Happy Birthday Black Dragon!

My oldest son turned FOUR on Monday! It still shocks me that he is that old already. I still remember the day he was born so clearly. What a joyous day that was! And although not every day since then has been equally as joyous, I love him to pieces and he has brought so much life and energy to our family. We had a small party for him on Saturday with a few family members. Not everyone could make it, so we didn't have a full house, but we still had lots of fun!

 Just waiting for the hot dogs...

The dragon toy that inspired the cake.

 Opening gifts....

He had lots of helpers!!!

The cake! I had planned on having the dragon standing up and breathing fire - I had high hopes! Unfortunately, the Rice Krispy cake that he's made of wasn't cooperating, so he ended up laying down. Xavier was still impressed, though!

Last Day of Gymnastics

Last Wednesday was Xavier's last day of gymnastics. We've been going every Wednesday morning for the last six months and it's been a lot of fun to watch him learn new things. We're looking forward to the summer break, but I'm pretty sure he'll be doing them again in the fall - he LOVED it!

Two Month Update

Saturday marked the two month point for our newest little bundle of joy. I can't believe he's that old already - time definitely goes by a LOT quicker with the third one. I suppose because we are so busy with the other two. It has been an awesome two months though and I can honestly say that we are loving life with three children.

So far, Cohen has been a wonderful baby. He is super content and basically only cries when he's hungry. He is VERY smiley! He started giving us regular smiles around 5 weeks of age - which is crazy early! But we love it. Most days he wakes up around 9:30 am, eats and goes back down for a nice long nap until lunch. Then he eats again and naps for the majority of the afternoon. He awake for a little bit around supper and then usually sleeps for most of the evening. Then once the older two kids are in bed, he's usually awake for a couple hours until he goes back down for the night. Most nights he sleeps for a good five to six hours before I'm up to feed him again. Then he goes back down and is sometimes up once more before his 9:30-10:00 am feeding. It's a great schedule that is working very well for us so far!

The other two kids are very good with him as well. Shaela loves to lay beside him on the couch and sing to him. It's the sweetest thing in the world! And he loves it - he gives her great big smiles every time she sings. Xavier also really likes him and will often come over and give him a little snuggle or a rub on the head before he's off to play again. 

As for how big he is, we don't go for his 2 month check up until the 23rd, so we'll find out then as well as get his shots. I did step on the scale with him a few weeks ago and he was about 12 and a half pounds, so I'm guessing he's somewhere around the 13-14 pound mark by now. He's in 3-6 month clothes right now but I don't think he'll be in them much longer.

All in all, I have no complaints! Aside from those first two days when he had his days and nights mixed up, he is by far our easiest baby yet. He's been a great addition to our family and we love him to pieces!!

He is normally super smiley - but he wouldn't crack a single one for me while I had the camera out! :P

One Big Giant Headache

Our bathtub is currently leaking. It has been for a while. Our temporary fix has been to shove a bath towel underneath it while we shower....and we've been hoping and praying it would magically fix itself. :P 

However, we finally realized a few weeks ago that something must be done. We've been phoning around to find out about grants and loans we can apply for to help cover the costs. So far, we haven't had much luck. Unfortunately it's going to be a very big job. There is a teeny tiny clawfoot tub in there right now and we've basically been told that it's SUPREMELY hard to get in underneath it to fix the leaking pipes. The tub needs to be taken out and if we're taking the tub out anyway, we'd like to go ahead and move the plumbing into the wall and put in an ACTUAL bathtub. Possible snag in this plan: The space between the walls right now is only 57 inches. A standard bathtub is 60. Do you know how much extra it costs to order in a 54 inch tub? A LOT! And it takes 6-8 weeks. Which means we'd have to take the kids to Jared's mom's to bathe them and for us to shower. Not fun. We have been told that we might be able to fit a 60" tub if we take down the walls - it's an old house with lath (sp??) and plaster, so by the time that's all gone, we should be able to gain and extra 3 inches. But what if we can't?!?!

We'll also have to take out the toilet so that the tub can be removed. And the floor needs to be replaced as well. It's going to be one BIG job with a BIG price tag that I am not looking forward to paying for!!! We have one last plumber coming on Saturday morning to give us an estimate and we are hoping to have it all finished in the next week or so. I really hope it goes quickly....and smoothly! I would love to be able to soak in a normal sized tub for a change!