I have just a bit of randomness to share...some thoughts, some comic relief, some pictures, a clip, and a hint of what is forthcoming on Wish You Were Here.

Thoughts
I recently heard the Pink Floyd song, "Wish You Were Here", and since I chose this as the title of our blog, I asked Matt what the song was about. I thought there might be some parallels between the song and our family. Turns out the song is lamenting the loss of the group's lead, Syd Barret, to a mental breakdown. And according to Wikipedia, the song also explores the concept of alienation...yeah. Not too many parallels to draw...thank goodness!

ANYWAY, it got me thinking about why I chose "Wish You Were Here" as the title of our blog and why I am so very glad I did.

Some times, I wish you were here because I would appreciate your perspective on the problem/issue/dilemma I am facing.

Some times, I wish you were here because my kids are so stinkin' cute that I want someone else to witness their cuteness.

Other times, I wish you were here because I have no idea how to address the situation at hand and know that you would know what to do and would do it with strength, courage, and grace.

At times, I wish you were here because I know that you know me in a historical way, knowing me from my beginning and understanding why I do the things I do...even when I don't understand.

Some times, I wish you were here because I know you would laugh heartily with me at Smitty's jokes, Mason's antics, Matt's humor, Sawyer's many faces.

Many times, I wish you were here because I need help - physically, emotionally, spiritually - whatever, I need your help.

Most often, I wish you were here because I love you and so very much love your company.

I love our blog title and love that it is still relevant, appropriate, and perfect for what goes on here.

Now, after those thoughts, some comic relief is in order...

Matt, in a surprisingly/hilariously appropriate camo suit for deer hunting in Bozeman tomorrow. We have SNOW here in a very big way. Still, we never thought this hand-me-down would come in handy (excuse the pun).

You might think this picture would embarrass me...on the contrary, my friend, I think this picture demonstrates that I know how to have a good time. I titled this picture "She Lion" for obvious reasons. (This was taken on Halloween at the Oberly's - and I was modeling Jack's costume.) Thank you, Rebecca, for taking and sharing this picture :).

Pictures

We went for a family walk down our street...all five of us...and it was wonderful and fun and exercise and when we got home I was still smiling.

SoyBoy. He is such a delight.

Sawyer E has started to really enjoy his older "brudders" and smiles when they are near. Melts my heart.

The numbers don't lie...we got 23 inches of snow in less than 24 hours. This picture was taken before we got all 23.

Since we were snowed in, literally, the monkeys and I made cookies...Martha's pumpkin cookies with brown butter icing to be precise. (Smithy)

Mason is serious about cookies.

Winter Wonderland...except that it's not technically winter. It's almost always winter in Bozeman.

The much-trodden path from our house to the garage. We keep the beer in the refrigerator in the garage. :)

Clip

The monkeys are expanding their vocabulary by leaps and bounds every day, it seems. In this clip, Mason is explaining what he is having for dinner - raspberries, avocado, beans, and quesadilla. Smith, however, is interrupting him and joking that he is having candy and pie for dinner. Oh my.

Forthcoming

In the next few days or whenever I get around to it (tee hee), I will dedicate a few days/posts to each one of my delightful children individually. My goal is to really focus the post on one of them at a time, to highlight their "ness", as Owen Wilson would say from the movie "You, Me, and Dupree"...Mason-ness, Smithy-ness, and Sawyer-ness. Should be fun.

Ta-ta-for now!

So we find ourselves in November already. Goodness. I feel like my internal clock is three weeks behind and I am sweatin' to catch up...I owe it to Sawyer being three weeks early :).

I have no pictures to prove it, but Sawyer and I had a delightful visit with the Freese family in Denver. Sawyer was a champ on the short flight - sleeping the whole way, and was generally easy and happy all weekend long. We enjoyed many of my favorite things...

1. Hannah, Jarred and Noah
2. Good coffee
3. Delicious meals prepared for me (not by me)
4. A bit of frivolous $pending
   
5. A much needed break from my daily routine and two noisy boys :)

Thank you, Freese family!

My little Sunshine. At his 2 month appointment, he was 13 lbs 10 oz...90% for height and weight and 50% for his head circumference. He's a big boy! Becca's little guy, Hank, is a big boy, too, and we joke that we are raising up Bozeman High's future defensive line :).

Both Grammie's sent Halloween goodies and the monkeys have had days of fun playing with their "pesents" (presents).

MayMo.

Chubba-Chubba.

A monkey in disguise. Mase.

Another monkey in disguise. Smiggy.

Guess who!

Smitty and his "baby bwudda".

M.

S.

Not much else to report...just living life, loving my boys, and trying to keep my head above water!

Sawyer and I are off to Denver for a long-weekend visit with Hannah, Jarred, and Noah Freese. Matt and the monkeys will be enjoying a "guy's weekend" at home. Have a great weekend!




Bubble wrap dance.

I apologize for the lack of pictures of my little SoyBoy...you know what they say about the second born...that they're sweet, easy going, pleasant, and extremely good looking?...yes, and that they aren't given as much fuss as the firstborn. Forgive me, and please enjoy these pictures of my little PunkyPie.

Two months old - Oh me oh my!

Enjoying his swing with a full belly.


Sawyer's killer smile. Trust me, those cheeks are as scrumptious as they look.


I cannot, for the life of me, get this picture to load correctly. Just tilt your head :).

Hello, remember me? Yes, I am still alive and well - just a bit busy is all. When one adds another child to her brood, an infant, no less, her time is divided into even smaller chunks of productivity. So, the time I normally designate for blogging, during naptime, is being used for dinner prep, laundry, and what-have-you. All the extra stuff -blogging, sewing, reading, etc. - must yield to all the essential stuff - eating, sleeping, surviving :).

(It's been a month since my last post - yikes. Sawyer turns two-months-old on Thursday - yikes. )

Some things I'm loving right now...

• Mr. Two-Months-Old slept from 9:30pm to 7:30am last night without waking. Boo yeah! That's 10 hours of pure and precious sleep. Of course, I didn't get 10 hours of uninterrupted sleep. No, I got up several times to make sure my babe was still alive - still breathing and all that stuff. He was.


• I set the boys up with paper and markers yesterday, and Matt and I sat down to draw with them. You can see what the boys and I drew:

Mason's drawing is the top left, Smith's is the green, and mine is obvious (Yes, I accidentally drew one of my children with three legs). Here is Matt's: Love it.

• Sawyer's precious baby feet...especially his pinky toe and its teeny-tiny toenail. It reminds me that my Almighty God sees to all the details of my life...even my son's perfect baby toe.
  
• Bribing my children with candy ("nee-nee") in an effort to potty train them. After successfully peeing in the potty, they will run about, naked from the waist down, squealing, "I peeeeeed! I peeeeed! Dada, I peed! Nee-nee?" I will have to capture it on video to share with the world - it's awesome.

• Family. I don't know what would become of me without the help of my family (both sides). I might implode without them. Phone calls, prayers, encouragement, Godly counsel -yes, but also the dirty day-to-day stuff...poopy diapers, laundry, meals, babysitting, bathing the monkeys, entertaining the monkeys...etc. Thank you, to all of you, for helping me...I am loving you right now and always. And if you ask me if I need help and I say "no"...I'm lying.
  

Our new computer. It's shiny. It's fast. It's new. And Costco extends the manufacturer's warranty to two years. No brainer.

Beer...actually, alcohol in general, but mostly beer...I've missed it so.

My little monkeys caring for their little monkeys. They hug and kiss them, they change dirty diapers, and Smith has started to "nurse" his baby monkey via his belly-button (much to Matt's chagrin). Loving it.

One Month

Yesterday marked Sawyer's first month of life...one of the fastest months of my life! I like Lane's method of documenting Mad's growth so I am borrowing it. Needless to say, it's difficult to get a one month old to look cute on cue. Yikes. Never fear - he really is a cute kid and here's a picture to prove it.

We're all doing very well. Sawyer's growing at what seems like a tremendous rate - he's developing some major cheeks and multiple chins - so delicious for kissing and munching on. The boys are loving him more and more - offering kisses and asking to hold him, wanting to watch when I change his diaper and nurse him. Soybean eats and sleeps like a champ - nursing every 3 hours or so during the day and getting up between 2 and 3 am and 6 and 7am during the "night". I'm getting 5 hours of sleep in one big chunk and feeling quite rested!

I am able to get everyone dressed, fed and out the door most mornings by 10:30am. We've been soaking up every last drop of sunshine and fair weather at the park or playing in our backyard. (Things like mopping, dusting and general housekeeping have gone by the wayside as I figure I can do that in the winter when we're stuck inside :) For the sake of my sanity, I reserve errand running for the evenings or when I have a sitter for the monkeys. It's just too sweaty and too stressful to wrangle all three of them in a shopping cart and keep everybody happy.

Thankfully, we've had lots of help from friends and family and we're feeling like 3 kiddos is starting to be manageable and even quite fun.

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As promised, here is a quick account of Sawyer's birth story...

At around 5am, the morning of August 14, I awoke with a sharp pain in my lower abdomen that quickly went away...but I felt that I had either peed myself or my waters had ruptured. By 8am or so, as I was up and about feeding the boys breakfast, I was sure my waters had ruptured. However, I wasn't uncomfortable and hadn't had any contractions so I decided to continue about the day as planned. The boys and I had a play date with Naomi and Kale to ride the city bus to a park, play, and then ride the bus home. So, we did just that.

The three bus-riders and their "nee-nee"(fruit snacks).

While at the park, I called Matt to tell him that he could stay at work until things started happening and I also called my mom to recommend she come up whenever convenient. We were back home by noon and still nothing happening. Sara came over with Amelia and some raspberry leaf tea that is supposed to help labor along - still nothing. By 5pm, Matt was home, Mom was in town and at the house, and still nothing...so I finally called the hospital and they asked me to come in.
The nurse confirmed that my waters had ruptured and notified my doctor, Dr. Helin. Dr. Helin checked my progress (or rather lack thereof) and found me to be 1 cm dilated. Since my waters had ruptured, I was Strep B positive, and hadn't had a single contraction, she gave me until 5am the following morning to go into actual labor and if not, she would prepare for a c-section.

Matt enjoying a blizzard and preparing for a night at the hospital.

During the night, I only had one pitiful, puny contraction. By 7am, Saturday August 15, I was scrubbed and prepped for another c-section. This c-section proved to be completely different than my last - thankfully. Everyone in the surgical suite was calm and cheerful, telling me what they were doing as they were doing it. I was calm and eager to meet my baby. At 7:51 am, a healthy, pink, baby boy emerged and after a quick examination went right into his daddy's arms. Matt held him by my side as they stitched me back up and as soon as that was done I got to hold my precious little bundle. And I never had to stop holding him. They wheeled us into a surgery recovery room where I was encouraged to nurse my baby while they monitored and checked my vitals and such. My boy and I were not separated until hours later when the nurses gave him a bath. It was wonderful.

Matt and I hadn't settled on a name pre-surgery, boy or girl, so once back in our room we took turns flipping through the name book we had brought with us to the hospital. By 5pm we had happily settled on Sawyer for his first name. His middle name, Eames, wasn't settled on until the following day when Matt relented to my preference for spelling it with an "e". (I wanted his middle initial to be "E"...Sawyer E. Schuyler has such a nice sound to it!)

Since I only had one baby to care for, I sent Matt home to sleep in his bed while Sawyer and I snuggled and slept. For the next two days, I relished the quiet, peacefulness of caring for one baby without the raucous of my two other sweet boys. By Monday (or was it Tuesday?), I headed home to join the rest of my family and start adjusting to our new routine.

There it is, folks, the happy little tale of how sweet baby Sawyer joined our family.

A peaceful moment

A glorious, peaceful moment. The monkeys are coloring and placing stickers all over the table and butcher paper (the glossy side allows stickers to be used again and again) and the babe is sleeping soundly in the swing. Glorious. Thought I'd share the moment.