved up a notch. She's my little diva! She held a grudge against Grandpa Schmidt for two hours for getting her wet in the swimming pool. Every time he would come near her, she would try kicking him and pushing him away. She's Ethan's partner in crime. He initiates it, but she is right there with him. We put cabinet locks on our cupboards and both kids were pretty upset when they tried to get into the food pantry. It's really cut down on the amount of stuff we have to pick up!

Playing with the horse.

This is the horse that Mia is afraid of. Though, she's warming up to it!

Yes?!?

I helped dump out the Lucky Charms.

Look at all the Lucky Charms!

I thought it'd be a cute picture if I set Riley on Mia's lap. Mia wasn't quite ready for that yet. She tried hitting her on the head and pushed her off of her lap. I snapped this picture right afterwards. Notice the attitude?

Mia is still really interested in Riley but is kind of jealous of her.

Our first family picture. That's our dog, Elsa, sitting on my lap. She's in need of some major grooming!

Riley's Pictures

Here are some pictures of Riley from the hospital. She's a bit of a night owl, so the last few nights have been a little rough! That, and she doesn't like sleeping in her crib. She loves to be held and cuddled close. It's hard putting her down! Ethan and Mia are still getting used to her. Neither one wants me to hold her. Mia actually starts crying when she sees I have Riley. I'm hoping this doesn't last long!

She's got a great set of lungs!

Dad and Riley shortly after birth.

Her stats!

Wide awake!

Getting sleepy.

Grandpa Schmidt and Riley.

Dad and Riley.

Grandma Schmidt, Uncle Mark, & Aunt Jenna

Mia checking out her little sister.

Grandma Schmidt and Riley.

Aunt Jenna and Riley.

Getting ready to go home!

Mom and Riley.

Dad and Riley.

Lets go!

Riley's Hospital Pictures

Here are her pictures taken by the hospital!

We're Home!

Riley and I were discharged from the hospital today. After being in the hospital for the past two weeks, it feels so good to be home! Riley literally kept me up the entire night last night, so I'm pretty exhausted. She breastfeeds really well and I hope it works out for us! Ethan and Mia don't like it when I'm holding her, so this could get interesting. Ethan still tends to lose interest in her quite easily, but Mia is still really interested. Mia still tries to hit her and scratch her but will give her kisses sometimes too. Mia hates it when Riley cries and cries right along side of her!

My mom, my sister, Jenna, and brother, Nathan are here helping out. It's nice having them here. They'll be leaving in a few days and then reality will set in!

I'll post some more pictures soon! I need to unload them from the cameras and I haven't found the time to do it yet!

Another tooth

Ethan has another tooth! That makes 10. His first molar on his upper right side came in. He's growing up so fast!

It's a Girl!

My Saint Patty's Day baby is here! Riley Anne was born at 11:36 this morning. Mike and I had a couple of bets going. I thought I'd deliver by 11 am. He thought after 11am. I lost that one! But, I thought I was having a girl and he thought a boy, so I won that one! The delivery was very quick. They decided not to break my water right away because baby's head was still movable and they didn't want a prolapsed cord. They started me on pitocin to increase contractions. I got an epidural an hour and a half after they started pitocin, so I missed all of the really strong contractions. (Not that I minded.) My water broke on it's own and she was here 45 minutes after that.

She weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces and is 18 inches long. She has blondish hair like Mia, which is a big surprise. I don't know how we keep having these blond-haired babies! I think she has Mike's nose. He obviously has strong nose genes because Ethan also has his nose. Ethan and Mia were both really interested in her at first. Ethan patted her head and quickly lost interest. Mia also patted her head and was way more interested. Before I could react, she hit Riley on her head and then scratched her. I guess she doesn't like her baby sister, but that's not a big surprise. Mia cries when Riley cries. It was funny yesterday but that's not going to be much fun when we're at home.

We're hoping to go home tomorrow, so wish us luck! I'll post some pictures when we get home!

Tomorrow is the Big Day!

My induction is scheduled for tomorrow morning. I'm supposed to do quite a bit of walking tonight and tomorrow morning. I need to be up and walking by 5am. Yuck! And Mike was commenting that 7am is going to be early for him. They're going to either break my water, start me on pitocin or do both. I'll know more tomorrow! Wish us luck!

I thought it'd be cute to get their picture in the wheelchair. Turned out well, didn't it?

Neither one was impressed.

Tuckered out.

My angel, when she's sleeping, that is! :)

Wow! He's holding still!