Yesterday I felt like I got nothing done, was overwhelmed with every task and so tired, but at the end of the day I had to congratulate myself on one great accomplishment---I captured Luke's first smile with this picture! He went on to smile a lot last night---it was really cute. So, the laundry remains undone and I am currently in the same pajamas that I was wearing yesterday, but by golly after almost four weeks of sleepless nights and long days, I got my baby to smile for the camera!
Now, for this baby---Adam has a new found interest in a sucking on a binky and swinging in a baby swing---imagine that! He is being hilarious and I can deal with his fits because he is so dang cute & funny!
And one more birthday to document, our Julia is 7! She had a fun birthday at the Fun Park in Logan with rollerskating (well, she had rollerskates on and held on to the side the whole time!) and fun games and presents! On her actual birthday we had another makeshift party--I put the cake in and we forgot to take it out, so Julia was so sad that her strawberry cake was now chocolate---burnt! Thankfully I had a brownie mix as a backup!

Happy Birthday to Aaron!

So, I am someone that takes at least a month to even catch my breath from having a baby, let alone "bounce back", whatever the heck that means, but people love to say it! I think a more accurate description of how I feel would be that I am currently being tossed around and maybe eventually will bounce back----back to whatever the new normal will be. But, I have managed to get little things accomplished today, but every night around this time I think---do I relax or do I try to get something done while Luke is sleeping, the kids are occupied and I have a couple of hours before I tackle getting them to bed---I think tonight I will relax!
Today is Aaron's birthday--Happy Birthday! I know it's all relative and 32 is actually really young, but dang it is sounding very grown up to me! 32, four kids, tripping over toys on the ground, cringing when we see crayon colored on the wall, you know the norm----these are all the things that we are supposed to enjoy now because we will miss them later!
The kids and I did a little makeshift birthday party for Aaron, I wish I could've done more, but I was actually proud that I made a cake, rather than just buy the pre-made hostess cupcakes (which I was tempted to do!) and we were able to get him some of his favorite treats, a couple of shirts and a couple of books. Even though this birthday is boring with long hours at work, trying to catch up on sleep (for both of us!), I hope he has had a great day---he deserves it!
Here are some cute updated pictures of baby Luke:

I am already so smitten with how cute he is!
He is growing fast---at his two week appt. he had grown an inch and was up to 9lb 7 oz!

Introducing....

Here is our handsome baby boy, Luke Newel Chambers:


The week started off like this:
Then after a blur of events, this happened:


*The nurses set him there to run a little test on him, so thats why he's there and not in my arms, but this picture cracks me up, like a little foreshadowing of the next chapter of my life!*

The kids instantly loved Luke, Adam loves him a distant kind of a way! But, Julia and Jack are very hands on!
Luke was a healthy 8 lb 14 oz and 20 1/2 inches long, even at two weeks early! He is doing great, however he is jaundice, so since we came home, we haven't really been able to stay home, which put a huge damper on my plans to stay in pajamas for at least a week! We've had to take him every day back to the doctor to get blood drawn to test his levels, which brings me to my love hate relationship with this contraption that he has to lay on all the time other than eating and diaper changes:
I'm glad it is helping get rid of the jaundice, but I am so sick of it! We are hoping that tomorrow his level will be down enough to say goodbye to this for good!
We've had a few different people ask about his middle name, Newel, it's my great grandpa's name---I will try to scan a cute picture I have of me and him when I was little. I am excited to have a child named after him, he was such a kind person and growing up I was always really intrigued with his life, I always wanted to know more.
Anyway, what a week! I am hoping to have that pajama week this week!

the difference between boys and girls...

so, two nights ago aaron and i decided to go into the hospital because my contractions had been regular for several hours and they increased to five minutes apart for a couple of hours. well, long story short we stayed at the hospital for three hours and the contractions were 2-4 minutes apart the whole time, but they weren't helping me dilate any more than i already was, so i guess they were just for fun---how fun!

so, anyway during this time we had to have a nice neighbor come and sit over night with the sleeping kids. so, after being home for 10-15 minutes and Jack says, "so, did the doctor get the baby out or not?"
he cracks me up---so simplistic! i guess he didn't think through the fact that we would probably have a baby with us if i had had him and i would hope to look a little different myself!

well, when julia got home from school it was a different story---she came through the door, shouting out, "where's the baby?" all excited! i had to dash her high hopes and tell her he didn't come yet, and she got really upset and said she wanted the baby now!
don't we all!

updates...

I know I need to get in a better habit of keeping this blog updated because I love to see other people's blogs updated----so, I will try harder!
We've been busy lately just keeping up with the kids, Aaron finished up his EMT class, and I have been busy with PTO (PTA in Idaho, at least in Grace!) and getting ready for the baby! I have about 3 weeks and of course it seems forever away, yet there are still lots of little things on the list to get done. It has been fun having the kids help get all the clothes out and get the room ready because now they seem really excited too. Well, who knows how Adam will react, but we will just take that as it comes!
We had dirt delivered yesterday to get our yard all ready for sod and then a fence---I am soooo excited for that.
Here are some pictures of our recent events:

Julia had her first piano recital. She did a wonderful job! Her teacher is such a sweet lady. I was so proud of Julia for speaking up and introducing her song, etc. She is such a doll! Aaron's parents came to watch--it was lots of fun.


This is totally Jack---last week it was raining and I kept hearing the wagon being dragged around the house--I went outside to find it pouring down rain, I asked Jack to come in and he said he was too busy building his workshop!



I know I say this every time, but Adam is getting more hilarious with each passing day---He has shortened his mama and dada to just ma and da. So, I hear hundreds of times a day, "Hi Ma", "No Ma", "Yeah Ma". It is so cute. He is in such a cute stage right now!

Well, hopefully there will be exciting events soon---I feel like the baby could come any day now, but just for saying that I am probably in for a long three weeks!

Birthdays!!

We have had a birthday blitz at our house...Jack and Adam's birthdays are just a few days apart. We've gotten through birthday parties and now I think I am going to miss leftover cake sitting around!
Jack had an outer space/astronaut birthday party with a few friends. He was sooo excited to finally have his birthday come. First thing in the morning, as I am still waking up, I hear Jack wake up and from the hallway yell, "MOM, Look how 5 years old I look!"
Aaron's parents had taken the boys out a week before their birthdays and they were spoiled with gifts and McDonald's playland. And then it was fun to have my parents come up to our house on Jack's birthday and spoil them some more! They got so many fun things and all the gifts were a hit.
Adam has taking over for Jack's love of froggy boots and Jack decided that the best place to use his new shovel and pail was in the potato field---I'm sure he has messed up at least a few potatoes, but he claims, he needs to dig holes for the bugs!
I quickly realized that Adam was two on the morning of his birthday when I gave him a bowl of cut up strawberries and I ate one and he freaked out, threw the bowl, with strawberries flying everywhere, grabbed my mouth with one hand, and then with the other hand reached into my mouth to try to retrieve his strawberry, all the while screaming, "mine, mine." Otherwise, he was really cute all day!
He was in heaven with his Blue's Clues party--he loves blue's clues, loves the songs and does his own version of them all the time. I have to give a big thanks to darling Julia for being such a wonderful party planner and being so thoughtful with thinking out all the details! She was so excited to give her brothers presents that she had bought with "her own money". Aaron and I are so thankful for these beautiful children!
**Don't look close at the cakes---cake decorating is not my thing!!**

Back to the Books....

I am excited to say that Aaron has been accepted to the Executive MBA program at the U. It starts this August and will go through April of 2010. It meets on weekends, alternating Fridays and Saturdays. This will work out well with his work schedule of working four 10 hour days. His work is very supportive of this. I am excited to have the chance to have weekends to shop, hang out with family and be back in the city!
We try to talk to the kids about education and what they can be when they grow up, but I'm pretty sure their only concept of college is when Steve from Blue's Clues goes off to college and learns about cool stuff like music and outer space!
I'm very excited for this new adventure in our family's life--we both feel really good about it and feel like it's the right time to take on this challenge. I know that Aaron will be doing all the work, but I somehow feel like we both got accepted because I was so involved in gathering all the information, the application process and insisting on a new suit for the interview!
Even though I know it will be a sacrifice, I feel confident in Aaron's ability and I know the Lord will help us through the stressful times. And we will definitely be investing in a car dvd player for the extra driving!