Dear Everett,

Your mommy and daddy are both second children and it has been fun learning what our parents must have felt when we were born.  You are no less loved than our first born.  :)  We love you both more than we can express.  Mommy's just learning how to juggle a little more and things like taking pictures and having time to share them just get prioritized under making sure you get loved on as much as you deserve.  You are so sweet and easy and get to live under the benefit of mommy and daddy having gained a little experience before you came along and learned that "this too shall pass."  We are more relaxed with you and you will probably feel a little less stress than your big brother does over trying live up to his parents expectations, as we learn along the way that our expectations for him may not always be fair.  Hopefully our love for both of you trumps our learning process and we thank God for his grace that children don't remember much before the age of 4.  That may be one of the greatest extensions of grace God grants parents.  So long as we can keep our mistakes from becoming patterns, we hope you're childhood memories will be full of JOY.  We cherish these first six (and a half) months of life we've had with you and can't wait for the next!  You are a BLESSING!  While we haven't gotten your pictures posted in here weekly, we've taken them more weeks than not, and you are cherished!

You are a happy, happy, easy, easy baby!  At 6 months:
-  You prefer to be on your tummy all the time and push WAY up getting your chest off the ground.
-  You scoot backwards, and we know it's only going to be a matter of time before you're crawling! (Probably because you spend more time on the floor than your brother did, as you want to be down playing with him, but also because mommy has to do things like run a two year old to the potty!)
-  You sit up for a few seconds before tumbling over, but have gotten a taste for sitting up and cry when I don't sit you back up again after a fall.
- You have yet to care about who's holding you.  You'll go to anyone, anywhere and smile at them!
- You've only been waking up about once a night for months now and nap like a champ!
-  Unlike your brother, you put EVERYTHING in your mouth and are enjoying trying real foods.
-  You love bouncing in the bouncer.
-  You ADORE everything about your brother and Mommy's absolute favorite thing right now is watching you laugh and laugh and laugh at him, and him enjoying entertaining you and taking care of you!  
- You babble and laugh and smile and so very rarely cry!
- I am sure there are many more things I could say, but I here you waking in the other room.  :)


As for Asher, he will be THREE in November, and I can't believe how big my baby is getting!  Time flies and we are doing our best to cherish every moment!  We love you so much buddy!  Mommy's having so much fun teaching you letters and sounds and numbers and exploring,  and I'm in awe of you and your imagination, everyday!

We love you boys more than words can describe!!!!

Our life in review

Sooo.... it's been a while.  Turns out having two children shakes life up a little bit.  I can't count the number of posts I've started and not finished over the last month and a half because someone needed me to do something... you know feed and sustain them, keep them from peeing on the carpet, kiss their bruised head after unnamed two year old's feet went right out from under him on a huge puddle of water in the kitchen right after HE dumped it out of his cup.  (lesson learned btw... kind of).   Okay, okay, turns out I CAN count the number of posts I've started in the last month and a half.  That was a lie.  It was only 2.  Yes that's how often I've been able to sit down and write in my online scrapbook/keep grandma up to date sort of blog... but I promise there were a whole whole bunch more started in my head.  :)  You know, Easter, business trip with daddy to Kansas City, our camping vacation, Everett turning 3 months... um Everett turning 4 months...,  my garden (which not unlike this blog will be lucky to survive the summer.... probably should be watering it right now instead of typing...  I'm super excited about it, by the way!  (It was my Mother's Day/Birthday present from Eric, and it's AWESOME!  :)  Long story short, you know it's been a long time since you've blogged when... your husband would rather you blog than unpack the van and suitcases from the vacation we got home from 4 days ago....


So for starters here's our life as of late in review with a few photos:


Eric turned the big 30 in April!

Soo glad for warmer weather! And my hard working men! 

 First popsicle ever!  :)

My birthday in K.C. on Eric's business trip we got to tag along on!

Digging for dinosaurs at Science City in Union Station.  :)

Fritz's restaurant where our food was delivered by train!



Found a fun park with a splash pad!

My handsome boys!

Camping near Omaha this past week!

Nap time! Successful and fun but sooo hot.  New rule for Dobbs camping: In summer months, camping is only allowed at higher altitudes or more northern latitudes!

1st S'more!  Hard to enjoy in the heat! :) 

Air and Space Museum!

Enjoying a patch of shade in the campground!

Loving the animals at the Henry Doorly Zoo!

 And the train ride!

Keeping cool at the pool at our campground!

And let me tell you!  This kid does not hold back on his smiles!  He smiles and babbles ALL the time!!!  I almost CAN wait until he talks because I'm afraid that he's going to talk even more than his brother... and that folks is saying something!  :)   We sure do love our boys!

It's been a fun summer so far, but as most days we're drowning in laundry, and up to our eyeballs in dishes... we're definitely counting our blessings when vacation days break the daily monotony of life with little ones at home.  :)


 

10 weeks

Everett is continuing to grow, smile, and 'talk' to us.  Here's his 10 week picture.  Caught a smile :)

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

ASHER  just typed his name all by himself. :)  And this following video makes the educator in his mommy proud.  Not that he's the first 2 year old ever to do it, but it's still fun for us to see and thought his grandmas might like to see it too.  :)

May Day Flop

So I grew up celebrating May Day (May 1st) with May baskets that we made, simply, and delivered to friends in stealth mode (dropping them off outside the front door, ringing the bell, and RUNNING!). Because if they caught us they could kiss us or pinch us, or something like that. :)   Regardless of what they got to do when they caught us, I have fond memories of the day and the activity.

Now being a stay at home mom to a two and a half year old (and a newborn) life, as much as I love it, can get a little repetitive and long some days.  So with May Day this week, I thought to myself, let's make May baskets this year for something fun and different to do.  It was an innocent thought.

Turns out May Day to a two year old looks something like this:

Making Baskets = that was fun for five minutes, but now I'm just upset that you're still working on those and not playing with me

Delivering baskets in stealth mode = distraught that we're going to ALL my friends houses and not going inside to play with any of them (he is SUCH a social two year old, it's insane! I genuinely felt bad for him at every stop.)

Driving away before getting to see anyone receive their basket = confusion why no one is saying thank you (pure innocence  "They didn't say thank you, mommy.")

Upset, distraught, confused... not exactly what I was going for. :)   It was a SUPER FUN day.  not really.

SO I feel like I should have some  'lessons learned' here, but I'm not sure what.

The most important thing to my child right now is meaningful time playing with him... absolutely.
I need to invest more time planning play dates than projects... sure.

My mom in the wisdom of age and experience suggested that next year we have a May Day party where we invite all of his friends over and give them May baskets when they arrive.... fantasitc idea that I'll probably do next year.

But as I write this post that I intended to just be a humorous recounting of our day (the missteps of a new parent) and to share my mom's awesome idea for next year, my thoughts turned serious. Because the blaring lesson here is just simply that he was too young to understand the activity with too short of an attention span to enjoy it.  But where I'm getting stuck is... too young to understand what?  The fun of giving in secret? 'Cause I want my son to learn that lesson, even if it isn't so fun for him the first time. Even if he's throwing a tantrum because the candy isn't for him.  'Cause life isn't all about him.

We celebrate Christmas, and Easter, and Thanksgiving with our kids far before they understand those too.  "It's easy to give gifts at Christmas when I'm getting them too"... but to give when I'm not receiving, and not get thanked or even have them know it was from me?   I think today was worth it, but I think next year, I'm going to have a MUCH better idea of what I'm trying to teach my son, which will hopefully make it more pleasant day for both of us.  Because those are the lessons worth teaching. And when there's a purpose, even the tough days are worth it. Who knew May Day was so deep?  Not me!  :)

P.S. There were moments of fun today, many in fact, and several of our friends did thank us.   Just so that's understood. :)  Though I think we erred from tradition this year by putting our name on them. Oops.  There's just a good lesson in there somewhere in giving just to give, not for recognition or to get something in return.
The lessons we learn as parents....

See the May Basket on the step and us running away?  :)  We did have some fun today. :)

7 & 8 Weeks in Photos

Everett @ 7 weeks 

Daddy playing with his boys



Mommy hanging in the hammock with the boys over Easter at Grandma and Grandpa's house!



Everett @ 8 weeks...

Brotherly Love

We sure love them!   Praise the Lord that life with two gets easier every day... and having everyone healthy sure helps too! 

6 Weeks!

Got one posted on time!  Here's this week's picture of little Everett. 6 weeks!

And Asher is always wanting to get in on the action too...

Well it's been a pretty awful bedtime tonight, so it's off to try and get some sleep at least.  Happy Monday!

Eric

5 weeks and HOME!

* Sorry wrote this Monday but didn't get it posted.  News is a little behind but that's how it goes with two littles at home. *

Well we sure didn't expect to be in the hospital 5 days out of the last 7, but I'm glad we were able to be there as long as Everett needed to be.  I took him to the ER around 3 a.m. Monday night, or well early Tuesday morning, I guess, and we headed home around 1 p.m. on Saturday.  And is it ever good to be home!  We ended up just having to wait for his little lungs to recover enough to make it through a night without having to turn the oxygen back on, which I'm totally grateful for... wouldn't have wanted to come home not knowing if he'd make it through the night without oxygen levels dropping!  We're quarantining ourselves in the house for one more week though, just because I don't want to risk exposing him to anything else. Until the Dr. has okayed him at the one week follow up, I'm afraid his coming down with a cold at this point, before his lungs are fully recovered, might send us right back to the hospital.

We're grateful for access to health care, for answered prayers, for recovering health, and for being home!

Here are his 5 weeks pictures in the yellow chair.  I forgot how hard it was to photograph an infant.  We have about 15 of him looking to the side.  No matter how hard I tried to get him to look at the camera, there was obviously something far more fascinating over his shoulder.



Then this ones kind of cute of him stretching.



Finally one looking at me... with CRAZY eyes. :)



And the one decent forward looking pic, unfortunately has red eye and I am no technological nor photography wizard that my husband is and therefore don't know how to fix that, AND with his little balding head, and his tongue sticking out... but newborns are always cute, right??  :)

Anyway, without further ado, Everett at 5 weeks. Most importantly, HOME.

What a month we've had!

I intended to start this post with the first four weekly pictures of Everett, celebrating his first month of life (which is still what this post will be) but what I did NOT expect was to be sitting here typing it in a hospital room with my little four week old guy lying next to me hooked up to oxygen and an IV drip while I wrote it.

Unfortunately he came down with a bad cold last Thursday (RSV, in fact, unbeknownst to us) which turned into a cough, which by Monday night had settled itself into his lungs and a nice case of pneumonia. After a scary, prayer-filled drive to the ER at 3 a.m. early Tuesday morning with a teeny tiny baby who was fighting to catch his breath, we're extremely grateful that God has indeed been gracious to us again!  Our prayers have been answered so immediately, as he's very nearly been weaned off the oxygen already and we're hopeful to head home tomorrow after only just fulfilling the mandatory 48 hour minimum they put on him upon admission!  Well, at least that's our hope, based on the reports we've been getting today!

We're not pleased, obviously, that our poor little guy is going through this so young, but to a certain extent we are grateful we've been through it before with Asher's hospitalizations (with RSV at 4 months and with pneumonia at 17 months) and kind of know what is going on and what to expect with a respiratory infection in the hospital.

So that said., let's celebrate his first month!


Here he is at 1 week...

My failed attempt to prop up a one week old. :)

2 weeks...  What a difference one week can make!  :) 

3 weeks...

4 weeks...  : (.

We technically didn't come to the hospital until the day AFTER his one month birthday (which just happened to be exactly four weeks because February is short) but we didn't get the picture taken on the day of and now we're no where near the yellow chair for a few days, so this will have to suffice unfortunately.  

Everett has been a huge joy and blessing in our lives.  I'm still adjusting to two and what that means in our daily routine, but he has done what he could to make it easy on me.  He's an awesome sleeper at night.  3 1/2 hours has been the minimum length between nighttime wakings and feedings, thus far!  Naps have been a little more stressful just trying to balance getting him settled somewhere semi-quietly while also not denying Asher too much attention when he's trying so hard to be patient and good.  I feel like I spend an hour trying to get him to sleep, and then an hour giving up on it while he chills and intermittently fusses and then finally puts himself to sleep.  I debate giving up the "trying" portion, but seriously should a newborn be awake for 2-3+ hour stretches and then absolutely crash for 3 hours?  Not sure about that one, but we'll get it figured out eventually, I'm sure.  Asher loves his little brother so much and has adjusted to him being around and needing mom's attention sometimes too... but it's still been a bit of a steep adjustment period for me.  I guess that has more to do with just their ages, and balancing things like disciplining and potty training, with newborn nursing and napping, and not feeling guilty for needing to love on and attend to one more than the other from time to time.   It'll settle down with time and experience, I'm sure... or at least I hope.  :)

Well I'd better go attend to my littlest.  We'd appreciate your prayers for Everett as he continues to heal. We're also extremely grateful for Grandma Anderson for driving three hours at a moment's notice to hang out with Asher this week... even though it's already her fourth or fifth time here since Everett was born four weeks ago.  She is a servant-hearted lady, that is for sure, and I'm so blessed to have her as my mom!

 

Feed the Birds

Thought you all might enjoy.  :)  

Welcome to the world, Everett Richard!

I should be sleeping right now, since both of my sons (I cannot get over the fact that I have TWO sons!) are currently napping and I only got four broken up hours of sleep last night... but napping is pretty much all I've been doing during every spare moment I could find for the last two weeks and my living room and kitchen are in complete disrepair (though that just happened in the last couple days since the grandparents left and I've been on my own), BUT not gonna deal with that now either, because my second child was born over two weeks ago and I still have not posted an introduction to my online "scrapbook" of a blog. 

So without further ado....

Introducing EVERETT RICHARD DOBBS!   :)    Born February 24th, 2014 at 8:30 p.m. at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines via successful VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean)!!!  Weighing in at 9 lbs 4 oz and measuring 21 1/2 inches.  Welcome to the world, little guy!  We're so excited to have to you here!    

Sweet SUCCESS! :) 

Asher has adjusted remarkably well so far and after a couple days of learning to share mom and dad's time and attention, is now constantly kissing and hugging "his baby."  He talks to Everett like he understands everything, tries to gets Everett to play with him, gets excited whenever Everett wakes up from a nap, and thinks doing "tummy time" together is now the greatest thing ever!  :)  He most frequently is asking Everett "Whas your name?"  To which he answers himself after a few minutes saying "You Baby Everett?"

Crazy to think we're now a family of 4!

We've been blessed to have a revolving door of the grandparents coming and going, and coming and going, and coming and going...  for the first two weeks of his little life!   I cannot thank them enough for all the meals cooked, laundry washed, and babysitting provided, so I could sleep, shower, recover, and just overall adjust to having a newborn at home again, only this time around with a two year old as well, who of course wants to jump in bed with me at 6:30 every morning, no matter how much sleep I got the night before. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Anderson

Everett Richard with his namesake Grandpa Richard!
(Asher Joseph was named for Grandpa Joey, who so far
has been unable to make it to see Everett, but will soon!)

Grandma Dobbs

             
We've been blessed beyond measure by our two sweet boys,  and while I've been teetering into a state of panic these last few "first days at home by myself" days, God has shown himself ever present and given me countless "saving" ideas that I know were not coming from anywhere in my sleep deprived brain.  Simple things like reading to Asher when Everett needed to nap in order to create a little calmer and quieter atmosphere just until Everett falls asleep (as he was having a hard time getting in to a deep sleep with Asher at full volume)... or just realizing that I could nurse Everett while I was putting Asher down for his nap rather than having to choose between delaying Asher's nap to feed Everett or leave Everett fussing while I put Asher down.  I feel like both of those ideas should have been obvious solutions, but they were some of the silly little things I was panicking over how to deal with, and so I'm crediting God for providing the necessary wisdom as I adjust to two little boys needs and schedules!

We're definitely feeling blessed, which pretty much sums it up.  I'm working on a birth story post and the first few weekly pictures of Everett that we'll get up here soon!  We've been taking the pics, just haven't gotten them posted.  :)   So anyway, here's hoping our newest arrival motivates us to a little more frequent blogging once more, but life is definitely in a constant state of adjustment for the time being.