One Month!!!

Sweet baby Maclyn is ONE month old (yesterday!). My-oh-my the time has absolutely flown. I was just telling Stacey that, even though my due date has long come and gone, I still feel like I should be pregnant. I am in a form of blissful denial that I have a one month old, that I am a mommy of 3 babies and have been for a full month. It is just crazy to me. When all is calm in the house (read: kids are playing nicely, Maclyn isn't screaming) I get all sentimental looking at this beautiful family that God allowed us to create. We are so incredibly blessed.

Doing Monthly pictures of the boys took the form of a baby next to a toy giraffe (Keagan) or a number sticker on a onesie (Finley). I was looking to do something different for Maclyn and stumbled upon this monthly blanket. Love the result!!

At 1-month old, Maclyn is still in Newborn clothing and diapers, though probably not much longer! She is a great eater and usually nurses every 2-3 hours during the day. In the evening I basically become an all-you-can-eat buffet. Maclyn wakes one time at night to nurse then sleeps until 730 or so. I will say that, though she basically uses me as a pacifier in the late evening hours, her sleeping schedule is fantastic and I cannot complain. It wasn't always this way, but I feel like this is our current routine.

The other night we let the boys pick a movie and then camp-out overnight in our room. As we all piled in our bed to watch the Minions movie, I had that overwhelming feeling of gratitude and love over my big family of 5.

Maclyn is starting to play and interact with all of us and her environment. She loves to look around and will play in her activity mat for 20 minutes or so. She also does informal tummy time on Mommy or Daddy and enjoys bobbing her head up to look at us. Yesterday I got a real, gummy smile with eye contact. I tried to get a picture but it didn't turn out real well and the smile was much bigger than the picture shows..

Finley loves to play with his baby sister in the activity gym. Bless him with his shirt tucked into his undies!

The end of a sweet smile and talking to Mommy. 

In the last couple weeks I have gotten back to walking when I am able. I have a lot working against me: record heat, newborn schedule coinciding with the boys' and my schedules, not enough hours in the day, and personal energy level. But when the stars align and I can make it happen I feel so much better. Maclyn does pretty good as long as it isn't near feeding time and the boys have enjoyed a couple of walks with me, running and jumping in puddles one time and riding their scooters another night. Exercise has taken on a new form with 3 babies tagging along!

Yesterday was a super busy day for our family. Finley had his preschool open house at noon, then we ate lunch and went to the splash pad. After the splash pad, the boys wanted to go to the playground. Maclyn was doing fine so we went on over to play a bit before high-tailing it to Sonic for happy hour slushies. Then we rushed home for "rest time" before quickly heading over to the elementary school for Keagan's kindergarten open house! Whew! It was a super busy day, but it was fun and the boys were (surprisingly) well-behaved. 

Superheroes Unite for Finn's 4th Birthday!

Finley could never decide on a birthday party theme, which is super funny because he is generally the decisive child and Keagan, who is terribly indecisive, always picks a birthday theme years in advance! So Josh and I basically, after lots of discussion with Finn that went nowhere, picked for him. We told him what kind of party he was having and some days he liked the theme, other days he did not. Typical Finn. Luckily by party time he was good with the cake, the theme, and the place!

Here is the birthday invitation I made for him. We were pretty pleased with how well it turned out! I snapped this picture of Finley one day when he was playing dress-up and with a little Photoshop magic was about to make it into an invitation!

We ordered Finn's cake way in advance and then purchased superhero shirts. I got mine the morning of the party at Walmart. I didn't realize until we picked up the cake that our shirts completely matched it!! We each had a "tier" of the cake on our shirt. Poor Maclyn was in ladybugs and pink and didn't get a superhero themed shirt.

Poppy got lots of snuggles from Maclyn!

Finn had an awesome turnout! He had 15 friends show up and bless him with both their presence and awesome presents. Our family is so lucky to have such great friends who show up and love on our children for birthday parties!

Finley and Wesley

Max and Owen

Reagan, E.J., Keagan, Maeci

Abigail and Ethan

Nate, Nick, and Tuck

Game time!!

Present time!! Finley was funny about his presents. He knew what he wanted...a Kylo Ren light saber (Star Wars bad guy)...and he asked us DAILY if he could have one for his birthday. Like I said in the beginning, this kid knows what he wants. Thankfully, that was an easy present to get and Gamma and Poppy came through for him. And despite that being the ONE present he wanted, he loved each one of his other presents. I crack up at kids birthday parties, including those of my own children, because ALL the kids want to be right up in the present-opening space. I used to try and make it more organized at our parties and would beg and plead and harp on my kids to stand back at their friends' parties...but it just is what it is. Kids like toys and surprises and want to know what their friend is opening...fact of life. So, now I don't even try at our parties and just let the kids do what comes naturally: crowding the birthday kid! Haha!

Mal Mal came to Finley's party! He was so happy!!

Cake time!!! Listen: Best.Cake.Ever.  We had the same lady who made Keagan's Big Hero 6 cake make Finn's superhero cake. We asked for 3 different flavors: German chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. It was delicious, and it looked perfect...and the best part of the whole thing was it was cheap!! And all the kids were super excited about it!

A BIG Happy Birthday to my BIG 4 year old! I tell him all the time that he can stay little forever, but as I am quickly learning time is flying and it won't be long before I am planning for his 5th birthday party.