Third time's a charm!

For babies! This time around has been soooo much easier than with the last two. And everyone says that it's because you get more experienced, which is true I'm sure. But Rachel is such a good baby! I have to give her credit. Thank you Jesus for giving me such an easy going baby during this hectic time period. He definitely knows what He's doing. I can't begin to tell you how stressed out I was imagining handling two toddlers and a newborn. But He never gives us more than we can handle, why do I ever doubt??

Honestly, I have not been strict at all with Rachel with schedules. I figured I would just take it like it comes for the newborn stage, instead of stressing over it. Well, the last few nights she has slept for about 7 hours!!! Yippee, hooray!! You feel like a new person when you get that much sleep! And I can't even take credit for it, she's just been an amazing sleeper. Here she is snoozing the morning away!

And breastfeeding is better this time too. I actually enjoy sitting down to feed her. I did not enjoy it at all with Elijah and Hannah. I was just doing it because it was good for them and honestly, because it was free! I'm so glad that I've finally had that enjoyable breastfeeding experience!

Speaking of breastfeeding, I made some nursing pads. I was going through so many of the disposables that I thought I would try some cloth ones. I was going to buy some, but then decided I would just try making some. Why had I never thought of this? And I still didn't think of it, I had help from a friend! (Thanks Kayla for the idea!) Anyways, here's the finished product. I had a couple of trial runs, but these work great! I put a vinyl cloth on the back, so they don't leak through, and I figured I'd go all out and get a cute fabric for the front. I love zebra print!

I have a one month old?

(This was written over several days time, sorry if it's disjointed!)

So, Rachel is now a month old! Really hard to believe, it's flown by! She hasn't gone in for her 1 month check-up yet, so I'm not sure how much she weighs. She's still really small, still wearing newborn clothes. But I can tell she's grown a good bit, because the newborn diapers don't swallow her anymore! :)

We're doing pretty good. We have good and bad days, but the good days definitely outweigh the bad ones! Rachel is starting to sleep really good at night. Some nights she has actually slept for about 5 hours in a row, so that's been awesome! It really makes a difference in your attitude when you can get a few hours in a row of consistent sleep! Now if we could improve the time it takes to get her to sleep, we'll be doing good! The other night I was so completely frustrated, and just tired. I put her down like 4 times, with her waking and crying in like 15 minutes each time. I finally got her to sleep around 2, which was the night after the time change so my body was really feeling like it was 3. That was a rough night. I know we'll get through this phase, so I'm trying to stay positive and enjoy this time that she's still a newborn. It passes so quickly..

Elijah and Hannah are really good with her too. Elijah is super gentle. My favorite thing he says right now is when Rachel is looking at him. He says "that baby is lookin at me, her wikes me!!" It's really adorable. And Hannah wants to touch her all the time, which kinda can get frustrating. But at least I know that they like her, and don't feel too threatened by how much time I have to spend on her.

Last weekend we had a small party for Elijah and Hannah's birthdays. With having the new baby, I decided just to do a small family party this year, but it went really good. And they both understood that it was their birthdays, so they kept asking about it. "it's my berfday?" haha, I love talking toddlers!

Josh got a job! He's actually had it for about 2 weeks now. I've been reluctant to talk about it, because it started out as a temporary job. But his boss told him the other day that "he was a breath of fresh air" and that he wanted him to work for him fulltime. So this has definitely been a blessing! It's still in the construction business, which is kinda what Josh wanted to get out of, but he's enjoying this a little more because it's with a big construction company so he gets to do bigger jobs.

During this time of unemployment, God has really showed us alot of things. Things that we wouldn't have realized without going this time. So as hard as its been, I know ultimately that there was a reason we went through it. And we aren't completely out of the fog yet, but it feels like I can see the end. One thing we've learned is how to live pretty cheaply, and to rely on God for everything!! Which is really a hard lesson to learn, and one I'm still learning everyday. Another thing we feel strongly about is that Josh is supposed to go back to school. We are still waiting on exactly what he should be going back for, but without going through this drought I don't think we would have heard this at all.


Anyways, I can't think of anything else right now. And I have some other things to accomplish before the baby awakes!