Newborn pics!!!

Yea I'm finally getting around to showing off my cute little man and his fun little newborn pics! They are do dang cute!

So...along with that, I have to announce that yes...I survived the 6 week mark!!! Dru was officially 6 weeks old on Friday and I just have to brag about what a good baby he is. The newborn stage is always hard for me for some reason. If I could keep them this little forever, I would, I LOVE the littleness, the cuddling, etc.. but the no sleep, hormones out of whack, nursing all day and night thing stresses me out...but oh boy did the definition of "craziness" top the charts with this baby!! So, some of you know the story of what my life has been like the past month..total craziness. Four days after Dru was born, my wonderful husband's boss decided that he needs to go to California for a week for some work conference thing..so he goes. Yes I had a four day old baby, but my mom was there all week, so that was ok because I had tons of help. He gets home from Cali, and then low and behold, four days later he gets to leave again to SINGAPORE! (we actually knew about this trip before I even had Dru, but I put it out of my mind because i was so so bugged it was even going to happen with a newborn!!) oh and that's not the worst part...HE LEFT FOR 3 WEEKS!!! So yes, he was around 4 days the entire month of Dru's life!! (not bashing on hubby, it really wasn't his fault and he hated it too, but that didn't make it any easier for sure.) Anyways, summertime is hard with everyone traveling, family reunions, etc..so I was on my lonesome for 3 weeks. (except for 2 days Ben's sister came and helped out so a big shout out to B!!) Along with this 3 week adventure, Singapore has a 14 hour time change, so even talking on the phone got a little tricky. Usually it was at 8 or 9pm here when he was on his way to work there, and was usually only a quick "hello, are you surviving, i love you, goodbye" phone call because he had to get to work.

Two weeks into this wonderful experience of being up ALL NIGHT with Dru, working through hours on end of non stop crying, three other kids who were completely acting out because they needed attention like crazy, a 3 year old who went back to peeing his pants every hour, a 2 year old hitting everyone and throwing every object in a 2ft. radiace, a VERY emotional 5 year old who missed her daddy and cried over every single occurrence like it was the end of the world.....I was walking down my stairs one afternoon holding my FINALLY sound asleep newborn, had on some slippers that had absolutely NO traction on them, and slipped down my stairs,watching as one leg stayed on the first stair, twisting completely out and around as the rest of my body slid down to the last, hearing a huge pop and watching it swell up the size of a balloon. Oh boy, I lost it! I'm chalking that up as my first emotional break down with this one...and boy was it ever. I had a friend take my kids while I ran down to the insta care clinic. The doc said the xrays looked ok but he was pretty sure I tore my MCL or meniscus so needed to come back in 2 weeks to meet with the sports med doc, put me in a fatty brace after convincing him crutches were out of the question with a husband less newborn house full of stairs, and sent me home.

Needless to say Ben had no idea this had even happened because it was 3 am there when it did happen, so when he finally got around to calling that night, all it took was hearing his voice and there goes emotion breakdown #2. He felt horrible and could tell that yes, I was stressed about the kids, but he knows how much running means to me and how I was only 2 weeks away from being able to do that again so reassured me over and over that everything would be ok and we would get the best doctor in town and get it taken care of asap. I could barely walk around the next few days but had to considering I still had four kids to take care of on my own. I can't even tell my friends and neighbors thank you enough for all of the meals and help that I received during this time. One friend finds out I'm doing all of this on my own with an injured leg, tells another, and before I know it, I have meals coming to my house every night for two weeks, people coming and taking my kids so I can get some rest, the nicest man ever who mows my lawn every Monday all summer long, and people just calling to make sure I'm ok or just to see if I need anything. Oh happy day when Ben got home, not only for his help with the kiddos but just to have someone around to talk to and have adult conversations with.

So, yes we survived the dreadful month of July!!! The first month is hard anyways, so along with all of this going on, I am very happy to report that I have four healthy happy children who are currently doing swimming lessons, soccer and sleeping through the night!! Yes, even my sweet 6 week old Dru has been doing so awesome this past week. Goes to bed at 11pm, sleeps til 5am, eats, and goes right back to bed til 9am!! Thank you baby wise and advice from all you girls from my post awhile ago. Ever since then he has been a dream baby. Napping so good, smiling and making the cutest cooing noises. Hallelujah we are starting to get the hang of this and get back to normal life!! Oh and good news, my MRI came back and no torn ligaments here!! Just a major sprain and something they call an "internal bone bruise" which is close to a fracture I guess but not quite. Definitely will take some healing time but in a couple of weeks I should be good as new.

Anyways, now that I have written about how hard and great my life has been at the same time, I would like to say how grateful I feel to have such an amazing little family. I love knowing that these little people are mine and that I get to be with them forever. I love tucking them in at night after baths and story time, saying prayers and thanking my Father in Heaven for giving me the amazing opportunity to be their mommy. Like I said, Dru is 6 weeks already and I catch myself looking at him and the others not believing how big they are getting and wanting to just stop time with all four of them right now because I love the ages they all are at. I love being a mom, even though some days I could pull my hair out, loose my voice from yelling at them all day, along with time out being a normal every day occurrence at our house. They make me laugh nobody can, make me smile over the simplest things, and melt my heart multiple times a day. Love you husband, love you babies, thank you for being my everything.