Baby Easton
He had a rough couple (10) weeks.  About two weeks after he was born
(maybe even to the day) he turned colicky.  He went from this sweet,
QUIET baby to a very unhappy screaming baby.  We are talking
screaming, not fussing here.  I had to call in reserves (my mom,
Chris’s mom) because I was spent.  In addition to screaming all his
waking hours, he only slept in 1.5 hour stretches. All day, all
night….scream for an hour, sleep for an hour, scream for 2 hours,
sleep for an hour, rinse, repeat.  Chris made the comment that we were
lucky he was our last baby, because there might not be three little
Hustads running around our house these days, if he had been the first.
In desperation, I sought out a family chiropractor to see if ANYTHING
would help this poor, unhappy baby.  You could tell his tummy just
HURT and something was not right with his digestive system.  I think
it all started when I gave up on the breastfeeding (only made it two
weeks this time).  Between all the pain pills I was having to take
from my not-so-uncomplicated c-section (maybe I’ll tell this story at
a later date), and three small children driving me crazy, I just
couldn’t do the pumping and all that goes with it.  Towards the end of
the two weeks, I was only pumping a teaspoon at a time. A TEASPOON.
Soooooo not worth it.
Finally, after about 8 weeks of the colic – he just kinda snapped out
of it, started smiling and laughing and becoming the sweet, happy baby
he was meant to be.  I think we finally got his digestive system
figured out.  Those 8 weeks are honestly a haze. I wasn’t sure if I was
coming or going, or sitting still for that matter.  Between the
exhaustion and the screaming, I was struggling just to get by day to
day.  So you can imagine my amazement and excitement when one day, I
looked around and realized the baby was quiet.  The house was QUIET.
He was content. And that was that. The colic was over.  The waking up
15 times a night, however, was here to stay.

Wyatt
In preparation for baby E’s arrival, Wyatt was moved down to the
basement. His room is directly across from the foot of the stairs, so
if you peek out his bedroom door, you can see up the stairs into the
kitchen. I thought this would give him comfort, like he wasn’t TOO far
away from us. Apparently this is NOT comforting to a 4.5 year old.
Being downstairs like a big boy was cool for all of 5 seconds. And it
still is cool, as long as someone else is downstairs as well. He
doesn’t even like to go down to his bedroom alone to get dressed in
the morning. I feel terrible because I totally remember what it was
like to have fears as a young child, but I just don’t know what to do.
I got him a special “keep-away-the-monsters” light, I check under the
bed and in the closet before bedtime, I put a fan in his room for some
white noise so little noises wouldn’t frighten him, but nothing seems
to make the BIG difference.  In the beginning, he was getting up 3-4
times a night, requesting to sleep with us (which we NEVER do, so I’m
not sure where this came from) or wanting to get up for the day at 3
am. When I would send him back to his room, he would start wailing and
out of fear that he was going to wake everyone else up, I would have
to give in and go re-tuck him in.  Between him and the baby I was
getting out of bed up to 15 times a night.  Needless to say, I was
exhausted and would sometimes take it out on Wyatt in the middle of
the night, getting angry at him for not going back to bed. Which, in
the daylight, I felt bad about, because I bet it is scary to a four
year old being downstairs all by yourself. One night, I did not have
enough strength to get up and take him back downstairs so I suggested
that he lay on the couch in the living room with a pillow and blankie.
While this was a great immediate solution, it did not work out in the
long run. The next few nights he insisted that he should go to bed on
the couch , upstairs, close to mom and dad’s room. One night soon
after, when I got up in the morning I discovered a pillow and blankie
outside our bedroom door. Apparently, he had spent the night right
outside our bedroom. It is starting to get better, he is less scared
than before and his “bad dreams” are becoming less of a nightly event,
and more of a random one.
Wyatt has a special bond with his little sister, and I can’t really
tell if it is love or hate. Sometimes they play so nice together and
Chris and I go, “Oh, look how nice the children are playing! How
sweet!” And the second that comes out of our mouths, Wyatt is doing
something to irritate Brooklyn and she is screaming bloody murder for
him to stop it.  This whole sibling interaction is new to me, so I
keep asking people, “Is this really how siblings are? Bug the crap out
of each other all day every day?” If so, wow. I have a long 18 years
ahead of me.

Brooklyn Anna
Brooke. What a character she is becoming. She has her own opinions and
is getting very good at voicing them. We are astounded at her speech
at 23 months old. She can have full conversations with us, and it
frankly blows my mind.  Wyatt was so slow in the speech area, that
this is crazy to me. She is already counting and recognizing colors,
shapes and letters. She loves Dora and books and if it is a book about
Dora it’s even better.

Last week, I tried to put a clip in Brooklyn’s hair (the day before she thought it was coooooool, and she wanted no part of it, so she shook her pointer finger at me and said, “Naughty mommy! NO NO!” The next day, I was getting her up from a nap and she was sitting in her crib reading (as usual) and I said, “Well, good morning Sunshine! Ready to get up?” She looked up from her book, pointer finger in the air and said “Two minutes“.  She cracks me up.

Anyway, what seemed like out of the blue, Brooke just started bringing a book to anyone who had a lap available and insiting you read to her. Bah? Pease?  And when you are done with the book, before the last words are out of your mouth, you better bet she is signing and saying Mah?(more).  I have read the Little Piggies book, oh 7 million times in the past two months.  The best part is, she calls them pee-pees.  Which for some reason makes me giggle like an immature pre-teen. She said pee-pee!

While I completely LOVE the fact that she LOVES books so much, there is only so many times I can read The Foot Book by Dr. Suess (left foot, left foot, right foot, right. Feet in the day, feet in the night.)  I am in desperate need of some variety. She has a select 5-6 books that we read over and over and over again.

I now have this overwhelming desire to take Brooklyn to Barnes and Noble with me someday soon and let her go crazy in the kids book section. After all, although we do have ENOUGH toys to start our own daycare, technically, most of them were Wyatt’s first.  So a few new books couldn’t hurt, right?  I do have this tiny fear that a trip to B & N with the children may end up similar to the last trip I took there with Wyatt (Brooke in utero) and I carried him out of the store screaming at the top of his lungs because he didn’t want to leave the Thomas the Train set in the back of the store. I remember yelling over the screams to someone as we were leaving “He’s mine! I am not a kidnapper!” Every trip to B & N since as been sans kiddos.  Although, Brooke is a very different child than Wyatt was at that age, so it might be OK. After all, I go to the grocery store, Target, and the mall all the time with the children and it is usually just fine. I haven’t lost one yet.

Welcome to this crazy family little boy.  It’s a crazy, wonderful, special little family we have here and we couldn’t be happier that you are now a part of it.  I wasn’t sure how another baby of our could be as beautiful and special as the two we have already, but boy did you sure exceed our expectations. Is it OK to call you beautiful?  When you get older we will use “handsome” instead – Wyatt tells us that is what you call boys – handsome, not beautiful.

At just 6 days old, when your big brother was talking to you, you smiled at him. I think you two will be great friends. Both your brother and sister are quite smitten with you.  They want to touch you and hold you and feed you all day long. First thing in the morning, both of them run to your room the second they hear your little squeaks to greet you good morning. The only thing they don’t really want to do is help change your diapers. Hmm. I had to try.

This morning around 530 am, you didn’t really want to go to bed and I was starting to get frustrated because I REALLY wanted to get some more sleep before everyone else go up for the day, but everytime I would crawl back into my bed I would hear your little squeal.  After the third time, I was rocking you in the rocking chair and your big eyes were looking right at me and I swear you smiled at me.  I realize it may have just been gas, but that little smile absolutely melted my heart.  I prefer to think you were having a good laugh keeping your mama up to have some time alone with me.  And it worked, because I rocked with you until after 6, until you passed out in my arms.

Your eyes seem wise beyond your years. That sounds like a funny thing to say about a newborn, but it’s true.  They are big and dark, the deepest blue you can imagine right now. They most likely will turn a brillant blue like your siblings, but right now they are dark and wise looking.  Your dad said the other day, you had the face of a more mature baby, and I have to agree. You don’t really look like an infant – already old at 6 days old. Quit growing so fast young man!

I had forgotten what it is like to have a newborn in the house – even though your sister wasn’t a newborn THAT long ago. I love everything about you and your tiny self.  I love the feel of your peach fuzz hair on my cheek. I love the smell of every part of you.  I love the sound of your tiny squeaks and squeals when you are hungry.  I love that you LOVE to be held and snuggled.

Welcome to this crazy, beautiful family Baby Easton. We are so happy to have you.

Love,

Your Mama

Brooklyn LOVES shoes. And when I say LOVES, I mean LOVES!  And she really isn’t into tennis shoes or shoes of THAT kind. She likes her pretty shoes. She will run around the whole house looking for this particular pair of shoes screaming, “Shoes? Go! SHOES? GO!”  Which is her way of saying - I need my pretty pair of shoes to go out of the house, where are they??? Does a girl’s love for shoes start this young? Did I do something to encourage this?  Perhaps by buying her all those adorable shoes.  Ironically, the pair she is SO attached to, just happened to be from Grandma Patty….

Do you love the piece of gum stuck on the bottom of her favorite pair of shoes? Lovely, that I didn’t notice this bit of information until I posted these pictures. She wears them religiously around the house.  I let her, simply because most days it is not worth the screams of protest when I take them off.  Wyatt, of course, is quick to point out that we shouldn’t wear shoes in the house. When I tell him, It’s OK, just leave it alone, he asks if Brooklyn’s feet hurt, if that’s why she is wearing them in the house. Amazing that he picked that up from me (I often wear my Danskos int he house if my feet are sore). So I tell him, yes, her feet must hurt. That is why she gets to wear her shoes in the house.

And forget getting his hair wet. This is the child who cried when I washed his hair in the bath tub.  I finally decided that at four and a half years old we had waited way too long to get this child into swimming lessons.

The first two or three weeks were tough to watch.  The swim instructor nearly lost her swim suit when she was taking Wyatt off the wall each time.  He refused to let go of her – and back float? FORGET IT.  Gradually, over time, he started getting more and more comfortable in the water.  By the fourth week or so, he was flipping over onto his back (with help) and using his hands to doggy paddle instead of to cling for dear life to the instructor.

The other day, I watched him swim PAST the other kids in his class ( with the bubbles of course) – when he got to the other side of the pool, through the window I saw him scream “I WON!” Ah, the Hustad competitiveness shines once again.

**NOTE – I brought Wyatt to his last swimming lesson of the year fully prepared with my camera to capture some shots of him swimming.  When we arrived, I realized that the prior week was his last week and we had missed registering him for the next session, which was the one we were about to attend. I need this baby out of me soon so I can regain some brain function.

With my upcoming surgery just a mere 36 hours away, I’ve begun to wonder…. what happens when the number of children outnumber the amount of arms/hands you have? Does a third arm grow from your midsection immediately after the birth of your third child?  My next door neighbor sure does a good job of hiding her extra 7 arms.    Right now I have just the perfect amount of room on my lap to read TWO children a bedtime story (well, there could be more room currently, but you get my point).  Where does the third one go? On my head?

On the flip side, Wyatt is extremely excited for the new baby to arrive. He continues to ask almost daily, When are you going to pop that baby out, mommy?  And like most four year olds, the baby is most definitely coming out of mom’s belly button.  It makes perfect sense, what else would that weird hole in the middle of your belly be for?  He has failed to ask the question of why boys have belly buttons then.  I really haven’t told him that the baby IS indeed coming out of my belly button, but I haven’t done anything to discourage him from thinking this either.  I do have this sneaking suspicion that Wyatt believes this baby is going to “pop out” a toddler. You know, ready to play Wii with him.

Brooklyn has a tiny obsession with lifting my shirt up and saying BABY! but I’m quite certain she doesn’t have a clue what is coming. I’m am very curious as to her reaction to the new addition to our family.  She has become a bit of a mamma’s girl, so we shall see….

For now, I am enjoying some quiet time with my family of four. Our weekend is consisting of nothing more than playing, movie watching, snacking and reading The 10 Piggies book one hundred and eighty five times in a row.  I will try to remember this time when I only had as many children as hands.

I do have a lovely weekend of scrapbooking planned for next weekend and I am so looking forward to just vegging out with my friend Laci. We eat, sleep, scrapbook and chat.  Maybe I’ll be too tired to chat – but I’m going to give it my best shot.  Maybe this is just what I need.

Recently, Mia took a flying leap off our giant king sized bed and injured some ligament in her leg.  Well, more than injured, she actually snapped it in half.  The ligament is NO MORE.  So that basically leaves her foot flopping in the wind – because there is no ligament to hold it in place.  Of course, surgery followed a few days later. This is our second dog to go through a major leg surgery. And it is less fun than it was the first time – mostly because we now have TWO small kids to chase after, and my large belly makes it hard enough to walk up the stairs on my own. Needless to say, carrying the 25 pound dog everywhere is not the ideal situation right now.  But what do you do? She is kind of our baby.

Mia looks ridiculous, if you didn’t feel so bad for her, you might be tempted to laugh at her…..

• This morning while driving to school from swimming lessons Wyatt said to me, MOM! You haven’t given me a hug yet today! This was true, and I was touched that he realized how much I DO hug and kiss him everyday. He must know how much I love him! He then proceeded to spill an entire box of Cheeze-Its on the floor of my one-month old Suburban.  He then blamed me for going over a bump and making the box jump out of his lap.

• Why do men even ask our opinion?  Chris asked me if I thought we should get a camper this summer. I told him it was not a great time due to me having a baby in two months. He proceeded to purchase an RV the next day.  He then asked if it was OK if he paid for a camp site for the entire summer to leave the RV on. I told him I didn’t think it was great timing – I was unsure if we’d really get our money’s worth since I’M HAVING A BABY IN AUGUST. He then proceeded to argue all the reasons it WAS a good idea.  We now have a camp site for the entire summer if anyone’s interested in using it.

• Brooklyn has a new word! NO!  Yes – that’s the word – NO!  I asked her the other day if she wanted a snack, to which she usually runs to her chair and tries to climb in. This time she looked me square in the eyes and said, Nooooooooo.  Since then, she answers Noooooooo to questions very appropriately.  Like, Brooklyn – do you need to go to bed? Noooooooooo.  Or Brooklyn, do you need a time out? Noooooooooooooooo.

• As I mentioned previously, Wyatt has started swimming lessons at the YMCA.  After his first lesson, the teacher asked Chris if these were his first lessons. She probably questioned this due to the fact that she almost loses her swimsuit every day because Wyatt is grasping at her so frantically. Yeah, he’s still a bit scared of the water.  But he is doing better every day. Even if all the other kids (girls) in his class are swimming circles around him.  Actually, they are swimming circles around him and the teacher. Since he won’t let go of her.

• I am one of those annoying people who has never experienced heartburn before.  Not even through three pregnancies. Until now.  I think the last two nights I may have had heartburn. I described my symptoms to Chris and he thought that’s what it is. Normally, Chris is the LAST person I would ask for medical advice, but he has suffered from GERD for like 7 years now.  I figured he might know this one.  If it is heartburn, I don’t like it.  I don’t like it one bit. Feels like my supper is going to come back up into my throat. Ish. Can you get heartburn from coffee? Because I think I might have had it this morning too.  I should probably know this, as a health care professional? And weird that this third baby is going to give me heartburn when the other two didn’t?

• Even though we have had a relatively cool summer this year, I continue to feel like I am dying of heat stroke.  I keep the house around 70 degrees and I feel like I’m going to melt into a puddle of pregnant sweat.  Wyatt wakes up with his teeth chattering and asking for more blankets while I sweat the night away. Holy hormones in over drive. I vaguely remember being warm during my third trimester with the other two, but it was 10 degrees outside – perfect.   It’s 68 degrees out today. I’m dying. I’m dying a hot, hot death.

• I continue to try to figure out a way to make a pharmacist salary by making  hair bows and hair clips.  It’s tough.  Chris told me this weekend that when I first started The SunshineShoppe he thought it would be a flop.  I continue to do everything in my power to prove him wrong. Because what’s important is that I am right and he is wrong.

I feel like I haven’t really recorded anything about this pregnancy. During my pregnancy with Wyatt I made an entire scrapbook devoted to my pregnancy for God’s sake. Brooklyn’s pregnancy didn’t get a whole album, but a few pages did make it into our family album that year, and I did keep a pregnancy journal. I’m six and a half months along with this baby and really not one peep has been said anywhere.  Poor child.  Being third must stink.  So, here’s some things I’d like to note about this third (and final) pregnancy….

• Finding out the sex of this baby was an interesting experience. I still don’t know exactly how I feel about “knowing”. During the first ultrasound, the technician announced it was a boy, but could not see his heart or spine. Hmmm. Reliable? Not so sure. The second ultrasound technician found his heart and spine just fine, but could not find his “boy parts” so easily. He was telling me that he thought it was a girl, until all of a sudden, last minute he announced OH! There it is! Yep, I think it a boy! So although I know in my heart it’s a boy (my child predicting instant has proven to be quite good), I still feel like we won’t really know until he makes his arrival.

• I am struggling (still) about what do do after this baby. Three children is definitely all I think I can handle at this point, but I really don’t like my options taken away from me. It’s like I told my doctor, “When the electricity was out for 5 hours one day, all I wanted was a frickin’ piece of toast and a hot chocolate. Because I couldn’t have them.” That’s just me. Take it or leave it. I’m not so fond of people telling me I can’t or I won’t.  So tubal ligation is a problem for me. It’s permanent. And while I am quite sure that this is enough children, I hate making decisions that are so permanent like that. Nor do I really think that my uterus would be so happy to go through four cesarean sections in one lifetime. But who knows? That’s the problem – I can’t see the future.

• The previous bullet may be a non-issue. At my last ultrasound, they found out that my placenta has attached to the anterior wall of my uterus. Apparently, they are supposed to attach to the back. We won’t know until after the baby is delivered if the placenta has attached over my previous scars (from prior c-sections). If it has, the likelihood of me undergoing a hysterectomy right then and there is quite good. I’m not so sure how to feel about this either. AGAIN, no more children = probably the best idea, but no more options = makes Lisa a crazy person. Plus now I have all sorts of questions swimming around in my head about what happens if I don’t have a uterus anymore. I refuse to go online and read about this because I did this about the whole anterior placenta thing and didn’t sleep for days. THE HORROR! Don’t Google this. You’ll only find BAD details. So I am saving all my questions for my next OB visit. Oh my lucky doctor next Tuesday!

• We still don’t know where this baby is going to reside. Chris and I can NOT agree on what to do about this. Wyatt wants to share a room with someone, Brooklyn, baby or us, doesn’t really matter – but I feel like the kids are all so young and since they didn’t start out sharing rooms, they will inevitably wake each other up all the time and that wakes me up, and NO. We have a six bedroom house, this should not be so difficult.

• When I first found out that this baby was a boy, my first thought was, Oh my gosh, I’m only going to have one daughter! Chris quickly pointed out, You should be thankful you have one beautiful ,healthy one already. Point taken. And I think if it would’ve been a girl, I would have thought, Oh my gosh, I’m only going to have one son! Again, this is me. Take it or leave it.

• Once again, as with my first pregnancy, I can not stomach seafood. I love seafood. Just not now. Must be a boy thing for my body. The hormone balance must be just so when I am pregnant with boys that the sight and smell of seafood makes my stomach turn. Does this mean we are going to have another picky eater like Wyatt? I sure hope not. I’m still not sure how Wyatt survives. Does 200 calories a day from fruit snacks make a diet good enough to live on? I guess. He could be a science experiment or something.

• I am sincerely looking forward to my upcoming maternity leave. When I was on leave with Brooklyn, it was so nice having some me and baby time. The daycare asked me the other day if I was going to bring the other two to daycare when I was home with the baby. I gave them a look like, Are you crazy? YES! Mamma needs some catch up time! And get to know new baby time! Theos three months can never be replaced.

• This baby is very active. I felt him kick very early, just like my first pregnancy. With Brooklyn, I did not feel her move until about 21 weeks, and this one was right on track with Wyatt’s pregnancy – about 16 weeks. Which is funny because one of the things I read many times about the anterior placenta is that it is harder to feel baby kick, especially in the earlier weeks because there is essentially a big cushion blocking thier little kicks from being felt on my tummy.

• My bladder gets worse and worse with each subsequent pregnancy. Reason number 579 to stop having babies. I might soon be in Depends.

When we brought Wyatt home, the dogs were very unsure of what to think of a baby. They both freaked out, forgot they were potty trained, and were very upset with us. If you have ever owned a Sheltie – you KNOW when they are upset with you.  As Wyatt got older and started eating big people food (and thus feeding the dogs big people food) they figured maybe this gig wasn’t so bad.  They gained a few pounds, and once Wyatt was taught NOT to feed the puppies, they lost it again.  When we brought Brooklyn home, they remembered the good feedings that were inevitable to come, and probably figured, Eh, what the heck? Now, both very plump again, I have a feeling when the new baby comes, they will do a little dance of joy to celebrate their future feasts.  Lets hope they don’t die of obesity first.

We had the dogs in for their yearly check up recently and everything went fine, except they discovered that Mia had something lodged down her ear that was making her very uncomfortable and scratchy.  They said we would have to put her under to flush it out.  Since I knew Mia was about due to have her teeth cleaned, I suggested they do it at the same time so she wouldn’t have to go under anesthesia twice.  So she had this done, teeth are beautiful, glob of gook gone from her ear.  That night I took her out to potty, I’m not even sure why I followed her out, but I did, and while I was watching her I noticed that she was trying to poop, but nothing was coming out. Then she started doing this weird butt-scoot thing across the yard. I had never seen her do that before!  She repeated this strange behavior for a few days before I finally called the vet to have her seen.  Turns out she had massively infected anal glands. ANAL GLANDS. Shutter. So the vet squished them clean, gave us some antibiotics and sent us on our way.

A few days later, I noticed SOPHIE scratching at her neck a lot. I started digging through her fur and found a really bloody, sore spot.  So in to the vet we go again.  Found out she has a skin infection.  So they cleaned her up, gave us some antibiotics and prednisone and sent us on our way.

The last suggestion the vet had was to put Sophie in on of Wyatt’s shirts so she wouldn’t scratch the infected area.  This is Sophie in a shirt….

When we put it on her, I laughed so hard I almost peed myself, although this is not really a rarity these days. But it was FUNNY.

Behold – the side view….