Lately...

You can always count on a person's phone to tell the truth about their lives.  The real truth.  Just check out their photo album.  If that person is anything like me, you can generally tell what that person finds interesting, funny and photo worthy.  So here is my iPhone dump.  Recent pics of what my daily life these days looks like -

Sometimes I'm so desperate to keep the boys off their baby sister that I trap them both in my lap and encourage them to make silly faces while I snap pics.  Excuse how I look in these pics - this is usually at the end of a veerrrryyyy long day with just me and the kiddos.

While Will is at school, the two littlest (yes I know that is not proper) Rutledges and I try our best at organized activities...

Tessa really enjoys her sleep...

Sometimes we ride out to the farm for a little fresh air...

We stay inside a lot because it's so blessed hot and the little one can really only be held outside, resulting in a sweaty baby and an even sweatier mommy.  So what to do when you're stuck inside for hours at a time with little ones??

You could build a "boat"...

Or torture your sister...

Or put out fires...

Or when daddy gets home, play Mario Bros. on the Wii...

Or if you're really loud and obnoxious, Mommy will take you outside anyway and stuff the baby in her "backpack" as Will calls it....

Or if you have a very lazy tired creative mommy, you may learn how to wash bottles...

If your younger brother is at grandma's and/or napping (not usually), you may get to play with puzzles...

Or drink lots of sugary juice drinks while running off some steam in the back yard...

Mommy does a LOT of sweeping...

And one day, because she just didn't feel like she had enough babies, she babysat her cousin's baby...

We bathe babies when they poop up their back...

We vote...

We examine and self-diagnose our baby sister's baby acne...

We take lots of pics of sister...

And sometimes (read LOTS of times) we get in trouble...

That's it folks - our daily life in iPhone pics.  Trust me.  It's a wild and crazy world here at the Rutledge home.  And I have the pictures to prove it.

Helllloooo! Is There Anyone Out There??

Hello!  I'm still here!  I'm sorry for not updating sooner, but I was probably wiping a bottom, a nose or a tear.  We are all doing better than I truly expected after welcoming our little (that's only figurative when you weigh 9lbs as a newborn!) bundle of joy almost three weeks ago.  I knew that Will would do fairly well when the baby was born.  He was so excited about the baby's arrival and he still is.  He just looks at her with these smitten eyes and says things like "She's the perfect baby, Momma" or "She's just the cutest little baby!"  I was really worried about Brooks - I thought he would be my jealous one.  He's done surprisingly well with the baby though.  He does show some signs of jealousy, but none too extreme.  I also thought he would be extremely rough and rowdy with the baby, but so far so good.

Brandon and I are doing well.  I'm finally feeling better physically and I have only had one day where I could really tell those postpartum emotions were wanky (yes I know that's not a real word!)  Brandon is back at work of course, so I'm *very* outnumbered here on the home front.  With Will going to Pre-K MWF mornings, that really puts us in overdrive three mornings each week.  I get everyone up, dressed, fed and loaded in the car (sometimes the hardest part) by 8:50 to have him at school by 9.  It's a very good thing we live less than a mile from school.  Otherwise, I'm not sure he would ever be there on time.  He's only been late one morning out of five so far and that was his little brother's fault.  On those mornings, there is literally NO time for shenanigans and that is practically Brooks' middle name :)  On Tuesdays and Thursdays, the boys generally go to my in-law's for a little time on the farm.  This gives the girl and I a break; and these are usually the only days where any coffee gets poured, laundry gets done, or the television is on any channel other than Disney Jr.

There have been good days and bad days, but every day is hard.  Especially those when the boys are wild and stir crazy because we've been stuck in the house all day.  I'm not sure which is harder, getting 3 kids loaded in the car and out in a public place, or keeping them from killing each other and tearing down the house at home.  I don't know about your kids, but mine generally do better when they're busy and focused on one specific thing.  Left to their own devices, I deal with a LOT of fighting over toys, whining and crazy loud crashes (don't ask :/).  BUT, it's hard to come up with something that both a 2 AND 4 year old finds captivating while feeding, burping and changing a newborn.  Brooks is my biggest challenge right now.  He doesn't play independently for very long just yet, and if I don't get him occupied with something productive, before you know it he's locking himself in rooms, jumping off furniture or doing some other "no-no".  I know I'm not the only mother to face this challenge, and I don't want to sound like a weeny, so I'll stop complaining ;)

Tessa is still being a very good girl!  She still loves her sleep and just last night slept from 11-5:30AM and then from 6-10:20AM.  I'm thinking we need to start moving her bedtime up based on her stretches.  I think we may try having her last feeding at 9 or 9:30 tonight.  I'll probably be up at midnight.... we'll see.  We've only had two rough evenings with our girl - one was tummy troubles and the other was restlessness.  I told you that she likes her sleep and I mean it!  If she doesn't get a good *sound* sleep within an hour after eating, you will pay for it.  So those days when Brooks and Will are doing every thing in their will power to keep the baby awake, we usually all wind up in tears.  She's still a "grunter".  Sleeping with her in our room is very similar to spending the night in a very comfy bed that's placed in a barn.  I'm very near ready to move her to her room.  I'm thinking we'll move her when she's 4-6 weeks old.

We just had her newborn pics taken by our favorite family photographer and as soon as I get some proofs, you know I'll be sharing them :)  Maybe we'll get a sneak peek soon!  Just in the last 2 days, Tessa has broken out with baby acne all over her forehead.  This is no surprise as Brooks had it too, but it makes me sad that my pretty girl is covered in red bumps on her face.  It should resolve itself soon - the docs say its just her hormones taking over from my hormones and it peaks around 4 weeks.  Little bit will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, so I'm hoping it goes away soon!

This is all I have time for now as Brandon is on his way home with our two little men in tow.  Having the laptop out around them is a *very* expensive accident waiting to happen, so I need to get this show packed up :)  I leave you with a comparison pic of my big boy's first day of pre-K - one from last year and then one from this year.  My big boy is getting sooooo big and I've already been super sad that he starts Kindergarten in one year :(  Not to mention that next year Brooks will start pre-K too.  Gah!

3 Year Preschool

4 Year Preschool

A Week Later...

Hard to believe, but this time last week I had just given birth to our sweet baby girl!  Tessa was probably still screaming her head off while getting her bath :)

Not much has changed in a week - our girl still screams quite a bit when she's getting her bath.  Of course, her "biblical" chord (as Will calls it) is still attached so she's just getting cold and wet sponge baths for the moment.  I guess I wouldn't like that either.  Funny note about the umbilical chord - you know how they tell you when you leave the hospital that ugly little thing will fall off in 10-14 days?  Well, BOTH of our boys kept theirs for like 4-6 weeks.  Will's actually fell off the night before one of his pedi appointments, but was still green and oozy underneath.  And the pediatrician took Brooks' off because it was so gross looking.  BOTH boys had to have that crazy black silver nitrate put on their bellies to dry it up completely.  I guess you could say our kids just can't cut the chord???   I'm praying Miss Tessa gives it up before it gets to that point...

I have to say though, other than bath time and very few others, our girl is pretty content.  I guess I could be jinxing myself by writing this, but I really want to document her true behaviors.  So far, she's our easiest baby.  I really think I deserved an easy baby after Will's crazy reflux and Brooks' constant colic and I'm starting to think that God gave me exactly what I needed.  She isn't easily rattled.  She's definitely used to hearing her brother's screams and voices because she doesn't even flinch when one (or both) are having melt downs or literally going to blows over a toy.  She doesn't even jump when one of them (or her daddy) drops some loud object on the hardwood floor or even when her brother Will decides to serenade her with his "flute" (think 5th grade recorder) while she's already sleeping.

She's a great sleeper so far.  Now I have enough experience in the baby department to know that these things can change very quickly, but we've really been blessed with a girl who likes her zzzzzs.  So far, she sleeps in her Snugabunny Infant Seat or her swing, or even on a cushion on the sofa (depending on where we are).  If she gets REALLY sleepy, she'll even snooze in her car seat which is something her brothers would never do.  She hasn't really decided if she likes a paci or not.  I'm thinking she likes it more than she doesn't, but she just hasn't gotten to the point where she can't do without it yet.  We've had to try several different brands - the gumdrops, the Avent, the Nuk.  I think she likes the Nuks the best, or at least she has better luck keeping them in her mouth.

I'm afraid to write about the night time sleeping because I'm afraid to speak too soon, but I really want to be able to look back and see exactly what she was doing, so here goes - from day 1, she's been a great sleeper at night.  She loves to be swaddled tightly at night and I'm glad she does - we don't swaddle her during the day (unless I get really desperate) and those little arms are constantly getting flung around until they usually wake her up or knock a paci out.  For the last two nights, she's gotten a bath around 10:30, fed and put to bed around 11PM.  Both nights, she slept until 4:30AM, when she woke up and got fed and changed and went right back to sleep until 9:30AM.  Yep - you read that correctly,  TWO five hour stretches in a row.  We'll take it!!

During the day, she eats every 2.5-3.5 hours.  Sometimes I even wake her up to eat, depending on how long she's been asleep.  Just like her brothers, she's not too crazy about car rides unless she's sleepy and then she'll drift off to sleep and she's golden.  While her brothers screamed bloody murder from the time of entry to the time of exit, Tessa is a little more tolerant.  She usually gives it her best effort and then starts crying shortly into any trip in the car.  It's funny, when she starts wailing in the car, Brooks will shout from the back "Baby crying!  Hush Baby!"  and Will usually doesn't even stop talking....

The bath, the car and a few gas-induced belly aches have been the only sources of true hysteria from our girl.  She's really more of a grunter.  When she's ready to eat, you'll know it from her grunting, chewing on her hands, and her disgruntlement with her paci.  This is also how she wakes up.  Instead of waking up crying, she'll be grunting (which she does throughout her sleep) and when you notice that she doesn't grunt.stop.silence.grunt. and it's more like grunt.grunt.grunt.grunt.  then you'll look at her and she'll be awake.  Like I said - pretty chill girl so far.

The boys are still in love.  Brooks is really starting to become obsessed with her, which is a little difficult because he can't be reasoned with.  He wants to "hold da baby" or "burp da baby" or "feed da baby" every single time I pick her up.  If I'm sitting down to feed her, he's literally trying to rip her out of my arms while screaming "I HOLD DA BABY!!"  Will is more reserved with his affections - he'll kiss her little head or tell her how much he loves her.  One cute thing Brooks does is sing to her - when I let him hold her (which I have to do pretty often) he'll sing the B-I-B-L-E to her.  It's precious!

We went to the pediatrician on Wednesday for her first weight check and she had only lost one ounce.  Not bad considering bigger babies generally lose more weight after birth than lower weight babies.  Since she was doing so well and not jaundice at all, he gave us the green light until she's a month old.  Good news!

And I'm feeling pretty well I guess.  I'm not sure if it's because this was my 3rd delivery, or if it's because she came so fast, or if it's because of the surgery on the day following her delivery, but this has been my hardest baby to recover from.  I'm 7 days into it and physically, I feel like I had her two days ago.  I'm still taking 800mg of motrin as regularly as the medicine will allow and usually at least one half of a pain med each day.  Each day I hope to feel significantly better, but so far I just haven't made that turn yet.  While little bit isn't too much of a problem physically, I'm still having a hard time keeping up with my big boys - you know chasing them to put clothes on, picking them up from boo boos, pulling them off each other, fighting them to time out, and even them crawling up in my lap for books.

Today was daddy's first day back to work, so you may be wondering how I had time for such a lengthy post.  Well, like I said - she's a good sleeper and her brothers are at grandma's today.  Will begged to spend the night with his Gram last night and because he starts 4 year pre-k next week AND it was daddy's first day back to work, I obliged them.  This is really a special treat for the girl and I.  We slept in until 9:30 and starting on Monday, we'll have to have Mr. Will at school by 9 :/

A Boy's First Love

After we were moved to a private room on Friday afternoon, the grandparents brought the rest of our family over.  Her brothers (especially Will) have been counting the weeks and then days until their baby sister arrived.  When they arrived, daddy was holding their baby sister...

Brooks saw the baby, said "Baby Sister!", poked her in the head and went back to being rambunctious.    Will was immediately in love.  He said "Momma, she's perfect.  She's just the one I wanted."  He was so precious.  His face lit up as only a proud big brother's could.

The room was crowded with other visitors, but as usual, when baby gets fussy, mommy gets the baby back.  The boys were right beside me - checking out their new sister.

I kept trying to get Will to kiss the baby, but he was a little too shy with everyone watching....

This picture cracks me up.  I have no idea what Will was saying, but this is our usual conversation.  Him saying something very sassy with his finger pointed and me pretending to take serious thought....

Brooks was obviously a little more flamboyant.  

Mommy and Daddy had Big Brother gifts for them.  These were basically gift bags full of dollar spot findings (except for their "Big Brother" shirts) - plastic dinosaurs, glow sticks, slinkies, candy, coloring book and crayons.  The gummy jolly ranchers, glow sticks, and dinosaurs were the biggest hits.

The boys came each day to the hospital but only stayed a few minutes each time.  Will probably could have stayed the whole time, but Brooks was a little loud for the maternity floor....

When we got home, the boys were very excited and Will had to show baby sister the entire house - room for room.  He especially wanted to show Tessa her room, his room and the playroom.  We obliged him and held the baby as he played tour guide throughout the entire house.  We let the boys decide whether they wanted to stay at home that night or go back to their grandparent's.  As you could have guessed, Will wanted to stay at home and Brooks wanted to go to his Poppa's.  Will stayed up late with us that night and helped us give Tessa a bath.  After the bath, he wanted to sleep in our room with his baby sister so that "he could listen for her."  We again obliged him and moved him to his room after he fell asleep.  

Will loves his sister soooooo much.  Both boys do really, but Brooks loses interest after a few minutes.  Brooks is mostly interested in the baby's things - the swing, the car seat, her stroller, etc...  Will loves everything about her.  He asks to hold her, sit beside her in the car, he's even ask to put the baby monitor in his room so that "he can listen for her and get up if she needs him."

In this picture Will was telling Tessa that he loved her "way up to the stars and moon and back down."  

I'm so proud of how much the boys love their baby sister.  I hope that they will always love and protect her.  I do hope however that some of the obsessiveness wears off.  It's very hard to get anything done when you are constantly having to make sure they aren't trying to pick her up or shove a paci up her nose.  And by anything, I don't mean laundry or cook dinner.  I mean go to the bathroom, pour a glass of water or sit down.  It's very sweet.  I just need to figure out how to harness all the sweetness....