8 Weeks

Jake Martin is 8 Weeks Old!

It's been quite a busy week! Last Saturday, we celebrated Ethan's birthday at the Lego Store in Concord with 2 of his friends. The kids had an amazing time! Sunday was Easter and we had Jeff's parents and my mom with us. Tuesday was Ethan's actual birthday- how is he already 6? He had outgrown his bike, so he got this new one.

Sydney on Easter Sunday

The boys...Sydney said our family has a rose and three thorns.

Jake has been smiling quite a bit. He gave Sydney a whole bunch of smiles several days ago, and he was full of smiles for Jeff this evening.

I discovered another thing I love about being dairy free- ice cream made with coconut milk. It is so amazing! I bought a container of the chocolate kind and had it after dinner tonight. I would eat this instead of dairy ice cream any day. The coconut flavor is delicious too, but I have really been missing chocolate since giving up dairy for sweet Jake. The coconut hazelnut creamer is fabulous in coffee too. :-)

7 Weeks

Jake on Thursday, 7 weeks old, in his new "baby sitter." It's really called that! We returned the swing in favor of this more portable bouncer. He really likes it! Wednesday was a big day for us, as I returned to work and he went to my dear friend Jen's house with Reid. He did just fine, and so did I. :-) I was really not looking forward to it (and it's just one day a week, but still a big change for me because I've always been home full time with all of our kids up till now), but it was really nice to be back at the clinic. I have been working from home in small pockets of time, and it really felt great to have a day at the clinic to focus just on work.



Sydney has been making newspapers for our family and some neighbors. Here are a couple:
This one is complete with a joke and a birth announcement. The part about Jake says he has the smallest, sharpest nails. :-)


This one has her advice column"Answer Elyse," in it. She has a box set up in the kitchen for us to put our life problem questions in. I wrote one about feeling bad that I couldn't eat dairy, and made a point that I couldn't have cream cheese & jelly sandwiches because she likes them so much. (The part she mentions about ketchup is because around this time of year, her allergies make her break out when she eats tomatoes, strawberries, citrus). Ethan put a problem in her box that he needed gum and someone to work in his store that he has set up in his room.

Ethan's Wresting Tournament

Ethan participated in his first wrestling tournament this past Saturday at Parkland High School. He wrestled 5 matches. He won his first match, and lost 4, one of which went into overtime. He worked so hard, and our family is so proud of him! He and Jeff began going to our local wrestling club about a 6 weeks ago. Below is the video of the match he won.

Shaking hands after a match

Jeff and Ethan after the last match
We celebrated with lunch out afterwards. As Jeff told Ethan, the best part of wrestling is getting to eat a big meal after!

6 Weeks

Jake Martin is 6 weeks old!

I didn't update my blog in the middle of last night as I have been doing because...Jake slept through the night!!! It was his 3rd night sleeping through, and 3 nights in a row usually seals the deal. :-) I consider 8 hours of sleep as sleeping through the night because that allows a full night's sleep for me.
Below are pictures from the past week.

Here is Sydney this morning. She's sporting new Keens from Grandpa & Grandma Z. All the kids got new shoes and were super excited!

Ethan made his own Zhu Zhu pet using a remote control car and his camouflage bear named Ethan:


And here is Reid this morning. He has blueberries on his face from breakfast! He keeps us laughing with all the different ways he likes to dress himself up.

Sydney and her little twin in her bed last night. All the kids beg for Jake to sleep with them in bed.

This is Reid at Redeemer School's poetry recital last Friday.


Ethan's class at the Poetry Recital- Who Has Seen The Wind? by Christina Rosetti

The 2nd graders recited poetry by Emily Dickinson, and Sydney helped give an intro. It's pretty hard to hear, but I thought her grandparents would at least enjoy seeing her and the rest of the 2nd graders.


"Hope" is the thing with feathers—
That perches in the soul—
And sings the tune without the words—
And never stops—at all—

And sweetest—in the Gale—is heard—
And sore must be the storm—
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm—

I've heard it in the chillest land—
And on the strangest Sea—
Yet, never, in Extremity,
It asked a crumb—of Me.

5 Weeks: Smiles, Coos & Dairy Free

Week five of Jake Martin's precious life have brought little coos, 2 real smiles for Mommy, and a check-up at the pediatrician. He weighed 9lbs,13oz (50th %ile) and measured 22" (50th %ile). He checked out great, except Dr.Hunsinger noticed his belly looked bloated. Because of that and since he still has congestion from birth (due to C-section), she recommended I go dairy free. She also had me start him on probiotics and gripewater. He's a lot less gassy, but still has some congestion. I thought a dairy free diet would be a lot harder than it actually is; I'm sooooo thankful for coconut creamer for my coffee! Sleep is going well; he did a 7.5 hour stretch last night/this morning. Enjoy this week's pictures!

On our way to church last Sunday

All ready for Tuesday morning Bible study in a cute shirt from Nadine&Daniel

Jake reminds us so much of Sydney when she was a baby.

Sweet times

Reid dressed himself like this...accessorized with the lunch box and all! He says he's in the army when he wears this raincoat.

I asked Ethan to rock Jake's carseat when he was crying and I was packing lunches. Check out the rope; Ethan said he made "an electric machine!"