The rest of the family

I have heard going from three to four kids is easier than going from two to three. The jury is still out on that one. The first couple of newborn weeks are usually not that indicative of the life to come. I think this would have to depend on the ages of your children somewhat and the temperament of the baby. I haven't had any trouble with the older three at all. They are so good at helping out and taking care of themselves and each other that I am not direly needed at inopportune times like in the past with a newborn. Most of their requests for things can wait until I am finished nursing or whatever.

The hardest part or me is always the lack of schedule in these first few weeks (it gives me a stomach ache sometimes) and the lack of sleep. Because of all the weight gain issues while waiting for my milk to come in, I was nursing him every two hours around the clock. The last three nights or so have been better, and he has been going longer stretches. So, with three other kids, the thing I have to make myself do is take a deep breath in the mornings when I am exhausted and they are tattling on a sibling or asking me about what we are going to do today. (The problem with being a schedule lover like myself is that you create little schedule lovers too that ask you what the plan is constantly.) Those things would normally not bug me, but with a lack of sleep comes a lack of patience sometimes. Deep breaths. Lots of them.

Well, the big kids have been busy lately too. Last Saturday Hannah and Genna had their first soccer game that I missed because I had to take Drew in for his first weight check. Hannah also had her first American Heritage Girls and her first CCD (religious education class) within the last week. She was apprehensive about both because her sister wasn't going with her (her security blanket,) but she came out of both a bouncy ball of happiness. She made friends and had nothing but good things to say about both activities. Here she is in her AHG uniform.


Genna loved soccer, but had trouble staying focused during the game, according to Brian. She has been the one to hold her baby brother the most and she always requests a picture.


I have two funnies about her. One is while trying to learn how to answer the phone correctly, she said, "Smith presidents!" when she picked it up. Two was while Hannah was practicing the piano down in the basement. Genna was standing at the top of the stairs repeatedly yelling down to her, "Believe in yourself, Hannah!" Apparently Hannah was getting frustrated. What a sweetie!

As for Isaac, he has been great with his brother. He tries to be gentle, but he doesn't realize his own strength sometimes. He was holding Drew on the couch the other day and asked his dad to look at him and said, "Daddy, he's not crying. That means he loves me!"

He also turned to Genna after her, "Believe in yourself" bit while we were all laughing and said, "Genna, you're adorable." He is a sweet boy.

He's been asking me to read to him a lot more than usual which is easy to do while nursing. I think the increase in asking is just because we normally read so much with school that there is never a need to ask.


Isaac is still wanting to be a hunter when he grows up, so his dad gave him a taste of the life without doing anything dangerous, of course. He took him over to watch a deer being cut and cleaned at a friend's house. He loved it! His buddy, who he's been friends with since they were born a couple weeks apart in Germany and who is generally tougher than Isaac, thought it was stinky and gross and wouldn't watch. It surprised me that Isaac enjoyed this since he is a fairly sensitive boy. Daddy was thrilled as you can imagine.


I am so blessed with these children to make me smile and fill my heart with so much love everyday. To teach me patience and so much more. How could I not want a pew-full?