Mohawk Man!!

I have always wondered what E-man would look like with a mohawk- now we know! His hair grows soooo fast, and he really hates getting his hair cut, so we took out the buzzer. All we did was leave a bit on the top! A little convincing that it is cool, and we had a little stud-muffin on our hands! Look at him ham it up!!

Little Mommy Part Two

The kids got to open their gifts from Grandpa Greg and Grandma Janet today! We let them open them early, since they left them with us when the went back to Arizona. The kids were great to not open them for a month!!

Ethan loves his new Leap Frog book and pen. The pen actually reads the book with you. Want to know the funny part?? Wade had to bring it to work to figure out the technology! It even had him stumped- doesn't happen very often!

And my, oh, my, little Mommy now has a way to travel with her baby. She got a carseat and stroller combo. She hasn't stopped playing with it for days. Here is proof:

Crew is one month old!

Okay, so why did the last month of my pregnancy seem like a YEAR and this past month absolutely flew by! I can't believe my little man is already one month old! He is a very good baby- I get up 3 or 4 times a night, but that is to be expected. Not all babies are like Ethan- sleeping through the night at 2 months! He is a combination of our other two kids- likes to be in between mom and dad in bed like Ethan, but grunts all through the night like Emri. We are thankful Ethan doesn't wake up to his grunts- as the boys are sharing a room.

We turned the fourth bedroom into a tv/playroom for the kids instead of a baby room. Sharing a room never hurt any kid! Looking back, I cherish memories of my sister and I sharing a room. Speaking of sisters, I always thought I would like 4 or more children, thinking at least two boys and two girls. Now, I feel like if God is done blessing our family with children, that would be okay with me. I feel complete. Wade, on the other hand, is now talking that he would like more kids! He always said, 'just two'. Time changes us, I guess. Here is a video of the little man at one month:

The little Mommy.

This post is about the "little Mommy" in our house, aka Emri. She is such a loving caretaker of her baby. But, it is only one baby out of the 8 she owns that she really takes care of... the others are unfortunately neglected ;) Emmers changes, burps, cleans, hugs, kisses, and as of late, *ahem* nurses her baby. This, of course, has been ever since Crew was born. The girl says 'baby' one-hundred times a day (at least!) and her other words are coming so quick.

No jealousy for this new big sister!! As she says, "mama- your baby." referring to Crew. And, "My baby." for herself. Too cute.

Crew is Here!!

Yay! This morning at 4:20, Crew Allen Werder was born. 9lbs. 1 oz, 21.5 inches long! And, joy of joys, he was two weeks early!! Trying not to think about how big he would have been full term... haha! I am so very glad he is here- and he is beautiful. Brown hair (and lots of it!) and a perfect little face. He reminds us very much of Ethan right now, however, I caught a hint of a dimple just like Emri.

Labor went really really well- don't throw tomatoes at me ladies! I can't believe how well natural labor can go- didn't have any time for drugs and didn't need them I guess! I chuckle when I think about how I told mom before we left home, "I hope this is it!" and he was born about an hour later. It was an intense drive to the hospital, that's for sure!!

The kids were here earlier and Emri brought her baby with- I have a feeling she will do with her baby whatever I do with Crew. And Ethan had to hold him- he is trying to figure out where mom's belly went. They are all such a blessing and I can't believe how my family has grown!

Here is a pic of the new little guy (wrapped in Emri's pink blankie- oops):

Karate Kid!

Ethan started karate two weeks ago, and already is a little star (to us!!) He is learning very fast- it is so cute to hear his little 'haya' and 'yes, sir!' He is and always probably will be a little timid at first, but he is catching on and getting more brave every time. Now I understand, however, when people say that letting your kids do something on their own is like letting your heart walk around outside your body. And this is just a 20 minute karate class! Yikers!!

At the last class, Mr. Chad was asking each child the simple question, "How are you?" and then after their response, he would ask, "Why is that?" He was stressing the point that there are reasons why we are feeling a certain way, and that we have control over our attitudes. Ethan answered his first question with, "good." and then, *tear* he answered the second with, "Because I have been with my mom all day." Oh, my, what a gift! I can't put into words how that felt. I will treasure it forever.

Now onto a funny little story: Mommy, Ethan and Emri conversation:

Ethan: I have a spider web in my eye.
Mommy: How did you get a spider web in your eye?
Ethan: I don't know. A spider must have crawled up in there and died or something. (Hey, he is a boy!!)
Mommy: Oh, that is too bad.
Ethan: Emri, do you have a spider web in your eye?
Emri: Uh-huh!
Ethan: Emri, it will be o.k. I have one too.
Emri: Oh.

What precious times these are- God, help me to cherish them!!!

We have already had quite the day in the Werder household. Alarm didn't go off- woke up an hour late. Which I guess I needed, but still...

Ethan woke up needy today. Most days he is content watching a cartoon until mom or dad gets him waffles, oatmeal, whatever. Today was- "I want this, I want that."

While he is expressing his needs, I am trying to clean up the kitchen so I can actually see the counters to make the needed waffles while daddy is getting his lunch ready. Chaos. Then we hear Emri. She basically woke up like this:

Old picture, not so old facial expression. She is a bit more tricky than Ethan usually to get going and happy in the morning. I guess it didn't help that daddy went up to get her and found that she had overflowed her diaper in both ways babies can. Bummer for dad, score one for mom;) Mental note: start potty training soon, wake her up so she can do this duty in the potty.

Now the kitchen is clean, Ethan is downstairs playing independently, Emri is pretending to play the Leapster, and mom's adrenaline is going down. Oh, and the little guy I watch, Aiden, is sleeping and I didn't even need to rock him. Oh, the grace of God. I believe He will make the rest of the day easy for me! Hopefully he does the same for the daddy who doesn't handle the chaos as well. Bring on the day!!