Harvest Time

As part of our new home, we now have raspberry bushes, peach, apple and cherry trees.  One of our peach trees is famous in the neighborhood for having 'the best peaches'.  They are indeed delicious.  Thanks to the encouragement and help of one of my great new neighbors, I canned peaches for the first time.

The boys have always loved having peaches with breakfast at my grandma's, now we can have them at home too.  And they make great cobbler's. 

 Zach was blessed on Sept 11.  My parents came down the Friday before and camped and helped us with the house for the weekend.  We really enjoyed having them here.

The blessing day was nice.  We missed those who weren't able to make it, but are grateful for those who came.   

I can't believe how big Ty is getting.  He knows so much and is very smart.  We're going to start doing some home-pre-schooling soon.  He already is recognizing letters.  I have a friend who does home-school with her 7 yr old (I think)  and she also has a daughter Tyler's age, so she's going to help show me the ropes of how she does schooling.

Andrew is nearly potty trained!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Can you sense the excitement from my exclamations?)  It took about a week, but he's done great the last few days.  He stayed dry all day yesterday! 
He is still able to eat great.  He has an esophagram and follow-up appointment with the surgeon next Friday.  We both hate having esophagrams, but it will be good to have an idea of it looks like.  He still has quite a bit of reflux, but we're just dealing with it for now.
Andrew keeps up with Tyler's learning pretty well.  I think he actually challenges Ty in some ways.  Andrew learned his colors before Tyler had, so Ty learned to keep up.  Andrew knows several letters as well.  Their different personalities keep them interested in different things, but they learn most things together.

Zach is doing great!  He loves to hold his head up and see what's going on.  He won't lay back in the swing or bouncer for long, so we've moved on the the exer-saucer.  He's much happier in it. 

He is such a good baby.  He eats great, sleeps 7 hours straight at night, and is fairly content as long as he's upright.  I can't wait to see what he'll add to the mix as he gets older, but I'm enjoying the infant stage for now. 

 Who doesn't love a naked baby picture? 

"I once caught a fish this big." 

(Taking after Grandpa Steve already.)

Camping Trip

 What a silly boy!  He put this pink headband on himself.

Ryan had his 4 day weekend this week, so we took the family camping with some friends.  We had a great time and great food. 

 Ryan took the boys fishing.  And they had a great time playing in the dirt.

 Tyler set the table for lunch all by himself.

 Ryan taking a break to hold Zac.  (Notice Andrew's little hand.  He still loves to touch and kiss him.)

 Zac gets lots of love from his older brothers.  Tyler is actually really helpful.  Drew hasn't conformed to any boundries yet.  He even shared his cold with Zac last week, but Zac's handled it well. 

What a cute baby!

 Which one is Ty and which is Zac?

One Month

 The boys stepped out the back door to say bye to Ryan the other day and were lured out by the mud from a recent rainstorm.  Drew was half dressed and they were both barefoot, but they were having a great time.

 There's nothing like a nice mud pie.

 My little lion is definitely growing.  The chubbiest part of his thighs is covered in his diaper, but they're gonna be chunky. 

 His baby acne is still in full bloom. 

 Tyler loves his Pepsi almost as much as his daddy.

Drew's new outfit from Grandma Shell, and Ty's new shoes.  Drew is still doing very well.  He'll be weighed again tomorrow.  He is getting food stuck every few days now, but he's able to work it down most of the time.  He knows to chew his food better and continues eating his meal.  

I can't believe my boys are getting so big. 

Things are slowly getting a little easier as we're adjusting to having 3 boys.  Zac is a great sleeper, and is going 6 hours between feedings some nights.  I love watching his soak in the world around him.  He smiles more and more, and it makes my day when he smiles at me.

Little Moments

I did start typing the birth story and happening since then for the last post, but it took too long and I haven't finished it.  So here's the more recent fun stuff. 

 Tyler likes to brush our hair sometimes now.  I love it when he will come and brush my hair!  Ryan allows it with raised eye brows.

 Tyler was sick for 3 days the first week after we had Zac.  Then Andrew got sick and we were all miserable for 6 days. 
The boys and I went back up north last weekend to get in more swim time before the weather cools down.  Ryan took the free time to scout for deer and even went golfing.  It was fun for all of us, but it's nice to be together again. 

 Zac is doing great.  He is a very easy baby.  He likes to eat often and is otherwise pretty content to nap or watch whatever is going on.  He's already become a bit of a momma's boy and prefers me holding him to strangers.  It's amazing how fast they learn.  When he's hungry he'll cry until I lay him in my lap so I can get ready.  He'll stop crying and wait calmly after that. 
Last night he went 5 hours in between eating!  Usually he does two 4 hr stretches at night. 
At his 2 week check-up last week he was 7 lbs 15 oz, and 20 inches long. 

I love his cute bowed legs.  His whole head is covered with baby acne now (I guess I better take a picture for memory-sake), but he is still so cute! 
The boys really like him now as long as they aren't sick and wanting all the attention.  They kiss him and rub his head everytime he's within their reach.  Andrew says, "Sweet baby.  She's sweet baby.  Long eyeses."  (Because he heard my sister-in-law say Zac had long eye lashes.)  And Ty is actually really helpful with anything Zac needs, and makes sure that Zac has his bink at any given time. 
Ryan and I are slowly catching up on our sleep and getting into the grove of being parents of three.  We love our little boys and wouldn't trade this time for anything else.

Zachary Ryan Christensen

Independence Day Vacation

Well, I just keep making it another day, and then another, and another.  Almost 38 weeks now!  This little baby is up into my ribs now, and still very busy inside there.  Last week I was ready to have him and not be pregnant anymore, but I'm feeling more patient for now.

I started getting headaches a couple weeks ago and have had one every 2 or 3 days.  They are kind of like mild migraines, just in the fact that I get an aura before each one starts.  My midwife was concerned when I called her about them, but everything checks out as being normal otherwise.  My moms family has migraines assosiated with hormones, so it's probably just that.  Usually mine are triggered by stress.  Not that we've had any of that around here, with moving, and a new baby coming, and all.  I'm just grateful they are not as painful as my other recent migraines.  These I can take tylenol, drink a pepsi, lay down, and they are tolerable.  I just don't get much done when I have them.

For the holiday weekend, we went to my parents and relaxed the entire weekend.  We went swimming, Ryan and I got sunburns (I put sunblock on the boys, just not us), and we just enjoyed ourselves.  Tyler got a 'puddle jumper' for his birthday, and used that swimming this weekend.  He did so well!  Last year he would play on the stairs in the pool, but that was as far as he was interested in going.  This weekend he was paddling himself all over the pool.  He can even touch the bottom on his tip toes in the shallow end!  I was amazed that he would even jump off the side of the pool! 
Andrew's favorite part of swimming is standing on the edge and throwing the toy torpedoes into the water.

I wish I had some pictures for you, but we didn't take many, and I'm pretty sure I left my camera at my mom's.  Hopefully we'll intercept it before the baby is born. 

Andrew had another follow-up with Dr. Barnhart last week.  He said he thinks things are going well, so we are not scheduled to see him again until September/October!  The longest Drew has ever been without seeing a Dr is 6 weeks, so I was floored when the surgeon said to see him in 4 months!  Drew is still doing great with swallowing.  It's been more than 2 months since his last dilation.  His reflux is still there, for sure, but he seems ok as long as he's on the Prevacid.  Dr. Barnhart is optimistic that the reflux will improve as Drew gets more and more time without surgeries and such.  His esophagus is still relatively short, and his stomach is still small for his age, which both contribute to reflux.  But both of those can grow and not be messed with for a while now, hopefully. 

Birthday, moving, and pregnancy

 My baby, Tyler, turned 4 last month!  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  He is so smart and so amazing.  I love him so much!  He is so unique and has an great and quirky personality.  I wouldn't change a thing about him.  I never could have imagined when I was pregnant with him who he would be now.  And I can't imagine who he'll be next year or in 10 years.  I'm just so happy to be his mom. 
We had a fun little party with just the 4 of us on Ty's birthday.  We got balloons and made cup cakes.  Tyler was dressed, but wanted to wear his truck jammies just as we were ready to party.  Birthday boys can wear whatever they want to their party, right?
Ty got some new summer clothes, a coloring book, and a swing set for the new house.  We just showed him the box in the bed of the truck where the swing set was, and told him we would put it together at the new house.  That night, after the boys were in bed, I heard Ty tell Andrew, "Drew, we're going to have a swing set at our new house."

 We closed on the house on the 10th and moved in the next day.  We have so many great friends and neighbors that helped me pack and clean both the apartment and the new house, and helped Ryan load and unload all of our many boxes and heavy furniture.  We even had 4 guys from our new ward show up to help unload. 
Ryan has been working on something with the house almost every night since.  We knew that there was a lot to do going in, but I hadn't anticipated how much work we'd do immediately.  The grass in back hadn't been mowed all summer, so that took some serious time.  Good thing we had a lawn mower from Ryan's parents.  Ryan set up the swing set on of the first nights, and the boys have loved it.  Then there was the swamp cooler, and the shower head and toilet in the master bathroom, changing the door knobs, and more.  I've mostly been cleaning and unpacking.  Very slowly, now that the important stuff has been found.  It's still been pretty tiring though.
I love being in our own house!  Our 'to do' and 'fix it' lists are long and our home improvement dreams are big, but I am really enjoying it all.
The boys have adjusted really well.  Tyler was really excited about 'the new house' from the time we told him we were moving here and is still talking about it.  Drew had a few days that he would cry that he wanted to go home.  I'd tell him this was our home now and he'd reply, "No, this new house."  The other day we were at a friends house and he wanted to leave and cried, "I want to go new house."  So I think it's been accepted.  We drove past the apartment today and the boys said, "There's our old house."  So it's been that simple.  They really like being able to go out back and play anytime, and I love that I don't have to watch every second.  I can do dishes or unpack and just listen to them and check on them. 

We've made it to 36 weeks now.  (Not a picture I'm proud of, really.  But you get the belly size at least.)  When I went to my midwife last month I was dilated to 1 cm and 40% thinned!  I still have contracts multiple times a day most days, and extra ones if I've been working hard or on my feet a lot.  I'll have another appointment next Friday.
Drew has now been almost 2 months since his last dilation and has only had 3 or 4 times that he's had food get stuck.  And he's gaining weight like a champ now that he's back on tube feeds.  We'll stick with it another few months before we experiment with getting off tube feeds again.  He's doing awesome!