KC Knicks

Holy cow! This Wednesday will be 6 weeks since Mason was born. I can't believe it! We had a nice Thanksgiving. Jared left for his Daddy Joe's on Monday night. I made a turkey dinner Sunday evening and Jared got sick and didn't even eat it with us. Oh well. I tried. SO, for Thanksgiving I decided I wasn't going to cook a big meal for our little family (plus it should be noted that I am not a big fan of turkey.) Anyways, we went out to eat this year. It was not your traditional Thanksgiving, but it was fine with me. The best part was that Keith's little brother Lance called Thanksgiving morning and said he was in town so we took him with us. It was great having someone from the family. We ate at Tomfooleries on the Plaza and I avoided the "crowd" at all costs. No, we didn't stay for the lighting. I was on a time schedule with Mason. I only have a small window of time until he wants to eat again. Luckily, he slept through it all and I was able to enjoy my meal.

I pick Jared up from the airport tonight. I am so glad he is coming home today. I've missed him so much and I can tell that Brittany is ready for his return as well. The house is so much different without him. We all love him so much.

Next weekend is Mason's blessing and my dad and Keith's parents will be coming in for that. I have my work cut out for me this week to get ready for that. Plus tomorrow we are getting our family photo and then Keith heads out of town. Yikes! Should be fun!

I found a great rug and pillows to go with my new furniture in the basement. I even bought the canvas' to paint and plan to do that this week. It looks pretty cool! I need to stop watching HG TV or I may just keep re-decorating! I do enjoy it though.

Today I took Mason to the doctor for his 4 week check-up and it made my day! It made all the interrupted sleep worthwhile when they put him on the scale and he weighed 9 lbs. 1 ounce. Then they measured him and he has grown an inch in two weeks. I guess this milk I make does its job. So, he is a perfect, healthy baby boy!! I still think to myself that he is not yet what Brittany weighed at birth. Yikes. How did I do that?

Anyways, life with three kids is getting easier. I think my energy level is getting back to normal and I finally mopped the kitchen floor today. I have several projects in the works. We got a new couch and chair for the basement so tonight some friends came and moved the old couch out. I also decided to get rid of my piano (I've excepted that I won't be a piano player in this life.) So they moved that out to a friend's house. Tomorrow morning my new furniture will be here and that will be the beginning of my downstairs "remodel." I plan to paint one of the walls an accent color and then paint some canvas squares to go with the color scheme. I hope it turns out like I see it in my head. I don't know when I will actually paint, but I'm hoping before family gets here in December for Mason's blessing. The other project that is looming in my mind is putting up the Christmas tree and decor. We will be doing that this weekend since Jared will be gone for Thanksgiving and the weekend following it. I'm sure the kids will LOVE putting up the tree, but it is so much work. I wish I could go buy a pre-lit tree, but I better not. Maybe next year.

I took my first outing alone with three children yesterday. We went to Costco. It went surprisingly well. Mason slept the whole time (even though I had a bottle of breast milk ready.) and Jared and Brittany were very well behaved. We ate pizza at the food place and then did our shopping. I asked Brittany if she wanted Santa to bring her some princess dresses since they have quite a deal there, and she said no. She was more interested in the pony that you can ride. ($30 versus $200, hmmmm, I don't think so!) So, I guess Brittany will not be one of those little girls that has to wear a princess dress everywhere she goes. She does enjoy playing with her friends and their princess dresses, but I guess she doesn't want any of her own. Who knew?!?

I got a heck of a deal on flights to Utah today. Roundtrip for $140 and it's nonstop. Can you believe it?? The kids and I are going to go for a week in January. My parents just bought a new house and I'm dying to see it. Originally I was just going to go by myself with Mason, but with a deal like that I decided to take the other two kids. Besides they love to see their uncles and aunt and Oma and Opa. It will be lots of fun, although I'm not to sure about the plane ride.

Keith needs to do some work still tonight so I better get.

Oh no! It is just about to start! UGH! Although I do enjoy basketball, I do not enjoy being home all day with 3 children (one of which is very tiny) and then have my husband be gone all night to a KU basketball game. It has been a LONG day and I need a break. So, I put Brittany to bed, Jared is watching his 11th hour of TV and Mason is sleeping (until I want to go to bed.) I have not showered today and I'm wearing some amazing bright, green fat pants with a grey KU t-shirt. The excitement of my day was I loaded the kids in the van and we drove to McDonald's and went through the drive thru and came back home. Fun isn't it? I know you are all jealous of my life. I can't blame you. It is really hard for me during this adjustment period. I'm the kind of person that likes to always be doing something or going somewhere and right now I can't do that. I'm just trying to figure out how to get through the day with everyone semi-happy and perhaps take a shower. I know that in a few weeks I will be a pro, but right now I'm feeling a bit hopeless. The cloudy, rainy weather is not helping my mood any.

On the flip side, I have a lot to be thankful for. Heck, when I watch the news it makes me think, "I'm glad Keith has a job." Then I keep watching the news and I think, "I'm so glad I live in the United States." There are moments when I'm glad I'm cooped up in my house because the world is a pretty scary place these days. I realize that someday I will look back on these days and wish I was back here. I do wish my children would never grow older. I know that there will be a day when I will have absolutely no control over what they do and that is scarier than anything. So, for now I will be happy to spend my days watching "Dora the Explorer" and playing "Go Fish" with Jared as many times as I am willing to play.

Well it's 9:00 (hooray!) time to put Jared to bed and then maybe I'll watch some of my shows (love that DVR!)

Wednesday was Mason's 2 week birthday. We went to the doctor and he weighed 7 lbs. 14 ounces. He is only 2 ounces off his birth weight, so I guess we're doing alright. He is 20 inches long now. However, he is in the 30th percentile for weight and height which is quite small. We will work on fattening him up over the next few weeks. Heavens knows that I produce enough milk to feed at least two or three babies!! I was a bit concerned that he was jaundiced and he is a little, but not enough that it needs to be treated (whew!) He is such a good little baby. It makes me feel guilty to admit this, but he sleeps for 5-6 hours at a time (at night) and the past couple nights has only woke up once. The guilt is there because technically they say I should wake him up every 3 hours to eat, especially because of the jaundice. However, as my best friend said today, I have two other kids to take care of, so I let him sleep. And it didn't help that Keith left early yesterday morning to go to Houston. He was supposed to be home all week to help out, but of course that didn't happen. I am a bit surprise at how well things have gone since he was gone. I managed to survive alone and that was a fear I have had. Of course, I didn't have to worry about taking Jared to school because I have some amazing friends (the Peters) who helped with that.

So, all in all things are going well. I am truly blessed with healthy children, a loving husband, and amazing friends.

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