Bringing home baby O

On Sunday, July 8th, we brought little Owen home from the hospital.  Owen had a sweet little boy nursery waiting for him.  (Or more accurately, we transformed 1/2 of Abbi's bedroom to be "boy friendly.") It turns out he really didn't need to have a cute little crib waiting for him... that first night home from the hospital he only spent 45 minutes actually sleeping. Colby later referred to it as "the worst nights sleep in nine years"  (the night nine years ago being the night we brought Ammon home from the hospital). Ironically enough, we spent the next seven days trying to get the little twirp to wake up and eat so we could stop driving to the hospital every single morning to have his billirubin and weight checked.  When we weren't driving to the hospital,  I was busy taking about 800 pictures of the little guy on 4 different cameras/phones/electronic devices in every outfit I dressed him in (and sometimes in the nude!)  We are so happy to have our little man home with us.

Owen's "nursery"

Leaving the hospital.

Mom and Owen getting ready to go home.

Sleeping in his swing, 

and on Mom and Dad's bed, 

(I love the fetal position!)

and in his bouncy seat. (If you'll notice; in this picture, there is a swing, bouncy seat and pack 'n play... we were pulling out all the stops to try to get this baby to sleep at night.  We discovered that he loves to be swaddled really tight and sleep in his bouncer.  So we put the pack 'n play away, and his crib sits empty:)  A huge thanks to Grandma Stewart for getting this great bouncer for Owen,  and subsequently letting us get a little shut eye)

Owen has also been hanging out with his older siblings.

Carter, Abbi and Owen in Mom's bed.

When he was refusing to wake up and eat,  Owen's doctor recommended that I pump and try to feed him a bottle because it takes less effort for him to eat (HELLO,  lazy little fella).  The kids thought it was great to be able to help feed him,  Owen wasn't quite as thrilled as they were.

Abbi and Owen.

Ammon and Owen

We are all so happy that this baby is home.

Owen Stewart Frost

On Thursday, July 5th Owen Stewart Frost joined our little family (that probably isn't considered a little  family anymore).  Like his three big siblings; Owen entered this world via cesarian section.  We arrived at the hospital at 9 a.m. I was hooked up to an IV and fetal monitors and then we waited.. and waited, and waited.  

 This is what I felt like after waiting for five hours;

We were thrilled when they finally came and told us that they were ready to take me into surgery.

Fourty-five minutes later,  I heard Owen's sweet little cry.

Owen Stewart was born at 2:45 p.m.  He weighed 8 lbs 14 oz. (our biggest baby) and was 20 inches long. 

He was absolutely perfect.

Mommy seeing Owen for the first time.

My oldest and my newest loves :)

Little baby feet (actually super long baby feet, check out those big toes!)

Getting warmed up after his first bath.

Grandma Stewart with all the kiddos (isn't my mom beautiful?)

Carter holding baby Owen for the first time.

Ammon and Owen.

My three boys.

Our first picture as a family of SIX. 

(don't pay attention to the slightly drugged up mom.)

One proud big sister.

Three handsome boys.

Owen looks a lot like both of his big brothers.

Colby and Owen.  Now those are two handsome guys!

The proud daddy.

Me and all my kids.

We are so grateful for this new little baby and the sweet spirit that he has already brought into our home.

A Lame Mom

On Friday, we were heading home from the pool and Abbi and 

I had the following conversation;

Abbi:  "Mom, can Brynlee come to our house and play?"

Mom:  "No, it's time for dinner and then it will be bedtime, maybe

 another day."

Abbi:  "Mom, you are just sooo lame.  You seriously never let us do anything 

fun like have friends come to our house."

Wow.  Tell me those words didn't really come out of my three year 

old's mouth. 

 And tell me those words didn't come out of her mouth after we 

had just spent THREE HOURS at the pool with friends,  

six days before I was scheduled to give birth.  

I have also been accused of being "lame" by my boys

 for the following reasons;

1. They can't watch PG-13 movies.

2. They have to do chores before they watch TV.

3. This is the 2nd Summer in a row that ALL of their friends have 

gone to Utah and they have had to stay in Texas. 

 I told them that this year they are getting a new baby brother 

instead of a trip to Utah, and that would be even better.... 

they're not convinced. 

I know I shouldn't take these things personally, but I kind of do.  

So when we got home from the pool, I immediately started looking at pictures, 

 trying to find some proof that we had actually done something fun this Summer.  

This is what I found;  

let me tell you about all the things that lame moms don't do...

Lame Moms (and Dads) never have BBQ's/pool parties with friends...

They don't make dutch oven peach cobbler, 

or let their kids get wet and muddy in the sandbox with their friends. 

A lame mom doesn't ever take her three year old on a
preschool fieldtrip to the zoo...

(doesn't she look miserable?)

it is WAY too hot in Texas for that sort of foolishness.

Lame moms also never let their kids decorate their
own library bags with fabric paint,  

especially when said decorations involve a skull and
crossbones and green flowers.

Swimming lessons are out of the questions,  

especially swimming lessons with friends, 

we don't ever do anything fun like play with friends, 

(my poor kids are kind of hermits.)

Going to the zoo (for the second time!) in June is also out of the question.

(I also love this picture... Abbi refused to stand in "height" order because she wanted to stand next to Carter, which Austin wasn't thrilled about.)

Waterslides, 

Swimming, 

 and bowling are unheard of for my kiddos..

(by the way, don't you love these adorable little bowling shoes?) 

(my boys were in serious need of haircuts at this point... you can always tell how busy Colby has been based on the length of the boy's hair!)

Lame parents would also never think of spending Dad's one Saturday off work at the waterpark.

We rarely have movie nights, 

or dance with underwear on our heads. (okay, this one really wasn't my doing and I was lame because I made them take them off and got mad when they put them all in the dirty clothes)

We also haven't tried to see how many kids we could fit in an above ground pool, 

what creations we could build out of marshmallows and toothpicks, 

or how many visits we could make to the neighborhood pool in a week.

(isn't this picture darling?)

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that so far we've had a
pretty decent Summer,  even if it hasn't included a trip to Utah or PG-13 movies.
Don't tell my kids this,  but if they think their Summer has been lame so far,
they're in for a surprise... I'm going in Thursday morning to have a c-section
and then I will be really lame for about the next month!
We can't wait to meet this little guy. :)